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About this product
Product Identifiers
BrandDave Smith Instruments
MPNDSI-2128
UPC0855346000906, 0886830807015
ModelProphet '08 PE
eBay Product ID (ePID)97512019
Product Key Features
Number of Keys61
FeaturesPitch Wheel, Modulation Wheel, Arpeggiator
TypeKeyboard Synthesizer
Additional Product Features
Power SupplyAC Adapter
Ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- 08 Dec, 2015
Dave Smith Pro2 Synthesizer Review- This Thing Kicks Ass
Looking for the gnarliest, mono, nasty, angry, dirty, glitchy, techie, devious, easy to use, well built, digital analog hybrid synth.....? This is the one. Love the step sequencer.... and touch modulation strips...... Analog meets modern in this nasty combo.... Best you can get....Verified purchase: YesCondition: New
- 14 Mar, 2016
A workhorse synth
All analog, pure awesome, plenty of tweak-ability and AMAZING TONE! If you're debating your first analog synth, this is it. Has great factory patches, and an infinite breadth of customization to really craft your own sounds. Built very well, and a pleasure to play. The one thing I wish it had was a tap tempo, but that's a small criticism when you look at the quality of the instrument.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 26 Sep, 2017
Thank you. Everything works great.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 08 Dec, 2016
Awesome synth
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 03 Jul, 2016
The review I wish I had read before buying ... and I'm very happy I bought it
I chose this synthesizer because it was the cheapest professional synthesizer in the DSI lineup, and I've spent the last five months or so getting to know its character. If you read the forums as I did, you might think that the Prophet '08 is a terrible synthesizer: harsh, cold, and sterile. To enjoy the Prophet '08 one needs to get comfortable with the fact that it is not a vintage synth. It has its roots in the Sequential Prophets from the 70's but can produce searing sounds with strong clean highs. In other words, the Prophet '08 is a more "hi-fi" version of the older Prophets. This makes sense because the Prophet '08 is the analog section from the Evolver line, which was designed to be a sound design playground and not a vintage synth from the 70's. So let's start with the oscillators. Many have complained about the sound of the Prophet '08 oscillators, that they're thin compared to a Moog or a vintage synth. This is true. A single pure sawtooth from the Prophet '08 sounds like lab equipment, whereas a pure sawtooth from a Moog is fat and nice. But the advantage of the Prophet '08's oscillators is that they produce a lot of clean high frequency content, which the Moog and vintage Prophets don't do. This allows you to create a range of sounds that the vintage synths simply cannot create. Some have complained that the DCOs are too stable, especially compared to VCOs. You can hear this if you listen to two sawtooths at the same frequency, but when you start detuning the second oscillator, the differences between VCOs and DCOs narrow considerably. You can add slop and modulate the frequency of the DCOs by tiny amounts at medium to high rates to simulate some of the qualities of a VCO. However, if you insist on the sound of VCOs, you should just get a Prophet 6. I like DCOs for classical music because of their high degree of pitch control. Much scorn has been heaped on the Prophet '08's filter. I suspect that many people overdrive the output stage of the Prophet '08, which adds harshness to the sound. Back off the voice volume and amplitude envelope amount and the sound smooths out a lot. However, it's still not a Moog ladder or Roland filter. It's capable of dark thick sounds, but you need to control it properly, specifically by combining the cutoff control with the key amount control. I find that if I'm not using the filter envelope, I get good results with the key amount control set to 9 o'clock. Also it's important to understand that modulation amounts are additive, so if I increase the envelope amount I will need to bring the cutoff frequency down by the corresponding amount if I want to get the same cutoff frequency. When you can control the filter properly you find that it's very capable and doesn't really have much character of its own in 4 pole mode. The 2 pole filter is a nice bonus. Another complaint is that the Prophet '08 has weak bass. This is only true if you raise the resonance of the filter, which causes the bass to drop out. The filter does not have a midbass bump like other well known analog synths, which creates the impression that the bass is weak. It is not. There are a few ways to get that bass bump if you insist on it: 1) Use layers to add sub oscillators 2) use liberal resonance at the fundamental frequency and the key amount to 64; add some audio modulation to brighten the sound 3) eq the output. My final comment is that the Prophet '08 is a synth requires some time, effort, and subtractive synthesis knowledge before you can consistently get nice sounds out of it. On a Moog or Prophet 6, you can spin the controls and always get a nice sound. Not so on the Prophet '08. You need to work hard to understand each control and then find the sweet spots. In other words, this is a professional tool for people who are serious about learning its secrets. Stick with it and you will discover a machine with the soul and immediacy that only the best analog synths can provide all at a great street price. Not to mention the incredible user interface, four LFOs, and the modulation matrix!Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
