Prophet VS??

Post by **HideawayStudio** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:22 am

I've always liked the look of the Prophet VS but never managed to get my hands on one.

Any opinions / owners / demos out there

Z · Post by Z » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:30 am

I bought one about 3 years ago hoping to quench my PPG Wave lust, but it didn't.

I honestly have not spent enough time with it to make a qualified opinion of it. My favorite thing to do is put it in UNISON mode for those big, nasty Pretty Hate Machine digital leads.

Programming from the front panel is not difficult, but not fun, either. There is a random patch generator which can be useful at times.

Post by **HideawayStudio** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:43 am

Z wrote:I bought one about 3 years ago hoping to quench my PPG Wave lust, but it didn't.

I honestly have not spent enough time with it to make a qualified opinion of it. My favorite thing to do is put it in UNISON mode for those big, nasty Pretty Hate Machine digital leads.

Programming from the front panel is not difficult, but not fun, either. There is a random patch generator which can be useful at times.

Very interesting you mention the PPG Wave... this is another synth I've wanted for some time and put it in the same category of hybrid synth. I played with a Wave 2.3 many years ago and I really liked it. I have an original microWave but I suspect it's just not the same....

schmidtc · Post by **schmidtc** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:20 am

Well, it's great.

The PSU is a bit noisy and it gets hot are about the only bad things I can say. One day I'll do some work on the power supply that might fix these issues. The backlight LED is dim and the Wine country replacements are no better from what I understand.

It's not a warm round analog sorta sound at all, great digital texture through curtis amps and filters is pretty unique. It's bi-timbral. The joystick only controls the vectors in motion, it doesn't stay once you stop moving the thing, but it does respond to MIDI CC's. Velocity sensitive keys, but you'll never find one with working aftertouch. Does a great job with Basic Channel type pads. Definitely one of my favorite instruments.

I've always wanted a PPG also. But I'm worried about long term reliability, as these type of machines are complicated as all h**l. The cost of a Prophet VS is about all I'm willing to risk in that regard and that keeps my lust at bay for now.

Post by **Ashe37** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:03 am

I'd love to have one but rarity expense and joystick failures make me cautious...

iphoenix · Post by **iphoenix** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:20 am

An absolute beaut. Wonderful sound. I was surprised at the range of fat analogue classic type sounds it produced.
It has been said by other users that it can cover all the older Prophets , but I cant comment as I havnt played any of those, but it can definitly produce that classic fat US analogue poly sound. ( Oberheims/ Prophets & definitly Arps)
The presets are mostly boring & trying to compete with those (IMHO) DX digital bell type sounds ( & I like what the DX7 can do with some good programming, but hate its presets) There are a few outstanding presets however.
I bought it mainly for programming evolving etherial sounds & it can certainly do that beautifully. Not the easiest to program with predictability, but great sounds can be found along the way. Love the arpeggiator..its more like a step sequencer, & has a lovely groove.
One of my favourites. Its been out of action for over a year unfortunatly & hopefully will be repaired soon.

Eddy · Post by **Eddy** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:33 pm

one of my favorite digital synths ever. absolute fantastic sound between PPG and prophet-5

balma · Post by **balma** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:10 pm

I got one on the 2003, for $1100 on Ebay. DIED three years later. I sold it in that condition on $500.

If you want to, I have some tracks with it and I can upload them.

I used it mainly for pads. THe synth is an hybrid, digital wavetables, with analog filters that sound incredible, you can create patches with 4 waves, ,and crossfade them with the stick controller.

There is an outstanding concept of controlling the sound on realtime on the prophet VS. . In certain way, is a synth with a "visual" concept so its very aimed to filmscoring, because you can morph a lovely sound, into a mysterious drone. You could play a pad for minutes without getting bored

I don't know why there are so many failures with this synth. Mine just died. Didn't turned on anymore. I did NOTHING to it.

I opened it, checked the power supply. It seemed to be a major problem, so I closed it, and spent like a year trying to sell it.

I never mention I had one, because it was a nightmare for me....

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:48 pm

the Prophet VS comes highly recommended- it's unusual & sounds fantastic. a friend of mine put this piece of software together, it's an essential companion:

http://www.prophetvs.com/editor/

balma · Post by **balma** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:26 pm

if you care, this track has a lot of the Prophet VS I had. All the belly and swept pads come from it:

http://www.filefreak.com/files/138829_kozlw/brain.mp3

It's a synth that will bring beautiful moments to anyone, specially to those ones who likes to spend a long time performing harmonies on the keyboard and morphing them.

But obviously I'm not totally happy with it, since mine died barely 2-3 years after getting it.

Post by **HideawayStudio** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:35 pm

Eddy wrote:one of my favorite digital synths ever. absolute fantastic sound between PPG and prophet-5

Superb! Many thanks for this... I love the way it sounds and it looks just superb... my lust is growing - and I know they can be a tad troublesome but that's what I'm used to! ...T'would match my Prophet 2002 too - which has got the same buttons

Thanks for all of the other feedback too - good & bad... nice to hear a balanced view!

balma · Post by **balma** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:57 pm

HideawayStudio wrote: and I know they can be a tad troublesome but that's what I'm used to! ...

By sure you'll know how to handle a dead VS!

I should have sent you mine! It was the only Prophet VS on Costa Rica and obviously there was not a single technician here that could be so brave to try to fix it.

modulator_esp · Post by **modulator_esp** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:27 pm

I love mine, it has a pretty unique sound, excellent for weird drones and strange pads

I used it live for many years with no problems, but last year I started getting an intermittent volume problem due to the flexing of the top panel and decided it would probably best to keep it in the studio.

The only thing that comes near is the Wavestation, but the digital filter lets it down

I'd probably buy another if it died and was beyond repair, in fact I've often thought about getting a spare

iProg · Post by **iProg** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:50 pm

I bought mine about three weeks ago. Fantastic instrument! I can't recommend it enough!

balma · Post by **balma** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:52 pm

very expensive:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sequential-Prophet- ... 2305d7e3aa

mine costed no more than $1200. How much did you pay for yours?

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