Take 5 vs Prophet-6: Which analog poly best fits your sound?

Not a mini Prophet-6

The easiest mistake is to think of the Take 5 as a cut-down Prophet-6. That description is too simple to be useful. The Take 5 is a five-voice instrument introduced in 2021, built around two analog VCOs per voice, a sub-oscillator, a compact 44-key layout, and a more openly modern modulation philosophy. The Prophet-6, launched in 2015, is a six-voice all-analog polysynth with two discrete VCOs per voice, dual filters, a larger keyboard, and a design philosophy that leans more heavily into immediate vintage-style authority.

That shared family resemblance is real, especially at the oscillator level, but the experience quickly diverges once sound shaping enters the picture.

Oscillators: closer than expected

This is one of the most interesting parts of the comparison, because the Take 5 does not feel like an outsider here. Its oscillators behave much more like the Prophet-6’s than one might expect from the price difference alone. Both instruments offer continuously variable wave shaping, and both can move easily through the familiar territory of classic Sequential brass, pads, basses, and modern poly textures.

The practical distinction is not that one is capable and the other is not. It is more about contour and finish. The Prophet-6 presents itself with more top-end openness and a more extended, airy high-frequency presence. The Take 5 sounds slightly more contained, with a gentler upper spectrum that can make it feel a touch less expansive but also a little easier to sit into a mix without immediately dominating it.

That difference matters most when you play raw waveforms or simple chords. The Prophet-6 tends to sound more open and polished before you have done very much to it. The Take 5 can still get into similar territory, but it arrives there with a subtly different tonal density. It feels less like a direct copy and more like a related dialect.

Where the Prophet-6 pulls ahead: filter behavior

If there is one area where the hierarchy becomes much clearer, it is the filter section.

The Take 5 uses a four-pole low-pass filter based on the Prophet-5 Rev4 design, and it sounds good. It can be driven, it can self-oscillate, and it has a smoother, more controlled behavior than some players may expect from a synth at this price. But the Prophet-6 has a more commanding filter personality. Its low-pass response feels punchier and more resonant, and its dedicated high-pass filter gives it a broader tonal range for sculpting bass weight, trimming mud, or creating more focused midrange placement.

That extra high-pass stage is not just a bonus feature on a spec sheet. It changes the workflow. On the Prophet-6, you can shape the bottom end and the main contour separately, which makes it easier to arrive at refined, finished sounds directly from the panel. On the Take 5, some of that territory can be approached through its effects section, but it does not feel quite the same. The Prophet-6 is doing more of its tonal architecture earlier in the chain, and you can hear it.

The resonance comparison is equally telling. The Prophet-6 feels more dramatic and more forceful here, with a stronger resonant peak and a more assertive sense of depth. The Take 5 is more restrained. That can be a limitation if aggressive filter character is central to how you program, but it can also be an advantage if you prefer a synth that stays controlled rather than constantly leaning toward spectacle.

Modulation and FM: the Take 5 gets surprisingly close

One of the most impressive aspects of the Take 5 is how little it gives away in oscillator interaction and FM-style territory. In practical use, it can cover much of the same ground. The gap is not really about whether it can get there, but about exactly how the sound blooms once it does.

The Prophet-6 retains a slight edge in immediacy and character, especially when a patch depends on the instrument’s stronger filter identity to complete the sound. But in raw cross-modulation and FM-flavored textures, the Take 5 performs far better than a simplified “budget Sequential” narrative would suggest.

In some ways, it even feels more contemporary. The additional LFO flexibility on the Take 5, including per-voice behavior, gives it a modulation personality that can be more exploratory and less fixed. It is the kind of synth that invites movement across the keyboard in ways that feel subtly more animated and less monolithic.

Envelopes and response

Both instruments are fast enough to handle punchy analog work, but they do not project transients in exactly the same way. The Prophet-6 tends to feel more defined and more sharply etched. The Take 5 is still capable of snappy attacks, but the Prophet-6 often gives the impression of greater focus at the front edge of the sound.

This is not just about envelopes in isolation. It is the way oscillator brightness, filter contour, and resonance behavior combine to create a more finished attack. The Prophet-6 often sounds like it is already framing the patch for you. The Take 5 gives you a little more room to shape that identity yourself.

Effects: where the Take 5 becomes more fun than expected

This is the section where the Take 5 stops behaving like the underdog.

The Prophet-6 offers dual digital effects with a strong set of bread-and-butter tools, including multiple reverbs, delays, chorus, flanging, phasing, and ring modulation. It is a mature and musically useful implementation, and its true-bypass design helps preserve the synth’s analog path when effects are disengaged.

But the Take 5’s effects often feel more dramatic in use. The reverb may offer fewer distinct modes, yet it can come across as larger, more immediate, and more exciting in practice. Its delay and modulation effects also seem more willing to tip into bold, unstable, or slightly unruly territory. That matters because onboard effects are not just about convenience. They shape how quickly a synth becomes inspiring.

The Prophet-6 is generally more composed. The Take 5 is often more playful. If you rely on internal effects as part of sound design rather than as light finishing touches, the Take 5 can be the more stimulating instrument to program.

That does not make it superior overall. It just means the usual price hierarchy becomes less obvious here.

Workflow and instrument identity

The Prophet-6 feels like a more resolved instrument. Its interface, dual-filter layout, six-voice architecture, and overall sonic authority create the impression of a synth designed to deliver finished, premium analog tone with minimal friction. It is immediate in the classic Sequential sense: you reach for a control, and the result feels musically decisive.

The Take 5 is more compact and more elastic in character. It still gives you the hands-on workflow that makes Sequential instruments attractive, but it blends that immediacy with a more contemporary willingness to stretch. The smaller format and lower voice count are obvious tradeoffs, yet they are not the whole story. What you gain is a synth that feels portable, modern, and far more capable than its size suggests.

In other words, the Prophet-6 feels more like a finished statement. The Take 5 feels more like a sharp, cleverly edited version of the same language, with a few newer turns of phrase.

Which one makes more sense?

The Prophet-6 makes the stronger case if your priorities are:

• bigger, brighter raw tone
• more commanding resonance and filter punch
• a dedicated high-pass filter for deeper shaping
• six voices instead of five
• a more refined, premium-feeling analog presentation

The Take 5 makes the stronger case if your priorities are:

• a more affordable entry into the Sequential sound world
• compact size without giving up real hands-on control
• modulation flexibility that feels more modern in practice
• onboard effects that are often more dramatic and more immediately fun
• getting very close to Prophet-6 territory without paying Prophet-6 money

Final judgment

What this comparison ultimately reveals is that the Take 5 is much more serious than any “budget alternative” label suggests. It does not fully replace the Prophet-6, and it is not supposed to. The Prophet-6 still sounds more open, more resonant, and more complete at the core of the signal path. Its filter section, in particular, gives it a level of weight and authority that the Take 5 does not quite match.

But the Take 5 earns its place by getting unexpectedly close in the areas that matter most, then answering with its own strengths: compactness, flexibility, and effects that often feel more immediate and more fun. That makes the choice less about good versus better and more about what kind of player you are.

If you want the more commanding instrument, the Prophet-6 still leads. If you want a compact Sequential that captures much of that spirit while adding its own modern personality, the Take 5 is not a compromise nearly as often as people assume.