Digital does analog! The Prophecy was among one of the first synthesizers to lead a revolution started in the mid-nineties by synthesizer makers to satisfy a growing segment of the market that was lusting after old-school vintage equipment in the pursuit of making electronica-style music, by providing a state-of-the-art retro synthesizer that could sound like a classic analog.

The Prophecy Solo Synthesizer was unveiled in 1995, and was a purely monophonic solo/lead synthesizer. It employed DSP synthesis first developed for the Korg OASYS synthesizer, with algorithms for producing realistic analog timbres, VPM (Variable Phase Modulation) tones similar to FM synthesis, and physically modeled brass, reed, and plucked string instruments. At your finger tips were tons of real-time control over traditional analog editing parameters like filter cutoff and resonance, envelopes and the arpeggiator. It had a pitch wheel, a mod wheel, an expressive dual action ribbon wheel, six effects processors and more!

It is used by The Orb, Jan Hammer, Download, Meat Beat Manifesto, Mirwais, Front Line Assembly, Kobe, Depeche Mode, Orbital, Theatre, Überzone, BT, Union Jack, The Prodigy, the Crystal Method, Eat Static, Apollo 440, Radio Head, Luke Vibert, Stabbing Westward, 808 State, Rick Wakeman, Yes, Joe Zawinul, the Pet Shop Boys and lots more! A great and modern techno/electronic music machine.

Reverend Vile

July 1, 2010 @ 2:57 am

Also used by Hexfix 93 of Velvet Acid Christ.

relic

June 19, 2010 @ 11:08 am

they got some ideas from the korg 707. similar body style and buttons / wheels.

Thomas Tsai

March 24, 2010 @ 1:33 pm

This is the one!! I bought it since i saw it when on sale!!! Prophecy used to be my master KB because not only it's sound , but also great KB respone for all kind of playing style. (it really shine with my Yamaha VL1 together)!!

josh orbit

March 5, 2010 @ 2:46 pm

I just picked one up from a guy on ebay and I already love this board. It has a character all it's own. You can call it digital and harsh but to me that's a good thing. It's a very thick and textured sound and I love it. The ribbon-log is genius, but I'd rather have the pad from the z1 but it's a great way to modulate the sounds as you play.

Christopher Winkels

February 28, 2010 @ 11:15 am

I bought one when they were new and used a Moog Source as partial trade-in. Big mistake. Some people complain about the Prophecy's interface, but I actually think it was reasonably good given the price point they were aiming it. The controls were quite good too - three wheels and a ribbon are nice to have and the arpeggiator was well thought out. The display occasionally displayed odd artifacts, but those vanished as soon as I switched to a new patch.

I wish I could be as enthusiastic with the sound though. The longer I was exposed to it, the more I noticed how it sounded cold, digital, and harsh. Korg didn't lick the high-end aliasing problem endemic to VAs and the physical modelling sounds bordered on the useless. It had a "boxed in" sound that I couldn't get with, and it had a silly portamento implementation that only offered fixed time rather than fixed rate.

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