I owned a Prophet 600, and this release kinda feels like the modern version of it. I loved my 600, it’s what made me personally love the Sequential sound.
If you want to FM the filter from OSC2 without hearing OSC2, you need to send it to the mod matrix via the FM1->2 button on the panel, then just keep the level down on the panel and set your modulation up with the matrix. IIRC, I haven't played with it in a few months. I know you can definitely do it, and the FM button on the panel changes the way OSC2 can be used as a mod source. Edit: Ok, I double checked, if you have the FM button lit it will remove VCO2 as an audio source and you can use it in the mod matrix however you like, and the level knob just acts as a shortcut to doing OSC2->OSC1 FM. If the FM button is not lit, then the level of OSC2 attenuates how much modulation is available in the matrix from OSC2 but it will also be audible. If the FM button is lit, then OSC2 is sent to the mod matrix with no attenuation and isn't audible. It's confusing.
Thanks for this amazing demo. Learned a lot. Bought my Take5 as a first time synth player. Had to return it to Guitar Center due to a pitch wheel prob. Hoping the next unit won’t have that same prob. The synth is still pretty new, so the bugs have to be tweaked. That said, this is an amazing synth to my ears. I was in between a Moog Matriarch and the Take5. Huge diffs but I felt the Take5 was a great intro to the synth world. Again, thanks for the very in depth demo. Learned a lot!
I love this synth and find it a super special unit, separated from the rest of the pack. It has to be played and worked with to realize that. I'll never quite understand the gripes with keybed length, lol. (Forest for the trees). Hope you like some of my factory presets Nick, "Echo Flex" and " is one of them". Great and detailed review on a great synth.
Thanks Nick, it’s a very, very good thing 😁 finally feels sequential are actually listening to what the market wants. Ok I don’t like the short keybed ( or the silly name) and it has a few limitations BUT seems great compromise & relatively small penalty to get your hands on this fantastic sounding, well specified synth : most importantly at an affordable price (for a change) . Well done to Sequential, they deserve to sell a mountain load of them!
nick sounds like hes in a bad mood doing this review, he hasn't done enough research obviously, he is like rushing through it, he gets a lot of things wrong, he barely mentions the advantages this synth has over literally any other synth anywhere near this price range. it has Prophet 6 vcos, Prophet 5 Rev4 Filter, it has actual linear fm in the mod matrix which can be added to oscillator sync (that means analogue fm hard sync'ed to osc1 which you can then use to fine pitch control to warp the shape of osc2 as it modulates 1), a much more versatile mod matrix than any other synth under $2000 which includes sources and destinations not found anywhere else including voice spread, dc, and the fm enabled osc2, it's effects are much better than the rev2 (not sure about the p6 effects), it's drive sounds amazing, and the filter drive is great for cranking resonance without the screeching feedback you typically get. you can do super clean but forceful crystalline fm tones, piano sounds, ultra modern james blake style lush digital sounding brass, crazy powerful gritty bass with filter fm on the cutoff, hazy warbly reel to reel tape sounding fluttery chords, timbres you cannot get anywhere else. if you're like me and want the mind blowing core vco sound with the flexibility to design and sculpt any sound you can imagine with all of the extra processing options like an actually usable flanger, rotary, tape delay, voice spread mod on panning mod destination. master saturation, and morphing fm + osc hard sync, you will not find a better synth. its such a shame that this synth has been this has been overlooked because of people skimming over the basic specs on paper. you will honestly not find a better sounding synth or more versatile analog synth outside of the Take-5 if you like the rev2, try this one. it is so much better and you will be able to hear the difference with a single saw wave plus some filter cutoff. and that's before you get into the fm (not just an "audio mod" knob normalled to the filter cutoff like on the rev2), the morphing sine to pulse waves, and the effects that make the rev2's effects sound like something you'd find on a Zoom knockoff of a Digitech multi-fx pedal
My brother's had a Take5 for a few weeks, swears by it - says he loves the way it cuts through his modular mix. I'm going to grab the Pro3 myself, being from the Vince Clarke school on these things (I enjoy fubbing chords on monos with multiple tracks and different voices). I'll sacrifice the polyphony for the sheer fun of the Pro3's sound-sculpting, much more advanced sequencer and mod matrix. I hated the knob design on this Sequential range, but they've grown on me. Even that orange filter ring.
@@waynesilverman3048 either by having another synth play the missing notes in tandem while recording, or by laying down the missing notes in a second pass. It can be time-consuming, but it yields some interesting results.
Sounds thin/bright, for a VCO/VCF synth, to me … Digital LFO, ENVELOPES, VCA/Amps(?), so the entire back-end (after the filter) is digital, as I understand it? Not sure if that alone explains it, or it’s the VCO/VCF chips used in this particular model, as well. I mean, they were working to a price point, and obviously don’t want to cannibalise their higher-end synths sales.
Mike makes everything sound incredible. For example i laughed what review did Johnson from Jamieoquai. Complete trash and he even selling those unusable presets.
Take 5 owner here. It's a shame because I think some of the limitations (shorter keyboard, memory) are the result of Sequential having to compete with themselves. Still a wonderful synth though.
Would love to see them do a bigger version of this synth, maybe a take 12 with 5 octaves and 12 voices that you can stack and split... probably won't happen though
seriously the best synth there is. best sound, most flexibility of any synth of this caliber of sound. just unbelievably versatile and rich, warm, incredibly syrupy
@@christdolphin69 I can't agree or disagree. As far as an all around portable analog synth with good features, you may be right. However, there are a lot of other great synths that are unique and just as inspiring to my taste, in a similar price range, especially if you look at the vintage market, or dive into the digital world. Some great poly synths I've owned for less than 2k: Waldorf blofeld Polyend Medusa (paraphonic) Roland juno 6 Dave smith prophet 16 Dave smith tempest (yes) Korg poly 800 ($300) Moog opus 3 (cheesy but fun)
Much more timbral possibilities and interesting sounds out of my Pro3 even with its 1 voice limitation (3 voice Paraphonic). Wish Dave had released a 5 voice version of the Pro3 but I guess that would be too pricey.
Nice unit, I was actually torn between the take 5 vs the mopho x4, i ended up settling with the mopho x4 since I enjoyed the sounds from your last mopho review
Thanks for another great review, Nick. Seems a bit strange that one can't overwrite the factory presets, if I understood correctly. I bet it's a fantastic synthesizer though, and I'd certainly be happy to get my hands on one myself. Curious that VCO 2 can only modulate the filter when it is up in the mixer. I wonder if Sequential can somehow change that in firmware
I have just bought one. Quite excited. First thing I am going to do is clear all the user presets and put some masking tape over the FACTORY button. Best way to learn.
@Daniel Dragos I bought it recently but I work overseas so I won't actually have it for ages. First real synth, I've used Reason on the laptop for many years and made some interesting stuff but I'm getting sick of overusing computers.
Good stuff, Nick, but just saying - it is an analog synth. If everything in the audio path is analog, it's analog. Plenty of analog synths, including some vintage ones, use things like digital LFOs and envelopes (which is fine, and the former actually better, imo). But I get you just wanted to be clear. It's cool they were able to put out a good VCO poly at that price
It’s not an all analog path - it doesn’t even have a VCA. The whole back-end of the synth is always digital; even without any FX engaged. That’s different to the PRO 3, which has a VCA and an all analog signal path.
Bought this Synth the other day and couldn't be happier with it. I have only had Monophonic synths in the past(Minibrute/Grandmother/MS-20) and now I have a Odyssey and this synth blows all of those away(Grandmother Is amazing though) this Synth does everything I could ever want and I've barely scratched the surface with it.
Great meat and potatoes poly! The market is so competitive right now, but if this came out even 5 years ago, it would be a show stopper. I'm excited to see what comes from their collaboration with Novation. Hopefully we see some new groundbreaking synth like Sequential has done in the past; the last time they took a chance and pushed the envelope was the Prophet 12 IMHO.
What envelopes do they have left to push?! Hybrid? (An updated P12?) A monster VCO Poly? Fully digital?!!! (A first for Sequential, at least). A Poly PRO 3 seems the obvious/natural progression … I wonder whether anything like that is in the works, at all … ?!
@@kierenmoore3236 I personally am interested in granular synthesis and feel there is fertile ground for an interesting synth there. With the resources that Sequential have, they could do something very interesting.
If they made an SE model like the Pro 3, I might just have one now. But the Pro 3 won me over for several reasons. Choosing an synth for mostly bass and lead sounds, so polyphony wasn't as important. But having the 3 VCOs (2 analog and one digital with wavetable), three choices for filter, four envelopes, etc. It just gave me a lot more room for creativity. But if someone is looking for a tight polyphonic, I can easily recommend the Take 5.
Just an observation but it seems that most hit records seem to use the more beefier synthisizers such as the CS-80's, the Jupiters, the Prophet 5/10;s and Oberheim OB 8,X and Xa aelnd the model d. This and the the other lower end synthes seem sought of week sounding, Kinda ltoy like. The limitations don't help either.
This is an intuitive and nice-sounding synth. It's just a bit of a shame that it had so many features cut compared to other Sequential synths, to price it as their version of an "entry-level" synth. In particular, the small patch storage hurts. But it sounds really good, it's dead simple to use, and the limitations are mostly just inconveniences.
@@HOLLASOUNDS With reverb and/or arps, the voice count doesn't matter as much. But yeah, it'd be nice to have more voices. I like Sequential and I have the predecessor to this synth (Pro 3), but I'd happily choose a Hydrasynth instead of a Take 5. It just does _soooo_ much more.
the limitations definitely dont outweigh the fact that this finally gives us people who have been debating between the pros and cons of all other affordable polysynths in the last 4-5 years a near perfect, incredible sounding ultra flexible pure vco option. but there are some, like -no 3rd wavetable osc, although the digital sub osc does sound great, esp when using exp fm -no 3rd envelope, no looping envelope function -only 2 lfos, not a huge deal. but they can not be set to "one-shot", which kind of sucks -i think the overdrive is digital. it sounds really good but i would prefer Peak style analog drive -no multi-mode filter -fm function could be a little more straight forward, maybe no dedicated knob at all, just activation button for mod matrix(?) -extra voice (or 3) would be cool but not necessary -certain functions that should be knob-per-function on the panel are in the program menu, such as lfo reset, unison settings, and filter keytracking amount -patch storage makes me furious. i wish i could overwrite the factory patches at least. i ran out of space very quickly. with a synth this massive, you need as many slots as you can get for saving all the insane shit you create you really cant complain at this price, especially with that sound. but i'd happily pay more for a straight up polyphonic pro 3 with more patch memory
@@christdolphin69 Yeah, from what I can tell, almost everyone was wanting a poly Pro 3. But instead of aiming high like that, Sequential aimed lower, resulting in something which is nice but also kind of disappointing. The Prophet 5 and Pro-One made a matching set. The Prophet 12 and Pro 2 made a matching set. Now there's the Pro 3, but no equivalent Prophet to go with it. It seems like a pretty obvious hole in their product line, so I wonder if it might happen sometime. Me personally though... I'm pretty happy with just a Pro 3 and an Akai Force. The two devices are plenty for my purposes, and I doubt I'll ever run out of new things to try on them.
I bought an Argon 8 for the compactness, especially with the keyboard. But this is a step up with extra keys, and has a different (probably nicer) sound. They seem complementary.
@@Claidheambmor Yeah I get that. That’s why I said complementary. I think the Take 5 sounds more pleasing though. And has 7 extra keys. But costs a fair bit more.
@@aquaticborealis4877 ah gotcha, thanks for clarifying. I like the Argon 8 as well, sounds massive and has a well laid out panel. I'm not a fan of the Prophet sound for my own music but they are super classy.
Damm a little after 26 minutes in, he says, in England, the T5 costs the equivalent of $1500. So, you're saying the OP-1 really costs more than that, in England? If so, that's just hubris. As far as which to use for songs, I guess it depends, but on the hole, the Op-1 would be much easier to take. OP-zed, you could almost smuggle!
Really i had a lot of analogs (the best known) and i don t know what to think of this take 5....Awesome on bass sounds, very fat, fast enveloppes. But for others sounds....i feel it sounds a bit "nasal" in a lot of sounds, so it s a bit agressive i feel , is it about the filter ? I don t really like how it acts. Perhaps would better go for ob6 in this days..
This seems pretty cool ...... although I found the name offputting ............. I think some fanciful name like Vortex 5 or even ask Rick Wakeman to come up with a name again would have been better ............... and ............ RIP Dave ............... you were/are a Legend
I bought this synth and have a used prophet 8 , it’s a very fun synth I don’t know how it compares to an actual prophet 5 but has some great sounds for Depeche Mode / new wave sound and works nice in a mix with other synths midi together
hello, I have a problem with the Take 5 that I received yesterday. the stereo delays do not work. For example, the first delay, simply called delay, is stereo. But if I plug my headphones into take 5 or if I listen to my speakers, there is no stereo. Do you have any advice for me? I said that the synth is set to stereo and not mono in the global menu.
This feels like the modern version of the Multitrak (while not being like it at all....) in that it is designed to be a bit lower in price with a unique blend of useful features.
Bit controversial here possibly, but having sold my Prophet 5 Rev 3 which I was never totally in love with, a while back ... I actually prefer this modern offering over over the icon. If you like the sound of this, don't feel you're being short-changed on the sound *IMHO* ... if you can deal with the keyboard range and can do with less than the new P10 polyphony. Personally I'd buy this ... but that's just me - as someone who didn't need that exact sound. This is a great sounding synth with some limitations which I don't think devalue its core sound.
Curious to know why you were never fully in love with the Prophet 5. People rave about it all the time but I have heard mixed things or it takes some time to get used to.
@@semephor In some ways it could have been great if it weren't next to synths that were simply better to my ears, but even then I was never really drawn to the P5 (or any of its emulations) and only got one because I was offered a good deal by someone who had to offload one in fabulous condition with original manuals and flightcase etc. I didn't like the square wave sounds, never seemed to get a string pad to my taste and always seemed to be turning the filter up to get it brighter. Like no other synth, I found that the tiniest of changes made substantial differences to the usability of the tones I enjoy. The unison and sync was amazing in isolation, but I had a JP8 and OBXa next to it that just did it better (to my ears), and definitely did pads many times better (again, to my ears). And 5 note poly - well people say it created a sound of its own, but I could never get on with that. If the sound was better, I'd have put up with it. Having said all that, it does bass better than much else with it's non-round robin triggering, but I still have a Pro One, so I have that covered. It's only the P5 I'm talking about in totality, the circuitry sounds great as a mono. I'm just someone who always says that things are totally subjective and don't assume you'll like it because people say its classic. I prefer the take 5 sound and that's just me. So there you go! 👍
I think it sounds good it’s obviously aim for musicians that just want that larger than life synth solo or big bass .most people will use it in unison as so
Limited amounts of money, limited space, how does one choose a single proper poly synth.
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knew about most of the secuentisls and dave smithes but went in to the music store today to buy a controller and a drum machine and the staff was occupied so i saw this one started to fiddle about and fell in love 😢
i wouldve probably got one if the price stayed the same as launch. but it shot up a few hundred at the wrong time so meh. maybe one day i'll get one used.
Incredible actually... No-one expected Nick to do a split, but for him to go right from a cartwheel into a split deserves the word "Incredible"! I forget the timestamp, but you couldn't have missed it, and I'm replying to another post about it, so he obviously did it.
It's a bit chunky but I like it, looks substantial, does it make sounds I have never heard before, it doesn't seem so, I have a Navation peak and I dont want a whole lot of sythersizors, I think there has to be somthing super stand out. It looks great and is a quality item.
yes it makes sounds youve never heard before. it has exponential analog fm. the peak doesn't even come close to this thing. but maybe if you're a peak fan, there's no saving you
Nice one, Nick. One on these T5 found its way in to my possession just before new year and I've been playing with it everyday since. I did a live stream ( on my profile 4am Space Guitar) with a modified a preset. I always learn something new from you. I had no idea that holding the Unions\Glide buttons opens the menu. :) I just love it. It inspires new ideas every time I touch it. I'm not a keyboard player, but the T5 has really inspired me to learn more. BTW I found a Gator hardcase : GTSA-KEY49 that appears to fit perfectly.
Nick fails miserably by not mention Take 5 dont have VCA's instead the analog signal is sampled and the result is a hefty bandwith limitation and a17,5khz roll off, so no analog blizzy high end in the Take 5.
I am fascinated with the idea that Dave Smith and the Sequential staff did much to reduce the cost of producing Take 5 versus the Prophet 5/10, but they added one thing to the architecture of this model. The classic Prophet models don’t have the mod matrix (that didn’t first materialize in this product line until the P 12 if I’m not mistaken). Whatever is missing from the signal chain of this little beast is more than likely made up for with that matrix. Knowing that his model’s already heavily economizer, I otherwise think it would be something extra special if the sequential staff created Take 5R. As great as it would be having in my own collection another synthesizer with an aftertouch -sensitive keyboard (I currently own 4), I subjectively think a module edition would definitely earn back the investment in designing and building it. Did Dave actually borrow the usage of the mod matrix from Tom Oberheim?
The evolver series, prophet 8, rev2 all have modulation matrix, I guess you mean digitally controlled modulation matrix? the analog ones dated back to the arp 2500, maybe even earlier. Dave made the before Tom built synths but the matrix series was the first one I can remember that made the standard of slots and multiple sources and destinations
Thank you,@@xfghffhfg; I *was* referring to the modulation matrix created via the microprocessor. I’ve always known that there was a correlation between that and a traditional modular synthesizer. I didn’t know that there were virtual patch matrices in all those DSI models, all the same. I just assumed that they were performance synthesizers that echoed the tradition of the Minimoog.
@@Shred_The_Weapon In many ways it's better than modular synth based on cable or passive matrixes, you can vary the amount of modulation you send, invert it, send one source to multiple destinations, send multiple sources to on destinations, you can do all that with modular synths but you will need lots of extra modules (attenuators, inverters, dividers, mixers) you can't save the patch to a preset and polyphonic modulation or even true stereo will be very hard maybe next to impossible (and it will be huge) Most of Dave Smith's synths are very complex synthesizers with lots of depth and innovation (except the Prophet 5/10, Prophet-6, OB6, Trigon) . I also forgot to mention the Tetra and the Mopho/mopho x4. check the manuals for the list of sources and destinations, the pro-3 have like 200 destinations if i remember correctly :)
There is one thing that bothers me. It is said "based" on a prophet 5 filter, so it's NOT a prophet 5 filter correct? The Pro 3 is "based" on a prophet 6 filter, so it's NOT a prophet 6 filter is it? See where i'm going? Can someone please clarify this?
From what I've seen in pics where someone's opened up the T5, they both use the SSI 2140 chip (which I guess is the Rev1/2 filter in the P5/10 Rev4). The one in the T5 has bass compensation so it doesn't lose low end when you turn up the resonance.
Apparently it’s the very same chip from the prophet 5, however I don’t know about the pro 3… I think they don’t want to take all the ‘value’ of the prophet 5
Looks like it’s been made for gigging musicians. A simple synth with a nice big sound in a compact size with a decent amount full size keys… I’m liking the look of it honestly
Dirty! Very dirty synth! My ears popped up when you said classic carpenter. Would have liked to hear the dirty synth sound In arpegggiator mode. Does Aannyone know a shop in London where this would be on display for a fiddle? Would love to have a go for an hour or 2.
I got this synth and am evaluating it... Can anyone confirm the sound of this synth is classic 'sequential' sound, i.e. is it similar to other sequential synths as opposed to other brands? I find the higher frequency get quite muddy and noisy quickly on most patches with filter open. Even when Osc 1 and 2 are in sync. Comparing it to my Monologue XD. Love the pads sounds and mod matrix so far though. Wish they has more pads like patch Orchetype in the factory defaults.
dont blame the synth, blame the rushed cranky review. this thing is the most flexible sound design analog poly there is and its core sound is extremely good
Try the Noize Bass or the LiveBass, stack the unison to 5 voices and turn the detune up for a massive supersaw analog sound with overdrive and drive. Name another synth that does that????
Nick just plays slow and with no bass. Next time ask him to play Body Electric or Anthem Arp on the Take 5 preferably with the sequencer. I can assure you this sounds a lot better.
For a company that sells a Prophet 5 for $3600, this is inexpensive. This is the cheapest to get the Prophet sound until Behringer brings out their P800. I was going to wait for the P800 or a used Rev2 but the early pricing was $1200 for the Take 5 so it was more reasonable.
@@jmaeng Of course it is "relatively" inexpensive. Who gives a ****? My opinion is that the sound and limitations don't come close to matching that price.
A Rev2 desktop can be had for that price, and my old plans to try out a Rev2 remains. I like its sound far more than the Take5's, the Take5 somehow doesn't convince me.
i am boggled by people who keep saying this. obviously have never owned the Take-5. it blows the rev2 away. i use to really like the rev2 but this thing is an entirely different league. it has the p5 rev4 filter, which is clearly much better than the rev2 filter, effects are muchmuch higher quality and actually usable, fm is extremely versatile and can be used as a mod source in the mod matrix so you can osc2 fm and param, voice spread as a poly variable mod source as well as dc, filter out, and others; one mono lfo with audio rates, one poly lfo with audio rates, aux envelope (which doesnt loop, which is the only thing lacking here from the rev2 aside from 3 voices), and it has sine waves (which can morph)
People say it because it’s true I’d say there are more similarities then differences I’ve owned an original pro 1 a pro 2 and Rev 2. Very similar DNA carried on between these instruments- As apposed to say korg that have made a mono poly. - then a wavestate massive poles apart. Dave has without doubt changed less then more. See what I mean kimusabe
I owned a Rev 2, the filter constantly disappointed, I sold it. I think this filter sounds WAY better than the Rev2. They are quite different synths; Rev2 is a modulation beast with DCOs and Curtis filters, this has fewer modulation possibilities but an arguably better sounding core with VCOs and the Prophet filter. I think it's a genius package and a steal if you need an analog subtractive poly.
@@julianhigginson5946 i meant people who keep comparing this to the rev2. you wouldnt know whether or not that is true, because you havent owned the T5. its miles ahead in almost every aspect
The REV-2 IS fully analogue. It's far more analogue than the take 5. It's just got dcos (still analogue) instead of vcos. The Novation/Sequential budget options are Peak: digital oscs into analogue synth Rev-2: dco based fully analogue synth Take 5 (vco,vcf into dsp synth)
everything goes into digital at some point.unless you're printing your synth recordings straight to vinyl without any digital recording. the part that matters is the source of the sound, the oscillator and filter. the actual sound sources
Ok so now I know everything this synth CAN'T do. Heaven forbid you focus on what it CAN do, every feature you went over was like "well it's a shame it can't do ____" or "well unfortunately this can only do ____". Ffs we get it, it doesn't do everything every synthesizer ever made can....but what CAN IT DO?!
