Tom_1970 wrote:What's it gonna be for me..... Prophet 12 or a Prophet 6???
That really depends on what type of sound you want most. The Prophet 12 excels at atmosphere, metallic, "pluck"-ish, delay/echo, distortion. Like the Jupiter-80 it is great for ambient soundscapes, but is much more hands-on so you can evolve the sound dynamically while playing, rather than having to stop to reprogram it. Although the Jupiter-80 covers some of these tonal areas it just doesn't sound as good in them. For instance, the Jupiter-80 has lots of bell sounds, but you can hear that they are samples as you move up and down the keyboard. On the Prophet 12 it sounds perfect no matter the pitch. In this aspect it is like an FM synth on steroids.
For the above-mentioned tonal areas the Prophet 12 just sounds clearer, more authentic. It is like a quality set of speakers/headphones with a forward-leaning treble. It puts you on edge and is energetic, but without becoming painful. Clean but not clinical. Here the Jupiter-80 feels kind of dull in comparison, and actually sounds harsher (unpleasant) on the edgy sounds. The Prophet 12 feels right at home in a sci-fi horror movie, balancing suspense, terror and relief, interspersed with beautiful melodic passages.
But neither the Prophet 12 nor the Jupiter-80 can do convincing analog. The simple, meaty sounds are lacking in both synths. You can do approximations, but it just sounds fake. In the Prophet 12 this artificial flavour is mostly due to the filter (as I understand it). The Curtis filter is perfect for the above-mentioned sounds, but falls short on the simpler sounds. For instance, a basic sawtooth bass/lead is very similar between the Prophet 12 and the Pro 2 until you play with the filter. Then the Pro 2 pulls far ahead. I find neither the Prophet 12 nor the Jupiter-80 satisfying for these kinds of "vintage" sounds. I understand why Synth Legends for the Jupiter-80 never became a success and was abandoned. That is where the Prophet 6 comes in.
The Prophet 6 probably is not the best tool for soundscapes, but it promises to really dominate in the "vintage", simple and meaty department. It shares a filter with the Pro 2, but is polyphonic, so it should be great for both bass/lead and strings/pads. From early sound demos I have already heard Jupiter 8-ish, fat brass sounds that are sorely missing on both the Jupiter-80 and the Prophet 12.
I already have digital (Jupiter-80) and hybrid (Prophet 12), so for me the Prophet 6 (analog) looks just about perfect to cover all bases. I wasn't aiming at owning two Prophets, but they are fundamentally different and there really is no competition in the modern, analog, polyphonic segment. The Roland JD-XA is a step in this direction, but based on the JD-Xi demos it is too toylike both in sound, features and build quality, and it has too much overlap with other Roland SuperNATURAL VAs like the Jupiter-80. Also, it lacks the polyphony for convincing, analog chords.