Yes, the Sequential Prophet X Has a PC Motherboard. And that's OK. (Response to Espen Kraft Viewers)

[@cursortoxyz]

The big difference between a consumer PC motherboard and an SBC like the Pi Compute Module is that latter is supported and manufactured for a decade while consumer products have a much shorter lifecycle. Yes, theoretically you could replace it with the same motherboard if it’s available on the second hand market, but you can’t just drop in any ITX motherboard and expect it to work as the chipsets need to match as well. This is a point that should have been mentioned and the primary reason why their component choice is problematic.

[@Lantertronics]

Good point -- I'm going to pin this comment right now.

[@sjay4673]

Good points and perspective on this topic, Aaron. Keep up the great content as always! 👍

[@Lantertronics]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@adamusher5294]

All great points. I think you nailed it when you said 'you're paying for the interface'. These synths could just as easily be sold as a pc peripheral with some bundled software to install on your own PC... and charge roughly the same for them. I think these companies/products reach a point where the decision is made 'it's already costing thousands of dollars, we may as well integrate the pc into it so we have a controlled environment for our software'.

[@mycosys]

That option more or less exists with the NI Komplete Kontrol S series, or Arturia controllers, too

[@silverXnoise]

Thanks for projecting thoughtful nuance and pragmatism into this space.

[@Lantertronics]

The world could definitely use more thoughtful nuance and pragmatism right now!

[@Roikat]

I suppose Mr. Kraft was disappointed it doesn’t run on crystals and unicorn horns, or at least a small troll running on a hamster wheel.

[@Lantertronics]

HAH!

[@tomthepom98]

Finally, a view on this I actually agree with. I've been a little annoyed at Espen's recent videos, especially because I know what it takes to make the devices he keeps calling "scams". I was particularly annoyed by the implication that Behringer devices are the only "fair" devices, when in my opinion they're as far from it as possible.

[@Lantertronics]

If you replace where Espen says "scam" with something meaning "a value proposition that many may not find appealing," then he has a point. But the term "scam" implies deliberate deception, which is unfair. The thing about Behringer is that no one can really compete with their economies of scale. A company like Groove Synthesis buys X number of resistors for a couple versions of basically the same product, whereas Behringer can buy many many many more of that spread over hundreds of products.

[@Tharsis879]

Agreed, I just unfollowed him as I feel that there is a degree of clickbait and sensationalism there sometimes that is unhelpful.

[@Lantertronics]

@@Tharsis879 Which is sad, because his content has historically been pretty interesting. It's just gone a bit over the top lately.

[@spencerscott2044]

I’d love for you to tackle Espen’s “VST in a box” claim about synths like the Prophet 5 rev 4 and Ob-X8 because of their use of digital envelope and voice control with the vintage knob.

[@Lantertronics]

Oh goodness -- yeah... I thought about wading into that a while back but decided not to at the time. But... yeah.

[@Tharsis879]

Living with and having to maintain a CMI 30A and a Hartmann Neuron I would have say that I'm not so sure that I agree completely... On the other hand keeping the other computers in the studio synths and FX units like the AMS's, PPG 2.3 and Waveterm and all of the vintage synths like the Prophet's, Oberheims, Synergy and Synthex are "relatively" easy (except when they aren't). I guess time will tell!

[@Lantertronics]

I got the impression that the Hartmann Neuron came out before it was really ready. Oooooh... tell me more about the 30A!

[@Lantertronics]

My only complain about the Synergy is the way the daughterboards hook to the motherboard by wire wrap pins jammed into IC sockets.

[@Lantertronics]

ZOMG you have a Waveterm!?!?!? Whoa!

[@Tharsis879]

That being said I do like the idea of using the smaller systems like Raspberry Pi in synths as in the future they will be easier to replace with later iterations of micro. Full PC motherboards can be painful to replace a decade down the track and if these machines can't last that long then they are a bit of a fail given the longevity of the Z80 and 68xxx board so far.

[@Lantertronics]

@@Tharsis879 This got me thinking -- it would help if manufacturers would embrace more open standards. Not that they necessarily have to give away all their source code -- but they could publish interface specs that would let someone swap in a newer motherboard that would stay compatible with the rest of the hardware, and enough detail on how the software works that someone could cobble together drivers for a newer OS. (I'm just spitballing here, I realize there's problems with this idea).

[@Rxke]

The legendary Korg Kronos synth had a pc motherboard too. And nobody ever complained about it....

[@logiclust]

i'll happily wit for the behringer clone of the PX. suckers

[@Lantertronics]

I doubt this would be on Behringer's list of things to clone.