The Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 has been one of the more anticipated and discussed items making an appearance. Even though it has been no secret that the Prophet '08 was going to be at NAMM, it built a heck of a lot of buzz.

The eight-voice synthesizer with the completely analog signal path brought to the table features like velocity and aftertouch as well as an arpeggiator, gated stop sequencer, and split and layer sounds.

There were almost too many knobs to know where to begin, but that's as can be expected. With such a versatile range of modulation, this keyboard invokes a classic feel while adding new features that modernize the keyboard. Here are the specs:

• 5-octave keyboard with semi-weighted action, velocity, and aftertouch.
• Spring-loaded pitch wheel and assignable mod wheel
• 256 fully editable Programs (Two banks of 128) with two layers (2 separate sounds) in each Program.
• 16 x 4 gated step sequencer
• Arpeggiator
• Two digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCOs) per voice with selectable sawtooth, triangle, saw/triangle mix, and pulse waves (with pulse-width modulation), and hard sync
• White noise generator
• One Analog Curtis low-pass filter per voice, selectable 2- and 4-pole operation (self-resonating in 4-pole mode).
• Three Envelope Generators: filter, VCA, and assignable (four-stage ADSR + delay); Envelope 3 can loop.
• Four LFOs
• Glide (portamento): separate rates per oscillator.
• Analog VCAs

And the ins and outs:

• MIDI In, Out, Thru, and Poly Chain
• Main stereo audio output: 1/4" unbalanced
• Output B stereo audio output: 1/4" unbalanced
• Sustain pedal input: accepts normally on or normally off momentary footswitch.
• Pedal/CV input: responds to expression pedals or control voltages ranging from 0 to 5 VDC (protected against higher or negative voltages).
• Headphone output: 1/4" stereo phone jack.

The LinnDrum II was there as well, but its sounds were not on display. It does exist though and is projected to be out by year's end.