Sequential Circuits Prophet 3000

The OS ver is 3.0b - the latest from the WineCountry. This sampler (Rev B, serial #138) boots from the diskette - which is not very convenient, but it doesn't hurt though. The power switch is located on the rear panel, which is not convenient as well, especially if the unit installed in a rack.
It has some initial presets saved on the bunch of diskettes, some of them are useable, some aren't, it is always a matter of choice.
This sampler is known as easiest to operate and a frendliest sampler ever. And I think so either. It has a detacheable panel capable of graphics representation of the waveforms - it makes editing samples fun. It is not very complicated sampler as todays sampling monsters, the menus are clear and easy to understand without any manual (I don't have it). By the way the LCD panel might recall you a wavestation's A/D one, and this does make sense, because of almost the same staff working at Korg on the wavestation series after SCI went down. So, as I said a manual is not necessary to get along with it.

The polyphony by todays standard is very limited - 8 voices simultaneously. But this is not strongest side of this sampler. Moreover, my version has 4 megs of RAM which is not too much again. It could be somehow expanded to 8 megs, this would make possible to sample 47 seconds of stereo sound at 44Khz. It doesn't have any sequencer built-in or even arpeggiator. What it has and can do then?

Here's its short specification:
Memory: 4Mb, could be expanded to 8Mbs.
Sampling frequencies: 16,32,44,48 Khz.
Inputs: 4 analog, two of them are Mic inputs (yes, it does have mic preamps!)
Outputs: 2 main, 8 individual
SMPTE sync in/out
SCSI port for external hard drives. (Mine uses SyQuest 270mb removable disk drive)
MIDI in/out/through
Footswitch/trigger input
Detacheable backlit LCD panel allowing visual sample editing
Truly analog low-pass 24 db/octave resonant filters (one per voice), analog amp and envelope generators cirquitry.
It has 2 LFO, Amp and EG1 envelope generators per voice. LFO has tri/saw/backsaw/pulse/random waveforms. 5 stage env generators.
Source modulation: Keyboard (notes), velocity, pressure, envelope 1, LFO 1, LFO 2, MIDI ctrl 1, MIDI ctrl 2, pitch wheel
Destination: pitch, cutoff, pan, ampenv rate, ampenv depth, env 1 rate, env 1 depth, lfo 1 rate, lfo 1 amount, lfo 2 rate, lfo 2 amount, sample start
Loop crossfade, autosearch for zero-sample in start/release loops
Sample automap, autoloop, autotrim and autoscale/normalize.
Sample export/import by SDS transfer over MIDI.

Even if this sampler doesn't have any built in effect, it sounds wonderful (bear in mind its production date!). I found several sound processing/modification could be used instead of FX unit...
The frequency rate of 16Khz produces surprisingly phat Lo-Fi sound, I guess modern decimators aren't capable to make this king of sound. It has warmest analog filters could ever used in a sampler. The resonance is very smooth and musical but sharp and cheesy at the same time. The SCALE function (not realtime though), in overscale mode produces very grungy and warm overload/distortion, due to analog amp ciquitry (I guess). The modulation matrix is not too complicated, but in a combination with the above mentioned techniques could dramatically change initial sound in the way you want or even better.
Overall, the sound of this unit is its strongest side. I've been told that its A/D converters could sample frequences lower than 15 Hz, and these are far better than those in EIII - its main competitor. I'm not sure if they have same filters, but big detacheable LCD and overall sound characteristics makes the choice.

I don't really plan to use it on a gig, the fact that it made a world trip, sponsored by shipment company without any kind of disfunction or damage (thanks to package though), you may realize how it's built. I don't even take into consideration its production date.
It is built like military device, all metallic parts and stuff. The weakest part is LCD screen - it could be easily damaged if you press it too strong.

The SCI went down in early 1988, when this device was produced. Now, the WineCountry (www.winecountrysequential.com) is in charge of the customer service and updates/upgrades of the SCI gear. They response very quickly, when you are ready to pay, their service is not very cheap. Nevertheless, this is the only way to go when your pet becomes sick.

I would buy one more P3K if I met one (8Mb). The rarity of this unit (they made around 400 of it, or even less) makes it pretty impossible to find it though.
The sound of it really worth those bucks I've paid.
As I've said before, I've been told that it sounds better than Emulator III and even these new Akais, it has warm analog sound, compared to them.
The only disappointment is probably its lack of memory. Such great sounding machine might have been more equipped. One more thing I do not like - it doesn't change pitch (with modulation matrix) for more than 5 semitones. Anyway, this unit definitely helps me making music, as I didn't have samplers before, and this reveals new techniques to my music production.