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The Mopho's limited control options mean that serious programming has to be done in software.

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The tiny yellow Mopho could be described as a single voice from Dave Smith's Prophet 08, but it doesn't end there. Luckily for us, Dave has gone and tricked out his latest creation with a little something extra.

Some critics have commented that the DCOs (Digitally Controlled Oscillators) in the Prophet 08 (and the Evolver series) haven't really got enough bass in them to create a truly weighty sound. To counter this, the Mopho is the first DSI synth to benefit from the inclusion of sub oscillators to beef up the sound.

Overview

It's hard to ignore the bright orange and yellow paint job: this is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it kind of design that's reminiscent of the Waldorf Microwave XT, with its pattern of radiating concentric circles.

It has a simple layout with two main rows of knobs in the centre and an LCD display above them. The top row of knobs can be assigned to any parameters for editing or real-time tweaking; these can be changed at any time, and the most useful combination can be stored along with a program.

The lower row is fixed to the most commonly used synth functions, namely filter cutoff, resonance and envelope attack plus a combined decay/release knob on the end.

The knobs are actually dented encoders that step through the values incrementally with a definite notch. On the upside, this makes them very accurate and it's very easy to set precise values. The downside is that it takes more than a couple of turns to sweep the filter cutoff through its entire range.

Over on the left-hand side there's a knob which sets global pitch value and above it is a pair of tiny buttons and another encoder for shuttling though the banks of presets.

The Mopho comes loaded with three banks and a total of 384 programs. These are mostly variations on the old classics such as screaming sync leads, super-wide detuned pads, analogue percussion and fat basses.

The others are a bit on the crude and crunchy side, so to get some useable new sounds, you will definitely need to get stuck into some programming.

That said, the Mopho's interface is limited and too slow for in-depth programming, so you have to download the dedicated software editor. Sound Tower (which also made the editors for the Evolver series) has done a fine job at presenting all the main synth parameters on one page, ready to tweak.

Architecture

The analogue guts are the life and soul of this synth. As mentioned previously, the architecture is very similar to the Prophet 08. This consists of dual oscillators which offer saw, triangle, saw-triangle mix and square with pulse width modulation. The DCO nature keeps the pitch and tuning rock-solid, so to introduce a bit of analogue drift there is a 'Slop' control, which stays safely on the subtle (ie, usable) side.

Each oscillator has its own sub oscillator to dial in some extra fatness. Sub one is one octave below its fundamental, and Sub two sits two octaves below. These are indispensable for getting the girth into the bass end and, thanks to the nature of the DCOs, they are supremely tight and punchy and blend perfectly into the mix.