A3
SequentialCircuits Prophet VS
Year of manufacture
1986
Production period
2(1986-87)
Polyphony
8
Oscillators
4(4 DCO)
Waveforms
128(96 Preset- & 32 User-Waveforms)
Modulation
2(2 LFO)
Filters
1(Low-pass -24 dB/octave)
Keys
61
Features
12(Chorus, Velocity, Aftertouch, Unison, Glide, Voice Pan, Mod Matrix, Pitch-, Mod-Wheel, Vector Joystick, Arpeggiator, MIDI)
Sound-Memory
100
Dave Smith's hybrid synth
The “VS” in the Prophet’s name stands for “Vector Synthesis”. Even tho it holds analog filters, it is still considered a digital synth, since all of its 128 waveforms are generated digitally. When Sequential Circuits released the Prophet VS in 1986 it was their first digital synthesizer but, unfortunately, their last synth before going bankrupt.Â
What made the Prophet VS so special, were its 4 oscillators with 128 complex digital waveforms each, of which some were derived from samples, like acoustic instruments. These 4 oscillators could be mixed in their respective loudness using the vector-joystick. The Prophet VS offered, what was pretty much the two-dimensional, linear merging of up to 4 waveforms, not yet like in a (three-dimensional) wavetable, but close.Â
The Prophet VS existed in two versions: Rack and Keyboard.