I love that you point out the limits with all the units you review, Get those surprises out of the way.

Thanks nick, I been waiting for the Take 5 Desktop.

Thanks for this amazing demo. Learned a lot. Bought my Take5 as a first time synth player. Had to return it to Guitar Center due to a pitch wheel prob. Hoping the next unit won’t have that same prob. The synth is still pretty new, so the bugs have to be tweaked. That said, this is an amazing synth to my ears. I was in between a Moog Matriarch and the Take5. Huge diffs but I felt the Take5 was a great intro to the synth world. Again, thanks for the very in depth demo. Learned a lot!

I'd love to get one, they do sound good for sure!

So been using this in the studio for about 6 weeks now. Fantastic instrument . Nuff said .

A fine review as always and thank you.

Thanks Nick, it’s a very, very good thing 😁 finally feels sequential are actually listening to what the market wants. Ok I don’t like the short keybed ( or the silly name) and it has a few limitations BUT seems great compromise & relatively small penalty to get your hands on this fantastic sounding, well specified synth : most importantly at an affordable price (for a change) . Well done to Sequential, they deserve to sell a mountain load of them!

I owned a Prophet 600, and this release kinda feels like the modern version of it. I loved my 600, it’s what made me personally love the Sequential sound.

I absolutely love mine!

If you want to FM the filter from OSC2 without hearing OSC2, you need to send it to the mod matrix via the FM1->2 button on the panel, then just keep the level down on the panel and set your modulation up with the matrix. IIRC, I haven't played with it in a few months. I know you can definitely do it, and the FM button on the panel changes the way OSC2 can be used as a mod source. Edit: Ok, I double checked, if you have the FM button lit it will remove VCO2 as an audio source and you can use it in the mod matrix however you like, and the level knob just acts as a shortcut to doing OSC2->OSC1 FM. If the FM button is not lit, then the level of OSC2 attenuates how much modulation is available in the matrix from OSC2 but it will also be audible. If the FM button is lit, then OSC2 is sent to the mod matrix with no attenuation and isn't audible. It's confusing.

Great review

Been waiting for this! Woo

Bought this Synth the other day and couldn't be happier with it. I have only had Monophonic synths in the past(Minibrute/Grandmother/MS-20) and now I have a Odyssey and this synth blows all of those away(Grandmother Is amazing though) this Synth does everything I could ever want and I've barely scratched the surface with it.

What a great synth. Love it. GAS hasn't been this strong for a good while. Thanks to Dave Smith for bringing this with him ❤

Nice unit, I was actually torn between the take 5 vs the mopho x4, i ended up settling with the mopho x4 since I enjoyed the sounds from your last mopho review

Loooove this synth

Nice one, Nick. One on these T5 found its way in to my possession just before new year and I've been playing with it everyday since. I did a live stream ( on my profile 4am Space Guitar) with a modified a preset. I always learn something new from you. I had no idea that holding the Unions\Glide buttons opens the menu. :) I just love it. It inspires new ideas every time I touch it. I'm not a keyboard player, but the T5 has really inspired me to learn more. BTW I found a Gator hardcase : GTSA-KEY49 that appears to fit perfectly.

I love this synth and find it a super special unit, separated from the rest of the pack. It has to be played and worked with to realize that. I'll never quite understand the gripes with keybed length, lol. (Forest for the trees). Hope you like some of my factory presets Nick, "Echo Flex" and " is one of them". Great and detailed review on a great synth.

I love watching Nick explaining synths to me.

In the Debug menu you can overwrite the factory patches bank with the user patches bank.

Can the split/drop-octave setting be saved with the patch? Seems this would be desirable in a performance environment.

I noticed on some earlier reviews people thought it weird that the keyboard started on F. I guess they haven’t seen a Minimoog Model D before.

very cool As an aside; i hope they add a wooden side extra addon

49 take 5 = 44 keys 👌

Great meat and potatoes poly! The market is so competitive right now, but if this came out even 5 years ago, it would be a show stopper. I'm excited to see what comes from their collaboration with Novation. Hopefully we see some new groundbreaking synth like Sequential has done in the past; the last time they took a chance and pushed the envelope was the Prophet 12 IMHO.

Sounds good

hello, I have a problem with the Take 5 that I received yesterday. the stereo delays do not work. For example, the first delay, simply called delay, is stereo. But if I plug my headphones into take 5 or if I listen to my speakers, there is no stereo. Do you have any advice for me? I said that the synth is set to stereo and not mono in the global menu.

I bought this synth and have a used prophet 8 , it’s a very fun synth I don’t know how it compares to an actual prophet 5 but has some great sounds for Depeche Mode / new wave sound and works nice in a mix with other synths midi together

I love the fact that ye give the price.

It is possible to have PWM that tracks the keyboard if you assign LFO 2 > Osc 1 Shape then Note Num > LFO 2 Rate.

knew about most of the secuentisls and dave smithes but went in to the music store today to buy a controller and a drum machine and the staff was occupied so i saw this one started to fiddle about and fell in love 😢

Isn't it filtered over the high frequencies? I miss the spectrum graph so hard on this review!

I bought an Argon 8 for the compactness, especially with the keyboard. But this is a step up with extra keys, and has a different (probably nicer) sound. They seem complementary.

13:45 yeah I like that kind of talking filter vibe too

21:19 "Let's listen to how snappy than can be. (*SNAP, SNAP, SNAP*) Pretty snappy!"

Thanks for another great review, Nick. Seems a bit strange that one can't overwrite the factory presets, if I understood correctly. I bet it's a fantastic synthesizer though, and I'd certainly be happy to get my hands on one myself. Curious that VCO 2 can only modulate the filter when it is up in the mixer. I wonder if Sequential can somehow change that in firmware

If they made an SE model like the Pro 3, I might just have one now. But the Pro 3 won me over for several reasons. Choosing an synth for mostly bass and lead sounds, so polyphony wasn't as important. But having the 3 VCOs (2 analog and one digital with wavetable), three choices for filter, four envelopes, etc. It just gave me a lot more room for creativity. But if someone is looking for a tight polyphonic, I can easily recommend the Take 5.

Like the big chunky knobs going on, the price ain't all that bad... But, y'know I don't need it or any other gear 😀

Prince would have rocked out on this thing.

Good stuff, Nick, but just saying - it is an analog synth. If everything in the audio path is analog, it's analog. Plenty of analog synths, including some vintage ones, use things like digital LFOs and envelopes (which is fine, and the former actually better, imo). But I get you just wanted to be clear. It's cool they were able to put out a good VCO poly at that price

Much more timbral possibilities and interesting sounds out of my Pro3 even with its 1 voice limitation (3 voice Paraphonic). Wish Dave had released a 5 voice version of the Pro3 but I guess that would be too pricey.

that low split is really interesting

If you really want to hear what this synth is capable of Mike Pensini does a really good demo.

My brother's had a Take5 for a few weeks, swears by it - says he loves the way it cuts through his modular mix. I'm going to grab the Pro3 myself, being from the Vince Clarke school on these things (I enjoy fubbing chords on monos with multiple tracks and different voices). I'll sacrifice the polyphony for the sheer fun of the Pro3's sound-sculpting, much more advanced sequencer and mod matrix. I hated the knob design on this Sequential range, but they've grown on me. Even that orange filter ring.

This feels like the modern version of the Multitrak (while not being like it at all....) in that it is designed to be a bit lower in price with a unique blend of useful features.

R.I.P #DaveSmith

A beginners question.... Who do you get the sound out of the synth from an amp, monitors ??........ which ones?.... thank you.

Can you imagine if they had done a six voice version of the Pro 3 instead (obviously without paraphony) with a 5 octave keyboard.

Take 5 owner here. It's a shame because I think some of the limitations (shorter keyboard, memory) are the result of Sequential having to compete with themselves. Still a wonderful synth though.

Call me crazy, but I like it's sound better than the Alesis Andromeda.

Can you play chords in the sequencer? Or is that only single note steps?

This seems pretty cool ...... although I found the name offputting ............. I think some fanciful name like Vortex 5 or even ask Rick Wakeman to come up with a name again would have been better ............... and ............ RIP Dave ............... you were/are a Legend

Is this recorded straight in or are we hearing the sound with room noise?

This is an intuitive and nice-sounding synth. It's just a bit of a shame that it had so many features cut compared to other Sequential synths, to price it as their version of an "entry-level" synth. In particular, the small patch storage hurts. But it sounds really good, it's dead simple to use, and the limitations are mostly just inconveniences.

seriously the best synth there is. best sound, most flexibility of any synth of this caliber of sound. just unbelievably versatile and rich, warm, incredibly syrupy

small company, beautifully made, gorgeous sound, and cheaper than an OP-1. Which would you really use more when making a song?

I am fascinated with the idea that Dave Smith and the Sequential staff did much to reduce the cost of producing Take 5 versus the Prophet 5/10, but they added one thing to the architecture of this model. The classic Prophet models don’t have the mod matrix (that didn’t first materialize in this product line until the P 12 if I’m not mistaken). Whatever is missing from the signal chain of this little beast is more than likely made up for with that matrix. Knowing that his model’s already heavily economizer, I otherwise think it would be something extra special if the sequential staff created Take 5R. As great as it would be having in my own collection another synthesizer with an aftertouch -sensitive keyboard (I currently own 4), I subjectively think a module edition would definitely earn back the investment in designing and building it. Did Dave actually borrow the usage of the mod matrix from Tom Oberheim?

Just an observation but it seems that most hit records seem to use the more beefier synthisizers such as the CS-80's, the Jupiters, the Prophet 5/10;s and Oberheim OB 8,X and Xa aelnd the model d. This and the the other lower end synthes seem sought of week sounding, Kinda ltoy like. The limitations don't help either.

Sounds thin/bright, for a VCO/VCF synth, to me … Digital LFO, ENVELOPES, VCA/Amps(?), so the entire back-end (after the filter) is digital, as I understand it? Not sure if that alone explains it, or it’s the VCO/VCF chips used in this particular model, as well. I mean, they were working to a price point, and obviously don’t want to cannibalise their higher-end synths sales.

No looping envelopes? No looping envelopes?

I think it sounds good it’s obviously aim for musicians that just want that larger than life synth solo or big bass .most people will use it in unison as so

take that

nick sounds like hes in a bad mood doing this review, he hasn't done enough research obviously, he is like rushing through it, he gets a lot of things wrong, he barely mentions the advantages this synth has over literally any other synth anywhere near this price range. it has Prophet 6 vcos, Prophet 5 Rev4 Filter, it has actual linear fm in the mod matrix which can be added to oscillator sync (that means analogue fm hard sync'ed to osc1 which you can then use to fine pitch control to warp the shape of osc2 as it modulates 1), a much more versatile mod matrix than any other synth under $2000 which includes sources and destinations not found anywhere else including voice spread, dc, and the fm enabled osc2, it's effects are much better than the rev2 (not sure about the p6 effects), it's drive sounds amazing, and the filter drive is great for cranking resonance without the screeching feedback you typically get. you can do super clean but forceful crystalline fm tones, piano sounds, ultra modern james blake style lush digital sounding brass, crazy powerful gritty bass with filter fm on the cutoff, hazy warbly reel to reel tape sounding fluttery chords, timbres you cannot get anywhere else. if you're like me and want the mind blowing core vco sound with the flexibility to design and sculpt any sound you can imagine with all of the extra processing options like an actually usable flanger, rotary, tape delay, voice spread mod on panning mod destination. master saturation, and morphing fm + osc hard sync, you will not find a better synth. its such a shame that this synth has been this has been overlooked because of people skimming over the basic specs on paper. you will honestly not find a better sounding synth or more versatile analog synth outside of the Take-5 if you like the rev2, try this one. it is so much better and you will be able to hear the difference with a single saw wave plus some filter cutoff. and that's before you get into the fm (not just an "audio mod" knob normalled to the filter cutoff like on the rev2), the morphing sine to pulse waves, and the effects that make the rev2's effects sound like something you'd find on a Zoom knockoff of a Digitech multi-fx pedal

Looks like it’s been made for gigging musicians. A simple synth with a nice big sound in a compact size with a decent amount full size keys… I’m liking the look of it honestly

Bit controversial here possibly, but having sold my Prophet 5 Rev 3 which I was never totally in love with, a while back ... I actually prefer this modern offering over over the icon. If you like the sound of this, don't feel you're being short-changed on the sound *IMHO* ... if you can deal with the keyboard range and can do with less than the new P10 polyphony. Personally I'd buy this ... but that's just me - as someone who didn't need that exact sound. This is a great sounding synth with some limitations which I don't think devalue its core sound.

Really i had a lot of analogs (the best known) and i don t know what to think of this take 5....Awesome on bass sounds, very fat, fast enveloppes. But for others sounds....i feel it sounds a bit "nasal" in a lot of sounds, so it s a bit agressive i feel , is it about the filter ? I don t really like how it acts. Perhaps would better go for ob6 in this days..

i wouldve probably got one if the price stayed the same as launch. but it shot up a few hundred at the wrong time so meh. maybe one day i'll get one used.

The "overdrive" is post-effects?

Does the lower octave shift also shift MIDI?

Tempted to trade in my Rev2 16 for this.... Anyone feeling the same?

Strange I can get similar sounds from the blowfield

It's a bit chunky but I like it, looks substantial, does it make sounds I have never heard before, it doesn't seem so, I have a Navation peak and I dont want a whole lot of sythersizors, I think there has to be somthing super stand out. It looks great and is a quality item.

There is one thing that bothers me. It is said "based" on a prophet 5 filter, so it's NOT a prophet 5 filter correct? The Pro 3 is "based" on a prophet 6 filter, so it's NOT a prophet 6 filter is it? See where i'm going? Can someone please clarify this?

I got this synth and am evaluating it... Can anyone confirm the sound of this synth is classic 'sequential' sound, i.e. is it similar to other sequential synths as opposed to other brands? I find the higher frequency get quite muddy and noisy quickly on most patches with filter open. Even when Osc 1 and 2 are in sync. Comparing it to my Monologue XD. Love the pads sounds and mod matrix so far though. Wish they has more pads like patch Orchetype in the factory defaults.

Does it have USB or midi?

Grey and orange is a weird color scheme, but my goodness that is a beautiful synth.

bags of peanut dust and a can of books

I didn’t quite understand this synth. It’s trying to be a mini poly synth but marketed as a bass synth.

Nick fails miserably by not mention Take 5 dont have VCA's instead the analog signal is sampled and the result is a hefty bandwith limitation and a17,5khz roll off, so no analog blizzy high end in the Take 5.

Dirty! Very dirty synth! My ears popped up when you said classic carpenter. Would have liked to hear the dirty synth sound In arpegggiator mode. Does Aannyone know a shop in London where this would be on display for a fiddle? Would love to have a go for an hour or 2.

Limited amounts of money, limited space, how does one choose a single proper poly synth.

The REV-2 IS fully analogue. It's far more analogue than the take 5. It's just got dcos (still analogue) instead of vcos. The Novation/Sequential budget options are Peak: digital oscs into analogue synth Rev-2: dco based fully analogue synth Take 5 (vco,vcf into dsp synth)

It's fine, I suppose 🤷‍♂️ If we're naming it after classic jazz tunes.. it's more "So what?"

he's not loving it.....

sounds good but not a grand good to me

Hmm 🤔 fills the not quite as good as a Rev 2 void - you got to hand it to that man he sure knows how repackage 1 idea 💡 -

This is a great entry level poly synth. However im not hearing anything unique or special out of it.

Terrible name for a synth. Sounds like a chocolate biscuit.

Sounds decent for pads, but for $1500? Nah. Also, the name and the name's font/color is really hurting it.

Ok so now I know everything this synth CAN'T do. Heaven forbid you focus on what it CAN do, every feature you went over was like "well it's a shame it can't do ____" or "well unfortunately this can only do ____". Ffs we get it, it doesn't do everything every synthesizer ever made can....but what CAN IT DO?!

VCO = Virtually Control Oscillator

I must be tripping, this thing sounds kinda shit. I'm shocked there's any analog components in there at all based on the sound.

This one is a letdown from the rest of the sequential bunch

I gave you a dislike because i could not skip the ads

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