Without those chips, there would have been no Prophet-5 and no future for polyphonic analog synths, none whatsoever.Īnd not to forget Scott Wedge (and Dave Rossum) who developed the digital keyboard scanning for E-MU that became, in the long run, the Prophet-5 keyboard. ![]() Without those “complete circuits on a single IC”, there would have been no way to create compact polyphonic synths. The former developed the legendary SSM chips, the latter the CEM chips. One of the few women in synth business, she made it all the way to vice president of Sequential and held that position until shortly before Yamaha took over the company in 1987.Īnd then again: Dave Rossum (E-MU), Ron Dow and Solid State Micro Technology (Solid State Music / SSM), as well as Doug Curtis (Curtis Electromusic Specialities / CEM). Dave Smith and John Bowen from Sequential first come to mind, but that’s only one side of the story. The Prophet-5 is a product of the efforts of many different people and individual companies. Things that are inherent to the American way of thinking: team competence, a pioneering spirit and hard work. 122/123)Īmerican team competence in alliance with a pioneering spiritģ things (at least) characterize the background and development of the Prophet-5. (Julian Colbeck, Keyfax Omnibus Edition, p. Whoa, and it sounds killer too? With memories? Who cares what it costs, gimme one.” Then along comes this instrument out of nowhere, from a company most people have never heard of, looking for all the world like it stepped out of a Bang & Olufsen catalog. Design, if companies ever took up the issue, was based upon practicality or an appeal to the gadget freak. Before the Prophet-5, synths had always looked complicated. “The Prophet-5 was the world’s first sexy synthesizer. A pure analog soundpath with digital keyboard scanning and data storage. That instrument was unique for its combination of analog and digital technique. Stevie Wonder won the 5th American Music Award.Īnd … Dave Smith presented the new Prophet-5 synthesizer to its public after a mere 8 months of development. Atari released its first computer with a colored monitor and 4-part sound (one year after Apple II came out with the first colored monitor worldwide).Īnni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, from the Swedish band ABBA, got married way back then (very, very important, we know). Neil Diamond’s und Barbara Streisand’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” was No. ![]() … a lot of things happend on our planet, especially in the field of electronics and especially in the musical world. ![]() But either they suffered from certain shortcomings and technical unreliabilities, or they appeared on the market after the Prophet-5 and were able to profit from its technical advances.īe that as it may: the Prophet-5 was the first. Of course there are other polyphonic analog synths with big names and remarkable sounds: Yamaha CS-80, Roland Jupiter-8, Moog Memorymoog, Rhodes Chroma, Oberheim OB-X/Xa/8, Sequential Prophet-T8. And now the Prophet-6 (and the Prophet Rev2) follows as a worthy heir in its footsteps. Profitting from a remarkable cooperation of American electronic music pioneers, the Prophet-5 has maintained its legendary aura up to the present day. It laid the foundation for all those programmable polyphonic synths, and it defined the sound of the late 70s and early 80s in a way no other instrument had done. The Prophet-5 is – along with the Minimoog – possibly the most timeless of the great analog synths.
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