Haven't been around here much but thought I'd drop a review I posted elsewhere...
The Prophet Rev2 is a beauty and, so far, my favorite poly synth--with almost all of the things I loved about the PolyEvolver, which this is replacing, and the P600 plus lots of extra bits. It's been a while since I've been excited about poly synths but this is doing it for me. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a workhorse.
DCOs
The oscillators can be big and warm but with the wave shaping on all waves it’s easy to find nasal, thin, and flutey tones too. And the ability to modulate the waves allows for some very rich sounds. I like these so much more than on the PolyEvolver, where they always seem a bit nasal and slightly clipped. I’m not sure if that’s from the calibration of the Curtis chip or A/D convertors, but it always made me not quite love the DCOs.
16 voices of polyphony is somewhat absurd but also so perfect for the lushest of stacked-layer pads. Unison mode with all 16 voices is almost absurdly huge. The mixer is one pot for both DCOs and there is a volume drop in the middle position—much like on the Prophet 600. It also means there’s no way to control the volume of the DCOs as they hit the filter. I found having that helped shape the sound to smooth versus aggressive on the Evolver.
FILTER
Again, I feel like this is less nasal by default than on the Evolver. The Curtis filter always seems like the dividing line between those who like the Prophet/MoPho line and those who don’t. I find it great for poly and some mono synth patches but if you’re looking for a Moog sound, stay away. But with the 2 modes it’s pretty versatile and even capable of some limited KB tracking and oscillator to filter FM.
ENVELOPES
These are richer than the Evolvers'—with Delay in addition to ADSR and looping on EG3. The delay is great for anything from delaying the LFO from starting on key strike to wilder effects. Expressive, easy to program, and—with the ability to route any envelope to any modulation destination—very versatile.
SEQUENCERS AND ARP
The 16 x 4 sequencer has always been one of the key strengths of this line and this doesn’t disappoint. It’s capable of entire melodies or grooves to base a song around as well as polyrhythmic patterns. In stack and split mode the sequencers can even have different clock divisions for more complex patterns. Unlike the Evolver keyboards and the P08, there are no dedicated or semi-dedicated knobs for programming the step sequencer. But it’s still straightforward to program—just using one knob to go to the next step and another to control the value.
The arpeggiator has all of the standard modern functions, and the poly sequencer couldn’t be easier—very old school and simple but also useful. While A and B can have different patterns and indeed sequencer types, the gate sequencer can’t be combined with the poly sequencer on the same layer. Nor can you combine the arp with the gate sequencer.
EFFECTS
These are in a sense freebie add ons, so the fact that some are pretty lackluster (chorus and BBD) and some are pretty good (reverb and stereo delay) is fine. The main strength to me is that they are tied to the modulation sources so you can step sequence an LFO rate or LFO the fx mix.
HARDWARE
This thing feels solid. While the old plates that DSI used to mount onto the body were never cheap looking per se, the direct silk screen does make this a classic-looking synth. The keyboard is solid—with a bit more tension than the PolyEvolver’s. The power cable make me feel more at ease than the wall-wart supplies on other DSI units.
UI
Having had the Evolver as well as a P600 and a Tetra, the setup is all very familiar to me. But even to non-DSI/SC users, most of what you need is a knob the panel and very simply laid out. There are some menus but they are almost always just one layer deep, for example hit the gated sequence button to start programming it with the OLED, which is nice and crisp. Only the Misc Params and Global settings have a bit more to scroll through and those are all set-and-forget anyhow. But there are some things I would have liked on the panel—VCA level, EG repeat, and program volume.
Splitting and stacking couldn’t be easier—easily the simplest UI I’ve seen for this and miles ahead of the Evolver combo mode complexities (where you have to save 2 patches individually and then go to combo mode to combine them).
THINGS I WILL MISS ON THE POLYEVOLVER
I ended up mostly using the analog side of it but I will miss the stereo filters of the Evo, although the pan spread is a nice replacement. And I didn’t notice until I got it that the Rev2 has no audio inputs—so no using it occasionally as and effects box. Otherwise, the effects are all there (delay, distortion, HPF) except the tuned feedback gets replaced with flangers and phasers.
I’ll be honest, thought. I’ll miss the Evo’s illuminated pitch and mod wheels!