Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 Synthesizer
A 5-octave keyboard with vintage-style controls and modern sound options.
Dave Smith Instruments™ Prophet ˜08 PE (potentiometer edition) provides all the features of the standard Prophet ™08 and adds many of the front panel' rotary controls use p... read more
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In this video Kevin Parker is playing the Prophet 08 REV2 in this collaboration with Theophilus London more

A Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 PE keyboard synthesizer sits on the middle support of a synthesizer rack in this photo of "New toyss... more

During the performance of Lotus Flower, Jonny Greenwood at times plays the Prophet '08. The camera is on Thom Yorke for the most part, bu... more

In this photo of a Radiohead performance on SNL, Thom Yorke can be seen playing the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 Synthesizer. more
Reviews
Trusted musician and artist reviews for Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 Synthesizer
Based on 7 Reviews

Great choice
This is the most creative piece of gear I have ever had. Incredible sequencer and classic curtis filter. It does not try to sound like the old Sequential gear too much. Its a more modern equipment for people who are looking for some inspiration.

Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 Synthesizer
From 5 to 8... FAT!
What a beast. Lush and rich harmonic sounds. Not so reliable, but i have to admit that insofar DSI have been behind their product and support works better than most.

Great sounding synth for the most part and a do-it-all beast, has a few small flaws sonically and functionally
For the most part it sounds great and ALIVE and the sound design possibilities are pretty amazing for an essentially analogue synth, only significant flaws are the need to install the potentiometer boards (it came with awful rotary encoders), an occasional bit of extra noise artifacts, and most annoyingly the rather small amount of space for saving presets and the need to update and backup via MIDI SysEx, which would've been acceptable in the 80's but makes no sense now.

Lush analog goodness
I love my Prophet 08. It sounds lush and deep and has many deep modulation possibilities, including a 4-track sequencer that can be used for notes or to modulate parameters. I also love that it’s bitimbral, you can split the keyboard and play one patch on the left side and another patch on the right, or layer the sounds. So many possibilities with this!
It loses one star for the less-than-inspiring Curtis filter, and a few random nitpicks about how things work. The after touch and expression pedal are inspiring to program and play.
Overall, I love it and I’ve used it on many albums.
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Details
Description
A 5-octave keyboard with vintage-style controls and modern sound options.
Dave Smith Instruments™ Prophet ˜08 PE (potentiometer edition) provides all the features of the standard Prophet ™08 and adds many of the front panel' rotary controls use potentiometers to create a more vintage-style control. Featuring an eight-voice synthesizer with a 100% analog signal path, aftertouch, and velocity with added performance features including a gated 16 x 4 step sequencer, arpeggiator, and the capacity to split or stack sound. These features enable modulation possibilities of sound production that the classic synths just cannot touch. The Prophet ™08 PE includes a spring-loaded pitch wheel and assignable mod wheel, two digitally operated analog oscillators, three envelope generators, and 256 completely editable programs including two layers in each program. A fully-featured polysynth with a 10% analog signal path, the Prophet ™08 PE delivers classic, true analog sound, including a modern feature set as well as the renowned Curtis analog low-pass filters. The Dave Smith Instruments™ Prophet ™08 PE delivers affordability in a compact size along with enormous sound, and comes with loads of knobs for hands-on, real-time editing and performance.
Specifications
- 5-octave keyboard with semi-weighted action, velocity, and aftertouch
- Spring-loaded pitch wheel and assignable mod wheel
- 256 fully editable programs (2 banks of 128) with 2 layers (2 separate sounds) in each
- 16 x 4 gated step sequencer
- Arpeggiator
- 2 digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCOs) per voice with selectable sawtooth, triangle, saw/triangle mix, pulse waves (with pulse-width modulation), and hard sync
- White noise generator
- 1 analog Curtis low-pass filter per voice; selectable 2- and 4-pole operation (self-resonating in 4-pole mode)
- 3 envelope generators: filter, VCA, and assignable (four-stage ADSR + delay)
- Envelope 3-can loop
- 4 LFOs (low-frequency oscillation)
- Glide (portamento): separate rates per oscillator
- Analog VCAs (variable gain amplifiers)
Biggest bang for buck synth on the market today
With 4 LFO's 3 Envelopes, 4 modulation sources, and a 2 and 4 db filter, you really cant find a more quality synth for less than $1000.