For what it’s worth the video is a single P5, multi-tracked to get all the different sounds.
1 Like
I’ve noticed a few people struggling to figure out whether to get the P10 or P5. The reason for wanting the 5 over the 10 for many is the note stealing effect which has become synonymous for so many classic old school P5 tracks.
1 Like
I was half-joking, as inspired by the photo of the P5 desktop mounted above the P5 keyboard in the video
2 Likes
Yeah, there’s something going on there, can’t put my finger on it, tho. But it doesn’t seem to work like on my Prophet 12. I just kind of like this on the Prophet 5 more. Maybe it’s just in my head. But there seems to be something with the voice stealing, that’s just special. Maybe I’m just honeymooning.
very nice.
never heard of japan
One of my favourite Albums Tin Drum. Taking Islands in Africa was a B side to Visons of China… Wow!(Gentlemen take Polaroids). I played that track over and over. RIP Mick Karn.
1 Like
pre IDM
Its astounding how Japan morphed from Glam Rock into greatness
2 Likes
It’s true that the P5 voice stealing is a crucial part of it’s classic sound, as illustrated by the songs in that excellent article (there were a couple good ones in there I wasn’t familiar with)!
That said, an important feature added to the P10 in a recent firmware update is the ability to put it into 5-voice mode if that sound is useful for a particular song or if you’re recreating a classic. I believe you can store the setting on a per-patch basis. Also, there’s an awesome feature where you can put the P10 into “polyphonic unison” mode, which divides the 10 oscillators into pairs of two so that you have five voices with two-voice unison on each note.
So I definitely wouldn’t let the classic P5 voice-stealing sound put you off of getting a P10 if you’re otherwise interested.
1 Like
I’m really enjoying both of the pieces you’ve posted – the P5 sounds beautiful in there and absolutely fits with your sound! I’m excited to hear more!
1 Like
I saw them in concert at the Odeon in Birmingham. Mick Karn was wearing silk slippers. Still had the glam!
Coincidentally, I just listened to this David Torn interview the other day, which includes some reminiscing about Mick Karn. Torn was among Karn’s friends trying to raise money to pay for Karn’s medical expenses - the one time I was willing to put up some cash for a Fender Custom Shop guitar - Torn’s Nocaster in this case. The Nocaster was quickly sold - to someone else - but sadly Karn passed soon after.
David Sylvian (Japan) also used the P5 as his weapon of choice for a synth in his solo works
2 Likes
It’s good when it works without the clicking. The click is what annoys most who complain about it, though I’ve managed to iron it out in half the cases. The other half, I just squash envelope release times and use external delay and/or reverb.
1 Like
Hi, I almost always use my own patches for demo videos (as long as I have enough time). In this case, I’ve put together a small sound pack of 40 patches which might be made available for purchase, soon.
2 Likes
Thank you for listening and saying that 
Have you recorded anything with Matriarch and Prophet?
That would be my combination as if I pulled the trigger on the Prophet. So many people giving in is not helpful at all…
One of the things that draw me to the Prophet (besides the sound) is these little remarks throughout this thread on it being the most “acoustic” of their synths, the “piano” synth or the like, as I want to do more playing and less sound designing.
For the owners: Does the keybed live up to its reputation?
Months ago, I was tempted by the Udo Super 6 for a while, for it being called a “players instrument” as well, but that vanished completely after I had the opportunity to touch one.
1 Like
The Prophet 5 has a Fatar keybed, as openly stated by Sequential on the website. So in theory, there’s nothing inherently magical about the keybed itself, as many other synth makers also use Fatar keybeds. Heck the Matriarch has a Fatar keybed too - if you have a Matriarch, the quality of keybed should be about the same.
That said, the Prophet 5 Rev4 that I tried at Chuck Levin’s purred so invitingly in response to playing on the keyboard. Whoever worked on the presets did a good job of reworking the classic P5 presets to take advantage of velocity response. I didn’t test the aftertouch response, however.
As a Matriarch owner, I see the P5 desktop adding true polyphony vs. the Matriarch’s paraphony, and it’s particular sonic flavors to my setup. Because of the way the Matriarch’s paraphony works, it’s not a great choice for piano-like sounds or behavior, to say the least.
1 Like
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to record the Matriarch and P10 together (my wife is using my studio space where I keep the Matriarch as a home office during the pandemic, and I’m keeping the P10 upstairs on my desk so I can noodle around during breaks from work). However, I’ve done some fiddling around with the Prophet and the Moog Model 15 vst, and they sound very good together. The Prophet makes lovely lush pads that perfectly set off a crisp Moog arpeggio. And of course a brassy Prophet lead can sound very nice indeed over a rumbly Moog bass. My only concern is that each synth can take up a lot of room, so some EQ-ing will likely be necessary to fit them both in a mix.
I can’t speak to the keybed because I have the desktop, but, as GovernorSilver pointed out, the Fatar keybed should be excellent. I love the one the Matriarch, and I expect the Prophet’s keybed would be at least as good. I can also confirm GovernorSilver’s point that the velocity settings on the Prophet feel amazingly well done, even on the clumsy KeyStep I have in my office. I often struggle to get velocity to feel quite right on synths, but both the filter and amp velocity on the P5 feel fluid and natural, and it feels like there are a wide range of tonalities between minimum velocity and maximum.
That fluidity is part of what contributes to the “piano-like” feel of the synth. Another part is the striking acoustic sound of the instrument. I can’t explain it without a lot of hand-waving, but I find the sound to be unusually vivid, present and defined in a way that reminds me strongly of acoustic instruments. I will also say that I enjoy the extra polyphony of the P10, which helps a lot when I’m building up an orchestral eight-note chord a la Disasterpiece, or moving clumsily through some jazzy neo-soul chords. I think I saw you mention in another thread that you’ve been working on your piano skills and playing with inversions and extensions – the P10 has definitely inspired me to get back to work on my piano lessons as well. You’ve undoubtedly seen J3PO’s videos, but I think some of his pluckier pieces illustrate the pianistic possibilities of the Prophet very well.
Finally, if you’re interested in downplaying sound design in favor of actually playing, the Prophet is a great choice. You definitely can get all sound design-y if you want to – the excellent demo from Collectivo_Triangular (Limbic Bits) above shows how wild and lovely the polymod section can get – but it’s also dead simple to carve out a gorgeous pluck in a matter of seconds. And it’s almost embarrassing how quickly you can build up a Blade Runner brass or a woody sounding clarinet. You can create a small bank of basic sounds and just play without feeling overwhelmed by a bunch of menus. I love it.
2 Likes