NI Pro 53

My absolutely favourite among the VST/Softsynths is the now discontinued PRO 53 from Native Instruments. It’s a emulation of the infamous Prophet 5, a synthesiser I personal wanted to own for 10-15 years now.

What is so great about this piece of software then? Well, the prophet 5 is fat - unbelievable fat in real to be honest. The rev 3 I tested sounded better than the old oberheims I tested.. so love is a small word for this beast. Ok, now we have the Prophet 8, new, stable and with midi and all other gadgets - and to an affordable price tag as well. But the Pro 5 is still a dream for me... Even if I buy myself a Pro 8 some day.. I will still long for a "real" 5. Why? I think it have to do with childhood dreams and the love of the sound... just say... Ruphert Hine, Icehouse, Nasa.. the prophet 5 is there.. fat as always.

The softsynth then? Ok, it sounds ok. Not at all close to the real thing.. but close enough to create sound that you can produce songs on your laptop with. The laptop will not produce the correct fatness nevertheless.. so softsynths are ok in the "development" phase. The GUI is as close to the original as one can wish for.. so it's pretty easy to get started making your own sounds. It's so similar to the original so you can use old patch shemes as well as SYSEX data - that's good!

I give it a strong 4 out of 5 for usability and stability. As all NI software, it's stable... on my setup anyway (Macbook Pro, MOTU Ultralight FW).

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