Analog or Digital Polyphonic Synth Suggestions

[rajprods]

That looks like a nice filter. I wonder how much it is, though.

$479 new

Lots of good suggestions but if you want a modern poly analogue I still think that you are down to 3 main choices (how did the PolyEvolver sound to you)? The Omega8 is one fantastic synth, with the present state of the economy you may just luck out and find one used in the $2500 range. The A6 and P08 are great synths as well both capable of excellent pads, leads and basses. For strings though I opt to layer the 2 JD-990's (Vintage and Sounds of the 60/70's cards installed) with the JD-800 and a Kurzweil 2500r.

Who sells it for $479? Couldn't find it online....

Haven't considered the Poly Evolver because of mixed reviews for the Prophet 08. I thought the Prophet 08 sounded pretty cool, but I've been out of it for a while as it relates to analog instruments. The plastic knobs and endless pots were initially a concern. However, some have said it's not an issue. I've even talked to a rep at Dave Smith's and they sounded like they would even send knobs if necessary.

It's pretty consistent with the folks I've heard from that the A6 sounds good, but is a bit complex and/or time consuming with editing. Editing seems to be much more easier on the Prophet 08, but the mixed reviews concern me..... which is my problem no offense to those who are using it.

Since I have the JV Vintage Synth card, I will probably at some point get a JD-990.

The Omega 8 voice would really be cool, but it's just out of my range. No point in selling almost everything I have to get one module. If I could find something to get great pads and strings sounds out of it, that would probably do for now (especially if it has Oberheim type sounds.... I haven't messed around with the Nord Lead 2x to see if it can create it).

The filter pedal or rackmount unit option is for the Nord Lead 2x just to warm it up a bit if necessary.

[Brian G]

No offence taken. What is it about the negative reviews that concern you ?

There is a lot to love with the Prophet 08, but I can understand and respect some not liking it. If you want a fully poly analog spend some quality time with the 08 and then decided. Not that it matters but most the magazines have rated the 08 as a Best Buy, Best Synth of the year.... but every synth is not for everyone. I can honestly say I have no regrets getting the Prophet 08.
The Poly Evolver is a different animal than that 08. There are some nice things to do with the digital and analog side.

[rajprods]

No offence taken. What is it about the negative reviews that concern you ?

There is a lot to love with the Prophet 08, but I can understand and respect some not liking it. If you want a fully poly analog spend some quality time with the 08 and then decided. Not that it matters but most the magazines have rated the 08 as a Best Buy, Best Synth of the year.... but every synth is not for everyone. I can honestly say I have no regrets getting the Prophet 08.
The Poly Evolver is a different animal than that 08. There are some nice things to do with the digital and analog side.

I'm just stating some of the issues I've read in reviews or have been told:

1. Plastic knobs are cheap
2. Endless knobs don't show the actual setting
3. Cheap digital sounding modern analog
4. Sensitive if playing hard which may change some of the settings.... someone mentioned that they put it in "compare" mode (I'm probably not using the right function.... but basically they put it in another mode when locks the current setting, so when playing hard, the parameters don't change.
5. If both outputs are used and the max polyphony is reached, the signal cuts off in one of the outputs, which someone thought that something was wrong with the signal output (it sounded like the unit was cutting in and out) I think it may have been fixed with a software upgrade?

Can you get some fat or lush sounding pads out of it? What about the modulation features? I'm not trying to be negative about it. I played with it in the store for a short time, and I thought it was cool. However, like I've mentioned, I've been out of the analog world for a while, so my ears are not in tune yet. The Nord Lead 2x sounds good to me, but don't have another polyphonic analog keyboard to match it up against right now, so can't make a comparison.

[rajprods]

No offence taken. What is it about the negative reviews that concern you ?

There is a lot to love with the Prophet 08, but I can understand and respect some not liking it. If you want a fully poly analog spend some quality time with the 08 and then decided. Not that it matters but most the magazines have rated the 08 as a Best Buy, Best Synth of the year.... but every synth is not for everyone. I can honestly say I have no regrets getting the Prophet 08.
The Poly Evolver is a different animal than that 08. There are some nice things to do with the digital and analog side.

Have you checked out the Nord Lead 2x? If so, what did you think?

[rajprods]

No offence taken. What is it about the negative reviews that concern you ?

There is a lot to love with the Prophet 08, but I can understand and respect some not liking it. If you want a fully poly analog spend some quality time with the 08 and then decided. Not that it matters but most the magazines have rated the 08 as a Best Buy, Best Synth of the year.... but every synth is not for everyone. I can honestly say I have no regrets getting the Prophet 08.
The Poly Evolver is a different animal than that 08. There are some nice things to do with the digital and analog side.

I know you own one, so I'm not trying to make an issue of it.... This is just some of the reviews I read in addition to comments from people. It provides details of what some people experienced:

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... %2708/10/1

[Brian G]

Not yet, all the Nords I have tried have sounded nice though. For example the Nord Stage does what it does very well, but a little pricey. Nord makes good products. For me the Nord synths have sounded good, have an analog sound to them but with digital over tones. Nothing wrong with that .

Do you have a store near by that has the Prophet and the Nord line ? Go spend some time playing, listening, adjusting and see which works best for you. For me from what I read what the Prophet 08 was going to do sounded like it was one I wanted to add to my set up ( which is both vintage analog, vintage digital, and modern analog and digital) Hearing some on line demos gave me a good idea of what it was capable of. When my store brought one in for me to try I spent a bit of time with it, after the first few minutes I knew it would work for me and fit in well. Don't let a few negative reviews or opinions sway your choice with any of the synths, take it into consideration.

As for the Prophet:
The knobs may not be as solid as some other synths but I would not call them cheap. There is not feeling they are going to fall off when you turn them

You can see in the display where the knobs are set, while looking at a front panel and seeing where every thing is set is nice but, I don’t find this to be a problem. It is cool the LP ( Nord to) will show with LED’s where the stored setting is but I have had no problem adjusting parameters on the fly while playing. If I hear the attack is a tad to fast on the filter I reach and turn the filter knob it then moves the param up a bit, I can see in the LCD display by how much. It may take a short while to get used to it but for me I (and others I am sure) don’t have a problem with it.

Cheap sounding digital analog ? What were they listening to it on ? The Prophet 08 is a very warm sounding analog synth, if it has any “digital” over tones to it they are very slight. It may be cleaner sounding then some of the older polys from the 80’s but digital no .

You would really have to bang it hard to have parameters change, and if you hit it that hard for a long time I think you stand a better chance of snapping a key then anything. I’ve done plenty of fast and funky riffs on it without it changing at all….Yes if you bump the knobs a bit too hard it will change and they can be “quirky” when you adjust them. BUT as you learn and get use to it this is not a major draw back. I think the very early ones were more sensitive to parameters changing but with the OS that ships now they have addressed that. At least that is what I’ve read .

You may have that one backwards you have to use both outputs on the Prophet 08 it send the even voices to one output and the odd to the other, it does not have a mono output as some think. If you are only using the “L” output yes it will sound like it’s cutting out. The is a spread knob to adjust how much of the odd and even voices are sent to each output and with it set to the minimum amount you may be able to get away with only one, but you will probably here some cut off. Also what mode was it in ? If it is in layer or Split it is only four voice polyphonic. Four for each side of the split or layer.

[Voltor07]

As for the Prophet:
The knobs may not be as solid as some other synths but I would not call them cheap. There is not feeling they are going to fall off when you turn them...

Cheap sounding digital analog ? What were they listening to it on ? The Prophet 08 is a very warm sounding analog synth, if it has any “digital” over tones to it they are very slight. It may be cleaner sounding then some of the older polys from the 80’s but digital no .

Yeah, even though the knobs feel a bit weaker than the LP's knobs, it's mostly due to the fact that the knobs are too small for my clumsy fingers for my personal liking. It sounds very much analog, I didn't hear the faintest of digital over tones when I tried it out.

But I also didn't hear a phat filter, killer bass, or anything but string, brass, and organ-type leads. I tried to get a growl out of it, but the filters weren't having any of that. In fact it sounded like a Moog with a real bad cold. To each his own, though. I can see why some people go with the P08. It sounds good for what it is, it just doesn't fit my needs right now. Or ever.

[gd]

Who sells it for $479? Couldn't find it online....

Since I have the JV Vintage Synth card, I will probably at some point get a JD-990.

$479 from the SE site (its under pedals), you won't regret getting a JD-990. It only has one expansion slot but I find it blows my JP-8080 away.

For those who don't like the P08 I take no offence at all, if we all bought the same synth life would be boring. I am just glad that there are boutique synth makers still alive and developing new gear for us.

[Brian G]

Exactly . What fun would it be if everyone had the same thing? It is worth checking it out and spending time with, you can get sounds out of it that do "Growl" it's just a different "growl" If I want a full out Moog sound, I'll use one of the Moogs. it's good to have other choices at finger tips, not all the choices are going to be the same though for everybody. Heck I still like using the DX7 for many sounds .

[rajprods]

Exactly . What fun would it be if everyone had the same thing? It is worth checking it out and spending time with, you can get sounds out of it that do "Growl" it's just a different "growl" If I want a full out Moog sound, I'll use one of the Moogs. it's good to have other choices at finger tips, not all the choices are going to be the same though for everybody. Heck I still like using the DX7 for many sounds .

Good point....

In case anyone is interested, Musicians Friend has the rackmount version of the Prophet 08 for sale at $1,124.... It's a "scratch and dent" item. I doubt that it's beat up, but it's still covered under the 45 day return policy.

[rajprods]

Not yet, all the Nords I have tried have sounded nice though. For example the Nord Stage does what it does very well, but a little pricey. Nord makes good products. For me the Nord synths have sounded good, have an analog sound to them but with digital over tones. Nothing wrong with that .

Do you have a store near by that has the Prophet and the Nord line ? Go spend some time playing, listening, adjusting and see which works best for you. For me from what I read what the Prophet 08 was going to do sounded like it was one I wanted to add to my set up ( which is both vintage analog, vintage digital, and modern analog and digital) Hearing some on line demos gave me a good idea of what it was capable of. When my store brought one in for me to try I spent a bit of time with it, after the first few minutes I knew it would work for me and fit in well. Don't let a few negative reviews or opinions sway your choice with any of the synths, take it into consideration.

As for the Prophet:
The knobs may not be as solid as some other synths but I would not call them cheap. There is not feeling they are going to fall off when you turn them

You can see in the display where the knobs are set, while looking at a front panel and seeing where every thing is set is nice but, I don’t find this to be a problem. It is cool the LP ( Nord to) will show with LED’s where the stored setting is but I have had no problem adjusting parameters on the fly while playing. If I hear the attack is a tad to fast on the filter I reach and turn the filter knob it then moves the param up a bit, I can see in the LCD display by how much. It may take a short while to get used to it but for me I (and others I am sure) don’t have a problem with it.

Cheap sounding digital analog ? What were they listening to it on ? The Prophet 08 is a very warm sounding analog synth, if it has any “digital” over tones to it they are very slight. It may be cleaner sounding then some of the older polys from the 80’s but digital no .

You would really have to bang it hard to have parameters change, and if you hit it that hard for a long time I think you stand a better chance of snapping a key then anything. I’ve done plenty of fast and funky riffs on it without it changing at all….Yes if you bump the knobs a bit too hard it will change and they can be “quirky” when you adjust them. BUT as you learn and get use to it this is not a major draw back. I think the very early ones were more sensitive to parameters changing but with the OS that ships now they have addressed that. At least that is what I’ve read .

You may have that one backwards you have to use both outputs on the Prophet 08 it send the even voices to one output and the odd to the other, it does not have a mono output as some think. If you are only using the “L” output yes it will sound like it’s cutting out. The is a spread knob to adjust how much of the odd and even voices are sent to each output and with it set to the minimum amount you may be able to get away with only one, but you will probably here some cut off. Also what mode was it in ? If it is in layer or Split it is only four voice polyphonic. Four for each side of the split or layer.

Thanks, I do appreciate the comprehensive information on your experience with the Prophet 08 and how to work around some things. I never owned a Prophet 5, of course, I heard the sound years ago. I know the Prophet 08 is not a Prophet 5, but what I'm referring to is the characteristics of the sound. Years ago, I was accustomed to more of the Oberheim sound. For this reason, I would like to get an Omega 8, but it's just too out of range in terms of cost right now. So, I was trying to see what other options I could get for obtaining the "Oberheim" type sound.

I wasn't comparing the Prophet 08 to old Oberheim products, but I recently started thinking of some of the sounds I did like in the past which were Oberheim sounds for pads, strings, etc. I think it's definitely a good idea to spend more time with the Prophet 08 to see what it's capable of doing and whether or not it can fill in where I'm lacking with analog sounds. The Prophet 08 is about 2,600 less than the Omega 8, so it wouldn't be as hard to make that purchase.

[rajprods]

As for the Prophet:
The knobs may not be as solid as some other synths but I would not call them cheap. There is not feeling they are going to fall off when you turn them...

Cheap sounding digital analog ? What were they listening to it on ? The Prophet 08 is a very warm sounding analog synth, if it has any “digital” over tones to it they are very slight. It may be cleaner sounding then some of the older polys from the 80’s but digital no .

Yeah, even though the knobs feel a bit weaker than the LP's knobs, it's mostly due to the fact that the knobs are too small for my clumsy fingers for my personal liking. It sounds very much analog, I didn't hear the faintest of digital over tones when I tried it out.

But I also didn't hear a phat filter, killer bass, or anything but string, brass, and organ-type leads. I tried to get a growl out of it, but the filters weren't having any of that. In fact it sounded like a Moog with a real bad cold. To each his own, though. I can see why some people go with the P08. It sounds good for what it is, it just doesn't fit my needs right now. Or ever.

Your points are actually good, cause I'm not looking for a growl.... I am looking for strings, pads, etc.... So, like people have mentioned before, pads and strings and definitely something you can get on the Prophet 08.... nice to hear that again!

[rajprods]

Who sells it for $479? Couldn't find it online....

Since I have the JV Vintage Synth card, I will probably at some point get a JD-990.

$479 from the SE site (its under pedals), you won't regret getting a JD-990. It only has one expansion slot but I find it blows my JP-8080 away.

For those who don't like the P08 I take no offence at all, if we all bought the same synth life would be boring. I am just glad that there are boutique synth makers still alive and developing new gear for us.

The JD-990 is definitely on my list!

[Brian G]

Your points are actually good, cause I'm not looking for a growl.... I am looking for strings, pads, etc.... So, like people have mentioned before, pads and strings and definitely something you can get on the Prophet 08.... nice to hear that again![/quote]

Don't forget the prophet 08 also has a two pole filter which will make it more Obie like. Yes i nkow the current Moogs can also do different filter styles. That's whats cool they sound very different or closely a like .

The JD990 is a nice synth Even if it is Digital

[jon_kull]

Years ago, I was accustomed to more of the Oberheim sound. For this reason, I would like to get an Omega 8, but it's just too out of range in terms of cost right now. So, I was trying to see what other options I could get for obtaining the "Oberheim" type sound.

I haven't read all 5 pages of this post so it may have been stated already but...

The Andromeda has 2 filters. One based on the Moog Modular 904 (The VCOs are also based on the Moog Modular 921) and one based on the Oberheim SEM.

Will it sound exactly like a Moog or Oberheim...no. But you may be able to get close to what you want for less than the cost of an Omega 8 (especially if you can find a used one).