I was wondering how much one gets paid to essentially pick the font on the synth.
I looked at the trigon again with the context that Tycho did the design and I couldn’t help but feel like the design decisions must have been few and far between. Like font, what else?
Completely different goals? Trigon is a modern synth made with modern production tech with a knob labeled ‘vintage’ that achieves said vintageness through DSP of the control voltages. The Model D 2022 is epitome of authentic recreation from the steamer trunk cabinetry of the chassy to the thru-hole components hand soldered to the boards inside.
Though at the end of the day they are both luxury goods. The high price tag is part of the appeal. These are keyboards that will both function as great sounding synths and make others jealous of you when they see your youtube video/live performance.
The take-5 is kind of like a 2 osc Vco based p12 to me. Has most of the mod destinations with fm, no am but there’s a poly and mono lfo and now two looping envelopes. You can stack modulations like the p12 can to make them stronger. Counter intuitive experimentation gives satisfying results like recursive modulation, using dc or osc2 to push the filter drive way beyond what it would normally go, modulating mod slots, using an envelope to modulate its own envelope amount along with extra velocity or per voice (voice spread) in the matrix. Of course it doesn’t have all of the normalled modulations and as far as I know you cant do AM in the same way, which was my favorite function on the p12. I wish it had more of the p12’s tools. But for what it is, it has incredibly versatile sound sculpting options
I loved the p12 but the take-5 takes as much of that flexibility as possible and puts it into the most beautiful sounding rich analog poly I’ve ever heard. So you get the best of both worlds; incredible core timbre (not too thick, but extremely organic while sitting in a mix very well) along with the ability to modulate one osc with the other, and modulate everything else
This one seems to have less, which is disappointing. I get the concept, but I wish they would have made a sequel to the p12 also. I’m sure it sounds amazing, but I think the take-5 really doesn’t get the praise it deserves for packing in a lot of what the p12 offers into an otherwise massive voltage shaping analog beast of a synth with a sound you really have to hear in person. And it’s not even a fully analog path, which you would never guess by the sound. But that makes it feel even more like an evolution of the p12 concept. I think someone discovered that, instead of putting the digital components at the beginning of the chain and processing them via analog filters, saturation, and vcas; you could start with the best morphing vcos around (with sine waves included), and since it’s always going to end up in the digital realm eventually, it can be controlled digitally and use some sort of digital vca stage following the analog filters
I obviously don’t fully understand what’s going on in that board technically, but you’re the one who sold me on the p12, and I believe you were right about it. So I really think you owe it to yourself to at least give the take-5 a shot if you haven’t. It’s a different thing, but it’s the right direction and it gives you a sound that no other synth can because of the decision to combine that analog warmth with digital control in an opposite approach to every other modern “hybrid”
I’ve never owned a p5 or p6 but I know I would get tired of the lack of synthesis functonality no matter how good they sound. And I hear that the p6 is hard to make sit in a mix well. So to me, the take 5 with it’s very similar vco and filter to those synths, is the best solution we have available, at least at a reasonable price. I think that if someone like me feels “bored” by lack of sound mangling potential on an otherwise incredible analog poly, but wants that thikk tone, the take-5 os the synth to get
I want the trigon too, because I’m sure it has a distinct and heavy-but-modern sound in a similar way to the t5 and p6 but with a smooth moog-ish character, which is very appealing. But I know I would convince myself that I can’t make it sound enough like my own if I can completely warp the sound by pushing it to its limits the way I can with Elektron stuff, the p12, and the take-5
Same here. I love his music, and I also love that Scott is so open about the gear he uses, gives some production tips here and there, and even gives credit to music forums for helping him learn along the way. Because hey, we are all here learning together.
Anyways, I think it was appropriate that Sequential had him design the panel for their “Moog-style” synth, since Scott uses his Minimoog is on almost every Tycho track. Pretty cool.
I think it was a bad idea for this and the moog to come out on the same day. Not that they are in competition with each other, but it seems like gear price overload for some people.
Trigon is a modern synth?
Whats so modern about it? The filter? Flexibility of sound design and connectivity? The general architecture? The looks?
Being made in 2022 doesn’t make it a modern synth imo
What about them wavetables, tho? It’s not a Prophet 12 in spirit without them 
And you guessed correctly @GovernorSilver 
yeah thats true, but for analog vcos, you get a wide range. plus they morph between one another, and hard sync plus fm gets you some pretty wild waveshapes. i think its pretty close for what it is. i also think i feel the way about the t5 as you do about the p12, maybe
It’s nice to have that kind of relationship to an instrument, don’t you think? I love that I got this special bond to the Prophet 12 now, and it’s always nice when you run into something that has the same kind of relationship to another kit. It’s not just another tool in the arsenal, it’s something more.
I’m connected to the p6 in the same way as you guys. All the things people say are negatives, are positives to me and use them to my advantage. I still feel it is the best synth sequential have built yet.
Yes I agree. It felt amazing to finally find an instrument that I connected with. The way you describe realizing that most synths you tried weren’t really for you until you got that was how I felt with this.
I wish I held onto the p12 too. And If there was a new version, I think it would be my all time favorite, but the take-5 will probably always have a special place in my setup. Already sold it twice due to convincing myself I needed a fresh creative tool to boost creativity, but was immediately lost without it. Every time I get it back I realize how crazy it was to let it go
@Kjan I love to hear that. Very inspiring. I think I’d really enjoy the p6 too
Sorry to derail the thread. I do think the trigon will be very special no matter what it consists of. It makes me sad to think sequential won’t be the same after this. I hope novation can somehow incorporate some of the Dave smith ideas into their next analog hybrid iteration
Just like you I sold my p6 because I felt I had so many other synth’s, and I wanted to buy my family stuff for Christmas last year. I was distraught for a month, I just wasn’t the same without it, I never realized how much I actually loved it and how special it is, my wife finally got fired of me being so sad, even though I tried to act like I didn’t care, she finally got me another… I don’t think I will ever sell this one…lol.
Wow what an awesome wife. That’s a good point. A lot of times I don’t realize how important a piece of gear is to my workflow, or even just my inspiration process until it’s gone
I mean that, in contrast to the Moog Model D, it has surface mount components and extensive digital architecture under the hood.
I do like a nice semantic argument. Nothing is new when you stop and think about it. The water inside us has been snowmelt from the Triassic era. That obviously makes me a dinosaur.
I know people will say that the Prophet 5 reissue was the perfect bookend to Dave’s career, but I think the Trigon 6 being a passion project is a fitting final synth. Dave always said he was inspired by the Model D, and he rounds it all out designing his own Moog.
So let’s trace this back with a little drunk history:
Minimoog Model D is born > Dave is inspired, wants to make the first polyphonic synth with patch memory, and the Prophet 5 is born > Memorymoog is born and borrows the Poly Mod from the Prophet 5 > Dave Smith creates the Trigon 6, and borrows the entire Memorymoog from Moog > Tycho, just hanging out one day is like, yeah, sure, I’ll design the front panel.
The rest is history.
And metals inside a minimoog are from the stars?! 
literally true statement 
Reality just gets weirder and weirder the more you look at it.
I see a bar. Tom and Dave are scribbling on a napkin. Ghost of Bob whispers in Dave’s ear 
i am also very intrigued by a sequential moog with dave’s vision. he really makes instruments for musicians, so i think a sequential moog might be one of the coolest synths ever
what are desktop prices usually, $1100 less than the kb version? maybe if they make one it’ll be closer to $2500 so i can afford one someday