Sequential Prophet X | A modern 'vintage' sampler/synth that is highly underrated

With 2 sample instruments (engines), 2 extra synth oscillators and analog SSM-style filters & amps, the Prophet X has a lot going for it. I was looking for one keyboard to rule them all. All my custom samples inside. Works great!
As I have to have a sample engine (instrument) to be able to gather most of the sounds I need for alive gig, some synths like the Oberheim OB-X8, 3rd Wave or similar wouldn't be the right choice. I thought about the Waldorf Quantum, but it doesn't have the easy of use and I really dislike touch screen setups, the same way I dislike smartphones and iPads. For the same reason. I want buttons and knobs, also when programming.

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00:00 Intro
00:38 Overview
01:18 Sample stretch
02:25 Building up a patch
07:05 Conclusion

[TimDaleMusic]

Thanks for this Espen. I love my Prophet X. The addition of the samples just adds so much more depth and variety when compared to the rest of the Prophet range. I know some people look down on the digital oscillators but I can't fault them. I've only used it once live so far but hope there will many more occasions. I got the wonderful opportunity to chat with Dave Smith for a while at Superbooth, just a couple of weeks before his untimely passing. I told him that I was now the proud owner of a PX, and he said that was his favorite Sequential but perhaps he says that to all the owners :-). Anyway, hope you have many happy hours with this, and hope there are more PX videos to come in the future.

[russellbutterfield]

If I am honest here. I have to admit the Prophet X is single handedly the best synth that I have ever seen, and to use it is a total joy, some of the pads and leads and other stuff are some of the best sounds I have ever heard from a synth, the warmth from it is amazing and the filter sounds very creamy and lush. I have heard people say that the synth section is stripped down from the Rev2. But its not, its very very close to the Rev2 and you have a sample player on top of that which you go to places, that you have never been before. The only synth which could come anywhere close to this is the Waldorf Quantum v2. But yes I agree this is a very undated synth, and that's because people do not understand it, they don't know its sonic capabilities. I have had mine since 2019, would I sell it 4 years down the road, not a chance. I am still finding out stuff about this synth and its capabilities. Its future proof, and for the doubters, you really need to try one. Some of the sounds you can get are really next level, it blows everything out of the water, and that includes my Polybrute, Hydrasynth, Blofeld, Integra 7, and any soft synths I own

[keyboardkingpin]

I underestimated this since when it 1st came out it. It sounds awesome great video as always Espen.

[dannymontreal]

Thanks Espen. You just upped my Prophet XL value.
Not that I would ever sell.
What an amazing and engrossing experience.

[EverettDudgeon]

Thank you thank you thank you so much for doing this. The PX is easily my favorite synth of all time and it's been a huge game changer for me. Completely underrated and you make it sing beautifully.

[andycordy]

Very interesting that you gave so much of your presentation to the one workflow element of taking a sample and expanding it across the keyboard and I can see how handy that feature is. Complex mapping of multiple samples takes forever. To be able to spread one sample out like that is surely a unique feature except for specialist plug in architecture.

[MorbidManoeuvres]

Another beautiful thing about this, you can alter the bitrate making it sound even more old school/vintage like . Since older samplers had lower bitrate

[martinbdker]

Wow... what a great sound you ended up with. Don't be afraid of making other videos with the Prophet X - and if you could angle your camera so we could see the control panel better I would learn even more.

[cortical]

I'm happy that you're liking this and that it suits your varied needs. I'm curious about them now after little interest. You have a way of doing that! Sounds great.

[dzod]

It sounds wonderful and has captured the vintage sound perfectly. Shame there isn't a rack or desktop version. I'd buy one if there was.

[VintageSynthesizerSolutions]

Alweays been curious about these! Seems like a perfect fit for your gigging needs!

[brettwayne]

Brining back some memories for me. I never thought of it for live, but I can see it being great for that. I wanted it as my centerpiece in the studio to emulate vintage synths and samplers. Be my one stop shop hardware synth. It is very versatile. I made a ton of analog type presets using the coded osc's and I imported my EII libraries. I remember I found your channel around the same time at the beginning of 2020. I was just getting back into hardware after years away. I got a PX and a tetra and I reached out to you to find a 12 bit sampling solution to resample into the PX., and you so kindly suggested the mks-100 to me. it worked great. But I didn't have samplerobot. I should have spent the extra money. It was very tedious making and mapping samples without that.

after using the PX for a couple of months I really missed my Juno and sh-101 and other vintage stuff I used to own. I sold it to fund an mks-7, and mks-30. But everything I bought ended up needing service. the dss-1 I bought, still has a dead voice even after trying to have it serviced., the mks-30 I had to overhaul, and recently get a tuning issue fixed. My mks-7 has another dead voice also serviced in 2020, my mks-100 developed a high pitched whine that lead me to part ways with it too. Instead of working on music I spent most of 2020 fixing synths. Lesson learned. Your video on that subject was spot on!

The PX is a unique elegant instrument in this day and age and it is beautiful to look at and work on. The filter is fantastic! I sincerely hope you enjoy it very much and have fun getting ready for the gigs!

[ghavinga]

Great to see a video about the Prophet X! Thank you, please post some more videos on the P X ;-)
Also try out modulating the filter cutoff on each left and right channel. You can achieve some very unique and great stereo effects. By using for example, slow slightly off-set LFOs on each side. There aren't that many synths available that have that ability.

[andyry]

Very nice to have a peak into your wonderful world, Sir. -Andy Ry Denmark.

[DaveDaves]

Yea wow I wouldn't have thought of it as an ideal fit for you but this video makes the case; you and I seem to have some mutual favorite sound timbres - like JX-8P and Depeche Mode, 80s overall, sure. The 80s sounds came out so incredibly well on this! Given its modern tech, capable of very clean hi-fi multi-sampling, is packed with tons of hi quality samples, no VCOs or analog DCOs, I just didn't think 80s when I read about it - but woah do the SSM filters sound crazy good on it! Unfortunatley now I have no choice but to yearn for this - I'm starting to question my plan to go Akai MPC direction . Your video only showed one example of the chorus but I was very underwhelmed, you too? For the Roalnd JDxA I had to buy the TC June-106 (Juno/JX Roland stereo analog chorus backwards engineered) because the digital inbuilt chorus just didn't do it for me; Roland's own digital emulation of it is quite good but JDxA chorus? big shrug, and that's why Behringer's DeepMind despite being Juno-based didn''t feel magical to me. The pitch shifting across the keyboard seems to be very good, yes? To me that's the most important charachteristic of a sampler. My 909 has an OK tonality doing that (losely based on the V-Synt & VP-9000's Variphrase technology but not the full thing and not as good) - to my ears, EMU samplers had the best-sounding method for that which I read about from their main engineer, how it cleverly doesn't have to reduce the sample rate to slow/pitch down.I love the JDxA but its quite flawed, too. Now gonna watch your chorus shoot-out!

[bobjoe]

Loving the chair in the studio! But this is a really great sampler, really nice blend of old school workflow and modern tech.

[xazaful]

I bought one used this weekend.
It is a very impressive synth. The ability to mess around with so many samples is a joy.
The filter is very interesting with its own character.
@Espen, many thanks for your vidéos. They helped me to decide witch synth to buy :)
The workflow of this one is very straightforward, it's a pleasure to lose yourself by messing around with its sample engine.

[DestroyER]

Arguably the best Sequential synth since PolyEvolver. Amazing! Thank you for showing, all the best! :)

[AreaAudio]

Love my DS/Sequential synths I have a few
Pro3 / Prophet 6 / 10 & 12 not got an X though in truth its on the list but space is a premium nowadays with 16 full size synths plus a good half dozen Rack/desktops, but gotta say out-of all of mine including virus ti2, nord lead4, hydrasynth, polybrute, moog one and Modal 002 & 008, my favourites still remain the Dave Smith stuff, just summat really nice and tactile and build quality about em not to mention sound quality love em

[the_JTowny]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these. Treat myself for my 50th.