Sequential Intros Trigon-6 6-Voice Polyphonic Analog Synth, The Last Synth Dave Smith Contributed To

Sequential has introduced the Trigon-6, a new 6-voice analog synth that features the company’s take on the classic Moog 3-VCO-plus-ladder-filter tone, in a modern polyphonic instrument design.

With the Trigon-6, Sequential has created a trio of 6-voice polysynths, each inspired by the work of a different ’70s/’80s synth maker:

  • The Prophet-6 is Sequential’s modern take on the classic Prophet-5 sound, combining the Prophet-5 synth voice with modern effects and performance features;
  • The OB-6 takes the classic Tom Oberheim sound — with its true voltage-controlled oscillators, 2-pole filter, and amplifiers — and adds modern enhancements, such as studio-quality effects, a polyphonic step sequencer, an arpeggiator, and more; and
  • The Trigon-6 is Sequential’s take on the classic Moog sound, featuring a 4-pole ladder filter design, with feedback and drive, along with a dual effects section, polyphonic step sequencer, arpeggiator and more.

The Trigon-6 was designed by the Sequential team and was the last design that the late company founder Dave Smith contributed to. “Dave Smith was very excited about the Trigon-6 and we believe it continues his legacy as a synth creator,” said Sequential CEO David Gibbons.

The Trigon-6 features three newly-designed, discrete voltage-controlled oscillators per voice, with simultaneously selectable waveshapes (triangle, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, and variable-width pulse). The 2- and 4-pole ladder filter design with feedback and drive puts Sequential’s own stamp on the classic transistor ladder filter sound that has proven its appeal since the dawn of the synth era. Analog voltage-controlled amplifiers complete the analog signal path.

“Our new VCOs and filters give the Trigon-6 a tremendous amount of warmth and presence,” notes Gibbons. “The classic, big, punchy analog ladder filter tone is all here — but with some unique enhancements of our own. The addition of drive and feedback allow for a wider palette of sounds than is typical, while still retaining the ability to dial back the aggression to achieve sweet, creamy tones just as easily.”

The Trigon-6 also takes inspiration from its predecessors, the Prophet-6 and OB-6, borrowing their form factor and easy-to-navigate knob-per-fuction panel design. Also present is the Poly Mod section, also with enhancements. Modulation sources are filter envelope and oscillator 3 (both with bi-polar control). Destinations include oscillator 1, 2, and 3 frequency, oscillator 1, 2, and 3 pulse width, low-pass filter cutoff, and feedback.

The Trigon-6 also offers a Unison mode, which features configurable voice count (1-6 voices) and key modes.

The knob-per-function front panel is free of menu-diving, offering immediate access to virtually all parameters. Toggling off the Preset switch enables live panel mode, in which the sound of the instrument switches to the current settings of its knobs and switches. “We wanted to make the Trigon-6 as fast and easy to navigate as possible,” said Senior Product Designer Andrew McGowan. “Switch off Preset and what you see is what you hear.”

A dual effects section provides studio-quality reverbs, delays (including modeled digital and analog types), chorus, flanger, phase shifter, and ring modulation. While the effects themselves are digital, with 24-bit, 48 kHz resolution, a true bypass maintains a full analog signal path. An independent stereo distortion is also provided and is 100% analog.

Additionally, the Trigon-6 features a multimode arpeggiator and a polyphonic step sequencer with up to 64 steps (and up to 6 notes per step) plus rests. It allows polyphonic keyboard input and can sync to external MIDI clock.

The full-size, four-octave, premium, Fatar semi-weighted keyboard is velocity and aftertouch sensitive. “We made size a primary concern on the Trigon-6. We think it’s an ideal mix of portability and power,” said CEO David Gibbons. “Best of all, it sounds amazing. Musicians will love it.”

Audio Demos:

Specifications:

OSCILLATORS

  • Three discrete VCOs per voice
  • Simultaneously selectable wave shapes: triangle, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, and variable-width pulse
  • Pulse width per oscillator
  • Hard sync: oscillator 1 syncs to oscillator 2
  • Keyboard tracking on/off (oscillator 3)
  • Oscillator feedback and drive controls for increased signal saturation
  • White Noise source
  • Keyboard pitch tracking on/off

LOW-PASS FILTER

  • Switchable two/four-pole, discrete, resonant, low-pass, ladder filter per voice
  • Filter can be driven into self-oscillation with the Resonance control
  • Bi-polar filter envelope amount
  • Velocity modulation of envelope amount
  • Keyboard tracking: off, half, full

FILTER ENVELOPE

  • Four-stage (ADSR) envelope generator
  • Velocity modulation of envelope amount

AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE

  • Four-stage (ADSR) envelope generator
  • Velocity modulation of envelope amount

LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR

  • Five wave shapes: sine, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, square, and random (sample and hold)
  • LFO sync
  • Initial amount
  • Mod destinations: oscillator 1 frequency, oscillator 2 frequency, oscillator 3 frequency, oscillator 1 pulse width, oscillator 2 pulse width, oscillator 3 pulse width, filter cutoff, amp (VCA)

POLY MOD

  • Sources: oscillator 3 (bi-polar) and filter envelope (bi-polar)
  • Destinations: oscillator 1 frequency, oscillator 2 frequency, oscillator 3 frequency, oscillator 1 pulse width, oscillator 2 pulse width, filter cutoff, feedback amount

VINTAGE KNOB

  • Recreates vintage synth characteristics by adding voice-to voice variations in component behavior

AFTERTOUCH

  • Source: channel (mono) aftertouch with bi-polar amount
  • Destinations: Destinations: oscillator 1 frequency, oscillator 2 frequency, oscillator 3 frequency, LFO amount, amplifier envelope amount, filter envelope amount, FX mix A, FX mix B

CLOCK

  • Master clock with tap tempo
  • BPM control and display
  • MIDI clock sync

ARPEGGIATOR

  • Selectable note value: 16th note, 8th note triplet, 8th note, dotted 8th note, quarter note
  • One, two, or three octave range
  • Up, down, up/down, random, and assign modes

SEQUENCER

  • Polyphonic step sequencer with up to 64 steps and rests

EFFECTS

  • Stereo analog distortion
  • Dual, 24-bit, 48 kHz digital effects, including: reverb (room, hall, plate, spring), delay (full bandwidth digital delay and emulated bucket brigade), chorus, flanger, phase shifter, and ring modulator
  • Delay sync
  • True bypass maintains fully analog signal path when digital effects are off

PERFORMANCE CONTROLS

  • Full-sized, semi-weighted, 4-octave keyboard with velocity and aftertouch
  • Backlit pitch and mod wheels
  • Spring-loaded pitch wheel with selectable range per program (1 to 12 semitones up and down)
  • Transpose controls for an 8-octave range
  • Hold switch latches held notes on
  • Polyphonic portamento
  • Unison (monophonic) mode with configurable voice count, from one to all six voices, chord memory, and key modes
  • Preset switch: when on, the front panel is live — what you see is what you hear

PATCH MEMORY

  • 500 user and 500 factory programs in 10 banks of 100 programs each
  • Direct program access, including single-button access to the current set of 10 programs

IN/OUT

  • Left/mono and right audio outputs (2 x 1/4” phone jack)
  • Headphone output (stereo, 1/4” phone jack)
  • MIDI in, out, and thru ports
  • USB for bidirectional MIDI communication
  • Filter cutoff expression pedal input
  • Volume expression pedal input
  • Sustain footswitch input
  • Sequencer start/stop footswitch input

POWER

  • IEC AC power inlet for internal power supply
  • Operates worldwide on voltages between 100 and 240 volts at 50 to 60 Hz; 30 watts maximum power consumption

PHYSICAL SPECS

  • 31.8” L x 12.7” W x 4.6 / H (80.7 cm x 32.3 cm x 11.7 cm)
  • 20 lbs (9.5 kg)
  • Maple end panels

Pricing and Availability:

The Sequential Trigon-6 is available to pre-order, with a street price of about $3,500. See the Sequential site for more info.

63 thoughts on “Sequential Intros Trigon-6 6-Voice Polyphonic Analog Synth, The Last Synth Dave Smith Contributed To

  1. For what this is (a polyphonic Minimoog with aftertouch and Sequential oscillators, more or less), depending on how it sounds, I think I might consider it if it is released in a desktop module (for maybe, $2400-$2700), Again depending on how it sounds, it might even offer an alternative to a Moog 1 (for how I would envision using it) for less than half the price. I’ll certainly be watching this one as it develops. I wish that this was the kind of synth that Behringer gave us instead of the Poly-D, a true polyphonic Minimoog, I mean.

    1. Behringer kind of shit the bed with the Poly-D, since it doesn’t sound like anything like a Minimoog.

      And Behringer is marketing the the Poly-D as a polyphonic synth, thanks to the way Marc Doty has muddled the traditional meaning of ‘paraphonic’. Yeah, you can point out the Korg Mono/Poly, but everybody that was around back then was smart enough to know that the name was marketing bullshit.

      1. Then, again, I don’t expect this to sound much like a Minimoog because, unless they are cloning the Mini’s Moog oscillators for this, it probably won’t. At least not as closely as the Behringer Model D nails the Mini’s oscillator sounds. The sound of those oscillators is, entirely, the reason I per-ordered the Model D when it was announced. I haven’t been disappointed with the clone since I’ve owned it.

      2. The Trigon 6 is its own synth, it doesn’t sound like a Minimoog or a Prophet 5, or what ever. It sounds like the Trigon 6, which is great. Its features are different enough from the P6 and the OB6 that give it its own unique character. Being able to modulate the third oscillator with itself can produce some wild effects, and the addition of the drive and feedback set it apart as well.
        In my opinion, we (myself included sometimes) spend too much time comparing every new synth to classic synths of yore rather than taking them for what they are. There are a lot of possibilities within this machine for making great sounds.

        1. ^^THIS^^

          Sequential has quietly built up a trio of updates on classic 70s/80s polysynths that sound great and are each clearly going to be classics on their own.

          If only they’d do the CS-80 and the Jupiter-8!

    2. “I think I might consider it if it is released in a desktop module (for maybe, $2400-$2700)”

      It seems reasonable to assume that this is planned, and that it will be at the low end of that price range.

      They’ve already released desktop module versions of the Prophet-6 and OB-6, and they’re both at the low end of that range.

    1. Do you think the classic Sequential logo is great typography or something?

      The front panel looks gorgeous to me – but definitely like it could be a lost design from the 80s.

    2. Tycho did the graphics design, here is a quote from his FB post:

      “.. had the great honor of designing the front panel graphics and contributing to the module layout. It was a dream come true to sit in on meetings and see Dave and the team working through the design of this synth. I met Dave a couple years ago through a mutual friend and one day we were discussing the design of the original Sequential Logo. I mentioned I had been a graphic designer in a past life and Dave said he had a project I might be interested in. He shared the details of a polyphonic synthesizer built around the iconic ladder filter design and it was truly inspiring to hear someone who, after so many years innovating, was still passionate about their craft. I of course jumped at the opportunity and although I only contributed to the cosmetic aspects it was fascinating to see the process that goes into designing an analog synthesizer….”

    1. Jesus! You must really hate the Minimoog, then. Must be quite hard for you to fathom how anybody could like, let alone love, a synth on which you can play only one note at a time.

        1. I believe that Stevie Wonder made “Music of My Mind” with monosynths. That turned out just fine! Got to put in the work…..;-)

        2. What about chords that are reproduced in mono. I may be wrong, but that’s exactly what you get when you play chords on any analog synth (and I’m also guessing most digital synths, either hardware or software). In modern analogs, if there is an effects processor of some type, then the synth may produce a “real” stereo output. However, in most of the classic polysynths, the inclusion of a second audio output (if there was one) was for panning the audio between outputs at the instrument level. The original Prophet 5 and Prophet 10 synths had only one “mono” audio output, so it is unambiguous that any chord you played was reproduced in mono..

            1. Which might those be? That isn’t a confrontational question. I’d just like to know. Up until I purchased the Prophet, the only two analog polysynths I’ve ever had in my studio were an Oberheim Matrix6r (with DCOs) and an Xpander. I don’t remember what the output connector situation was on the Matrix, but the Xpander did have two audio outputs. They weren’t there for “stereo” but as destinations for the multimbral routing, so you send different mono “mixes” to each output. Since the Matrix 6 was a scaled down version of the Matrix 12, it wouldn’t surprise me if it had two audio outputs that functioned in an equivalent manner, I just don’t remember. Neither synth had any “effects section” that had anything like stereo chorus capability.

              1. sequential circuits multitrack (single out per voice, stereo chorus)
                Roland Juno 106 (stereo chorus)
                Roland Juno 6 (stereo chorus)
                korg poly 800 (stereo chorus)
                the list of stuff with stereo chorus gos on and on
                really nothing unusual

    1. if you into modern features the pro-3 matrix will wipe the floor with your modular system cables. what instrument did you design lately? show us your advanced engineering you seem to know so much about

      1. Oh i didn’t know that the pro-3 was the reason that they cannot design thru-zero oscillators. But you are right, the pro-3 must look like a technological triumph for the generation that grew up with Bananarama…

        1. thru zero oscs is just one feature, not new and maybe seems nice on paper but not that exciting. the pro-3 have more features and even more modularity than a modern medium size eurorack system, a matrix with about 150 destination when i last checked and its all digitally controlled. i would recommend you to check its manual but you don’t sound like the type who wants to learn

          1. I don’t know, when someone has the nerve to say in their presentation clip “you can do many things with pw modulation, thru-zero seems pretty advanced (at least for them). It is not mosaicing or a non-standard sound synthesis model but its better than nothing. Btw your celebrated pro-3 has nothing to offer compared to my free copy of supercollider so please don’t tell me how significant it is technologically.

            1. its hardware, analog and a very complex hybrid designed synth, supercollider is a poor comparison. you talk about technology significant with “top of the charts attitude”, like there is better or worse technologies. maybe you should try to modulate your ego to other destination.

        2. the point is that they have other much more advanced options other manufacturers can only dream about. this one is for people who want to keep it relatively simple

          1. There is nothing complex about it, this is technology that dates 50 years ago. That is the whole point. No interesting modulation, no interesting oscillators, a very standard signal path, a complete lack of design imagination. Just some filter swapping and a new paint job. They are ridiculed by what is available in the modular synth market and of again they don’t offer anything special compared to the competition either. They don’t have anything on Black corporation synths for example, and those are sold also as kits!!

            1. “No interesting modulation”
              so you really don’t know the pro-3, i could tell you it features a matrix with about 50 sources (included a 16 track sequencer) to about 150 destinations plus 60 cv/midi destinations to other machines (so more than 200 destination) , it is actually much more “modular” than most medium size eurorack systems and all can be saved to a presets, you know, this “modern” feature missing on modular systems?…do you know how many d/a converters are inside? and no, it was not possible 50 years ago. i could give you many other examples but i know you just wants to be right, if you compare it to software and eurorack there is no point in explaining further. go read a manual, maybe you will understand advancement is not only in the feature lists. black corporation? you joking right? they are great but 1/100 less complex design compered to the pro-3. again you based on feature list of the product page instead of reading manuals…
              anyway please continue this brands politics talk and best/better/worse technology with someone else. i don’t see the practicality in it.

  2. Nice! I’m curious about the market growth of $3K+ synths, when you can get a mass of power for $2K and below, especially with softsynths. I have no doubt that the Trigon earns its price tag. I’ve owned several Prophets and they always delivered. I just wonder what the pie chart is like, between starter noobs, middle-rangers and active pros. A lot of takers will strain their budgets for this one because of the big M. I’m also hoping for a high-pass filter under the FX, a la the Prophet-12. (No fail if there isn’t, of course).

    Thanks, last wisp of Dave, for honoring Bob on your way out. Its a fine instrument I suspect we’ll see in a lot of places like the ones that currently sport P-6s and OB-6s. I love great synths where I have to work to find a hangnail in the design. Here goes: this one “needs” a touch strip! 😛

      1. I love soft synths. Not a replacement, but fantastic on their own. I agree they used to suck, but with super CPU’s like the M1 they are extraordinarily efficient and sound wonderful. Where’s the pain?

        1. Speaking for me, literal wrist pain. Turning knobs and playing a keyboard is way different for these old wrists than clicking a zillion parameters with softsynths. At the point I’m using a controller for them, it’s not worth it to me not to just use hardware.

    1. Take 5 seems like a winner, but annoyingly the price seems to have gone up.

      I can also vouch for the older DSI Tetra and Prophet ’08.

  3. The REV2 head been out for a number of years. With as popular as it still is, I’m curious to see if their next target will be to make a REV3 or something like it which would still accept patch transfers from previous models just like the REV2 does now.

          1. Digitally clocked oscillators, so it has an analog signal path with digital tuning. It’s funny. People love the Roland Juno 106, but when a modern manufacturer throws DCOs into a product, people regard it dismissively. I have a Prophet 08 with DCOs, and it’s great.

            1. “People love the Roland Juno 106, but when a modern manufacturer throws DCOs into a product, people regard it dismissively”

              This exactly. Prophet ’08 is a great sounding instrument.

          2. Sorry, you’re correct. What I meant to say was “only in one’s dreams is the Rev2 a real Sequential analog synth!” … The DCOs suck (or else something else they mucked with really degrades the character of the sound). I had one in my studio for about a week. It came at the same time as my Prophet 6. In side by side listening to equivalent patches through the same monitor system, I was very disappointed by the sound of the Rev2. Sent the Rev2 back and kept the 6.

  4. Love it! Covers all the bas(s)es, and even gets into FM (dare I say Digital?) sounds.
    Shame the Feedback and Drive share one control.. otherwise best synth of 2022.

    What next from Sequential?
    I hope a Studio 440/Prophet 2000 style sampling workstation (the logical follow up to retro-analogue.. retro-hybrid) with full knobular control of voice parameters and sample loop points (ala S-612), Trigon VCF (x2 one each HPF, LPF), uSD storage, WiFi sample/data transfer, 9 pads (to throw a curve ball in beat making circles) and if it were to happen..
    NO vast sample/preset libraries from ‘name’ producer/sound designers..
    Spend resources on products for intelligent owners.

        1. i prefer complexity and interesting options in the smallest size possible. a more complex sequencer and a much more developed modulation section could be nice, i will be happy to invest time learning it and develop some muscle memory to have that, i’m not afraid of shift/fnc matrix control and menus but its clearly not what sequential aiming for with this series. the pro5/6 ob6 and this one are very simplified instruments compered to the rev2, prophet 12, pro3. I guess this is what the majority wants.

    1. P6 is a Prophet filter, OB6 is an Oberheim filter and this is a Moog filter. so it’s basically a Moog poly. so now in addition to Sequential selling actual replicas of the Oberheim and Prophet, we get a Moog poly from them which is kind of surprising but awesome. pick your flavor!

  5. It’s kind of like a modern day Memorymoog in terms of its functionality, which I welcome. I kinda wish Moog had done something like this rather than the only polyphonic option being the expensive behemoth that is the One, as great as it is.

    I have and love my OB-6 module. I can see me grabbing the module version of this one day and it will complement it nicely. I have and love the Rev 2 but these discreet VCO synths, including the Prophet 6, do have a pleasant sound quality that is nicer in some ways.

  6. Amazing looking synth, as all sequentials are. Nice to hear a busy arp with tight envelopes on those beautiful filters. And how nice to look at a thing and remember such a brilliant man.

    Shame about inflation though. As I was watching the great video, I kept bumping the price up in my head. 1900? 2500? Nah, it’s probably 3k. Whatever, never mind. I’ll leave it to the pros. Then I scrolled to the bottom and saw 3500!! Ooof! What even is money anymore?

  7. these synths are just too expensive for what they are.. i understand the build quality is top-notch and the legacy and history and all that and so forth

    but its still too high… paying for a brand name is no good

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