I’ve got a choice to make (or stop spending silly money on synths) between an amazing condition VS or just buying a new Prophet 12.
The considerations are tough, VS has nothing to prove sonically with me, but if it breaks it may be very difficult to repair due to lack of parts.
Prophet 12 is cheaper, will have warranty and have spares available.
What to do?
Or the Pro 2 perhaps? not massively bothered about lots of polyphony, more about sound.
I was going to say that, but I decided not to since it seemed like you had narrowed it down to these two. The Pro 2 would definitely be my choice.
To be fair I’m a little ignorant of what is on the market given I’ve mostly been buying Euro stuff and DIY kit.
But you know what it’s like to somehow view a “classic” as must own. I still regret passing on an Alesis Andromeda a few years back.
I had to make the same decision…. and you know who won.
Don’t say that frank, you’re one of the reasons I’m in this dilemma 
Plus I listened to Youtube demos earlier and had a lump in my throat at some of the sounds, one filter sweep reminded me of the nice synth work on the TV show Airwolf (which combined with owning a C64 is why I like electronic music).
All you need to know is that the VS is the result of a very wild night between a Prophet 5 and a ppg Wave 2.2. It can do roughly 90% of the Sounds of both of them, luckily the more useful part, plus all the VS goodies.
The P12 albeit is just a Prophet. A damn good one but it will always be a miracle to me why no Vector Mixer / Envelope was implemented….
EDIT: and whats cooler than playing on stage with a Sequential Circuits Prophet VS and a Waldorf µQ Keyboard stacked - eat this Yamaha Motif
EDIT2: DONT TRUST ME ON THIS! Wait for jojjelito to chime in!
The lack of stick is a pain, especially given I always wanted one on my Wavestation SR. But a Kaoss pad would solve that? bit of a workaround I know.
What really worries me is the scarcity of some of the VS chips, the CEM 5510 for instance.
Pro 2 has more interesting filters than the Prophet 12. But I feel for that money I’d expect more polyphony.
Is this a fair price? it seems to be in very good condition.
This one surely looks great, it even has the red sticker…. but 2750GBP which is 3480€ is a bit - ähem - ridiculous overpriced.
Although mine looks a bit more rocked it is technically 100% OK, serviced, bought from a trustworthy person, has a brand new custom made flight case and was 1900€. For the difference you get a Pro2……
So my advice is wait for a better offer. Wait a little longer. Wait till the right one floats your way. My wait was about 3 years. Remember: you don’t exactly need one, you want one.
Thanks, that’s settled it for me 
I’ll wait for another one to appear sometime. I’m currently bidding on an ESQ-1 and I’ve got a MicroQ on the way.
You could have sneaked in the ESQ between the VS and the qQK
You surely have seen this - the ESQ can also play deep in ppg Land….
The Ensoniq to me is what the SID chip that could have been. If Bob Yannes had more time to finish it.
That alone is enough for me, the fact it sounds really good as well is a bonus
@toneburst Nope, it was a composer called Sylvester Levay (and some other composers later on). He scored a lot of the music and then some session musicians would perform it and record it. I suspect that doing it with synths was cheaper and fitted the “high tech” image of the show.
Sylvester also did the music to an early TV movie called Invitation to Hell, which was also done with synths. Sounds very much in the Airwolf style (which is why I remember that film, even though it’s very cheesy, but fun).
Ooops, my mistake, it was Street Hawk
Funnily enough, the Airwolf theme sounds more like a Tangerine Dream track than Street Hawk, to my ears.
a|x
It’s good researching these things, I just found a TV series I didn’t know existed. The Highwayman. A sort of Knight Rider meets Max Max, staring Sam Jones (Flash Gordon).
The guy who wrote the Nightrider theme was a proper orchestral composer and conductor.
a|x
I think anyone doing music back then would have been since you would have to write and score the music for playback by an orchestra.
None of this MIDI lark
In the end I found a VS for £1000 less than the one I linked to. It’s been serviced and has a new display. So I couldn’t resist.
@6581punk: Glad you went with the VS over the still produced model.
I would only recommend a Pro 2 to someone who is in need of a Eurorack controller. That is why it is priced so high to begin with.
My personal suggestion? Get a Kawai K4/K4r. You get 4 oscillators at 8 voices of polyphony and a digital filter that is superior to most CEM filters. I am only saying most because I don’t have experience with all of them. Yes, I know there are no S&H AM sidebands. However, the prices have fallen on them. I have considered getting a second one for a dedicated drum rack.
Want an ESQ-1/SQ-80? Get a touch screen laptop and the VST SQ8L. The oscillators are spot on, and the filter sounds better than the CEM. Yes, I own an SQ-80, and no I am not going to sell it. The filter on the SID, even with its flaws, actually has some character to it. You can not “re tune” the SQ-80 filters as they are digitally tuned to the same response curve on start up. That’s right, even if you switch out some resistor values in the hardware itself.