Prophet-5

"Apart from being the first synth to offer micro-processor control for patch-memory saving and recall, in 1978 the Prophet-5 was the synth that all musicians wanted. After years of synth-mono-dom, they longed to play chords, and as one session player once told me, it was the only synth you needed! It certainly shook up the late 70s market."

"With its oiled wood side panels and big, tactile buttons, it looked like it cost a fortune and, well, it did."

"Unlike the largely monophonic synths of the late 70s, such as the Minimoog, it had five note polyphony. This meant that more just than basslines and lead solos could be played, extending the musical output of synthesizers to include full chords and other polyphonic accompaniments. Not only did it have a rich five note polyphonic sound, it was the first synthesizer to use integrated circuits to provide fully recallable presets."

"It sounded nothing short of gorgeous, with a rich, full sound that was ideal for thick, nasal brass, deep, droning pads, burly basses and those searing osc-sync leads."

"The Prophet-5 was, in short, exactly what performing musicians were clamouring for and, though it was priced at a whopping four grand, it sold in droves, making Dave Smith's Sequential Circuits an industry leader almost overnight and spawning legions of copycats from every corner of the globe."