Not so long ago Europe’s biggest music instrument retailer Thomann has announced that the much-expected DeepMind 12 is ready for shipping - though not a word from Behringer yet. Anyway the instrument has got its unofficial “on sale” status which now attracts even more of those concerned.

We can explore and inspect Ultranova’s architecture as long as much we have time for it and aspiration, of course. It’s not that infinite but surely draws attention of the most curious ones – those who understand Novation and consider Ultranova a special instrument. And those who’re not going to compare it. To anything.

Analog generator waveform is far from being perfect – it’s unstable and suffers from inevitable voltage-brought deformation. Many of the analog filters are unsteady – you might hear some noises, phase shift or self-oscillation. But these very drawbacks make the signal so brisk, lively – well, actually, alive indeed. Digital developments helped to tame analog sound, cut it into samples, increase polyphony, give you a synthesizer equipped with the functions which were simply unobtainable in analog instruments. In 1990s instrument manufacturing companies got highly interested in analog modeling technologies development – they were eager to re-create those smallest details of electric musical instrument circuit behavior.

Prophet~5 was talked about, copied, imitated, re-created but Dave Smith knew he could do a lot, he could do better, he could do anything and he wasn’t going to be a one-hit-wonder (no matter how great and immortal this kind of fame is) – he tried to make fans forget about “P5” or leave it as a nostalgic shelter putting them on a low-P5 (and P5-free) diet while releasing something just slightly reminiscent of the cult synth. Balancing between the market reality and his own ideas Smith tried to alternate them launching Prophet '08, Prophet 12, Pro 2, Prophet~6 crowning the “ration” with OB-6 made in cooperation with Tom Oberheim. Dave Smith Instruments – is neither a sequent nor a “Sequential”, DSI is a modern self-sufficient brand which is unique and great enough to be followed as a role model.

When companies equip their cult instruments with a professional keyboard and at least the basic controller set featuring their brand parameters they can easily entice any modular system die-hard fan as well as any touring musician. They don’t aim at the target audience they literally shoot each and every one who’s ever been into professional music. We’ll review the coolest stage synthesizers which used to shake the market and keep on doing it right now - Roland Jupiter-80, Radikal Technologies Accelerator, Access Virus Total Integration 2, Clavia Nord Stage 2EX, Kurzweil PC3A and even that marvelous beast John Bowen Synth Design Solaris!