Playlist: (you can use the player controls to skip around)
1. Synthfest UK 23: Sequential - Trigon 6 Desktop
At SynthFest UK 2023, we had the opportunity to chat with Chris from Sequential, a part of the Focusrite group. Chris introduced us to the Trigon 6 Desktop, the latest addition to Sequential's synthesizer lineup. This compact desktop version of the Trigon 6 packs a powerful punch, offering three oscillators and a distinctive Dave Smith ladder filter. Designed for those seeking a space-saving solution without compromising on sound quality, the Trigon 6 Desktop retains all the features of its larger sibling, including patch recall, a versatile effects section with various modulation possibilities, and the distinctive feedback control that allows you to sculpt sub-harmonic richness.
At Synthfest UK 2023, we caught up with Calc from Sequential, and he gave us the lowdown on the Prophet X. Now, you might be thinking, Prophet X? Haven't we seen that before? Well, you're right, but this hybrid instrument has been quietly making waves in the music world. It combines digital and analog elements, with digital oscillators and a unique twist in the form of multi-sample-based instruments. Yes, you heard that right, it's not just your run-of-the-mill synth; it's a full-on sampler too, boasting an impressive 50 gigabytes of memory for your custom samples. You can treat it like a rompler, a sample player, or even use those samples as oscillators, creating a whole new realm of sonic possibilities.
Plus, it's packed with stereo goodness, allowing you to explore a wide soundstage with ease. It's not your typical synth, and that's what makes its a favourute of Calc's
"It's not a new synth -- it's seven! Korg's amazing new Prophecy offers analogue and FM synthesis, and physical modelling, and still costs under £1000. Unsurprisingly, SOS staff have been dying to review one ever since it was unveiled at this year's Frankfurt Musik Messe. Lucky man GORDON REID won the toss...
This is the story as it was told to me... In 1987, the former Sequential Circuits design team (responsible for classics such as the Prophet 5 and Prophet VS) began working for Korg. The company immediately bundled them out of sight, locked them in a room full of computers and said "design something for us". Locks were locked, bolts were bolted, and most people forgot that they had ever existed.
Years passed. Every day somebody from Korg would shove some food and water through a hole in the door. Then, one day, there was a timorous knock from inside. Locks were unlocked and bolts were drawn. When the door was opened, a pasty-faced individual peeked out, blinked in the light, and said, "We've designed something. It's called a Wavestation". "What does it do?" asked the guys from Korg. "Well, it's sort of a wavetable synthesizer, with vector synthesis, and wave sequencing". "Not bad" said the guys from Korg. "Now get back inside and design something else".
Years passed. Every day somebody from Korg would shove some food and water through a hole in the door. Then, one day, there was another timorous knock from inside. The door was opened, and an even pastier-faced individual peeked out, blinked in the light, and said "We've designed something else". "What does it do this time?" asked the guys from Korg. "Well, it does analogue synthesis" said the pasty-faced one. "And FM. Oh yes... and physical modelling of plucked strings. And brass. And reeds. And it can be programmed to handle any new synthesis techniques that may come along in the future... and it does them all simultaneously. We've called it the Open Architecture Synthesis System, or OASYS for short."
The executives at Korg were delighted, and instead of shoving the team back into their room, bought them dinner at an expensive Japanese restaurant. But there was a problem. At £10,000, the OASYS was expensive. Very expensive. So Korg turned to the developers and said, "Sorry guys, we've got to put you back in your room. We need something cheaper, something that will appeal to the average musician. Something, to be blunt, that we can sell in the mass markets."
Months passed. Every day somebody from Korg would shove some food and water through the hole in the door. Then, quite recently, there was a knock from inside. An extremely pasty-faced individual peeked out and said, "We've done what you asked". "What does it do?" asked the guys from Korg. "Well, it does analogue synthesis" said the pasty-faced one. "And FM. Oh yes... and physical modelling of plucked strings. And brass. And reeds. And, before you shove us back in the room... it does all that for less than £1,000." Thus did the Prophecy, as they say, come to pass.
OUTSIDE AND IN
Externally, the Korg Prophecy is a light but robust 37-note monosynth with a velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard. The styling is, to my eyes, new and refreshing, although a few people have commented on its similarities to the Yamaha VL1... A 2 x 40-character backlit LCD dominates the control panel, and is surrounded by buttons to the left and right, and knobs underneath. Conventional modulation and pitch-bend wheels, plus the 'log' (a combined mod-wheel and pressure-sensitive ribbon controller), round off the package. Most people will either love it or hate it. I love it...
Round the back, you'll find the inevitable MIDI In, Out and Thru, alongside inputs for an expression pedal, an on/off (sustain) foot-switch, and a socket for an EC5 MIDI controller. This can be used for patch selection when your hands are otherwise occupied. There's also a socket for a RAM card that will store arpeggiator patterns as well as patches. And, finally, there are the stereo audio outputs.
Internally, the Prophecy is just a computer, although it boasts no fewer than five processors. Three of these are the Texas Instruments TMS57002 DSPs used in the Korg G-series effects. The other two are for housekeeping: an NEC V55 looks after the user interface, key-scanning, and display, and a Toshiba H8 (which I've never heard of) looks after the three DSPs."
"A demo that a number of people have been asking me to do for about six months, so I'm hoping it does the instrument justice.
The DSi Prophet REV2 (2017) is the successor to the Prophet 08 (2007) that was itself the comeback Prophet synth after Sequential had closed their doors thirty years prior.
Its heritage is legendary with the Prophet~5, Prophet~10, Prophet T8 and Prophet VS being a few of its relatives. It's also in good company with modern siblings such as the Prophet 12, Prophet~6 and Prophet X/XL.
Whilst it can do decent "classic" analogue sounds, retro patches would underplay all the modern things the REV2 can do. The 3 envelopes / 4 LFOs and comprehensive mod matrix combined with modern connectivity and synchronization make it a very convenient workhorse and I imagine players and engineers would have dreamed of functionality like it when the original Prophets were in their heyday.
You can stack patches, but the voice count halves when you do that. As mine is the 8-voice version that leaves me with 4-voices in that respect, but I worked around it. There's a kit to upgrade to 16-voice which is on my (long) list of things to do.
I used a combination of my own patches, some tweaked factory presets, some live playing, some midi and some tempo-synced grooves from the poly and gated sequencers. I used some onboard FX but also recorded some parts dry and added FX in my DAW.
Instruments used:
Prophet REV2 (all synth sounds)
Abbey Road Modern Drums (Drums)
Some miscellaneous drum samples
Some of the pictures of the other Prophets were taken by others back when we did "The History of the Prophet Synthesizer" last year. If you haven't seen that one:" The History of the Prophet Synthesizer
"You are looking at a really nice Prophet 5 Synthesizer, version 3.3 with MIDI installed. The unit works perfectly with no issues. In the past year, it's been to Wine Country Productions for the installation of a new battery and a general health check up and calibration. About 3 years ago, the keyboard bushings were all replaced, so the keyboard plays as good as possible. The wood is good to excellent in condition with a few minor scratches here and there. One small gouge on a bottom corner also - not really seen. Front panel, as shown, is also excellent with only one small scratch along the top. Comes with factory patches installed and with the Prophet 5 Technical manual, a 3 ring binder with tons of info on servicing and maintenance."
"Arturia launches legendary soft synth classics collection to lead into musical temptation
GRENOBLE, FRANCE: following in the footsteps of its super-successful V Collection 4 premium software collection, launched to critical acclaim late last year, music software and hardware developer and manufacturer Arturia is proud to announce availability of V Collection Classics — conveniently rounding up five of its most sought-after Analog Classics soft synth emulations of five legendary analogue synthesizers from five legendary brands into a musically tempting, competitively-priced package — as of April 2...
ARP, Moog, Oberheim, Roland, and Sequential Circuits... classic analogue synthesizer-manufacturing names all. And all of those classic companies — past and present — have produced at least one legendary instrument that truly impacted the music industry throughout the Seventies and into the Eighties and beyond. Indeed, the sought-after sounds of these instruments still resonate today. Think ARP 2600 (1970-81), MinimoogTM (1970-81), Synthesizer Expander Module® (1974-79), Jupiter-8 (1981-84), and Prophet-5 (1978-82). And Arturia has played a not inconsiderable part in bringing these still- sought-after sounds into today’s computer-centric recording and performance workflow thanks to TAE® (True Analog Emulation), an advanced proprietary technology allowing accurate modelling of analogue circuitry behaviour on personal computers. Conveniently, all five of Arturia’s award-winning Analog Classics soft synth emulations of those analogue classics are available to musically tempt as a must-have, competitively-priced package... please welcome, V Collection Classics! Come join us, then, as we make the musical introductions...
Arturia’s ARP 2600 V is a truly versatile sound creation tool with a massive musical bite; indeed, its raw and dirty character is perfectly suited to creating massive drum ’n’ bass stabs to growlin’, funky bass lines and spaced-out drones, with much in-between. From the starship funk lead lines of the Seventies to the gangsta whine of mid-Nineties hip-hop, the ever- present MinimoogTM has been making its phat presence felt for four-plus decades; Arturia’s award-winning Mini V even offers polyphony and additional modulation options, effectively turning it into an authentic-sounding Memorymoog emulation... well, sort of. Oberheim’s Synthesizer Expander Module® (SEM) started life as an add-on synthesizer module for fattening up Minimoogs before becoming a sought-after sound in its own right, with up to eight embedded in Oberheim’s groundbreaking Seventies-vintage polysynths; still sought-after today for its stunning-sounding multimode filter, Arturia offers all this and more in its outstanding Oberheim SEM V emulation. The runaway success of Roland’s then-flagship Jupiter-8 programmable analogue polysynth took the synth world by storm upon its 1981 release, boosting its already superlative sonic capabilities by adding an arpeggiator that helped make many mega hit singles shine forth musically — think Duran Duran (‘Save A Prayer’) and Howard Jones (‘New Song’); similarly, Arturia’s Jupiter-8 V is a real musical workhorse, capable of creating a very versatile range of sounds — stretching from fat to ‘crystalline’ — while going above and beyond the capabilities of the original instrument, thanks to its additional modulation possibilities and inbuilt effects. Last but not least, the Prophet-5 is truly a legend in its own lifetime as the world’s first fully-programmable polyphonic synthesizer; again, Arturia’s Prophet V faithfully brings back to life those historic and superlative sounds, together with those of the 1986-vintage, California-created classic Prophet VS Digital Vector Synthesizer, Sequential’s first digital design (and, alas, the final synth, sadly, from the iconic innovative instrument manufacturer). Must we say more?
Maybe just one more thing, then: thanks to V Collection Classics"
"The Korg Polysix is a classic analogue polyphonic synth. It was the best sold analog synthesizer. Roland answered one year later with the Juno-60.
The Korg Polysix has per voice:
1 VCO + suboscillator (PWM possible), 24 dB lowpass filter, 1 ADSR envelope, 1 LFO (sine waveform only). It also has an very useful FX section, which lets you forget that you have 1 VCO per voice. ENSEMBLE, CHORUS and PHASE effects are possible. The Polysix has the same useful ARPEGGIATOR like the Mono/Poly. It is synchronisable with drum machines, sequencers,...
The Polysix has 32 RAM memories for your patches. With the tape interface, the whole RAM memory can be stored on tape/cassette. Of course you can save the memory data as WAV files as well. The Korg Polysix was inspired by the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 - in fact, the Polysix has SSM chips like the early Prophets. For this reason, it has a warm, "american" analog sound...
The Polysix can produce fat pads with the "ensemble" effect, which reminds me on old string machines. It also can produce great bass and lead sounds in unisono mode. Weird sounds are possible with the arpeggiator in combination with filter resonance.
The hardware is solid, well made - except the original internal battery, which tends to leak. Especially when the Polysix is not turned on for a long time.
The audio signal was recorded straight from the Polysix' output, without any additional effects or dynamics.
"Serviced one year ago by Berlin specialists this Prophet 5 Rev 3.3 is in amazing condition! Higher price than normal as it comes with professionally installed Kenton Midi Kit by Andy Horrell from EMIS music in Bristol. Means you can hook it up directly to your DAW and control note on and off, filter cut off, modulation pitch bend and lots more!"
"The Prophet-5 actually contains five individual synthesizers, termed “voices”. For its producible sound sources, each voice contains two voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs), referred to as OSC A and OSC B. OSC A, OSC B, and a white noise source can be mixed into a resonant low-pass voltage controlled filter (VCF). The filter modifies the voice timbre under control of its four-stage envelope generator. The filter may also serve as a sound source. Following each filter, a voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) also controlled by a four-stage envelope generator shapes the voice amplitude. Only one voice is depicted on the control panel, because the voice controls “patch” the five voices identically. This makes the voices homophonous— they sound alike— with pitch differences corresponding to (at most) five keys simultaneously-held keys. The term “digital-analog hybrid” is often used to described the Prophet. This means that instead of directly controlling the analog synthesizer voices, the keyboard and most controls are actually devices which input “data” to a microcomputer system which in turn “programs” the voices. The microcomputer has three main functions. First, it solves the of generating five independent sets of voice control voltages and gate signals (which operate the envelope generators) from a single keyboard. Second, its digital memory provides a way to store all of the switch and knob settings which form a program. These programs are retained by the microcomputers memory even when the Prophet is turned off, thats to a small battery with a 10-year life. Third, the microcomputer system keeps the ten voice oscillators in tune."
Unfortunately this one is partially work/for parts. It was partially working back in May of last year as well. Hopefully we'll see it back fully working one day. Details from the listing on what does and doesn't currently work:
"Pieces that are missing/ not functioning :
5 screws in the back
22 knobs
The original pot on the frequency knob on the Lfo - mod section
The switch on the freq A on the Lfo - mod section doesn't turn on.
You cannot split the keyboard at the moment
Keys:
Two keys on the lowest octave are warped and stuck together.
53 out 76 keys work
When you plug in a midi keyboard all the keys work great
What works:
The sequencer
The presets have been currently installed
All the keys work via midi
The after touch
All eight voices are working
all of the knobs and switches work except for the frequency A switch on the Lfo mod
The tuning button works"
After this year's massive New Years post, I thought it might be interesting to see how many new makers and new gear announcements we received in a single month.
This may or may not become a monthly theme on the site depending on interest. If you think it's worth while, leave a comment.
At a high level we had 12 new makers, one new old maker previously never featured on the site, and a whopping 193 new synth related products. Check out the module list below. The list is a combination of what was either announced or released this month.
"XILS-lab literally creates plug-in pleasure principal when recreating revolutionary polysynth
GRENOBLE, FRANCE: audio software company XILS-lab is proud to announce availability of PolyM — an authentic recreation of the pioneering Polymoog polysynth, dreamed up by American designer Dave Luce and produced by Moog Music between 1975-1980, but benefitting from finest French software skills to truly create a plug-in pleasure principal as arguably the best ‘virtual’ divide-down oscillator technology-toting soft synth available anywhere and teaching the old dog some new tricks in the process — as of July 3...
That’s today. Putting PolyM in its present-day context involves initially looking back. But back in the early-Seventies, setting out to create an analogue, functional voltage-controlled synthesizer that was polyphonic against a backdrop of monophonic mainstays proved problematic for many. Moog’s musical solution came quicker than most, making an appearance in 1975 in its extremely expensive ($5,295 USD), nine-preset original form as the Polymoog keyboard (model 203a). It included a front panel packed with an almost continuous row of slider pots (permitting presets to be fully modified into more individualised analogue sounds via various subtractive synthesis parameters, including a 24dB Moog ladder filter section — allowing modulation modulated from its own envelopes and low frequency oscillation — alongside a unique and flexible three-band resonant filter section with lowpass/bandpass/high-pass filter modes) before being joined in 1978 by a marginally more economically-viable ($3,995 USD), 14-preset stripped back version (with editing reduced to volume, tuning, high-pass filtering, and basic LFO — Low Frequency Oscillator — features), which was also (confusingly) called the Polymoog keyboard (model 280a), though the original fully-variable version was then rebadged, admittedly, as the Polymoog Synthesizer.
via this auction "Sequential Circuits Prophet 10, REV 3, analog 10 voice polyphonic synthesizer serial # 91 manufactured 1981 in very nice but not mint condition, for a thirty year old electronic musical instrument. New lower price with a low reserve, the Prophet 10 has the early basic MIDI circa 1983-84 in/out only retrofitted by SC, according to the updated addendums 1982-83 to the original SC owners manual dated sept. 1981, also comes with 5 original SC foot pedals and a custom made for the P 10 Ultimate A-frame type adjustable height stand to hold the synth , and a Anvil type flight case which holds all the pedals as well. Also included are several rare, I believe CEM ic chips for future backups that were accumulated by the previous owner of this synth. The synth plays 100% , except the poly- sequencer and obsolete tape drive I have not used at all, so I cannot be certain about the sequencer. All other controls do function including the pitch/mod wheels, poly-mod sections, the LFO sections, glide, etc. I was told buy the previous owner when I bought this P 10, that it does need about 10-15 minutes or so to properly warm up. I was playing it some today mixing waveforms/oscillators and and running them through the P 10's VCF's and all keys upper and lower do sound, the VCA on these P 10 analogs produce powerful and loud pads/chords, bass, and or lead sounds, and all 10 voices play loud and clear, I noticed today while playing this P 10, that you can just hit one preset note ,one key and it will sound two or three or even multiple voices on just the one note/key, I am not sure if the original factory presets are still in memory, but there are a lot of different awesome sounds in both upper and lower banks. There are no broken or missing knobs or controls anywhere and all leds appear to work. Shipping weight is about 150 lbs. total"
"XILS-lab launches low-cost luscious soft synth emulation of Eighties polysynth par excellence!
'I’ve just got miniSyn’X and am so excited, because the Synthex is a fantastic rarity. Thanks to XILS-lab for giving everyone the opportunity to play with it.'
- Jean-Michel Jarre (April 2015)
GRENOBLE, FRANCE: music software company XILS-lab is proud to announce availability of miniSyn’X — an authentic, cost-conscious soft synth emulation of a much-loved Eighties-vintage analogue polysynth of Italian origin that helped define the sound of an era — as of April 8...
miniSyn’X is a multi-format (AAX, AU, RTAS, VST), 32- and 64-bit polyphonic, duo-timbral virtual analogue synthesizer plug-in for Mac (OS X 10.5 and later) Windows (XP, Vista, and 7/8) that faithfully emulates the still-sought-after sound of the Synthex, a luscious, 1982-vintage, eight-voice programmable analogue polysynth independently designed by Mario Maggi and built by Italian home organ manufacturer Elka. Indeed, it was much loved by synth luminaries of the day — not least French synth wizard Jean-Michel Jarre, whose well-known Laser Harp performances still emanate exclusively from an amazing-sounding Synthex patch produced by one-time UK demonstrator/ programmer Paul Wiffen and audible in isolation in ‘Second Rendez-Vous’ on Jarre’s multi-million-copy-selling Rendez-Vouz album of 1986. Pity, then, that the Synthex did not sell in such Jarre-like quantities during a four-year, three-stage (50-, 800-, and 1,000-unit) production run, with one last post-production unit being built especially for Stevie Wonder, such was the legendary American singer-songwriter/multi- instrumentalist/record producer’s love for the future-classic instrument that initially failed to fly in the face of the-then ‘art nouveau’ digital age of dominating desirable FM synthesis from Yamaha’s considerably cheaper, MIDI-equipped DX7, and subsequent super-selling, all- singing, all-dancing digital designs from the likes of Roland (D50) and Korg (M1).
"This keyboard was purchased by my father in 1982 to set up a home studio to work with my sister, Shannon Worrell, who is a professional and well known indie singer and songwriter. [Wikipedia article]
This keyboard was used on several recordings of different albums she made as well as live performances. In the 1990's she later used it on the album, Three Wishes which famed musician and friend, Dave Mathews performed back up vocals for her. By the early 2000's the keyboard was in storage where I found it and had it sent to back to California at Sequential to be refurbished as some of the keys would no longer play notes. My sister gave it to me since she no longer wanted it.
The synth gets played a couple times a year for fun and that's about it. I collect many instruments and have run out of space for some of them so I have decided to let this one go. It has been well cared for and shows no abuse or abnormal wear. It is fully operational and ready to play.
The keyboard is all original except for three dial caps and some springs for some keys in side. It has never been modified or converted to MIDI. I am assuming that means it is Rev 2. I don't really know. It works perfectly and has a low serial number which I was told made it kind of rare since it also hadn't been modified. It's a super cool machine and an amazing piece of technology. It will make any collector stoked I am sure..."
