Sequential Circuits Prophet VS

Sequential Circuits Prophet VS Image

Here's a very cool keyboard from Sequential. Notice the joystick for controlling your sound modeling. The Prophet VS uses Vector Synthesis as its revolutionary new means of sound creation. It uses a total of four oscillators per voice with 127 waveforms (32 user) and dynamic waveform crossfading via the joystick. This was Sequential's first digital synth, and it was also their final synth unfortunately. But after Sequential was gone, Vector Synthesis technology went into the popular Korg Wavestation and Yamaha's SY-22 and TG-33.

Sequential Circuits Prophet VS Rack Image

Pictured above is the common rackmount version of the PVS. The Prophet VS is still a very sought after instrument because it has an incredible range of sounds! Its only problem is that there's practically nobody left that can fix it if something went wrong. It is used by Brian Eno, Trent Reznor, Apollo 440, Depeche Mode, Vince Clarke, Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Erasure and filmmaker/composer John Carpenter.

29 Visitor comments
Christian
August 22, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Rush used two of these on the Hold Your Fire tour.... tour book per Geddy's equipment list.
Joerg
July 16, 2009 @ 4:08 pm
My favorite synth next to my PPG Wave 2.2 (for the 8 bit wavetables) it is extremely under rated, better than the prophet 5 if you ask me, more sonic characteristics and much easier to get very experimental and unique sounds from. Shawn is right though, the lack of 5530 chips make this a hard fix now than wine country take 3 months to get back to your emails. Find a good tech if you buy one of the these!
shawn rudiman
July 12, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
the vs is awesome. its capable of things that not much else but the ppg 2.2-2-3 is. maybe then not even them. it can be brittle, cold, warm, cutting, round, smooth, gritty (unlike any grit you can imagine). its fantastic. it also allows you to import your own single cycle waves (via midi sample dump standard). which is old but useful. despite the lack of cem 5530 sample and hold chips out there and the custom sequential chips, this machine is fantastic. its not easy at first to program, but its worth every minute you put into it to learn. hands down one of my favourite machines to use. not too mention the wicked arppegiator/sequencer of sorts that it has. full out beast of a synthesizer.
Chris Faur
June 4, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
I'm surprised I'm the first one to post on this one. Is it really that rare?...it must be..hehe... anyways...this synth is very classy and nice. Built from metal, weights quite a few pounds but in the studio it looks nice and it sounds incredible. It has its own soul.....you can check out a pad I made on my music page at http://www.waterdropmusic.com ... you can also see pics of mine on my studio page at www.moonzone.com. I own other synths too but this will always be my favorite. I will never sell it..... oh btw did I mention that I bought it directly from Scott Peer who worked for SCI along with Dave Smith and Chris, and who was the engineer behind the Prophet 3000 Sampler. He also gave me all the schematics so if you have one in need of repairs and needs some blue prints...gimmie a hollar...Take care.
 
Post Comment!
VSE Rating

Awesome!

User Rating

Rated 4.36 (372 Votes)

  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - SCI Prophet VS "Vector Synthesizer" single sound demo

    Factory Patches - These are the original factory patches for the Prophet VS, available for Macintosh and Windows/PC.

    More Patches - These are custom patches by Philip Pilgrim at The Audio Lab. They are in the .mid format and are for Macintosh and Windows/PC.

    Manual - Download the original owner's manual from SoundProgramming.net.

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - 8 Voices; 2-part multitimbral
  • Oscillators - 96 preset waveforms + 32 user waveforms
  • LFO - Two, each with own envelope generator
  • Filter - Curtis analog (digitally controlled) 4-pole lowpass with its own envelope generators
  • Envelopes - 5 stage amp, filter and mix envelopes
  • Keyboard - 61 keys (velocity / aftertouch)
  • Memory - 100 patches
  • Effects - twin chorus, stereo effects panning of individual oscillators/individual voices
  • Arpeggiator - very nice versatile arpeggiator, user can define note order by playing etc.
  • Control - MIDI
  • Date Produced - 1986-87
  • Resources & Credits
  • Images from Perfect Circuit Audio.

    Additional information provided by Dave Bellamy.

Errors or Corrections? Send them here.