Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 hybrid synthesizer

General

If synthesizers were like wine, then the Prophet 12 would be a coveted vintage that had just been unearthed in the basement of an ancient French castle. The Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 hybrid analogue/digital synthesizer is the latest great feat from the man who instigated many innovations in the world of synthesizers. The man himself is very proud of the Prophet 12, calling it his best synthesizer yet - and we can understand why he says so. For instance, it features a 12-voice polyphony - the highest number that has ever been implemented in one of Smith's instruments - and each voice is quite elaborate.

Sound generator

To get right to the point: the Prophet 12s aren't actually analogue, but that does not diminish their excellent quality. These virtual oscillators are rendered by six SHARC chips, after which the output is converted into analogue form and sent to the filters and VCAs. The SHARC chips are also in charge of the effects. Thanks to this innovative architecture, the Prophet 12 packs some serious punch: each of the twelve voices consists of four oscillators, a sub oscillator, low pass and high pass filters and analogue VCAs

But wait, there's more

You can use the new Character section to add a bit of personality to the Prophet's sound - Drive, Hack, Decimation, Girth and Air allow you to add just that little something extra to the sound for some added pizazz. You'll find additional sound design options in the shape of a tuned feedback path, a four-tap stereo delay, an extensive arpeggiator and many possibilities for modulation. Clearly, the Prophet 12 is a serious synthesizer, but it's still quite user-friendly thanks to the large number of physical knobs and buttons. Also notable are the two location and pressure sensitive touch sliders that can be programmed freely.

Applications

You can create a very diverse array of sounds with the Prophet 12: from classic/vintage '70s and '80s synths, to complex glassy or metallic soundscapes and fat bass... The sky is the limit! In short, this machine produces fantastically warm, fat and powerful sounds, and it offers an incredible number of sound shaping possibilities. The Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 is a great device for anything from EDM to pop, and even for creating audio for games, movies or TV programmes.