BACKGROUND
In the early 80s the FM synthesis came and made more realistic sounds than the earlier analog synths. Yamaha DX7 dominated the market. But soon, in the mid 80s a new kind of super synth appeared - the Digital Sampler. These machines recorded the sound source digitally and used that for oscillators. And in the mid 80s these samplers was most common:
| Sampler | Released | Info | Price |
| Ensonic - Mirage | 1985 | 8 bit | $2000 |
| Emu - Emulator II | 1984 | 8 bit | $6000 |
| Akai - S612 | 1985 | 12 bit | $ (not multisampling) |
| Akai - S900 | 1986 | 12 bit | $ |
| Kurzweil - K250 | 1984 | 16 bit | $15000 |
| Fairlight - Series IIx | 1984 | 8 bit | $25000 and more |
| Fairlight - Series III | 1985 | 16 bit | $150000 for complete system |
| New England Digital - Synclavier | 1979-present | 16 bit | $400000 for complete system |
1985 Sequential Circuits released their first sampler - Prophet 2000:
| SCI Prophet 2000 | 1985 | 12 bit | $2500 |
Compared to the other samplers on the market this was attractive: Good sound quality for less money. At that time Emulator II was the most popular sampler. But Prophet 2000 had better sound quality (12 bit compared to 8 bit) and better memory storage (3 1/2" floppy drive compared to the older 5 1/4"). In the mid 80s one single 720 Kb diskette coasted $8. So Prophet 2000 was a good and modern sampler when it came.
Soon a 19" rack version of Prophet 2000 was released - Prophet 2002. 1986 SCI released a desktop workstation called Studio 440. And finally 1987 the last sampler from the company was released - Prophet 3000, a 16 bit 19" rack sampler.
But times changes. Today the new software samplers are many times more powerful than the most exclusive and powerful sampler system at the mid 80s. Prophet 2000 is not so powerful anymore, at least not as "hi quality sampler". But it still has a value: It is equipped with powerful 4 pole (24dB/octave) analog filters (VCF) and analog VCA. That gives the sound warmth that modern samplers often be in lack of. Prophet 2000 is a wonderful analog synthesizer when waveform are sampled and will be tweaked. It is underestimated and can sound so great. It can also sound great for lofi sounds when sampling on lower resolution.
Prophet 2000 and 2002
DESCRIPION
Prophet 2000 is a digital mono sampler with a 5 octave 61 keys velocity sensitivity keyboard (not aftertouch). It has 8 voices, 8 analog VCF and 8 analog VCA - one for each voice.The first version of Prophet 2000 had 256 kb RAM. Later models had 512 kb RAM. An option kit that gave it 1 Mb RAM could be purchased - and still is available from Wine Country. An option with 8 outputs could also be purchased, and even that is availeble from same company. A built in floppy drive store the samples. The first models had a 420 kb single sided floppy drive and the later had a 720 kb double sided floppy drive (DD). There are 16 presets of simple ROM programs that can be loaded from a ROM chip. Prophet 2000 has also an programmable arpeggiator
Prophet 2000 sample sounds in mono in 12 bit in 15, 31 or 41 Khz. The samples can be stored on 16 sample memories. The memory for the samples on a 512 kb Prophet 2000 is mapped to two memory blocks of 256 kb. The samples can be build to presets containing one ore more samples . Prophet 2000 can hold 12 presets. Each preset can play 8 voices or stack the voices to 2, 4 or 8 voices per key.
The arpeggiator can be programmed different for each preset. The Prophet 2000 can store up to 12 presets, containing up to 16 samples per disk. The sustain pedal (Auxiliary Release) need to have reversed polarity. Many foot pedals today has switch for the polarity.The benefit with Prophet 2000 today is the analog processing of the digital sampled sounds. The analog VCF and the analog VCA makes the sound warm. The Velocity Sample Start Point is also a good tool on Prophet 2000
Prophet 2000
On the rear:
| Output: | Right/Mono Left/Phones The sampler is mono but can be mapped to different outputs |
| Input: | Input Level Mic/Line switch Sample Input Sample Input adjust |
| MIDI | In Out Out/Thru Out/Thru Selector Switch |
| Foot Switches | Alternate Release Aux |
Prophet 2000 - Rear
BROCHURES
- Prophet 2000 Original brochure, page 1
- Prophet 2000 Original brochure, page 2
- Prophet 2000 Brochure (Japanese)
720 KB & 1,44 MB DISKETTES
Prophet 2000 reads/writes 720 Kb DD diskettes. It can be problems to read 1,44 Mb HD diskettes, at least if the Floppy Disk is replaced to a 1,44 Mb disk. And 720 Kb DD diskettes can be very hard to get now days. A solution is to use regular 1,44 Mb HD diskettes: Place a small piece of sticky tape (not scotch) over the square hole opposite the protection shutter. Now the Prophet 2000 think that it's a 720 Kb DD diskette. A good things with loading diskettes on Prophet 2000 is that they can be read even if there are errors at the diskette. An "Er" message appear - hit "Execute" and it will continue reading.
Prophet 2000 diskettes can't be read on PC or Mac. The only way to get it to a computer is to send sysex messages (Sample Dump via MIDI).
REPLACEMENT FLOPPY DRIVES
A common problem with old storage is broken floppy drives. And when we got our Prophet 2000 (after bought it 1985, sold it and later got the very same machine again) the floppy drive 
was broken. New original floppy drives can not be purchased anymore. But it can replaced.
A floppy drive has a mode called DS (Drive Select). Normally it's on DS1. For working with Prophet 2000 it must be set on DS0. That can be made by strapping or soldering depending of model of floppy drive. We found the floppy drive (Epson SMD-400) that we put in to our Prophet 2000 in an old Philips computer found in a room with trashed electronics. The only thing we had to do was strap from DS1 to DS0 and to smooth off the floppy drive so it fit the Prophet 2000. Then it worked perfectly. Following models of Floppy Drives has been used in Prophet 2000 successfully, reported by other Prophet 2000 owners:
- Canon MD-350
- Epson SMD-400 (jumpers across DC, MC and C0)
- Sony 63W Sony MP-F520-1 (jumper needs to be in inner position)
- Sony MP-F53W-00D
- Sony MT-2 1-623-457-14 Teac FD-235HF
- Toshiba FDD4216G0K
(Credits to FTG for the list)
Another trick is to twist the cable instead and convert it from a regular DS1 to DS0 cable. If you're not sure how to make it, test first on a 34 conductor ribbon cable with 34 pin IDC sockets. To make the cable you need to separate conductors 10, 11 and 12 from the rest for the ribbon cable. The red is conductor 1. Twist the conductors so that conductor 10 and 12 are swapped and install the socket. This makes a floppy drive to operate in DS0 mode without soldering the floppy drive, or for checking different floppy drives.
Converted cable from DS1 to DS0
PROPHET 2000 MANUAL & SERVICE DOCUMENTS
- Alchemy Prophet 2000 instructions: Sample Dump
- Owners Manual - Chapter 13: Operation Summary
- Get your Prophet 2000 manuals from The Vintage Shop
REVIEWS
Prophet 2000/2002 article published in Sound On Sound April 1996 (transcribed by Steve Adam).
Prophet2000 is underestimated. It has very powerful VCF and VCA
EDIT PROGRAMS
- Propellerheads Recycle supports MIDI sysex dump for Prophet 2000/2002
- Sound Designer for Prophet 2000 (Mac - Classic mode )
Prophet 2000 Panel
LINKS