My synths never die, but they do go to ebay heaven.
Yeah I stand by what I wrote. Obviously things changed
for me after the Prophet 10 was announced, and I got one new for £3k... too good to refuse, cheaper than the P5 and I probably wouldn't have justified £3k for the P5 due to my polyphony needs! (Bax BF deal back at the end of 2020).
Yes, like most of us, I gush about new synths when I get them - esp if they inspire me, and Prologue 16 did. And I still miss it at times, but MOST of what I could do with it I'm now doing (slightly differently but more to my idea of tonal perfection) with the Prophet 10. 10 voices + 5 voice layering or poly unison does what P16 did but with a few less voices. I get by with that and use it sparingly anyway. P16 still has tons going for it.
I have zero desire to ever touch a Prophet 6 again... it left me feeling cold, it's a good synth-tool, it was put to good use on some of my most popular music (but then so was my OB-6 and many many other synths) so it does the job. I was just never blown away by ANYTHING about its tone... (Prophet 6), not its VCOs, not its filter, not its FX nor the way the sum of it always sounded either dull or harsh and somewhat 'small' and diminished for a VCO poly synth bearing the Prophet name! 4 Octaves didn't help either... but that's just me.
Regardless of what people tell you or what YT videos try to show, there is no way on Earth the P6 sounds as 'honest' or 'analog' or 'vintage' or '3D' or 'organic' as the Prophet 5/10 rev 4... (use your own superlative if you care). Even this 'in a mix nobody would know' BS is wrong, *I* know and I can hear it when I look back.
Thing is, the P6 can and will do stuff the Prophet rev 4s don't, they are different synths, but just because something can make a harsh aggressive sequence that worked in one song doesn't mean I need to keep it when I have a Prophet 10 that does that, even better in its own way, and tons more 'bread and butter' analog tones (vintage and new discoveries) yet never sounds harsh or diminished or flat like the Prophet 6 did.
OK... so no opinion change on that. Prologue 16? Well if the Prophet rev 4's are not on your radar or don't interest you, then I still believe the Prologue 16 (not 8) is a great instrument esp for the price (esp used prices). It sounds far better and can do far more than you'd think for that money, and to me is one of the best sounding VCOs synths (along with OB-6) outside of the Prophet 5/10 and higher class.
I was even thinking of picking another one up as a 2 pole poly, but got the subsequent 37 (that has 6/12/18/24db filter choice) that also does a lot of (much) harder hitting stuff than the Prologue can, and has a thicker, meatier sound (of course) and a glorious filter. Teamed up with a Prophet 10 which is hands down the best sounding poly analog I've ever used or owned (by a good way), you see why a Prologue 16 is possibly superfluous to me now? But if you don't have a Subsequent 37 and a Prophet 10 (£5.5k's worth of synthage) then you can get a Prologue 16 which is great in both poly and mono modes, for £1k or less used. For many people that's quite the tempter (or wise choice).
I can't see another poly around right now that I'd buy if I got rid of my current 2, than the Prologue 16, it just doesn't exist... it's not the polybrute (no thanks), it's not the moog one (too expensive/over complicated and doesn't sound as good as the Prophet 10 or the P16 imo), it's none of the hybrids that sound digital and weak AF (inc hydrasynth, super 6, summit, peak...) it's not the sequential Rev 2 (I had one) that is a chore to use and never sounds awesome just 'ok' at best and awful at worst.
But I don't want a Prologue 16 *now* because of what I have, that didn't exist when I was raving about the Prologue 16! As said, if P10 is out of your orbit then everything I said is still true about the Prologue. It's an interesting, good looking, nice operating (interface), nice to play (sans a/t and wheel placement), great sounding (sans non-bypassable digital conversion stage) synth.
I particularly like the VCOs in it which I think are nicer than the OB-6's VCOs (which let that synth down), conversely the filter in the OB-6 is nicer than the Prologue but can get samey (but with bandpass etc will do stuff P16 can't). I wish the P16 had a 4 pole/24db filter option also... it could definitely compete better with the big boys then. Even as it is though, it sounds just as good as OB-6, better than Prophet 6 (more interesting and musical than the Prophet 6).
The downsides for me were I'd perhaps have liked a straight ahead analog sub osc in place of the digital multi-engine, not because it can't do fun stuff but because I don't like synths (these days) that are too deep to work with.. I want to focus on music/songs primarily! So I often just used osc 3 as a dumb digital sub osc. The compressor was useful, and it was fun to have FX built in... once or twice I hit a few walls due to the modulation options (not lack of but the way it forces you to choose between 3 destinations instead of all) but still, it was fun, inspiring and kinda-instant... patch naming is useful, the OLED screen was tastefully implemented.
I'd love Korg to do a Prologue 2 addressing issues and expanding on the analog side (the basics) rather than getting bogged down into hybrid and digital side too much (cue skywriter? to tell me how great the digital osc is and that he uses it almost exclusively
) horses for courses... If I desperately need digital sauce I can use softsynths!
P16 is so cheap I'd advise anyone interested to just buy one and try it, flip it if you don't like it. Some of its downsides will annoy some, but tonally I found it just as good as a ton of other options... I guess sometimes it COULD even give my Prophet 10 a run for its money on certain sounds, so long as you're ok with the slightly less present tone vs the Prophet rev 4s, and the digital stage....
of all the synths I've sold (far more than in my sig - which is there for context not to try to brag.. on a forum full of synth nuts who've owned just as many if not more) I only miss certain ones for certain aspects... One is the OB-6 BUT not at the prices they ask now (I got the keyboard version for £1500 mint used back in the day) and I know I'd only end up using it for those specific 4/5 sounds that I love from it that nothing else QUITE does so well... other than that it's a lot of money for a fizzy clangourous box with stiff VCOS (but beautiful filter). Another is the Prologue 16, because at its best it has such a cool tone, more musical than OB-6, more fluid... pretty, roland esque (when roland were good), and I love the layout and looks (and price)... but then I recall why I don't need it now I have the Prophet 10 doing everything poly...
There is one more synth I miss, for a specific tone and sentimental reasons, it's a Roland... it's analog... it's my secret as I don't wanna stir up more demand that it already has. (though am sure certain stalkers of me - of which there seems apparently to be some???
- will be able to guess).
Other than that, I'm now forward looking and into streamlining... hence just 2 synths! I love it.. moog above prophet 10 (moog driving Prophet with its arp/mono seq/layered with it at times)... the only synth on the horizon that I'm hoping I love is the rumoured Sequential OB-X/OB-Whatever... if it's as good as the Prophet rev 4's turned out I'll have a hard time resisting adding one to my Prophet! Come on Dave!!! (please add a simple poly sequencer and arp though man!!!)
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