Back in 1981, this synth crashed the party as the first under-$1000 analog powerhouse, packing Prophet-5 DNA into a compact monosynth that punched way above its weight with raw, aggressive tones.
Dual VCOs dish out saw, pulse, and triangle waves simultaneously, with Oscillator A handling octave steps over four ranges and Oscillator B doubling as a low-frequency mod source—sync them hard for those metallic leads that scream through the Curtis CEM3320 4-pole low-pass filter, which self-oscillates with biting resonance. Two independent ADSR envelopes shape the filter and amp precisely, while a versatile LFO (all waveforms at once) feeds a modulation matrix routing to VCO pitch/PWM, filter freq, and more—via wheel or direct—for wild, organic textures. The J-Wire keybed upgrade delivers smooth 37-key action across three octaves (upgraded from original 2-oct), paired with pitch/mod wheels, glide (auto/normal modes), 40-step sequencer (real-time transpose, two banks), arpeggiator, 40 presets, mono out, CV/gate, and external audio input to run other gear through that killer filter. MIDI and CPU upgrades make it studio-ready today, with unison stacking both oscs for huge presence.
Players love its stable tuning, punchy envelopes, and endless sound design depth—it's a staple for gritty basses, searing leads, and experimental patches that still hold up in modern rigs, though some note the fixed note lengths in sequencing as a vintage quirk.
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