"Rare vintage Sequential Circuits Prophet VS rack synthesizer. It’s in excellent cosmetic shape with some minor wear as expected for its age. 100% fully functional with latest OS 1.2. Recently professionally serviced as needed, including installing new upgraded screen which is super easy to read, very bright and legible from all angles (looks even better in person, the pictures don’t do it justice), replaced data slider with a new metal shaft slider and cap (more sturdy than the original) and replaced caps in PSU, voice board, and output board. The battery tests good.
If you need an awesome dedicated hardware controller for the Prophet VS, please check out our Prophet VS Stereoping Controller, we can do a combined bundle deal if you purchased both together. Amazing digital analog hybrid synth, haunting pads, wicked basses, leads and effects. A classic for getting morphed transformed sounds with the data joystick. The built in sequencer/arpeggiator and randomizing patch function are awesome features. Includes VS Ram Prophet VS Ram Cartridge Model 240 (which has a value of $250 on its own). Very rare to find these racks, don't miss out!"
With great dismay I read of the death of Sequential founder Dave Smith this week. I've used Sequential synthesizers like the Pro-One, the Prophet 600, the Drumtraks for many years and one of my all time favorite synths the Prophet VS. I was very fortunate to meet and speak to Dave in person a few years ago. I have rarely seen such a nice and patient person in the synthesizer industry. It left a lasting impression on me. My thanks go to his tireless work for the music industry. We wouldn't be where we are today without the revolutionary MIDI standard. My condolences go to his family. Rest in Peace. Your work will always be associated with Sequential. Thank you for all.
The Sequential Prophet VS Synthesizer from the year 1986 is a fantastic hybrid synth with the typical 80s sound. Here can you find the full Prophet VS playlist with single sound demos and one synth demo tracks. Enjoy.
The Prophet VS playlist:"
"The Sequential Circuits Prophet VS - Analog-Ddigital Hybrid version of the famous Prophet 5, featuring a vector joystick for controlling sound modeling... [the following appears to be pulled from this Perfect Circuit article]
'Chris Meyer, the conceptual creator of the Prophet VS, states that the "Eureka" moment that led to the Prophet VS emerged from a conversation about the PPG Wave—while drawing an explanation of the Wave's interpolation method, it occurred to him that waveshapes could be interpolated in two dimensions. That is to say—rather than fading constantly between two waves on opposite ends of a spectrum, it could be possible to have a diamond shape with different waves at each corner, and to traverse seamlessly between the four in order to create a wealth of timbral variety from only a handful of distinct shapes. Meyer went on to test his hypothesis on his personal modular synthesizer, using a huge number of resources to manage the two-dimensional crossfading he sought—but his experiment was successful. And though the name did not emerge until later, this is when Vector Synthesis was born.
And while this reduction of the technique may seem straightforward, managing the continuous blending between four sound sources requires a lot of resources: in the analog world, it would require VCAs whose levels change in tandem with one another—an effect that would require tons of offsets, polarizers, and signal multiples (let alone patch cables) in order to work. The genius of the Prophet VS lies not only in its embrace of novel sound design...it also lies in its remarkable vocabulary of modulation sources, and their relationship to the core idea of two-dimensional waveshaping.'"
Interesting note from Wine Country Sequential regarding the pressure sensors. The Prophet VS is known to have their aftertouch go out over time. Wine Country Sequential was formed by ex Sequential Circuits employees and is still in business today. You can read up on their history here. The Prophet VS of course was the first Vector Synthesizer with four digital multi-waveform oscillators and a CEM based analog filter. You could use the joystick to morph the levels between the oscillators. Recent synths that contain the Prophet VS waveforms include the DSI Evolver, MEK and PEK and the John Bowen Solaris. The Evolver, MEK and PEK only have two oscillators available with the Prophet VS waveforms while Solaris has four plus other waveforms of course. Vector Synthesis made it's way into the Yamaha SY22 and TG33 followed by the KORG Wavestation line of synths. None had analog filters. The SY22 and TG33 allowed you to record the path of the joystick movement and the Wavestation added wave sequencing where you could loop through selected waveforms in sequence.
Via the seller/listing: "Classic 80's synth. I'm the original owner. Bought in 1986, serial # 0118. I'm including the original owners manual, sales brochure, 2 ram and 1 rom cartridge, power cord, soft shell case, technical information and schematics. I'm listing it in very good condition. Studio use only. Never been on the road. Had upgrades from both Sequential and Wine Country Sequential. The only issue that I know of with this synth is that I cannot guarantee that midi "aftertouch" also referred to as "pressure" will reach it's maximum value (127) when played from it's own keyboard. It will respond to the maximum value when played via midi cable from another keyboard or computer. Modifications 738 and 739 were performed by Sequential to address this design problem. The pressure pads have also been replaced. If not for this particular design flaw, I would have listed this instrument in excellent condition. This is an awesome sounding keyboard, like no other synthesizer in my personal opinion."
In case you missed it in this post, Roger Linn noted Dave Smith was "an avid athelete, cyclist and triathlete. He actually participated in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon in his younger years..."
@birdkids reminded me of an article on the development of the Prophet VS archived on the WaybackMachine. In it, Chris Meyer mentions Dave was in Hawaii prepping for the tournament during that time. I thought it was interesting and worth sharing. I captured it below.
"Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 07:55:41 -0800 From: Xrystal MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Birth of the Prophet VS
I thought the following might be of interest to you. Xrystal _____________________________________________________________________
The Birth of the Prophet VS
By Chris Meyer, ex-employee of Sequential Circuits
It all started somewhere in 1985. We were still working on the Prophet 2000 sampler, and as resident historian (in other words, I had the most magazines and manuals) another engineer was asking me to explain how various instruments performed crossfades. I had finished discussing the Fairlight, and had moved on the PPG - explaining its wavetables, and the ability for it to scan a group of waves first in one direction and then back again, While I was scrawling this back and forth motion in my notebook, suddenly a little twinge went off in the back of my head, and myhand drew the next line arcing down the page.. and the concept of crossfading beween waves in two dimension, not just one, was born.
"On November 12th, Pyramind welcomed a true legend to our facility. The one and only Dave Smith, founder of Sequential Circuits and Dave Smith Instruments who is often referred to as the Father of MIDI.
During An Evening with Dave Smith, which you can watch in it’s entirety, you will get to hear what the new Sequential Prophet-6 synth is capable of in the hands of it's creator. The Prophet-6 is Dave Smith’s tribute to the analog polyphonic synth that started it all—the Sequential Prophet-5. But it’s not simply a reissue of a classic. Rather, as Dave puts it, “It’s the result of our effort to build the most awesome-sounding, modern analog poly synth possible.” The Prophet-6 takes the best qualities of the original Prophet-5—true voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers—and adds enhancements such as studio-quality effects, a polyphonic step sequencer, an arpeggiator, and more. The result is pure, unadulterated analog tone with the stability and reliability of a state-of-the-art modern synth.
01:00 - Hardware vs. Soft Synths - real synths cost more than soft synths (hardware competes with FREE)
02:48 - What inspired you to start building equipment?
05:03 - Talks about the way he developed his synth to work, and what didn’t work for other companies
05:58 - Where do you start when designing your instruments?
09:30 - Talks about the Prophet 6 (voltage controlled oscillators)
12:18 - “Slop Control” feature
14:00 - Analog distortion
16:00 - Story about the new name - Sequential
18:20 - Starts demoing the synth (focused on sequencer)
19:24 - Talks about factory presets and why they’re made the way they are
21:10 - Arpeggiator
22:00 - Effects
24:30 - Analog synthesis has passed the test of time
26:18 - People used to just want to emulate real instruments
28:05 - Inspiration behind the Prophet 2000
30:30 - Why didn’t they quantize oscillator frequencies?
31:40 - Why he likes constrained designs
34:08 - You can know nothing about synthesis and still make cool sounds with these synths
34:58 - USB integration (it’s just midi over USB)
35:20 - Presets
35:48 - Analog gear market
37:30 - Appealing to different clients / genres
38:28 - Taylor Swift Custom Prophet 12
41:14 - What did the sound designers bring to the synth?
42:16 - Hearing presets being used / modified"
An Evening with Dave Smith | Video Recap | Part II | feat. Jason Linder
Published on Jan 11, 2016
"On November 12th, Pyramind welcomed a true legend to our facility. The one and only Dave Smith, founder of Sequential Circuits and Dave Smith Instruments who is often referred to as the Father of MIDI.
During An Evening with Dave Smith, which you can watch in it’s entirety, you will get to hear what the new Sequential Prophet-6 synth is capable of in the hands of it's creator. The Prophet-6 is Dave Smith’s tribute to the analog polyphonic synth that started it all—the Sequential Prophet-5. But it’s not simply a reissue of a classic. Rather, as Dave puts it, “It’s the result of our effort to build the most awesome-sounding, modern analog poly synth possible.” The Prophet-6 takes the best qualities of the original Prophet-5—true voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers—and adds enhancements such as studio-quality effects, a polyphonic step sequencer, an arpeggiator, and more. The result is pure, unadulterated analog tone with the stability and reliability of a state-of-the-art modern synth.
00:46 - How do you know when the synth is “done”?
01:32 - Prophet 6 circuit board vs. Prophet 5
02:00 - Prophet 6 poly chaining, module version
03:08 - Tempest design vs Prophet 6
06:05 - Problems with having too much input during design stage
07:10 - Any high profile sound designers?
07:50 - Demoing
09:20 - Spring reverb model (hitting the side of synth)
12:26 - What was the hardest feature to cut during design?
13:30 - Favorite synth he has made
14:10 - Talks about polymod (one of the most unique things about the Prophet 5) individual modulation PER VOICE
16:00 - Jason Lindner (Keyboardist of Now vs. Now) demo
22:58 - Compares choosing synths to the way guitar platers choose guitars
24:17 - When do you think about what to build NEXT?
25:48 - Will you ever make guitar pedals or effects?
26:50 - Are you continuing to build your back catalog?
28:25 - Is there an audio input? (No)
29:41 - Filter poles (4 pole for lowpass, 2 pole for highpass)
30:24 - Unison mode demo (chord hold)
33:08 - Analog gear cost
35:10 - What do your employees do?
37:55 - Talked about doing a hybrid analog digital vocoder
39:50 - How are the synths assembled?
41:18 - What changed after having employees?
43:39 - Are you less connected with your products now that you have employees?"
A few pics of my newly arrived John Bowen Solaris in the studio. I've wanted one of these since they were announced, but could never afford one until a couple of years ago. I talked myself out of one in the beginning, as I already had a Waldorf Q rack and an XTk keyboard, along with plenty of other virtual analog and real analog gear. In the back of my mind though, I knew I might one day own one. A few years ago I reached the breaking point with the synth collection I picked up over the years. I found myself going into the studio and spending time with synths I wasn't sure about keeping to see if I indeed wanted to keep them. I'd decide yes, this synth is great, I should keep it, only to walk out of the studio neglecting other synths that I honestly wanted to play more. I did this for years. The breaking point for me was when a few of the older analogs started exhibiting problems and I realized I didn't have a solid tech in the area. The only way to fix them would be to ship them off incurring the shipping costs to and back over the cost of the repairs. I also began to realize how redundant my synths were. Seriously. They are all either subtractive analog, wavetable, FM, additive, or PCM/sample based in the end. They are all just different flavors of the same thing. I mean how many different brands of vanilla ice cream do you really need? For me synths are about getting lost in the sound - about exploring sound. So yes, the more brands the better, but... just like there's only so much space in my belly for ice cream, I only have so much time in the studio. I realized it was time to let some go and in doing so I could use the money on other gear I'd been GASing on, like the Sequential OB-6, Elektron Digitakt, a Jupiter-XM to replace some vintage Rolands I gave up, and of course the Solaris. The Solaris was actually the first on the list. As I said, I wanted one since the start. I also know John Bowen, and no I did not get a deal on my Solaris. The Solaris is a labor of love and John pretty much runs the show on his own. He does work with others on building them of course, but this is a small enterprise. You can't find these in shops. They are exclusively sold on John Bowen's website: https://johnbowen.com, and there is a wait time. When I reached out to John about finally getting one he let me know this might be the last run. It was run number 7 and I asked him if I could get the last one. He said yes so I went for it. A couple of years later it arrived. (P.S. I heard there might be another run and John is still working on the OS, an expander, and possibly a desktop version, see the update in red below).
Do I have any regrets? I can emphatically say no. This is an amazing synth. What sets it apart is it has four, not three fully blown oscillators that can be morphed with a joystick for vector synthesis of wavetable and virtual analog synthesis. No other synth that I am aware of can do this. It is also fully modular. If you look at each display panel section, each knob, you can essentially load anything into them and route them however you want. Things aren't locked in place like other synths. The Solaris also runs at a super high resolution - 96kHz to be exact. People say it sounds analog and this is not an overstatement. It sounds amazing. I hate to say it, but it leaves my Q in the dust. It just sounds so much more bold and present. It is hands down the best sounding VA and Wavetable synth I own. I've owned a lot of synths over the years including some of the most sought after - Jupiter-8, OB-Xa, Matrix-12, Prophet-5, Rhodes Chroma, Alesis Andromeda A6, Yamaha CS-60, original Minimoog Model D, ARP Odyssey with CMS mods, and more. The Solaris is right up there with them if not surpassing them. It is that good. It feels different too. It feels like a powerhouse design tool. A synth of synths, so to speak. Note it also has the Prophet VS waveforms. I have a Prophet VS rack (you can see it in the top right), and I can say the Solaris sonically matches it - it has that transparent, bold presence missing in many digital synths. An unintended added bonus is the Solaris joystick actually works with the Prophet VS! :)
That said, if you do plan on picking up a Solaris or a Solaris expander, reach out to John first. This isn't an order now and get it next week sort of synth. It's more of a long term investment. How long? For me it was two years as I wanted the last of the final run. It was worth the wait.
Update: I should note my Solaris has a unique serial number out of the standard sequence. It's 10041. I'm curious if anyone will recognize the reference. :) So, although this might not be the last Solaris keyboard, it will have an interestingly unique SN. :) I also updated the above with the following: "Note it also has the Prophet VS waveforms. I have a Prophet VS rack and the Solaris sonically matches it - it has that transparent, bold, presence missing in many digital synths."
"iProphet recreates the unique sound of the classic Sequential Circuits Prophet VS synthesizer. The Prophet VS's rareness and classic digital sound make it a mainstay for those who can find them and a seemingly out or reach dream for those who cannot. The sound is purely classic crisp digital sound that easily stands on its own, but at the same time is the perfect compliment to the sound of analog synthesizers. It brings the crystaline vintage sound of four digital oscillators and allows sculpting them using a creamy & warm multimode filter. You can morph the sound of the 4 oscillators using the joystick or the vector mode and the vector envelope.
The iProphet is great for evolving pads, sharp leads and super punchy digital bass sounds and comes with over 500 presets created by some of todays best sound designers. You can also swap presets between iProphet and Arturia's Prophet V synthesizer which allows you to work on the iPAD and finish in the DAW of your choice.
iProphet supports Core MIDI, interapp-audio as well as Audiobus technologies for perfect integration.
iProphet is also a Tabletop Ready app. You can use it exclusively or along side your favorite Tabletop instruments.
The use of the brands 'Prophet' and 'Sequencial Circuits' is done with permission of Dave Smith Instruments"
Every now and then I hear about people knocking the iPad in the synth world. Usually the criticism seems to be a reaction to the hype or the inevitable "it can't do this or that" sort of argument. Don't let the hype (negative or positive) influence you. Just see it for what it is - a piece of hardware with processing power, memory, and a multi-touch interface that can be used to turn it into a synth, audio processing device, controller or whatever else might come out for it. I thought I'd share my thoughts on why I'm particularly fond of it and why you see so many posts here. In short, I like synthesizers, and the iPad is as much a synthesizer as any of my other synths. I didn't get an iPad to replace my synths or controllers, I got one to compliment them, which BTW, is the exact reason I buy any piece of gear.
In regards to synthesis, unless a synth is analog it's digital, and digital is software running on hardware. Whether that's a PC, a dedicated hardware synth or the iPad, it's still software running on hardware, and hardware comes in all shapes and sizes. Like any other synth, the iPad has its advantages and disadvantages.
As for the interface, all hardware varies from being completely menu driven to one knob per parameter. I do have to say Moog's Animoog X/Y pad and PATH module trumps my Prophet VS for drawing vector type paths for manipulating sound in time. The visual feedback is useful rather than gimmicky and the customizable virtual touch plate is extremely expressive and responsive. As for complimenting and extending the interface of my current hardware, my FS1R was practically non editable until I made this TouchOSC template for it. I'm also less worried about the Prophet VS joystick going out now that I have my Prophet VS TouchOSC editor. I prefer the editor to the Prophet VS interface.
As for the iPad not being open, it's definitely more open than most other hardware synths when you think about it. Roland VariOS anyone? Not only was it Roland only, it faded long before new models came out for it. The Creamware Noah allowed you to install VSTs but is now gone as well. The beauty of the iPad platform is the support it receives outside of the synth community which means it's not going anywhere. Worth noting is the interface of the VariOS and Noah were also much more rigid than the iPad. Physical knobs? Sit the iPad on a synth or MIDI controller with knobs and have them compliment each other.
Simply put, the iPad is a chunk of hardware with processing power and memory just like any other hardware synth. It's interface is a multi-touch screen and it can be hooked up to any external MIDI controller. It can be used as a synth, a controller, or whatever else you want it to be. Some say the processing power isn't there yet. True for some applications, and the same can be said for other hardware synths. All of this seems so obvious that I almost did not put this post up, but I keep seeing and hearing things... Let's just say I put the two posts above when this went up because I'm more interested in them. As the saying goes, "nothing to see here, please move on."
Think of the iPad as a rack mount synth that can morph into anything with an added multi-touch screen just for the heck of it, and you'll be just fine. The apps will define it for you though. If you don't see what you like, move on. The same goes for all other hardware synths. And no, it never will replace everything, it will just compliment it.
You can find my initial excitement on the iPad and all tablets for that matter here: A New World in Synthesis.
"SCI Prophet VS, made in 1984 [make that 1986]. Beautiful, amazing unicorn of a synth -- a hybrid of analog and digital. Believe it or not, back in the day, 'analog' was out of style, and "digital" was the big new thing. The Prophet VS has one foot in both worlds: Analog was a solved problem, and the engineers still weren't entirely sure what to do with digital! All sorts of things you can't find anywhere else: Bizarre, magical envelope generators that go way beyond ADSR; the capability to loop and repeat. An arpeggiator that can almost be called a sequencer, supporting layering and a memory of over 100 notes. DCOs you can upload your own waveforms to over MIDI.... analog filters, multiplexing, chorus. 8 voice polyphony. My favorite part is its ability to randomly generate patches (Enter + 2) as it takes you into all sorts of wacky areas -- intensely deep patch programming. The Prophet VS is featured on many of the tracks of the new Aphex Twin album, 'Syro', and for good reason!"
Sequential Circuits Prophet VS – All the Best Sounds
Here's a very cool keyboard from Sequential. Notice the joystick for controlling your sound modeling.
The Prophet VS uses Vector Synthesis as its revolutionary new means of sound creation. It uses a total of four oscillators per voice with 127 waveforms (32 user) and dynamic waveform crossfading via the joystick. This was Sequential's first digital synth, and it was also their final synth unfortunately. But after Sequential was gone, Vector Synthesis technology went into the popular Korg Wavestation and Yamaha's SY-22 and TG-33.
The Prophet VS is still a very sought after instrument because it has an incredible range of sounds! Its only problem is that there's practically nobody left that can fix it if something went wrong. It is used by Brian Eno, Trent Reznor, Apollo 440, Depeche Mode, Vince Clarke, Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Erasure and filmmaker/composer John Carpenter."
"This video is a new series of mainly dark sounds made with the Sequential Circuits SCI Prophet VS. I hope you enjoy this video and stay tuned for the next Prophet VS video as well as the Prophet VS album coming up soon."
"all synthesizer sounds: Sequential Prophet VS Vector Synthesizer (1986)
drums: LinnDrum (1982)
recording: multi-track
The Sequential Prophet VS Synthesizer from the year 1986 is a fantastic hybrid synth with the typical 80s sound. Here can you find the full Prophet VS playlist with single sound demos and one synth demo tracks. Enjoy."
Well maybe not an official showdown, but keyboards.de has a bunch of A/Bs of the same patches played with the same notes between a handful of VAs and their Analogs. I don't think I've ever seen a list this comprehensive before.
Synths A/B'ed:
- Arturia CS-80V vs. Yamaha CS-80
- Arturia Minimoog V vs. Moog Minimoog
- Audiorealism Bassline vs. Roland TB-303
- Creamware Minimax vs. Moog Minimoog
- Creamware Prodyssey vs. Arp Odyssey
- Creamware Pro One vs. Sequential Circuits Pro-One
- GMedia impOSCar vs. OSC OSCar
- GMedia Odity vs. Arp Odyssey
- Korg Legacy Polysix vs. Korg Polysix
- Native Instruments FM7 vs. Yamaha DX7
- Native Instruments Pro53 vs. Sequential Circuits Prophet 10
- Roland VariOS-303 vs. Roland TB-303
- Roland VariOS-8 vs. Roland Jupiter 8
- Waldorf PPG vs. PPG Wave 2.2
Yowsa! Guess what I'll be doing tonight. Note the Pro54 vs. Prophet 10, poor guys didn't have a Prophet 5 to compare it to. ; )
BTW, credit goes to Colin for finding this site. Amazing find!
Apparently these are pretty hard to find. If you have a Prophet VS take extra care of that joystick. Thought it was interesting to see some pics of the internals.
"For sale is my Sequential Circuits Prophet VS Joystick replacement part in New Old Stock (NOS) condition. This is the perfect replacement if your joystick on your VS is not working, or great as a backup just in case. Incredibly rare, I don't believe I've ever seen one of these up for sale before and they can't be found anywhere. If you've been waiting for a new joystick for your VS to appear, here it is!!"
"When you have 2 Prophet VS synths, you can really have some epic fun with what becomes a 16 voice VS. Midi overflow makes it happen, the second VS takes over when the first ober runs out of voices.
Sequential Prophet VS - the vector hybrid synth.
Title link takes you to shots via this auction. via Rob
Details: -8 voice polyphonic hybrid analogue/ digital synth, responds to velocity and aftertouch. -4 oscillators per voice or 32 oscillators stacked in unison mode! Each oscillator has 127 different waveforms to choose from. Each of the 4 oscillators can select a different waveform and has independant tuning. -The waveforms are based on high quality 12bit samples. They include all the standard analogue waveshapes sawtooth, square, triangle and sine plus 120+ other very interesting waveforms. -User waveforms can also be created with the Vector joystick or via a midi sample dump. -8 Resonant analogue filters based on CEM filter chips. Great sound! -3x Envelope generators one for amplitude, filter and oscillator mix. -Each envelope generator has 5 stages with 12 parameters. Each stage can be looped, backwards or forwards, infinitely or for a fixed number of times! -The 'Oscillator Mix' envelope generator is where the oscillators are blended/ crossfaded over time, creating the movement between the oscillators (Vector synthesis) -Each oscillator has its own parameter settings for each stage of the 'Oscillator Mix' envelope. -Sounds can also be created without using the Vector capabilites, just using it like a conventional 4 oscillator analogue polysynth! 4 oscillators! > VCF > Amp/ Filter EG Chorus. Fat sounds! -Modulation capabilities are also very well specified. As well as the Vector synthesis there are two LFOs and a comprehensive modulation matrix. Velocity, aftertouch, pitch-bend and modulation wheel can be used to control virtually any Prophet VS parameter!
Other features worth mentioning: A nice arpeggiator. -Stereo voice panning. Each voice can be panned anywhere in the stereo field. -Unison mode, with detune! (Great for basslines) -Random patch generator. -Midi of course, with great specification. -The Prophet VS has 100 preset memories. Patches can be split or layered too. Unit comes with my own custom programmed patch bank plus a CDROM with some other program banks which can be dumped via Sysex.
Sonically, the VS is unsurpassed for evolving synth string and pad sounds! Its also great for smooth brass sounds, unison basslines, effects, arpeggios, leadlines, anything...
Rare synth. Less than 400 VS racks were made worldwide, these rack versions are highly sought after."
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