Acustica Audio Expanse-5 is a new authentic emulation of the legendary Sequential Prophet-5 Synthesizer plugin, using the new MUST technology.
The Italian developers at Acustica Audio recently entered the Synthesizer plugin market. First with Thing, a Jupiter-8 emulation, then the free plugin TH2, and most recently with ALICE-9, their first original synth.
All of these synthesizers have one thing in common: they use the MUST engine (Modular Unified Synthesis Technology). Acustica Audio today introduced the Expanse-5, a new addition to its MAREA synth lineup, an emulation of Dave Smith’s most iconic polyphonic Synthesizer.
Acustica Audio Expanse-5
Expanse-5 is a new authentic emulation of the Sequential Prophet-5 polyphonic analog Synthesizer from 1978. At the Expanse-5 core lies Acustica Audio’s proprietary engine, MUST (Modular Unified Synthesis Technology), which is a hybrid synthesis combining convolution and analog modeling technologies.
According to the developers, the new engine operates entirely at an oversampling rate to ensure the best results. The developers promise that XP-5 delivers ultra-low latency, efficient CPU usage, and pristine audio quality.
Polyphony in Expanse-5 is variable. You can set the polyphony to range from two to 10 voices, starting with five by default.
A new addition is the Superstereo feature that expands the stereo image by intelligently duplicating and modulating each voice with complete pitch and phase decorrelation, creating a deep, immersive three-dimensional soundstage. Additionally, you have an age parameter that simulates the behaviour of vintage analog synths.
Classic Prophet-5 With Extras
Every module—from oscillators to filters, envelopes, LFOs, and performance controls—operates continuously at elevated internal frequencies, ensuring unmatched temporal precision and audio fidelity, says the team.
From the sound features, it is a classic Prophet-5 emulation. It includes the legendary dual oscillators with fine detune, noise, PWM, cross-mod, and sync. New in this emulation is a sub-oscillator that adds a dedicated sub-voice focusing on controllable low-end presence.
Then, you have a multimode filter with a built-in ADSR envelope, three-way key follow (off, half, full), and velocity control. Too bad you don’t have the various filter revisions, like the ones you can select in the current Prophet-5. On the modulation side, it has two fixed fast ADSR envelopes (filter and amp), and audio-rate LFOs,
Unlike the original, Acustica Audio Expanse-5 ships with a multi-FX processor with saturation, chorus, delay, and reverb algorithms derived from the Acustica Audio plugins. Besides the classic effects, you also have a multi-band dynamics section with integrated compression, inspired by OTT, for added punch and cohesion.
Furthermore, it features a built-in multimode arpeggiator, portamento support, and real-time MIDI learn capabilities. Acustica Audio Expanse-5 ships with over 450 factory presets created by sound designers, producers, and musicians.
First Impression
Oh, yes, another emulation of the Prophet-5. I’ve honestly lost count of how many virtual Prophets there are these days from various companies. However, if it is on the level of ALICE-9 or even the Jupiter-8 emulation Thing, then the Expanse-5 is probably one of the best Prophet-5 emulations available at the moment.
The Acustica Audio Expanse-5 is now available for an introductory price of 99€, down from 169€, until July 14, 2025. It runs as a VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: Acustica Audio
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