Prophet 6

[adamstan]

I think it's obvious - today no one would bother with analog envelopes in polysynth, 'cause discrete voltage-controlled EG is huge circuit, compared to VCO, VCF or VCA. AFAIK only polysynths using such arrangement were Oberheim SEM-based ones. The rest used custom chips - which are currently unavailable. And with modern fast processors and high resolution DACs, I dare to say software EG is good enough for polysynth applications - fast and smooth. So if EGs in P6 were discrete analog, it would be truly unique, and Dave would certainly brag about them

[moremagic]

its just an informed guess. that & the lfo syncs to midi tempo, & that usually doesnt just mean reset synchronization

[Aaron2]

i guess its understood that the egs & lfo will be digital. i wonder if theres only one lfo for the synth or if its per voice, though i dont imagine independent lfos would matter to much except for sample & hold. as long as the egs are faster than the 600's

I'm curious, where did you hear this? It doesn't say anything about it on their site, and I didn't hear anything about it in the various NAMM videos.

Dave Smith said the signal path is "100% analog." So I don't think the EG(s) and LFOs will be digital at all.

[commodorejohn]

I think if they went to the trouble of doing everything else discrete, it's not a stretch to expect that they did it for the envelopes, too. And if someone as enamored of the new as Dave Smith did digital EGs, I have a hard time believing he'd stick to plain ADSR and not at least do something like the DW-8000 EGs.

That said, yeah, digital envelopes are fast enough now that it wouldn't bother me.

[soundxplorer]

Dave Smith said the signal path is "100% analog." So I don't think the EG(s) and LFOs will be digital at all.

"Signal path" should mean VCO, VCF, VCA.
An envelope is a control signal, it isn't part of the audio path, so it wouldn't surprise me if they are digital and he still said "full analog signal path".

[shaft9000]

speed is one thing, but even the best digital EGs (that I've tried: modcan, A6) don't quite "thwip" and "click" like VC EGs do.

LFOs will likely be digital, especially if they are tempo sync-able

Dave Smith said the P6 had the same filter as the Pro2.

Right -- but he has also said that that filter "was inspired by" or "modeled on" the "original" Prophet (i.e., the rev1/2, with the SSM chips).

I agree, of course, that all of this technical mumbo-jumbo doesn't really matter if it sounds good!

sounding good vs sounding "just like" something else that already exists are very distinct qualities. One is general one is specific. Nothing mumbo-jumbo about it, no?

In the sonic state video above, Dave himself says: " It's a different instrument. It wasn't meant to imitate a P5. I'm not into reissues. I did it once, I'm not going to do it again."

To do a genuine replication of the sound of another analog synth using a new circuit, the new circuit has to be distributing power in such a way that the sum total is used throughout the circuit, exactly as the original does at specific points. This is, for example, why the x0xb0x does and cannot sound exactly like a tb-303, along with manufacturing process/build consistency at the Roland factory in early 80s. DSI would have to revive and precisely duplicate 35+ yr old practices just to begin to re-create a P5, much as Moog has done to re-create their new modular systems.
And that, my friends - THAT is the big hurdle between vintage and modern that we're always talking about and maybe even sometimes actually hearing.

[adamstan]

I think if they went to the trouble of doing everything else discrete, it's not a stretch to expect that they did it for the envelopes, too.

Then it wouldn't fit in such compact case When working on my polysynth initially I wanted to use analogue ADSRs, however they really are prohibitively large circuits - 5 to 10 transistors, some logic gates, several op-amps, bunch (20-30) of resistors, some capacitors and - if you make polysynth - several calibration trimpots per circuit. Even when you go SMT, still two discrete VC ADSRs would probably take more space than rest of the voice together.

[SSquirrel]

http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/201 ... tial-back/

New line of Yamaha synths designed in collaboration with Dave Smith in 5...4...3... I guess that's one way to get back into the good graces of the synth heads.

[shaft9000]

i like the part about Ikutaro Kakehashi stepping in, effectively doing more good for synth players than Roland... when he's not even in Roland

[CfNorENa]

sounding good vs sounding "just like" something else that already exists are very distinct qualities.

Of course. I was just responding to the poster who said that the P6 "nailed" the P5 sound. To my ears, it does not. Value-neutral observation.

[pflosi]

Digital LFOs / EGs, and sounds like Andromeda-style tuning correction (reading back the frequencies in realtime):

[pflosi]

Now I really wanna know how fast the LFO will go

[GuyaGuy]

Just listened to some of the sound demos.
https://soundcloud.com/davesmithinstrum ... et-6-audio

Sounds nice. But I much prefer the slightly crusty, menacing sound of my Prophet 600.
The P6 seems to tend to be much crisper, brighter, and cleaner--which can be great if that's what you want.

[pinksoir]

What's the old ground Dave's talking about having retrodden previously in the video? He says that he doesn't want to do another reissue or something. When did he do it before?

[commodorejohn]

I think he's referring to other people's reissues (the MS-20 Mini, the Kodyssey, etc.)