The super-cute Prophet-mini looks like a downsized Prophet-5, but will we be able to buy it?

If you thought that Behringer had a monopoly on Sequential Circuits synth clones, it might be time to think again. An as-yet-unknown Japanese company called PikoPiko Factory has posted images (not renders) of the so-called Prophet-mini, a cute-looking instrument that appears to be a downsized replica of the classic Prophet-5.

As things stand, the Prophet-mini exists only on Twitter, but it looks like it’s going to be shown at the Tokyo Maker Faire on 3 October. A translation of the Japanese text suggests this is going to be a 4-voice polysynth with 37 mini keys, MIDI, a battery power option and built-in speakers. There’s also talk - crazy talk, perhaps - of a shoulder strap so that you can play it like a keytar.

That’s all we have at the moment; it’s not clear whether this is just a concept product or one that will be going into production, or whether it’s analogue or a digital emulation (though the suggestion that “the circuit of the legendary famous machine is downsized” has us hoping it’s the former).

To reiterate, though, it sure does look cute.