# Opinions on Sequential Take 5?



## zoixx (Oct 25, 2021)

What are your thoughts on Sequentials new synth Take 5? I was looking at the Novation Peak and then the Take 5 made an entrance. Similar price point, different specs. Definitely worried about only five voices.


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Oct 25, 2021)

zoixx said:


> What are your thoughts on Sequentials new synth Take 5? I was looking at the Novation Peak and then the Take 5 made an entrance. Similar price point, different specs. Definitely worried about only five voices.


I don't own nor have I ever played the Take 5, but I do own a Prophet 6 and Rev2. From what I read, the Take 5 has the nice, warm VCO's like a Prophet 5, but with a similar mod matrix and effects of the Rev2. At the current price point, for me, that makes it a best of both worlds kinda synth. You could do more "old school" sounds as well as go crazy with the mod matrix and the added effects are a bonus. I'd really suggest playing one before buying and make some patches yourself to get an idea if it suits your needs.

Only you can answer if 5 voices are an issue or not. What are your concerns?


----------



## zoixx (Oct 25, 2021)

Marcus Millfield said:


> I don't own nor have I ever played the Take 5, but I do own a Prophet 6 and Rev2. From what I read, the Take 5 has the nice, warm VCO's like a Prophet 5, but with a similar mod matrix and effects of the Rev2. At the current price point, for me, that makes it a best of both worlds kinda synth. You could do more "old school" sounds as well as go crazy with the mod matrix and the added effects are a bonus. I'd really suggest playing one before buying and make some patches yourself to get an idea if it suits your needs.
> 
> Only you can answer if 5 voices are an issue or not. What are your concerns?


Yep I will have to wait until my local store has the synth available.

Concerns are note tails and doing 4 note chords with an octave in the bass for instance.


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Oct 25, 2021)

Yeah, that will definitely happen. First note will fall off your chord after the 5th note.


----------



## doctoremmet (Oct 25, 2021)

Just remember just about every band in the early 1980s was able to use their P5s to great effect regardless of the polyphony. Just like with samples one just plays to the patch


----------



## SupremeFist (Oct 25, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Just remember just about every band in the early 1980s was able to use their P5s to great effect regardless of the polyphony. Just like with samples one just plays to the patch


Vince Clarke only had a Pro-1 for the first Yazoo album so no one even needs polyphony.


----------



## SupremeFist (Oct 25, 2021)

Don't you have a Take 5, @Fleer? Very interested in it myself...


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Oct 25, 2021)

Recent video. Haven’t watched yet. I believe @pmountford ordered a T5.

The sound is different, but, on paper, the T5 is sort of like the junior PolyBrute - half the cost, half the size and weight.


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Oct 25, 2021)

I'd take a look at this as well:



Het has multiple in-depth videos of the Take 5. Highly recommended stuff.


----------



## pmountford (Oct 25, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Recent video. Haven’t watched yet. I believe @pmountford ordered a T5.


It's been sitting in the rack now for 10 days or so. Every time I turn it on it grows on me. Just not had the time to get to grips with it but so far it's a keeper. More capable than the 'first synth' from the marketing that seems to accompany it IMHO.


----------



## pmountford (Oct 25, 2021)

zoixx said:


> What are your thoughts on Sequentials new synth Take 5? I was looking at the Novation Peak and then the Take 5 made an entrance. Similar price point, different specs. Definitely worried about only five voices.


Love mine. Sits above a Summit I'm the rack. Different beasts. I don't think the 5 voice is so much of an issue to stop buying this synth. Most of the time Im just playing a triad with the rest and bass with the left so there's a note left over! But of course you are aware when changing chords... is it an issue? It wouldn't (didnt) stop me from buying. You just adapt your technique or music. We'll atleast I do.
But back to Peak vs T5. That's so difficult to answer because the Summit is the Poly I'd keep if I only had one. But that really doesn't mean its better of course. Only you can answer..and that means sitting down and playing them for some time.
Sorry for the rambling. I really shouldn't have gone to the pub this afternoon.


----------



## SupremeFist (Oct 25, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Love mine. Sits above a Summit I'm the rack. Different beasts. I don't think the 5 voice is so much of an issue to stop buying this synth. Most of the time Im just playing a triad with the rest and bass with the left so there's a note left over! But of course you are aware when changing chords... is it an issue? It wouldn't (didnt) stop me from buying. You just adapt your technique or music. We'll atleast I do.
> But back to Peak vs T5. That's so difficult to answer because the Summit is the Poly I'd keep if I only had one. But that really doesn't mean its better of course. Only you can answer..and that means sitting down and playing them for some time.
> Sorry for the rambling. I really shouldn't have gone to the pub this afternoon.


What I still haven't figured out is whether 5 voices is enough to play 3-voice pads in polyphonic legato style (so basically SAT arrangements with another instrument providing bass) without voice-stealing. Would that work?


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Oct 25, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> What I still haven't figured out is whether 5 voices is enough to play 3-voice pads in polyphonic legato style (so basically SAT arrangements with another instrument providing bass) without voice-stealing. Would that work?


As you will probably use a longer release, when you change chord, the tail of the first note from the previous 3-note chord will be stolen. The question is if that will be an issue in a live setting. In a recording, it'll probably be noticable.


----------



## zoixx (Oct 25, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Love mine. Sits above a Summit I'm the rack. Different beasts. I don't think the 5 voice is so much of an issue to stop buying this synth. Most of the time Im just playing a triad with the rest and bass with the left so there's a note left over! But of course you are aware when changing chords... is it an issue? It wouldn't (didnt) stop me from buying. You just adapt your technique or music. We'll atleast I do.
> But back to Peak vs T5. That's so difficult to answer because the Summit is the Poly I'd keep if I only had one. But that really doesn't mean its better of course. Only you can answer..and that means sitting down and playing them for some time.
> Sorry for the rambling. I really shouldn't have gone to the pub this afternoon.


Thanks man, interesting to hear all different takes. Looking forward to playing around with it in the store. To be fair, if I had the money I would go for the OB-6 and that's only one voice away.


----------



## pmountford (Oct 25, 2021)

zoixx said:


> Thanks man, interesting to hear all different takes. Looking forward to playing around with it in the store. To be fair, if I had the money I would go for the OB-6 and that's only one voice away.


Yes, and Take them with a pinch of salt. Neither synth may be to your taste. The T5 I think you have to give more time with. I'm not so sure I'd have picked it up had I just played with it for 10mins in store.


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Oct 25, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Yes, and Take them with a pinch of salt. Neither synth may be to your taste. The T5 I think you have to give more time with. I'm not so sure I'd have picked it up had I just played with it for 10mins in store.


16 mod slots is quite a few. Enough to not make it no longer a 1:1 kind of feel to creating sounds. I'm looking at the Pro3 that has 32 slots for next year - which is software synth level.

5 voices - the Prophet 5 has been popular and successful for decades, so it's definitely possible to make great music with it. But will it help you make YOUR music? One way to test that is to at least have the demo of Repro5 and make sure it's limited to 5 voices. The voice stealing algorithm may differ between the software and Take 5, however, so - only a very rough approximation.

More videos


----------



## pmountford (Nov 3, 2021)

I'm renaming mine "Take 4". Sounds great but one of the oscillator voices doesn't play. So playing round robin 5 notes and 5th note doesn't sound or playing a 5 note chord only the first 4 notes play.  Anyone else had this problem? Just contacted Sequential so awaiting to hear if I've gone mad..


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Nov 3, 2021)

pmountford said:


> I'm renaming mine "Take 4". Sounds great but one of the oscillator voices doesn't play. So playing round robin 5 notes and 5th note doesn't sound or playing a 5 note chord only the first 4 notes play.  Anyone else had this problem? Just contacted Sequential so awaiting to hear if I've gone mad..


Try and recalibrate the VCO's. See Appendix D in the manual.


----------



## pmountford (Nov 3, 2021)

Marcus Millfield said:


> Try and recalibrate the VCO's. See Appendix D in the manual.


Many thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I tried this this morning and after two hours being stuck on this I switched it off. Any other ideas?


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Nov 3, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Many thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I tried this this morning and after two hours being stuck on this I switched it off. Any other ideas?


Try it again.

The process of calibrating oscillators can hang, even when there is nothing wrong with the synth. I'd try it again. If this happens again, wait for Sequential to get back to you.

My Rev2 16-voice a few years back had only 8 voices. I then re-seated the expansion card, but still no dice untill I recalibrated the oscillators. That's why I suggested it.

Good luck man. It'd suck if a voice died :-(


----------



## pmountford (Nov 3, 2021)

Marcus Millfield said:


> The process of calibrating oscillators can hang, even when there is nothing wrong with the synth. I'd try it again.


Thx again. Will try. How long does a calibration typically take? Are we talking a few minutes?


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Nov 3, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Thx again. Will try. How long does a calibration typically take? Are we talking a few minutes?


My Rev2 takes about 15 minutes, it has 16 voices but they are DCO's. Don't know if VCO's are different in calibrating.


----------



## pmountford (Nov 3, 2021)

Marcus Millfield said:


> Try it again.


You're a genius (or I'm am idiot 🤪).

Calibration worked this time and the 5 voices can heard.


----------



## Marcus Millfield (Nov 3, 2021)

pmountford said:


> You're a genius (or I'm am idiot 🤪).
> 
> Calibration worked this time and the 5 voices can heard.


That's great! Enjoy the T5!


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Nov 4, 2021)

The OB-6 will be less stable than the T5, but I ran calibration once or twice per day for a couple of weeks so that it could build the temperature table. Or early in the morning/evening when it might be more cold/hot in the room. Unless for some reason I clear all the temp tables, at this point (going on 3 years of ownership) I only bother to manually tune it once per month or so, "just to be sure".


----------



## pmountford (Dec 11, 2021)

It turned out that there was a problem in the end with the main board on the Take 5. The 5th voice would come back after being calibrated only to disappear again later (clearing the calibration tables had no effect either).

Thankfully Sequential support have just sent over a replacement board that I've just fitted and I'm back to a fully 5 voiced Take 5.

Big thumbs up for painless support by Sequential even though they are many 1000's miles away. Kind of makes you want to support them again. Only disappointment is that they wouldn't give any indication as to when or what is coming from Sequential next... 🙃


----------



## shmuelyosef (Dec 13, 2021)

zoixx said:


> Thanks man, interesting to hear all different takes. Looking forward to playing around with it in the store. To be fair, if I had the money I would go for the OB-6 and that's only one voice away.


I have an OB-6 and it's something to manage, but not very problematic. Having limits can make you more creative, once you know where the boundaries are.


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Dec 13, 2021)

shmuelyosef said:


> I have an OB-6 and it's something to manage, but not very problematic. Having limits can make you more creative, once you know where the boundaries are.


You really need to love the sound of a 12db filter to spend all that money on an OB-6. The OB-6/P6 definitely have a lot more limits than, say, the Take5 (albeit 1 more voice). However, they have fewer limits overall than YT videos, or even just looking at them, may leave you thinking they have. There's a LOT of similarities amongst a lot of YT videos in terms of sounds they make with the synth - which, as it turns out, is maybe 1/4, maybe 1/3 at best, of what it can do.

Videos of the Take5 will in some ways be better than that (there's no "Why isn't this a vintage synth even thought it's new and not an emulation??!!!? $%@&$%!!! like with the OB-6), and some ways worse (this thing bends a little so it sucks, or, because it has 16 mod slots, no one will capture all the variations).


----------



## shmuelyosef (Dec 14, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> You really need to love the sound of a 12db filter to spend all that money on an OB-6. The OB-6/P6 definitely have a lot more limits than, say, the Take5 (albeit 1 more voice).


I actually DO love the sound of the SEM filter and that's what convinced me to buy another full-fledged poly-synth (I sold off my collection in the late 80s, including an original DX7 and a Moog).
I also have an SE-02 (Studio Electronics analog monosynth sponsored by Roland). It is basically a Minimoog with a few twists (one of which is multiple filters...including a 12dB, and some extra waveforms in the oscillators).


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Dec 14, 2021)

shmuelyosef said:


> I actually DO love the sound of the SEM filter and that's what convinced me to buy another full-fledged poly-synth (I sold off my collection in the late 80s, including an original DX7 and a Moog).
> I also have an SE-02 (Studio Electronics analog monosynth sponsored by Roland). It is basically a Minimoog with a few twists (one of which is multiple filters...including a 12dB, and some extra waveforms in the oscillators).


Wait. The SE-02 is a 24db ladder filter. I have one (it was my first hardware synth). It’s modeled after a minimoog, but is fairly different - you have to make a special effort to get it to sound similar as it likes to be its own thing. I’m seriously considering an SE-3X next year - that comes with several filters. Unfortunately not the one used in the Boomstar SE80, though.

Don’t buy the OB-6 because of the SEM sound of yesteryear - it’s not the same. The OB-6 is more modern and “cutting” as well as more precise. It shares a lot of DNA with the P6. Even more than the Take5 shares with the P5.


----------



## shmuelyosef (Dec 14, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Wait. The SE-02 is a 24db ladder filter. I have one (it was my first hardware synth). It’s modeled after a minimoog, but is fairly different - you have to make a special effort to get it to sound similar as it likes to be its own thing. I’m seriously considering an SE-3X next year - that comes with several filters. Unfortunately not the one used in the Boomstar SE80, though.
> 
> Don’t buy the OB-6 because of the SEM sound of yesteryear - it’s not the same. The OB-6 is more modern and “cutting” as well as more precise. It shares a lot of DNA with the P6. Even more than the Take5 shares with the P5.


...duh...brain fart. I always use this with feedback down and tame filter settings, so I perhaps lulled myself into this faux pas. I bought the OB-6 very early (it's actually branded "_Dave Smith_")...I have had pretty good results generating SEM-like sounds...yes, not a clone, but satisfying. The oscillators are more of the difference between an old Oberheim and the OB-6, but you can finesse it. When the filter is set to a mild condition, it sounds a lot like a Prophet. The unique combination was what intrigued me after I spent a full afternoon in the music store considering it!


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Dec 14, 2021)

shmuelyosef said:


> ...duh...brain fart. I always use this with feedback down and tame filter settings, so I perhaps lulled myself into this faux pas. I bought the OB-6 very early (it's actually branded "_Dave Smith_")...I have had pretty good results generating SEM-like sounds...yes, not a clone, but satisfying. The oscillators are more of the difference between an old Oberheim and the OB-6, but you can finesse it. When the filter is set to a mild condition, it sounds a lot like a Prophet. The unique combination was what intrigued me after I spent a full afternoon in the music store considering it!


Seems we have some overlapping tastes in instruments! I'll wrap that up (since it's not Take5 specific) by saying I also have a Digitone, which works really well with the SE-02, and am, as I mentioned, considering the Studio Electronics SE-3X next year... it could replace my SE-02, but not right away, if ever. Because the SE-3X is a $2300 rack paraphonic synth by a boutique company, there's not a lot of videos out there, but it's BEAUTIFUL and BEASTLY. Maybe you shouldn't find the videos that are out there or you might want one, too!

The Pro3SE is probably too wide for my space, so, depending on funds etc. I'll likely be decided between a Take5 and the SE-3X, but am definitely leaning to the SE-3X if I can get it.


----------



## pmountford (Dec 15, 2021)

Oh dear. It looks like the replacement board Sequential sent over may be faulty so I'm back to a 'Take 4' again, this time missing Voice 3 on the 2nd Oscillator. It always hangs whenever I try to run calibration routine. I've cleared the calibration tables as well to see if that helps but still hanging and a missing oscillator 2 voice... 

Anyone else noticed missing voices on their Take 5?


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Dec 15, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Oh dear. It looks like the replacement board Sequential sent over may be faulty so I'm back to a 'Take 4' again, this time missing Voice 3 on the 2nd Oscillator. It always hangs whenever I try to run calibration routine. I've cleared the calibration tables as well to see if that helps but still hanging and a missing oscillator 2 voice...
> 
> Anyone else noticed missing voices on their Take 5?


Is it too late to return the whole thing to the retailer where you got it and try a different one? Otherwise, I'd just hop back on the phone/email etc. with Sequential as soon as possible. I'm sorry to hear this isn't going smoothly.


----------



## pmountford (Dec 15, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Is it too late to return the whole thing to the retailer where you got it and try a different one? Otherwise, I'd just hop back on the phone/email etc. with Sequential as soon as possible. I'm sorry to hear this isn't going smoothly.


Awaiting to hear from Sequential support via email but have spoken to retailer who says the decision is with Sequential. Assuming I'm not doing something dumb then I think it's time to swap it.


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Dec 15, 2021)

pmountford said:


> Awaiting to hear from Sequential support via email but have spoken to retailer who says the decision is with Sequential. Assuming I'm not doing something dumb then I think it's time to swap it.


Yeah. One fix is one thing - stuff happens. Two fixes may point to another issue... and you want to make music, not repair synths (presumably!).


----------

