Sequential Prophet-5 Keyboard

Overview of Sequential Prophet-5 Keyboard

Timed to coincide with founder Dave Smith's 70th year, the Prophet-5 revisits a landmark era in American analog synthesizer design and marks an authentic and authoritative return to roots for the legendary pioneer of electronic instruments.

Faithful to the original, the new Prophet-5 features five voices with two multi-waveform analog oscillators, resonant analog low-pass filters and amplifiers, and a filter and amplifier envelope per voice. Modulation is provided by a multi-waveshape LFO and Poly Mod, a ground-breaking modulation scheme for its time that allowed the filter envelope and oscillator B to be routed to a variety of destinations including filter cutoff frequency, oscillator A frequency, and oscillator A pulse width.

The new Prophet-5 features original, genuine Curtis VCOs and filters as used in the Prophet-5 Rev3, as well as the Dave Rossum-designed SSI 2140 filter, the modern counterpart of the original SSM 2040 Rossum designed in the Prophet-5 Rev1 and Rev2. Get the best of all previous Prophets by selecting your preferred filter using the Rev switch on the front panel.

Other modern enhancements include velocity sensitivity and aftertouch to increase expressiveness, as well as MIDI and USB connectivity. Control voltage and gate ins/outs are also present for connecting modular synths and other gear. The new Prophet-5 is housed in a collector-worthy, premium-quality, steel and hand-oiled sustainable black walnut heartwood body, with a full, five-octave, semi-weighted Fatar keybed.

Prophet-5 Specifications

OSCILLATORS
• Two authentic CEM 3340 VCOs per voice
• Simultaneously selectable wave shapes.
Oscillator A: sawtooth, pulse.
Oscillator B: sawtooth, triangle, pulse.
• Pulse width per oscillator
• Hard sync: oscillator 1 syncs to oscillator 2
• Low frequency mode (oscillator 2)
• Keyboard tracking on/off (oscillator 2)

MIXER
• Oscillator 1 amount
• Oscillator 2 amount
• White noise amount

LOW-PASS FILTER
• Four-pole, resonant, low-pass filter per voice
• Switchable between authentic versions of the Prophet-5 Rev1/2 filter and Prophet-5 Rev3 filter
• Rev1/2 filter is a Dave Rossum-designed 2140, the modern counterpart of the original 2040 filter found in the Prophet-5 Rev1 and Rev2
• Rev3 filter is a Doug Curtis-designed CEM 3320
• Filter can be driven into self-oscillation with the Resonance control
• Keyboard tracking: off, half, full

FILTER ENVELOPE
• Four-stage (ADSR) envelope generator
• Velocity modulation of envelope amount

AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE
• Four-stage (ADSR) envelope generator
• Velocity modulation of envelope amount

LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR
• Three wave shapes: sawtooth, triangle, square. All waveshapes can be engaged simultaneously
• Both Initial Amount and mod wheel control
• Mod destinations: oscillator A frequency, oscillator B frequency, oscillator A and B pulse width, filter cutoff

POLY MOD
• Sources: filter envelope and oscillator B
• Destinations: oscillator A frequency, oscillator A pulse width, filter cutoff

VINTAGE KNOB
• Recreates the characteristics of various Prophet-5 models by varying the behavior of oscillators, envelopes, amplifiers, and other parameters. Go from a very stable "4" as in Prophet-5 Rev4, (the new version) all the way to "1," as in Prophet-5 Rev1, the rarest and most temperamental of all Prophet-5s.

AFTERTOUCH
• Channel (mono) aftertouch
• Destinations: filter cutoff frequency, LFO amount

PERFORMANCE CONTROLS
• Full-sized, semi-weighted, premium Fatar 5-octave keyboard with velocity and aftertouch
• Mod wheel
• Spring-loaded pitch wheel with selectable range per program (1 to 12 semitones up and down)
• Polyphonic glide (portamento)
• Unison (monophonic) mode with configurable voice count, from one to all five voices and key modes
• Preset switch: when off, the front panel is live; what you see is what you hear

PATCH MEMORY
• 200 user and 200 factory programs in 5 banks of 40 programs each
• Direct program access, including Prophet 5-style single-button access to the current set of 8 programs

IN/OUT
• Mono output (1 x 1/4" phone jack)
• Headphone output (stereo, 1/4" phone jack)
• MIDI in, out, and thru ports
• USB for bidirectional MIDI communication
• Control voltage in/out (1 x 1/4" phone jack) 0- +5V input/output signal. Configured for 1-volt-per-octave operation.
• Gate in/out (1 x 1/4" phone jack). Accepts a 1.5 to 15-volt on/off signal to gate the envelopes of a single voice on the Prophet-5. Outputs a 15-volt on/off used to gate the envelopes of an external synth.
• Low-pass filter cutoff expression pedal input
• Volume expression pedal input
• Sustain footswitch input

POWER
• IEC AC power inlet for internal power supply
• Operates worldwide on voltages between 100 and 240 volts at 50 to 60 Hz; Prophet-5: 20 watts maximum power consumption.

PHYSICAL SPECS
• Dimensions: 37.5" L x 16." W x 4.9" H (95.25 cm x 41.6 cm x 12.4 cm)
• Weight: 31 lbs (14.06 kg)
• Roadworthy all-steel construction with premium black walnut heartwood body and trim