The Prophet 3000 came out in 1987 during the last days of Sequentials existence. I think most of the units were sold after Yamaha bought out the Sequential properties. The design is among the most "user-friendliest" ever built. The P 3000 consists of two parts: The unit itself (19"-rack) and the graphic control panel (table-top with rubber feets, connects with a single cable). The following controls and connectors can be found on the rack: -front: line- and mic-inputs (left + right) and recording level controls, main volume control, connector to control panel -back: left/right outputs, 8 single outputs, SMPTE in/out (unfortunately non-functional), footswitch input, SCSI connector and (naturally) the MIDI trio. The voice architecture is basically as follows: Samples are distributed across the keyboard. The ranges can't overlap and you can use the samples basically only in one "keygroup". This is for sure not the most flexible part of the instrument, also not the mass storage (but more about this later). Each of the 8 voices has resonant filters, amp envelope, a second (free assignable) envelope and two LFOs, You have a lot of modulation routings, for example: sources: keyboard, velocity, pressure, envelope 1, LFO 1, LFO 2, 2 MIDI controllers, pitch wheel destinations: pitch, cutoff frequency, panorama, amp envelope rate, amp envelope depht, env 1 rate, env 1 depht, LFO 1 rate, LFO 1 amount, LFO 2 rate, LFO 2 amount, sample start point The programming interface itself is graphical. If you own a Wavestation you would have a kind of "deja-vu" when you would see a Prophet 3000 for the first time. Large graphical display, six soft-buttons underneath it, four cursor keys and an alpha dial. The almost similar look (even the font is the same) with the Wavestation has without a doubt something to do with the fact that a part fo Sequentials Research staff went to Korg. As I said in the beginning, the P 3000 was built with an attempt to make it as user-friendly as possible. To give you two examples: -If you make a sample, the Prophet 3000 will try to analyze its frequency. If the result is satisfying the sample will automatically be mapped to the keyboard. If you do the next sample it will also be mapped so that it fits with the previous and so on. -The Prophet provides you with pre-configurations (macros) for envelopes, filter settings, modulation settings and so (I think the Wavestation does the same, right?). All this makes the instrument fairly easy to operate. The weakest point is indeed the mass storage. The instrument itself has a built-in 1.44 Mbyte floppy drive. The problem is that you can't save SINGLE samples, only complete progran settings including samples. So the re-assembling of samples to new programsis really difficult. Another problem is that the development obviously wasn't finished when Sequential went down, hence the non-functional SMPTE connections. Also, the SCSI connector wasn't working. The Wine Country folks (I think you have been following that certain thread lately) have developed the operating system further so that it at least supports SCSI drives. The problem: You have to buy the pre-formatted drives from Wine Country, and they charge you a fortune for this (twice as much as an normal drive would cost). The original instruments came with 2 meg RAM but there were also versions with 4 and 8 meg available. The bottom line: A fine instrument, relatively rare. If you find one for small money , go for it! >I hope I can find a good deal for it in Greece (you can find old gear >for peanuts sometimes in Greece...) I've seen one for sale on CompuServe for $800 lately if this gives you an idea. I think it is a fair price. If you have any more questions feel free to ask (also about other instruments if you like to know). As I said: I like to answer to the best of my knowledge, but I need a little time (also since I have no "direct" net access, only UUCP). Best wishes and good luck finding one! Malte Rogacki gacki@sax.sax.de 100116.154@compuserve.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Don't forget to TURN ON THE SYNTHESIZER. Often this is the reason why you get no sound out of it." (ARP 2600 Owner's Manual) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From fEEd@maroon.tc.umn.edu Tue Jul 12 10:29:41 1994 Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 20:26:22 CST From: fEEd To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: pROPHET 3000 If anyone out there is doubting the Prophet 3000 as a sampler, please take this time to reconsider. I received mine today and started sampling immediately without reading the manual or anything, which means alot when you think the user-unfriendliness of alot of samplers nowdays. The 4 pole analogue filters are EXCELLENT and are totally controllable via LFOs, MIDI controllers, envelopes, etc.... and the lovely resonance means no more running samples through other synths external inputs! Great sound quality, awesome filters, VERY quick and intuitive sample editing, and an overall TOTALLY easy OS make this the sampler of my dreams. The best SCI box I have ever used...... Rob WilliamsfLeSH RecOrDS<\>fEEdTribal Warning Shots feed@maroon.tc.umn.edu From fEEd@maroon.tc.umn.edu Tue Jul 12 10:29:41 1994 Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 20:26:22 CST From: fEEd To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: pROPHET 3000 If anyone out there is doubting the Prophet 3000 as a sampler, please take this time to reconsider. I received mine today and started sampling immediately without reading the manual or anything, which means alot when you think the user-unfriendliness of alot of samplers nowdays. The 4 pole analogue filters are EXCELLENT and are totally controllable via LFOs, MIDI controllers, envelopes, etc.... and the lovely resonance means no more running samples through other synths external inputs! Great sound quality, awesome filters, VERY quick and intuitive sample editing, and an overall TOTALLY easy OS make this the sampler of my dreams. The best SCI box I have ever used...... Kennen Sie eine Merle? Kennen Sie eine Merle? Das ist gut...zu gut. Rob WilliamsfLeSH RecOrDS<\>fEEdTribal Warning Shots feed@maroon.tc.umn.edu gerade sie..sie ist mein Opfer. Schad um sie.... sie wird's..ach, nicht lange durchhalten....