Sequential contacted me | And they're NOT happy

[@Chris5685]

So they abandoned a piece of hardware, and now have a hissy fit when you open it up and make a video about how it has cheapass internals?

[@JimAlfredson]

So an easily replaceable battery dies and Espen throws a hissy fit and calls the unit a "$4000 brick" to get clicks?

[@jimmer3034]

@@JimAlfredson Kinda sounds like he didn't do his due diligence before purchasing?!

[@mattmilford]

"Delay development of new synths" What utter BS. Sequential's management should have plans/people in place to support products that were only discontinued 8 months ago.

[@FormulaXFD]

This is actually a tell when you think about it: It means they have no sustaining engineering at Sequential, only development, which means the support model for anything "in production" is nonexistent.

[@stevepreskitt283]

I would also have thought they'd have incorporated a common, readily available OTS power supply across their entire range to reduce inventory costs. This is not rocket science.

[@fortheloveofnoise]

Sequential is not the same without Dave.

[@BrianRRenfro]

*engineer takes 10 minutes out of his day to google power supplies* Sequential 3 years from now: "We are sorry that our new synth is delayed again but we have never recovered from time lost in our engineering department with the great Espengate Scandal of 2024. Blame him, not us!"

[@paulk84]

😂

[@static-audio]

Standard corporate boll0cks that goes around nowadays. Taken time out from development ... really like 5 minutes. Was sequential taken over by one of the big brands as this attitude suggests it?

[@EspenKraft]

Sequential is owned by Focusrite now.

[@chrismathewsjr]

if the engineering is anything like my job there are 6 program managers who need to do a bunch of paperwork and commit to a plan and bicker before i can even begin researching or designing a PSU for a system, so yeah, there's probably a bunch of puffy vested LL bean PMs that are PMing each other

[@tommymandel]

@@EspenKraft oh wow, didn't know that. Thanks for this intriguing follow-up, Espen! Glad everything is working. Maybe I should clone my SSD too - I'll look for the link to such a video.

[@NickRobalik]

When a company reaches out only after you've called them out publicly on their shenanigans, that means you're generally correct and they're doing damage control. I can't believe there was a cheap sub-$100 ASRock motherboard in there...

[@BananasananaB]

It makes me wonder what is in other modern keyboards these days. I know Korg is using Raspberry PI CM3 (which is a shrunken PI 3).

[@torarinvik4920]

I agree, just like a tantrum of a thief being caught shoplifting.

[@clarenceoveur9497]

This isn't anything new, KORG has been doing it for over 20 years, starting with the Oasys. So, why all the outrage now? Also, keep in mind that Espen initially recommended the wrong PSU, which could have potentially fried a very expensive unit. Be thankful that Sequential reached out and pointed him toward the correct replacement.

[@oblitafier]

What shenanigans are you referring to? Why do you care what motherboard in the machine? Keyboards have had low budget computer parts in them since patch storage was invented.

[@gladlawson61]

Guys. .... Mercedes used to tell customers you needed German oil.

[@_mickmccarthy]

Ugh, after watching this sub-5 minute video, I'm afraid to announce that my next EP is now going to be delayed by a few months, and you can all thank Espen for this. Honestly though, what a silly response. Maybe if they didn't leave such an information vacuum, others wouldn't feel the need to try to fill it for the sake of the community.

[@slickepinne]

Don't know who you are anyways but good luck with that EP. Will most likely never hear it.

[@app_game_system]

When your product sounds like "Profit X", it makes sense.

[@claudep.1926]

Well, it's a collaboration with 8Dio, so...

[@Average-AL]

@@claudep.1926 Yes, it is not a step far from ProShit X.

[@Dolle_Man]

mannn I love this! This only makes Espen stronger

[@smokey5100]

Man... R.I.P. Dave Smith 🙏🏼🎹

[@6581punk]

You can kinda tell he's gone.

[@meneerjansen00]

I'll bet you a million dollars that Dave Smith knew the ins and out of every piece of gear he ever made! By heart. Without having to "sacrifice development time to let an engineer take their own synth apart to see how their power supply is connected". Doctor, yes DOCTOR, Robert (Bob) Moog also knew every part of his synths. Rick Wakeman once told that Bob Moog was at a Yes concert and that his Minimoog didn't work properly. Before he knew it doctor Moog took it apart and was busy the whole evening trying to determine wat the problem was. Now that an enthusiastic professional. You don't ask somebody in your company to determine how the power supply works: the engineering department should KNOW this.

[@ricardlupus]

I'm actually a bit impressed that Sequential took the time to answer, I can't imagine they try to address all bits of incorrect information floating about the internet so they must feel that Espen's channel carries some weight.

[@jeffsymons7084]

And they showed Espen respect by reaching out to him privately, giving him all the power to handle the situation in the best way possible and he still took the low road by making another rage-bait video and trying to make sequential look bad.

[@FM-kl7oc]

Telling you that they lost development time on this is the kind of manipulation children under the age of 6 would fall for and feel bad about. This attempt at trying to make you feel like a bad 6 year old makes Sequential even look worse in my opinion.

[@JM_2019]

Maybe dealing with 6 year olds is what they thought, when they saw the recomendation for the wrong power supply?

[@AdAsteris]

It's vulnerable narcissism

[@annother3350]

@@JM_2019 They didnt have to act like a bitch. Thats a big turn off for me.

[@Average-AL]

Thank you Espen for this honesty. When I saw the 8Dio logo on the Prophet X I stayed away. 8Dio have a long reputation of mishandling customers so it came as no surprise that Sequential would abandon this product as well and give you a hard time for not liking it. Seems like it was a partnership of two bullies in this project. Sad really cause there is definitely a market for a flexible samplebased synth.

[@ChrisAdragna]

I have a Prophet X, and I'd like to point out some of the traits I have noticed. First of all, when I received it, I noticed the box that contains it is perfect. It is high quality, and it was taped together with proper, heavy-duty packing tape, as well as containing perfect pieces of foam to protect the instrument inside the box. In comparison, in recent years I bought a Yamaha Montage M8X and it took two units to receive one undamaged. Its box is awful, complete garbage. I recently moved across the country and my other synths made the trip inside their original boxes, but the Yamaha needed a replacement container (Gator case -- useful to me for more than the move). My other synths: Poly Brute (crummy box, but good enough), Pro 3 (great box, just like the PX), and Elektron gear (all good enough). Who cares about boxes? People who care about details. (Sequential. Dave Smith.) Other details... the inside of the Prophet X is immaculate. It is painted very nicely inside, and there are no sharp edges or loose/excess wiring. Again, it is a detail that is not hugely important, but people who make take care of such details also make good decisions that contribute to an overall excellent instrument. The Sequential manuals are very useful and easy to read. Again, this contributes to an overall excellent experience with the instrument. Here's yet aonther detail, one that paints the same picture... I ordered a Sequential teeshirt once in the last 18-ish months. There was something wrong with the credit card processing and they shipped me the tee-shirt and sent me an invoice (which I paid). The tee-shirt was in my hands before they received payment. That is rare, these days. Lastly, this whole thing on the motherboard really got blown out of proportion. @Espen that is on you, and that really deserves to be quelled. If one spends too much time (like I did) reading all the comments, it's possible one will deduce that the small motherboard is actually just right for this instrument. It meets the needs and it is a simple board with fewer components that have the potential to fail over time -- THIS is worth much for a musical instrument. Sequential really got done dirty on this channel and this response video only corrected facts about the power supply. It's cool they reached out to you, but I think you missed the opportunity to be a courageous influencer -- one who can positively influence both the buying/performing community and also influence Sequential-Focusrite.

[@snoolee7950]

Yah I don't think so. Dave Smith is gone, RIP and you got computer people making music gear. Call it out, loud and proud. PS I don't like SMD synths. They suck. I've got six original SC synths that sound centuries away from this common-era computer in a box synth. That's the underlying subtext here and that the company are clueless about it and happy as clams to put a pc in a box and call it a synth. Should have asked them why they use the same voice cards in so many different synth models. Identity is gone. Consolidation is in. Nobody is banging out hits on this stuff. It has turned into consumer commodity for users like you, Chris, who are more worried about the cardboard box than the sound of the instrument.

[@stephencoakley]

> Why not open source the code for the Prophet X? Sequential might want to release a successor to the X in the future, and might want to reuse that code as a basis. In general, source code like this contains the company's trade secret algorithms and such. A traditional company like Sequential is not set up to allow those to become public knowledge and therefore reused in other projects including their competitors'. Sure, some companies go the open source route and I applaud them for that, but generally its something they plan for at the beginning. Experienced DSP engineers are expensive and very valuable, and open-sourcing their work is seen as de-valuing their knowledge by many.

[@hyoenmadan]

Spare the speech about "muh trade secrets" "muh valuable knowledge"... Just the fact they choose QNX over linux for their synth OS... QNX!. That alone should yell very loudly they don't want to have anything to do with open source to say the least, let alone FOSS.

[@informativt]

This is sadly true. It takes some skillset and alignment of the stars for commercial industrial OSS projects to work. If anything they could start with really old products. But it's hard, as you really don't want to do a mountain of paperwork just to at worst inadvertently create a market of bad cheap clones or just waste time.

[@meneerjansen00]

That's what they ask for certain classic games too. Guess what? Sometimes they outsource the development of the software and the source code is lost or not even theirs (Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man were one of the first and it continues til today). Sequential was an electrical engineering company, not a software house (that's Arturia). I'll bet you a million dollars they don't even _have_ the source code. ;)

[@hacerclic1020]

Another common reason for not releasing code as open source is that it may contain proprietary code that has been licensed from someone else and they do not have permission to release it.

[@insolace]

People think making your product open source is as simple as creating a github account and pushing an update. Even if there were no IP considerations, you have no idea what state the project is in, how much documentation there is, and how many different codebases there are that have to coordinate with each other. This is bespoke embedded engineering, not some bloated javascript react project that you can hack away at for fun.

[@igfoobar]

A company whose products are dangerously badly built will issue legal threats to people who have legitimate criticism of them. I myself was threatened by Reliance Controls for the same reason.

[@samprock]

I removed my own appendix and God emailed me NOT happy 😂 (with further instructions and not installing it to next incarnation) Kudos to both Kraft Engineering and Samurai Design! Cheers very much dudes ❤

[@jumpstar9000]

Sequential are seriously out of line with that email. It probably took them longer to write the email than the length of time their distinguished engineer spent in deep analysis regarding the power supply. Probably had to attend a fully paid week long training course by the sound of it. Not to mention the trauma involved of course. So I suppose it is understandable that this has delayed development of their synthesizers. What they should do is open source it like you say, or at least partially. It's abandonware after all. That would position them in very favorable light rather trying to hold on and use heavy handed tactics. Make it a win for everyone. I love sequential, but come on. Personally I would have just replaced the whole thing with something modern. Take it easy man. The shirt looks great 👍🪨😘💕🫴♂️👞🎽👕💯😃

[@cinemalulli]

When you realize that many of the things you use are made from cheap and not-so-advanced materials, you might start making videos about most of the things you use daily-from appliances to your car, and even how the house you live in was built.

[@EspenKraft]

I live in Norway and I can tell you that the house I live in is built with extra dimensioning in absolutely every way. We don't mess around with our houses here.

[@annother3350]

This is a synthesizer channel so he might not

[@cinemalulli]

@@annother3350 or maybe a rant channel?

[@annother3350]

@@cinemalulli A warning to others channel. Prophets are not cheap - you want to know the pitfalls soas not to waste your money. Its a common sense channel

[@cinemalulli]

@@annother3350 Look, I have a Prophet 5 desktop, and I’m well aware that, like all modern electronic devices, the company is required to have spare parts available for a certain number of years. I don’t remember exactly how many, but in theory, it should be specified, at least here in Europe where I live. However, complaining about a slow processor, which ultimately does what it’s supposed to do and is cost-effective (fine, I get it), doesn’t make much sense because that’s the logic of the vast majority of companies. Seven years have passed since the Prophet X, and I don’t see what other updates they should be making. Which brands provide spare parts after seven years? Maybe Novation, maybe. But for the rest, I’m sorry to say it, we’re all in the same boat. If you want something (possibly) repairable, the only option is to look at vintage gear because today repairable products don’t really exist. There are only replacements for internal or external parts.

[@sad2804]

Do you know what the pun is here? this could be expected from the Behringer company, because they initially make cheap synths for greater coverage, and this would be fine, but Sequential? Seriously? they either have their hands growing out of their ass if they couldn't supply a high-quality power supply and motherboard... but the answer lies on the surface - savings, you don't expect to see such savings in synth for $ 4k

[@AdAsteris]

The fact it has an actual mini PC inside it, connections and all, it was embarrassing for them to have that exposed to the general public

[@Psychlist1972]

@@AdAsteris Most workstations are built exactly like that. Nothing embarrassing about it.

[@Jabberwocky_McScrugel]

​@@Psychlist1972This is why a DAW and VSTs are pretty much the same or better. Better have a fast computer to blast latency, and you'll be in business. The Arturia synths are ungodly close to the OGs, only a pro would notice the difference.

[@dfloper]

If they make the source code open it is a bad idea for them. For a start Behringer will make a copy of the synth engine, and also Sequential will not be able to release an improved synth in the future that is based on the existing code.

[@0LoneTech]

That second part is BS. Publishing one way in no way inhibits further development, whether published the same way or not. Of course one-way source drops have a lot less value than cooperative development, but it's a choice plenty have done. There are also plenty of open source synth engines already, perhaps most famously Csound.

[@dojoguitare]

Espen Kraft, scaring little old ladies since 1984.

[@annother3350]

Little old ladies should up their build quality

[@tobitweaks]

Looks like an actual futureproof setup! Interested in a prophet x now more than ever. All the best, Tobi

[@delscoville]

I like Dave Smith/Oberheim gear. I had good experience with support for my Pro 3 SE. After returning the main board, they issued a recall (besides mine, mine was fixed with the mainboard swap). But I am surprised they dropped an ITX motherboard in the Prophet X, instead of integrating the components on a main board. I do like the idea of open software for discontinued synths. But, there's probably portions of that software that's still being used in new synths, and they want to protect it for the purpose of remaining competitive.

[@boptillyouflop]

Sequential Circuits is a synthesizer company, not a motherboard design company. For sure they can design a board for an ARM System-On-A-Chip system, but those are designed specifically to be easy to integrate and are orders of magnitudes simpler than PC motherboards. On a PC board, even just the bus between the CPU and the RAM needs special design done by dedicated specialists just because of how fast RAM buses go, let alone all the other stuff.

[@HOLODECK-MUSIC-PROJECT]

Espen evolves rapidly to the biggest drama queen on yt😂

[@annother3350]

its a great expose of the childish antics and poor quality of sequential. I think thats valid

[@davidvochocjr1005]

Yeah, having in my memory his “love affair” with the Prophet X few years ago, it is like a weird breakout reality show 😆

[@nayirmada5124]

A musician friend of mine once had a Korg Kronos X which on 1 day, suddenly could not be powered up a few years after he bought it new. The technician at an authorised Korg distributor informed him that Kronos X parts have been discontinued & thus to repair it, it has to be 'upgraded' to the Kronos 2 version, which required the replacement of the CPU main board, the memory card & the power supply unit & the installation of a new firmware version. My musician friend had the Kronos repaired or rather, 'upgraded', and that was when he discovered Korg had used a PC CPU board in the Kronos. After using it for another year or so, he noticed some minor 'glitches' with it & then decided to sell it off. Nowadays, he mostly uses a MIDI keyboard with a PC or laptop.

[@anthonybennett3226]

When a company reacts this way it's usually the TRUTH. And companies hate it when folks realize and start sharing the TRUTH about them and or their products because they don't want an uncomfortable very public spotlight on them revealing the TRUTH. But ultimately it's about protecting their Interests and Bottom Line💰 A good company with INTEGRITY would want to do the right thing and own up to it publicly with no back tracking, blame throwing or excuses bs. They would sincerely own up and apologize then MAKE IT RIGHT. Thats how you earn respect and peoples money. But then as I sad that takes INTEGRITY which this company clearly lacks. My hard earned cash will go somewhere else to a company that has INTEGRITY and has earned that respect and money. So THANK YOU for sharing the TRUTH that "sets us free" from yet another apparently greedy lazy dishonest & corrupt company. 💯😁🎹

[@iswm]

the truth that espen recommended the wrong power supply? yeah, that was true.

[@EspenKraft]

The PSU I recommended isn't technically wrong, but it isn't a DIRECT replacement.

[@Average-AL]

@@EspenKraft If you swap some pins on the cable it would work for a handy person.

[@ultrapim1]

Why didnt you just show the email on screen?

[@MazeFrame]

Probably to avoid bogus DMCA-claims as companies tend to do whenever possible.

[@cfbdk]

As a hobbyist who spends some of his spare time turning "obsolete" tiny business computers (they are dirt cheap where I live) into appliances (not limited to music instruments) - current project is a DAW in a box (have build many VST in boxes) These videos have been very informative. 1. Did not know that QNX offers a free non-commercial license now (QNX Everywhere). When I encountered it first time, it used to be: "If you have to ask for pricing, you can't afford it". 2. The SSI2144 chip. 3. That a $4000 synth can't support itself as a sustainable product ($3230 before VAT in Denmark - domestic retailer - we pay 25% VAT) in the long run. After R&D, manufacturing, initial firmware updates and expected customer support. I still wonder what a product like this should cost, if it should be sustainable as a business with ongoing expenses and support/development.

[@cfbdk]

@@fredrikh9299 Please elaborate what you think is narrow minded? I am curious, because I don’t understand what you mean. As far as I can tell the PC is not responsible for anything else than file management (user content), firmware upgrade and feeding the samples into the main board of the synth for further processing. The PC is not a VST host. Perhaps some preprossesing of the samples to make the real time procession on the main board less cumbersome. Besides that it is a synth. If you point is the price, then it would be interesting to know what you think it should cost. In Denmark (where I live) the retailer needs to make some money of the synths as well, since they have to cover the cost of initial customer support, fees for import of electronics (covering cost of recycling), besides the other cost of owning a business in a highly regulated country.

[@cfbdk]

@@fredrikh9299 Never mind. I read some of your other comments on this video and I think some things has been lost in translation. Things has been derailed due to the motherboard and people jumping to the conclusion that the synth is a VST in a box. It is not (in my eyes). My point is that I learned some new things from Espens videos. And I think it is interesting that the product is discontinued and that is not viable to maintain.

[@TheMachinesWon]

Espen is a synth renegade, love to see it! 🦾🤖🏴‍☠️

[@samprock]

🏴‍☠️ 🖤

[@TheMachinesWon]

@@kierenmoore3236 😭😭🏴‍☠️

[@samprock]

@ 🤣 Not a cult… a sect (a sect is a group of people who share a distinct set of beliefs or practices that differ from a larger organization), right?

[@McTroyd]

Surprising that Sequential would even offer selling a power supply for user replacement. Most of the professional AV gear I handle requires equipment with internal power supplies go back to the vendor. It's really kind of stupid, too. They're all attached with connectors, and if they passed basically any electrical certification testing, they're all safe if not plugged into mains. (If they haven't passed an electrical certification, you'll want to replace that supply anyway!) This engineer calls BS on the development time delay argument, too. There are lots of reasons to read white papers and data sheets, even if they're not related to the task at hand. For example, if I find myself stuck on a bad software bug or design issue, sometimes I'll intentionally switch away to something unrelated to refresh my perspective. No need for Sequential to be pithy.

[@aussierob7187]

Thank you for your persistence and openness to resolve the issues. I guess it’s nice to know Sequential are trying their best to resolve the issues and move forward, unlike Moog.

[@ZoeSummers1701A]

I’ve never owned a synth by them and I thought I probably never would, but after how they’ve reacted to you, I can certainly say now that I definitely won’t.

[@jacob_andersen]

Let me know if the OB6s are working flawless or if they are fawlty? Thxs

[@ByronHadley1]

Very nice shirt, Espen! Synth Renegades are definitely a fun bunch to be around!

[@TantrumAudio]

Small manufacturer here 👋. I actually think the use of the ITX motherboard is kind of overkill for this kind of product. A $5 ESP32 board or FPGA would have probabbly sufficed.

[@moonelfcosmo]

30 mins max to analyze the data sheet…. But you certainly saved them a whole lot more time that would have been spent sorting out some support claims Perhaps they should pay you Abandoning support for a synth that only this year was discontinued is criminal. It must mean they had A LOT of these needing repairs.

[@oystercatcher943]

Seems like your advice for go elsewhere to buy the power supply might perhaps give Sequential MORE time to work on new synths?

[@tommy2nes]

I still can’t get over that motherboard! 😂

[@TheDarkLandsMusic]

was that what it was?

[@oblitafier]

What exactly is wrong with using off the shelf parts which are potentially easier to source and replace if necessary?

[@hyoenmadan]

@@oblitafier Yeah, what is wrong with reaping money from the buyer with of the shelf parts in a clearly overpriced product? Ofc nothing.... If Apple put the example and does it, then there is nothing wrong with it.

[@GrimVoxTech]

No problem they delay the development of new products. If their customer supports sounds like this, I think customers will delay buying their products too, so a win-win situation really.

[@djbremsespor]

Yeah exactly, lets celebrate with some lemon juice here and appreciate a delay in development of expensive, broken and abandoned synths. Amen! 🤭

[@msromike123]

Well if they disagree with your video, maybe they should make their own video. I can see why they wouldn't release it as open source. I would be very much surprised if they start their OS from scratch when developing subsequent products in their line.

[@hyoenmadan]

They didn't used open source, but they also didn't made their OS from scratch. They preferred pay a fee to QNX (which is outdated and cheaper than VxWorks btw) than just using linux... Probably because there isn't much available knowledge and tools to reverse QNX. It says a lot how much they want to protect their software modules, and how much they want to stay away from open source.

[@msromike123]

@@hyoenmadan Doesn't change not wanting to release software, as open source, that they paid good money to have developed. Pay an engineer to create it in house, or buy it from a third party, what's the difference. It still cost them money to develop the product. Even more reason to not release the code if that code could help people home brew or help a competitor get into the market cheap by using their OS/code for free. I really don't see any reason they should be expected to release their source code on a recently discontinued PC based software synth. Maybe I am missing the point here?

[@patrikknoerr9777]

If I had bought an Prophet X, I wouldn't consider to categorize my feelings as "hapiness" as well. The motherboard in itself raised more exceptions than my guru could meditate on.

[@rot_studios]

Okay love that reference, takes me back

[@stevepreskitt283]

Being able to discern that took a lot of Intuition...

[@retrodal-retrogamingsimracing]

Maybe Sequential need to take the Prophet X back to their Workbench...

[@TimDaleMusic]

Note if you need to get a replacement power supply from Sequential, they will normally send that for free as long as you then return the original (they will ask for a deposit which they return when they get the original one back), so the only cost to you is the return postage (to the US).

[@meneerjansen00]

Try and post something from Europe to the US, ha ha. You can buy a house for that.

[@annother3350]

But didn't espen say the PSU costs hundreds of dollars? So postage is 'free'...

[@EspenKraft]

In that video I clearly refer to buying the original PSU online, if someone's looking for it. And online it will cost you about $300 used. You can't get this particular model brand new any more. Apparently Sequential has new old stock of it, for as long as that lasts. Who knows how many they have. Problem is they fail, that's the issue here hence my suggestion for another model.

[@astro_poly]

I don't get why they didn't help you? Did you ask before doing all this? They send me an updated motherboard and powersupply right away & did not fail in any way. They are very helpful and do not leave their customers in the dark tbh.. i didnt get the previous video's yes it runs on linux but... it works? the X is a wonderful machine.. I got it for 2000 euros and couldn't be happier. Payed solely the shipping costs for all replacements and they respond very quickly. However I do like your videos & i do like your packs :D keep it going

[@jazzmastert]

Did their emails come sequentially?

[@fakshen1973]

Modification and customization of musical instruments is almost a must in a stand-alone piece of hardware. Entire genres of music have evolved from using musical instruments in ways the OG designers never intended.

[@meneerjansen00]

Sorry guys, but with every synth nowadays you kow you're paying for the knobs, sliders and buttons: the rest is software/firmware. And still I buy 'm... 😉

[@matthewcragg3607]

I can see the Prophet-X becoming an ever ongoing mod platform sort of like the TB-303 and the subsequent “Devil Fish”. People could replace the “cheap PC” in it with something more powerful, develop a new and better OS, etc. The idea of a simple sampler (i.e., not some monstrous bloated “workstation”), with an analog filter is sexy as hell. Hopefully it has a bright aftermarket future.

[@mrz80]

I just had a fun thought: rig up a new boot drive, port Zynthian (q.v.) to an Intel platform, and write some glue code to get the P/X's hardware talking to it. That would be a DARNED cool hack.

[@PeterLoof]

Any how, I love your extremely nice LP in the background! ❤

[@Gerald_Daniel]

I find the criticism of Sequential for the alleged loss of time to be quite petty, calculating, if not a bit vindictive. 🙄🤢🤮

[@djcolinturnbull]

It’s hard these days with everything out in the open on the net! Everyone makes mistakes. What’s more concerning is the trend of companies going after customers or reviewers. Free Speech is more important then ever! Stig På Espen! 👍🏻👍🏻

[@starglider101]

Sequential doesn't deserve this type of bullying! Yes! I have a Prophet X!

[@annother3350]

£300 quis for a PSU - oh yes they deserve it

[@annother3350]

@@fredrikh9299 I think he's happy not to be ripped off with excruciating spares prices. Whats it made of? gold!?

[@annother3350]

@@fredrikh9299 whats the replacement PSU made of? gold?! Come on man

[@robertsmithshair4199]

The noose in the thumbnail is a bit unnecessary Espen!

[@EspenKraft]

When given the opportunity people will always complain about something.

[@deantiquisetnovis]

Sequential used to be a good company. Their engineers were always helpful. Seems that has changed now 😢 And was actually hoping that them belonging to Focusrite will actually make them better.

[@solllvent]

I absolutely love the vinyls behind the back 😍

[@Bonez0r]

1:38 If they found a flaw in their product with the help of your video, they have to fix the flaw. That takes time, so it's not surprising that their next product is delayed because of that. It doesn't necessarily mean they're understaffed. However they may very well be understaffed too. I found that in 2015 they only had 8 employees in their SF office. That was before the takeover by Focusrite though, which has around 550 employees.

[@HarrySinanian]

Come on man, when did MS give up the source for 95/98/XP/2K...

[@athaphian]

The real question is, when is mutable instruments going to give up their source for their eurorack modules?

[@annother3350]

It was worth asking

[@cosmicaddress7851]

Great albums behind you. Thief is a fantastic soundtrack and Beach Scene especially is sublime!

[@synthsamuraiproductions]

Synth Renegades 🏴‍☠️ 4 Life. You da man Brother

[@samprock]

🏴‍☠🖤

[@pthomas36]

Makes me think of the Access Virus Ti which was easily emulated in software because it's essentially a software instrument to begin with. It makes me feel that the Prophet X could see similar treatment in the future which is very intriguing.

[@SYNTHMODE-q2f]

Excellent T-Shirt!!! Cheers to Synth Samurai!!!!

[@RikMaxSpeed]

Every single Sequential synth I have owned has had technical faults. From faulty potentiometers, to a P8v2 crashing randomly, broken sub-osc sync in 2 of the 6 voices on the OB6 and a faulty connector cable in the PX. I’ve kept thenPX however, it’s a truly exceptional synth.

[@cakesteak]

Well you were right when you said it was buggy. Make a PWM-mod square, and use sync, voice 0 will glitch, all others will be fine. Found it my first day with it. Now I have a 15 or 7 oscillator synth if I need to use that sound. "To confirm, does the clicking go away once you turn off OSC sync? If this is the case, your instrument is in fact functioning as expected. -Mitch, Sequential" "Great to hear from you that this is intended functionality, I'll let everyone know. -Me" "Likewise! Feel free to reach out if you run into any issues in the future. - Best, Mitch, Sequential LLC | Oberheim"

[@georgegeez8708]

Get'em Espen. You shook their feathers. Renegades unite. 👍👍👍👍👍

[@sebastianfeldhof8323]

Sequential has a really good support btw.

[@iswm]

this comment section is really making a mountain out of a molehill. good lord.

[@jeffsymons7084]

I see a bunch of people reacting to the title and thumbnail without even watching the video. I guess that is what you get when you start making rage-bait videos to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

[@toi_techno]

Unbelievable that they don't take the criticism on board and just do better

[@goldenmantis]

Espen is fast becoming a synth-lore hero! Thank you for fighting the good fight!

[@synriser6742]

The X might be great for gigging, but I don’t see much point in using it in the studio. With a quality MIDI keyboard and excellent VSTs, you can achieve far better results. For example, you could create your own samples, load them into Unify, and layer additional VSTs for a more customised sound. By the way, I just watched a video introducing the Behringer JT Mini. Interestingly, the presenter was wearing the same T-shirt, but in black."

[@eddfromearth]

That would be powerful but wouldn't sound the same without all the analog components.

[@AdAsteris]

No wonder their equipment is so buggy if they're so understaffed. Even the recommended "fixes" i tried for my secondhand Prophet '08 didn't work

[@AlexAldorf]

Halla espen! hva synes du Take 5 ? ser noen gode tilbud på finn, men er usikker på om jeg skal gå for den eller rev 2

[@dglcomputers1498]

At least with Behringer they would ask you to send it back to them as they use their own PSU's, so there is no OEM supply like a lot of synths. Interestingly buy some of the Waldorf's, Korg M3, or at least some of the Access Virus' and what's inside is a standard inline/line-lump power supply, either with a cable to the power inlet on the back or just fixed into a bracket that exposes the inlet on the PSU through a hole in the case, some even have the regular DC barrel jack left on which just connects to an internal socket on the main PCB. No manufacturer could cite electrical safety as a reason not to replace it as then they'd have to stop you from using any external PSU as that would be just as dangerous! (well assuming there's no high voltage supply for a screen/backlight I suppose)

[@RockmannMusic]

There is a chance to fry the synth if one just pulls the EEC mains cable out of the back without switching the instruments off. The Meanwell does not have a "crowbar" / over voltage [spike] protection behind its outputs. It's not about reading the spec sheet [that's a start]. It is about knowing the power supply circuit/how the smps is designed

[@snoolee7950]

Espen this is so hilarious. I love you. A+ Keep it real.

[@MFitz12]

Just going to throw this out there but it seems likely Sequential knows more about how to design, build, test and produce synths than you do.

[@EspenKraft]

I don't think so.

[@MFitz12]

@@EspenKraft - OK, so how many synthesizers have *you* designed, tested and built since 1977?

[@JimAlfredson]

@@EspenKraft you don't think so? Dave Smith literally invented microprocessor controlled synths which revolutionized the industry, was one of the key engineers behind MIDI which revolutionized the industry, developed the Korg Wavestation and vector synthesis which didn't revolutionize the industry but was really cool, and made the very first software synth which did in fact revolutionize the industry again. In speaking to him multiple times at NAMM, he was immensely proud of the Prophet X. By contrast, you got mad that you had to change a battery and so made a click-bait video where you referred to the Prophet X as a "$4000 brick" and irresponsibly suggested a replacement power supply to your viewers that would completely destroy their Prophet X if they install it due to an incompatible pin-out. But you know more about synth design than Sequential. LMAO!

[@QuestionMarkComposer]

I appreciate the video and the discussion. And after having dissed Behringer for delivering fantastic synths for all of us, and having bashed Sequential, Oberheim and Moog for making expensive, super instruments with cheap components, and after having disliked Thomann for being so good in delivering them fast and cheap and with good service too well, and after having criticized Roland for not respecting their analog heritage properly and for pay models I do not like, and for finding all the small companies too esoteric, and having mentioned that Apple only produces overpriced luxury items, and that Arturia lacks own ideas, since their collection mimic iconic classics, maybe it's time to attack Yamaha for a change. Their instruments are too good, some of them are reasonably priced, they sound great-I don't like it! Let's bash them! Or, erm, eh, well, maybe I should make an actually good track with some of my dozens of synthesizers, polish it and finally release it. Maybe this time not only simple a-minor sequencing? No! Let's talk bad about Yamaha!

[@pfmmodule5144]

Thanks for the update. What should the 5v be set for and what direction do you turn the adjustment screw? Looking forward to the source code being available somewhere in the future.

[@EspenKraft]

I can't remember what direction. I think it's clockwise seen from straight below the screw, but with a multi-meter attached you'll see if the voltage drops or rises. Be careful as this shouldn't really be done with no load and it could also be inaccurate if not done correctly.

[@pfmmodule5144]

@ thanks. So far it’s working good.

[@HappyQuailsLC]

They may also require direct purchase of replacement power supplies in order for purchasers to maintain warranty coverage of their synths.

[@annother3350]

You probably break the warranty by opening the case

[@obshaky]

Maybe you can upgrade that cheap PC inside the Prophet and put something like an Asus board with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 32gb ram and a RTX 4090 😂 Put some rgb lights in the keys and you got a Prophet X Gamer Edition 😂

[@synthmaven]

Sure makes you wonder about a lot of recent synths.. maybe Espen is revitalizing the vintage market, whether intentionally or not.

[@marcvandoornik]

For some reason, many people think the price of a piece of hardware is just the sum of its hardware components, while in reality the algorithms used in software are what really costs money. "I can do the same thing, just get a Raspberry Pi / SFF PC and a midi controller and stick 'em inside a nice enclosure: profit." - no, you can't, because that's not where the REAL knowledge is. Anyone can slap a bunch of components together and call it a day. Integrate everything into a cohesive and (hopefully) reliable whole with great sounding DSP algorithms, not so many. Even 'just' cranking out hundreds or thousands of presets is a mountain of work. A fully analogue polysynth also is nothing but a big bag of cheap transistors, capacitors, resistors and diodes. Components are (relatively) cheap, knowledge and time are not. Of course Sequential should have used a higher quality PSU, but I don't think the synth being "just a cheap mini PC" on the inside is a thing they should be flamed for.

[@damienthorn1340]

.002 cents have been deposited in your bank account.

[@alexcrouse]

Their equipment is awesome, but i'll wait for the Behringer version.

[@clickoppotamus]

my experience with Sequential's Tempest: *Stickied employee forum post (paraphrased):* This is the FINAL Tempest firmware update. We are SICK of hearing about bugs and fixing them. We hate doing this and we are DONE. waaah we made a product and then realized it would take work i guess management changed between then and now but the audio company brainrot is pervasive

[@famitory]

looking up a pin compatible PSU probably took 30 minutes maximum, 4 minutes minimum. ideally when you engineer a product you're supposed to have a list on hand of Alternate part choices so that if something has supply chain issues unexpectedly you can swap it out for an alternate where possible. also you should probably be aware that the punisher logo is associated with far-right groups in the US and canada, not sure if that association exists in europe.

[@BananasananaB]

It's also used by Firefighters, EMS, Police, and both the US and Iraqi Militaries in addition just to being a long standing comic book series about a crime fighter. We probably shouldn't twist our undies in a knot over it.

[@NunyaByness]

No it isn’t. Only pansy asswipes with pink hair say that kind of shit.

[@pebbleschan6085]

What’s the fuss? As with many low volume specialist products, the Prophet 5 was developed using RAD (Rapid Application Development) using well known OEM subassemblies combined with bespoke hardware extensions with well known affordable software tools. Thanks for the great videos. Keep them coming.

[@annother3350]

the build quality vs price is the fuss

[@pebbleschan6085]

What particular build quality issues?

[@annother3350]

@@pebbleschan6085 The weak power supply, cheap motherboard and if you read through bthe comments here you will see other issues

[@jackpijjin4088]

We need to remind companies that they work for *us.* They can try to scare us, but they should be afraid of what *we* can do.

[@St0ckwell]

I have a PX that was briefly bricked. I bought it secondhand for 2000 dollars a few years ago. My experience with it says it is a very useful tool for rapidly getting the highest quality synth sounds in a way that doesn't consume CPU. I enjoy it, but I would not say it's worth the money I spent, much less the factory price tag.

[@justinmijnbuis]

Just want to add that 5.2V is at the upper range of many IC's (5.25V), 5.2V seems a bit high for the adjustment.

[@RoaldvdM]

If the PS has the right voltages but on different pins, it is always possible to swap the pins in the plastic connector. BTW, the PS shown looks likea run of the mill, 13 in a dozen modular switching powersupply. It would surprise me if it delivers any other voltages than a regular computer power supply (unless the dedicated analogue parts need them)

[@AdamElteto]

I did not foresee that NOT coming.

[@cfbdk]

Hi Espen. Hope it is okay to rent some space in your comment section. Appreciate the videos and feel free to delete this comment thread if it gets nuts. You still earned the contribution.

[@cfbdk]

I’m here for the technical bit (not a musician or engineer) and I must admit that I too was surprised that there was a standard consumer itx board in the synth. But then I watch the videos again. Downloaded the manuals to understand what is special about this synth. Purely out of curiosity. As far as I can see. The only job of the PC is mainly to handle file management: 1. Sample storage and meta data associate to the samples. 2. Firmware upgrade. 3. Perhaps some preprocessing of the samples to make the real time processing downstream less cumbersome. 4. And then feeding the samples into the synth via the PCIE connector in the button of the motherboard. On the main board where the SSI2224 chips are, it looks like there is a FPGA, that handles all the real time I/O and sound generation. Not unlike any other synth (have been watching Markus Fuller) So the PC is not a VST host IMHO. It is just a standardized and properly the cheapest way to make user samples available for real time manipulation by the synth. It still sucks it is not reliable and is abandoned regarding bug fixes. But as you say. It is still the best product for your use case. Any engineers present that can elaborate further for the benefit of us all?

[@EspenKraft]

Thank you for the gift, that's very much appreciated! As for the PX, as much as I love it for what it can do when it actually works, I have serious doubts if I'll be able to trust it for any live duties from now on. Last time I stood on stage with it, it did hang on me just seconds before starting and with the recent events in terms of hang-ups and the causes of that I fear I will have to retire it from live work. Which is a shame as it's a fantastic tool in that regard. As a studio tool I don't have much use for it so I might end up selling it after all. Not made up my mind yet. I might keep it and continue to develop sample- and patch banks. I don't know. Fed up with it right now. Cheers :)

[@regplasma7906]

Nice to know Sequential 'care' enough to have a moan Espen.

[@6581punk]

They sent me a keybed for a Prophet 12 for free when mine arrived broken (probably due to UPS not them). Ironically the replacement was shipped with UPS as well.

[@stereopsis]

Okay, EVERYONE must stop making videos about Sequentials synths. These videos are seriously delaying new products coming out, and we need new synths NOW!

[@kevinlindley2642]

Thank you for delaying even more crap from Sequential, you have done the synth community a favour. Lets all write in and maybe we can delay them out of existence?

[@beecee330]

The Tempest is my first and last DSI/Sequential piece of gear. After the way they handled it's EOL followed by the relatively huge petition and direct calls to Roger Lynn to make the firmware/OS feature complete i'm done supporting them. To their credit, they did get it done when they saw the pitch forks and torches

[@RudolfGotler]

I've not followed the entire case and I only own one Sequential product, a modest Evolver desktop. But these videos seem like a nightmare from a manufacturer standpoint. Recommending the customer to replace parts, and no more no less than a POWER SUPPLY with WRONG PINOUT :D And the problem is not those who have the skills or don't have the skills (they are happy to send their keyboards to service), but those who THINK they have the skills... Without having the proper skills, tools and ESD compliant environment. No company ever would recommend some amateur to do their electronics training with their product. And what about the botched up repairs that end up in eBay, maybe causing fires or whatever because of bad soldering, crimping or whatever. I'm not defending Sequential, but this is RECKLESS!!

[@EspenKraft]

Never believe everything you hear online, especially not from KZbinrs, they're the worst of the lot. Always double check. You do that and you'll be alright.

[@RudolfGotler]

@@EspenKraft Sorry but to me that sounds like a lame excuse or a "disclaimer".

[@EspenKraft]

That's ok.

[@krzysztofwaclawski9002]

Another legend brand gone to dogs

[@quimbas]

It’s hilarious that sequential would say a proper response delayed development. Strange and unexpected.

[@mb2776]

Yeah, that line about the guy looking at the power supply and delay is total BS. I'm a event tech guy, learned the basics of electricity in my profession. Checking the pin out of a power supply takes 2min max. You'll look it up, meanwell is super popular in all kinds of devices, amiga and atari guys use them for their vintage machines too.

[@Wolfman311]

Synth Samurai is the man!!!

[@Rockhopper1]

On the punisher t shirt look at the cheek bones and the nose, if you look carefully its a police officer head on the left, and soldier head on the right and the nose is them high fiving each other,

[@davidharrison6208]

Updated my OBX8 and has never worked correctly since. I'm going to try to reinstall using a windows computer instead of Apple when I get back from holiday to see if that fixes it.