PikoPiko Factory Prophet-Mini: is this adorable synthesizer for real?

28 Sep 2020 by Robin Vincent | Approximate reading time: 1 Minute

PikoPiko Factory Prophet-Mini · Source: PikoPiko Factory

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From Japan and Twitter comes some photos of what appears to be a Prophet-5 squeezed into a smaller form with a 3-octave mini keyboard and a cute front panel. It’s called the Prophet-Mini and would you like one?

Prophet-Mini

It seems to have exactly the same layout as the original Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer just in a smaller frame. A post on the Pro Synth Network Facebook group seems to suggest that they are considering production if there’s enough interest. So if you want one you’re probably better let them know.

According to a tweet from the PikoPiko Factory account it is their first synthesizer, it has 4-voices, a 37 note mini keyboard, MIDI, speakers and runs on battery power. It will be on show at the Tokyo Maker Faire on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of October.

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That’s all we know at the moment. It looks completely gorgeous and despite the built-in speakers and battery power manages to stay the right side of the toy-line. It’s a slightly odd choice of synthesizer to turn into something portable.

Update: I am reliably informed that the synthesizer is indeed made from discrete analogue components and is not some sort of emulation. The one in the photos is just a mockup of the case for the Maker Faire. They’ve received the PCBs back from manufacture and will be soldering the first one together after the show. So, hopefully demos will be along soon after that.