Dave Smith Instruments Unveils Prophet 12 at NAMM
All New Polyphonic Synthesizer From Master Synth Designer
ANAHEIM, Calif.—January 24, 2013—Dave Smith Instruments today introduced a new polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 12, at the 2013 NAMM Show. “After 35 years of creating synths, this is simply my best synth yet,” said Smith. “We sort of started from scratch on this one rather than spinning off another product from our previous designs.”
At twelve voices, the Prophet 12 boasts the greatest polyphony of any instrument designed by Smith. Each voice features four oscillators capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator, resonant analog low- and high-pass filters, and analog VCAs. The new Character section adds a variety of wave shaping and sound sculpting options, like Drive, Hack, Decimation, Girth, and Air. Additional features include a tuned feedback path, a four-tap stereo delay per voice, expanded arpeggiator functionality, deep modulation capabilities, and bi-timbral operation. The LFOs, delay, and arpeggiator can all be synced, either to the internal clock or an external MIDI clock. Two programmable position- and pressure-sensitive touch sliders take the performance controls beyond the standard pitch and mod wheels (also included).
“We’re already blown away by the sonic breadth of this synthesizer’s new voice architecture,” Smith continued. “It doesn’t sound like anything else and I’m very excited for people to hear it.”
The Prophet 12 is expected to be available Q2 of 2013 with a projected MAP of $2,999.
Prophet 12 Polyphonic Synthesizer
lemons wrote:
Am I the only one who thinks it looks ugly? For $3K I would have expected something that looks like a premium product.
IMHO, none of the DSI keyboards to date have the level of visual polish that other manufacturers have. But then, those other companies proabably hire out professional graphic and industrial designers to give their stuff some sexiness, whereas I don't think DSI can afford to do so.
Note that I'm not calling their babies ugly; they just look like something an engineer designed. 
Ugly would be the Alesis Fusion. (OH SNAP)
ElectricPuppy wrote:
\Note that I'm not calling their babies ugly; they just look like something an engineer designed.
As a graphics professional myself, I think it bears mention: the Fusion is so profoundly ugly, it could only have come from a designer. Stuff like that doesn't happen by accident.
k2500x wrote:
Dave Smith Instruments Unveils Prophet 12 at NAMM
All New Polyphonic Synthesizer From Master Synth Designer
ANAHEIM, Calif.—January 24, 2013—Dave Smith Instruments today introduced a new polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 12, at the 2013 NAMM Show. “After 35 years of creating synths, this is simply my best synth yet,” said Smith. “We sort of started from scratch on this one rather than spinning off another product from our previous designs.”
At twelve voices, the Prophet 12 boasts the greatest polyphony of any instrument designed by Smith. Each voice features four oscillators capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator, resonant analog low- and high-pass filters, and analog VCAs. The new Character section adds a variety of wave shaping and sound sculpting options, like Drive, Hack, Decimation, Girth, and Air. Additional features include a tuned feedback path, a four-tap stereo delay per voice, expanded arpeggiator functionality, deep modulation capabilities, and bi-timbral operation. The LFOs, delay, and arpeggiator can all be synced, either to the internal clock or an external MIDI clock. Two programmable position- and pressure-sensitive touch sliders take the performance controls beyond the standard pitch and mod wheels (also included).
“We’re already blown away by the sonic breadth of this synthesizer’s new voice architecture,” Smith continued. “It doesn’t sound like anything else and I’m very excited for people to hear it.”
The Prophet 12 is expected to be available Q2 of 2013 with a projected MAP of $2,999.
Prophet 12 Polyphonic Synthesizer
The section in bold sounds a bit like an analog/digital hybrid type thing, along the lines of the PolyEvolver maybe.
I like the touchstrips above the wheels.
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