NAMM 2018: Sonicware’s ELZ_1 is a compact synth with multiple engines

NAMM 2018: You can usually rely on the NAMM Show to throw up a couple of eye-catching new products that feel like they’re come from nowhere, and Sonicware’s Gadget Synth ELZ_1 could be a case in point.

Looking like a cross between a slimline MIDI keyboard controller and Teenage Engineering’s OP-1, this compact synth contains FM, 8-bit, DNA Explorer, SiGrinder, Standard Osc and Low-Bit Osc synth engines, so its sound palette should be substantial. There are also filters, EQs, effects and an arpeggiator.

Our plan is to check out the ELZ_1 at the show and find out more. In the meantime, you can have a poke around the synth’s features on the Sonicware website

Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.