Sequential Prophet Rev2 8-Voice Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer

Hi, I'm a newbie, so I won't get all technical here. But I took the plunge with this purchase of the Sequential Prophet Rev 2 and am amazed at the sounds that I can get from it.I bought the Rev 2 back in April 2020. Right away, I realized that I could fall into a trap of not really learning the instrument, and just playing around and making "cool" sounds with it. Nothing wrong with that, but it's easy to just do that, and not learn much, if anything.Between reading the manual that came with it, and checking out various YouTube videos, I am SLOWLY learning the instrument so that it's not just a trial-and-error type of performance. I think that this approach is really beneficial to me, and maybe to others that buy this, only to otherwise feel overwhelmed by it.My ... MoreHi, I'm a newbie, so I won't get all technical here. But I took the plunge with this purchase of the Sequential Prophet Rev 2 and am amazed at the sounds that I can get from it.I bought the Rev 2 back in April 2020. Right away, I realized that I could fall into a trap of not really learning the instrument, and just playing around and making "cool" sounds with it. Nothing wrong with that, but it's easy to just do that, and not learn much, if anything.Between reading the manual that came with it, and checking out various YouTube videos, I am SLOWLY learning the instrument so that it's not just a trial-and-error type of performance. I think that this approach is really beneficial to me, and maybe to others that buy this, only to otherwise feel overwhelmed by it.My favorite setting is F4 P26, known as Pastoral Arpeggio. Amazing! The very sound of it inspired me to compose a piece that I'm proud of. Another one, F1 P16, Ultra Split, helped me write a more captivating intro for a song that I normally play on regular keyboards. This Rev 2 can and does put me in a creative mood.Unfortunately, I've been very busy doing my boring 'regular' job, during this Covid-19 health crisis, so I have not been able to devote more time to learning this beautiful beast. But I do have the instructional videos all ready for me, and have started watching them and learning the ropes.Once things get back to normal, I am looking forward to using this on stage along with my Yamaha keyboard, and by then, hopefully I'll be an expert with it, at least compared to the novice I am now.Also, I have the Rev 2 hooked up to a Behringer KXD12 amp, and I would recommend you use the same type amp, or another of high quality to bring out the best of this high-quality synth.I also bought this as an 8-voice, but then later on bought the conversion kit to increase it to a 16-voice. The instructions were very helpful and made it easy for me to accomplish this. The sound is much better with the 16 voices, although the 8 voices were fine too.So, I recommend you buy the Prophet Rev 2, take your time with it, and LEARN it. And have fun doing it!

My first hardware analog synth and I had VERY high expectations! The build quality is fantastic, the sound is amazing in every way, and the ease of use is up there. I was concerned about just how deep and fat it could get, I no longer have that concern!It's not that I wouldn't change anything, but there are no deal-breakers. If I were to make changes it would be to the preset system. It would be great to have more distinctly different user preset locations and faster means of accessing those user presets. If I was planning for live use it would perhaps be a bigger issue but I'm not. As it is if I needed to do that, I would use something like a midi router to tie multiple pieces together (which I may end up doing anyway).The other slight criticism (fair or not) ... MoreMy first hardware analog synth and I had VERY high expectations! The build quality is fantastic, the sound is amazing in every way, and the ease of use is up there. I was concerned about just how deep and fat it could get, I no longer have that concern!It's not that I wouldn't change anything, but there are no deal-breakers. If I were to make changes it would be to the preset system. It would be great to have more distinctly different user preset locations and faster means of accessing those user presets. If I was planning for live use it would perhaps be a bigger issue but I'm not. As it is if I needed to do that, I would use something like a midi router to tie multiple pieces together (which I may end up doing anyway).The other slight criticism (fair or not) would be the effects. I feel like they're pretty good but not great. I'm not sure that it's really fair to expect the built-in effects to rival say the Strymon stuff or the Source Audio stuff in a fairly reasonably priced hardware synth. Probably not, but if I do make that comparison it does come up short (so I'm using external fx a lot). Dave Smith is a genius but not in the effects world. If the Rev 2 did have killer effects on that level, it would probably be at least $500 higher in price.Overall, I really have to try to find things to ding the Rev 2. For my use in the studio, they're not an issue at all really. And the one thing that makes it all melt away, the Rev 2 still has its trump card to play.... It's a Prophet! And on that, it also more than delivers!

Beyond the fact that the SCI Rev2 sounds so beautiful in all way; wet like an Oberheim, nasty like a mono Moog, expansive and ethereal like Roland... Its just not limited like most synths are in the past and today.The sequencer and global controls are the most intuitive you could ever want, and then theres also a knob for everything. Literally. Its not like a Roland where you have to menu dive for deeper controls, they are there. Being able to sequence the split keyboards into two is insane. I have left my Sub 37 at home and now play on the Rev2 with a drum machine as my whole setup.For me it was either sticking to semi-modular and taking 45 min to set up my rig, or buying the OB6 for 1k more than the Rev2. My deciding factor was the sequencing capabilities that ... MoreBeyond the fact that the SCI Rev2 sounds so beautiful in all way; wet like an Oberheim, nasty like a mono Moog, expansive and ethereal like Roland... Its just not limited like most synths are in the past and today.The sequencer and global controls are the most intuitive you could ever want, and then theres also a knob for everything. Literally. Its not like a Roland where you have to menu dive for deeper controls, they are there. Being able to sequence the split keyboards into two is insane. I have left my Sub 37 at home and now play on the Rev2 with a drum machine as my whole setup.For me it was either sticking to semi-modular and taking 45 min to set up my rig, or buying the OB6 for 1k more than the Rev2. My deciding factor was the sequencing capabilities that the OB6 ignored. (Also get a good chorus with a stereo expander and boom. Oberheim SCI)

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I thought that given the choice of analog versus digital and monophonic verses polyphonic that an analog polyphonic synth would be the best of all possible options. And maybe it is for you. I don't think I fully appreciated the limitations of analog subtractive synthesis, coming from the softsynth realm, when I purchased a used Rev2 from my local GC.The quality of the instrument was a mixture of impressive and frustrating. For one thing there are 512 factory presets... and they are arranged ***randomly***. I went through probably 400 of them and I could not discern any patterns. In fact, most of my (few months) time owning the instrument was spent working through the 4 banks of 128 patches taking notes/trying to form a system of organization. I would recommend ... MoreI thought that given the choice of analog versus digital and monophonic verses polyphonic that an analog polyphonic synth would be the best of all possible options. And maybe it is for you. I don't think I fully appreciated the limitations of analog subtractive synthesis, coming from the softsynth realm, when I purchased a used Rev2 from my local GC.The quality of the instrument was a mixture of impressive and frustrating. For one thing there are 512 factory presets... and they are arranged ***randomly***. I went through probably 400 of them and I could not discern any patterns. In fact, most of my (few months) time owning the instrument was spent working through the 4 banks of 128 patches taking notes/trying to form a system of organization. I would recommend putting some thought into this ahead of time so you know what is going to work for you. (e.g. It is not easy to audition voices if you have to scroll through hundreds of voices to move between them)Some of the knobs were very touchy (including the 'Program' knob) so just brushing against them would change the program.Also your edits are deleted as soon as the program changes - and when you are saving your edited program all you see is for example (U2P01) which would be "User Bank 2, Program 1" - so hope you don't have anything there which you don't want to save over. This leads to needing a way to keep track, outside of the synth, of your user Programs to not save over your stuff.An onboard EQ would be hugely advantageous, as the levels vary widely between patches and I found myself constantly fiddling with the 3-band on my mixer.The keyboard itself felt great. Velocity, responsiveness, aftertouch. All of it.I guess bottomline is the that it sounded and felt great but the user interface was such a huge turn off (as well as the sounds being limited for my personal taste)- I traded it in for a japanese-brand digital fm synth.

Feature rich and incredibly well designed

Everything working right out of the box.Specs like 8 modulation matrix slots does not do it justice.You have plenty more, since all 4 LFO's can be routed directly to a parameter with amount, Aux Env as well and a bunch of parameters, think it was 5 more, below the 8 matrix slots. And still the 4 gated sequencers can also be routed directly if you don't need scaling with amount and just numbers are ok.Then two layers having all this, making 8 voices each layer still awesome playability.Also find factory presets very useful, maybe not for playing as are, but to give ideas how to use the various options there are. How did they do this swirling effect there etc.And it sounds fantastic. Personally I don't use effects so much, I like the raw sound more and to add ... MoreEverything working right out of the box.Specs like 8 modulation matrix slots does not do it justice.You have plenty more, since all 4 LFO's can be routed directly to a parameter with amount, Aux Env as well and a bunch of parameters, think it was 5 more, below the 8 matrix slots. And still the 4 gated sequencers can also be routed directly if you don't need scaling with amount and just numbers are ok.Then two layers having all this, making 8 voices each layer still awesome playability.Also find factory presets very useful, maybe not for playing as are, but to give ideas how to use the various options there are. How did they do this swirling effect there etc.And it sounds fantastic. Personally I don't use effects so much, I like the raw sound more and to add in computer and the context it is playing.Nice copying options back and forth between layers, so you could create two voice unison modifying one layer a bit, or use as two complete synths. You can also set dual timbre to play as two different synths, even though it's own outputs if you want.One thing I miss is polyunison, where each key down use up as many voices are left, kind of. Unison is all or nothing, with a setting of number of voices, but it is always mono. Doing dual layer though remedy that to an extent.Saving options with preview of slot you are to overwrite are very smooth.Unless you are using playing filter resonance on pitch it is not sensitive to termperature due to DCO's. So no need to calibrate or warm up really, just start the fun.I saved one star for price if it was cheaper. But worth every penny now that 16-voice is not more than €100 more than 8-voice version.

Review of Dave Smith Prophet REV2 Poly Synth 16 Voice

Haven't scratched the surface with this beast yet and already I'm in love. For a start, it's built like a tank- really sturdy. Lovely finish and wood cheeks. No idea what varnish the use at the factory, but it smells like an old chip shop at first haha (it does go away after an hour or two though). Key bed feels lovely, a joy to play. Naming the patches can be a smidge cumbersome but the small screen wasn't hard to read as some reviewers have made out. Personally I quite like how the screen doesn't invade the front panel and encourages you to be more hands-on. The essentials require little to no menu diving in order to get a great sounding patch- perfect for an old analogue head like me!I can honestly say that the decision to go for the 16 voice version was worth ... MoreHaven't scratched the surface with this beast yet and already I'm in love. For a start, it's built like a tank- really sturdy. Lovely finish and wood cheeks. No idea what varnish the use at the factory, but it smells like an old chip shop at first haha (it does go away after an hour or two though). Key bed feels lovely, a joy to play. Naming the patches can be a smidge cumbersome but the small screen wasn't hard to read as some reviewers have made out. Personally I quite like how the screen doesn't invade the front panel and encourages you to be more hands-on. The essentials require little to no menu diving in order to get a great sounding patch- perfect for an old analogue head like me!I can honestly say that the decision to go for the 16 voice version was worth it. It offers up a lot more flexibility, especially with the sequencers and unison mode. having a bass or lead sound with 16 voice unison is pretty huge. Filter takes some getting used to in order to find the sweet spots, but the routing you can do with it is immensely fun.The weakest thing for me is the effects. Don't get me wrong they're fine and absolutely usable. They're just all that inspiring and not overly customisable. Plus only having one effect per layer is really limiting. I plan to put this synth through my pedal board anyway so not a major issue for me, but I can't help but wonder what this synth would be like if it had the effects engine that the Behringer Deepmind 12 has...But as far as the synth itself is concerned, it's phenomenal.

Solid Sequential "Prophet" Sound

I had one of these for many years and I did like it. But it was expensive, and therefore I had a lot of my "musical eggs" in this one basket. This turned out not to be a good thing: because the Prophet cost so much, it was difficult to fill in the sonic palette in areas where it was lacking later on.Think about it. The Prophet is a good solid machine, intuitive and easy to program, and has pretty good sounds overall. Yet something is missing here. And not everyone understands that it will be missing when they buy one.What is that something? Well, it's the bass sounds mostly, and the other "synth primitives" that you could easily do on a Minimoog or a Behringer Model D. The Prophet just doesn't do these, mostly. After all, it's an 80's polysynth. Only a step up ... MoreI had one of these for many years and I did like it. But it was expensive, and therefore I had a lot of my "musical eggs" in this one basket. This turned out not to be a good thing: because the Prophet cost so much, it was difficult to fill in the sonic palette in areas where it was lacking later on.Think about it. The Prophet is a good solid machine, intuitive and easy to program, and has pretty good sounds overall. Yet something is missing here. And not everyone understands that it will be missing when they buy one.What is that something? Well, it's the bass sounds mostly, and the other "synth primitives" that you could easily do on a Minimoog or a Behringer Model D. The Prophet just doesn't do these, mostly. After all, it's an 80's polysynth. Only a step up from the old Korg Poly 61 and other 80's boat anchors, at the end of the day. 80's polysynth - that is the palette you get. It is not the "synth panacea" you might be thinking it will be for your studio. It does the "Prophet Sound". And it does that well.But it does only that. Don't expect it to do more.

The Missing Link

Overall:Let me start by saying I own many Moog synthesizers and love them all. I’m a huge fan of the 80’s synth pop sound and electronic ambient music. I debated for awhile about getting a DSI instrument but now that I have one I’m wondering why I waited so long. This is a stunning instrument that bridges the gap I had in my music. The DSI with the Moogs is territory that will be explored for many years. The build quality is superb on the Rev2. All metal chassis and gorgeous wooden end caps. All knobs are tight to the turn and some are tactile. Even resistance between all the knobs on my unit. My unit did come with the new Sequential branding on the box and on the unit in place of Dave Smiths logo. I was happy to see this since the newer units carry forth his ... MoreOverall:Let me start by saying I own many Moog synthesizers and love them all. I’m a huge fan of the 80’s synth pop sound and electronic ambient music. I debated for awhile about getting a DSI instrument but now that I have one I’m wondering why I waited so long. This is a stunning instrument that bridges the gap I had in my music. The DSI with the Moogs is territory that will be explored for many years. The build quality is superb on the Rev2. All metal chassis and gorgeous wooden end caps. All knobs are tight to the turn and some are tactile. Even resistance between all the knobs on my unit. My unit did come with the new Sequential branding on the box and on the unit in place of Dave Smiths logo. I was happy to see this since the newer units carry forth his company Sequential now. The OLED screen may be small but it serves it purpose fine and its crystal clear. Perfect really. The key bed action is very nice. Not to light and not to heavy. Has a nice resistance to key press. The sounds are incredible with the 16 voice unit I ordered. Plenty of user memory space for creating your own patches. Be sure and download the original Prophet 08 patches from DSI web. Greatness!Well, off to making more luscious sounds and diving deeper into this masterpiece!

Well made synth with a gorgeous thick sound

I have up to now mainly purchased Roland synths and keyboards - I wanted an Analogue synth and this out of all the synths I have looked at meet my needs. I was not disappointed the sounds took me back to my first synthesizer (Roland SH01) really rich. I was surprised at how well it it is built. Solid frame, good keyboard with Aftertouch and all the controls are good quality pots with a solid movement. The way you can patch envelopes and LFO's really allows you to shape the sound. I have recreated some of my favourite sounds on my Roland JP8000 and they are thicker and better. The only two things I found limiting was the FX unit only applies one effect. It would be nice to have a combined effect e.g. a chorus with a delay/reverb. But this can be resolved by an ... MoreI have up to now mainly purchased Roland synths and keyboards - I wanted an Analogue synth and this out of all the synths I have looked at meet my needs. I was not disappointed the sounds took me back to my first synthesizer (Roland SH01) really rich. I was surprised at how well it it is built. Solid frame, good keyboard with Aftertouch and all the controls are good quality pots with a solid movement. The way you can patch envelopes and LFO's really allows you to shape the sound. I have recreated some of my favourite sounds on my Roland JP8000 and they are thicker and better. The only two things I found limiting was the FX unit only applies one effect. It would be nice to have a combined effect e.g. a chorus with a delay/reverb. But this can be resolved by an external FX unit. To select a programme you have to dial it using bank and parameter knobs, rather than buttons to quickly select a new patch. The factory sounds are not grouped together, pads, leads, strings, brass sounds. There is a patch list you can download from the website to find the sound. There is plenty of user banks to store your own sound in logical or performance order you want which means you can step though using a pedal or quickly turn a knob. If you want good analogue synth this will not disappoint.