Sequential Circuits Prophet-5

First programmable polysynth. Co-inventor Dave Smith also created MIDI.

Dave Smith's Prophet-5 was the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer, offering five voices with patch memory that saved and recalled sounds for the first time ever. Before 1978, every synth performance required manual knob-setting; the Prophet-5 changed that overnight. John Carpenter used it to score horror films, and Talking Heads, Radiohead, Dr. Dre, and MGMT leaned on its thick, creamy analog polyphony. It also helped create MIDI, as Dave Smith co-invented the standard.

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