Too expensive for just a controller.

But it makes noises too! Unlike the KX88, which was my other favourite back then.

I like my T8.

I keep saying someday I'll get a Prophet 5 to replace it, but I think that's just silly. Considering I'm more of a hands-on player, having the weighted action along with 8 voices definitely outweighs any tonal discrepancies...

i generally hate weighted keys but I love them on the T8. Lovely synth. I wouldn't call it the most underrated synth in the world, but it's definitely a special one.
mini

Here is a another brand new T8 track.

Synclavier VPK have same keyboatd as T8...have few VPK, also i played T8 few times ..I like sound a lot . Technically audio path is same as p600 but it sounda bit different...just dunno why.

Man, I never realized what a brilliant sound the T8 has. I like it better than the P5. How is the keyboard action on that puppy?

The best there is. It is between a new Steinway Grand Piano and weighted Synthkeys. Better than CS80, way better than Rhodes Chroma. Both Velocity and Aftertouch are just perfect. I use the T8 as my MIDI masterkeyboard. I bought one for spare as well and if I want to play in DUAL mode with 8 voices available
The sound is majestic with grace. Sure you can hear the envelopes are software if you try to find the weak spots like the release tail can die out a bit abrupt but add a little reverb and you wont notice. Despite the myth the T8 sounds like a P600 it does not. The P600 has only one Z80 CPU for all tasks the T8 has both the Z80 and an additional 16bit Z8002 CPU for LFO and Envelope duties making the sweeps perfectly smooth and free of stepping. Also pretty snappy attacks as well. Not like the Xpander/M12.
At the moment, my favorite synth.

I have my T8 for sale on eBay, if anyone here is looking for one. It was just serviced at Wine Country Sequential.
Rare Sequential Circuits Prophet T8 Analog 8-voice Synthesizer Poly-aftertouch | eBay

This beautiful Prophet T8 has just been serviced by David Sesnak at Wine Country Sequential and is fully functional, running the latest OS version 3.8. It has been in my smoke-free studio for many years. Will ship in the same well-padded box that Wine Country sent it in. Comes with original manual and dual foot pedal. Cosmetically in good condition - the wood is in good shape save for one noticeable scratch on the right wood cheek, and some scratches on the metal top cover (see photos).

Sequential Circuits introduced the T8 in 1983 as its flagship synth. It was Sequential's answer to the CS-80, and is well-known for its excellent hammer-action keyboard that offers polyphonic aftertouch, attack and release velocity. It was so well-designed that the same keyboard was incorporated into the Synclavier II, one of the most high-end synthesizers ever made. The T8 was used by many artists such as Howard Jones, Joe Zawinul, Jerry Goldsmith, Suzanne Ciani, The Fixx, Talking Heads, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Currie/Ultravox, Ralph Grierson and many others.

One little-known fact about the T8 is that starting with OS v3.5, it can be switched to act as an MPE / Channel-Per-Note controller (MIDI Mode 4), which basically means you can control MPE-compatible synths with per-note aftertouch. It is like polyphonic aftertouch (but only for MPE / channel-per-note compatible synths or multitimbral synths that can receive aftertouch on 8 separate channels)

Don't believe everything that's "said." I gigged with a P10 for 3 years, and the only issue I had was when a wire for a custom mod (that permitted the pitch wheel to go a full octave) came loose from one of its solder joints. Opened it up, and the wire end hung right where it needed to be re-soldered. 5 minutes work and it was functioning, never to fail again.

And this was after it slipped down 20 steps in its case, slid across the concrete floor, and hit a wall backstage at a gig.

Damn thing was near indestructible in my case. Sorry I ever sold it. (But I don't really miss hauling it to gigs and picking it up several times a night...)

..Joe

For me, the main appeal of the T8 would be the keyboard. Having a piano action on a synth would be nice.

Indeed. My P-10 is still going strong.

(Knock on wood. Sacrifice a Minibrute. Don't want to upset the Synth Gods.)

I posted this in another thread about the T8 keyboard. Someone here might find it interesting so I am re-posting here.

If you want a T8, here's one from a much-missed rocker's estate: RONNIE JAMES DIO SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS PROPHET T8 SYNTHESIZER - Price Estimate: $5000 - $7000

I bet I have pieces of that T8 still stuck in my eye. Saw him in Kazoo back in the 80's and at the end of the keyboard solo -it blew up.

Bad pyro cuz everyone right in front was wounded in some way or another.

Of course, I'm assuming all of this due to the condition only. Pure speculation.

But I'm betting...

Sheezus. That's had a hard life!

Ronnie probably kept it out in the shed next to his lawnmower since the 80’s

Old thread but can anyone who's complaining of the T8's software-based LFO/Env actually post an example where this is audible?

As to the Osc and Filter chips: I see the T8 has the same VCO chip as the OB-8, Jupiter-6, Memorymoog, OB-Xa, and same filter as the Matrix-12. So the worst you could say about the T8's chips might be that it sounds a bit more like an Oberheim, that's not the worst insult in the world!

Nothing wrong with software envelopes per se, but a lot of people rag on Sequential for using the same microprocessor and software envelopes in both a budget and a premium product. What they don't understand is that while the Z-80 was a fairly medium speed CPU at the time the T-8 had a second Z-80 running just the software envelopes. The Prophet-600's lone Z-80 had to deal with everything and here's where the software envelopes show their warts -- and why the Gligli P-600 upgrade is so significant. Most of the T-8 criticisms come from people who only looked at the spec sheets of both synths and assumed a T-8 was exactly the same as a P-600 under the hood except for two extra voices and a fancy keyboard.

As I said above, spec sheets only tell you part of the story. The same VCO and filter chips do not necessarily make one synth sound like another. The Chroma Polaris has the exact same VCO and filter chips as the Matrix-12 and Xpander so it should sound more like an Oberheim, right? Nope, not even close.

It's not just the chips, it's how they are used. The CEM 3394 'synth on a chip' used by the later Sequential synths (Sixtrak, Split-8, etc) sounds completely different from it's Akai contemporaries (AX-60, VX-90) where the filter resonance is overdriven and harsh. Doepfer used the 3394 in the first iteration of the semi-modular Dark Energy and it's implementation sounds different from both Sequential and Akai.

Actually the T8 had a "mere" Z-80 running MIDI and scanning the keyboard and control knobs, and handling patch load/store. It then summarized the currently-playing patch, and what notes being held down, into a small shared memory.

That memory was read by a Z-8002, a 16-bit big brother to the Z-80. He read the patch parameters, the notes being held, and calculated envelopes and LFOs. Based on all that, he output digital levels for OscA/B pitch, PW, filter cutoff, and volume all for each voice... plus resonance, A/B vol, and noise for a whole split... plus, finally the global L/R balance between the splits. These were output in a burst to a FIFO (kind of memory). Then the 8002 went back to calculating LFOs and envelopes, while a timer read values out of the FIFO, fed them into a DAC, routed that DAC to one of about 53 "sample/hold" thingies that held their input value when told. And those routed to the voice card's VCO VCF and VCA.

So anyway, it was a Z-8002, not Z-80, and it was doing the LFO as well as pitch bend and so on in addition to envelopes, but otherwise, yes, you're exactly right.

Would any of you pay USD $4k for a decent T8? I swore off big synths after I let my Trident go as my space is limited. But how is the base sound, rather similar in mood to a P600 (pre-GliGli)?

thanks,
RDP

I know it's supposed to share the same analog signal path as the P600 but when I listen to demos, it always sounds a just a little smoother and more refined than my P600, closer perhaps to a P5 Rev 3. There's a certain harshness to the P600 I don't hear in the T8. It sounds great and plays great and I love the split mode but for 4k it's a tough sell up against a brand-new Prophet 10 Rev 4.

I think $4k is a great price for a good condition T8. Especially with that wonderful keyboard...

Here you go. Visual condition seems excellent.


SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS Prophet T8 極美品 https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/j695473969


Oops、closer to 5k.

RDP

definitely

they usually go for around 6k and don't come by that often..

it is the best keybed I've ever played and easily competes with a real piano / grand piano (makes sense since it is made by pratt & read)



I also have a P5r3 and a pro one, and while it definitely comes from the prophet family, it has a different sound than the p5. but 8 voices polyphony and that keybed are every players dream
you can route a lot of parameters to aftertouch giving you control over the shape of the sound. the t8 just offers a level of expression unparalleled in any other flagship synth.