MusicRadar

As you start to observe that there will soon be more open doors on your Advent calendar than closed ones, the realisation dawns that that at some point very soon you’re going to have to stop burying your head in the snow and get on with some Christmas shopping.

We won’t claim to be able to offer any help in choosing a present for your difficult-to-buy-for maiden aunt (unless she’s always had a burning desire to build her own synth, that is), but if any of the people on your gift recipient list happen to have a hi-tech music habit, you’re in luck.

MusicRadar has picked out 11 superior stocking fillers that will bring festive cheer to any electronic muso, starting with the world’s cutest analogue synth.

When Korg launched the monotron at the 2010 Frankfurt Musikmesse in March, our first thought was: ‘everyone’s going to want one of those for Christmas’. Eight months on and that’s still our hunch: who wouldn’t want to discover one of these miniature marvels under their tree on 25 December?