Prophet 600 VCO's or DCO's?

[fastfwdd]

Are the oscillators in the prophet 600 VCO's or DCO's? I've always read that it was a twin-vco synth but I have also read a few times that it uses digital oscillators instead, but that may not be true. Even so, my prophet has a very DCO quality to it compared to my VCO synths; it is very sterile and flat sounding to my ears.

Any insight or opinions?

[Jack Spider]

http://www.vintagesynth.com/sci/p600.shtml

There are a couple of Prophet 600 threads knocking about already - have a search.

[carbon111]

Definately VCO. Completely analog signal path.

The P600 uses the same VCO chips as the Prophet5 = CEM3340

...it uses different VCF chips though. (CEM3372 instead of the P5's CEM3320)

[otto]

Wow, a P600 sterile? Now I've heard everything!

[pricklyrobot]

Yeah, sterile does seem like a very odd adjective for the P-600. I don't know if I'd call it warm—maybe more like a downed power line arcing on a frozen pond—but certainly not sterile.

[vintagesynth]

The P600 is kind of like a Prophet 5 that has been a chain-smoker for 40 years.... I mean, it's got that smoker's hack/cough and everything!

[otto]

I think the P-600 has a natural tendency to sound more abrasive and dark and I suppose a little more metalic than a P-5 but I think they share a lot of similarities in sound as well. Both sound big and warm. The P-600 is capable of shrill sounds but I would neither call these sounds cold or sterile.

The P-600 sounds sterile compared to what?

[fastfwdd]

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I should have just believed the VSE page instead of second guessing it because of some other websites. It sounds sterile compared to my juno 106 and polysix right now, so maybe I'll spend some more time working on it since it seems to be unanimous that it's not.

[code green]

It sounds sterile compared to my juno 106 and polysix right now.

:-k

[matia]

yea, I do agree about the 600 sounding cold next to a Polysix. I never cared for the sound of the 600 and found the envelopes really wonky. The Polysix was always a go to board for 'those' kinds of sounds (architecturally speaking) but the Polysix sounded alive. I had a Prophet 5 at one point as well and really did not like it (actually liked my old Korg Polysix more than the Prophet ...).

-matia

[JMP]

Had a P600 a while ago and thought it was a great synth for the money. Recorded a brief demo here:

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplaye ... 29821&q=hi

I never thought it was sterile..., think I would rather have one of these again out of 106 or Polysix myself. Sold it with a view to acquiring a T8 at some stage... and that's turned out to be a right pain in the backside to source.

[carbon111]

This is mostly Prophet600:

http://www.carbon111.com/music/blackriver.mp3

And the stuff that isn't distorted violin or guitar is P600 as well:

http://www.carbon111.com/music/gem.mp3

I've always liked the beast.

[code green]

This is mostly Prophet600:

http://www.carbon111.com/music/blackriver.mp3

And the stuff that isn't distorted violin or guitar is P600 as well:

http://www.carbon111.com/music/gem.mp3

I've always liked the beast.

cool tunes that show off the prophet well, james--thanks for posting. in the first one...what's that sample that comes in about 19 seconds in? sounds so familiar and it's totally driving me nuts that i can't place it. i think maybe it reminds me of a sample on the howie b. album snatch...

[Naive Teen Idol]

Am I going crazy or was there a DCO's thread on VSE yesterday?

[Vxster]

Am I going crazy or was there a DCO's thread on VSE yesterday?

You are not going crazy; there was a a thread of that type but I believe it degenerated into the usual train wreck that DCO v VCO threads generally become and had to be terminated.