The Prophet-5 was a groundbreaker back in its day, because it was among the first wave of analog synths to use patch memory. The original Prophet-5 had five-note polyphony and was known for the Poly-Mod feature, which let users create two-operator FM synthesis and ring mod effects.

Several emulations and imitations of the original Prophet-5 have come and gone, including the Native Instruments Pro-53 virtual keyboard.

Sequential Circuits itself later rolled out the Prophet-10, which featured, surprise, 10-voice polyphony and the dual-keyboard configuration preferred by cheese-synthpop bands everywhere. Not all the lovers of the Prophet line were consumate cheeseballs; the roster of distunguished users includes Gary Numan, Talking Heads, Kraftwerk, Steely Dan, and director John Carpenter, who frequently scores his own films.

Check out more details of the brand new Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08 analog synth in the audio clip below.