As someone who's owned an ATC-1 and 08 at the same time I will tell you absolutely no. While the 08 is capable of some cool bass sounds, that Curtis filter will never sound like VCOs going though a 24db ladder filter. It's just not designed to be that.

This will sound like heresay, but I sold my 08 to fund a KingKORG. The 08 is a great synth, no doubt, and there's some... I use the word "wooliness" to it that I don't get out of my KingKORG. Also, the sequencer as modulation source is amazing. Why they left that off the 12 and the 6 is beyond me.

However, the KingKORG is a chameleon. It's got a great emulation of the Prophet 5's filter (not sure what revision, but it sounds great) as well as an emulation of the 24 db Moog ladder filter, MS20 filter, SEM, etc. In the end I found the KingKORG to be more of a Swiss Army Knife, which suites me fine and in all honesty, for pads I like it more than I did the Prophet 08. (Disclaimer, I have a Prophet 12 as well)

Now, did I toss my ATC-1 (well I updated it to an ATC-X QFS a while ago) when I got the KingKORG? No. Nothing really touches it for when you want the sound you're talking about. So get the ATC-1. You won't be disappointed. But for pads and other sounds pick up a KingKORG. You could buy both for the cost of a Prophet 08 and cover more sonic ground.

As a fan of the 08... and someone who's only listened to the 6 in demo tracks, I'll agree that while the 08 runs rings around the 6 feature wise, there is something that I think of as high quality analog sound, that the 6 has in spades.

It's all up to your personal tastes and needs. I made a decision that for the heavily modulated kinds of sounds I was doing on the 08, I was just as happy doing it in software. Specifically, Oxium.

Also, we probably differ on this topic, but as a Prophet 12 owner, I found that I could get 08ish sounds to my satisfaction. I started an a/b experiement and posted some initial stuff, but no one seemed interested so I just kept on for a little bit longer until I got to a point where I decided that I didn't need my MoPho and that the 12 was a better decision than the 08. Again, no modulation sequencer (why the hell don't they add that!?) on the 12, but the 12 runs so many rings around the 08 in so many ways that I'd recommend getting a 12 module before I recommended an 08. The 12 can cover a lot of the ground the 08 does, but has a lot of range that the 08 can't do. Of course, the 08 has stuff the 12 won't do, but it's a tinier slice.

I've come around to pretty much agreeing with this. If you have a P12, and want another synth, I now think that the P6 is a better choice than a P8.

OMG. Just bought Strymon blueSky mainly for my P08.
Feels like I have a whole new instrument now, pads/strings sound amazing!
The initial P08 dry sound never quite got to me but now it's perfect.
blueSky sits nicely on the right side of keyboard, very hands on.
Maby I'll add a nice delay pedal later

I've been a P08 owner since they first came out, never played a P6 or P12. I wish that it had come with a few fx. JemenJ can you post a few demos using the Blue Sky. I am trying to decide whether to buy a Blue Sky or a Big Sky.

I just bought one. It's great.

I owned a P~6 for about six months, but ultimately sold it as I found it lacking character compared to my old OB-8.
Currently I'm considering a P08PE as there's one locally for a great price. Will I be disappointed? I've read that it can cop similar tones to the OB-8.

I'd say at least 90% of people prefer the sound of the P6 over the P08. So the chances are you won't be crazy about it if you didn't like the P6.
Then again, if you can get one for a great price, it might be worth the risk.
One big advantage it has over the P6 is tonnes more modulation options, for example 4 LFO's.

Centerpiece

It took some time to program these retro flavored patches but here's a good example what a Prophet can do! All Prophet 08 except the drums

Yeah I've programmed some great (imo) sounds into mine.

These are absolutely fantastic. Any chance you can share?

nice work, just shows how limited my skills are when I hear something well programmed

theyre for sale on Sampleism for 13 quid

Thanks! They are up for grabs at sampleism.com and adsrsounds.com

Thanks!

Prophet 08 is a great synth, really easy to program when you gel with the workflow. Filter has it's haters but I think it's good. It has a nice sweet spots for pads and basses specially. For leads, with filter open, I usually go for 12db slope with some resonance, this ads some nice brightness, which I like.
If Prophet 08 had some FX engines built-in, I think it would be more 'liked' synth overall. Adding some lush reverbs takes Prophet to outer space...



Now that everyone are on their honeymoon with REV2 you could find great deals on used Prophet 08's on graigslists... I say grab it

And old(er) Firechild song.

Thanks for posting. Also, your Tetra/Mopho banks are awesome!

Oh yes!

I was considering getting Deepmind 12 although the need to sacrifice voices to get two sawtooth waves was a bugger. But then I saw how Prophet Rev2 is all the rage now so I thought "hmm, that probably means many will be selling their '08s to get the next best thing" and so I've decided to hunt down meself a Prophet '08 for cheaper secondhand.

Well, long story short I got Prophet '08 PE from ebay in a near mint condition for $720 and what a DEAL it really is. It sounds nice, the keyboard feels good, lots of tight knobs and the modulation matrix is really good.

The only thing that was concerning me is that '08 would overlap in character with my Matrix 1000 (the latter being CEM3396 and the former CEM3397 basically) but was happy to learn that it's not the case. They are quite different even when I dial in the same sounding patches.

So yeah - if you want what is an 8 voice analog semi-modular bi-timbral knobby stereo synth for sub $1000 - now is a great time to get one. Even with Rev2 available as the only real difference between the two is the lack of on-board digital effects and a sub-osc on a predecessor - but the major reason being Rev2 pushing '08s prices down.

The Prophet'08 has plenty of mileage.

The Rev2 is basically an upgrade- there are improvements sonically and more voices and features on offer, but this in no way diminishes how great the P'08 still is. I'm still discovering mine after 6 years.

Only thing I'd say is with the Rev2 now being out, make sure you get the Prophet for a good price.

I sold a lot of synths when I downgraded, but one thing I didn't downgrade was my Prophet 08. That thing's a keeper. Hate seeing them sold for cheap. It really doesn't reflect what it can do. Guys will buy a 1 voice Moog for 4 grand when this thing will mop the floor with it both in functionality, modulation, and character. The 08 sounds majestic.

$720 is pretty good. I’ve also been eyeing P08 prices since the Rev2 came out, and its been a stubborn bunch. I still see people asking $1250 for PE KB’s, and then see the Rev2 second hand for the same price, or even less at times. I get it, its hard ro sell something you bought new a few years back for $2000 for less than $1000, but its not really Dave’s fault. He did what he had to do to compete with the Deepmind, and appears to have done so successfully.

For now, I think the osc shape mod and added mod slots are enough to put me over the edge with the Rev2. But the P08 is still a great poly, and always was. Its amazing how people got so excited about the Rev2’s sound with some rather average digital FX added to it. I don’t think we’ll be seeing any future polys from DSI/Seq without FX. Lesson learned there. Its an easy/cheap thing to add and makes a big difference on the demoes. With a monosynth, it seems less important IMO.

Enjoy the 08.

720 is great price...Ive thought about replacing mine once or twce but for 720, with shipping and fees, no chance.

Definitely yes.

The prophet08 is slowly but constantly slipping into the "matrix1000 zone", i.e. the "bang for the buck" paradise.

you can find a mint-condition rack pot-edition for 900 bucks (I recently did), and you just can't beat that.

I tested and loved the prophet6 and I am drooling over the prophet-x reviews,

but my two prophet08-pe modules give me 4 layers of high-quality DSI sound for 1900 bucks (120 euros per voice).

That's the same logic I had followed when buying a stack of matrix-1000, except the prophet has a full-fledged analog interface and real-time analogue response to filter sweeps and edits.

It’s a great time to buy a P08 or Mopho X4. I’m grabbing one next month.

Reasons I want it:

- Sounds kinda cheap 80’s, like my old Matrix 6. ie, the tone isn’t quite as good as the old heavy hitters or even the new VCO DSI’s but, a lot of the more basic tones wouldn’t sound out of place on a rented 80’s VHS from Blockbuster Video, and I like that, I’m nostalgic for it.
- Audio mod is always great, and with high Rez gets you into 2OP FM territory
- 4 LFOs
- Sequencer is amazing and can be exploited to extremes

Will either go PO8 module or Mopho X4. Unsure whether the sub oscs and feedback on the mopho are something I’d use.

5 days in and I can say Prophet '08 is a really amazing synth. Sometimes end up getting lost in modulation matrix for hours just listening and tweaking beautiful textures. Yeah it's not the best sounding analog synth, but it sounds really good nonetheless and is a real joy to play (love those smooth responsive keys) and tweak (so many knobs).

As for it slipping into a "Matrix 1000 territory" price/feature-wise - oh yes, I'm really happy to have them both and they fit together well character-wise.

Considering that Prophet '08 can have layer B acting as much more complex suboscillator layer (instead of just squares 1 and 2 octaves down on X4 respectively) - it ends up being a much deeper Mopho X4 anyway whenever you want it. As well as an 8 voice fully featured polysynth whenever you want it. And apparently they are going for the same price so don't see a reason why go for MophoX4.

Modules are about £7-800, and X4’s about 650, being I have enough keyboards, I was set on the module, but someone just put an X4 on eBay for £549 today! That’s a big saving!

I finally got to try a X4 at GC last week , they had it out for 799 used. I was all gung ho on getting it till i played it. Gotta say i was really underwhelmed. I held off and scored a mint REV2 keyboard for 100 bucks more. Glad i waited.