Cherry Audio’s P10: Sequential Circuit’s Holy Grail Captured

Written by Bytemapper

The Prophet-5 has an enduring legacy when looking at overall synth landscape. Sequential Circuits captured lighting in a bottle, and it’s something that Dave Smith’s legacy perfectly encapsulates. I always think of the Prophet series as the Les Pauls of synths, if that makes sense. They’re gutsy, versatile, but uniquely in their own lane compared to their contemporaries. 

The Prophet-10 is the stuff of legends, with wider polyphony and larger key bed in a time when polyphony could be counted on two hands. Buying one runs about the same cost as a poorly maintained used Honda, but if you’re a little short on cash, Cherry Audio has you covered. The P10 covers a lot of the same ground seen in the likes of Softube’s Model 80 or u-he’s Repro-5. However, it does quite a bit on its own to separate it from the army of Prophet emulations on the market. 

Going Above and Beyond 

At its core, it would be easy to dismiss P10 as yet another Prophet emulation. The usual suspects sound-wise are still there. You’ve got a modeled Curtiss filter, a pair of oscillators with the typical waveforms, and a pair of envelopes.

The original Prophet line of synthesizers were fairly sparse when it came to modulation, something that modern emulations have sought to compensate for. Polyphonic modulation is a standard feature on the Prophet-10 line, and something present and accounted for when compared to other emulations. P10’s polyphonic modulation and dual layer approach is decidedly quite different from the norm, enabling a richer palette of sounds. 

This is best demonstrated by the flexible routing for both sets of voices. The emulated voice cards of the P10 take an upper and lower approach, but you can also route those to switch off with each sequential keypress, in unison, and even as a split if you so desire. You’re left with something far more flexible than its forebear while a good portion of the sound that made it so famous in the first place. 

Cherry Audio has also provided a 128 step sequencer, in case you’re wanting to forego the piano roll and program your own sequences. The power of this feature is shown off quite well in the 500+ presets on offer, but I found myself relying on external sequencers and my DAW more often than not.

How Does It Sound?

At its core, P10 has captured the soul of the Prophet line in my humble opinion. Cherry Audio’s latest batch of synths all come with oversampling options, but that doesn’t say much if the core sound is lacking. Thankfully, I was able to replicate some of my favorite Prophet sounds quite easily. The envelopes are a little different, but that’s to be expected even among similar specimens of the same hardware synth. 

You can recapture some of the analog magic with a drift knob, a feature I love to see on a soft synth of any sort. I typically route a LFO to pitch if this sort of option isn’t available. You’ve got a smattering of effects that are selectable, with a solid reverb, delay, chorus, and distortion at the ready for further sound sculpting. 

The internal arpeggiator is good, I prefer the one found in Mercury-4, but that’s a minor quibble. If you’re looking for a Prophet emulation, P10 might be the one to snag. It perhaps isn’t as fastidious to the overall layout of the synth as something like Softube’s Model 80, but it gets close enough that the additions to the architecture and complementary effects make it a winner. 

Is It Worth the Cash?

So, is P10 worthy of your hard-earned money? I’d say so. It is hard to beat the sound of a Prophet, and P10 is one of the most cost-effective offerings on the market today. As such, I’d certainly say it is worth $59.00 asking price. Cherry Audio’s made a name for itself on the basis of offering competitive software synthesizers with a much more lower asking price than you might expect. 

Getting something that sounds this good for such a low price seems like a no brainer. If you’re on the hunt for a little of that retro flavor with a bit of a modern twist, then P10 is certainly worth the cost of admission. Whether it’s the soaring pads or thick basses this thing conjures up, you’ve got more than enough sonic room to make whatever you want.