JULY 22, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Dave Smith & Rival Consoles: When Prophets Collide
When Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974, he could not have imagined his synthesizer creations would remain staples of the electronic music-making scene 46 years later. The company folded in 1987 due to the arrival of digital synths, themselves eventually superseded by software synths. However, Sequential was reborn in 2002 – initially as Dave Smith Instruments – and would soon mark its arrival with the 8-voice analogue Prophet '08 synthesizer. One such user is Ryan Lee West, aka Rival Consoles, who spent two years investigating the machine before his career justified the expense of purchasing one. It was a good decision, as the Prophet '08 has become integral to West's production process and has since been featured on all of his records since 2013, including his latest album release Articulation – out now on Erased Tapes. The two briefly crossed paths at Smith's San Francisco workshop when West's Prophet '08 got damaged during transit on tour, and they've kept in touch ever since. With Smith curious about West's approach to using his instrument and West fascinated by Smith's approach to synth building, Tape Op got the instrument maker and instrument user together for an in-depth chat.
