One of Dave Smith’s last projects was overseeing the tech platform that would become Take 5. And that was a breakthrough: everything great about the Prophet-5 meets fresh modulation and effects and an accessible price. Now, you can bring Take 5 home for $1299 as a compact desktop unit. Oberheim’s TEO-5 desktop is also out today at that price, thanks to that underlying tech, but let’s talk Sequential first.
Just seeing the images of the desktop Take 5 made me smile. Yes, sure, synth lovers when they hear “Dave Smith” usually think of the vintage keyboards. But I always admired the desktop units Dave and crew put out as Dave Smith Instruments. Just as the Voyager signaled the return of Bob Moog and the analog synth rebirth, DSI’s Evolver and Tetra helped Dave return to the business with a talented hardware team, democratizing analog synthesis far beyond just the DSI brand and laying the groundwork for the Sequential nameplate to grace hardware once again.
People may forget this now, but the desktop Evolver came before the keyboard version. And like the Take 5, it was all about making an affordable instrument that combined analog and digital. Dave should know, as someone associated both with analog synthesis and MIDI. As he told Francis Preve in 2012, “The concept was to combine real analog electronics with highly integrated digital circuits—the best of both worlds, from pure analog warmth to digital crunch.” That’s not a complicated concept, but then neither is combining peanut butter and chocolate.
From that same interview, gladly archived from Keyboard, it’s also just about fun. And, uh, this world is a little short on fun these days, so I’m in! Here’s Dave:
I realized how much I liked hardware. It’s fun. It has knobs and switches. And, unlike soft synths, it’ll still work in 10 years. Soft synths have to be ported forever to new operating systems, platforms, and endless versions. I like designing an instrument once, then moving on, not working on the same thing forever.
So, now we have the Take 5. It’s everything that’s great about the Prophet-5, but those digital effects are fun, too. The filters are descended from the Rev 4 P-5, and you have all the front-panel FM, hard sync options, and flexible envelopes and modulation. And you get a bunch of extras, like reverb and stereo multi-effects and overdrive. It’s one deep package.
I’ll just leave it at the specs below, because even there, the idea comes across.
Not seeing the desktop version in retailers just yet as I hit publish, but I’m sure that’s coming. (The keyboard version is also pretty affordable, if that’s what you need!)
If you buy something from a CDM link, we may earn a commission.
But wait. Maybe … this isn’t quite for you. Maybe you want something with a different filter. And zero-through FM. Maybe you want something that has its own distinct history and personality. I’m including the specs here, but specs don’t really explain this. Maybe you justwant something that’s more Oberheim than Sequential. (I mean, also, maybe you want both, which now you can easily do since you aren’t going to have to find space for two giant keyboards. Also, we’re all jealous of you. But I digress.)
Those two instruments are as different as Tom and Dave are, not to mention each of the other individuals who worked on this. So let’s look at the TEO-5 separately, even if it might suspiciously involve the letter “T,” the number 5, the same underlying hardware platform, and yeah, they now are made in the same factory by the same parent company. You can also choose a martini or a whiskey sour at the same bar. It’s down to what you want. So, below, the specs for the Take 5… or take the TEO-5.
OSCILLATORS
5-Voice VCO/VCF-based polysynth
Two analog VCOs per voice
Continuously variable wave shape (sine, sawtooth, variable-width pulse) per oscillator
Hard sync: oscillator 1 syncs to oscillator 2
Square wave sub-octave generator (oscillator 1) per voice
Keyboard tracking on/off for each oscillator
Front-panel FM (frequency modulation)
MIXER
Oscillator 1 amount
Oscillator 1 sub-octave amount
Oscillator 2 amount
White noise/pink noise amount
LOW-PASS FILTER
Four-pole, resonant, low-pass filter per voice, based on Prophet-5 Rev 4 design
Filter can be driven into self-oscillation with the Resonance control
Bi-polar filter envelope amount
ENVELOPES
Two 5-stage envelope generators (ADSR + delay) with variable routing (filter, amplifier, auxiliary)
Velocity modulation of each envelope amount
Envelopes freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations
2 LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS
Five wave shapes: triangle, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, square, and random (sample and hold)
Clock sync (internal or external MIDI clock)
Freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations
MODULATION MATRIX
19 slots x 19 sources x 64 destinations
Flexible matrix design where almost any mod route is possible, including audio rate sources and destinations
VINTAGE KNOB
Recreates vintage synth characteristics by adding voice-to voice variations in component behavior
AFTERTOUCH
Responds to channel (mono) aftertouch with bi-polar amount
Freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations
CLOCK
Master clock with tap tempo
Don’t forget, too, Sequential does great things with firmware updates. Not just finishing half-finished firmware (cough), like actually getting it right, and coming back and adding ideas.
