The Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 At The 2015 NAMM Show

2015 NAMM Show: This video, via cuckoo, features Carson Day from Dave Smith Instruments giving an overview of the DSI Prophet 12 synthesizer. 

Here’s what Cuckoo has to say about the demo:

Carson Day from Dave Smith Instruments helped demo the Prophet 12 for me, and also did the camera work when I played it. This has been around for a few years, but it was the first time for me to get a lengthy hands on time. It’s a digital oscillator, analog filter beast, with the precision of digital, and the power of analog. Some of the patches really spring to life, showing the great depths of this synth.

Tip: For some extra entertainment, turn on Closed Captioning on this video. Money quote: “I’m so following de dicha lobac sector the data loss later section….”

24 thoughts on “The Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 At The 2015 NAMM Show

  1. I’m not yet convinced that the Modulus 02 is worth $5k, but I can hear $3k worth of synth in the P12. I’m not drawn to patch cord modulars, but I like that kind of range under the hood. I began choosing workstations early on because few standing synths had the programming power I wanted. The Prophet-12 feels like a workstation sans sequencer. Damn, I’ll bet it could beat me at chess 3 games out of five. You very rarely hear anyone grouse about a Prophet because they never seem to have any glaring omissions, just different shapings of what already works well. Even in a modest YouTube vid, you can hear that next-class timbral shifting going on. I don’t need a Prophet at this point, but I’m beginning to consider another Tetra. Dave’s synths have great voices.

  2. I think Moog should employ Dave Smith!!
    The Dave Smith stuff is great, I have a Mopho Keyboard and Tetra, more than enough sonic power!!
    I always think wow when I see Dave Smith introducing new gear, with Mogg its ‘What the f##k’
    (sub phatty 37 one exception but only duo phonic)

      1. Taste? Or perhaps polyphony? Multi timbrality?
        Possibly budget ? Not all our wallets can stretch to mono synths at thousands , even if they look like like some cheesey 60’s build (tolex)

  3. The 12 is just awesome! Still my favorite piece of gear. If you are on the fence on getting one (either in keyboard or module form), you won’t regret it. This thing can go 0 to infinity with just a few tweaks. Just to give you an idea of it’s capabilities, here is an improv utilizing only one patch. I made this the day I got it. P12 going directly into Logic with an Fireface 400. Raw P12 with no effects, eq, or edits.
    https://soundcloud.com/joshtaylorcomposer/p12-improv-patch-1

  4. The new sequential prophet 6 is the dream for me, poly phonic fully analogue pathways and sequencer. But it’s HUGELY expensive. The potential of the roland Jd-xa with four voice polyphony and sequencer is looking good.

    1. It’s not so much the name, but the product. Take poor Dan at Akai for example.
      I’d like to see Cuckoo/Kooko/Cookie pull that one off without sweating bullets (LOL).

    2. If I worked at Elektron I sure as hell would!! His demos probably have helped sell tons of gear, and he seems like a genuinely nice, helpful guy.

    3. Yes, because as we all know, someone’s name (or alias) sells or doesn’t sell a product. Would you get hired because of your name or because of skills? T H I N K about it…it’s still free….

  5. I got a mopho Keyboard. I would sell it to upgrade to something else DSI, but there’s a patch called Skylaree, which is just magic but doesn’t fit in with anything I do. Had the Evolver, but I got rid of it cos it was unwieldy. Played the mono evolver keyboard and I love it. I have played a prophet 12, the guy who owned it didn’t like the oscillators and thought it sounded too clean…

  6. The best thing about this video was the girl in the background at 7:00. She walks across the frame at 7:07. Blue blouse, floral dress. Seriously, anyone know her? She looks really enchanting and graceful. Plus she’s at NAMM. I’d like to ask her out.

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