What is the PRO-A5, exactly?
AudioKit Pro has put out PRO-A5, a polyphonic analog-style synth for iPhone and iPad that openly models the Sequential Prophet-5, the 1978 polysynth designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen that ran through disco, pop and a generation of house records. It works as a standalone app and as an AUv3 plugin, so it slots straight into mobile studios like AUM, Cubasis or Logic Pro for iPad.
The numbers go past the original on purpose. Where the hardware Prophet-5 gave you five voices, PRO-A5 gives you ten. There are two filters: one stepped and resonant after the vintage Rev 3 circuit, one smooth and modern. On top sit a saturator, a bit-crusher, a chorus, tremolo, auto-pan, a multi-tap delay and a two-mode reverb, plus hundreds of presets to dig through.
Why does a $5 synth matter for house?
The Prophet-5 is not a niche reference. Its brass stabs, glassy pads and detuned strings are baked into the sound of classic house and the disco it came from. The problem has always been the cost: a vintage unit is a collector’s item, and Sequential’s modern reissue runs around $3,500. PRO-A5 puts that voice on a phone for less than a sandwich.
A holy-grail polysynth is now a sub-$5 download. That changes who gets to make this music.
That is the real story. For a producer in Lagos, Manila or a teenager’s bedroom anywhere, the gap between the sound on the records and the gear you can afford just shrank to almost nothing.
What it does not do
Be clear-eyed: this is an emulation, not an official Prophet. Sequential (now owned by Focusrite) is not involved, and a touchscreen is not knobs under your fingers. Heavy patches can lean on older devices, and purists will still want the metal box. None of that changes the headline: the heart of one of the most loved synths ever made now fits in a pocket for the price of a coffee.
