Expanse5

Name: Expanse5
Price: 191.9 USD
Author: Acustica Audio

by Acustica Audio · Synth · Virtual analog polysynth

Not rated yet

Expanse5 (XP-5) is a virtual analog synth modeled on a five-voice polysynth from the late analog era, built on Acustica's MUST engine.

It includes over 450 presets, an arpeggiator and studio effects, and costs €169 (about $191.90).

Best for: Keys & Synths, Sound Design. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: polyphonic, analog, classic, hardware emulation, arpeggiator, preset-driven, subtractive, analog-sounding, oversampling, sound design, 70s, 80s, basses, brass, circuit-modelled, leads, monophonic, pads, vintage, virtual analog.

What it does

Expanse5 is Acustica Audio's take on "a legendary, five-voice polysynth of the late analog era"; Gearnews identifies the model as the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. It runs on Acustica's MUST engine, which mixes analog circuit modeling with the company's convolution approach, and the whole signal path runs at the oversampled rate with no block processing.

Oscillators: two per voice, with cross-modulation, sync, PWM, noise and fine detune, plus a dedicated Sub voice for extra low end.
Filter and VCA: multimode filters with classic subtractive behavior, key follow and velocity control.
Modulation: fast envelopes with velocity control and LFOs that can run at audio rate.
Voices: polyphony from 2 to 10 voices, 5 by default, with portamento.
Superstereo and Age: Superstereo widens the sound by decorrelating the voices; Age adds analog drift and wear.
Effects: chorus, delay, reverb, EQ and a multiband saturator built in.
Performance and presets: arpeggiator, real-time MIDI learn and 450+ presets from sound designers and producers.

Gearnews reported a 30-day trial.

Source: Acustica Audio product page

When to use it

Expanse5 stays with one five-voice character and adds Acustica's Superstereo, Age and a full effects chain, so patches come out mix-ready. That makes it narrower than Diva and CS-80 V, the best-known analog-modeled polysynths on the site: Diva models analog circuits with a choice of oscillator and filter types, and CS-80 V recreates Yamaha's larger CS-80. It is the pick if you want that late-analog polysynth sound with built-in effects; if you want a broad sound-design synth, a wavetable instrument goes much further.

Best for: classic late-analog polysynth pads, brass, leads and bass.
Genres: any, especially Pop, synthwave and Electronic & EDM.
Look elsewhere if: you need a broad modern sound-design synth (Serum 2 or Pigments 7), or a polysynth emulation with wider user acclaim (Diva).

What producers say

Coverage so far is mostly launch news; the one reader verdict found was negative.

Gearnews covered the launch, highlighting the MUST engine running fully at the oversample rate, the scalable polyphony, sub oscillator and built-in effects.
Criticisms: a Gearnews reader found the sound "sterile brittle and shrilly" and felt u-he and Arturia offer better Prophet emulations.

Gearnews article

Where to buy

Acustica Audio: $191.90 (€169 (KVR listing price) converted to USD (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026))

Tutorials and reviews

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