Prince’s go-to synths and drum machine: a career in music tech gear
From the Linn LM-1 to the Roland JD-800
Synths
All the latest keyboard and synth news, reviews and tips on MusicRadar
Latest synths news
How Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was written in a couple of hours and took most of its sounds from the Korg Triton
As the star rides high again with Padam Padam, we look back at the writing and recording of one of her biggest hits
Show Us Your Studio #1: This modular madhouse is giving us serious gear envy
We kick off our weekly peek into our readers' home studios with Yann Le Vot's absolute beast of a set-up...
Former 10cc keyboard player Duncan Mackay showing his Yamaha and Roland synths to comedian Mike Reid could be the strangest video you'll watch all week
It all took place on a children’s TV show in the early ‘80s as a robot called Metal Mickey looked on
Jon Hopkins spent 4 months perfecting the synth riff for Open Eye Signal on a 1979 Korg MS-20: “So much effort into trying to make something sound effortless”
As Hopkins' 2013 release Immunity turns 10, the electronic artist opens up about the album's writing process
Propellerhead’s ReBirth is reborn as a hands-on hardware synth, and it’s all thanks to Look Mum No Computer
The master of MIDI controllers gets his teeth into a 25-year-old Roland-cloning classic
Akai issues a red alert as it launches the MPC One+, but it might not have all the upgrades you were hoping for
Increased storage, but the same amount of RAM as its predecessor, and still no built-in battery
Behringer launches the Moog-esque Edge and Spice synths and hits back at “all the critics who claim that we’re driven by profit”
New instruments appear to be inspired by the DFAM and Subharmonicon
Best MIDI keyboards 2023: Mac, PC and iOS keyboards for players, composers and producers
Our expert guide to the best MIDI keyboards of all sizes and budgets to integrate with your home studio
Latest synths tuition
How to create the 'perfect fifths' synth pad
Get your fifths and ninths in order as we explore one of the most identifiable pad sounds around
Quick Tips: What is control voltage and how does it work?
Get to know the CV/Gate system, the pre-MIDI method that synths, sequencers and music tech gear uses to communicate
How to recreate the sound of the Solina String Ensemble
We bolster our guide to 15 essential synth sounds with one of the most useful patches in any synthesist's arsenal: synth strings
How to make synth sweep FX for EDM drops
We’ve all heard white noise sweeps with their cutoff frequencies steadily climbing. In this tutorial, we look at a more original take
How to create a classic rave chord stab
A staple of dance music, these short, punchy bursts of sound can provide harmonic and percussive drive in one go
How to make an ambient pad like Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygene
Create evolving sonic atmospheres using Logic's Alchemy soft synth
How to make a Minimoog-style bass patch
A classic analogue bass patch makes a great jumping-off point for pretty much any monosynth
How to synthesize an analogue-style kick from scratch
Making your own kick has many benefits, and is simpler than you’d think
How to make a classic house organ sound like Robin S.' Show Me Love
Next up in our guide to 15 synth patches every producer should know, we take on a defining sound in '90s house music
Latest synths reviews
ALM Busy Circuits Pam’s Pro Workout review
- £269
- €296
- $319
Will the pro version of this popular multi-tasking module make us break a sweat?
Korg i3 workstation keyboard review
- £429
- €483
- $579
Korg’s Entry-Level Workstation Keyboard, but with no speakers, who is it really for?
Cherry Audio Mercury-6 review
- £44
- €69
- $69
Cherry Audio’s latest softsynth arrives from the orbit of Mercury, with vintage stimulus from one of the biggest gas giants of them all
Ableton Push 3 review
- £879
- €949
- $999
Ableton’s controller goes fully MPE and throws off the shackles of Live itself. Let's see how far we can Push it…
Roland FP-E50 review
- £799
- €920
- $1009
Is it a piano, a synth, an arranger or something else? We meet the Roland keyboard that wants to do it all
Tone2 Rayblaster 2.9 review
- $189 (often $99)
Tone2’s Rayblaster celebrates its 10th birthday but has been radically overhauled behind the UI. Time to reappraise this blast from the past
GForce Software Minimonsta2 review
- £99.99
What’s that coming over the hill? It’s the latest incarnation of the Moog Model D from soft-synth pioneer GForce Software…
Korg EK-50 arranger keyboard review
- £349
- €339
- $499
Could Korg’s entry-level Entertainer Keyboard be your perfect backing band?
Akai MPC X Special Edition review
- $2499
Akai's flagship MPC gets a refresh, but it's about more than just the retro grey paint job
Donner DMK-25 Pro review
- £125
Small but mighty, this controller delivers a ton of functionality and value. We take the DMK-25 for a spin
