Prophet 08

nrjizer · Post by **nrjizer** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:15 pm

Would the NI Pro 53 be a good indication of the types of sounds to expect from a Prophet 08? The Pro 53 is meant to be a Prophet 5 emulator. I don't really have any opportunity to demo a prophet 08 anywhere, but I do like the Pro 53.

zongo · Post by **zongo** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:00 am

Arturia's emulation sounds a lot better than NI's one.

--> http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/pro ... intro.html

...and you get the Prophet VS as a bonus

K.Fog (the author of the 3 videos I posted earlier) finally sold his Prophet 8 because he was able to replicate his personal sound using only this Arturia plugin.

More generally, the digital vs. analog debate is a bit biased because it's all about what you want to achieve with your synth. If you don't use a lot of highly resonant sounds with filter sweeps and such, you don't really need to invest in an analog if you know what you're doing. Some people asked me what kind of analog gears I'm using and they are usually kind of disappointed when I tell them all was synthesized "in the box"

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:46 am

zongo wrote: More generally, the digital vs. analog debate is a bit biased because it's all about what you want to achieve with your synth. If you don't use a lot of highly resonant sounds with filter sweeps and such, you don't really need to invest in an analog if you know what you're doing. Some people asked me what kind of analog gears I'm using and they are usually kind of disappointed when I tell them all was synthesized "in the box"

hmm the analog digital debate has raged on since the dawn of time. well, not quite, but anyways.

I would say theres a lot more to think about than just highly resonant sounds.

from my limited experience, analog synths (in their sound) seem to function a whole layer deeper than software. there is something mysterious in the flow of electrons maybe that cannot be modelled.

not to say software isn't a great thing, but I don't think it's greatest feature is trying to emulate analogue synths. sure, it can do a decent job that many people couldn't tell the difference between and that you can get some nice musical results from, but (right now at least) it can't do analogue sounds like analogue can.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:10 am

zongo wrote: If you don't use a lot of highly resonant sounds with filter sweeps and such, you don't really need to invest in an analog if you know what you're doing.

i couldnt disagree more.
i never use highly resonant sounds and filter sweeps.

i dont really see what thats got to do with it at all.

have you owned any analogue synths ?

zongo · Post by **zongo** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:13 am

Yes indeed I used to have and old Arp Axxe and a friend gave me his MS20+seq for like 6 months so I can play with it. I think those synths are ok, sound fat and warm, but for the music I'm usually doing I don't need such big gears in my living room.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:32 pm

zongo wrote:Yes indeed I used to have and old Arp Axxe and a friend gave me his MS20+seq for like 6 months so I can play with it. I think those synths are ok, sound fat and warm, but for the music I'm usually doing I don't need such big gears in my living room.

and there you've hit on the big disadvantage of analogue synths in general.
however the prophet 08 is actually smaller and lighter than the CME midi controller ive just bought.
the new analogue kit is quite compact like most new technology.

i still disagree about the fliter sweeps bro, you can get perfectly good resonant filter sweeps with a VA. (if you had the desire)
there's a whole depth to the sound of an analogue synth thats missing from a VA, its not easy to explain unless you've listened to a wide range of VA's and analogue synths together in comparison.

zongo · Post by **zongo** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:22 am

If I was a millionaire I think I would buy tons of analog synths like a kid would buy Lego. I'd have a lot of fun tweaking the knobs and patch stuff, but I really don't know if I would use those synths in my production. I'm a bit lazy, working in the box is perfect for me because I don't have to care about midi /cv gate and so on. I don't even like controllers, I have a Novation remote zero sl since a year and I used it only a couple of times

I pointed out the filter sweep & resonant thing because I really think VA aren't near as good as analog synths in this domain. I remember the Arp Axxe's filter was truly amazing while cranking the resonant pot all over the top ! I never have been able to reproduce this with a VA - and I tried a lot of them. Also VA knobs only have 128 steps from 0 to max filter, this can be heard quite a lot if your filter sweep is slow (I also owned a couple of VA hardware, same problem with them).

Other than this, I'm totally happy with my soft synths. Actually I'm using the NA FM8 almost exclusively, it sounds pretty decent. I might buy the Arturia Prophet V soon though, I need a new intuitive synth with few controls and easy to play with. Anyway I can't afford the Prophet 8 and I know I would be too lazy to plug it in if i had one