Title link takes you there. Via Stephen.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
33 comments:
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MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
©2025 Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
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MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
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Wall warts on $2000 synthesizers are lame. Come to think of it, they're lame on my $1200 MEK as well.
ReplyDeletewhy does it matter what end of the chord the transformer is on? aren't different transformers needed for some regions anyway?
ReplyDeletei've blown a fair number of power supplies. trust me, you don't want it built into equipment.
Yeah. In 2007 we have a new ANALOG synth and you complain about a plug?! Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to play this at a store. It looks great!
Very excited about this. Dave Smith rocks!
ReplyDeletePersonally I'd prefer the supply to be built in, but quite frankly I'm just happy to have another great option for a polyphonic analog synth. Can't wait to get my hands on one.
ReplyDeleteI just don't know if I buy this thing or the PEK once its price goes down now :-))
ReplyDeletesorry,but thats right,external psu on a 2000usd is....
ReplyDeleteThe reason mostly why manufactures do that is because then they not have to design and let test a qualified housing,that is realy expensive,because if u want to export to some countrys the housing of the aparatus need to be build following certain electrical norms.
While adding an external psu,all responceability goes to the supplier/manufacturer of the external psu ,if an incident or something happens...
Honestly given Dave's history of poor power supply design I would prefer he stick to using external ones.
ReplyDelete2 DCO's :( boohooo... Still, looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteSo what is the actual asking price?? and anyone have any idea on it's release??
ReplyDeleteWould be also interested to know of european price...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=5183
MSRP of $2,199.00
novamusik says 2-4 weeks.
ReplyDeletecool and all, doesn't stop the wheels being in the wrong place...
ReplyDelete"Honestly given Dave's history of poor power supply design I would prefer he stick to using external ones."
ReplyDeleteWhere? When? The rev 1 and rev 2 Prophet-5? That was a lot of power supplies ago and even those can be modified to be stable. The rev 2 was field modded for that nearly 27 years ago. Since then he's had quite a few pieces of equipment with reliable power supplies.
When I first bought a PEK it did cross my mind that maybe he was a bit paranoid about building up heat, but then I realized it was more than likely just for the convenience of export and even more so cost. Lugging around a cable with a wart on it is a pretty small inconvenience for that.
"2 DCO's :( boohooo... Still, looks awesome!"
BFD. ;-) That gives it quite a bit of stability. I don't see anyone complaining about the Juno 106 having DCOs. Its still analogue.
Does no one consider the fact that having an external power supply reduces signal noise? Just saying...
ReplyDeleteThe power supply will probably be a "lump in the line" type - like on the PEK, not a socket-blocking wall wart.
ReplyDeletemmh. not so sure about this... the demo sounds don't blow me away. i prefer the concept of the evolver... DCOs are a tricky thing... I like them on the ELKA and the Matrix 6 but what i hear here doesn't convince me. will have to hear it in person. Looks kinda cool and i like the sequencer idea.
ReplyDelete"BFD. ;-) That gives it quite a bit of stability. I don't see anyone complaining about the Juno 106 having DCOs. Its still analogue."
ReplyDeleteJuno 106 is a bit cheaper beastie ;). Still better than software...
Sweetwater is selling it for 1999.99. I am somewhat disapointed in the sound. I have the Poly Evolver and the sound is pretty much the same except you can hear the extra 4 voices in some demos. They are still selling the PEK for 2399.99....So at this point until I can play it in person I would have to go with a Poly Evolver Rack for 1300.00 and use Poly chain so that the PEK as 8 voices. I still very much like the idea of a new prophet 08 but it's sound is the same as the PEK + 4 additional voices. I know the specs are different this is suppose to be full analog signal path and does not have any digital OSC's but compare the sounds of the two...
ReplyDeleteThe reason mostly why manufactures do that is because then they not have to design and let test a qualified housing
ReplyDeleteThis is correct...UL/CSA approval takes time and money. Dave smith instruments is not a big company and surely doesn't have a lot of capital. Also, the size of the instrument may not fit an internal transformer-based or switching power supply.
On another note I haven't even listened to the demos but from a design standpount it's obvious that this thing would be based on the poly evolver and will sound similar.
Agree that external transformers have no place being used on professional synthesizers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I listened to the demos and thought the instrument sounded a bit thin and clinical. Maybe it was just the sounds used, but I'm not impressed yet.
Thirdly, am I the only synthesist that hates endless encoders?
it's too black for my taste.
ReplyDeleteI can't make up my mind yet... I really like my little evolver desktop and have been hmm-ing and haw-ing about a nice polysynth to use as a controller. This one is mighty tempting but I agree with what seems to be the general dislike of rotary encoders. And I'm going to have to see if I can program sounds on it that I like before I bring one home, because I'm not sure I'm in love with the overall tone of the examples that I've heard so far.
ReplyDeleteStill drooling at it though.
Owning a P600 & P5 (rev 3) I was quite surprised how "non prophet" the new '08 demos sounded. To be 100% honest the demos reminded me of my Juno-106! I'll have to hear it in person before buying. I have a hard time believing DCO's will sound as warm, and drift like the VCO's in the P600 & P5. For $600 more you get a Alesis A6 with twice the voices and VCO's. It also appears that knobs are not marked and you will have to look at the screen for some programming (I hate that!). But I am exciting to get my hands on one and actually play it. Thanks Dave!!!
ReplyDeleteHate to piss on the Dave parade - I have nothing but the utmost respect for the man and his design talents - but I, like others, are just completely underwhelmed by the demos I've heard thus far. Believe me, when I first saw this instrument it was love at first sight, credit card at the ready.
ReplyDeleteBut after repeated listens to the demos, I'm just not impressed - the sounds seem to lack depth and character - something that the Evolver has in spades. Heck, I can dial-up sounds in 2 seconds on my single oscillator Juno-106 that sound 4 times as warm and luscious than anything I've heard on the Prophet '08 thus far.
Perhaps the "ah-ha" moment will come when I get my hands one - but until then, this beauty may only be skin deep.
I just checked out the videos on Keyboard mag's web site. The prototype in the video sounds much better than the online demos, maybe just bad demos? Dave also debunks the DCO vs VCO myths and why and how the Prophet '08's DCO's work. Dave says they WILL DRIFT like a VCO instrument. Can't wait to get my hands on it!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, external psu's are just cheese. They belong on casios. If you're gonna make something do it right! Use a universal tri-ac connection like every other proffesional piece of gear. And no numeric pad for choosing patches?
ReplyDeletewhat was this guy smoking when he designed this?? First he makes a 4 voice synth, then this half assed thing.
And the sound?? My A6 makes this thing sound like a soft synth, and a bad one at that..
What a waste.
this does * not * sound like a softsynth - in fact it sounds great :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.trippler.net/files/p8/p8e.mp3
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"what was this guy smoking"
ReplyDeletea question that one could ask of that whole preceding post ..;-)
some total nonsense on show again here, that shows all the pratfalls of rushing to judgement without demoing synths.
ReplyDelete1) It definitely does not sound "just like the analog end of the evolver " , and everyone's who's demoed one says the same.
2) there's a virtually 100% chance that no-one from this blog has tried the synth themselves, because it went up in August.
re : August blog on Prophet 08
ReplyDeleteAs others and Dave Smith has also said over and over , the Prophet 08's not supposed to be a new prophet 5, it's supposed to be part new-sounding dsi synth and part prophet , which it's pretty good at being.
new os for prophet 08 pour february 2008 annonce hier. http://www.tinyurl.com/h9j990.05.br
ReplyDelete