The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer that was designed and manufactured by Sequential Circuits between 1978 and 1984. With five voices of polyphony, the Prophet-5 is one of the first polyphonic analog synthesizers with patch memory. About 6,000 units were produced in three revisions by Dave Smith and John Bowen. This was later accompanied by the Prophet-10, a version with ten voices of polyphony through an additional circuit board and keyboard.
The Prophet-5 is known for its use by progressive rock bands and film composers. Due to its success, the Prophet-5 has been emulated in software synthesizers and analog hardware. Through his company Dave Smith Instruments, and later under the Sequential Circuits brand, Smith has developed updated versions of the Prophet-5.
Production history
The Prophet-5 was developed by Dave Smith and John Bowen for Sequential Circuits, with the goal of creating a true polyphonic analog synthesizer with the ability to store and recall patches. Initially, they developed the Prophet-10, a synthesizer with ten voices of polyphony; however, these were extremely unstable and overheated almost immediately. As a result, Smith and Bowen pared back the number of voices to five, which led to the Prophet-5.
Sequential Circuits Inc. (SCI) was a California-based synthesizer company that was founded in the early 1970s by Dave Smith, and sold to Yamaha Corporation in 1987. Throughout its lifespan, Sequential pioneered technologies and design principles that have served as a foundation for the development of modern music technology. Sequential was also pivotal in the planning, design, and support of 1982's groundbreaking innovation in electronic music, MIDI.
Following the purchase of Sequential Circuits by Yamaha, Dave Smith continued to develop musical instruments through Dave Smith Instruments. In January 2015, he reacquired the rights to use the Sequential brand name from Yamaha president Takuya Nakata.
Products and innovations
Sequential's first products were sequencers and programmer devices for third-party synthesizers.