Introducing the Prophet 12 Module by Dave Smith

Published on Dec 18, 2013 Dave Smith Instruments·26 videos

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Soundtrack composed 100% with Prophet 12!
Introducing the Prophet 12 Module, the same great sound engine of the Prophet 12 keyboard with enough portability to fit in a backpack! At twelve voices, the Prophet 12 boasts the greatest polyphony of any instrument designed by Dave Smith. Each voice features four oscillators capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator, resonant analog low-pass and high-pass filters, and analog VCAs. The new Character section adds a variety of wave shaping and sound sculpting options, like Drive, Hack, Decimation, Girth, and Air. Additional features include a tuned feedback path, a four-tap stereo delay per voice, expanded arpeggiator functionality, deep modulation capabilities, and bi-timbral operation. The LFOs, delay, and arpeggiator can all be synced, either to the internal clock or an external MIDI clock."

Dave Smith Prophet 12s on eBay

Update: also see:

Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 Desktop Rack in the Works
Roger Linn stops by DSI for a Linnstrument prototype demo
Dave Smith Introduces the Mopho SE

Update 2: the official press release:

"DSI develops powerful Prophet 12 module from flagship Prophet 12 keyboard


SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, USA: Premier polyphonic synthesizer manufacturer Dave Smith Instruments is proud to announce the Prophet 12 module — a space-saving tabletop and rack-ready reworking of its recently released Prophet 12 keyboard, the twelve-voice hybrid digital/ analog synthesizer that company founder and renowned designer Dave Smith duly declared his “best synth yet.”

“We have had many requests from professional musicians for a small, easily portable version of the Prophet 12 keyboard, with all the same features and incredible sound,” says Smith. “The new Prophet 12 module is just that: it has all the power of the Prophet 12 keyboard — in fact, it has the exact same voice board — and it fits into a backpack.”

All those powerful Prophet 12 module parameters are easily editable via a well-thought-through front panel perfectly fit for purpose. “People like small these days,” declares its astute architect. “Many musicians also have more than enough keyboards, or simply don’t use keyboards. The Prophet 12 module offers a sleek design that still gives you easy and incredibly fast and intuitive control over all parameters.”

Just like its Prophet 12 keyboard counterpart, the twelve-voice hybrid digital/analog Prophet 12 module not only boasts the greatest number of voices of any instrument from the distinguished designer to date, but each of those voices features four OSCILLATORS capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator (Sub Octave), analog resonant LOW-PASS FILTER and analog HIGH-PASS FILTER, and analog VOLTAGE CONTROLLED AMPLIFIER. Additional features include a tuned FEEDBACK path, a four-tap stereo DELAY per voice, expanded ARPEGGIATOR functionality, deep MODULATION capabilities, bi-timbral operation, and much more besides. The CHARACTER section adds a variety of out of the ordinary wave-shaping and sound-sculpting options like Girth (low shelf filtering that boosts low frequencies, with some extra harmonic modification at higher settings), Air (high shelf filtering that boosts high frequencies, with some extra harmonic modification at higher settings), Hack (reduces the bit depth of the mixed output from the oscillators), Decimation (reduces the sample rate of the mixed output from the oscillators), and Drive (emulates tape saturation).

Despite its comparatively diminutive dimensions, the back panel I/O of the Prophet 12 module matches that of the Prophet 12 keyboard in almost all aspects — apart from featuring an external power supply in the interests of making it as compact and portable as possible. Headphones, Main/A Outputs, B Outputs, MIDI Thru, MIDI Out, MIDI In, Pedal 1, Pedal 2, Sustain, and USB connectivity are all present and accounted for, making musical communication with the outside world a breeze.

Be prepared to be blown away by the Prophet 12 module. It won’t break backpacks, but packs more than enough power into its easily carried form factor to meet the needs of modern music makers and savvy sound designers — wherever they take it.

The Prophet 12 module has an MAP of $2,199.00 USD and can be purchased from any authorized Dave Smith Instruments dealer."