Sequential Take 5 vs Pro 3 and Prophets

First look at leaked specs.

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The next synth from Sequential appears to be the Take 5.   

Here's our first take on comparisons with other Sequential synths:

Take 5 vs Pro 3
While it is visually similar to the Pro 3 synth, these two synths should not be compared.   The Take 5 is less of a Pro family member, and more of a Prophet family member.   Pro 3 has a much deeper sound engine, but in mono/para territory.  Pro 3 has a third wavetable oscillator, three filters, four envelopes, four LFOs, a huge 32-slot mod matrix, and the incredible 64 step poly and modulation sequencer with 16 tracks.  The Pro 3 is really a flagship mono/para synth - the most versatile analog mono synth ever created.   The Take 5 is more of a basic portable poly synth, built around the Prophet 5 sound palette.  
  

Take 5 vs Prophet 5r4:   
With 5 voices, VCOs, the SSI2140 Prophet 5r4 filter, and vintage knob, it appears this synth will be able to sound very similar to the Prophet 5r4.   The Prophet 5r4 does have a Per-Key voice allocation option, like the vintage Prophet 5s, and at this time the Take 5 only offers Round Robin voice allocation.  It is possible that Per Key allocation could be added to Take 5 via firmware update.  This is one of the character contributors to the vintage P5 sound.  Also, the VCOs on the Take 5 are continously variable waveshapes from Sine, Saw, Square/Pulse, whereas the Prophet 5r4 features button switchable shapes that can be mixed.   Most of the same oscillator territory can be achieved, but each synth can do some oscillator generation that the other cannot.   The Take 5 uses the SSI2130 VCO oscillators, and offers Sine wave out, which will be a good option for Frequency Modulation (FM).   The P5r4 has a Triangle, which is not directly selectable from Take 5 Osc Shapes, though may be available as part of the continuous variable waveshape knob.    The Prophet 5r4 offers 200 factory and 200 user programs, whereas the Take 5 offers only 128 of each.

$3600 for Prophet 5r4  vs  $1299 for Take 5

 

Take 5 vs Prophet 6:
The Prophet 6, of course, is another modern Prophet type of synthesizer.   On paper, the Take 5 offers one less voice, but has a deeper sound engine, and more capabilities.   With Take 5, you have an extra LFO (one Global and one Polyphonic LFO), you've got more envelope control, and a 16-slot mod matrix -- this indicates a significant amount more sound design capability than the Prophet 6.   The Prophet 6 does have polyphonic high pass filter, which Take 5 doesn't.   Both have continuously variable VCO waveshaping, however the Take 5 has a Sine vs the Prophet 6 Triangle, so its a slightly different flavor.  The P6 gives you access to 500 factory and 500 user patches, whereas the Take 5 offers only 128 of each.

$2900 for Prophet 6   vs   $1299 for Take 5

 

Take 5 vs Prophet Rev 2
The Rev2 is a DCO based synth, with a very deep sound engine.   It is bitimbral, meaning you can split or stack two sounds together, which opens up lots of unique sound design possibilities and stereophonic/binaural sounds as well.   The Rev2 has a 2-pole filter option as well, one more envelope and two more LFOs, which allows for deeper modulation.   The voice count on the Rev 2 (8voices or 16voices) is also significantly higher than the 5 voices on Take 5.  The high voice count is great for stacks, or for more cinematic, evolving pad or string type of sounds with long release times.   The Rev2 also has a more versatile 61-key, 5 octave keybed.  The Take 5 does have a nicer 4-Pole filter sound, VCOs with independent mix levels and two types of noise (both pink and white).   The Take 5 also has analog Frequency Modulation for many interesting sound designs and bell type tones.   Also the Take 5 has the built in Vintage Knob for per-voice variance.  (on the Rev 2, you can manually model this type of per-voice-variance, but its more work... see articles on Voice Component Modeling for more info)  The Rev2 has 1024 factory and user patch slots, whereas the Take 5 only has 256 total.  

$1649 or $2149 for Prophet Rev 2    vs $1299 for Take 5

 

Biggest Questions from the Leaked Take 5 Specs:

 

1. What P5r4 Filter implementation is it?     SSI2140  (Inspired by Prophet 5 r1/2/4)

2. Why only 128 User Patch memory?   Hopefully this isn't a hard limit, as memory is so cheap, and its easy to allow more storage.   128 patch limit seems very low.   Unknown whether this is a hard constraint in hardware/memory, or if this might be altered in firmware.

3. What are the Mod Matrix sources/destinations, and mod matrix slot size? This really will open up a huge amount of sound design territory, when compared with P5r4 or P6.    Manual is available now - lots of great sources and destinations, with a healthy 16 mod slots.    List of Mod Sources and Destinations.

4. Will both round robin and per-key voice allocation be offered as options. If per-key is offered (like on P5r4), It will allow this synth to sound very much like vintage prophets and r4.   Currently, only Round Robin on Take 5

5. When will the 61-key version be announced?   For the love of god, please make it a mantra to have 44-key minimum for monosynths, and 61-key for poly synths.  Some will be fine with this 44-key version, but much of the synth crowd, who play bass with left hand and melody/harmony with right will not be happy with a poly synth with only 44 keys.     The Take 5 does offer a Split Octave -1/-2 switch, and you can set the split point per patch, so this is an interesting concession that will make the most of 44 keys.

 

Sequential Take 5 Specifications:

Oscillators:
Two analog VCOs per voice
Continuously variable wave shape (sine, sawtooth, variable-width pulse) per oscillator
Hard sync: oscillator 1 syncs to oscillator 2
Square wave sub-octave generator (oscillator 1) per voice
Keyboard tracking on/off for each oscillator
Front-panel FM (frequency modulation)

Mixer:
Oscillator 1 amount
Oscillator 1 sub amount
Oscillator 2 amount
White noise amount

Low Pass Filter:
Four-pole, resonant, analog low-pass filter per voice, based on Prophet 5 Rev 4 design  (unclear whether its the Curtis or SSM)
Filter can be driven into self-oscillation with resonance
Bi-polar filter envelope amount

Envelopes:
Two 5-stage envelope generators (ADSR + delay) with variable routing (filter, amplifier, gate)
Velocity modulation of each envelope amount
Envelopes freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations

LFOs:
Five wave shapes: triangle, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, square, and random (sample and hold)
Clock sync (internal or external MIDI clock)
Freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations

Effects:
One multi-effect with stereo delay, BBD Delay, tape delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, ring mod, vintage rotating speaker, distortion, high-pass filter
Dedicated reverb with damping, pre-delay, decay and tone
Dedicated Overdrive effect

Vintage Knob:
Recreates the characteristics of vintage synthesizers by introducing micro-fluctuations in oscillators, filter, and envelopes per voice.

Arpeggiator:
Up, down, up+down, random, assign modes
Syncs to MIDI clock
Re-latching arpeggiation

Polyphonic Note Sequencer:
Polyphonic step sequencer with up to 64 steps with ties and rests

Keybed and Performance Controls:
Full-sized, semi-weighted, 3.5-octave premium Fatar keyboard with velocity and aftertouch (44-keys)
Spring-loaded pitch wheel with selectable range per program with independently adjustable upper and lower pitch wheel range transpose controls
Low-split mode creates two independent performance zones with different octave ranges
Hold switch latches held notes on
Polyphonic glide (portamento)
Unison (monophonic) mode with configurable voice count, from one to all five voices, and key modes
Factory switch: when off, the front panel is live; what you see is what you hear
Channel (mono) aftertouch with bi-polar amount
Aftertouch freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations

Patch Memory
128 user and 128 factory  (Strangely low, perhaps this will be expanded?)

Inputs and Outputs:
1 MIDI In, 1 MIDI Out, and 1 MIDI Thru port
USB port for bidirectional MIDI communication
1 Sustain/footswitch input
1 Expression pedal input
Main stereo output (2 x 1/4″ phone jack)
Headphone out (stereo 1/4″ phone jack)

Power:
IEC AC power inlet for internal power supply
Operates worldwide on voltages between 100 and 240 volts at 50 to 60 Hz; 14 watts maximum power consumption

Physical Specs / Size:
25.0″ Length
12.75″ Width
4.4″ Height
63.5 cm x 32.4 cm x 11.2 cm)

Weight: 17 lbs (7.7 kg)