Sequential Circuits Prophet 600

self-explanatory analog synth. one knob - one function.

to all the previous descriptions i'd like to add an IMPORTRANT issue which HASN'T BEEN MENTIONED by the previous posters:

THE POT'S HAVE A LOW RESOLUTION AND CAUSE GLITCHES WHEN YOU TURN THEM AS YOU PLAY!

this gets especially important when doing manual filter sweeps (cutoff / resonance). before getting the unit, i informed myself about it right here, and, since nothing like this was mentioned, shot it at ebay - only to be very dissappointed when it arrived... =-(

according to a tech, the reason seems to be that the pot's are digitally checked every xy miliseconds, but the clocking cycles are so slow that you don't get an acceptable resolution when turning.

typical prophet filter/vca sound...
not as fat/warm as a moog (not even in unison mode - it's WIDE, but... a bit mushy), also the ADSR's are not as fast.
good for pads / sweeps / fx sounds, though.
or for basses / leads / perc's that don't need THAT moog attack ;-)

like most polyphonic analog's that have grown a lil' old, this one will need to be serviced from time to time, too.
i had to have my pitch wheel recalibrated plus one VCA replaced - and I was so lucky as to actually get one of those rare spares...!
once or twice the front panel crashed, meaning, changing of settings didn't change the sound, while the keyboard was still working.

Like any analog synth, the editing on this machine is intuitive and really fun! This is my first analog that features patch storage, and I couldn't be happier. The patch recall is fast, seamless, and incredible for live use. Gone are the days of having to take five minutes adjusting knobs and switches in between songs at shows!

I'm strictly audio, so I can't offer any opinion regarding it's MIDI capabilities.

The polyphony is never sacraficed for anything! No matter what, you will always have six full, rich voices of polyphony, putting very restraints on it's user.

From afar, it seems as though it is a run of the mill analog synth with oscillators, filters, and amplifiers. However, when you factor in the six voice polyphony, extensive modulation capabilities, unison, patch storage, and very dynamic envelopes, it's safe to say that this is much more than your standard vintage.

This is about as expressive as they come! The knobs and modulation allow for some serious expressiveness in any situation. I have yet to dream up a sound that I can't create pretty accurately, which is my biggest turn-on with this beast.

Don't buy this synth hoping to create seamlessly realistic instrument replications, as that is not what this synth was designed to do. It was rather made to create a vast soundscape of sounds that don't yet exsist. However, that isn't to say it can't make imitative voices, because it certainly can, just not as well as early digital synths can.

Ehhh... this is my main regret about the Prophet-600. Like many polyphonic synthesizers of it's time, it is prone to breakdown, and can be a bit fussy at times. I've only had mine for a few days, and it's already drifted out of tune. This would be a huge problem if it weren't for the auto-tune feature, which works amazingly well!

The Prophet-600 should be kept in a studio, out of harm's way. If you do opt to bring it on the road with you, it would probably be smart to invest in a hardshell flight case!

Thank goodness for Wine Country Sequential!
If you haven't heard, WCS is a company formed by the original Sequential Circuits team to provide an inredibly extensive array of services to all Sequential Circuits users. They sell brand new, warranted Sequential gear for really good prices. It is simply something that has to be experienced to believe. Support these guys!

This was probably the only good deal I have ever had on eBay, and that is only because the auction ended at 3:00am. It is worth every cent I paid for it, and would definitely buy another should this one get damaged in some way.

I own a Moog Prodigy, a Micro Moog, and a Casio CZ-1000 (a very early FM synthesizer), and I must say, this tops them all. I have a feeling almost all of my other synths will be sold, because the Prophet-600 does everything they can, and often times better, with way more polyphony.

The Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 has awoken a new creativity within me, and has been nothing but a joy to play!

Pretty straight forward, not much need for a manuel.

2 syncable VCO's + LFO, first synth to integrate MIDI (other than Prophet 10 with internal MIDI. Glide effect is not too shabby. Fat Unison mode (I love using this with an external chorus effect.) Polymod is useful when used with envelope filter.

Get those "Funkadelic" type sounds going and is also good for darker stuff. I personaly love the sound of this machine, bass can be *much* better.

Like I said, I love the sound of this machine, it's extremely versitile--you can go from very simple panpipe style sounds to harsh, bold and ballsy agressive type ones. The latter sounds work well when a chorus eefect is added--especially if you're going for a darkwave/ebm type of sound.
The low end isn't all that good, the envelopes are pretty slow, which makes it good for brassy and bell type sounds when you add resonance, not so good for bass. One thing that the Prophet 600 maintains well in comparision to a Prophet 5 is it's ability to create sweeping ghostly sound effect that are rich and mysterious sounding.

Very organic sounding. This would be the operative description. Raw too. It has it's own sort of character to it.
All around good for 80's style textures, not "plastic" sounding like DX7.

It's been pretty reliable so far, other than the membrane pad failing, but what do you want from such primitive technology from 23 years ago? There are a number of resources out there for a fix, though I haven't tried any of the membrane replacement modifications.
I would feel fairly confident playing this unit without a backup, though I'd prefer to use one and would definately never tour without one.

I've heard that http://www.winecountrysequential.com is a helpful resource, never had to deal with them.

Do yourself a favor--BUY THIS over a Polysix. This is a much more flexible synth, IMHO.

If it were lost or stolen I'd be pretty upset, but, honestly, I'd probably start saving for a Prophet 5 or a Pro-One at least.

Even though it is very tactile and pretty obvious--there is a learning curve to discovering how to use this instrument correctly. If you just want an analog soundbank for a bass line or a lead, there are much better machines (ARP/MOOG/monosynths, etc). If you want some analog sounds for 70s and 80s covers--a good ROMpler will get you closer with less hassle. It's weak at emulating other synths and all things "fat". Drums? Ha, ha, ha, get real...

But if you want to discover some sh*t you have heard before, turn on the arpeggiator, turn off your mind and start fiddling around for a few hours. Long, slow envelopes...ahhh. Very rewarding. But it won't be clear at first glance what the strengths of the P600 are. And most presets and patches sound kind of weak if you aren't using the arpeggiator, filters and long releases.

For its era and price, it offers more than most, so I can't rate it down. But it is true that I wish it had aftertouch, assignable midi controllers for modulation, etc. The key feel is unimpressive. The modulation wheel has no spring/return to center mechanism. Manufacturing has come a long, long way in the last 20 years, thank God.

This is where it earns its keep. Many of the sounds are pretty boring until you start twiddling around AND USE THE ARPEGIATOR. The sounds will make your jaw drop for something of this age and price. Very complex pads. Very beautiful. Pads. Pads. Pads.

You will not find another true analog machine that is so righteous for pads AND has easy memory. Even the new guys today--while great in so many ways--they just don't have the same sound and routes of experimentation. Less isn't always more--but the P600 has some unique possibilities.

So far so good. Stays in the studio though. Patch keypad is just fine.

RIP. Which is real shame. I would have loved to see what directions SCI would have gone in if they hadn't been killed by digital. Still want to play a T8.

Not the best for leads, really. But it is among the best available for analog pads--TRUE analog with MIDI in and memory. Many of the reviewers here have not emphasized this and criticize the arpegiator. Cool. Let the prices stay low. The pads from the P600 are a secret weapon.

Typical E-Z analog synth programming of the early-mid 80s..

Good features, good value - one of the only, and first analogs with built in midi (first, along with the Roland connected to it to demo midi at a trade fair). Sync, unison, arpegiator..pro analog features at value prices, without doubt.

Excellent, pro quality analog; in a mix you'd have difficulty discerning that it wasn't a Prophet 5: different envelopes-not as sharp, not as fast, but entirely irrelevant-i've heard bass lines and leads that in a mix are comparable to a Prophet 5 with minor differences, with it's own character that's different yet similar to a 5. Sometimes the 600's envelopes are better than a 5's (i have both to those who will argue) for certain things, including certain bass and lead sounds. Thickness and power's about 70% of a 5, but the difference is again only noticable upon direct comparison, in a mix it's great. Thus a great bargain for classic analog at ridiculously low prices. I'd disagree on it having a "late analog" flavor, that would be more the realm of the analog/digital sounding Super Jupiter or Prophet VS just as the DX-7 was choking off the last of the analogs.

Not particularly problematic other than occasional jiggling necessary to get the switches to work properly.

If not quite in the rarefied realm of the Prophet 5, Mini and Memorymoog or Oberheims, pretty close to this territory, for nothing prices. Far bette sounding than the comparitively cheesy and overly hyped Juno 60/106 which the 600 eats for lunch. Funny how the masses are about those Rolands..

As someone said below, the factory preset greatly show off the instrument's potential, esp. the effect sounds.
Knobs and switches to tweak, so editig is a breeze. Manual is typical Stanley Jungleib style, easy to understand, but this instrument explains itself. Very rudimentary MIDI, but with the latest Eprom (6.0.8) you can do all the basic stuff like selecting channel, omni/poly switching and SysEx dump of the currently selected sound.
Membrane switchpad is little unresponsive in use because of no tactile feedback when pressing a pad but you can deal with that.
A drawback is the rough quantizing of some knobs...ENV's have only 16 steps to adjust while cutoff is quantized in 128 steps...But after all, i found this doesn't matter as much as it seems before. In 'real life' i can go along with these limitations.

6 voices of analog power based on CEM chips and software envelopes, which makes them a bit slow compared to hardware based ENV's, but so what? I love the features like using all VCO waveformes together, independant pulse width adjustment on both VCO's, Chord traking, unison mode and the Poly-mod section, which make the Prophets so special. The lack of Noise is no prob for me, i have other gear to do that....
A cool feature for such an early synth is that the wheels are send via MIDI, so i can remote some parameters in realtime on the Boss SE-70 that i use together with the P600.

Pure analog with an extra edge!: Pads, Brass & Strings are no problem, Bass could be tricky because of the slow envelopes. But the most exciting sounds are the harsh, distorted metalic and noisy ones, which are created by the poly-mod section...VCO B to Filter, throw in some resonance or switch to Sync an you're done :-). This synth offers more than might be expected on the first look. Sounds are extremely dry, direct and crystal clear.

Tuning is ok but could be faster...lasts approx. 30 sec in worst cases. Keyboard contacts need some cleaning now and then (as most silicone rubber dome contatcs do). The most ugly fault is that the P600 'forgets' about his pots and switches during heavy tweaking sometimes....the Panel behaves like completely dead for some seconds, that suddenly gets back to work again... very strange :-|. Maybe i have to readjust the DAC gain or something like that....

If you consider buying one, be sure that the membrane panel works properly, because this is the most hard-to-get spare part!

Friendly people at WineCountry who supported me with service manual and diagnostic ROM.

I think comparing a P600 and P5 makes not much sense, the P600 is an instrument of its own. For less that half the price of a P5 you can get a superior sounding synth with MIDI and some features you won't find on other Synths of that Aera. I definitely would buy it again :-)

The factory presets sound pretty good and can be used raw, or at least as a good departure point to create your own personal variations if necessary. Sure, most analog fans believe they can do so much better than the poor idiot who did the factory programming -I tend to be a little more modest.
The manual (copy courtesy of Wine Country) covers everything you need to know. And the knobs are as easy as self-explanatory as any analog can get.

Polyphony is great considering the time this synth was built (6 voices for 1981). No aftertouch whatsoever, which is a pity. I do not use MIDI, sorry. The sequencer is extremely primitive and more of a curiosity today, of little or no practical value. But the polyphony alone makes it worth a 10.

I'm stuffed of reading users who insist on the many, many things a P-5 can do and a P-600 can not. So what? The P-600 can also do some things P-5s can not -no less than stay perfectly in tune from the time you turn it on until whenever you decide you had enough fun, which would be an amazing achievement for a P-5 or any Moog. As for the sound, it is true that the P-600 sounds thinner than older analogs, but thinner also means clearer, and while today's trend is to long for the "rawness" and "dirtyness" of the old P-5 and its predecessors, back in the early 80s many musicians wanted crystal-clear, crisper sounds and this is what the P-600 does. And it does it beautifully.

"Dirty analog" sound is not good or bad in itself, it's just a trend. I bet 20 years from now there will be a wave of nostalgia for old digitals, and people will pay fortunes for a DX-7 while MiniMoog cabinets will be used as planters.

For what is worth, the P-600 can also duplicate PERFECTLY some -not all, of course- of the P-5 sounds.

I had mine for a short time and everything works perfectly well, but the thing really does not look bullet-proof... one of these days the darn mylar pad will give up and then we'll see... The knobs are really cheap, not to mention the keyboard. No way I'd use it on a gig. I took it out a few times to jam with local friends, and had the uncomfortable sensation it might fall apart anytime...

Of course SCI is gone, Wine Country looks fine, but I never needed anything from them. Time will tell.

I don't want to part with it. It gives that special digitally controlled "late-analog" sound which -as I said above- I love and appreciate. If I had twice the money to spend, I guess I'd rather get another synth of its same generation -Oberheim?- than an overpriced primitive analog.

Programming a P600 is a breeze. All the controls are right there on the front panel. Just tweak and listen. I have a version 6-0-4 P600 so the MIDI-implementation is pretty weak. But I really don't need an upgrade as I'm not going to use it with a sequencer. For an early 80's synth the presets aren't that bad.

P600 has six voices of polyphony. Each voice consists of two VCOs a VFC and two ADSR envelope generators, one for the VCF and one for the VCA. Envelopes and the LFO are software generated by the Z80 CPU. VCOs are CEM3340 oscillators (can be sync'd) and the VCFs (and the VCAs) are CEM3372 chips. There are no built in effects but it really doesn't need them. There is a small Poly-Mod section which allows for some nice modulation routings. The P600 keyboard feels cheap and unresponsive, it doesn't send or respond to velocity. There is a small real-time sequencer onboard, but it's very limited so I only use it as a synth-notepad. P600 also has an arpeggiator onboard and with the sequencer it's a nice added bonus.

P600 sounds great. It sounds like a big, American, synth. Because of the digital envelopes it doesn't sound too ballsy, but it still sounds big. The filter has a brassy quality and sounds great. I've made some great ELO sounds with my P600, and they used the mighty CS80 ;) The oscillators are super-sweet and P600 beats any DCO synth hands down. Because of the Poly-Mod section P600 can also create somewhat more "unconvential" synth sounds. But I use the P600 for those "traditional" analogue sounds and I love it!

When it was first released, the P600 was marketed as a more affordable option to other Prophets. So, it's really cheaply built. I would never use my P600 on a gig. It just seems too fragile. When I got mine, it had two dead CEM3372 chips. I had them replaced and I also bought some spares. The membrane buttons on the front panel are also really fragile and there aren't any spare parts widely available. After I replaced the two filter chips on my P600 it has not given me any trouble. I'm keeping my fingers crossed ;)

Sequential Circuits is long gone, but Wine Country Sequential (I think some of them are old SCI employees) has some spare parts. Also, www.synthtech.com has CEM chips available.

I have/have had many differen't analogue polys. I've also tried many others. P600 is by far my favourite polysynth. Naturally I'd prefer a Prophet10 or the T8 (an 8-voice P600 with an amazing keyboard), but they cost twice as much as the P600. If it was stolen I'd propably buy another one as other Prophets are harder to find and they're more expensive. P600 is a great source for those classic 70's/80's synth sounds!

Six_0_8 for the midi

Patch editing is a breeze, just twiddle and WOOOSH!

Don't have the manual, but they are available from Wine Country for about 25 bucks.

6 voice polyphony

No effects

No expansion (hey, it was 1983)

Full midi capabilities with the latest EPROM

Onboard sequencer is useless (why anyone would use it is beyond me)

Realistic sounds? Who wants to make those?

I make electronic music, so it is perfect. It really stands out against my Roland units, which sound so pretty and refined. This thing is harsh and dirty- i LOVE it. It will cut through a mix like no other i have used. I couldn't be happier! Think "The Terminator" (the first one). Remember when the T800 first arrived?

There are no onboard fx, unless you count the poly mod section, which adds many sonic possibilities. Buy outboard if you want fx.

If you midi into it (i use a JX-10 as a master) THEN it reacts to keystrokes and such..

I have a very early version, and it is rock solid so far. It will never leave the house though- it is too precious to risk!

Wine COuntry Rules! They are always friendly and attentive. They still have many parts for the unit in stock...

If it were lost or stolen, i would be deeply depressed. Let's not even entertain that thought.
I have been writing electronic music for about two years now, so I'm no "true musician", but i do have a true appreciation for the older analogs. In an age where folks use computers to sequence/record, it is nice to balance out the cold, brittle technology with some good ol' 80's warmth.
I love it's sound, it's interface, it's physical appearance, and it's presence. What a score... Of course i compare it to my other gear, it stands out like a red headed stepchild; the kind you LIKE having around. God bless this thing.

I had purchased one of these that had the original presets installed and I didnt like them. You dont really get good sounds out of an analog synth unless you tweak it out yourself. Extremely easy to use!

I'm not the kind of guy to play 10 fingered chords so the polyphony is just fine for me. No effects but you shouldnt expect any on something this old. It has enough features to get all the sounds you need. MIDI is alright. . .but I just use this one to play live.

I love SCI stuff. The sounds are completely beefy and I prefer them over the Moog stuff I've owned.

I have dropped this thing, spilled stuff on it, had it kicked. . .it just keeps on going. I usually play a couple synths (usually the SCI Six-Trak).

I've called Wine Country and they pick up the phone right away and answer questions like they know what they're talking about. No complaints there.

I killed mine when I was trying to replace the pitch wheel for no good reason. I have purchased another and I'm going to use the old one for parts. I will always have a Prophet 600 in my set up. The sounds are huge!