sc pro-one vs dsi mopho

[ignatzmouses]

I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on the dsi mopho and pro-one.
sequential circuits or DSI???
What are the "pro"s/cons of a pro-one and a mopho? similarities and differences.
thanks

[Christopher Winkels]

I don't have a Mopho, but I do have a Prophet'08 and a Pro-One, so I'm probably close enough to evaluate both.

The Mopho has a lot of flexibility going for it relative to the Pro-One: multiple LFOs, three envelopes, a lot more modulation routings, sub-oscillators, a more powerful sequencer, different filter pole options, etc. On the other hand, I found its interface to be annoying in the way that a P'08 was not. The relative depth of programming options coupled to the limited number of knobs is a bit of a hindrance.

On the other hand a Pro-One sounds superior, with its more raw and direct oscillator and filter combination. There is a liveliness that is not there in the Mopho, though unlike a Mopho you have to worry about oscillator drift. The hard sync is more musical and doesn't suffer from the drop-out that can occur on some Mopho/P'08 patches, and (of course) it comes with a keyboard, so it's a full instument in its own right. The build quality is patchier though, the mod and pitch wheels are dreadful (i.e. small and vague feeling with an overly small detent), and of course you're giving up MIDI, a warranty, and the ability to save presets.

Unlike some people who think there are no bad synthesizers, I beg to differ. Fortunately, neither of these are bad. There is, however, the small matter of cost. One can buy two Mophos for the price of a mint Pro-One. That's worth keeping in mind.

[otto]

It seems obvious to want to compare the Mopho and Pro-One as it is to compare the P’08 to the P5 but in reality they aren’t the most similar synths. The old P1 and prophet 5 have VCO’s and separate chips for each section of the sound design (VCO, VCF, VCA, etc.) The new P’08 and Mopho have a single chip that does all of this for each voice and they are DCO. To the uninitiated this may seem like extreme nerd nitpicking but there is a great difference in how they sound. A mopho doesn’t sound like the P1 and vice versa. Sure they are both monophonic analog synths and are capable of creating similar sounds but they are more distant cousins than, say comparing an octave cat to a Pro-one.

I don’t think either are bad, they just aren’t as close as you might like to think. I think most would say the Pro-one sounds better and has full hands on control and keyboard vs the mopho which is more flexible, offers patch memory, a very flexible sequencer and it is cheap.

[Stab Frenzy]

Similarities:
They're both monophonic synths.

Differences:
Sound, interface, price.

[JSRockit]

Similarities:
They're both monophonic synths.

made by the same person. To be fair.

[Synthaholic]

made by the same person. To be fair.

Same person, but 25-odd years apart, and a lot of changes in technology over that period of time.

Besides the typical VCO vs. DCO, patch storage, MIDI, and other obvious differences between a Pro-One and a Mopho, the Pro-One is a fully analog CV-controlled monosynth*, while the Mopho is a digitally controlled analog synth. This can mean differences in the characteristics of things like knob response (smooth vs. stepped), and envelope and LFO response (speed, smoothness, linearity), for starters.

*The Pro-One does have a CPU, but it's only used for keyboard scanning, generating pitch CV/gate and running the arp/sequencer. Everything else is fully analog.