Just as a controller. I’ve never used it’s sequencer. I’ve only actually listened to one of it’s presets. howdy

I wouldn't get rid of the Pro 2, unless you just aren't vibing with the interface, sequencer.

Nothing that has come since it has made it a lesser synth. It's still incredibly flexible, immediate, sounds great with little effort, and is very very deep.
Deeper than the Pro 3 even with half the modulation lanes (extra LFO, envelope, and modulatable dual filter routing on the Pro 2 will do that).

The dual sliders with pressure sensitivity right above the mod wheel is a great set of 5 mod sources at the ready.
I'll take that over a MorpheeeeeEeEeee (though morphing is pretty neat)

It might be cheating but I have mine MIDI mapped to Repro-5 for 8 voice poly work.

Nice tip. Thanks!

I'm going to go ahead and make things even more confusing for you, cause everyone loves options. Ok, let's dirty the water some more.

Getting rid of the Dominion 1 and adding a MFB Synth Pro would save you space and money while giving you more flexibility. The Synth Pro's mode for layering 4 voices of one patch onto 4 voices of another patch is pretty nifty. And the more voices intermingling with one another adds depth to the over sound. Unless you gel with the interface like a magnet, I would swap these synths.

The ATC-X I would not swap out for an SE-1X. I love SE synths too and I don't think any of them are really replacements for the others. Each one has it's own personality because of the high quality and different components used in each. You may like the SE-1X more, but you may not. I find the ATC-X greasy and juicy like the tastiest cheeseburger while the SE-1X is probably more akin to a nice steak. Can't substitute one for the other, without getting something quite different.

On the Sequential front, I've thought about swapping my Pro 2 for a P12 desktop mainly because I like the interface of these synths for creating my own patches, but I enjoy poly synths more than monos, which is why I've considered this. The reason I haven't done this is because I absolutely love the sequencer on it. Damn is that thing fun to sequence with and easy to edit the sequences. That sequencer combined with those Osc waves is the reason I haven't switched it for a P12. I value that more than the Pro 2 filters. I just get immense fun from the sequencer, but maybe you don't. Having played the P12 before, I enjoyed how quickly you could make oddball pads on it. With that said, not sure if you agree, but lots of people have pointed out the Pro 2 sounds much more up front and present than the P12, which makes sense because it's a mono. If one day I felt like I wasn't using the Pro 2 step sequencer as much, I wouldn't feel bad going for a P12. I've actually been thinking of doing that with both my Pro 2 and Modal 001, and getting the poly versions. But both are discontinued and at least the 001 is hard to find if I wanted it back. (As it is, I think there isn't anything out there that has this intuitive of a sequencer combined with these types of digital waveforms like the Pro 2.)

Anyways, when you swap gear out, you'll always gain something, whether it be insight and knowledge about why it didn't work out with that synth or actually finding out the new synth has opened your mind to it's aesthetic and helped you realize something different. That's really the only way to know. I think if I personally ever buy back a synth, then that would be a great scenario because I would have had my epiphany of realizing a certain synth suits me better than the others I've tried. But I don't think I've bought back any synths now that I think about it. I've been happy to move on from synths that didn't work out for me. The reasons for me selling things outweighed anything about the synth that I liked. Knowledge is power, which is gained from the experience of trying new synths.

I'm convinced you're never having your own studio space again. You appear doomed to a life in the breakfast nook, hall closet, guest bath, or foyer.

It’s common knowledge that if you bathe and scrub your filthy dirty analog synth it turns into a digital one.

I agree. I only have an SE-1, but I'm sure the basic tone is the same as the 'X.' It has a metallic aftertaste that I could do without. Never personally auditioned an ATC-X, but I bet its core sound is "better."

And no need to warm up

Have you tried industrial Velcro? freshfloweI’ve started going vertical with my set upabduction

Great advice. I have to remind myself that I’ve always made music with whatever I had at hand and everything has different qualities and it is fun to me to explore those and figure out how it fits with what I’m trying to make.

I know, right? It does feel like that. From 1997 until a few years ago, I always had my own studio room. It just was. My big mistake was agreeing on letting my wife’s niece come and live with us without making a hard out date. Oddly, the move out of that room gave me more space but I became unwilling to live with the clutter when it was out in the open. Anyway, she was all set to move out in June, with a hard deadline, and then she actually moved out the day after they announced the lock-down. My wife moved right into that room. She had to. She spends her days in meetings and a lot of them are customer facing so she needs to be able to close a door.

It’s not really only about space. It’s about clutter and ergonomics. There’s actually plenty of space for me to put up another keyboard stand (or even buy that snazzy Polybrute stand) but I don’t want to. I want to be limited as much as it forces decisions like this.

You clearly have a big overlap with the Pro 2 and Prophet 12 as well with the Prophet Rev2 and the Prophet 6. I would get rid of the Prophet 12 and the Rev2. The Pro 2 is just great with its unique analogue filter section and the Prophet 6 is just the most classic polysynth of our time. Rev2 and Prophet 12 both have the curtis filter sound, wich I dont like at all. Imo you have those sounds covered entirely with the Pro 2 and 6 and even more/better. No brainer for me.

Happyham, I think you won the thread.

I’ve been thinking a lot about all of it and diving into both the Pro 2 and the Dominion 1. They’re both great synths, no doubt, but they clearly are both responsible for taking up a ton of space. I started listening to the Motas 6 demos (again) and man, that sucker does sound great. I think I dismissed it because I was disappointed about the lack of oscillators as a mod source and I’d convinced myself that I needed a 3 osc mono with at least one VCO as a mod source. Will I miss it? Yes, but I’ll gain in other ways that I will probably use more. The truth is, my ATC does that trick with it’s two oscillators and the sound is so damn huge that I really don’t need it happening from 3 oscillators. Plus, things like Legend and Reaktor do a great impersonation of such things.

The Pro 2... also interesting and unique, but I spend a full day using Bitwig’s modulation engine to modulate my Prophet 12 as if it were a Pro 2, and although it lacks that bolder sound from the 2’s filters, I was very happy with the results.

So both will leave and the replacement(s?) will be a Motas 6 (I’ve been gassing for one anyway) and I’m not sure if they’ll be a second. Maybe that’s it. I could probably get the Motas and a Medusa in the space that Pro 2 now occupies and that would open up the space I need on my side desk to add the Polybrute.

Stay tuned!

Good call! More and more people are probably going to start to see how good the Motas is, and then it will be like an avalanche.
I'm kind of doing a studio tetris like you. Keeping the Krumar Bit One, the Tetris, the Neutron and the modular, but selling the Voyager (slew modded) and Deepmind for the Motas and the Super 6. Gonna be super wicked!

Out of curiosity, how would you stack the Motas-6 up against the Xenophone?

My only useful addition is that I can also never find a good place to keep my Dominion 1 and am also in a temporary smaller space for a while.

It's too deep to put in front of something else and when it's under something on a stand it's hard to use or even see the knobs. I've ended up putting it on a rolling mixer stand at an angle. I'd like to use the keys to control other CV stuff but it's working okay for now.

https://i.imgur.com/t7at1Eq.jpg

Have you sold the pro-2 yet?

With the pro-3 at 1600$ at its most - I don't see a great market - but I suppose there is always a willing taker. I think the pro-2 was heavily discounted before leaving the scene (I considered buying)

I read somewhere about boxing synths. I think that's the move. You can put it back in the tetris game in 2-3 years. You don't need the money.

Ok I am gonna chime in as another Pro 2 owner. Yes they were heavily discounted and since I had wanted one from one they first hit but never jumped I bought one at that 40% off price. Thats around what they are selling for used now just over a grand to $1300 .
Its not that great of a market for people that bought them when there were not a lot of discounts. .

To Zerocrossing....
I was never swayed by the Dominion and truthfully after listening to the Motas while it does seem to create some nice sounds I am not hearing anything you can’t create with the synths you have. Its really up to you man. I would not sell my Pro2 hell I won’t sell my MEK.

I did sell my FS1R could not resist the insane price I got. Within 6 months I had managed to regain another one for a great price.
Will probably not sell it as it takes up one rack space and its another great sounding synth thats deep if you dive into with an editor. If it did not sound as great as it does it would be gone permanently! As without and editor you barely scratch the surface from the front panel.


With that said I am definitely in the Prophet 12 can go camp. It sounds nice its interesting but the Pro 2 just sounds better I am sorry but its just true.
I would take a Prophet X over a Pro 12 any day of the week as it sounds glorious in comparison to the Prophet 12 and gets sold short by a lot of people who dismiss it as a sample playback synth its much more than that and again sounds better than than a P12.
I also think you have managed to morph your synth desires in this thread as If I am not correct it started out I want a PolyBrute how can I clear some stuff to qualify buying it.
Now all of a sudden your talking about shifting two of your Mono synths for more mono synths.jummpp:facepalm::lol:

I have a motas-6 and a buddy has the Xenophone. They are both capable very programmable monosynths, but they cover different ground. The xenophones stable tuning and ring mod leads to many characteristic sounds. It has built in effects and sounds more modern and "polished/produced" out of the box.
Xenophone has DCO2 as a mod source for filter FM. Motas can use audio rate lfos to modulate the filter.

The motas-6 is a lot more vintage in tone and has a more unique programming system, and overall greater programming capability.

Hypersynth ultimately seems more like a very capable preset monosynth while the motas is more like a modular with patch memory, albeit a somewhat "disconnected modular" in that only a handful of it's many modulators are shared between parts of the system.

motas is 3 note paraphonic. hypersynth is duophonic.
filter system in the motas is more flexible, but the hypersynth is more straightforward and still provides a lot of flexibility.

stock presets in the hypersynth are admittedly a lot more impressive than the motas, although the motas has some gems.

I prefer the overdrive sounds on the motas to the hypersynth.

I'd pick the motas 1st. Ultimately it has a tone that is very special. 3 VCO is perfect for a monosynth. It really reminds me of what a 3 oscillator late seventies roland semi modular would be like -- with patch storage. That said I'd also probably pick up a hypersynth if my friend didn't already have one (I told him to buy it! lol).


to keep things on topic... here is a quick doodle with p12 pads and motas squelch
prophet12 and motas quick demo

Regarding pro2, pro3, pro12... frankly for me I all three of them are a bit of a let down. The Pro2 has the best synth voice , but true poly won out in this situation and I for now keep the prophet12. All three seem like compromise middle zone synths, pretty expensive, but not best in class.

Thanks! That was a really useful comparison.

Yeah, I sold it to someone on Muff Wiggler for $1000. I probably could have held out for a little more, but you know, it’s fall (and I mean the fall of civilization) and I was feeling happy towards my fellow musician.

The Dominion 1 is still here, and it’s a matter of personal taste, but man, that thing sounds f’n great to me. Always. While I was contemplating letting it go, I made a bunch of FM sounds and man... so interesting. I still kind of want the Motas, but now I’m thinking that might be a mistake just because of how good the analog FM thing is with the Dominion 1, and the filter FM sounds phenomenal. Shame they didn’t make the Dominion Club a module version of the 1, because that would have solved my issue. My only real complaint about that synth is it’s very heavy on the z axis. Oh, and there should be a fine tune knob for each oscillator. Not sure how they missed that one...

Oh, it’s definitely true, but the 12 still holds its own, if for nothing else, the fact that I can still have a 6 voice dual layer sound, and I have the module, which is tiny. I was actually surprised at how small it is. I’ve got it on a little laptop stand and it really takes up about zero space.

Prophet X does sound great, but I felt it was a little light on synthesis options compared to the 12/2. I get that it’s more than a sample playback synth, but they left out digital wave morphing. You’ll have to explain to me why when your oscillator is being generated by DSP that you can’t have the full contingent of VS waveforms there and the ability to morph between a few of them, except for the fact that they want to sell more synths. It’s also very big and very expensive. My 12 was $1000. If they’d included the full complement of 12/2 oscillator features, the tuned feedback and character section... yeah, that would get me thinking, but great sounding filters on stereo samples... not enough for me.

It’s always been about making space for a PolyBrute. If I can retain my current capability level, or similar, and add the PolyBrute... why not? The Pro 2’s out the door already. I felt a little pang of sadness, but not too bad. I moved the Dominion 1 over to it’s spot, and while it has to hang off the desk a bit, it’s not too bad, and my Analog Four fit nicely next to it. I’m thinking I’m done. There’s now a nice empty PolyBrute shaped hole on that desk. I could keep going, lose the Dominion 1 and add the Motas and Medusa and have a mono analog and hybrid and still have space for the Polybrute. I’m thinking... no. I’ll pretend Massive X is my Pro 2 replacement and hold on to the money for maybe a dedicated effects processor to the Prophet 12.

The Motas 6 always struck me as special... but why not make oscillators available as mod sources? Seems like such an oversight. I get that they made the LFOs audio rate and track pitch, but not the same thing as having a VCO. That one thing keeps me from it.

I get what you’re saying about the 12, but in a way the weirdness of its tone actually makes me like it more, especially the module which has a small footprint and $1000 (used) price tag... totally worth it. When I’m going for a big lush and beautiful sounding hybrid style pad, I’m hitting the 002, no doubt. Not even a contest. But when I’m looking to score a David Lynch film and I want something thats sounds like evil trapped in an abandoned hospital’s boiler, the Prophet 12 delivers like nothing else.

The Prophet 12 module truly is an example of elegant menu diving. The full keyboard version would be great, but for the price the module is a steal.

Totally agree. I had the full keyboard first, but I had a bum unit with some weird oscillator bleed issues, but man, that interface is really a thing of beauty, and I was really impressed with how still intuitive the module is to use. It sits next to the knobby Novation Peak, and yet it’s a deeper synth and easier to program.

maybe I will have to look closer at it.
ah perhaps you need to read some of this feature set again

Full VS waves and other wavetables, the ability to load in your own wavetables and morph through the sample start/stop/center, analog filters( two 24db low pass) hyper realistic samples that you can add “analog” ish slop and FM too.Four LFO’s two digital osc two wavetable, its pretty much landing in Prophet VS territory here.
to add to that you can put wavetable on each key and stretch out multiples across the keys sorta granular like.





I am sad for the loss of your Pro 2 I would not be suprised if you want one back at some point.

The modulation system on Motas-6 is digital and so adding the analogue VCOs to that system would have required a lot of extra hardware and complexity, that is why it was not included. I had to draw the line somewhere.

Note that there is (rather uniquely) analogue phase modulation on Motas-6 which does allow cross-modulation of the VCOs. You can PM VCO2 from VCO1 and VCO3 from VCO1 or VCO2 and of course use all that modulation to control the amount.

Yeah, I've kept mine for the same reason. While it is possible to put the time in to program subtle modulations to make it sound pretty good for typical synth sounds, it can be struggle compared with the most similar synth I have experience with -- the iridium. The way the iridium does FM, wavetable and VA is just miles beyond the p12. The p12 could really use a well designed "macro" detune parameter that works better than "slop". It is great for weird sounds and dual layer arps etc. I like the filters a lot when I use them as isolators over top of digital sounds rather than trying to accentuate or filter the oscillators as part of the sound synthesis. How the filter is implemented seems to play a big role in how much a "hybrid" glues itself into one sound. I suspect there needs to be a bit of harmonic distortion on the digital oscillator tones so you have the extension going up the frequency range to catch on to with the filter resonance. If I could make a change to the p12 it would be meatier analog mixer before the filter with potentiometers for each oscillator level on the module. Again it's 'weird' to have distortion at the end of the sound when controlling the gain stage and distortion before the filter is more difficult.
I guess in my perception it's a victim of it's marketing as an "ultimate do anything" synth. I do dig it for what it is. And there is something to be said for synths that can sound bad as well as good, since taste can change.

I find a touch of the gain effect does wonders for bringing out the quality of the filter. The issue is that the Curtis filter in that synth doesn’t really bloom when driven, like other analog filters. It’s never going to sound pretty, like the Super 6, but sometimes pretty isn’t what I’m after.