1. WELCOME TO PROPHET-5 V!
Thank you for your purchase of Prophet-5 V by Arturia. It is a detailed model of the
legendary Prophet-5 Rev 2 synthesizer, and one of the very latest realizations of TAE®, or
True Analog Modeling. Far beyond taking digital snapshots of a classic instrument’s sound,
TAE analyzes and recreates analog circuits of classic hardware instruments, the way these
circuits interact with each other, and the exact effects of that interaction on the sound. This
results in a virtual instrument that plays and “breathes” like the original hardware — as close
at hand as a click of your mouse.
1.1. About the Prophet-5
The Prophet-5 has the distinction of being the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer
on the market. It was manufactured by Sequential Circuits, then a garage startup that
exemplified the mixture of musical and tech talent in the San Francisco Bay Area of the
1970s.
At the time, Sequential consisted of engineer and inventor Dave Smith, former synth clinician
John Bowen, and businesswoman Barb Fairhurst. They had started out building and selling
sequencers such as the analog Model 600 and digital Model 800, and a programmer for
the Mini and ARP 2600 synths called the Model 700. In 1978, they debuted the Prophet-5 at
the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) trade show.
Described as “five Minis in a box,” it offered five voices of polyphony — “One for each finger
on your hand” as Dave Smith once put it in an interview with
Keyboard
magazine.
Here was exactly the instrument musicians wanted and needed. It wasn’t the first
commercial synth to be able to claim polyphony — the Yamaha CS80 beat it to that punch by
over a year, and Oberheim’s multiple-SEM systems such as the Four-Voice and Eight-Voice
by a bit longer. However, it was the first synth to offer full patch storage and recall of all its
settings, and do so in a truly portable package that gigging keyboardists could place atop
their organs and electric pianos. What’s more, its undeniably big sound was irresistible, and
became a staple of pop, rock, and the then-upcoming new wave movement characterized
by such bands as The B52s, Blondie, The Cars, Talking Heads, and many more.
Prophet-5 synthesizer, revision 2
Arturia - User Manual Prophet-5 V - Welcome to Prophet-5 V! 4
To Next Page
Loading...
