Teased earlier this week, Dave Smith has unveiled his new 'hybrid' synth, the Pro 2. He describes it as his "most powerful monosynth ever," though the instrument is also paraphonic, meaning that you can actually play up to four voices simultaneously.
"We really raised the bar with this one," says Smith. "As synth geeks, we asked ourselves what our dream monosynth would be. Then we built it."
The Pro 2 has ergonomic similarities with Smith's Prophet 12, but carves its own path thanks to the inclusion of a new dual-analogue filter architecture, a step sequencer, superwaves, a digital bucket brigade delay and more.
The four digital oscillators - which can produce both "classic and complex waveshapes" - sit alongside a sub oscillator, while the Character controls promise to add high and low frequency boost, bit and sample rate reduction and tape saturation emulation.
Beyond the Pro-One
The first of the new filters is a 4-pole low-pass design that's inspired by the Prophet 5's filter, while the second is state-variable and leans on the design of the Oberheim SEM. The step sequencer, meanwhile, can run to up to 32 steps and offers 16 tracks.
Other features include control voltage inputs and outputs and a dedicated gate output, delays, envelopes, LFOs, an arpeggiator and a slew of modulation options.
Commenting on the launch of the Pro 2, Dave Smith says: "Right now there's a trend of reissuing classic synths from the past. People have been asking for a reissue of the old Sequential Pro-One for quite a while. But as a synth designer, I'm happiest creating new instruments - synths that with every iteration put more power and better sounds into the hands of musicians. The Pro 2 is light years beyond the Pro-One in every way. It's the most powerful monosynth I've ever made. You've got to keep moving forward."
You can find out more about the Pro 2 on the Dave Smith Instruments website. Check out the video above for an introduction. Pricing will be confirmed when the synth is released in July.
