Here’s something we didn’t have on our bingo card for 2026: there’s a new release on the way from Jean-Michel Jarre. But it isn’t a new album or even one of his multimedia extravaganzas in an unlikely location. Oh no. It’s something almost quaintly old-fashioned for him: a book.

And it isn’t a memoir. Well, not a straightforward one anyway. Instead, it's a proper weighty tome that tells the story of electronic music, a genre he played a not-insignificant role in shaping himself.

Machines: History Of Electronic Music will be published via Thames & Hudson in November and purports to cover the whole nine yards, from Luigi Rossolo’s 1913 Futurist manifesto The Art Of Noises, via Surrealism, Bauhaus (the art school not the goth band), Westdeutscher Rundfunk, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Kraftwerk. The book also charts the technical breakthroughs, such as tape manipulation, the switch from analogue to digital recording and AI-assisted music.

Contributors include Vince Clarke, Gary Numan, Nicolas Godin of Air, Richie Hawtin, Armin Van Buuren, Hans Zimmer, Gillian Gilbert of New Order and - perhaps rather more unexpectedly - Pete Townshend.

But as well as being a history of the music, Machines sounds like it will be a must for devotees of the actual hardware, too. The publisher’s blurb promises that Jarre "invites readers into his formidable archive - one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of electronic and electro-acoustic instruments.

“Through these machines, Jarre traces the evolution of a century of sonic experimentation, underscoring the ideas, technologies and cultural movements that shaped electronic music as we know it today.” It also features “130 curated, specially photographed examples - from iconic modular synthesizers to rare prototypes and bespoke one-offs.”

It also sounds like there will be plenty of personal reminiscing from the 77-year-old electronic pioneer. Machines, Thames & Hudson say, “is the account of an artist whose life and work are inseparable from the history of electronic music itself. Jarre reflects on his childhood fascination with reel-to-reel tape machines… Personal anecdotes and expert commentary are interwoven with rare archival material, technical schematics, recreations of sonic experiments, and sequenced stills from legendary live performances.”

The book is out on 24 November and, if you’re into doing the pre-order thing, head over to the Thames & Hudson website.

Fledgling Hong Kong-based synth outfit Mach Devices has unveiled the MD-7, a stylish, innovative and open-source mini-synth controlled via motorized discs that might look a little familiar to owners of the Teenage Engineering TP-7 field recorder.

The MD-7's two discs can not only be used to navigate menus, dial in parameters and scrub through sequences – as demonstrated in the Instagram video embedded below – but also provide haptic feedback that the company promises will allow users to "stop looking at the screen and start feeling the patch". (This will be helpful, as the screen is fairly compact.)

What this means in practice is that the discs don't merely sense rotation, but also communicate information to the user through the varying response of their FOC motors. The synth will adjust the resistance of the discs' rotation depending on the parameter that's being tweaked, and can simulate mechanical detents that represent stepped values or even create "virtual walls" when the end of a parameter's range is reached.

MD-7 is also equipped with a backlit keyboard comprised of 13 button keys, three smaller buttons and the aforementioned 1.65" IPS display. In the product images, the display squeezes oscillator, filter and envelope controls for the MD-7's synth engine into its limited real estate, which admittedly looks a little crowded. (Mach Devices notes that the UI shown is in development and subject to change.)

Speaking of the synth engine, no specifics have been provided, but the display shows a basic subtractive architecture with four oscillator waveforms, a resonant multimode filter and a standard ADSR envelope. The promo video also shows a drum looper and 16-step sequencer, its playback being controlled DJ-style by the motor discs, which is an interesting touch.

Aside from the haptic discs, the most intriguing aspect of MD-7 is its open-source software platform: Mach Devices says that the instrument's firmware, including its DSP engine, modulation system and sequencer, will all be publicly available on GitHub, meaning that owners can customize its operation and build their own features, workflows and even new sound engines.

As for connectivity, MD-7 features dual USB-C ports – one for power, and the other for MIDI and audio output and mic input from compatible USB microphones. There's also a 3.5mm headphone output and a microSD card slot for storage.

Comparisons are unsurprisingly being drawn with Teenage Engineering's distinctive designs, but the MD-7's price is one point on which the two companies diverge: the synth is generously priced at $299/£230.

After going viral on Instagram, the MD-7 is currently sold out for pre-orders, and Mach Devices says it will be available in September 2026.

Find out more on Mach Devices' website.

InMusic – the parent company of Moog Music – has donated an extensive collection of vintage synthesizers, prototype models, schematics and letters to the Bob Moog Foundation Archives.

The vast collection of 4,489 items includes a Fairlight CMI, a Synton System 3000 modular system, and a bench-model Minimoog Voyager prototype.

There are also letters and schematics from legendary synth pioneer Bob Moog's personal office files and effects, alongside rare product catalogues and industry magazines dating back decades.

The donation shines a light on Moog's personal and professional life, revealing thoughts, ideas, and providing fascinating insights into his relationships with other visionaries like Wendy Carlos and Herb Deutsch through letters of correspondence.

The Bob Moog Foundation was established in 2005 to pay tribute to the godfather of subtractive synthesis and an icon of electronic music. The collection now consists of over 15,000 materials, preserved at the so-called 'Moogseum' in Asheville, North Carolina, where Moog lived for the final 25 years of his life.

"The Bob Moog Foundation serves as an essential steward of one of the most important legacies in electronic music," said Joe Richardson, President of Moog Music and Executive Vice President of inMusic.

"We are proud to contribute these materials so they can be preserved and made accessible to researchers, educators, musicians, and fans."

The Foundation's Executive Director Michelle Moog-Koussa added: "This donation helps solidify the Bob Moog Foundation Archives as a world-class repository for Moog and electronic music history. Every donated piece helps us tell the story of Bob's complex, indelible legacy."

Visit the Moogseum's website.

A listing has appeared on music gear marketplace Reverb for a Yamaha CS-80 that the seller claims belonged to legendary Greek composer and producer Vangelis, priced at a whopping £400,000 – more than $534,000 in US dollars. (And that's with a 10% discount.)

"This is Vangelis' very first Yamaha CS-80," the product description reads. The seller Synthesizerman describes the synth as "fully functional with its original stand and lid", and says it's in "excellent condition", aside from small cosmetic blemishes and a cigarette burn on one of its keys.

"This is the real deal. Early prototype no serial number. It can demolish a whole block of flats. This is the 'Spiral' CS-80, historic. Priced accordingly."

If this is a legitimate claim — and it's important to note that there's no evidence provided that this synth actually belonged to Vangelis, other than the seller's word — then this would be a "holy grail" synth and a collectors' item of historical significance.

The CS-80 is one of the most sought-after vintage synthesizers and regularly fetches five-figure sums on the second-hand market. A well-maintained example that was verifiably owned by Vangelis (the musical figure most closely associated with the instrument) would represent a rare, museum-grade piece of musical history.

What's more, if someone forks out the asking price for this CS-80, this could well be the highest price ever paid for a celebrity-owned synth, far surpassing the $115,200 paid at auction last year for Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk's EMS Synthi A. (Interestingly, Schneider's Sennheiser VSM-201 vocoder fetched more than double that, selling for $256,000.)

Though this CS-80 has the potential to smash that record, the fact that it’s been casually listed on Reverb rather than sold through a professional auction house with independent authentication is likely to dissuade buyers from parting with their cash.

The seller claims that the CS-80 was used by Vangelis on Spiral, widely regarded as a landmark release in electronic music history, and an album that laid the groundwork for the vastly influential Blade Runner soundtrack and demonstrated the power of Yamaha’s then-innovative CS-80.

The CS-series instruments were some of the first fully integrated polyphonic synthesizers and some of the earliest commercial synths to feature preset memory. In a 1984 interview, Vangelis himself called the CS-80 “the most important synthesizer in my career", describing it as "the best analogue synthesizer design there has ever been.”

This iconic instrument was pivotal in shaping the futuristic, ethereal soundscape of Vangelis’ score for 1982 classic Blade Runner, but even if this CS-80 was indeed used on Spiral, there’s no guarantee that Vangelis – who recorded with multiple CS-80 synths – reprised it for later projects.

Whether the listing is genuine or not remains to be seen – we've reached out to the seller for comment.

He might be best known as a synth-pop artist, but Howard Jones was originally on a path to becoming a classical pianist.

At the insistence of his mother, Jones took lessons as a child, but in a new interview with Rock & Roll High School, he says that she also had a love of pop music. And, as he was looking for someone to inspire him, he found one artist in particular who was able to bring these two worlds together to create something truly spectacular.

“I saw the classical music as my way to get good at playing the pop and rock stuff, because Keith Emerson was my hero, and he was a brilliant concert-level classical pianist and also the best rocker you could get, for keyboards,” says Jones. “So he was an absolute hero.”

Jones’ first foray into rock music came at school when he formed a band, Warrior, writing what he describes as “complex, 20-minute, multi-sectioned pieces that were very, very difficult for the rest of the band to learn and play.”

They managed it, though, and it was the drummer from that band who gave Jones his first taste of owning a synth.

“He made me a monophonic synth from an electronics magazine kit,” he confirms. “Having seen Emerson at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970 playing the huge modular Moog, I'd heard how amazing synths could be in that context, and [I was looking for] any chance to get anywhere close to it. The synth he made me would go out of tune all the time, but it was a synth, and it was amazing.”

What of the ‘one-man electronic band’ concept that would eventually become a Jones trademark, though? Where did that idea come from?

“I was teaching piano, and one of my students lent me a drum machine,” he remembers. “And so I put the drum machine on top of the piano and was playing along to the terrible, like, bossa nova rhythms and stuff that you had in those days. It was very primitive, but it sparked this idea of the one-man electronic show – that I could have keyboards and the drum machine and, you know, link everything together with MIDI and triggers and little sequences, and that's what I set about doing.”

Jones would go on to have hits on both sides of the Atlantic, carving out a successful niche in the ‘80s synth-pop landscape. The influence of Emerson remained, though, notably on the synth blasts that feature in the intro to 1983 hit What Is Love?

“I think there's a lot of Keith in my work,” agrees Jones, “But yeah, you know: fanfares – that's what I think of it as. Absolutely, 100%.”

Native Instruments has announced the release of Super*Saw, a new soft synth developed in collaboration with AG Cook, the Grammy-nominated producer, solo artist and PC Music founder best known for his work with Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek and Beyoncé.

Super*Saw is inspired by the supersaw, a classic synth patch that has figured prominently in Cook’s production work. Built by layering multiple detuned sawtooth waves together, it’s a bold, bright and aggressive sound that’s closely associated with trance music of the ‘90s and early ‘00s. Though the technique itself predated the synth, it was Roland’s virtual analogue JP-8000 that popularized the sound through its dedicated Super Saw oscillator.

Native Instruments says that Super*Saw seeks to push the supersaw “further than it was designed to go”, turning a "time-consuming production technique into a fast, fun, and flexible workflow” and producing everything from “rich harmonies to metallic dissonance, ravey leads to impossible glides, euphoria to tension, all from the same sound source”.

At the heart of Super*Saw are two independent 16-saw oscillator banks, Swarm 1 and Swarm 2. The Swarms panel, on the left-hand side of the interface, adjusts the number of active oscillators in each swarm and fine-tunes the pitch, panning, and amplitude of each saw wave, and three Motion controls introduce modulation to these parameters that’s applied to each oscillator individually.

In Super*Saw’s central panel is the Morpher, an XY pad that can morph continuously between four different patch states in each corner of the grid. (You can also hit the dice icons underneath to instantly generate a random patch.)

Here you’ll also find controls for the amp envelope and filter, which can be applied to each Swarm individually and offers both 2-pole and 4-pole slopes, along with high-, band- and low-pass modes and keytracking. Super*Saw also has three onboard effects: chorus, delay and reverb.

Super*Saw is an eight-voice polyphonic synth, but also features monophonic, unison and poly-unison assignment modes. In the Voice Control menu, you’ll find controls to adjust the detuning and stereo width of the voices in Unison mode, along with sophisticated glide controls that can be used to set individual portamento times for each of the synth’s eight voices, and a Shape control that adjusts the contour of the portamento.

The synth features five modulation sources, each of which can be assigned to an unlimited number of parameters. There’s a single tempo-syncable LFO with rate, shape, phase and retrig controls that can be applied per-voice or globally, and this is joined by two tempo-syncable, velocity-sensitive ADSR envelopes.

You’ve also got the mod wheel and the Voice Offset section, a bank of eight faders that each represent one of the instrument’s voices: when routed to any potential modulation target, that control will be offset by the value dialled in at the fader.

Though there’s plenty of scope here for manual sound design, Super*Saw also comes with a broad preset library of AG Cook-style patches, covering basses, leads, pads, plucks, soundscapes and more.

We spent some time with Super*Saw prior to launch, and were impressed by the depth of control and diversity of sound on offer in an instrument that’s designed to explore the possibilities of a single synthesis technique.

Much more than just a Native Instruments plugin with a famous producer’s name stamped on it, Super*Saw feels like a genuine collaboration that represents an extension of AG Cook’s artistry. Capturing the bold and distinctive hyperpop sound design Cook experimented with on projects like Charli XCX’s Brat, the plugin takes the classic supersaw sound to new heights with its focused but versatile architecture.

“It’s funny having my own synth plugin,” Cook says in the video embedded above. “It’s something that’s always been a goal of mine… I’m really interested in very specific tools, and I’ve been excited when I’ve seen certain artists do their own tools around the ideology they have.

“I’ve really enjoyed building on what was established as the supersaw in the ‘90s. A lot of instrument design is about taking things that exist in the world and looking at the corners of it, like: ‘what could we do?’, or ‘what could be improved or flipped on its head?’ To actually be involved in that sort of process, that’s the enjoyment – you’re building into this family tree of a musical idea that was started a long time ago.”

Native Instruments Super*Saw is available now for macOS and Windows in VST3/AU formats, and is priced at $99/€99/£89.

Find out more on Native Instruments' website.

Behringer has made the AKS Mini available for pre-order, an analogue mini-synth inspired by the EMS Synthi AKS, a legendary '70s instrument used by Pink Floyd, Brian Eno and Depeche Mode.

Released in 1972, the Synthi AKS was designed as a portable development of EMS' VCS3 synth, repackaging the modular instrument into a suitcase-sized enclosure with a built-in touch keyboard and digital sequencer. Among its many quirks, the AKS is known for its joystick controller and 16x16 pin matrix, which acted as a modulation matrix and routing system.

Behringer's take on the AKS is loosely based on the architecture of the original synth and retains some key features, like the X/Y joystick, while adding a handful of modern enhancements and dropping the pin matrix. A compact instrument that weighs only 360g, an AKS clone it is not, but more of a quirky mini-synth that draws some playful inspiration from EMS' classic '70s instrument.

Behringer's paraphonic AKS Mini is equipped with three analogue VCOs (voltage-controlled oscillators) with variable saw and square waveforms and a large blue AKS-style detuning control, running into an analogue resonant low-pass filter. Behringer says that both the VCOs and VCF are based on a "faithful reproduction" of the original EMS Synthi AKS' circuitry.

These are complemented by a dedicated LFO with sine, saw, square and random waveforms that can modulate both the pitch and filter, and a four-stage envelope inspired by the original synth's trapezoid-style controls.

Behringer's AKS Mini also features a two-axis joystick that can be assigned to any two parameters for hands-on control, and a 27-key touch-sensitive keyboard. Sequencing is available via the 16-step sequencer with 10 pattern slots and parameter automation, and there's a digital spring reverb emulation onboard.

On the connectivity front, Behringer's AKS Mini features a 5-pin DIN MIDI input on the front panel, along with 3.5mm headphone output and sync input. There's also a USB-C connection for power and MIDI.

The Behringer AKS Mini is priced at £99/€119 and now available for pre-order.

Find out more on Behringer's website.

A chord-generating synth that its creators describe as a “harmony machine”, Nopia is a unique instrument that caught the attention of millions with its harmony-centric workflow and pastel-coloured, minimalist design when it was first teased in 2023.

The synth went unexpectedly viral after creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal shared a video of a prototype produced for a design competition, picking up nearly three million views in the space of a week.

Three years on, and the small but passionate team behind Nopia has finally finished development, and is almost ready to share the finished product with the world: Nopia MK1.

Ahead of its release later this year, we invited the Nopia team to visit the MusicRadar Tech HQ and show our viewers what the instrument can do. Fortunately for us, they obliged, giving us an exclusive first look at a synth that, until now, has only appeared in a handful of short videos produced by its creators.

As Martin explains in the demo above, Nopia’s harmony-focused workflow is built around three core controls: the Chord Builder (a one-octave keyboard) the Tonal Selector (12 buttons laid out keyboard-style) and the Extensions Dial.

Between them, these can be used to play all diatonic chords from every key, with the Extensions Dial adding colour and character through chord extensions, the slider above the Tonal Selector allowing the player to explore different octaves and voicings, and a switch on the front selecting major or minor tonalities.

These feed into a multitimbral sound engine that draws on a combination of virtual analogue synthesis and samples across four distinct modules: Keys, Bass, Arp and Pad. Individual notes from the chosen chord can be played via the touch-sensitive strum plate in the top-right corner and the slider beneath the Tonal Selector can be used to perform polyphonic pitch-bend between chords.

Nopia is also equipped with a number of effects, including a filter, delay, reverb, saturation, tape emulation and beat repeat, and offers comprehensive connectivity that covers per-module MIDI output via TRS, MIDI input, clock in/out, stereo TRS audio outputs, USB MIDI and a sustain pedal jack.

While the team behind Nopia have yet to share an official release date, we’re told that the instrument is “basically finished” and that they’re aiming to launch within “a couple of months”. We also learned that Nopia will be priced at “around £550”, though this is subject to change.

Find out more on Nopia's website.

Korg turned up to Superbooth in a rather coquettish mood this year, teasing attendees with a new synth displayed proudly at the centre of its booth, albeit covered with a blue tarp to mask its identity.

This mystery forthcoming instrument wasn’t the company’s only surprise though, as the Korg also used the show to quietly soft-launch a new addition to its DIY Nu:Tekt range, the NTS-4 – which is now getting a proper release.

The NTS-4 is a six-channel analogue performance mixer. It ships in DIY kit form, like other products in Korg’s Nu:Tekt range, but building the device requires no soldering or electronics experience and according to Korg the build should only take a matter of minutes.

Its six channels are fed via four stereo and two mono minijack inputs. These latter two are equipped with attenuator switches that can flip the inputs between line and Eurorack level operation. There are also stereo send and return minijacks on the mixer’s top panel that can be used to integrate external effects.

The NTS-4 also has internal effects of its own though, in the form of both Send FX and master Total FX. The former can select between delay, ping pong delay, two types of hall reverb, two slap reverbs and chorus. The Total FX has low- and high-pass filters, along with isolator, flanger, phaser, decimator, drive, distortion, compressor and limiter modes.

Each of the six mixer channels is equipped with mute and cue buttons – the latter routed to the top panel headphone output – along with a send level control. The two mono channels also have pan position controls.

The NTS-4 has a pair of unbalanced ¼-inch main outputs on its rear panel. It can also act as an audio interface to stream to Mac, PC or mobile devices via its USB-C port, which is also used for power. The top panel also features a minijack MIDI output that can be used to route MIDI from a DAW or USB device to external hardware.

The NTS-4 isn’t Korg’s first attempt at a desktop mixer. Back in 2018 the brand released the Volca Mix, a mixer companion for its popular collection of compact synths and drum machiners. We were fairly underwhelmed by the Volca Mix, however, due to its fiddly controls and lack of MIDI or USB connectivity.

The NTS-4 looks like it fixes many of the Mix’s failings though, and as a result it has the potential to be a far more competent hub for a Volca setup – or any collection of mini synths you might have to hand.

The NTS-4 is available now priced at $249/€219/£189. Head to the Korg website for more information.

Stockhausen. Silver Apples. Forbidden Planet. Before the development of what we think of as synthesizers, there was test and measurement equipment. Raw oscillators, filters and amplifiers intended for not musical but industrial purposes. At some point, experimental musicians realised that if you amplified the electric signals they put out, you could generate, process, and control audio signals.

It was Bob Moog and Don Buchla who took these raw building blocks and added musical control, and the rest is history. But for a certain subset of musicians, this original equipment is very much not history; it still holds plenty of potential for sonic experimentation.

Curious about how to incorporate test equipment into your own studio and productions? Grab some ear protection, sign this waiver, and get ready to hear the most beautiful sine wave you’ve ever heard in your life.

“Test equipment has very little to do with traditional synthesizers in terms of workflow and signal chain,” says musician Andrea Taeggi, who often works with the gear. “With a standard synth, you typically think in terms of oscillators, filters, envelopes, VCAs and a defined signal path. With test and measurement gear, that structure often doesn’t really exist in the same way.”

Keyboard synthesizers - and even modular setups, to an extent - present a structured and interconnected whole, a finished product built upon components that started life as scientific equipment. Early pioneers in electronic music discovered that with a little coaxing, they could make sound with it, and by recording it and manipulating the tape, create music.

This equipment is generally referred to as test and measurement equipment. Rikkert Brok, the studio manager at Willem Twee Studios in the Netherlands, which has one of the world’s most sophisticated examples of such a setup, explains.

“Test equipment was used, for instance, in radio and telecommunication to measure signals, but also for acoustic measurements,” he says. “For instance, a sine wave oscillator could be used in radio to test a transmitter.”

Some gear didn’t make sound on its own but could still be used as part of a music production system, like lock-in amplifiers and boxcar integrators. “They don't make sounds themselves,” says Rikkert, “but you can more or less see them as really complex kinds of filters.”

Housed inside a 1960s nuclear bunker somewhere near the Welsh border is Cold War Synths. Run by producer and archaeologist Matt Thomas (King Unique), Cold War Synths is the culmination of Matt’s interests in a number of different facets of music production. “It is a decision to do something with a load of equipment and a load of interest, and bring it together in a physical place,” he explains.

Although you can find some pretty amazing synthesizers there, including a Yamaha CS-80, Roland Jupiter-4 and EMS VCS3, the special focus is on test and measurement equipment.

“The earliest piece I've got is [from] 1948, which is within a year of the phrase ‘Cold War’ being coined,” Matt explains as to why test equipment. “That's basically an LFO. It's a 0.1 Hertz to 1K sine oscillator. Looks like it's been taken out of a Lancaster bomber. (And the) sound of these things. There shouldn't be better sine waves because it's a sine wave. These are better sine waves. They just are. Tonally, they just sound lovely.”

Matt continues to list the appeal of this old and esoteric gear. Aside from the pure sonics, there’s the relative affordability. “Financially, while they're not cheap cheap, they are compared to the levels that synthesizer collecting has driven things to now,” he says. “It's a chance to get really unaffordable, unavailable ‘50s and ‘60s tones into the work I do. (With) 1960s Moog modules, there aren’t enough kidneys to even buy one.”

The gear also allows Matt to experiment in a way that traditional synthesizers no longer do. “I'm very familiar with making electronic music,” he says. “I know what's going to happen. Playing with this gear, I'm much more likely to do the wrong thing. Infinitely more likely.”

The gear itself encourages this, he stresses: “The interfaces are, by their very nature, going to deliver different outcomes. The impenetrability of some of this equipment, which was never meant to be used for sound in the majority of the cases, means you're going to bump into wrong outcomes for which you go, ‘God, that's amazing’.”

Willem Twee Studios is a four-room studio complex in The Netherlands. For fans of test and measurement equipment, however, it’s Studio One that is the real Mecca. Packed floor to ceiling with rare and unusual pieces, it’s the kind of place that experimental electronic musicians dream of visiting. Much of it was originally sourced by musician Hans Kulk, who started collecting it in the 1990s when institutions were letting it all go as part of a move towards digital technologies.

Uniquely, Studio One has been organised with a specific workflow inspired by the WDR studio in Cologne in the early 1950s, the place where Karlheinz Stockhausen made some of his most famous electronic works.

“Those instruments weren't used in the, let's say, more traditional electronic music studios, which started popping up in the mid-‘50s,” says manager Rikkert Brok. “We try to keep that intact, that workflow of setting up a certain patch with a certain technique, using the mixing desk as a part of your instruments, using some basic treatments like filtering, echo, reverb, ring modulation, and then creating a sound.”

Although it may look like a modular system from a distance, just with larger pieces, it is in fact quite different. There’s no MIDI or even CV control, for starters.

“We call it the manual studio,” says Rikkert. “All modulations you have to do by hand. There are some function generators that have voltage control, but they're from a later area. Really early stuff like the equipment from the ‘50s doesn't have any CV or input usually.”

There are also certain techniques when working with test and measurement equipment that don’t apply to modern modular systems - and that can be daunting for first-time visitors. “Studio One can be intimidating for people when you first get in,” notes Rikkert. To help visitors to the studio overcome this, there’s an engineer always on staff to make sure that you understand techniques and how to make a patch.

One of Willem Twee’s most unusual pieces of equipment - and possibly the ultimate example of this kind of music production - is its Hitachi 240 analog computer. Unlike digital computers, which process computations with ones and zeroes, analog computers use physical processes like electricity to solve mathematical equations. And when you amplify that electricity, you get - you guessed it - sound.

“It's a bit between a breadboard and a modular (system) of test and measurement equipment,” explains Rikkert of the Hitachi 240. “There are many more patch possibilities in an analog computer than in a regular modular system.”

One artist who has done extensive work at Willem Twee is Andrea Taeggi, a trained jazz pianist who has found inspiration in making music with this unusual gear. “In many cases, the flexibility you get from a dedicated studio with test equipment is actually greater than what you’d achieve with a self-built Eurorack or standalone modular setup,” Andrea says on why someone might want to take this approach, “because the tools are infinitely more flexible and designed for high-precision signal manipulation rather than strictly musical needs.”

Like Matt Thomas of Cold War Synths, Andrea also prizes this ancient equipment for its sound quality. “Signal generators in particular can be extremely raw and harmonically rich,” Andrea explains. “High-precision oscillators are capable of producing sine waves with a level of purity that is difficult to replicate with almost any other type of gear. Some units are designed specifically just to output a highly accurate sine tone, and that level of beauty, precision and clarity can be very inspiring.”

Although Andrea has worked with all manner of test equipment, he declares Willem Twee’s analog computer the most unique. “These machines were originally used as flight simulators, by NASA and even the military to model and predict complex systems, things like the stability or instability of a structure, for example. When translated into a musical context, this opens up the possibility of generating functions with extremely unusual shapes, as well as unusual control sources.”

Andrea also identifies the open-ended and experimental nature of the Hitachi 240 as a key creative aspect: “Unlike a conventional synthesizer, it doesn’t come with predefined functions. You can patch it to behave like a filter, an oscillator, or many other signal-processing blocks depending on your configuration.”

You can hear Andrea’s work on the analog computer in his albums Zimní Král and Nattdett.

“It does help to recognise that part of this journey is getting your head a bit around electricity,” answers Matt Thomas when asked if he has any advice for people wanting to try working with test equipment.

“Most gear has an output which is in volts. Try and keep it under one if you want to be absolutely within your mixer spec.” To make sure you’re not going to blow anything up, Matt recommends, “Always remember: it's not spitting out sound, it's spitting out voltage.” One way to make sure you don’t destroy any of your regular gear by running test equipment through it is to put it through a burner mixer first, or better yet, a passive (non-powered) mixer to act as a voltage attenuator.

Finding the gear probably won’t be difficult. Pieces are available on online auction sites like eBay, as well as at car boot sales. Also, try second-hand fairs for radio enthusiasts. If you’re really serious, you can try calling universities or government institutions to see if they have any old gear lying around that they don’t need anymore, like the filter that came off a nuclear submarine from the 1960s in the Cold War Synths studio.

As for pieces to start with, Rikkert at Willem Twee suggests function generators. “They’re basically oscillators with multiple waveforms,” he says. “They’re pretty versatile and depending on the brands, you can find them. They're still available for a reasonable price.”

When you’re ready for more, you can expand. “Definitely your oscillators, a filter, a noise generator, and some kind of pulse generator, which you already have inside your function generator,” continues Rikkert, listing other pieces that beginners should be on the look out for. “There you have the basic core elements, which in the ‘50s you would use to create electronic music. Of course, don't forget an analog mixing desk, which is a big part of your instrumentation.”

As for working with a vintage analog computer, your best bet is to contact Willem Twee Studios about using theirs.

“Another accessible entry point,” says Andrea Taeggi, “is hardware like Bernd Ullmann's THAT (The Analog Thing), which is an affordable and portable analog computer. It allows you to begin learning how these systems function and how they can be applied creatively in a musical context.” Andrea also recommends exploring Eurorack modules like Make Noise Music’s Maths module, which, “like analog computers, does not rely on traditional ADSR envelopes, but works through attenuators. It is a powerful control signal generator as well, definitely in line with what one can achieve with an analog computer.”

Lastly, there is also software that emulates test and measurement equipment available. Musician and YouTuber Hainbach has made a variety of plugins in collaboration with AudioThing that recreate devices like a passive bandpass filter, the Hewlett-Packard Word Generator 8006A, and much more.

What is it?

Modal Electronics has had a turbulent few years, running into financial difficulties in 2023 and consequently undergoing a fairly lengthy restructuring process. This delayed the release of the synth on test here, Carbon8X, first previewed at Superbooth in 2023 and now finally available in 37-, 61-key and module versions.

The company's range of synths has been varied to say the least, from high-end and very well-regarded synths like the 001 to the (much) more budget-friendly Skulpt and Craft Synth. In fact, all the synths have been pretty well received, so it was disappointing to see the company – a UK one at that – in trouble.

However, Modal appears to now be on less choppy waters (under the banner of Hong Kong-based WT Technology Development), and with a more streamlined set of products, which should help make the company's synth proposition much clearer and more attractive.

Argon8 is Modal's 8-voice wavetable synth, packing a lot of the company's 00 synth into a much cheaper unit, while Cobalt8 is the company's more virtual analogue offering.

Carbon8 boasts double the power of these (although the same eight voices of polyphony) and can, in some ways, be seen as a 'best of' Modal synth, packing a lot of sonic punch and clout into a very solid synth proposition.

Performance

One thing you can't ignore is Carbon8X's build quality. This thing feels like it's built to last, with a steel and aluminium body, and could take on any gigging/transport situation… should you have the muscles to carry it. It's not light, put it that way, and if you have to lug a keyboard around, this might be off-putting, but at least you can be sure it's not going to get easily damaged should you manage to venture out with it.

The screen, at less than 4cm wide, is a bit small, but functional, and displays many features, like the envelopes and filters, with graphics not unlike a 1970s amusement arcade, but it certainly does enough without adding too much in the way of frills.

Probably the most important buttons are on either side of it, used for stepping through presets – which we'll cover later – or adjusting any parameter you like. Here you can access the 58 cores for both oscillators, which gives you an idea of how Carbon8X sounds on a ground level.

There are 38 wavetables and 18 algorithms, which give this synth a lot more sonic flexibility than others in its price range. Extra parameters here include a Contour dial to change the timbre of the selected Core, plus the Xmod/XCore. This controls the amount and type of extra cross modulation for oscillator 2, either with Osc 1 as the source or a so-called 'hidden' oscillator.

You can adjust six oscillator modifiers like phase distortion, wave shaping, ring or amplitude modulation – great for extra real-time control and well worth exploring as a sound design option in their own right. It's very easy, for example, to completely rebuild a preset from scratch and create your own right here, and that's before taking advantage of other modulation features.

These are pretty good too, with three LFOs (one with direct controls, two switchable), each with 16 shapes, and three envelopes for Amp, Mod and Filter. You get 12 sources and 55 destinations, but only eight slots to set up, which could be seen as a bit tight, but we'll assume these can be added to with a software update.

Setting these up is easy with the left-hand screen button, although with all selections, you are only given a few seconds to make your changes before the synth reverts back to its previous setting. Not really a problem, just something you might need to get used to.

A Shift option accesses a second layer of parameters on most buttons, and a couple of other nice touches include a joystick which can be (and has been) assigned to popular parameters to adjust in real time (think filter frequency, modulation depth and so on), and a Vintage dial to introduce gnarl and tuning issues just like an old analogue, which this clearly isn't.

Sounds

That said, some of the sounds are surprisingly lush and 'vintage', with lots taking advantage of the up-to-32-step arpeggiator for some full-on, classic synth movement, and even more can be created by way of a 512-note sequencer. Both steal the LEDs from other parameters to show you 16 steps of whatever mode you're in.

Meanwhile, the filter section adds the most diversity, featuring 34 filter types – analogue, digital and hybrid – and large Filter and Resonance dials to make the most of them. Here you get typical HP/LP/BP options plus a huge range of static, ladder, and dual 2-pole filters with continuous morphing.

It's really simple to get a feel of these in action with the screen pulling its weight and enabling you to see the different filter shapes and home in on the resonating frequencies for extra bite, not to mention the Warp dial, which allows you to add extra grit and drive.

A small niggle again comes down to the screen workflow where, as you step through filter types and adjust their frequency, you then have to go back to selecting filter type to keep auditioning – essentially the screen doesn't always seem to return to (or stay at) the parameter you hoped. Again, it's not a deal breaker, just a workflow step or two that you'll need to get used to.

While Carbon8X is clearly a digital synth at heart, it doesn't come with too much in the way of sonic harshness that (if you were our age) you might associate with the medium. In fact, it's right up there with one of our current favourites, Arturia's MiniFreak, in terms of sheer variety of sounds, with impressively programmed presets that you can easily and cheekily make your own, and plenty of hands-on action to call up should you wish.

You'll be tempted by that joystick, for example, and wonder why your favourite keyboard doesn't come with one as standard – Carbon8X makes it such a natural tweaking process. And use it you will to turn some already superb sounds into more dynamic and evolving textures. These are here aplenty, along with other pads, sequences, evolving and pretty nondescript atmospheres, and imaginative key, pluck and bell sounds.

We should also finally mention the three effects engines, each with 26 options to choose from, which add even more to your already bristling list of design options.

Verdict

Carbon8X has some features and workflow niggles, small ones if we're honest, and which might be sorted with system updates. But really, its sound blows these away and we were surprised by how much we were drawn in by what's here sonically, and what you can do with it.

The synth certainly wears its digital credentials proudly and has a character of its own which can really be appreciated by stepping through those presets – few synths boast quite as good a set of sonic adverts as this, and if you do nothing else, audition these sounds in your local dealer if you can.

This character is its clear raison d'etre and big draw, and a necessary one as hardware synths have really got to work for their lodgings in your studio over your plugins. However, it's joining a fairly crowded line-up of digital hardware synths – think Korg and that Arturia (see our alternatives for more) – which all offer a great deal of sonic mayhem for similar or less cash.

However, Carbon8X is pretty unique, even compared to some of the more unruly and 'trying to be out there' contenders, all within a (very solid) package. Of the three Carbon8Xs on offer, we'd probably opt for one of the keyboard versions over the module, simply for the extra controls that make using them much more intuitive, and for not much extra cash, but whatever you opt for, you'll wrestle some fantastic new textures out of it and create some inspiring and cutting-edge sounds.

Alternatives

Specifications

PLUGIN WEEK 2026: The ferocious big beat sound of The Prodigy's 1997 album Fat of the Land has been hailed as a classic of the electronic genre. But, in our view, it’s not just an excellent dance record, but one of the decade’s most significant releases.

The album that birthed the multimillion selling Firestarter and the controversial Smack My Bitch Up, were key strikes in rave culture's invasion of the mainstream.

The Prodigy had a long-established reputation as a superb, invigorating live act, but wider exposure led to their expressive frontman Keith Flint terrifying middle England, and besieging the homes of everyday folk via Top of the Pops.

Preceding the album by 8 months, the single Breathe became the band's most successful single (at least before Firestarter was released) but its development took quite a while.

“It was an instrumental for ages,” The Prodigy’s chief musical director Liam Howlett recalled in an interview with Addicted to Noise. “We were playing it on stage and the guys were just dancing to it and stuff. It was just like an instrumental track. And I thought that it was so obvious to put a vocal on it.”

It's Breathe's distinctive opening and recurring 2-bar, guitar-sampled riff which we are going to examine and try and re-build here.

As we will discover, we can create an interesting facsimile using our own software, using many of the identifiers from the original track, but without the initial samples, it's difficult to re-create note for note.

Therefore, think of this as an opportunity to take the spirit of the track in a different direction, using a slightly mutated sound of your own choosing.

Though some speculated that Liam Howlett had in fact sampled the theme from the iconic James Bond music cue (undoubtedly because of the twangy guitar sound), in reality, it stemmed from a recording of the Prodigy live-band member, guitarist and contributor, Jim Davies. His processed and mono guitar sound was tracked to DAT, leaving Howlett to extract a couple of notes and re-mould them.

“I just got him into the studio and he played a couple of notes,” Howlett told Addicted to Noise. “I just took those single notes and basically put them through the sampler. I constructed the riff, in other words. Everything you hear on the track is basically from my head. All the riffs are mine. I've never sampled a whole riff of someone else's stuff. A lot of people get confused 'cause when they hear ‘sampler,’ all they can think about is sampling other people's tracks, you know. It's not like it used to be, like with Pump Up The Volume, when it was just built around someone else's track. This is actually rock music written on electronic equipment, you know? With Breathe, I made the riff.”

Breathe is, therefore, a very sample-heavy production, reliant upon sampled material at just about every turn. Thin Lizzy’s Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed supplies the drum break, while Wu-Tang Clan’s Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ provides the identifiable whiplash effect, used throughout.

Rather than get caught up in the wormhole of samples, we're going to examine how we can recreate the opening riff ourselves, with workarounds that might provide an simple alternative for achieving a similar sound in a different context.

How to get the sound of Breathe in your DAW

You may be limited by the tools at your disposal, but the good news is, you can create something similar with a basic soft synth or sampler, a DAW, some distortion effects and EQ.

The preferable choice for your synth or sampler will be anything that has a band-pass filter. Don't worry if this isn't something you have, as you can adopt EQ to acquire similar results. It’s preferable to be able to control your filter cutoff using velocity, although once again, there an alternative solution, which we’ll come to later.

If using a synth, we are looking to create a fairly sharp wave upfront, so while you can use conventional subtractive-style synths, try using a modulated pulse wave, or better still, some form of sync, bright digital or FM tone.

Alternatively, use a sampler (which is what we are choosing to use here). We are using the EXS24, which is the stock sampler from Logic Pro.

The beauty of this approach is that we can select a sound source which will pave much of the way for a similar sound.

Step 1: As a starting point, we have selected the ‘Clean Electric Guitar 1’ patch, from the default EXS24 library. It's a clean sound, which is played/sampled by using a pick or plectrum.

Step 2: In order to easily work with this sound, create a simple 2-bar loop or cycle, which will make it easy to audition the sound.

For reasons of copyright, we have used a loop which is slightly different from the original, but we have kept this rhythmically the same. Also note that all of the notes have been entered in step time, and are set to the same velocity value of 70. We will return to this later to make further adjustments.

Step 3: Returning to our sound, we’ll start by making some filter settings. One of the luxuries of working with the EXS24 sampler, is that we can employ two filters, which on this occasion we’ll assign in series.

We are setting filter one to ‘HP 24db Edgy’, which is a 4-pole high pass filter, and selecting filter two ‘BP 12dB Edgy’, which is a band-pass filter.

Between the two filters, you can see the ‘Series’ icon, which needs to be highlighted in yellow.

Turning to the Cutoff and Resonance settings, these will differ from one synth or sampler to another, but as a general guide, aim to set the high-pass filter cutoff to around 30% and resonance to 45%, with the band-pass filter cutoff set to around 25% and resonance set to 50%. Be sure to listen and audition your sound, and don't overly indulge the resonance.

If you have drive or distortion available within the filter circuit, you could certainly apply this at this stage, although it’s not essential, as we will add distortion to our signal chain at the end of the process.

Step 4: Ideally, we want to use two envelope generators, with one applied to amplitude/volume, and the other applied to filter cutoff. If you only have one available, you can use the same envelope for both elements.

Beginning with the amplitude envelope, engineer a small amount of sustain, preceded by a quick attack and snappy decay. If you have a second envelope, for filter cutoff modulation, apply settings for a quick attack and decay with zero sustain.

Step 5: Returning to our note editor, we now need to implement two different levels of velocity value.

If we refer to the original track, this begins with the on-beats being a higher velocity than the off-beats, although there is nothing to stop you altering this to suit your own track. The velocity value pattern in the original also changes, once it reaches the second bar.

We are going to start by changing some notes to a velocity of 100, leaving the opposite notes set to the previous velocity of 70. The differences in velocity value will allow us to control the degree of filter modulation, which we’ll route in the next step.

Step 6: Using your synth’s mod matrix or modulation routings, assign velocity to both filter section’s cutoff controls. Once you have a assigned the source and target, you may need to experiment with the amount of modulation. In our case, we have assigned a modulation value of around 25-27% but again, this will differ from one synth to another. You may also note that there is an indication of modulation, within the filter section, as seen in our example by the appearance of an ‘orange curve’ above the cutoff control.

When you now audition your 2-bar loop, the changes in velocity value should instigate a change in the cutoff of each filter, replicating a similar sound to the original track.

Step 7: To further enhance this effect, try applying a small degree of filter cutoff modulation, using the filter envelope as a modulation source. A small amount of modulation should enhance the effect even further.

Step 8: If the synth or sampler that you are using allows the application of distortion within the filter section, you may already have convincing results. However, the application of overdrive or distortion on the backend of the signal chain, will likely add another useful element.

If you listen very carefully to the original, you can hear a slight grainy-ness in the original sound. This may be down to the original sampling process, and a reduced sample rate, or merely noise from distortion. Either way, try experimenting with a bitcrusher, as this will allow the introduction of a similar texture.

Alternatively, add a healthy dose of distortion; something aggressive, such as Soundtoys' Decapitator would be ideal for this and can be cranked quite hard, to achieve impressive results.

As with the programming of any synth sound in a contemporary DAW, there are a number of ways of approaching sound design in order to achieve similar results.

If working with a conventional subtractive-style synth, armed with more usual waveforms, experiment with different combinations. A sync tone, or reedy PWM pulse would be ideal starting points for this sound. Many modern synths provide metallic or glassy sources, which may prove to be worthy fodder in this context.

You can also experiment with different filter types. While high-pass and band-pass filters are the ideal option, you can also explore formant filters, which can provide wonderful colours.

Be aware that each filter and synth will require its own specific set of values. You can also use heavy EQ curves, to limit the sonic bandwidth, much like a band-pass filter.

One issue that may present itself, particularly with less capable soft-synths, is the lack of ability to route velocity to the cutoff control of the filter. Another method for achieving the same result, would be to automate the cutoff within your DAW. But be sure to create steps for each note, rather than a slope between values, as the cutoff changes.

Learning how to create impressive sounds from the past masters is a valuable route to understanding how to get the most out of your synthesis. However, it is also a superb springboard for individual creativity, and while it can be highly rewarding to try and recreate an existing track, try to take your sound exploration in a new direction which will be entirely unique to you. Then you can release your track without stepping on any copyright-toes.

Take a deep breath… now get creative!

PLUGIN WEEK 2026: Whispers, rumours, leaks. Like the crescendo of a filter sweep, the return of Absynth – the iconic software instrument that helped define the sound of early 00’s electronic music – reached fever pitch in the lead-up to its unexpected rebirth at the end of 2025. Behind the scenes at Native Instruments, the energy was no less frenetic.

“Maximum crunch, constant panic” is how Brian Clevinger, Absynth’s creator and founder of Rhizomatic described the final pre-release push.

Speaking to MusicRadar mere days before the launch of Absynth 6 - and prior of course, to the recent news that Native Instruments would be acquired by InMusic - Clevinger seemed keenly aware of the high expectations he and the development team were expected to meet.

You see, Absynth isn’t just any soft synth. Its sea-green colour scheme and idiosyncratic architecture is something that a generation of sound designers and synthesists have grown up with.

This relaunch wasn't just a new version: it’s a full-blown resurrection.

Arriving two years after the product was discontinued by Native Instruments, and 16 long, long years since the release of Absynth 5.

Now sporting MPE capabilities, newly designed filters, a slickly upgraded UI, a trippy new spatial method of navigating presets, and all the sonic firepower long-time fans could ask for, this 2025 iteration of Absynth was, thankfully, worth the wait.

Back in the year 2000, when Clevinger released version 1 as ‘shareware’ (what we might now describe as a freebie) he had no idea how large the impact would be.

“I didn't think anybody would be into it,” he admits. “But I was just inundated with responses. People were really excited about it, it was kind of an instant hit.”

Looking back, it’s easy to see why. VSTs were still toddlers, having only been invented four years previously. The very premise that you could work with computer-generated sound, rather than triggered audio samples, was still fresh, and the available instruments were mostly rudimentary emulations of pianos and Minimoogs.

“The whole concept of a software synth hadn't sunk in yet,” Clevinger says of that time. “The idea that you play a note on your keyboard and the sound comes out of your computer was a weird idea for most people.”

In that context, Absynth, much like the potent beverage from which it takes its name, was a mind-melting experience. Its three-channel lanes and swappable modules could combine multiple types of synthesis and audio processing simultaneously.

Equipped with a waveform editor, it allowed users to draw custom shapes before applying additional algorithmic transformations, including the now-iconic ‘Fractalize’ function which added new harmonics by recursively pushing a waveform back into itself.

Its approach to modulation, which put user-defined, multi-stage envelopes front and centre, was, and still is, a remarkable contrast to the dominant paradigm of LFOs.

Perhaps most importantly of all, it took all of those powerful sound–shaping tools and made them comparatively easy to experiment and play with. It’s little wonder that Absynth was snapped up by Native Instruments a year later, becoming one of the company’s flagship products from 2001 all the way up to 2023.

All that innovation is made even more impressive by the fact that Clevinger’s skills as a software developer were entirely self-taught. Rather than a formal study of computer science, his pathway to Absynth was guided by a life-long fascination with the inner workings of audio.

“I was just always really interested in sound,” he recalls. “With certain sounds, it was kind of an emotional thing. When I was a little kid there was this big drain pipe with three smaller pipes at the back, we'd go in there, clap our hands, and it would make this just incredible comb-filter kind of sound. I wish I could hear it today.”

That ear for the unusual eventually led Clevinger to study music composition at university, where he first got his hands on classic hardware like the ARP 2500.

“This was in the early ‘80s,” he recalls. “It was just before MIDI and I was still working on analogue systems, but, at the same time, I was hearing examples of the computer-generated music that was happening at IRCAM. They were doing stuff I really wanted to do myself, but it was just completely inaccessible.”

Early musical programming environments like Max/MSP and Supercollider offered Clevinger the experimental sonics he was interested in, but lacked the intuitive accessibility of a musical instrument.

That tension stayed with him and, as computer power increased and real-time digital synthesis became possible in the mid-90’s, he began teaching himself DSP programming with aspirations to bridge the divide.

“The soft synths that were available were pretty limited,” he says. “It was either really simplistic things that didn't sound great or super complex modular environments. So I thought Absynth could be a sweet spot in-between.”

While he knew where he was aiming, Clevinger makes clear that Absynth was definitely not the result of some master plan.

What began as 'crappy little oscillators and really crappy little low-pass filters' were steadily refined and linked together, eventually coalescing into the foundations of Absynth’s first version.

“It just came out of whatever experiments I was doing at the time,” Clevinger says simply. “I mean the whole setup with three channels happened pretty early and I was originally thinking of it as a temporary solution till I figured out how to make it more modular, but after working with it I really liked it. Things just evolved until they got to the point where it felt right.”

Absynth broke new ground upon its release, and continued to do so over the following years: V2 introduced sample playback and granular synthesis; Absynth 3 added surround sound output, even though, as Clevinger laughingly admits, almost no one had multi-channel setups at the time; the fourth iteration brought vastly improved preset browsing and assignable macros, and the fifth instalment introduced Mutation.

It’s worth pausing to appreciate the genius of Absynth’s Mutation feature. Using tags for instrument type, articulation, genre, and more, users could define a narrow list of presets before hitting the Mutate button. This would then pull random parameters from those presets and combine them with whatever sound you were currently working on.

Not only that, but you could define how much randomisation should occur, how far from the original sound you wanted to deviate, and even lock down specific modules to exclude them from the mutation process.

A dedicated Mutation History window would save each new variation, allowing you to build up a library of related sounds at lightning-fast speed. It’s a feature that is still impressive all these years later, but at the time of its release in 2009, it was inspired.

“People kept asking for a randomiser,” Clevinger says of Mutation’s origin. “But if you just start randomising the parameters it gets very complicated because each preset can have a completely different set of modules. I wanted to do it in a meaningful way, where the musician could guide that random process somehow.

“I was looking at the preset list,” he continues. “And thinking about how you can select just bass sounds, and it'll only show you bass. I thought if you could pick one of those related presets, grab little bits from it, insert it into the preset you're working on, and then add some randomisation, that would be the key. I wanted it to be like going on a journey, instead of just jumping around between random sounds.”

Version 5 was a triumph, but it was also the point at which Absynth began to languish. Development slowed, and after growing increasingly long in the tooth the instrument was eventually discontinued in 2023, much to the dismay of longtime users.

For just about any other soft synth, that would have been the end of the story. But the remarkable longevity of this instrument, its sheer uniqueness and its undeniable musical prowess ensured that, even once it was gone, it was not forgotten.

“I had no idea that so many people were still using it, to tell you the truth,” admits Clevinger when asked about the community response to news of Absynth’s demise. “But I just got tons, and tons, and tons of messages from people begging me to bring it back somehow.”

Those pleas have now been answered. Working closely with the Native Instruments' team, a process that Clevinger unreservedly describes as 'fantastic', Absynth is back for a sixth outing and is looking better than ever.

“We have really been focusing on the user interface,” emphasises Clevinger. “Because nobody's ever been happy with Absynth's UI. It’s a super complex thing to get right, and involves endless discussions to try and work out the problems, but I'm really thrilled with what we've got now; it's so much better than what we had before and the design team's been great.”

For Clevinger, the top priorities during the development process were ensuring backward compatibility with legacy presets (presets from versions 4 and 5 are compatible with Absynth 6) and that the original audio engine was retained - a section of code that Clevinger says he touches 'as little as possible.'

But it wasn't all about preservation: significant improvements were made to Absynth's granular synthesis chops.

“All of that stuff is much denser than it was previously,” Clevinger told us. “We added a high density mode, and the Aetherizer and the Cloud filters sound much closer to what I originally wanted.”

One of the most striking new UI elements is the Preset Explorer that greets you when you first load up Absynth 6. A dizzying array of presets, dating back over two decades, are rendered as a multi-coloured point-cloud that you can click through and navigate as you might a geographical map.

Native Instruments tasked a number of artists with designing custom presets for Absynth 6, including none other than synthesis pioneer Brian Eno himself.

Working with Eno was something of a full-circle moment for Clevinger, who was inspired by Eno’s looping techniques when designing the envelopes for the original Absynth plugin.

That’s not all. Using deep learning techniques, Native Instruments’ Applied AI team trained a model on Absynth’s entire back catalogue of presets, allowing them to be spatially grouped by sonic characteristics. The goal is to help users break past the preset-paralysis that so often arises when scrolling through endless walls of text.

“I don't think there's anything musical about a list of presets,” says Andy Sarroff, head of Applied AI at Native Instruments, and himself a former mix and mastering engineer. “There’s something inherently uninspiring about staring down thousands of names and tags when you're trying to create. So, how do we solve that problem? There's never gonna be any perfect solution, but being able to visualise and explore this huge universe of sounds in a spatial way will hopefully either help you find what you want quickly, or be inspired by adjacent sounds.”

Of course, Absynth still has a more traditional preset browser system that you can switch to if you prefer, and Sarroff makes clear that accommodating different working styles is a top priority. “It's always a balancing act for us,” he points out. “We’re trying to figure out how to do this in a way that helps people feel like they're having fun, and not that they're being talked down to in any kind of way.”

Alongside all of that there was alos the inclusion of MPE and polyphonic aftertouch, enabling those performers who want to feel the maximum amount of nuance and expression from the instrument the ability to go deeper.

However, for Clevinger, it wasn’t this that caught his finely-tuned ear; his favourite new addition was the humble ladder notch filter.

“I really like the new ladder notch filter,” he says, confiding that he unconsciously drew some inspiration from one the first synths he ever used, the ARP 2500, during its design.

“My favourite thing on the ARP 2500 was this multi-mode filter that had a notch mode - and I certainly did not try to emulate it or anything, but that was the sound I had in my head. The notch filter mode, that's my favourite.”

It’s an attitude that seems emblematic of Absynth’s quarter-century run: bedrock features and idiosyncratic innovation, a workhorse and a dream machine, the essentials and the esoteric, all blended together to serve up a truly intoxicating sonic concoction.

As fans look ahead to the next 25 years, they can feel assured that Absynth has lost none of its potency, or its relevance, least of all to Clevinger himself.

“It's been a real emotional thing bringing this back,” he reflects. “This is the best project I've ever worked on.”

What is it?

Mastering the Mix has built a reputation for plugins that focus on helping anyone making music on computer, to engineer smarter mixing decisions, rather than just constantly adding processing.

In the latest part of their mix-chain, it turns its attention to one of the most difficult elements to control, relating to stereo width and panorama.

Stereovault is a plugin which is available as a single purchase, although it will be easily integrated with other Mastering the Mix plugins.

If there is one company which wears its branding on its sleeve, it has to be Mastering the Mix, although it's important to note that, as this is a single plugin, it can be used in channel, sub-mix (bus) or master fader situations, as well as forming part of the final mastering process.

Performance

Upon loading Stereovault for the first time, its visual guise makes it incredibly easy to see exactly what's going on. The display adopts an X/Y format, with frequency response being displayed from bottom to top. Lower frequencies unsurprisingly populate the lower portion of the display, so you can guess where the upper frequencies reside - up top.

The frequency plot is then divided into four sections, which can also be altered to suit your frequency band preferences. Within each band, you simply adjust the width parameters by clicking and dragging to hear the immediate effect of the broadening or narrowing of each particular band. It's a surprisingly simple process, with even more surprising results.

Don’t overcook it!

As is the case for any new plugin, we quickly found ourselves pushing things to an extreme, to establish the overall effect, and whilst there are considerable benefits to be had, it is also possible to completely undermine a mix.

A case in point: overextending the bottom-end of a mix too broadly can completely destabilise the foundation of a track, but adopting a similar technique with upper frequencies can really make a track shine.

If you feel that you need a little bit of help in this regard, Stereovault is on hand. Thanks to its included analytical tools, Stereovault can listen to your track and make some sensible suggestions. The plugin does ask for some input along the way, such as whether or not Stereovault is being used on specific instrumentation or a wider mix, and also suggestions for the style of music.

At this stage, it does present a minor challenge, as there are only five styles of music presented initially. Some of the tracks that we used as audition mixes could be described as jazz or cinematic, neither of which is represented in this situation, leaving us to make a best guess. It's not a huge problem, as you can select the next best genre and tweak-as-you-go, but it underlines the need to listen at all stages, because it is conceivably very easy to click a few buttons and find your mix in a state of flux.

Talking of flux, the Creative section pushes things further into sound-design territory. The included modes can dramatically reshape material, adding movement and cinematic depth to otherwise static sounds. Used subtly, they provide excellent dimensional enhancement.

Level matching

One familiar problem relates to monitoring levels, and the temptation to increase your listening volume while working. This will almost always result in your ears telling your brain that your mix sounds much better than it is. As any mix engineer will tell you, it's very much a false economy.

Stereovault provides a level-matching setting, meaning that once you have applied any processing, there is no discernible change in volume. Perfect!

Verdict

Stereovault really does have something for everyone. You can engineer a considerable degree of control, or take advice from the plugin. Either way, listening is fairly essential, but it is also packed with some useful presets, which can offer some good starting points.

It is also capable of taking mono signals and making them sound mightily wide and impressive, which can be particularly useful for clean guitar or monosynth signals.

Stereovault could easily become an indispensable plugin, although our view is that it will feel more at home on the backend of most signal chains, which isn't entirely surprising, given its position in Mastering the Mix’s portfolio.

Hands-on demos

Mastering The mix

Alternatives

Specifications

Californian emulation specialist Cherry Audio has released its latest plugin, a digital recreation of the Ensoniq ESQ-1, one of the most influential and popular polysynths of the 1980s.

The original ESQ-1 launched in 1986 and blended analogue elements with early digital synthesis technology. Its sound engine featured a trio of digital oscillators for each of its eight voices, each of which made use of sampled single-cycle waveforms capable of producing both traditional analogue-style waveshapes and tones sampled from real world sources such as pianos, voices or woodwinds.

The synth combined these oscillators with analogue multimode filters, complimented by multiple LFOs and envelope generators, and an eight-track sequencer.

Released to mark the original’s 40th anniversary, Cherry Audio’s Ensoniq ESQ-1 is launched in official collaboration with current Ensoniq owner Creative Technology.

According to the developer: “Through official licensing, Cherry Audio built the instrument around the original 32 ESQ-1 waveforms, faithfully reproducing the complex, evolving, and richly textured sounds that defined the hardware.”

That reproduction has involved modelling the Curtis CEM3379 analogue filter chips, along with the four DCAs, four multistage envelopes, three LFOs, amplitude modulation, and oscillator sync.

Because the plugin faithfully recreates the architecture of the original synth, it allows for drag-and-drop import of patches and banks from original ESQ-1 as SysEx files or directly from the hardware via MIDI. SysEx patches can also be exported for use with the original instrument.

Whereas the original synth was notoriously fiddly to program, with edits made numerically via its display screen, Cherry Audio’s version opens up the full sound engine with each parameter accessible across five UI screens.

As with the original synth, Cherry Audio’s ESQ-1 is equipped with a multitrack sequencer. This is one of several elements upgraded from the original design though. Here, the sequencer is a 16x4 polyphonic design that is capable of controlling both notes and modulation. It’s also equipped with tools for humanising patterns.

Other expansions on the original design include additional polyphony – up to 32 voices – along with an expanded modulation system, plus the ability to control the synth with aftertouch and MPE messages. Cherry Audio’s version also adds an effects section with 20 different processing modules.

"Partnering with Cherry Audio to revive the original sound of the ESQ-1 has been a truly rewarding collaboration," said Koh Zi Kai, Head of Licensing at Creative Technology Ltd. "Ensoniq represents a significant chapter in Creative Technology's history, and we are proud to see the authentic sound of the ESQ-1 preserved and made accessible to a new generation of musicians on the 40th anniversary of its release. Creative Technology stands behind its mission of bringing audio technology and people together, helping them to elevate their audio experience and connect on a deeper level with their music."

"The ESQ-1 is an important part of synthesizer history, and we aimed to honour that legacy with the depth and accuracy it deserves," said Dan Goldstein, CTO at Cherry Audio. "From the original waveforms to the precise modelling of the filter, we have carefully crafted every detail to capture what made the hardware iconic, while also providing today's musicians with the modern tools and expressiveness they expect."

Cherry Audio ESQ-1 comes with over 400 presets, including the sound banks from the original. The plugin is out now priced at $69. Head to the Cherry Audio site for more information.

In what feels like it could have been a scene from the movie itself, a piano-playing audience member at an orchestral showing of the 2016 musical La La Land has just stepped in for the on-stage keyboard player after they fell ill during the interval.

The Hollywood-worthy incident took place in Sydney, Australia on Saturday at the ICC’s Darling Harbour theatre. The first half of the show had proceeded without incident, but as the scheduled interval stretched out to 40 minutes, audience members started to wonder what was going on.

It was at this point that Justin Hurwitz, the La La Land score composer who was conducting on the night, stepped out onto the stage and asked if there happened to be a pianist in the audience who was also a top-notch sight-reader. It turns out that no one else in the orchestra was capable of filling in, and attempts to recruit a replacement player who could get to the theatre quick enough had failed.

“I figured nobody’s as close as they say they are … so I just thought, well, we have 2,500 people in here,” Hurwitz told Guardian Australia. “Yes, it was a gamble.”

Enter the suitably heroically named Sterling Nasa, a 21-year-old politics and international studies student at the University of Sydney, who was attending the show with his friend.

Knowing his skills on the piano and organ – and indeed the bagpipes, it turns out – she encouraged Nasa to boldly go where no audience member had gone before and put his hand up.

After Hurwitz had asked a few follow-up questions – “Are you sure? Can you really sight-read? Can you play key signatures you’ve never played before?” – Nasa took his place on the stage. However, having seen La La Land before, he must have known that he was soon to be faced with one of the toughest challenges in the score – the synth solo that Ryan Gosling’s character plays (on a ROLI Seaboard, funnily enough) when he’s on stage with John Legend during the song Start A Fire.

“The synth solo is really technical, and I thought, even a really high-level professional sight-reader would probably not be able to do it,” says Hurwitz. “As it was coming up, I was thinking, ‘Oh no, how’s he going to be able to handle the solo?’”

Nasa was equally concerned – “I saw it on the score and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sight-read that in one go,’” – so decided to do what most musicians have done from time to time during a performance: wing it.

“I took a little bit of a creative liberty and just decided to improvise, which I think ended up being a good choice,” said Nasa.

Hurwitz agrees: “To be able to play a really cool solo in the right key, in the right scale, on the fly with no rehearsal – it was remarkable,” he said.

Cue Nasa’s 15 minutes of well-deserved fame – he’s been doing the media rounds since his performance. However, having lived his La La Land dream, he will now return to his university studies.

To quote Mia, Emma Stone’s character from the film, though: "Here's to the fools who dream, crazy as they may seem."

As he prepares to release a new album as part of Doublespeak – a synth-pop super-covers-band that also includes Benge and Blancmange’s Neil Arthur – electronic music legend Vince Clarke has been talking to MusicRadar about some of the classic analogue instruments that have defined his career.

“I just like that sound,” he says. “The beauty for me of using a lot of the analogue stuff is the fact that it's very hands-on, it's very kind of tactile. You're not just using a mouse, and I really get a lot of pleasure out of that whole process. The best bit of making music is the process, absolutely. It's not listening to the record afterwards, it's actually the craft of building something from nothing.”

When it comes down to it, though, what would be Vince’s favourite synth of all time.

“The [Sequential] Pro 1,” he replies quickly. “I bought one in 1984 – I'm looking at it now, still the same one. I mean, it's been, you know, in lots of different cities around the world, and I plugged it in in my little setup the other day, bracing myself, and the bloody thing was in tune! I couldn't believe it. Amazing! I mean, it's nothing like as complex as modern synthesizers, but it's got knobs, you know? And I can actually carry it, as opposed to the [Roland] JP-4.”

Asked whether he’s kept all of his favourite synths, Clarke says that he still has “the stuff I use,” but has got rid of some things.

“I've got a bit of that collector's mindset, but then I realised it would be much better in the hands of someone who used it, as opposed to someone that just showed off and said, 'well, I've got an ARP 2600,'” he reckons.

And finally, Eurorack, does he have a million modules? No, it turns out.

“Martin [Gore, Depeche Mode] did say something actually, when we were talking about it [Eurorack] like, 'you know it's addictive', but at the end of the day I didn't find that,” he explains. “I mean, he's got like 17 million modules or something crazy, you know. I've got maybe 30 or 40 and that's enough!”

Look out for MusicRadar’s full Doublespeak interview soon. Their eponymous debut album is out on 29 May.

Arturia has launched its latest synth plugin, Memory V, an emulation of Moog’s lauded Memorymoog polysynth.

Released in 1982, the Memorymoog had six voices, each with the same three-VCO architecture as its mono predecessor the Minimoog. It also packed a 24db low-pass ladder filter per-voice.

As well as generating poly patches, the Memorymoog could operate in mono mode too, where its 18 oscillators could be used to create huge-sounding unison effects.

Arturia’s plugin recreation replicates this original architecture in full, while introducing some modern touches and updated features. Memory V can expand the polyphony from six to 12 voices, also adding modernised modulation, effects and arp sections.

According to Arturia: “Memory V resurrects the analogue majesty of the Memorymoog with breathtaking authenticity. Build towering brass, dense basses, evolving leads, and cinematic pads with the living instability and triple-oscillator depth of a polyphonic classic, augmented for modern production.”

While the Memorymoog boasted an undeniably powerful sound engine, it was not a synth without flaws. The instrument was the last to be released during Moog’s original incarnation before the company fell into bankruptcy. As a result, its MIDI implementation was left somewhat unfinished. The tuning was notoriously unstable too, and the machine is known for being difficult to maintain.

Arturia has included some of these imperfections in its recreation. The plugin includes a ‘vintage dispersion’ parameter, for dialling in what Arturia refers to as “subtle, breathing detuning that sounds alive, not perfect.”

The virtual analogue filters can also be overdriven in a characteristic manner using the per-voice Drive control. According to Arturia: “At low settings it adds subtle harmonic richness; past halfway it introduces the raw, crunchy analogue grit the Memorymoog was notorious for. Combine with a slow filter opening and you have a signature ‘angry Moog’ moment that cuts through any dense mix.”

As with other plugins in Arturia’s V Collection, Memory V’s main UI closely mimics the look and layout of its inspiration, but an assortment of modern extras can be found within the interface’s drop down Advanced tab.

Here, users can access a four-track arpeggiator that allows for multi-layered patterns to be honed and routed to different octaves of the synth keyboard. There’s also a flexible drag-and-drop modulation setup with multiple envelopes, LFOs, randomisation tools and a step-sequenced Voice Modulator.

Memory V also has a three-slot effect engine that can be loaded with a variety of vintage and modern-style processors drawn from Arturia’s existing software suite.

As with other V Collection plugins, the synth also makes use of a top-level Macro system that allows users to modulate and control multiple parameters at once using four editable controls.

Memory V is MPE compatible, and comes loaded with over 300 presets covering basses, pads, leads and a variety of more esoteric sounds.

The synth is available now priced at €/$149. Owners of existing Arturia products can unlock introductory discounts by logging into their accounts.

Head to the Arturia site for more information.

A leak on Behringer’s website has revealed 14 unreleased products, many of which have yet to be officially announced or even teased by the German manufacturer.

The ever-observant gearheads on the Behringer subreddit spotted the leak last week while the company’s website was undergoing a redesign, when listings for forthcoming products briefly appeared before being taken down.

Screenshots were swiftly taken, of course, and from these we’ve learned that several previously unannounced products are in the pipeline, and some upcoming instruments we already knew about may be closer to an official release than many of us expected.

Behringer’s leak revealed that the company is preparing to release a drum machine and sampler inspired by the E-mu SP-1200, a much-loved 1987 instrument that heavily influenced the sound of early hip-hop. Listed under the product name SP-1200, the listing featured no image and only a short description that confirmed the instrument will offer both modern 24-bit and classic 12-bit sampling – the latter imitating the original SP-1200’s famously gritty lo-fi character – and feature an analogue filter.

Considering that Behringer has released instruments based on the LinnDrum and Oberheim DMX in recent years, it’s no surprise that an SP-1200 remake is in the works, adding to a stable of clones that’s getting close to encompassing almost every notable classic drum machine in music tech history.

Another unreleased drum machine that surfaced in Behringer’s leak is the RD-765, but details are even scarcer on this one: described as a “classic hybrid sampling drum machine” with a 64-step sequencer and sample recording capabilities, the description details “XX drum sounds”, suggesting that product copy had yet to be finalised before the listing was unintentionally published.

One imaginative Redditor speculated that the RD-765 could be a hybrid of a trio of Roland instruments that Behringer has yet to imitate (the TR-707, TR-626 and TR-505) but at this point, it’s anyone’s guess.

The leak included three more as-yet-unannounced products. AQ64 is described as a USB/MIDI controller and clip launcher that looks like it could be based on a similar concept to Akai’s Ableton-focused APC40. QT32 is a 32-key, eight-pad MIDI controller keyboard with shades of the Akai MPK Mini, and JAM is another MIDI keyboard that drops the pads and adds 64-step polyphonic sequencing capabilities.

The JAM looks like it could be a successor to the Swing, a controversial controller Behringer released in 2021 that shared an uncanny resemblance with the Arturia KeyStep, before backlash prompted a cosmetic rework.

That’s all the gear we hadn’t yet heard about, but the leak also featured several products that have already been teased by Behringer, stoking flames of anticipation among fans eager to get their hands on the company’s affordable clones of iconic instruments like the Roland Jupiter-8 and Yamaha CS-80.

It’s Behringer’s take on the latter that’s likely to have stirred up the most excitement, but the screenshots taken provide frustratingly little detail – with no image or description visible, all we have is a product name: VS-80. What this does suggest, though, is that Behringer’s long-awaited CS-80 clone (which was originally named DS-80) could be much closer to an official release than previously expected.

Another noteworthy instrument spied in the leak is the VCX 3, Behringer's clone of the EMS VCS 3, a product first teased in 2019 before entering beta testing in 2023, then seeming to vanish completely. (We even speculated that development of the sought-after remake had been discontinued completely after several customers reported that preorders made via gear retailer Sweetwater were cancelled in October last year.)

Well, it seems that Behringer’s clone of the historic synth is close to an official release: leaked screenshots show a product listing detailing a “legendary analogue synthesizer with 3 VCOs, VCF, routing matrix, ring modulator” and more.

There are many more notable mentions in the Behringer leak, including the BCR32, a MIDI controller and desktop sequencer that’s a redesign of the popular BCR2000, an original Behringer design released 20 years prior.

Also visible in the screenshots is the Mini Pops 7, a modernized take on Korg’s ‘60s analogue drum machine favoured by artists like Aphex Twin and Jean-Michel Jarre, and Polykeys PK61, a 61-key MIDI keyboard controller with polyphonic aftertouch and a ribbon controller.

While Behringer’s JT-16 – a souped-up 16-voice clone of the Roland Jupiter-8 that’s become one of the most keenly-awaited products in its ever-expanding list of upcoming releases – didn’t appear in the leak, Behringer has since published a product page for JT-16 VST, a plugin version of that synth.

The company promises that JT-16 VST authentically captures the Jupiter-8’s sound via the “meticulous recreation of all the original oscillators, filters, and envelopes” and features all the original factory patches and presets.

Was Behringer’s leak truly accidental or simply a shrewd marketing stunt? We’ll never know, but whether or not the big reveal was an honest mistake – and whether or not these products will actually make it to shelves in the near future – it’s certainly given music-makers plenty to talk about. All we can do now is wait, and as ever with Behringer, that may be for quite some time.

The drum fill in Phil Collins’ 1981 hit In The Air Tonight is deservedly iconic, but it’s not the only notable rhythmic element in the song. In fact, the beat is driven not by any live playing, but a pattern from the Roland CR-78 drum machine which plays throughout.

It’s fair to say, then, that without the CR-78, In The Air Tonight might never have existed, but in a new interview with Eddie Trunk’s Trunk Nation podcast, Collins says that, when he first brought his unit home from Japan, he thought he wouldn’t need it and so gave it away.

“We'd come back from Japan with Genesis with these drum machines, and being a drummer and thinking like a drummer I didn't think I needed a drum machine, so I gave mine to one of the road crew,” Collins confirms. He says that he realised that he’d make a mistake when he got back to his home studio and started making music on his own.

“I asked the road manager if I could get my drum machine back and he said ‘sure,’” Collins remembers. “So I got it back and I started to learn how to use it, how to program it. I mean, it was nothing like what you get today if you buy a drum machine – it was very basic. It was really a cocktail drum machine, you know, for people that play piano in bars, and I wrote this nice pattern which was kind of moody.”

Said pattern was a slowed-down, adapted version of the CR-78’s Disco 2 preset, and provided the perfect bed for Collins’ synth pad chords, which he played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5.

“I had a keyboard which had a couple of really nice sounds on it, and one of them was number 36, which was the In The Air sound,” says Collins. “That became the pad sound if you like, for the song. I went for some chords and the chords sounded great with the drum machine pattern. And then that was it, you know? I mean, it just went round and round.”

There was a little more to it than that, of course. The haunted vocal, for example… but even that was recorded spontaneously.

“I set up a microphone and I sang improvised lyrics,” says Collins. “That first verse is all improvised. It just came to me – I sang it and then I wrote it down. I didn't write it then sing it, you know? It was the other way round. So I felt something was going on, but I didn't really know what to do with it.”

Collins says that his attempts to get a good sound for the live drum overdubs at home were unsuccessful, so in the end, his demo multitracks were copied over to the 24-track system in the Townhouse studio in London.

It was here that Collins worked with producer Hugh Padgham to record that famous gated reverbed drum fill, but once again, this was something that just happened in the moment. “That was the fill I played on that particular take on that particular day,” Collins confirms.

In The Air Tonight may never have got to that point, though, if it hadn’t been for Collins re-acquiring and tinkering with that CR-78, a creative moment that kickstarted several others and resulted in a career-defining debut single.

“It wasn't thought out or choreographed, you know?” Collins insists. “Everything fell into place gradually, and it became the record that people think of when they think of me.”

Berlin’s Superbooth is probably the most significant date in the modular synth calendar. Seemingly every Eurorack developer and their CV-toting mother had some sort of presence at the Fez Centre this past weekend, most of whom had something new and exciting to show.

There was so much modular action, in fact, that it’s hard to cover it in any way that even comes close to being comprehensive. So in lieu of a definitive list, here is a loose collection of our modular highlights – a few of the new releases that turned our heads and had our patch cables twitching on the Superbooth show floor…

Befaco / Tesseract ARK

Modular systems are a great environment for experimenting with chance-based sequencing and generative systems. This new 16-track instrument looks like an excellent tool for precisely those kinds of sonic adventures.

Created by Befaco in collaboration with Tesseract Modular, ARK is described as “a compositional system where algorithms, chance, and signal share the same space.”

Each of ARK’s tracks can make use of deterministic, stochastic & Euclidean sequencing tools, with 16 internal modulation sources for adding movement.

ARK can be used as a fairly self-contained instrument, with per-track internal sound engines and samplers. It also looks handy for driving other sound sources though. ARK can output CV and audio as well as MIDI. It also features internal harmonic tools based around scales and chord progressions.

Oh, and there are onboard effects too. Basically, it looks like an all-in-one experimental powerhouse.

More info>>

4ms / Valley Audio Mesa

4ms’s new reverb module began life in the digital realm. Mesa is based on Valley Audio’s Plateau, a popular third-party add-on for the virtual Eurorack environment VCV Rack, itself based on a renowned plate reverb algorithm developed in the ‘90s by Jon Dattorro.

According to 4ms: “Mesa brings the Plateau sound into hardware with no compromises on quality. Running at 96 kHz with 64-bit double-precision processing, Mesa is among the finest-sounding reverbs available at any price point.”

Aside from the reverb algorithm itself, Mesa is equipped with four LFOs for modulation, a pre-delay buffer, a freeze function and dual filters.

More info>>

Make Noise / Soundhack Plexiphon

We can always rely on Make Noise to turn up to Superbooth with something interesting to show, and this year saw the debut of Plexiphon, a creative spatial effect that once again sees the US brand teaming up with developer Tom Erbe of Soundhack.

Described as a “spatial texturizer”, Plexiphon’s big selling point is the fact it is ‘modeless’, allowing for continuous morphing between different forms of spatial effect. This means to can seamlessly go from, say, washed out reverb to multi-tap delay lines,

This is controlled by a combination of the Plexus parameter, which alters the algorithm’s the routing and entanglement of the feedback loops, and the Size control, which changes the temporal relationship between the feedback paths, acting like a delay time or room size control. Both parameters can be controlled by both front panel knobs or an associated CV input.

More info>>

Befaco / Mylar Melodies Random8

Another Befaco collaboration, this time with musician/podcaster/YouTuber and all-round modular fiend Mylar Melodies.

Befitting of its name, Random8 features eight random voltage generators packed into just 8HP of space. Each generator has a trigger input, per-track loop button and attenuator.

According to Mylar Melodies: “Random8 is designed to provide a huge level of animation for its size, yet remain interactive and jammable, by tapping dedicated buttons to loop or 'evolve'. Using stepped randomness, it makes every step of your sequence sound different, alive and interesting – so you can play live more easily and for longer.

“It also has scale quantisation built in so it can drive VCOs, making it a pitch sequencer (where you let chance determine the steps) too - In fact, it's eight! And it has slide, making stepped looping voltages into complex looping LFOs.”

More info>>

WMD Cosmic Debris

Launched just ahead of this year’s show, Cosmic Debris is a stereo delay and reverb processor with 16 interacting delay lines. What makes Cosmic Debris interesting is that it’s designed specifically as a live performance effect, meaning that it’s particularly well-suited to manipulating sounds on the fly.

The module has three modes of operation, designed to create tight rhythmically synced delays, washes of ambience or pitch-shifted shimmer.

A Slew function allows users to create slowly morphing effect sweeps with a single turn of a control, while the Snapshot function can save and recall parameter configurations.

WMD Cosmic Debris>>

Doepfer 1U modules

Dieter Doepfer is the developer that first introduced the Eurorack format, so it's always interesting to see what Doepfer is up to.

New for this year’s Superbooth is a range of modules in horizontal 1U format (ie, arranged to be long, rather than tall) with a new 1U-compatible case to fit them in.

There are six 1U modules in this first batch, with more adaptations to follow. The initial run includes a dual VCA, dual LFO, AD/LFO, 6-in-2 mixer, MIDI-to-CV converter and Doepfer’s Miniature Ratcheting Sequencer.

The new P7 case, meanwhile, takes the same form as Doepfer’s existing P6 powered case, with an additional 1U row along the centre, giving a total of three module rows of 84HP.

More info>>

Knobula Drum Farm

Knobula has made some of our favourite modules of recent years, including the Poly Cinematic and Monumatic synth voices, which bring a welcome touch of polyphony to your modular rig.

Drum Farm is said to be “inspired by Knobula Technical Director Jason Mayo’s background in computer animation, where vast ‘render farms’ generated thousands of realistic images with minimal human input.”

That has resulted in a 16-sound percussion generator that combines elements of virtual analogue and physical modelling synthesis, sampling and real-time effects. These elements are designed to interact with one another, so that users can shape drum sounds in synthesis, process them with effects and then resample the results for further manipulation and layering.

Designed to be fast and intuitive, Drum Farm is said to be capable of quickly generating adventurous drum sounds through experimentation or generative programming. From the demos we’ve seen it looks like a whole lot of fun.

More info>>

Ferry Island Modular Undertow

Ferry Island is a relatively new brand from Helsinki. Following the release of its debut Four Seas oscillator last year, the company came to Superbooth with a pair of new modules, a VCA/LPG named Beacon and Undertow, a powerful-looking wavetable VCO-come-LFO.

Undertow is described as a ‘two dimensional’ wavetable generator. According to Ferry Island: “instead of one VCO/LFO waveform, it gives you fifteen simultaneous outputs, each a unique position between two wavetable LFOs.”

Users can morph the output across two axes, with the horizontal axis altering the wave and frequency and the vertical axis shifting from clean to turbulent modulation.

According to Ferry Island “there's no such thing as too much modulation” – which is a statement we’re happy to endorse.

More info>>

SUPERBOOTH 2026: Erica Synths’ big launch at this year’s Superbooth is Resonant Filterbank - an analogue/digital performance and production-friendly effects unit which sports ten bandpass filters to squeeze and maximise your input sounds, cutting and boosting specific frequencies at will.

But this sleek aluminium-housed box is more than just a simple 10-band filterbank, you can also use it as both an unconventional multimode filter or as an instrument in its own right, particularly when you play with the box's various resonance controls.

It can become a standalone instrument via configurable feedback loops. “[It can be used] even as an experimental sound generator for no-input mixer-like setups,” state Erica Synths.

You can use the Filterbank's Clocked Modulation Mode to program specific band positions in a set sequence and build oscillating stereo effects. This is done via 20 independent LFOs and envelope followers which can be assigned to any control parameter. It also features a spectral analyser and a dynamic EQ, making it a lot deeper than you might think upon initial inspection.

The small display screen gives detailed visual feedback as to what’s happening, with a helpful Macro view that can guide you when setting the sliders to access and control specific features and, orienting the machine to be used as a performance instrument.

Its user snapshot preset memory has 128 slots which you’re also able to morph between on the fly.

In terms of ins/outs, there’s 6.3mm balanced stereo inputs and outputs, a customisable footswitch input, and five-pin DIN MIDI in and USB for firmware updates and patch loading. There’s an analogue Gain Stage which boosts incoming signals up to +24dB.

Going back to the surface level filtering abilities, and its frequency range stretches across: 29 Hz, 61 Hz, 115 Hz, 218 Hz, 411 Hz, 777Hz, 1.5 kHz, 2.8 kHz, 5.2 kHz and 11 kHz.

So, however you use it - whether it's applied to drum machines, synths, modular setups or even guitars, Resonant Filterbank sounds like it will expand the sonic scope and then some.

Resonant Filterbank is available to preorder for €660 at Erica Synths website, the product ships on May 18

It's now a full decade since the first dedicated Superbooth show took place in Berlin, but the origins of the event date back further than that.

Founded by the team behind Berlin instrument store SchneidersLaden, Superbooth grew out of the now-defunct Musikmesse show in Frankfurt. Since 2017, Superbooth has taken place on a regular basis in the tranquil, wooded grounds of the FEZ centre south of Berlin city centre.

Part industry trade show, part synth nerd jam session, the three day event plays host to many of the biggest brands in music technology, but also numerous smaller, newer and often innovative outfits.

More so than the NAMM Show – which takes place in California each January – Superbooth has become the de facto event for music tech brands to announce and showcase new gear.

And, it's live...

Cre8audio Programm is a CV and MIDI sequencer that blends playability and algorithmic generation

Cre8audio has unveiled Programm, a MIDI and CV sequencer designed to bridge “the gap between human performance and algorithmic generation.”

Programm has 12 sequencer tracks that can be used in a mix and match fashion across its analogue and MIDI outputs.

There are four monophonic melodic tracks, which can be used as distinct sequencers when output via MIDI, or via two sets of analogue pitch, CV and gate outputs. These are joined by eight percussive sequencer tracks, each of which has its own analogue trigger output.

Programm is designed to be used both for precise programming and for generating randomised ideas. Each step can be configured via pitch, gate length, ratcheting, CV/CC, note offset, and step condition parameters.

Each sequence can have its own individual length up-to 64 steps. The device can save 64 patterns as well 32 multi-pattern songs.

The melodic sequencer tracks can be used in four modes – mono, chord, arp, and chip, which combines the chord and arp functions. The sequencer can make use of key and scale functionality, as well as six groove modes that Cre8audio says “expand far beyond classic swing”.

Read more>>

Plinky 12 is an expressive touch synthesizer available with three swappable faceplates for “different kinds of musical thinking”

German developer Making Sound Machines has announced Plinky 12, a trio of touch-focused instruments with swappable faceplates, each of which makes use of the same core hardware design and a shared synth engine.

Plinky 12 is, essentially, a single instrument, although its interchangeable panels allow it to function in a multitude of different ways. According to its developer, this concept means that “it can become different instruments built for different kinds of musical thinking”.

Read more>>

This one-button synth could be the wildest idea to come out of Superbooth 2026

We last heard from boutique synth-makers Cyma Forma back in 2024, when the Parisian tinkerers unveiled ALT, a quirky analogue “soundscape synthesizer” with a Synthi-style pin matrix and patch-modulating light sensors.

Just in time for Superbooth, Cyma Forma has returned with its second instrument, another three-letter marvel that takes an even more innovative approach to sound design: RND (pronounced “Random”).

Undoubtedly the most minimalist synth we’ve ever come across, RND is a compact box with an interface made up of a single button. That’s it. No keys, no knobs, no faders, and no display, just one button that generates a randomized musical idea with every press.

Read more>>

Between the likes of Akai Sample, Teenage Engineering’s KO II and Casio’s forthcoming sampler, we’re living in something of a golden age of portable samplers. 1010music claims that its newly-updated Blackbox 2 sampler is "heir to its own portable sampler throne."

If that's true, it faces some Westeros-levels of rivalry. Let battle commence.

Whoever comes out on top in the Game of Thrones Affordable Samplers, 1010's latest has a lot going for it.

Like its predecessor, the Blackbox 2 is a portable, touchscreen-equipped instrument that houses a self-contained sampling workstation within a compact, rugged device. However, for version 2 1010 has significantly reworked the interface, adding a larger touchscreen and new layout that promises an improved workflow.

The central feature of this new look Blackbox is its four-inch hi-res colour touchscreen, which is used as the primary interface for sequencing and sample editing. A bank of four multi-use rotaries sit directly above the screen while a bank of transport and navigation buttons are placed below.

Blackbox 2 is a four-track workstation that can load up-to four one-shot, loop, slicer or multisample instruments, with the one-shot and loop instruments capable of supporting 16 samples per-patch. Blackbox 2 expands the song-creation features of the original, introducing new launch, scene, song, mixing and effect screens for editing various elements of the composition.

Unlike its predecessor, which required an external power source, Blackbox 2 contains its own rechargeable battery, allowing for 3hrs of fully portable use. It also adds USB-C host and device ports capable of transmitting multichannel USB audio and MIDI.

Blackbox 2 is scheduled to arrive in July, priced at $649.

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Sound the synth kalimba klaxon!

After three long years of development, Bastl Instruments today launched Kalimba - a typically quirky hybrid synth/instrument that resembles – you guessed it – a kalimba, complete with playable tines.

To operate, Kalimba relies on tiny microphones, touch sensors and an accelerometer to yield all manner of expressive sounds. All of which are housed within a physical design that is inspired by the traditional kalimba, tines and all.

There seems to be a theme emerging at this year’s show, of prioritised expression and more traditional-instrument based-routes into exploring sound, and the handheld Kalimba is no exception. “Treat it like an acoustic instrument, it will answer like one” Bastl say.

Playing the tines at varying intensities excite the internal physical modelling and FM engines, thanks to the instrument’s internal microphones. The internal accelerometer acts as both an exciter for the physical modelling engine and also filters the left and right channels of the FM engine, as the device is physically rotated.

Honestly, it looks incredibly fun to us. We'll bring you a demo as soon as we can.

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Polyend is a brand that likes to keep us guessing. Fresh off the back of unveiling its AI-assisted effect pedals at NAMM, the Polish company has now unveiled a top-end hybrid analogue-digital drum machine that looks set to rival the likes of Roland's TR-1000 and Elektron's Analog RYTM.

Housed in an aluminium body reminiscent of Polyend’s Synth or Play hardware, Drums is an eight-track drum machine that combines analogue, digital and sample-based sound generation.

Its four analogue voices are based on modern SSI chips that produce two VCOs, an additional noise source and a third digital oscillator that can be used for creating layered sounds or set up for frequency modulation. Each analogue voice also packs a multimode VCF and envelope-controlled VCA.

The remaining voices can make use of a variety of digital synthesis engines or samples. According to Polyend, options include “more than forty instruments, each with its own sub-mode mutations, giving users hundreds of sound options to choose from.” These digital tracks also have acces to eight individual LFOs to provide modulation.

For sequencing, Drums makes use of what Polyend calls its “most intuitive sequencing system so far.” This involves a combination of fills, probability, micro-timing, parameter locks, pattern chaining, generative tools and multiple track play modes. Drums can also save and recall up-to 64 patterns, 64 drum kits and 48 song arrangements.

The drum machine also has an ‘XOY’ fader, which allows users to fluidly morph between two versions of a drum kit during performances. There’s also a broad selection of effects, available as sends, inserts or part of the master chain. Effects can be sequenced per-track making, in the words of Polyend, “effects part of the rhythm rather than something added only at the end of the signal chain.”

“Drums is a return to the fundamentals that defined Polyend from the beginning,” says Polyend CEO Piotr Raczyński. “We wanted to build the drum machine we would want to use and own ourselves. Something uncompromising in sound, materials, and workflow. Like our earliest instruments, Drums is made in small batches, with close attention to every detail, and built to stay relevant for decades.”

Drums is available for reservation now via a refundable $500 deposit, with the first run of units due to ship in around three or four months. The retail price will be €/$2,699, and Polyend says there will be quantities available at launch.

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We knew that Modal Electronics, the maker of the extraordinary Argon and Cobalt workstations, had something new for us… and today, launching simultaneously with the first day of Berlin’s Superbooth 2026 show comes the Element One, a diminutive 37-key synth designed for musicians who, in Modal’s words, ‘want to play with sound’ albeit without requiring any deep technical knowledge.

Developed in collaboration with the world-renowned Axel Hartmann Design team, the 4.5kg minimalist steel and polycarbonate-enclosed Element One’s ultra-reactive USP is spotlighted by expressive aftertouch and a versatile 4-axis joystick.

Then, there’s 17 direct-access control knobs for instantaneous sound shaping. It looks like the perfect antidote to tedious menu-scrolling…

The Element One is being posited as more of a responsive instrument, then - an instrument that attendees of this year’s Superbooth can test out with their own hands over at Modal’s booth (H101).

"Element One is for musicians and producers who want more sound and more expression without turning into full-time programmers," says the Modal team. "It doesn’t ask you to learn the rules; it dares you to play."

But that simplicity belies the fact that, under the hood, the Element One sports some impressive specs: 64 high-resolution oscillators (up to 8 per voice) can provide textured warmth right through to more modern-leaning sounds. Then there’s 30 resonant filter types including morphable and static options.

Element One is available through authorised retailers for MSRP 649 €/ or MAP $599 .

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The MusicRadar team has touched down on the Superbooth show floor. Stay tuned for demos and opinions as we get hands-on.

Roland's AI stompbox is coming...

Announced last year, Roland’s Project Lydia – a neural sampling stompbox that enables you to apply the tonal qualities of a trained AI model onto an incoming audio signal – has now reached the second phase of its development, bringing it closer to becoming a fully realised commercial product.

Various changes and improvements have been made since we first got wind of the device, which comes from Roland's Future Design Lab. This innovation wing of the company was founded in 2024 “to help design the future of music creation”.

What musicians want that future to look like is very much open to question so, perhaps wisely, Roland has made the changes to Lydia based on demos, industry showcases and global surveys.

The result is a refined hardware design that promises enhanced flexibility, such as easier Raspberry Pi 5 installation and standalone USB MIDI controller operation. There’s also fully integrated I/O, which does away with the need for an external USB audio interface, and an onboard LCD display for easier navigation and real-time parameter feedback.

User preset memories are now part of the package, so control settings can be stored, and MIDI connectivity has been added for deeper control, automation and integration with other studio and live gear.

We’re still a way off from Lydia being something that you can actually buy, but Roland says that the first prototype generated strong interest, which prompted it to have a good think about where to go next with it.

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Teenage Engineering has launched a new hardware mixer to join its EP family of portable samplers.

The EP-136 KO Sidekick is a two-channel mixer with integrated audio interface, making it ideal for connecting portable gear – such as the EP samplers – to a DAW setup. The EP-136 is more than a functional utility though, boasting a variety of creative effects and performance tools more commonly seen on DJ mixers.

As Teenage Engineering says: “The plan was to build a mixer for the KO II but it became more of an effect-box with a built-in sequencer. Quite cool actually.”

Teenage Engineering’s EP range kicked off in late 2023 with the arrival of the EP-133 KO II – an evolution of the company’s tiny PO-33 K.O!, which was part of the company’s Pocket Operator range. Despite a few limitations, the EP-133 was very easy to love, thanks in part to being far more affordable than many of Teenage Engineering’s other recent releases.

The EP-133 was followed by a run of sequels that have all been more niche and eccentric, including the medieval-themed EP-1320 and reggae-orientated EP-40.

The EP-136 looks like a release with more mass market appeal than those latter entries, and thankfully lands at a temptingly-accessible price point of €/£189. (It’s worth remembering that Teenage Engineering’s last portable mixer landed at an eye-watering price of £1199.)

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Japanese synth brand Sonicware has announced Deconstruct Minimal, a new hardware groovebox said to be “built on the rhythmic and pitch drift of legendary drum machines”.

Sonicware is perhaps best known for its Liven series, a range of compact digital synths that specialise in lo-fi sounds and ambient textures. According to the company, Minimal marks the first entry in a new range designed to sit alongside the Liven instruments.

“While the Liven series focuses on sound itself — making it easy to create music tailored to each sound engine — the deconstruct series focuses on musical structure, analyzing and reconstructing it to enable deeper musical expression.”

Described as being ‘designed to create hypnotic minimal grooves’, Deconstruct Minimal is a 10-track groovebox featuring a drum machine accompanied by a virtual analogue bass synth and sampler capabilities.

The sequencer tracks are designed for creative drum programming, equipped with per-track accents, sub-steps, randomised velocity, swing and phrase rotation. Rather than channeling the sound of vintage drum machines, Minimal instead aims to recapture the ‘groove DNA’ of classic hardware by replicating the grooves of vintage machines, along with their subtle drifts in rhythm and pitch drift.

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Modal Electronics Element One demo

It’s been a bit of a rocky road for Bristol-based synth-makers Modal Electronics in recent years, but after making a comeback in 2024 under new ownership, the company has returned with its first new instrument under the restructured brand. A “repackaged” version of Modal’s Cobalt8, the Element One streamlines that concept to deliver a $599 virtual analogue synth aimed squarely at music-makers that value playability and ease-of-use over complex sound design.

Minus the sequencer, Element One is essentially the same synth as the Cobalt8 under the hood. Its sound engine has eight voices of polyphony, powered by 64 high-res oscillators shaped by 40 unique algorithms, and this opens up a sonic vocabulary that’s impressively broad for a VA synth: we spent a solid 20 minutes auditioning its bank of pads, getting lost in an ocean of atmospheric textures before we even had a chance to dive into the other preset categories. The 4-axis joystick remains as fun as it was on the Cobalt8, too, giving you expressive control over pitch, mod and a ton of modulation destinations – combined with the channel aftertouch there’s plenty of scope here for expressive performances that go well beyond the keyboard.

Element One’s physical design was developed in collaboration with renowned synth designer Axel Hartmann, resulting in a clean and stripped-back interface that’s noticeably more accessible than the Cobalt8. Modal tells us that Element One places “performance at the centre”, shifting the synth’s target market towards musicians and novice synthesists. The knob-twiddlers haven’t been forgotten, though, and if you’re someone that likes to get deep into sound design, you still get the same level of control as Cobalt8 – you’ll just have to dive a bit deeper in the menus or use the companion desktop app to access some of the more advanced parameters. Taking the Cobalt8’s sophisticated sound engine and placing it in a more approachable package strikes us as a smart move, and Modal tells us the Argon8 and Carbon8 could be next in line for the same treatment.

Polyend Drums sound demo

Polyend says Drums is the most ambitious project its ever worked on, a hybrid analogue/digital drum machine that’s “built without compromise”, and that’s evident from the moment you lay your hands on it – this is a premium piece of kit with a premium price tag, and at $2,699, it’ll be competing with beasts like Roland’s TR-1000 at the very top end of the market.

Though its sleek and stylish design is undeniably eye-catching, Drums’ distinctive interface has us in two minds. Dialling in patterns on its 4x16 grid of backlit pads is fast and fun, the per-track level meters are a nice touch, and we’re big fans of the instrument’s X0Y fader, which lets you trigger fills and morph between kits and patterns on-the-fly, opening up a whole host of possibilities for creative transitions. The instrument’s knob-heavy top half could take some getting used to, though, with a grand total of 96 rotaries jostling for position and key parameters spread across multiple displays that are a touch on the small side.

Workflow aside, though, Drums’ sound is impressive. Though the pre-production unit we tested didn’t yet incorporate the four dual-VCO analogue voices you’ll find in the finished product, the digital and sample-based voices still offered a diverse tonal palette, delivering everything from room-shaking kicks, biting snares and crisp hi-hats to more unconventional tones accessible via its sub-mode mutations. This is a drum machine we could get lost in for days, and we get the sense that we hardly even scratched the surface in the time that we had with it – we’ll be heading back to Polyend’s booth tomorrow to dig deeper into the sequencer, which the company tells us is the “most advanced and intuitive” it’s designed yet.

MusicRadar's Matt Mullen gets hands-on with 1010music's new Blackbox 2 sample workstation

What is Korg hiding under here?

Korg’s booth sits squarely in the middle of Superbooth’s entrance hall, a scene-stealing spot that the company has previously used to showcase big new releases. This year, however, the company has hidden away its next big new release under several sheets of plastic film, giving us a tantalising glimpse of a prototype instrument from the established Japanese brand.

What could it be? Not many details are visible underneath the covering, but it’s visibly a 61-key instrument with a healthy amount of knobs and an array of blue LEDs, some arranged above the keyboard in the style of the Logue range’s sequencer. A large screen sits towards the right-hand side, suggesting something in the workstation realm, but who knows? Many are speculating that it could be a successor to the Korg Prologue, an hybrid analogue/digital poly the company discontinued in 2022. When we know more, so will you.

Big music technology news away from the Superbooth show floor: Native Instruments has been acquired by inMusic, owner of Akai, Moog, Denon DJ and others.

It's a move that is sure to divide opinion among users, as MusicRadar's Ben Rogerson writes:

While there will inevitably be concerns that having so many big-name brands under one roof isn’t necessarily good for the industry as a whole, NI’s customers will also be relieved to learn that the products that they’ve invested in should now be supported into the future. Whether Native Instruments will ever be the innovative force it once was remains to be seen, but at least it’s still here.

Read the full story>>

Is it a filter or is it an instrument? For Erica Synths, the answer is ‘Why not both?’

Erica Synths’ big launch at this year’s Superbooth is Resonant Filterbank - an analogue/digital performance and production-friendly effects unit which sports ten bandpass filters to squeeze and maximise your input sounds, cutting and boosting specific frequencies at will.

But this sleek aluminium-housed box is more than just a simple 10-band filterbank, you can also use it as both an unconventional multimode filter or as an instrument in its own right, particularly when you play with the box's various resonance controls.

It can become a standalone instrument via configurable feedback loops. “[It can be used] even as an experimental sound generator for no-input mixer-like setups,” state Erica Synths.

You can use the Filterbank's Clocked Modulation Mode to program specific band positions in a set sequence and build oscillating stereo effects. This is done via 20 independent LFOs and envelope followers which can be assigned to any control parameter. It also features a spectral analyser and a dynamic EQ, making it a lot deeper than you might think upon initial inspection.

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Sonicware Deconstruct Minimal sound demo

Japanese brand Sonicware has become a firm favourite among budget-conscious beatmakers in recent years thanks to its LIVEN series, an affordably priced series of grooveboxes and synths each themed on a specific concept. At Superbooth 2026, the company has introduced an entirely new range to sit alongside the LIVEN line: Deconstruct. Where LIVEN was focused on “sound itself”, Sonicware says, Deconstruct explores “musical structure, analyzing and reconstructing it to enable deeper musical expression”.

The inaugural instrument in the Deconstruct series is MINIMAL, a battery-powered budget groovebox that fuses a sampler, drum machine and bass synthesizer, built for the “hypnotic grooves” of minimal techno and minimal house. It’s inspired by vintage drum machines we all know and love, but rather than simply mimicking their sounds, Sonicware has attempted to recreate their “groove DNA”, the subtle rhythmic and pitch drift behind the distinctive character of machines like the TR-808 and TR-909.

Sounds are primarily sample-based, though you get a dedicated synth engine for kick and snare, and the drum tracks are joined by a dedicated bass synth that sounds brilliantly squelchy and acidic, and really packs a punch when you crank the drive up. The sequencer is super versatile, with parameter lock, per-track accents, sub-steps, randomised velocity, swing and phrase rotation, and though the build quality is a little flimsy, it’s hard to complain at this price point. Any qualms were immediately forgotten once we began building up some minimal grooves and tweaking the master effects and 3-band DJ-style Isolator EQ on-the-fly. Minimal had us channelling our inner Ricardo Villalobos in no time, and for only $299, this is not only an impressively flexible groovebox, it’s a whole lot of fun.

This one-button synth could be the wildest idea to come out of Superbooth 2026

Probably most minimalist synth design we've ever come across, Cyma Forma’s RND is a compact box with an interface made up of a single button. That’s it. No keys, no knobs, no faders, and no display, just one button that generates a randomised musical idea with every press. Hit the button and all of RND's parameters across every feature are assigned weighted random values. Once you’ve hit it a second time, you erase the current idea and create a new one, and those sounds are gone forever.

Based on an idea dreamed up by French producer/DJ Bambounou, RND is a digital synth equipped with eight sound engines covering nine styles of synthesis, along with five styles of filter and a reverb effect. Each randomly generated idea is made up of four instrument tracks populated with a unique patch, and each track gets its own sequence, with melodies, rhythms, tempo and scale all randomised.

It’s a concept that’s sure to divide audiences with its extreme simplicity, but after spending some time hitting RND’s big black button and speaking to its creators, we’re fully on board. The ideas we heard RND create were varied, ranging from minimal ambient soundscapes to uptempo chiptune-style bangers, and you admittedly have to cycle through a few duds – it’s an unpredictable machine, but that’s entirely the point.

Time signatures are randomised across each of its four sequences, so you can get some funky polyrhythms, and thanks to the 4-channel MIDI output over USB, it could also act as a generative sequencer for a broader set-up, if you want to explore beyond RND’s internal sound engines. This obviously won’t replace your go-to synthesizer, and it’s not intended to. Instead, it’s a fun, easy way to spark instant inspiration, an emergency button for those days in the studio when your creativity needs a jumpstart. It’s reasonably priced too, at €125.

Cyma Forma tells us that if all goes well, they’re considering applying the same one-button concept to an effects unit and a drum machine, so watch this space.

Bastl Kalimba is a pocket-sized 'acoustic' synthesizer with motion control

A hybrid of kalimba and synth, Bastl’s Kalimba brought our minds back to Korg Berlin’s Phase8 when we first spotted it – an instrument that’s fundamentally based on the same combination – but the two synths are actually very different in their design.

Kalimba’s interface is made up of playable tines that, when plucked, tapped or touched, are picked up by microphones and touch sensors. These signals act as exciters for the internal synth engines, which combine physical modelling and FM to produce a varied catalogue of sounds, ranging from the conventional to the otherworldly.

There are also touch plates on the back that can be mapped to various parameters for additional control, and an internal accelerometer that’s mapped to both synth engines, so you’re able to manipulate timbres by rotating the device. It’s a pretty wild concept, but for such an esoteric device, it’s not difficult to dive into and begin creating unexpected sounds.

We found so much to explore in such a compact instrument, cycling through the scales, latching the arpeggiator and experimenting with the bitcrusher and distortion to create fuzzy, broken textures. The kalimba is a sweet-sounding instrument, but Bastl’s Kalimba can go very far in the opposite direction, its destructive looper layering, time-stretching and reversing audio to produce unrecognizable results.

It might be inspired by the kalimba, but Bastl’s Kalimba is so much more: a radically imaginative synth that’s one of the most ambitious designs we’ve spotted at this year’s show.

UDO's DMNO is two synths in one

Ziggy is a self-contained West Coast synth for under $1k

Outbox 8 is a godsend for Elektron junkies

Chase Bliss' Big Time is a supersized echo inspired by vintage '80s delays

Plinky 12 can be (almost) anything you want it to be

Roland's Project Lydia is pushing the boundaries of AI sound design

SUPERBOOTH 2026: After three long years of development, Bastl Instruments today launched Kalimba - a typically quirky hybrid synth/instrument that resembles - you guessed it - a kalmiba, complete with playable tines

To operate, Kalimba relies on tiny microphones, touch sensors and an accelerometer to yield all manner of expressive sounds. All of which are housed within a physical design that is inspired by the traditional kalimba, tines and all.

There seems to be a theme emerging at this year’s show, of prioritised expression and more traditional-instrument based-routes into exploring sound, and the handheld Kalimba is no exception. “Treat it like an acoustic instrument, it will answer like one” Bastl say.

Playing the tines at varying intensities excite the internal physical modelling and FM engines, thanks to the instrument’s internal microphones. The internal accelerometer acts as both an exciter for the physical modelling engine and also filters the left and right channels of the FM engine, as the device is physically rotated.

Six knobs sit atop the front panel, which adjust rates of timbre, excite, blend, detune, body and decay respectively.

Beyond that, the Kalimba also has a slew of further options on its front panel, with function-based touch points (for, as Bastl say, creating pads, pitch slides and timbral modulation) as well as 2 function-assignable ones on the back of the device.

There’s a heap of control options, with an arpeggiator, an internal layering looper, octave shifting, tempo/metronome and a palette of built-in effects (reverb, delay, bit-crush, overdrive, filtering, modulation).

Bastl states that the Kalimba’s three-year creation has been one of the most ‘challenging development projects’ that the company has ever undertook. “We have spent more than three years developing this instrument, exploring different casing shapes, tine lengths, materials, internal designs, features, and visual directions. We couldn’t be more grateful and proud of the entire Bastl team for what they have accomplished and how much heart they’ve put into this project.”

Artists such as Oliver Torr and Never Sol were also on-hand to stress and road-test Kalimba.

Bastl will be launching Kalimba on Kickstarter first (to help fund wider production) and is available from today until till 6th of June.

The ‘super early bird’ price starts at €389 which goes up to €500 Eur without tax and shipping. There’s also a range of backer awards and extra goodies (including a custom strap, a shirt and USB-C wrist strap amongst other trinkets) so check out the company’s Kickstarter page for more info.

Post-Kickstarter, the Kalimba is expected to ship in December 2026. If demand exceeds 1,500, Bastl plan to ship a second batch in early 2027.

SUPERBOOTH 2026: We knew that Modal Electronics, the maker of the extraordinary Argon and Cobalt workstations, had something new for us… and today, launching simultaneously with the first day of Berlin’s Superbooth 2026 show comes the Element One, a diminutive 37-key synth designed for musicians who, in Modal’s words, ‘want to play with sound’ albeit without requiring any deep technical knowledge.

Developed in collaboration with the world-renowned Axel Hartmann Design team, the 4.5kg minimalist steel and polycarbonate-enclosed Element One’s ultra-reactive USP is spotlighted by expressive aftertouch and a versatile 4-axis joystick.

Then, there’s 17 direct-access control knobs for instantaneous sound shaping. It looks like the perfect antidote to tedious menu-scrolling…

The Element One is being posited as more of a responsive instrument, then - an instrument that attendees of this year’s Superbooth can test out with their own hands over at Modal’s booth (H101).

"Element One is for musicians and producers who want more sound and more expression without turning into full-time programmers," says the Modal team. "It doesn’t ask you to learn the rules; it dares you to play."

But that simplicity belies the fact that, under the hood, the Element One sports some impressive specs: 64 high-resolution oscillators (up to 8 per voice) can provide textured warmth right through to more modern-leaning sounds. Then there’s 30 resonant filter types including morphable and static options.

Then, there’s what Modal describes as ‘studio-grade FX’ - consisting of three independent stereo engines which can conjure reverb, delay, chorus and much more - arrangeable in any order you see fit.

But, if you’d rather leave all the exploring and just dive straight into some staple sonics, Modal has kindly provided 300 factory presets (categorised by character) will undoubtedly serve you right. There’s also the option to import thousands of additional patches for the company’s Cobalt8 synth.

Modal states that the Element One has been designed to fit into any musical ecosystem, spanning a guitarist’s pedalboard to a DJ’s live rig, or the standard DAW-based producer’s home setup.

In terms of ins and outs, the Element One sports USB-C MIDI, MIDI In/Out, Sync I/O, and a stereo audio input that allows external sources to be processed through its internal FX engines. For deeper editing, Modal provide a free app - aka, the ‘MODALapp’ which provides a visual interface (available for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android).

Element One is available through authorised retailers for MSRP 649 €/ or MAP $599 . For more information, visit the MODAL Electronics website. We'll hopefully be getting hands-on with the Element One at the show - so watch this space!

SUPERBOOTH 2026: Japanese synth brand Sonicware has announced Deconstruct Minimal, a new hardware groovebox said to be “built on the rhythmic and pitch drift of legendary drum machines”.

Sonicware is perhaps best known for its Liven series, a range of compact digital synths that specialise in lo-fi sounds and ambient textures. According to the company, Minimal marks the first entry in a new range designed to sit alongside the Liven instruments.

“While the Liven series focuses on sound itself — making it easy to create music tailored to each sound engine — the deconstruct series focuses on musical structure, analyzing and reconstructing it to enable deeper musical expression.”

Described as being ‘designed to create hypnotic minimal grooves’, Deconstruct Minimal is a 10-track groovebox featuring a drum machine accompanied by a virtual analogue bass synth and sampler capabilities.

The sequencer tracks are designed for creative drum programming, equipped with per-track accents, sub-steps, randomised velocity, swing and phrase rotation. Rather than channeling the sound of vintage drum machines, Minimal instead aims to recapture the ‘groove DNA’ of classic hardware by replicating the grooves of vintage machines, along with their subtle drifts in rhythm and pitch drift.

The drum sounds themselves are mostly sample-based, but Minimal uses synthesis for its BD1 and SD tracks. The instrument comes stocked with 16 drum kits, divided into 10 banks, totalling 130 sounds.

Alongside the drum tracks Minimal also features a ‘Sonic Expansion Sampler’, which is described as a ‘drum machine–integrated 4-track sampler with a 4-bar loop track’.

Tracks 7-9 are one-shot sampler tracks that can load 2 or 4 second mono samples (48kHz/16-bit) with repitch to tempo functionality. Track 10 is a dedicated loop sampler, supporting stereo samples of up-to 8 seconds (48kHz/16-bit) with added time stretching.

Minimal’s Elastic Bass Synth is a newly-developed analogue-modelled engine with front panel controls for filter cutoff, resonance, envelope and decay – giving it a distinctly 303-style flavour.

According to Sonicware, the bass synth also offers “extensive sound shaping possibilities” via additional waveforms, a sub-bass and dedicated overdrive, plus real-time control over glide time and curve, decay curve, and gate time.

The groovebox also packs in a range of effects including a sweepable filter, phaser, distortion, reverb and more.

Minimal has a built-in speaker and can be powered by batteries or a 9v power supply, although the latter needs to be purchased separately.

Minimal is available to order now, priced at £359/$399/€399. The first 1000 units are available for a specially discounted price of £269/$299/€299.

Head to the Sonicware site to find out more.

What is it?

The announcement of Telepathic Instruments Orchid heralded a flurry of chat that one might associate with a boutique fashion or limited-run IPA drop. This was in no small part due to the involvement of Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.

According to TI, the Orchid is a “chord-generating digital synthesizer built on a revolutionary chord logic algorithm and industry-leading, voice-leading technology.”

While the concept of a chord-focused synth isn't entirely new – having its roots in the Omnichord and auto-accompaniment capabilities of ’80s era ‘home-keyboards’ – the Orchid attempts to drag that accessibility into the modern production era.

At its core, it is a 16-voice polyphonic synthesizer and keyboard that promises to translate musical intuition into immediate sonic results, with the intention of bypassing the learning curve of traditional music theory, subverting a user's hard-wired ‘chord memory’, or just as fun a bit of kit for finding new ideas. The idea being that rather than hunting for a major 9th on a standard keyboard, you simply hold a root note and tap a button, and all in a portable, battery-powered ‘ideas machine’ format.

In the flesh, apart from the small OLED screen, it looks like a child’s toy from the ’70s. In use, it perhaps feels like one as well, but more on that shortly.

Performance

The primary draw of the Orchid is its workflow, which, despite some initial cynicism on our part, is fun and genuinely transformative, offering an engaging way to escape a creative rut.

The standout feature is undoubtedly the Voicing Dial. This allows you to cycle through inversions and octave spreads with a simple flick of the wrist, creating harmonic shifts and variations that would usually require greater keyboard and chord proficiency to achieve. If actually deciding on a chord type is too much for you, then it’s easy to select a specific major or minor key and allow the Orchid to choose chords for you by mapping different, but appropriate ones, to each key of the keyboard.

It’s easy to be sniffy about some of this, especially if you are of the more judgmental ‘muso’ persuasion, but we really enjoyed this mode, and there’s nothing stopping you from tweaking chord types as you go.

You can also use the unit as a song-drafting tool to sketch out sophisticated harmonic progressions, and then split the chord, bass, and 'performance' data onto separate MIDI channels to trigger different hardware (or software) instruments. The aforementioned performance elements reflect the Orchid’s ability to turn block chords into something more engaging by allowing it to play them in different ways, with variations that take in ‘strumming’, arpeggiation, harp glissandi and 11 different trigger patterns.

The synth engine features 16-note polyphony and uses Virtual Analogue, FM, and Reed Piano models. The sounds themselves are good, with a solid array of presets, but editing is limited to overall filtering and effects. However, given that this is not intended as a standalone in-depth synth system, the lack of options here allows you to focus on other things and not be distracted by an endless menu of synth-engine parameters.

However, if you do wish to delve further, TI has released Pistil, a synth plugin featuring the Orchid synth engine, with full access to all its under-the-hood parameters – and it allows you to save patches to the hardware. Currently, Mac-only and in Beta, but a promising development, nonetheless.

It’s good to see that there have been some significant firmware updates over the course of Orchid’s development, which expand its features and flexibility. This includes the provision of additional time signatures and more expansive beat and looping options. The loop recorder included here is simple and effective but is only really intended as a notepad for generating one-off ideas. You won’t be creating complex multi-section music pieces here, and there’s no way to access or save anything other than what is in the loop recorder at that moment. Again, the focus clearly is on working in the moment.

Despite its boutique branding, it is disappointing to report that the physical chassis feels surprisingly lightweight and plastic, lacking the structural integrity of some other pro gear. The keyboard feels cheap and lightweight, and the encoders feel a little flimsy.

It is also worth pointing out that we have experienced some occasional glitches in use, and there have been some reported hardware issues on early units – though Telepathic Instruments itself does seem responsive in terms of support on this front.

Verdict

The Telepathic Instruments Orchid is a fun and fascinating, if occasionally charmingly flawed, attempt to rethink the interface between the composer/producer and the synth or computer. It prioritises fun and workflow over 'menu diving', making it the ideal choice for those who want to explore harmony without returning to music school. But it can also act as an ideas generator, or simply a way to find more interesting chord progressions for tracks you might already have started. Even just adjusting the Chord Voicing knob to create different inversions can be very helpful when considering different approaches to enhancing a track.

Compared with something like the Roland Aira J-6, the Orchid is much more interesting from a harmonic perspective and ultimately more useful across a wider range of genres.

Those looking for a controller that includes chord generation functionality could consider the Arturia KeyStep range, but although these excel in other areas, they don’t offer the charm, enjoyment, or inspiration we found in the Orchid, even with its premium price.

Let’s face it, the Orchid is not cheap, and to some, it looks like a toy. That being said, we really like ours. We bought it at full price, and don’t yet regret it. It has proven to be both fun and useful.

Hands-on demos

Telepathic Instruments

Alternatives

Specifications

SUPERBOOTH 2026: We last heard from boutique synth-makers Cyma Forma back in 2024, when the Parisian tinkerers unveiled ALT, a quirky analogue “soundscape synthesizer” with a Synthi-style pin matrix and patch-modulating light sensors.

Just in time for Superbooth, Cyma Forma has returned with its second instrument, another three-letter marvel that takes an even more innovative approach to sound design: RND (pronounced “Random”).

Undoubtedly the most minimalist synth we’ve ever come across, RND is a compact box with an interface made up of a single button. That’s it. No keys, no knobs, no faders, and no display, just one button that generates a randomized musical idea with every press.

Hit the button and all of RND's parameters across every feature are assigned weighted random values. Once you’ve hit it a second time, you erase the current idea and create a new one, and those sounds are gone forever. According to Cyma Forma, the synth is designed to provide an “infinite source of sounds”, trading “control for inspiration” with an ethos based on a single fundamental idea: “stop playing, start listening”.

Designed in collaboration with French producer and DJ Bambounou and Nick Donaldson of Infrasonic Audio, RND is a digital synth equipped with eight distinct sound engines, covering a variety of synthesis types, including subtractive, FM, additive, noise, karplus-strong, supersaw, speech and “acid” (presumably a TB-303 emulation) along with five styles of filter and a reverb effect.

Each randomly generated idea is made up of four instrument tracks populated with a unique patch, and each track gets its own sequence. Sequences are also randomly generated using Euclidean rhythms and a randomly selected scale and time signature, but you can also sequence RND’s synth engines via 4-channel MIDI over USB.

RND’s USB-C connection can also handle MIDI out, MIDI clock in/out, and multi-channel audio output, so you’re able to integrate with a broader set-up and record RND’s four tracks individually to mix elsewhere. You also get 3.5mm jacks for analogue sync in/out and a stereo mix output.

RND is a radical concept, and one that’s sure to divide audiences with its extreme simplicity – but we’ve got one-knob plugins, so why not a one-button synth?

Though most electronic musicians relish the sound design process and value the ability to tweak patches to their heart’s content, there’s certainly a case to be made that limitations can breed creativity, and RND seems to be pushing this idea as far as it can possibly go, offering an instant bolt of inspiration for the spontaneous music-maker that wants fresh ideas served up fast.

"RND is an inspiration machine," reads a statement from Cyma Forma. "There are 4.29 billion random seeds, meaning 4.29 billion different musical ideas. If you want to make music but don't know where to start, or if you're stuck in the middle of a track of yours, or if you just want to space out, just press the button. You'll definitely find something interesting."

If you’re as intrigued as we are, we’ll be checking out RND at Superbooth later this week, so stay tuned for more.

Priced at €125, RND is available for pre-order now, with first units shipping towards the end of June. Find out more on Cyma Forma’s website.

SUPERBOOTH 2026: This year’s increasingly essential synth expo Superbooth is set to begin in just a few days time, and we’re already foaming at the mouth in anticipation of some of the upcoming treats we’ll be getting our hands on when the doors open at Berlin’s Fez on May 7th. Chief among them, the tantalisingly unique Enigma from Soma Laboratory.

Marking ten years since the company put out its very first synth, the Lyra-8 (and 4) back in 2016, Soma’s Enigma is continuing the company's innovative ethos, and is sonically manipulated by the position and movement of metallic objects upon its surface. It harks back to the pioneering sound design-based experiments of the foundational synth progenitors, when the rules were, well, still being written.

Soma will demonstrate Enigma at Superbooth at its booth (0015 - Main Building) with the company’s founder Vlad Kreimer on-hand to officially introduce it to the world.

Enigma’s bespoke responsive surface - replete with a geometric web to slide your metallic trinkets around - takes the physical dimensions and characteristics of whatever objects are placed on it, and transforms them into deep sounds, with movement causing nuanced modulation.

“Through a unique interface developed by Soma, every metal object placed on the surface is transformed into sound. The shape, size, and type of object are entirely up to you,” Soma states on its website.

“Coins, screws, fragments, gears, tools, and any other metallic artefacts will work. The interface sensitivity is extremely high - even a fractional millimeter shift of an object can alter the sound.”

It certainly sounds - and looks - pretty fascinating judging by an enthralling YouTube demo, uploaded this morning. The viewers agree…

“When choosing your synths, arrange your coins wisely! Says commenter VJFranzK while another comments on the tactile physicality of the unit - “Stuff like this is how we will survive the AI era,” states user, drangusgrangus.

Also at the show, Soma is going to be presenting live demos of the Pulsar-23 1984 - a special limited edition version the Pulsar-23 drum machine that features a visual redesign and an entirely new bass drum architecture, designed by engineer Noah Jolly. This brings a fresh new sound to the table, with a filter shaping the bass section that was inspired by the circuit from the Polivoks.

Beyond this, Soma is also running a community contest with prizes that include a Pulsar-24 1984, a Lyra-8, the Pipe and the Ether. The contest, also timed to celebrate Soma’s tenth anniversary, will run until May 11th.

“To enter, contestants need to record a 15 to 60 second video of themselves playing any SOMA instrument and finish the following phrase in the caption in your own words: ‘SOMA changed my approach to music because…’’” the company states.

“Entries need to be posted by tagging #mysomastory on Facebook or Instagram -following SOMA Laboratory, and then registering through the link."

SUPERBOOTH 2026: US brand Buchla is closely associated with West Coast synthesis; an approach to modular instrument design with an emphasis on complex oscillators, which lends itself to adventurous, experimental music making.

Buchla gear is also known for being expensive – often almost prohibitively so. The company’s iconic, suitcase-housed Easel synths retail for around £/$5000, while its full Skylab modular system is priced at an eye-watering $15,000. So the arrival of a new, self-contained Buchla synth with a retail price (just) below £/$1000 is something worth getting seriously excited about.

Ziggy is a desktop monosynth that brings the look and character of classic Buchla synths to a self-contained and relatively accessible instrument.

At the heart of its sound engine is a complex oscillator, a sine wave generator that can be shaped via audio-rate modulation of either its amplitude or frequency. This is paired with a second modulation oscillator with a wide frequency range that allows it to function like both an LFO and audio source.

The oscillator section also includes a wavefolder for further shaping the output – a feature typical of Buchla synth designs.

The oscillators are shaped using a low-pass gate, another classic feature of West Coast synth design, which is based around a Sallen-Key filter and combines the functionality of both an amp envelope and low-pass filter.

Ziggy also has a modulation generator labelled Cycler. This can function in a variety of ways, from producing punchy percussive envelopes to cycling like a classic LFO, and can also be triggered for single-cycle modulation via MIDI or CV. It also has an ‘uncertainty’ parameter, for creating randomised modulation variations. A further XLFO provides an additional triangle wave modulation source.

READ MORE: East Coast vs West Coast synthesis: what's the difference?

One of the most notable aspects of Ziggy’s design is that, unlike the vast majority of Buchla gear, it’s not a modular instrument, meaning there’s no need to physically patch one element to another in order to produce sound. Instead the instrument is equipped with a flexible modulation system that allows users to route one element to another by adjusting the front panel dials or sliders.

Ziggy’s design combines elements of both analogue and digital. Its complex oscillator, modulation sources and low-pass gate are all analogue, but are digitally controlled, allowing the synth to save and recall patches. The sound engine is also complimented by a digital effects module, capable of applying processes including reverb, delay and distortion.

According to Buchla, “Ziggy incorporates many of the Buchla innovations that have long been taken for granted: digital control over the analogue audio, additive synthesis, unique and musical interactions, and the focus on making an ‘instrument’ rather than a ‘synthesizer.’”

Although Ziggy isn’t a modular synth, it does include CV inputs for gate, pitch and modulation, allowing it to be integrated into Eurorack setups. As well as these analogue control inputs, the instrument also has both MIDI and USB connections, along with an auxiliary audio input. Ziggy has a stereo pair of main outputs, joined by a 3.5mm headphone output port.

Ziggy is available to preorder now priced at $999/£915. The first units are estimated to start shipping in August or September of this year.

Ziggy is also designed to pair with Buchla’s own LEM218 touch keyboard, and can be ordered as a bundle for $1,999.

Head to the official Buchla site for more information, where you can also hear audio examples of it in action.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: It may not have escaped your notice that Howard Jones likes playing synthesizers, and we’re starting to get the impression that he rather likes talking about them, too.

After last year’s rather surprising revelation that he’d never previously owned a Prophet-5 - relax, he’s got one now - a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel has him revisiting an instrument that he’s definitely familiar with: a Roland Jupiter-8 that he’s owned since 1983.

HoJo refers to this as the “king of synths,” adding that it “always will be my favourite.” He says that he paid around £8,000 for his Jupiter-8 (“I didn’t have that kind of money, but I had to have one of these”) though the original retail price in 1981 was actually closer to £4,000. That’s almost £20,000 in today’s money, though, so we take the point that it was expensive.

Describing the Jupiter-8 as a “proper analogue synth,” Jones says that it has 18 miles of cabling inside it (we can’t be sure if this is true) and praises its biting sound. “The way it spits out those notes is incredible,” he says. “The attack… I just miss that on modern keyboards.”

Later on, Jones describes what he believes is another unique aspect of this classic Roland synth: “The Jupiter-8’s got a sound like no other - it’s sort of incredibly ‘stereo’. I don’t even know how they do it but software can’t get there quite yet.”

Despite having lengthy experience with the Jupiter-8 (and synths in general), it seems that Jones still doesn’t consider himself to be a sound design expert. Near the beginning of the video, we cut to archive footage of him being interviewed by Dick Clark on American Bandstand and hear him say that “I've always sort of thought of myself as a player really. I don't know what half those knobs do up there, but you know, I just fiddle with them until they make the right sounds.”

We’re with you there, Howard.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: Once upon a time, the only discussion that mattered to us music tech types, was whether Macs were better than PCs. While that conversation still crops up from time-to-time, it's largely become irrelevant, with the pace of technology clearly leaving not much between the two. Today, how you make your music is purely a matter of taste.

If you are making music within a DAW, you will doubtless have many plugin synths to call upon, whether they form part of your DAW package, purchased as third-party propositions, or are sampled/modelled to sound like hardware. These days, as with the inner workings of the computers that run them, the quality bar is set very high.

So if software synths today are so good, why is original vintage hardware so incredibly expensive?

Well, there are many factors at play here, and a large part of it may have to do with your own age.

Much like classic guitars, the original synth-head generation have the fondest affection for the classics. Operating the OG hardware with their own hands is, to some people, the only way to synthesize.

From Minimoogs and ARPs, to Junos and Jupiters, the purists will tell you that there is nothing like the real thing.

But is there something in their claims that the vintage originals are unsurpassed, or is their aging circuitry and the need for constant servicing actually a drawback that gives software the edge?

With a DAW, loading a soft-synth onto a track is often an instantaneous route to creativity. Controlling vintage hardware, however, is nowhere near as easy, and while many levels of control are possible, it's often not quite as fluid as firing up a plugin within a project.

Hence, software aficionados quite understandably prefer the faff-free approach.

Yet the hardware allure remains.

There have also been many examples of companies trying to blend software with hardware control, and in some instances, it has worked fairly successfully.

Roland’s System-8 is a great example of a flexible controller, with sounds emanating from software, either on-board or as plugins within a DAW.

Roland even produced Jupiter and Juno look-alike products too, which were both amazing in their own right, but were met by cries from the aforementioned purists that they ‘Just wanted the original analogs!’

But beyond all the advertising hyperbole, and the passion-led angles of both sides of the hardware/software debate, the question remains; On a sonic level - does software really outperform hardware in 2026?

To answer it, we are going to put it to a blind test, with three of our choice hardware synthesizers, and one or more of their software counterparts.

To illustrate our test, we have created audio examples from some of our own original hardware, and recreated exactly the same sounds in software, placing them side by side. Across multiple rounds.

Guessing whether hardware or software examples come first, second (or third) is part of the fun here, so keep a log of your assumptions as you go, and compare them with our answers at the end.

So, all you need to do is listen, and - well, make your mind up.

In each case, we have attempted to keep our sounds relatively simplistic, so that you can draw your own conclusions from the raw signals, recorded at 48k/24bit.

We haven't used any additional or onboard EQ, compression or effects, so the signals are all untreated. This allows us to take an educated listen and decide which we prefer.

1. Sequential Circuits Pro-One v u-he Repro-1

Our first synth in the shootout is the Sequential Circuits Pro-One, produced in the early 80s as a more affordable alternative to some of the expensive US designs.

Although only monophonic, it provided a two-VCO architecture, and packed the most extraordinary punch by way of its filter and snappy envelopes.

Encased in hard plastic (in order to keep costs down) it looked resplendent with its wooden end-cheeks, and provided an incredible amount of creative character, thanks in part to the modulation matrix.

Although it would be regarded as relatively basic by today's standards, the modulation matrix provided some incredible layers of sonic possibility, which made it quite unique.

Some people unfairly described the Pro-1 as an inferior single voice Prophet-5, but being a highly capable monosynth, it is easily one of the best-sounding and most fun to use.

The only downside to it really was its horrifically awful keyboard, which could become fairly unreliable with age.

To test out its sonic chops, we put an original Pro-One (albeit our snazzily refurbed one with new woodwork and updated keyboard) through its paces, and placed it up against the u-he Repro-1. Part of a double-sided package which also includes the Repro-5 (which emulates the Prophet-5), Repro-1 is a fine software tribute.

Vince Clarke often described the Pro-One as his favourite synth of all time - high praise from a man who has just about every analogue synth in existence!

Much of Clarke’s early Yazoo output demonstrated the flexibility of the Pro-One, with the classic Don’t Go famously being produced almost entirely with the Pro-One as a sound source.

Audio Test
ROUND 1: Single VCO (Saw) - Open filter synth riff

ROUND 2: Dual VCO (Saw) - Classic oscillator sync riff

ROUND 3: Dual VCO (Saw/pulse) - Punch octave bass riff

ROUND 4: Single VCO (Saw) - Resonant filter ‘wah’ lead riff

2. Oberheim Two Voice Pro Synthesizer v GForce Software Oberheim TVS Pro

Oberheim’s reputation and inventory of extraordinary synthesizers includes some of the most characterful and highly prized machines available on the secondhand market.

The unique Oberheim SEM (Synthesizer Expander Module) was available as a standalone, cased unit which offered two VCOs in a monophonic voice, coupled with one of the most legendary filters in existence.

The 12dB 2-pole filter design offered a variable state, shifting from low-pass to band and high-pass states through the continuous rotation of a pot.

Oberheim placed these unique SEMs in a number of configurations, which include included the enormous 4 and 8-voice models, both of which could be difficult to control, given the complexity of individual voices.

The more manageable concept of the Two Voice (TVS) provided two individual SEMs, along with a fantastic on-board sequencer.

This unique hardware instrument was reissued by Oberheim in 2016, and we luckily have one of these reissues in our studio, which we put up against the (fully endorsed by Tom Oberheim) GForce Oberheim TVS Pro.

The TVS Pro cements GForce's extraordinary reputation for exacting models of the classics, while adding additional elements, such as macros and comprehensive modulation routing.

Audio Test

ROUND 1: Two VCOs in octaves (single SEM) - Low-pass filter sweep, with resonance.

ROUND 2: Two VCOs - Pulse/modulated pulse (single SEM) - Classic OB Pulse lead

ROUND 3: Four VCOs (Both SEMS) - Bright and punchy pitched major chord

ROUND 4: Four VCOs (Both SEMS) - Filter swell minor chord

3. Roland Jupiter-8 v Cherry Audio Mercury-8 v Roland Jupiter-8 Software

For our final head-to-head, we have chosen one of the all-time vintage classic polys - the Roland Jupiter-8.

Described as one of the most beautiful synthesizers ever created from an aesthetic point of view, the sound of the Jupiter-8 pretty much defined the 80s and beyond.

Originally released with a retail price of £3999, the JP-8 remains a collector's piece, with exorbitant price tags extending into the many thousands.

Despite its age, the superb build quality of the originals means that there are still many hardware examples in fine working order.

We have owned our Jupiter-8 since 1985, with our example being the slightly revamped model which was described as the Jupiter-8a.

This revision added MIDI, via the Digital Communication Bus (DCB) which allowed connection to other equipment, particularly sequencers.

There was also a slight improvement in the DAC, which shifted from a 12-bit DAC to 14-bit, with the intention of improving stability.

Given the popularity of the instrument, Roland finally relented on building an official software emulation, creating its Roland Cloud-based software, which also resurrected some of its other hardware instruments. We’ll be using Roland’s official emulation in our test, along with another sublime take…

The Jupiter has been modelled by other companies too, most recently Cherry Audio. The company’s exquisite Mercury-8 - which we’re also throwing into our test here - includes a beautifully-designed GUI, all of the original presets, and a number of useful enhancements that make it a tempting proposition at a very affordable price.

Audio Test

ROUND 1: Single VCO (Saw) - Resonant filter sweep

ROUND 2: Dual VCO (Saw) - Filter swell pad

ROUND 3: Dual VCO (Pulse) - PWM brass/pad stabs

The Results

How did you get on with your blind listening test? Were you aware of any noticeable differences?

Well, we hope you’ve been logging which sounds you think are hardware and which are software, because, below, we’re going to breakdown which is which:

Sequential Circuits Pro-One v. u-he Repro-1
In each pair of examples, you heard the Repro-1 first, and the hardware Pro-One second.

Oberheim Two Voice Pro Synthesizer v. GForce Software Oberheim TVS Pro
In each pair of examples, you heard the GForce software TVS first and the Oberheim TVS hardware second.

Roland Jupiter-8 v. Cherry Audio Mercury-8 v. Roland Jupiter-8
In each trio of examples, you heard the Roland Jupiter-8 Software first, the Cherry Audio Mercury-8 software 2nd, and the original Roland Jupiter-8 hardware third.

Any surprises?

In our view, not only did the software perform exceptionally well in all cases, but there is an incredibly small amount between our listening examples. It's therefore very difficult for the hardware purists to make the claim that hardware obviously trumps soft on a sonic level.

Which you prefer to use is likely to be dependent upon the way you work, and how you approach your creativity.

There really is nothing quite like the feeling of standing in front of a full-sized synthesizer and conjuring a sound. With a panel of pots and faders stretching out in front of you, tempting you to tinker.

There is an immediacy with hardware that is difficult to replicate in software, particularly as we tend to control parameters with a mouse, one element at a time.

If you have a control surface, or have programmed MIDI controls to mirror the parameters that you use the most, you can certainly get around this problem, and some products do offer a bespoke solution, such as the Roland System-1 or 8.

However, in our tests we found that the software could often be more refined and controllable than those vintage pots or faders - satisfying though they are.

As our friends at u-he told us (in preparation for our testing), “We used to have two or three (hardware) Pro-One units in the office when we created Repro-1, and even between two pieces of hardware, it could take 'forever' to create the exact same sound on all instruments.”

Would you really notice these subtle differences - unless you were working with two products side-by-side? Probably not, but we also cannot overstate the usefulness of having full control of our sounds within the DAW, and that's where software wins the argument, hands down!

Whichever route you take will likely be dictated by what approach inspires you to be most creative.

However, when software can sound as good as hardware, why wouldn't you adopt a combined approach? If you can afford to, that is!

SYNTH WEEK 2026: The wonderful thing about the emergence of synthesizer technology in the '70s and early '80s is that it gave rise to many fantastically engaging stories, which have since entered the folklore of the synthesist’s almanac.

One of the most often recounted moments could be described as ground zero for Gary Numan.

So the story goes, he walked into a studio with his band, Tubeway Army, with the intention of making a punk album. Unfortunately for punk, there was a Minimoog sitting in the corner of the studio, set up with a patch that literally made the room shake - and the rest (as they say) is history!

In 1979, Numan released The Pleasure Principle, the first album under his own name and away from his band. While there were clearly band-driven elements scattered throughout the album, its reliance on synthesizers was groundbreaking in pop culture - with no track exemplifying this more clearly than its lead single, the (UK) chart-topping Cars.

Surprisingly, according to Numan, the iconic riff of Cars was actually first written on bass guitar.

“I just wanted to do pop music, and thought Cars was here today, gone tomorrow,” Numan told Chaos Control. “I don’t know what happened with that, the fact that it’s done so well over the years - I never quite figured it out, really. It was the quickest song I ever wrote. I wrote it on bass guitar, I didn’t even write it on the keyboard, and it took about 10 minutes, the tune and the lyrics. The keyboard part came later, I mean the main melody and arrangement of the song and lyrics. It was about 10 minutes, beginning to end.

It’s the distinctive sound of that iconic main riff that we’re digging into today, which also forms part of the melody for Numan’s vocal.

When we focus on this element of the song, it's actually quite difficult to hear exactly what's going on because, despite the overall simplicity, it's tricky to filter out the additional elements, such as the bass and drums, but we can certainly derive some useful detail.

First of all, the main riff has been recorded twice, once for the left channel and once for the right. The two sounds used for this riff are both generated by the Minimoog (a Polymoog with the ‘Vox Humana’ patch, was deployed to create the additional swirling lead sounds which enter the mix later).

The twin-Minimoog-driven main riff provides a solid musical foundation, whilst also providing a feeling of movement in the sound. Both sounds are quite ‘reedy’ in harmonic makeup, suggesting that they are predominantly formed from a pulse wave.

The Cars riff patch is a sound that could be recreated using any synth that offers subtractive synthesis, armed with two or three oscillators. For this exploration, we are going to create a soundalike patch using Cherry Audio’s cost-effective Miniverse plugin, which is a hugely exacting software emulation.

One of the unique features of the original Minimoog is that it did not offer pulse width modulation (PWM).

There were post-market customisations available to add this, but Moog’s answer to the issue was to provide three different pulse wave shapes, within each oscillator section. It is these wave shapes that are fully exploited for the sound of Cars, with a slight variance between the left and right channel.

If you would like to re-create the sound in your own DAW, then you must start by creating the patch for the left channel. It's important to note that you should load your plugin synth in a mono instance, rather than stereo, as this will allow you to pan the synth fully to your left channel.

How to replicate the Cars main riff sound

Using Oscillators 1 and 2, set these to a middle frequency range, such as 16’.

As a starting point, select the first and second pulse waves respectively, making sure that the volumes are set roughly the same. If your chosen synth offers PWM, alter the pulse width settings so that the two oscillators differ slightly in tone.

Depending on the synth you are using, it will be worthwhile creating a small amount of de-tuning. In the case of a Minimoog-in-software, this will mean changing the tuning of Oscillator 2, as the tuning of Oscillator 1 is fixed.

The other related elements to the sound are fairly simplistic, but will once again be open to variation, according to your chosen synth. The filter Cutoff Frequency should be set very close to fully open. In our experience, software versions of the Minimoog often include a cutoff frequency that opens wider than the original hardware, so you may need to reduce the brightness by a small degree. There is no resonance (aka emphasis) applied to this sound.

The filter envelope doesn't play a part here either, but the Loudness Contour (aka Amplitude Envelope) certainly does.

The patch fully sustains, and adopts a very fast attack time, and a rapid decay/release time. If you haven't done so already, switch your synth to monophonic mode or single voice, which will also limit any release phase time to the end of phrases.

That’s pretty much it for the left channel, but the patch for the right channel adopts very similar sensibilities, in fact, it would be worthwhile copying the L/H patch over to the R/H channel, for ease and speed of setup.

The subtle variation between patches takes place within the oscillator section again, where you need to select different pulse waves, providing a sort of ‘ying-yang’ effect between the two channels.

There is also a thought that a triangle wave is used in the R/H patch, which is something worth trying and applying. If you have a third oscillator available, use this and subtly apply a triangle to the existing sound. Much like our first patch, you will probably need to apply a little detuning, to avoid unwanted beating, caused by precise pitch accuracy.

All the other settings, relating to filter and envelope remain the same, although you could subtly tweak these, to create a slightly different tone and envelope tail.

If you haven’t done so already, pan the first patch hard-left, and the second patch hard-right. This will create a gloriously thick and complex texture.

Bussed for Phaser

Having created the two patches, you can record the riff on one part, and copy it to the other part. However, if you would like to adopt the purist’s approach, play and record the riff for each channel, without using quantize. The subtle timing discrepancies between parts will add to the overall flavour, getting closer to the original.

Like many synthesizers from this era, Minimoogs were very reliant upon external effects, and no other effect was more exploited on this album than a phaser.

As most DAW’s offer phasers in one guise or another, bus both of your synth patches to a single bus channel, and apply phaser to the bus. This is certainly an area for experimentation, as you could try various forms of stereo phaser, with variance of setting to get the perfect effect.

Other Elements

While Gary Numan’s music from this era was intrinsically linked to synths, he still made considerable use of conventional instrumentation.

The drums are provided by an acoustic drum kit, and the bass is provided by a bass guitar, however there would be no issue with using a further Minimoog-style patch, to provide a bass one octave below the riff we have been discussing here.

In fact, in the spirit of experimentation, you could use a third oscillator tuned an octave lower, to provide a thicker texture, all sounding simultaneously.

“I think to this day that Cars remains the most poppy song I’ve ever written” Numan reflected on his unlikely hit in an interview with Billboard, “I do not think I have a talent for pop music. It’s too light for me, for my taste in music. It’s too…happy. I’m just not very good at it! I’m much better if I slow it down a bit, make it a bit menacing, add a hint of mystery or oppression, I’m in my element at that point!”

SUPERBOOTH 2026: It is now a full decade since the first dedicated Superbooth show took place in Berlin, but the origins of the event date back further than that.

Founded by the team behind Berlin instrument store SchneidersLaden, Superbooth grew out of the now-defunct Musikmesse show in Frankfurt. Since 2017, Superbooth has taken place on a regular basis in the tranquil, wooded grounds of the FEZ centre south of Berlin city centre.

Part industry trade show, part synth nerd jam session, the three day event plays host to many of the biggest brands in music technology, but also numerous smaller, newer and often innovative outfits.

More so than the NAMM Show – which takes place in California each January – Superbooth has become the de facto event for music tech brands to announce and showcase new gear.

This year's show is happening between 7-9 May. We'll be on the ground to bring you all the most exciting news.

What to expect?

Superbooth is always packed with new music tech announcements, including synths, drum machines, controllers, software and a whole load of weird and wonderful innovations.

Although there are often a handful of reveals from the 'big name' brands – the likes of Moog, Korg and Novation have used Superbooth to launch new gear in the past – much of Superbooth's most exciting action often comes from smaller, independent developers and new technology brands.

Modular and Eurorack gear is a big deal at Superbooth too. It’s safe to say that you can expect a lot of new module announcements over the course of the next week.

In previous years, Superbooth has been where we’ve got our first look at interesting new products or technological ideas from brand-new startups and fledgling developers – often long before they're ready to hit the market.

Who'll be there?

The full list of exhibitors can be found at the main Superbooth site, which includes hundreds of brands.

Notable names at this year's show include Elektron, Arturia, Teenage Engineering, Korg (and Korg Berlin), Polyend, Novation, Sequential and Roland. Berlin is a major hub for music tech brands and local outfits such as Bitwig, U-He and Native Instruments will be at the show too.

On the modular front, notable names such as Make Noise, Buchla, Tiptop Audio, Intellijel and countless others will have their latest releases on display.

Unlike other 'trade shows', Superbooth also pulls in an interesting lineup of live performances scheduled across its stages.

Highlights this year include Monolake (aka Ableton co-creator Robert Henke), multifaceted DJ/producer Polygonia and techno figureheads Lady Starlight and Rødhåd performing together as part of the latter's WSNWG project.

There's also a solid line-up of workshops and talks. Find the full listings on the Superbooth site.

Can I get a Superbooth ticket?

Yes! Unlike some more industry-focused events Superbooth is open to the public, and there’s a lot to appeal to both pro and amateur musicians.

Naturally, the event is a great place to get hands on with new gear, but also offers the opportunity to speak directly to designers, developers and experts who can offer advice and answer questions.

Head to the Superbooth site to buy tickets, which start at €41 for individual days. 3-day tickets are also available, as are discounted rate tickets, as well as tickets for individual workshops and DIY sessions.

For those that can’t make it to Berlin, you can keep up with all the latest news, gear demos and oddities in our rolling live blog.

What happened at Superbooth 2025?

To get an idea of the general vibe of Superbooth, revisit our 2025 show report.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: In the late ‘60s, music technology was expensive, unwieldy and mostly out of reach. Synths were the size of refrigerators and access was limited to well-funded studios and successful artists. But, all that began to change in the ‘80s, as companies like Moog began shrinking modular systems into practical, portable formats.

One of the central figures in that shift was Dave Smith, who founded Sequential Circuits in 1974.

"I figured out how synths worked, and bought a Teac 3340, the first 4 track consumer recorder. At one point I decided I needed a sequencer, but the Moogs were too expensive. So I designed an analog sequencer, and in 1974 started a company called Sequential Circuits," Dave told Synth History.

By 1978, Smith had launched the Prophet-5, the world’s first fully programmable polyphonic synth and a landmark moment in music tech history. Over the next decade, Sequential released a series of influential instruments that helped to shape the sound of modern music.

Sequential Circuits closed its doors in 1987 with Yamaha acquiring the brand name. Smith went on to work in various R&D roles across the industry before launching a new company, Dave Smith Instruments, in 2002.

As a gesture of goodwill, Yamaha returned the Sequential name to Smith in 2015, but six years later, the company – now rebranded as Sequential – was acquired by audio giants Focusrite, a year before Smith sadly passed away.

Dave Smith may no longer be with us, but Sequential lives on. The company’s latest release, Fourm, is a compact four-voice analogue polysynth that makes the unmistakable Sequential sound available at a more affordable price point than ever before.

To mark Synth Week 2026, we’re telling the story of Sequential through ten synths, sequencers and drum machines that have inspired generations of musicians.

1. Model 600/800 Sequencers - 1974/1975

You could be forgiven for wondering how Sequential Circuits Inc. got its name, particularly when we associate the brand so heavily with synthesizers.

Two of Dave Smith’s very first products were sequencers; the Model 600 was an analogue design, released in 1974, closely followed by the digitally controlled Model 800, during the following year.

Dave Smith was originally a computer software and electrical engineer, and it was his sideways view on producing music with machines that gave rise to some of his earlier and less obvious products.

2. Model 700 Programmer - 1977

In another example of this sideways glance at tech, the Model 700 Programmer was a product that provided a tremendous solution to a problem understood by many live musicians looking to employ synthesizers in their live work.

The most desirable synths of the era, the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey, did not offer patch recall. This was a problem that Dave and his associate (John Bowen) found a solution to, through an ingenious concept; offer a duplicate set of knobs on a separate unit, but employ an onboard microprocessor to scan the knob positions. These settings or positions could then be sent to the host synth, as voltages, and voila! Patch memories, hosted by an outboard unit.

The Model 700 Programmer was a very in-demand unit, despite its exorbitant price of $995, but it was pivotally important to SCI, as it provided them with a technology that they could take forward, along with a huge injection of cash, both of which resulted in the development, release and ultimate influence of their next product. And what a product it was...

3. Prophet-5 - 1978

The Prophet-5 is undoubtedly one of the most iconic and influential synthesizers ever designed and built. Next to the Minimoog, its legacy is extraordinary and its allure hasn’t faltered in nearly 50 years.

"Out of the first 10 Prophets sold, one went to Rick Wakeman, one to David Bowie, and one to Joe Zawinul," Smith told Synth History. "It took off from there. That has always been the best part of designing musical instruments: hearing them on recordings, in live performance, sound tracks, etc.

The release of the original Prophet-5 was far from smooth, though. It was released in tandem with the ill-fated first incarnation of the Prophet-10. Early Rev.1 models shipped with a degree of oscillator instability, but despite its troublesome start, it quickly became a ‘must-have’ synth. Drawing inspiration from the Model 700 that preceded it, the Prophet-5 offered patch memory in a polyphonic synth, coupled with the tremendous Poly-mod section, which quickly caught the imagination of programmers, with its ability to create incredible metallic and bell-like tones from a mere analogue machine.

During the late 70s and early 80s, various revisions (or Revs) brought more functionality and stability to the machine, with one of the biggest turning points coming in 1980, when SCI finally ditched the SSM chips that had been originally used, for the far more reliable and cooler-running Curtis chips, requiring a redesign of the internals to accommodate.

The final Rev.3.31 also offered a newfangled connection-type called MIDI. But regardless, the fascia and appearance largely remained unchanged throughout its tenure. History has not always been very kind to the reliability of the original Prophets, with component failure and unreliability being a part of vintage ownership. That was before the long-awaited reissue of the Prophet-5 Rev.4 in 2020. The public had been crying-out for years, and finally it arrived; a Prophet-5 (or 10) with contemporary reliability and modern features, such as velocity control, aftertouch and a full MIDI specification, and those issues with reliability? So far, so good!

It remains one of the most used synthesizers in existence, which was also thought to have provided inspiration for another analogue poly behemoth; the Roland Jupiter 8.

4. Prophet-10 - 1978

The original Prophet-10 was hoped to be the same as a Prophet-5, but with an increased voice capacity, as suggested by the name.

In reality, the chips ran too hot, leading to oscillator instability at best, or complete system failure at worst. The case work was not big enough to support heat sinks or fans, so an inevitable recall resulted in Prophet-10s having half their voice chips removed, reverting to the status of the Prophet-5.

This led to the Rev.2 versions of the Prophet-10, which switched to a double-manual configuration, but even so, their use of SSM chips caused problems, resulting in the Rev.2 barely getting past the prototype stage.

By the time the Rev.3 came along, it was 1980, and while the double-keyboard was finally starting to display reliable tendencies, in no small part thanks to the use of Curtis chips, demand for the P-10 was dwindling. The huge keyboard rigs of the late 70s were starting to look a little grandiose and obscene, and with a street price at around £5600, it was far from cheap, particularly when facing competition from the newer Japanese polys.

Even so, the Prophet-10 has become the stuff of legend, and while the Rev.4 2020 re-release pays homage to the original single-manual concept, there is still something incredibly alluring about the enormous 2-manual P-10 beast. What’s better than one Prophet-5? Two in one case… obviously!

5. Pro-One - 1981

If we were being unfair, we could describe the Pro-One as a single-voice, mono version of the Prophet-5, but as any P-1 user will tell you, it’s much more than that.

Internally, it shares much with the Rev.3 Prophet-5, but being monophonic introduces a degree of character which is fairly unique. The depth of tone is astounding, meaning it’s perfect for thundering basses, while the envelopes are incredibly snappy, making light work of any requirements for percussive sounds.

Meanwhile, the left of the instrument panel provides a modulation matrix, which is firmly analogue in routing and styling, and truly unique to the Pro-One. When it was first produced, it shipped for £470, which was at the upper end of the cheapening mono-market, but it didn’t stop approximately 10000 units being made and sold.

In terms of build, the plastic chassis with wooden end-cheeks, wasn’t quite up to the mark of other SCI products, but it was sturdy enough, except for the keyboard, which was fairly unreliable and pretty horrible to play. Mind you, you could always use the onboard sequencer, which hosted 28 notes in sequence. No, we don’t know why ’28’ notes either!

The Pro-One remains a favourite with many synth-based musicians, most notably Vince Clarke, who cites the Pro-One as his favourite synth of all time. Just listen to his early work as part of Yazoo; tracks such as Don’t Go are almost entirely created using his Pro-One.

The Pro-One also provided Dave Smith with the inspiration for one of his new instruments, under the branding DSI (Dave Smith Instruments). The Mopho (2009), was a monophonic synth from the tradition of the Pro-One, with contemporary technology and increased sonic capabilities, including a sub-oscillator.

6. DrumTraks - 1984

The SCI DrumTraks is one of those drum machines that also garners classic status, albeit a little way down the lineup that also features 808s, 909s and Linn Drums.

In many respects, it was far more capable than the Roland machines. With 13 onboard sounds, and 12-voice polyphony, all with tuning and volume control. It adopted the usual pattern/song programming architecture, with extensive editing capabilities, such as copy and paste. Well, extensive for 1984 anyway! The sounds were punchy and deep, with the ability to connect to other devices via MIDI.

7. Prophet VS - 1986

Continuing the adoption of the Prophet branding, the VS was a unique and another ingenious design from the Sequential stable. Inspired by the growing popularity of digital synthesis, the VS provided four oscillators, in a configuration that allowed blending and movement across the four timbral sources, in a form of synthesis that was described as Vector Synthesis.

Available in both keyboard and rack mounted formats, the four oscillators offered a choice from 127 waveforms, which was a large increase over the few subtractive originals, found on SCIs analogue machines. The onboard joystick provided an accessible way of morphing between waves, 32 of which were user assignable. SCI also employed analogue filters alongside the digital oscillators, in a classic example of hybrid technologies.

This 8-voice unit was way ahead of its time, but with failing finances, it wasn’t long before Sequential Circuits was snapped up by Yamaha in 1987. The team behind the VS went on to work on the Yamaha SY22/TG33, both of which employed Vector Synthesis technology, before the same team went over to Korg, to produce the incredibly popular Wavestation series.

8. Prophet ’08 - 2007

After several years away, Dave returned to the world of hardware synths in 2002 with his new brand, Dave Smith Instruments (DSI).

The Prophet ’08 was seen as a rebirth of the Prophet series, in an 8-voice synthesiser, which offered two oscillators per voice, but now in a DCO format. It was deemed as the return of an analogue giant, albeit under the DSI branding, as Yamaha still owned the Sequential trademark.

The Prophet ’08 captured an awful lot of attention, but die-hard SCI fans complained that it wasn’t quite the Prophet-5 that they had hoped for, particularly as it only provided a 4-octave keybed, lacking the 5th octave provided by the original Prophet-5. It did, however, prove to be popular, providing good memory capacity and tonal stability, making it ideal for both live and studio work.

9. Take 5 - 2021

With a squaring of the circle, DSI reverted to the Sequential name in 2015, after Yamaha agreed to return the brand to Dave Smith, as a gesture of good will.

This led to the release of the Prophet-6, which was another homage and tribute to the Prophet-5, finally back under the Sequential branding. However, it was the re-release of the Prophet-5 Rev.4 in 2020 that really cemented the deal, as Sequential gave the public the machine that they had been crying out for, albeit at a price point which was not affordable to all. The response was overwhelmingly joyous, but Sequential then distilled all of the P-5 goodness into a new, smaller and far more compact poly; the Take 5.

Armed with two VCOs per voice, alongside a sub-oscillator, the Take 5 includes the classic 4-pole analogue filter, in a unit which is both portable and affordable, at least if compared to the larger siblings. Of course, it also scores high in the reliability department, being armed with plenty of patch memory and an onboard 64-step polyphonic sequencer.

10. Fourm - 2025

Continuing its progression towards smaller, simpler and more affordable instruments, the latest chapter in Sequential's history is Fourm, a compact analogue poly that distils the Prophet lineage into its most accessible package yet.

With only four voices, no onboard effects and a 37-note slim-key keyboard, Fourm isn't going to deliver enough firepower for every synthesist, but at $999/£799, you wouldn't expect it to. What the Fourm does deliver is a solid design and build, an unmistakably 'Sequential' sound and tons of value for a sub-$1000 synthesizer.

With its (almost) knob-per-function layout and top-panel modulation matrix, Fourm echoes the immediacy of the original Pro-One, remaining firmly in the Sequential tradition with a 'Prophet-lineage' 4-pole low-pass filter. It's not all looking backwards, though, as the Fourm is the first Sequential instrument to have native polyphonic aftertouch, thanks to its newly-designed 'Tactive' keybed.

Some feared that Focusrite's acquisition of Sequential might dilute the company's innovation, but Fourm proves otherwise: it's a democratizing release that places the hallmark Sequential sound within reach of a new generation, building on the company's historic foundations to create an instrument that's far more capable than its price suggests.

Honorable mentions

It’s difficult to encapsulate the illustrious career of Dave Smith and the story of Sequential in only 10 products, and there are plenty of fantastic products that just got nudged out of our timeline. The DSI Poly Evolver, and Sequential’s association with Tom Oberheim, which resulted in the OB-6, to name just a couple.

But there is one aspect of Sequential that we have to treat as an honorary mention, despite the fact that it’s not a synth in itself. Dave Smith was an integral part of the team that designed and initiated the protocol known as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). There were many interactions between Ikutaro Kakehachu of Roland, Tom Oberheim, Bob Moog and Dave, alongside other companies, over a period of approximately two years, where the protocol was designed and formatted, before its first successful demonstration, at Winter NAMM in January 1983.

Dave connected a SCI Prophet-600 to a Roland Jupiter 6, in what was a semi-impromptu demonstration which to everyone’s relief, worked superbly! MIDI has been a staple of electronic instrument design for over 40 years; alongside so many other accolades and industry highlights, that’s quite a legacy!

SYNTH WEEK 2026: Synthesizers are weird. They’re musical instruments but they’re also consumer electronics, and as such they aren’t allowed to sit still. You don’t see classical instrument companies falling over themselves to constantly reinvent the violin or piano, but that’s what happens every year at trade shows like NAMM and Superbooth: new synths with new synthesis architectures.

Perhaps someday we’ll all decide that the Minimoog is the ultimate expression of the instrument, the Stradivarius of synths, and leave it at that, but until then we’ll have to keep coming up with new ways to wrangle sound.

Sometimes novel synthesis models do make the jump into synth-consciousness at large, like Wolfgang Palm’s wavetable synthesis, which exploded in the 2000s thanks to soft synths like Massive.

But for every East Coast subtractive analogue and FM type, there are those that never break out of their original instruments - that is, until they’re rediscovered by a boutique Eurorack developer looking for an oddball architecture to fill out their release list.

To mark MusicRadar’s Synth Week 2026, then, let’s celebrate those synthesizer dead ends; the synthesis types that never made it past their original machines.

And we should stress that these are in no way bad; for whatever reason, they just weren’t cool enough to get past the bouncer that is the synth-buying public and into the big time.

1. Vector Synthesis

The 1980s were a wild time in synthesizer history. Yamaha blew everyone’s mind with the DX7 in 1983, a digital synth that upended all of the analogue work that companies like Moog, Korg, and Roland had been doing.

Thus started a mad scramble to find the next new thing. No one knew what it was going to be, but everyone knew it had to involve ‘digital’. As Yamaha had FM protected by stringent copyrights, other manufacturers went back to the drawing board to see what they could come up with.

Rather than completely reinvent the (mod)wheel, American outfit Sequential Circuits took a hybrid approach. The result was the Prophet VS, a synth with digital oscillators and analog filters. Those digital oscillators - four of them, in fact - were capable of playing back 12-bit single-cycle waveforms.

Rather than just layering the quartet of oscillators like a traditional analogue synth, Dave Smith and the Sequential team came up with the idea of using a vector to crossfade between them. This was accomplished via a joystick that you could waggle around the oscillator ‘vectors’ or park it dead center for full foursome playback. Position could also be modulated via the internal Mixer Envelope.

Although a gorgeous instrument, the Prophet VS wasn’t a big enough hit to keep the bankers at bay and Sequential soon found itself in dire financial straits.

Yamaha swooped in and bought the assets, bringing much of the team over to its new R&D facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Smith’s Vector Synthesis ended up on the Yamaha SY22, where it mixed between two sample-based oscillators and two FM sources. Korg then took over the R&D department, with the same team’s joystick next gracing the Wavestation, perhaps the biggest hit to feature Vector Synthesis (although Kawai’s unrelated K1 also offered Vector and moved quite a few units of its own).

2. Wave Sequencing

The Korg Wavestation didn’t only offer Vector Synthesis. It had another unique trick up its digital sleeve: Wave Sequencing. This feature was brain-melting enough to make it one of the hottest synthesizers of the early 1990s - and esoteric and (dare we say?) gimmicky enough to be mostly forgotten a few years later.

Instead of just playing a single waveform, Wave Sequencing let you do what it says on the tin: sequence them. Press down on a key and a parade of waveforms, laid out one after the other, would burst forth. Sort of like a step sequencer except for PCM samples, you could assign different waveforms to each step in the sequence.

Additionally, each sample could have its own length, pitch, fine tuning, level and crossfade amount. Much like any other sequencer, you could sync it, this one to the Wavestation’s internal clock or to MIDI.

While technically interesting, most players didn’t find it all that musically useful. When are you going to want to unleash a torrent of samples? That first ‘SkiJam’ preset sure did sell a lot of units though.

Korg eventually revived Wave Sequencing with 2020’s Wavestate but the synthesis feature remains a curiosity.

3. Neuronal Synthesis

In 2003, musical instrument industrial designer Axel Hartmann debuted the Hartmann Neuron, an extremely forward-thinking hardware synthesizer that relied on artificial neural networks for its sound generation.

Even in 2026, neural networks are cutting edge stuff and tend to get used within software to recreate amp and effects pedals rather than for full-on re-synthesis, but that’s exactly what the Neuron and its Neuronal synthesis did.

Start with a sample. Load it into the synth and let Neuron analyze it and create a wireframe model of it. You can then manipulate this re-synthesized version of the original sound according to Scape and Sphere properties (something like the excitation and resonant sections of physical modelling) via the two Resynators, or oscillators. It was heady and futuristic, and found favour with sound designers for film, with Hans Zimmer being an avid user. With a $5000 price tag, however, few outside the upper echelons of music and film composition could afford one.

With the world coming around to neural networks and artificial intelligence, perhaps the time is right for a return to Neuronal Synthesis. Certainly the VST version is ripe for an upgrade.

4. Additive Synthesis

Additive synthesis is admittedly not all that unusual. It forms the basis for the sound generation of electro-mechanical organs and modern software like Native Instruments’ Razor. And yet, when it comes to hardware synthesizers, while you may find some additive elements tucked away inside, pure additive synths tend to be few and far between.

In the late 1980s, piano manufacturer Kawai released a series of synths appended with model numbers that all started with the letter K.

The K3 explored Prophet VS-style hybrid synthesis, while the K1 and K4 took forays into the sample synthesis territory already staked out by Korg and its M1. (K1, M1 - that must have been a coincidence.) But it was the additive-based K5 and later K5000 that pushed digital synthesis to the limits of what people were willing to work with.

Digital synthesis has a reputation for being cold. While this doesn’t have to be true, when it comes to additive - and particularly the type featured in the K5 - it very much is. We’re talking icicles and snow drifts. If you thought the DX7 could get glassy, you haven’t heard anything yet. That’s because additive synthesis is based on combining sine wave partials.

According to Fourier theory, with enough partials you can create any sound possible. Provide the requisite processing power and this approaches something like the truth (have a play with Razor to experience additive in full flight), but the processing capabilities of hardware in the 1980s meant a limit of 126 harmonic levels for the K5. Icy, to say the least.

Kawai tried again in 1997 with the K5000 models, adding PCM waveforms to fill out the sound, and while it received positive reviews at the time (as did the K5), it didn’t translate into robust enough sales to keep the synthesizer department going, and Kawai soon went back to doing what it did best: pianos.

5. Formant Shaping Synthesis

By the late 1980s, the world had moved on from FM synthesis. That didn’t stop Yamaha, FM’s chief caretaker, to give it one more go.

That ill-advised (from a business point of view, anyway) instrument was the FS1R, a rack unit synth that really extended what FM could do, with a lot of the advancements developed for it eventually finding their way into modern Montage and MODX units. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.

One element of the FS1R that has stayed forever locked in its 1U case is Formant Shaping Synthesis, an eerily realistic speech synthesis model within the larger frequency modulation architecture.

Using both voiced and unvoiced formant waveforms for vowels and consonants, plus formant sequencing to create full words and not just choirs and random syllables, it’s a real marvel. These formants can also be used to mimic resonances and add realism to acoustic instrument patches.

The FS1R remains a high-water mark for Yamaha synthesizers, and a real unicorn for fans of speech synthesis.

6. Vocal Synthesis

Casio may be best known for its home keyboards, but it also has a history of periodically surprising with unusual synthesis models - that were then abandoned.

FM-like phase distortion helped make the CZ-101 a runaway success in the early 1980s, followed by Spectrum Dynamic synthesis in the latter half of the decade (decidedly less successful, unfortunately). But the Japanese company’s most head-scratchingly unusual has to be Vocal Synthesis. This was, ostensibly, a non-AI method of making your keyboard sing like a human.

Debuting in 2022’s CT-S1000V, Vocal Synthesis lets you type out lyrics on an iPad app and play them back via the keyboard, either as phrases as per note.

It’s the kind of thing that AI does exceedingly well now, but Casio was in there a few years early. Of course, it doesn’t sound nearly as convincing as AI, but therein lies the charm. It’s part of a long lineage of delightfully uncanny speech synthesis that starts with the Vocoder and runs through Kraftwerk, old-school video games and other vintage technology.

With AI now available to anyone and everyone, and the CT-S1000V probably not a hit, Casio likely doesn’t have reason to issue another instrument with Vocal Synthesis. Don’t worry, though, wait a few more years and Casio will likely surprise with another bizarre instrument.

7. Air Synthesis

The turn of the millennium was a wild time for music instrument technology, full of experimentation and questionable industrial design choices - often in the same device! Case in point: Alesis’ Air Synth, a flat orange box with a dome on top that employed infrared sensors to generate sounds. Imagine Tom Cruise in Minority Report waving his hands around but instead of crime prevention, you’re engaged in entertainment prevention.

Following on the heels of Roland’s D-Beam controller, Alesis released its first Air-branded device, the Air FX, in 2001. Aimed at DJs and home hobbyists, it offered RCA jacks rather than quarter-inch ones and answered the question, “What would happen if you put a Korg Kaoss Pad in the air?” After going out of business and then coming back, the company duly released the sequel, Air Synth, to a non-plussed public in 2003 before moving squarely into less novel (and decidedly non-synthesizer) music gear territory.

Both Air models worked by broadcasting a beam of invisible infrared light out of the top of the dome, and then reading the reflections bounced back by your ever-increasingly tired hand. Sensors are positioned in three axis, left to right, front to back, and up and down, hence the name, AXYZ Controller.

There was also a Hold button to freeze effects. More than just a way to let your aching arm rest, the Hold was meant to be used while programming sequencer presets - yes, you could even sequence patterns of notes and rhythms. Most of the factory presets, however, were of the special effect variety. Think risers, downers and other transitions. Yes, kids, in the days before laptops and DAWs, we had to make our own transitions by hand.

Of course, nowadays you’d have to put down your phone for the Air Synth to work. And let’s face it, that’s not going to happen.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: It's the legendary company that brought to the world the very idea that the synthesizer could actually be a viable commercial instrument - shepherded by their genius founder, Bob Moog. Ever since the brand’s early days the name Moog has been synonymous with sonically rich, hand-crafted analogue synthesis.

But, if you’ve been following the shifting sands of the music technology industry over the last few years, you’ll no doubt be aware of Moog’s shocking 2023 acquisition by the multi-brand owning corporation InMusic, which also owns Akai Professional, M-Audio, Alesis and a range of top-tier DJ brands.

For some passionate Moog fans, this acquisition was viewed as a portent of the very worst - that Moog would be sacrificing not just its manufacturing heartland (the Moog team were also simultaneously relocating from their historic Asheville, North Carolina headquarters) but was also inevitably going to have to shed its quintessential boutique design ethos - and its painstakingly hand-built credo - to suit the demands of a bigger, global market.

However, what has happened since this acquisition has largely put those fears to bed.

The extraordinary Muse was released in 2024 and was hailed instantly as a modern Moog flagship par excellence. Balancing advanced modern abilities with the heritage circuitry that Bob Moog himself pioneered, we said it was essentially, “the purest, most characterful poly that Moog has made in recent memory.”

Then there was last year’s Messenger, a more accessible monosynth that was capable of huge, sonically rich sounds at a much more affordable price than anything Moog had released previously. “Messenger is a definite success, and a worthy addition to Moog’s long history of analogue synths,” we said in our review.

Moog clearly had something to prove, and, as we delved into in our respective reviews, it rose from the ashes with a solid pair of post-acquisition releases.

So, where to next?

To answer that question - and to mark Synth Week 2026 here at MusicRadar - we caught up with Moog Music’s president Joe Richardson to talk through how the Moog team weathered the storm of the acquisition, the making of the Messenger and Muse and most tantalisingly of all… a trio of intriguing new products currently being shaped by Moog’s inner circle which could form the ultimate proof that Moog’s ability to create modern classics hasn’t been dented one iota.

A few weeks back, Moog released the Bob Moog Tribute Edition of the Model D, limited to just 500 units. We thought this would be the perfect place to start, as its release underscores how the current incarnation of Moog Music co-exists in symbiosis with the separate Bob Moog Foundation, which strives to educate the world on its legendary founder’s importance to the annals of music history…

MusicRadar: Hi Joe, thanks for speaking to us today. Firstly, we should ask why now was the time to launch the Bob Moog Tribute Edition of the Model D? How does this release tie in with supporting the Bob Moog Foundation itself?

Joe Richardson: “First, if you've not seen it, this thing is incredibly good looking - it’s a handsome instrument. It's hard to get away from how beautiful it is.

“Going back just a little bit, it was 2016 when Moog brought the first [Model D] reissue back out. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a great advancement for that instrument that also stayed very much true to what the original Model D did. In 2022 they made some improvements to the design.

“So, [across this] ten-year period, we realised there’s only a finite amount of materials that you can actually draw from to make instruments like this, and still be true to where they come from. These Bob Moog Tribute Editions make use of the last of the supply [of internals] that we have. I think there should always be a Model D in the line-up but that won’t always be practical.

“If you look back at some of our classics, like the System 55, some of those parts you just can’t get. So we’re getting close to that category of not being able to get the things that we need to make it right. Making 500 of these was really, really important, while we still had access to the materials.

“And the relationship with the Bob Moog Foundation is incredibly important - because our roles aren’t the same in the industry. The Foundation’s role is centred on education. Not just on Moog and its instruments, but the part it played in music history. We believe it’s important for that storyline to continue in the hands of a trusted, credible source that we believe will continue telling that story. Michelle Moog-Koussa (Bob’s daughter and Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation) obviously has an interest in maintaining that storyline, and she’s become a great partner. It helps us to delineate our role as the instrument manufacturer and their role as the storytellers.

“This instrument is all about the overlap in the middle. Every Bob Moog Tribute Edition Model D that is sold, [InMusic Founder] Jack O’Donnell is donating $500 to the foundation. With over 500 units, that’s quite a sizeable donation to the Foundation to help them continue telling that story. It’s great to be able to do that. While it’s not inexpensive, it is actually a less expensive price than what a typical Model D would be sold at.”

MR: Obviously the acquisition of Moog by InMusic in 2023 was big news in the industry. Now the dust has settled somewhat, how do you reflect on some of the fearful stories around that time regarding the takeover?

JR: “I can tell you that sitting from the inside, which is where I sat, it was much more painful to endure that, knowing what I knew. I knew that Jack O'Donnell had a vision for helping the company succeed in preserving - but still enhancing - what the brand meant.

“I had confidence and certainty in what was next, but the strength of the [Moog] loyalist out there didn't know that and had no reason to believe that yet. So to see that that outcry when it happened did two things. One, it was heartbreaking in one respect, because I didn’t believe it to be true. But it also showed how strongly people felt about Moog. In that respect, it was incredibly reassuring to know that the only reason these folks are as upset as they are is because they want so much to take hold of this thing that they love.

“They didn’t want to believe that the spirit of Bob Moog was under threat.

“The Muse and Messenger then came to market, and they could have been very different. But they’re instruments that are continuing a product path and bringing with them some reassurance.”

MR: It definitely feels like the Muse and Messenger allayed a lot of those fears, particularly over time as people realised that actually, these synths are extremely deep and characterful

JR: “I watched a video over the weekend, it was one of the creators who was quite vocal at the time [of the InMusic takeover] - my skin was much thinner then.

“This particular creator, whose name I won't mention, actually referred to the Messenger and Muse as two of the greatest synths that Moog has ever made.

“Now, whether you agree with that or not is less important - what's more important in this comment I'm making is this very creator was hyper-critical in predicting the downfall of Moog around the time of the takeover.

“12-24 months later, it’s now how the best has happened since it's been in InMusic’s hands. What matters is that people are seeing through the cloud that existed around this acquisition and actually seeing the things we want to be known for - and that’s the instruments.

“Messenger is going to be around for a long time. As people spend more time with it, they experience more of what it’s got to offer. They start connecting dots between what Messenger does and what Muse has going on. It’s an inventive, creative feature set and it will expand with new instruments.

“So it’s getting the recognition that it didn’t get on day one - and I can understand why. A lot of people had an emotional reaction. But everyone has a process they go through as they come to terms with things.

"I am so glad to sit here now three years into it, being on the right side of the decisions that we made, and being proud of Jack O’Donnell and the decisions he continues to make. It would be easier to do something different with this brand, but he stuck to it. A lot of great musicians and producers and performers and artists are out there using this new gear, just like they used the old gear.”

MR: Indeed, and I suppose it ties back in with what you were talking about with regards the Bob Moog Foundation - connecting the product to the narrative of its history. It seems like InMusic is also keen to keep those bonds with company legacy tight across the board. Take Akai for example, the Akai MPC XL was the talk of this year’s NAMM, for example…

JR: “Yeah, and when the product wins, the brand gets all the credit. But if something goes wrong, it’s easy to blame InMusic. But in truth, they’re two and the same, there’s no separation between InMusic and Akai or Moog at this point.

“What InMusic’s commitment to making hardware has done is unbelievable. Muse would not have happened, but for InMusic. It’s a price point beyond what InMusic sells typically, it is a technology that up to that point InMusic wasn’t particularly versed in. The Moog engineers and designers brought their expertise in and now the entire organisation understands analogue better - its signal path and all the things that come with it.

“It would have been an easier decision not to commercialise Muse, it had been under development at the point of acquisition but there was no way that Moog could have brought it to market. It is a somewhat different instrument having gone through the acquisition.

“But Messenger - that had not been contemplated at all before InMusic acquired Moog.”

MR: So what was it that spurred Messenger’s development?

JR: “I think it was one thing - accessibility - the importance of having the Moog sound and having an effective monosynth available, but available more widely. The Subsequent 37 is an incredible instrument, but it’s not an inexpensive instrument. Not everyone can get their hands on it, and there are things it isn’t designed to do that the Messenger is. FM and wave-folding and other very special things.

“There’s been [some criticism] that it looks cheap, or that it feels cheap - no it doesn’t. It’s the sort of thing that, at birth, was an easy target, because it was different to a standard Moog profile. But is not only incredible in terms of its looks and its intuitive nature, but it’s solid.

“These things are on the biggest stages in the world right now, played by the biggest names. I’ll admit, I don’t think it was designed to account for that. But when you see them being played by artists on stage, it’s very rewarding to know that they belong anywhere than an artist wants to take them.”

MR: So the affordability angle was important too - was that a choice that came from an awareness of the ever-growing budget-end of the synth market, which other companies had been dominating?

JR: “I don’t know that we’ve ever really referred to Messenger as cheap in price, but more access to the instrument was definitely important for us. One of InMusic’s superpowers is because of all the products it makes, it’s got incredible relationships [and resources] to build them. At scale you can do things a lot more efficiently.

“Before the acquisition all the costs that go into that couldn't be spread across multiple categories, or multiple locations and distributorships. Now it can - so just by efficiency and scale, you can make more affordable instruments.

"[Before the acquisition] Moog prioritised quality of instrument, but wasn’t able to prioritise speed to market or efficiency. It was much more boutique. We were not small, but I would still put us in the boutique category.

“Every instrument was built from scratch (design-wise) so there was never the option of bringing technology from one instrument to the other instrument. Between Muse and Messenger you start to see that idea come alive. It allows you to invest less in the development because you’re re-using some of the development that you developed before in a very tasteful way.”

MR: So are you essentially saying that the Messenger was impossible for the Moog of old to create, and was only made possible because of the InMusic infrastructure?

JR: “Yeah, I think that’s true. We would have done it a very different way and it would have been a lot shallower in terms of the features. It would have been a pleasure to play and would have sounded great, but it would have been designed from scratch - then the next instrument would have been designed from scratch. That takes time and money. And the time to get to market would have been longer than it has to be.

“The time between Muse and Messenger, that’s a reasonably rapid progression when compared to typical Moog launch timelines. Messenger was May 2025 and I know that in the next 12 months there are going to be two, possibly three more Moog synthesizers, all of which are unique to themselves and unique to anything we’ve done in the past.

“The fact that we can address different player types and different inventive ways to control sound and express sound - and that we have, over the course of 36 months, five new synthesizers is pretty exciting. There’s room for any one of these in the market right now. But I can’t just reveal it all…”

MR: Well, we’re obviously curious to hear more about these upcoming Moog synths, which reminds me, I was going to ask about the potential of future synths sharing components and technologies, not just from other Moog products. With the wider InMusic ecosystem encompassing so many different types of music technology, could we potentially see crossovers? Moog synths with MPC-style pads etc?

JR: “Yes, I think that can realistically happen, but that’s not what any of these next three synthesizers will have.

"But these types of things can happen concurrently - brands that belong together can come together, but those brands can still stand alone simultaneously. That is reasonably expected.

“Another factor is when you take into account the costs that get in the way of logistics - the tariffs for example, you can do a lot of things [at InMusic] that can help to minimise the impact. I think what you can look forward to is further innovation, much more expressive creativity at the fingertips of artists, but done in a way that is additive to what’s already in place.”

MR: Despite its sounds, one of the Muse’s standout features is the generative sequencing, which was quite innovative for Moog. I guess it must be tricky to balance out the more 21st century-angled additions with that expectation from Moog loyalists, who might see that as anathema to the purity of Moog’s analogue heritage

JR: “It is tricky. It’s a social study really isn’t it? The same voices that are going to be critical that you deviated from what they think your centre is, are the same ones asking ‘why doesn’t this synth have this, or this or this?’ So there’s no way to make them all happy.

“Our objective is to put products in the hands of artists and then listen really carefully to what they have to say about it or with it.

“I’ll tell you a bit about Muse, and the probability and generative sequencing - when we were on the West Coast, we did a couple of tours with that instrument long before it was released. We spent time with Trent Reznor, Mike Dean and Flying Lotus, and listened incredibly carefully to their feedback in the same way that Bob listened to artists decades ago.

“Trent Reznor was quite specific about the sequencer part of this instrument, he said; ‘Don’t make an instrument unless it gives me a reason to take something else out of my studio - and put this in the studio’.

“[Trent] was very generous, he gave us some examples of real boutique sequencers he loved, and told us why he loved them. We went back and got that gear - and some of it is pretty esoteric. But we studied it and understood how we could put it together and make it workable in a performance synth. I don’t know that we would have got there were it not for Trent.

“The thing I’m most proud of with the Muse is that very thing. Not just because it’s inventive and useful, but because it came the same way that Bob would have [listened to musicians] decades ago. I’m proud of that still being ever-present in the design of instruments for Moog, the listening part. It's giving back the artists’ generosity by delivering and giving them the reason to take something out of the studio to put this in.

“Another thing is that I talked to Steve Dunnington, who’s our lead engineer and was a student of Bob’s from 30 years ago. He’s touched every instrument Moog has made since he joined. I asked him, ‘What’s informing what you’re doing on the instruments you design?’ He said, ‘It’s the music-makers that are out there’".

MR: Of course Moog has the heritage and now the international logistical strength of InMusic, but would you say the current situation with regard to tariffs (and other geopolitical issues) makes this the most difficult time to start making boutique synths?

JR: “I would say it's the hardest time. But I'm spoiled. I'm in a place where a lot of that hard work's already done.

“If I was trying to start my thing, I would say it is the most complicated time to start a business like that if you don't have access to the resources. It’s very difficult to comb through what’s going on.

"It would also come down to your objectives. There's synth designers and manufacturers in Europe that are unencumbered by tariffs into the US, because their ambition isn't to be present in the US.

“If I were to start a synth company today, that followed a vision of my own, that behaved a certain way, yeah, there's room for that. Those [kinds of companies] take a lot of the risks that a lot of the bigger brands benefit from.

“So, I think that's good for us all. If your vision of success is to, out-Moog Moog or out-Roland Roland, that’s a tough thing to do - we’ve got decades of a head start. But the boutique companies also have an agility that allows them to be in places we might not be.

“The Eurorack market is a great example of a footprint where there’s room to innovate. We’re not playing in that arena and maybe we shouldn’t - maybe our place is exactly where we are. Let’s let them own that spot.

“So, is it a complicated time? Yes, Is it challenging? Yes, Is legislation making it easier? No, so in that respect it’s difficult. I would hate to discourage anybody from trying though. There’s a lot of sensational things that are happening out there.

“With regard to the tariffs, what makes it most difficult isn’t just the practical impact that a tariff might have, it’s the uncertainty around it. It's difficult to plan a business and start designing a synth today that is going to market in 24 months.

"How do you plan for a price-point or plan a feature set if it could be encumbered by a 35-100% tariff between now and then? It’s just very difficult to predict that.

“Being part of InMusic helps because there are people here with a history of looking at that thing, they’ve dealt with it - not just in the synth category but consumer electronics and other types of electronics. They know what to look at and they know what to be nervous about. That allows our designers of instruments to focus on that and not have to worry about the tariff part of it. From a business standpoint, it’s in good hands. That’s an incredible benefit that InMusic brought just having that expertise already in place.”

MR: You’ve obviously witnessed a lot of changes at Moog since taking on the role of President in 2022, Joe, but what would you say has been your proudest moment?

JR: “The proudest part for me I think, is being able to be a part of what could have been the last chapter of Moog. That would have been devastating for everybody. But going through that and feeling it - the stress, the pressure and the fatigue that came with all that. But then, having the certainty of knowing we’re going to come out of it, and then actually coming out of it - that arc is something that I’m most proud of.

“I should say I feel most privileged for being part of it. If it wasn’t me in this seat it was somebody else, so I’m proud of being able to hang in. [The team at Moog] has gotten closer, gotten more dependent on each other and we’ve got lifelong relationships.

"The folks who made Moog what it is are stronger than they’ve ever been. The hope we carry together is brighter than it’s ever been.”

MR: And just turning back to what’s coming up next if we may… you mentioned you have three new synths coming out in the next 12 months?

JR: “We do, we have a trio of upcoming instruments, and the next 12 months is when we’ll see that trio come alive. I’ll tell you that there will be surprises. They have all in their own way improved, enhanced and added to the musician’s ability to express themselves through the instrument. I realise that sounds like a canned response, but I’ll encourage you to be as patient as you can - and that comment will make a ton of sense!

“There will be a lot of enthusiasm with how accessible these instruments are. There will be a lot of people scratching their heads and wondering ‘how can they do that?’ [in terms of] the quality, price and time - all those things are solved. Now we’re just waiting for the clock to continue ticking until we can release these things.

“If they hit with even a fraction of the energy that I think they will, we’re going to have some more instant classics added to our roster.”

SYNTH WEEK 2026: With the physical constraints of hardware - as well as the cost, weight, size and how much power they use - removed, it's safe to say that today's modern synth plugin designers have got it easy compared to Bob Moog, Tom Oberheim, Dave Smith, Wolfgang Palm, and the rest of the pantheon of synth-building legends.

And while the old classics were borne of their ability to strike a perfect balance between capability and practicality, there are no such rules to obey today. Yesterday's synth heroes worked in the physical world, discovering and sourcing new components and getting them all in one place to work together reliably.

Today's designers of modern software synths face no such constraints. Once they have a computer model for an oscillator, a filter, or an envelope, they can cram as many of these models as you like into a synth without adding any expense or impracticality.

Their only limit is the power of the user's CPU and, these days, that's not much of a limit at all!

And so with all this power, reliability and innovation we're in the midst of something of a golden age for synths where, for just a couple-of-hundred quid/dollars/euros, you can purchase the most powerful, flexible, and gob-smackingly impressive instruments ever created, creating a market for uber-synths all aiming out outgun each other.

These are synths that are both able to emulate practically any other and produce new sounds that are all their own.

Which only begs the question which is best? And which should you splash your hard-earned cash on?

Let's find out...

Arturia Pigments (Tested with v6)

Arturia is an old hand at this game, having quickly focused its attentions on creating computer models of hard-to-find hardware, realising the market for the aspiring synth nerd who dreamed of finally owning their own rack of card-carrying classics.

As its collection of synths and plugins grew, so did its repository of algorithms, so, when it turned its attention to creating its own original soft-synth, the company had a vast back catalogue of know-how and code to draw from.

The result of all this know-how is Pigments. Now on version 7 - we performed our test here originally with version 6.

Pigments is a monster synth that features a multi-engine design that allows a range of different sound generators, filters and FX processors to be combined within a patch. It's the best of Arturia… In one synth.

It features three sound generation engines. One of these is a 'Utility' engine with two noise generators and a single analogue-style oscillator, perfect for use as a sub-oscillator or drone. The other two generator slots can load any one of five different synthesis models. These are:

• Analogue provides the three-oscillator setup found on many classic synths, with common waveforms, frequency modulation and oscillator sync.
• Wavetable is a powerful and versatile wavetable engine replete with large library of wavetables and the ability to import custom wavetables.
• Sample can host up to six sample articulations, and can operate as a classic sampler or be switched into a granular mode.
• Harmonic is an approachable implementation of additive synthesis.
• Modal is a physical modelling engine based on Karplus-Strong synthesis.

This selection may not cover every synthesis technology ever, but it's more than enough to give Pigments an exceptionally varied voice.

More options are available in the filter section, which offers two slots that can be arranged in series or parallel.

There's a large choice of filter models available to load into these, with various flavours of low-pass, band-pass and high-pass models, along with a collection of more specialized filters such as comb, formant and cluster filters and some filters taken directly from Arturia's instrument collection (Minimoog, MS-20, Jupiter 8, and more).

The filters feed to an FX section featuring two insert effects busses and one send effects bus, with each bus able to host three effect processors.

As with the filters, there's a range of standard effects – reverbs, delays, and what-have-you – alongside processors taken from Arturia's other products – a Juno-6 chorus or BL-20 flanger, for example. Like we said – it's a greatest hits mash-up!

All of this is backed up with an intuitive and powerful modulation system that provides three each of envelopes, LFOs, function curves, random generators and modulation combinators. These are easy to assign via drag-and-drop – the technique favoured by all the synths we're looking at – with each mapping also available as a destination for other modulators to modulate.

Pigments also boasts a powerful arpeggiator/pattern sequencer packed with enough generative, polyrhythmic and randomisation features to keep even the most experimental producer happy.

Pleasingly, as well as driving Pigments, the arpeggiator/sequencer can also output MIDI, and so can be used to sequence other synths.

Summing up

Pigments is good-looking, easy-to-use, and sounds fantastic. It can at times get greedy for system resources but this all depends on the patch – the Analogue and Sample engines are very efficient, but fire up a Harmonic engine or two and the demands can rise sharply, especially if setting the engine to generate a large number of partials.

The synth comes with a huge library of patches, samples and wavetables, and can run standalone or as a plugin.

Verdict

Flexibility: 4

Ease-of-Use: 4

Sound: 5

Value: 4

Sound examples

Price: €199

Contact: arturia.com

Arturia Pigments review

Kilohearts Phase Plant

Not one you may have considered but well worth your time, Kilohearts' series of 'Snapin' plugins are a collection of processors that, individually, perform a single, focused task, but which can also be combined in complex ways within one of the company's three host plugins.

For effects there's Snap Heap and Multipass, and for instruments there's Phase Plant, which is what's of specific interest to us here.

The Snapin system makes Phase Plant by far the most flexible and modular synth in this roundup. An initial patch starts as a completely blank slate, and is divided into three sections: The Generator section is the hosting area for the main synth components, such as oscillators, filters and amps). The Lanes section provides three busses for hosting additional effects and processors, and which can be routing destinations for output modules within the Generator area.

Finally, the Modulators section allows any selection of envelopes, LFOs, and other modulation sources to be loaded and then assigned to any of the multitude of modulatable parameters within the patch.

Creating patches is simply a case of clicking in one of the sections and choosing Snapins from the list of compatible options that's shown.

And, by virtue of 'building' the synth yourself you'll find it perhaps the most easy to understand (while offering predictable) results. There are no 'what's that bit' or 'why is that there'… Everything is here in the chain because you put it there, making it great for learning about sound design and synthesis.

The Generator section is where sound generators, filters, and amplifiers are loaded. These are always arranged into groups, with a group needing at least one sound generator Snapin and one output Snapin for routing the sound to the Lanes section.

There are five sound generator models available, each with a self-explanatory name: Analogue, Granular, Noise, Sampler and Wavetable. To these you can add a couple of types of filter, a distortion processor, two flavours of amp envelope, and a few mixing and routing processors.

Synths can therefore be very simple with very clear design and predictable responses. Or – with the capacity to host up to 32 Snapins, and the ability to route audio signals between Snapins and groups – the Generator section ultimately allows for some phenomenally complex instruments and patches to be created.

Each of the three Lanes can load any processing Snapin installed on the system. There are additional filters, dynamics processors, distortion processors, reverb, ring modulation, EQ... the list is huge.

The Modulators section is similarly generous, with a wide choice of different realtime, automatic and utility modulators with which to add control and variation to a patch.

Summing up

For all its flexibility Phase Plant's innate 'building block' simplicity is sure to delight and teach you a thing or two in the process. Despite its open-ended and immensely versatile architecture, Phase Plant is remarkably easy to use, once you have grasped its concept. And all of this power is delivered without placing a massive strain on the host system.

Visualisations are detailed, informative and attractive, signal routing is logical and easy, and managing modulators remains intuitive and simple.

Verdict

Flexibility: 5

Ease-of-Use: 4

Sound: 4

Value: 4

Sound examples

Price: $199

Contact: kilohearts.com

Kilohearts Phase Plant review

Native Instruments Massive X

Massive quickly became a go-to in the early days of DnB and Dubstep, packing powerful, bone crushing leads and basses and forging a new route for sound designers. Massive X, as you would expect, takes that sound, complexity and capability to the next level.

At first glance its fixed pair of wavetable oscillators seem a trifle primitive compared to the other synths in this roundup, but while most wavetable synths can only traverse a wavetable's frames and, perhaps, apply wavetable folding (akin to adjusting the pulse width of a square wave), Massive X's oscillators offer a choice of 10 different methods for interpreting and working with the loaded wavetable, each resulting in significantly different sonic outcomes.

The combination of which – in the face of simpler fare elsewhere – makes Massive (in both original and X form) a bit of a law unto itself, especially as it uses a proprietary wavetable format, and so, while there's certainly plenty of options on board, there's no scope for working with your own custom tables.

Massive X also features a dual noise generator replete with a wide selection of noise samples, a single filter stage offering a choice of nine different models, three slots for hosting a choice of 12 sound processor models, and three slots for hosting any of nine effect models.

All of which combine to give it its distinctive 'slab of sound'.

But what really unleashes Massive X's sound design power is its open-ended routing system. In essence, and with few limitations, each of the synth's components can be patched to any other, in any order you like, via a simple graphical interface.

Massive X provides 17 modulation sources in total. One of these is hard-wired as the amp envelope, while a further eight slots can load any of the synth's two envelope and two LFO models.

The remaining modulation sources have dedicated uses: three are pattern sequencers for creating repeating loops of modulation values, four are advanced keyboard tracking curves, and one is a pseudo-random generator.

Summing up

All told, Massive X is a bit of a beast. Mapping is easy enough, using a click-and-drag method similar to all of the synths we're looking at, however, in Massive X's case, there are tighter limits on the number of modulators that can be applied to each parameter and, once mapped, there isn't much visual feedback about what each modulator is actually doing.

Meanwhile, sonically, Massive X lives up to its name, and is one of the less processor-hogging of the bunch. It is impressively flexible too, but accessing its full potential feels less intuitive and more 'tweak it and try' than with the other synths in our roundup.

Verdict

Flexibility: 4

Ease-of-Use: 2

Sound: 4

Value: 4

Sound examples

Price: £179 (available with 50% discount at time of writing)

Contact: native-instruments.com

Native Instruments Massive X review

Vital Audio Vital

Freeware and open-source music-making software has something of a chequered history, with many promising projects descending into abandonware before reaching maturity.

Thankfully, that's not the case with Vital.

The synth itself is free – just create an account and download the software – while the Plus and Pro editions pack in additional presets and wavetables (amongst other things).

And in the latest update the synth is now available for both Intel and Apple Silicon on Mac.

Like Massive X, Vital is built around wavetable oscillators, of which it has three. The Basic edition comes with only 25 wavetables, but (unlike Massive X) it's easy to import custom wavetables, and the synth even features a capable wavetable editor if you want to try your hand at creating your own.

There's also a very basic sample oscillator intended for loading noise or basic waveform samples.

Each oscillator features note-snapping, useful for creating one-note chords that remain in-key, or if you're not the most accurate keyboard player. They also sport an efficient unison engine, a processing slot into which a choice of different filters and shapers can be loaded, and a flexible cross-modulation system for creating sync, FM and ring modulation effects.

Simple routing allows each oscillator to send its signal to either of the two filters, both filters simultaneously, or to bypass the filter stage altogether and route straight to the effects processing stage or directly to the output.

The two filters offer a good choice of different models – classic analogue, ladder, digital, and such – and a useful selection of shapes and slopes for each model. The filter output is sent to a stereo effect bus with a choice of nine processors, including reverb, compressor, delay, EQ, an additional filter, and more. The choice of processors is fixed, but they can be freely re-ordered.

Vital has a large selection of modulators to work with: six DAHDSR envelopes (delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain, release), eight LFOs with fully customisable shapes, four random generators, four macro controllers, and a bunch of realtime and MPE control sources – mod wheel, keyboard tracking, slide, and so on.

As with all the synths we're looking at, mapping modulators to parameters is a simple drag-and-drop, but there's also a dedicated Matrix view from where modulation mappings can be created and managed.

Summing up

Sound-wise, Vital gives little away to its premium-priced competitors, delivering a rich and full-blooded a sound that's on par with the other synths we're looking at. It's also similar from a system usage point of view, able to be very lean with simpler patches but getting rather greedy when things become more complex.

It's remarkable that this powerful synth can be picked up for free, and upped to its full power for so little outlay. There really is no excuse for not grabbing it right away, and making Vital not to be a regular go-to in your production workflow.

Verdict

Flexibility: 3

Ease-of-Use: 3

Sound: 3

Value: 5

Sound examples

Price: $0 (Basic Edition) / $25 (Plus Edition) / $80 (Pro Edition)

Contact: vital.audio

Xfer Records Serum 2

Xfer's long-awaited update to the wildly popular Serum appeared out of the blue back in March 2025. For fans of the original, this new version has definitely been worth the wait, with the synth moving into the territory of Pigments and Phase Plant thanks to a new selection of models that can be loaded into the synth's three sound generator slots.

The wavetable engine of the original Serum is here, of course, with built in unison and two 'Warp' slots into which various signal processors can be loaded. This is much the same as Vital, and is why many view Vital as a freeware equivalent of the original Serum.

But Serum 2 has beefed things up with a choice of Sample, Multisample, Granular and Spectral engines.

The Sample engine is conventional, and similar to Pigments' and Phase Plant's, but the Multisample engine offers far more flexibility than the maximum of six layers/articulations supported by Pigments' Sample engine.

Multisamples are defined in SFZ files, these being text files with a simple syntax that define all aspects of a multisample collection. Although text editing isn't as intuitive as the visual editor you may find in an actual sampler, Serum 2's use of SFZ files makes it possible to define very complex multisamples for use in the synth.

Serum 2's implementation of granular synthesis is fairly conventional and familiar, but the Spectral engine is somewhat more unique. It is conceptually similar to granular synthesis in that it separates the time and frequency dimensions of a sample so each can be manipulated independently, and whilst this gives sonic results that aren't dissimilar to granular synthesis, it is distinct enough to be a worthwhile alternative. In short, both engines turn any sample into a treasure trove of timbres from which to create new patches.

The filter section has two slots that can be arranged in series or parallel, and alongside the extensive collection of conventional and specialized filter models carried over from the original Serum are eleven new models. But, in a further encroachment on Pigments' territory, the majority these are based on classic synth filters such as the Moog Minimoog, Oberheim SEM, EMS Synthi, and EDP Wasp.

For modulation, Serum 2 provides four AHDSR envelopes, eight macro knobs, velocity and keyboard tracking, and six LFOs. These LFOs are quite special, with a choice of freely-drawable waveform, sample-and-hold, an option that tracks two dimensional paths that you draw, and a pair of chaos-based LFOs that produce fascinating non-repeating modulation patterns. Mapping of modulators is done via the same intuitive drag-and-drop system that's common across all of the synth's we're looking at.

Serum 2 features a powerful arpeggiator and a Clip player that stores and plays back predefined patterns and sequences. Each of these has 12 slots for storing patterns, with the active arpeggio or Clip pattern selectable either from the GUI or from a controller keyboard.

Summing up

Serum 2 is a powerful jamming and performance tool as well as a powerful synth. And, as with Pigments, the arpeggiator and Clip players can send their notes as a MIDI output with which to drive other synths.

Some have observed that it's overbearingly demanding on the host system, but we didn't see anything better or worse than with any other synth in the roundup. It's all down to the complexity of the patch, with some being very demanding, and others barely registering on the CPU meter.

All in all, Serum 2 delivers the same rich, rounded and detailed sound as its predecessor, and easily holds its own alongside the other synth's we've gathered here. Our only gripes are that the included patch library seems less generous than some, and the asking price is the highest of the bunch.

Verdict

Flexibility: 4

Ease-of-Use: 3

Sound: 5

Value: 2

Sound examples

Price: $249 ($189 intro price until June 1st)

Contact: xferrecords.com

The Final Verdict

Though each has its strong points, all five of these instruments are immensely impressive. And while each has its own particular range of options and way of doing things, it's remarkable how close they all are in terms of sound quality and sonic versatility – marking and ranking them has not been an easy task!

Below, we've listed the winners in each category.

Coming in on top for flexibility and ease-of-use is Phase Plant, while Pigments and Serum 2 are tied for first place in terms of sound. When it comes to value for money, Vital unsurprisingly snags our top spot.

That said, whether you want the warmth of analogue, the flexibility of digital, the realism of samples, or the fascination of the unconventional, these instruments can do it all.

If you have any of these plugins in your arsenal, you won't struggle to find the right sounds for your productions.

Best For Flexibility: Phase Plant

Best For Ease-of-use: Phase Plant

Best For Sound: Pigments & Serum 2

Best For Value: Vital

SYNTH WEEK 2026: How often have you thought about what you’d buy if you had unlimited funds? With a beast of a synth parked within it, could your studio finally be complete? It’s certainly true that hardware synths offer a kudos and hands-on attraction that software just doesn't match.

The immediacy of diving in and twiddling new sounds into reality with your own hands is why so many of us synth-heads got the synth bug in the first place. So what if you had a serious amount of disposable cash (or won the lottery?)

What synth of Ferrari or Lamborghini-style proportions would you be tempted by?

We’re here to help, with the ultimate wish list of high-value synths, each of which has near-infinite sonic potential.

Forget super-yachts - we want super-synths!

1. Schmidt Eightvoice

Average Cost: £20,000 ($25k/€20k)

Since the first prototype was delivered to film composer Hans Zimmer back in 2013, the Schmidt Eightvoice has been made in small, limited-run batches ever since. We estimate that there are approximately 150 or so units in the wild, with each batch consisting of 20-25 units.

Designed by Stefan Schmidt to be the ultimate analogue synth, the Schmidt is a no-compromise synthesist’s dream.

Despite offering only eight voices, each voice provides 4 oscillators (that’s a whopping 48 oscillators) in a traditional discrete design, backed up with digital control for patch memory.

It can even operate as an 8-part multi-timbral synth, with a single voice to a part. The synth is 95% one-knob-per-function, contained within some beautiful carpentry, complete with a quality keybed.

It’s laden with multiple filters, LFOs, modulation paths and coloured LEDs, which can also be placed under MIDI control, changing colour in time with your track if you want.

With all this power, the Schmidt Eightvoice is a complex beast (we should know, we have one at MR Towers… not bragging) and it never ceases to impress and bemuse us at every turn. It’s complicated and deep, but about as exceptional as it can get within the realm of polyphonic analogue subtractive synthesis.

2. Analogue Solutions Colossus

Average Cost: £23,000 ($30k/€29k)

As the name would imply, Colossus from Analogue Solutions is an extraordinarily large synthesizer, in fact it might be better described as a ‘powerful analogue workstation’.

Analogue Solutions makes no apology for drawing inspiration from the groundbreaking EMS Synthi 100, although it has attempted several enhancements and improvements, not least reducing its size slightly, so that it fits through a standard doorway, something the Synthi 100 had an issue with.

Colossus maintains the Synthi’s vintage look, with 2 accompanying matrix panels; one for CV control and one for Audio.

At over a metre and a half wide and L-shaped, it's a mighty package of analogue circuitry, influenced by the current AS product line, The Classic edition offers a whopping 12 VCOs, along with a host of filters and VCAs, and an on-board sequencing capability.

This is just as well, because there is no MIDI included, although much like early analogue equipment, there are plenty of contemporary interfacing options, should you want to drive Colossus from your DAW.

You can prescribe your size and styling, and spend more money if you so wish. Or you can scale it down slightly, so that it fits in your box-room studio at home.

3. Korg PS-3300

Average Cost: £11,400 ($13k/€17k)

Korg is one of the companies that kickstarted the analogue reboot scene and recently resurrected one of the rarest synths ever produced.

The original PS-3300 was produced in the late 1970s, but in incredibly small numbers. There were rumoured to be less than 50 ever made! But now the original design returns, brought to life by its original creator, Fumio Mieda, and being produced in small pre-ordered batches. Available to order right now.

Apart from the stunning craftsmanship and woodworking, the instrument contains three separate synthesizer voice modules (PSU-3301), complete with a unique and complex tuning architecture, as well as the ability to save patches.

It also offers a unique party trick for an analogue synth, by offering 49 voice polyphony, which is effectively one voice for every note on the supplied keyboard.

It's a truly unique and rare instrument, as well as an extraordinary piece of studio furniture!

4. Grp A10

Average Cost: (Preorder) €10k + VAT

Italian synth guru Grp Synthesizer, could be considered an unsung hero of contemporary analogue synth design. Its designs have been popular with notable electronic artists for many years, with a roster which includes Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre.

Having produced the more affordable A4 and larger A8 unit for many years, the company’s latest design is about to go in to production, and is currently available to pre-order. If you’ve got a spare ten grand that is…

The A10 boasts 4-VCOs and a sub-oscillator, which can be assigned to a single voice or bi-timbrally.

Primary operation is as a monophonic semi-modular machine, but with significant wave folding and modulation possibilities. The Grp designs also turn heads, adopting a classic look that accompanies an even more absorbing sound.

5. Moog One

Average Cost: £5k -10k ($6k-10k/€5k-10k)

The extraordinary interest created by the Moog One, both prior and at the point of release, was of a scale that we haven't seen for quite awhile.

For a company such as Moog to release another polyphonic machine, particularly given its previous difficulties with polyphonic designs, made us all curious about how it might approach a new poly in a modern age.

The answer was a 3-VCO per voice polyphonic machine, available in either 8 or 16 voice architectures. Resplendent with beautiful casework, classic filtering, and all the elements that you would expect within a contemporary unit.

While production of the Moog One has now ceased, there are still models available for purchase from new from some suppliers, and of course there is the thriving secondhand market.

Earlier models did exhibit teething issues, so be sure to try any unit before purchase, to ensure that you secure a working future classic.

6. Analogue Solutions Maximus

Average Cost: (4-voice) £9900 ($12.5k/€12k) (8-voice) £22,500 ($28k/€26k)

With a second entry in our top 10, Analogue Solutions draws inspiration from another classic; the Oberheim 4/8 voice. Tom Carpenter (the architect behind AS) has embraced the Oberheim SEM concept and taken things a lot further.

Maximus can be used monophonically or polyphonically, but with the architecture of an individual synth unit-per-voice, there is capacity to use Maximus in a host of different standalone environments. This is enhanced further by the fact that each voice is equipped with its own sequencer and bucket brigade delay!

For completists, Maximus can be equipped with its own keyboard which provides a degree of central command, but there is no doubt that the main event is the enormous control panel which towers over a metre high!

7. SE Code Luxe

Average Cost: $8795 (£8k/€8.5k)

Studio Electronics is another one of those companies that is very popular among musicians and producers who know SE’s work.

It has had a love affair with classic kit since the 80s, particularly designs reminiscent of Moog. You can see its influence on the Roland Boutique SE-02; a major collaboration between the two companies.

The company’s flagship 8-voice synth is the Code Luxe - a rackmount analogue synth, available with either two or four filters. The two filter version offers Minimoog and Oberheim filters, with the four filter option adding Roland and Yamaha CS-80 filters, although further customisation options are also available.

The knowledge and experience within SE as a company is vast, with an exactness to their detailing that provides the sound of the originals, with enormous capacity to go further through additional circuitry, such as overdrive.

Imagine owning a polyphonic synthesizer that is capable of emulating so many classics? That's got to be a bargain, hasn't it?

8. Serge Paperface 50 Edition

Average Cost: €7640 ($9k/£6k) (made to order)

Among synthesists and modular aficionados, there are a handful of companies that harbour a reputation for quality and uniqueness. One such company is Serge, and with its anniversary edition of the Paperface 50 System, you get all the benefits of a vintage system, with the reliability of contemporary design and build.

The versatility of the individual components set Serge apart from many of its competitors, with versatile oscillators that provide wave shaping, through to exceptionally extensive modulation possibilities, alongside more usual components such as filters.

9. Buchla Easel

Average Cost: €5598.00 ($6.5k/£5k)

Representing the West Coast approach to synthesis, the Buchla Easel is another reincarnation of a system first produced 50 years ago.

Available in either retro or modern formats, the rebooted Easel now incorporates USB and MIDI, making it a far more syncable prospect for contemporary production.

Equipped with numerous modulation sources, the Easel has West Coast capacity to generate interestingly rich sounds, with an abundance of movement built in at source.

10. Nonlinear Labs C15

Average Cost: €4800 (£4k/$5k)

Berlin-based Nonlinear Labs is the company behind the enigmatically titled C15.

Originally designed as a musician’s performance instrument, the C15 now incorporates MIDI, making it a viable instrument for modern use, although it maintains its thoroughbred design as a performance unit.

Beneath the beautifully designed wooden cabinet, the C15 relies upon a deceptively basic digital synthesis engine, which is capable of producing some exceptionally interesting tones.

With only 2 Sine wave oscillators, it employs phase modulation synthesis (much like Yamaha FM synthesis) to produce a versatile palette of sounds, with up to 24 voice polyphony.

Equipped with a Fatar TP/8S keyboard action, you'll be wondering how two oscillators can create so many sonic possibilities.

Honorary Mentions

Given that we aren't all going to be lucky enough to win the lottery, we have to give some honorary mentions to some of the other companies that are producing exceptional instruments, but in a price bracket that might be more obtainable to many of us.

Eurorack
Eurorack hit the peak of its popularity a few years ago, but it still remains highly desirable and above all, affordable and collectible. There are plenty of terrific modules out there, from companies such as Doepfer, Verbos, Make Noise and Erica Synths, through to British stalwarts like AJH Synth and ALM Busy Circuits. Given that you don't have to buy everything at once, you can end up with a large and exceptional sounding system in the space of a year or two.

Sequential
Despite the unfortunate passing of Dave Smith, his company Sequential continues to go from strength the strength, whether you want to buy a newly rebooted Prophet 5/10 or prefer the idea of something hybrid, such as the Pro-3.

Alternatively, Sequential partnered with Oberheim to revitalise some of its classic designs, particularly the amazing sound of the OB-X8

…and many others!

Don’t forget other companies producing really great synthesizers, such as Waldorf, Groove Synthesis, and even the bigger-boys, Roland, Yamaha and Korg.

There is more affordable synthetic hardware out there of course, but consider any major purchase in the synth domain as a true investment - not just in financial terms, but as an instrument to learn inside out, and back to front.

Just think how far you can go with a really big hardware synthesizer if you learn every aspect of its capabilities? You’ll be so immersed in its inner workings, it might even take your mind off the loan repayments!

SYNTH WEEK 2026: Despite a reputation as an electronics manufacturing powerhouse and a history with synthesizers going back to the 1970s, it was only recently that China produced its first mass-market synth.

Think of synthesizer-producing nations, and you’re likely to imagine America and Japan first, followed by European countries like the UK, Germany and Italy next, with many smaller polities popping up when you start including Eurorack manufacturers.

What about China, though? For a country with 1.4 billion people, it has a shockingly small domestic market. And this, despite being the world’s choice electronics manufacturer.

Why is this? Why should a country so large (the population is the second biggest in the world and second only to India) be so bereft when it comes to synths?

It was “very slow to adoption,” explains Yukes 玉刻, an American musician living in Shanghai and a marketing consultant for Teenage Engineering, in his TEDx video, The Sounds of Tomorrow: China's Electronic Instrument Renaissance. “Some would say it’s a few generations behind”.

How it came to be so behind, and what’s currently happening on the other side of the Great Wall, is a fascinating story that incorporates both a unique local culture and the power of globalisation.

In 1973, two Americans, Bernie Krause and his musical partner Paul Beaver, traveled to China as part of Richard Nixon’s ongoing efforts at so-called ping-pong diplomacy, trying to open the country to trade with the West. They brought with them a Moog Model III modular synthesizer and demonstrated it for then Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Zhou Enlai.

A commenter on an article on CDM, taken from his own personal correspondence, quotes Krause as saying, “It was soon after Nixon opened up the country for travel and we went as part of a State Department-sponsored trip to show new politically-vetted technologies, among which was the analogue synth. We set up a few sounds based on the voices of traditional Chinese instruments, plus thunder, rain, ocean waves, human breathing…"

According to Yukes in his talk, the CCP declared that the concept of the synthesis wasn’t inherently Western. “The synthesizer has no cultural bias”, they reportedly said.

“Therefore”, said Krause, “it was acceptable politically and culturally to demonstrate in the country, and composers there could generate their own voices through the use of the instrument."

In order for composers to generate their own voices, they’d need instruments to play, and the man that stepped up to create them was musician and engineer Tian Jinqin.

Tian had already been inventing his own electric and electronic instruments for two decades. With the Cultural Revolution having ended two years before, he approached the government in 1978 with a prototype for an instrument called either the Dianzi Qin or XK-1 (sources are unclear). The authorities in Beijing signed off on the instrument, and work began on what most consider the first Chinese synthesizer.

English-language sources are few and murky, but it appears that he developed the Dianzi Qin based on traditional Chinese string instruments like the Erhu. This resulted in an instrument with a very different shape and interface than the standard Western synthesizer, with the neck of a string instrument rising vertically from a horizontal panel that housed additional controls.

According to the website Tangible Music Lab, the XK-1 offered four electronic ribbon strings with independent continuous control of pitch and volume, plus a dynamic filter that players worked with a knee like a Hammond organ.

At least 21 were reportedly sold but sadly, none appear to remain extant.

Although Tian continued to innovate, creating various prototypes like a modular synthesizer in 1980 and the Electronic Battlefield Acoustic Simulators, an intriguing-sounding instrument for military training that could “simulate the sound effects of a variety of battlefield equipment and guns,” his bread and butter would be inexpensive toy organs for children and amateurs. There just wasn’t a market for anything more sophisticated.

Despite the efforts of Tian Jinqin, it would take another 40 years for a Chinese synthesizer to really make waves. According to Yukes in his video, the first Chinese synthesizer to enter the global market was the Hydrasynth from Ashun Sound Machines.

“I think Yukes’ TEDx talk was simplifying a much longer story”, answers ASM CEO Glen Darcey when asked about this. For Glen, ASM may be part of Chinese musical instrument company Medeli, but he considers it more of a global affair than a Chinese one

“ASM began when our parent company, Medeli, brought together an international team”, he says. “I’m from Los Angeles, (Director of Product) Dominic Au is based in Hong Kong, and Medeli assembled some of their top engineers in Shanghai. From the beginning, ASM has been a global effort, and we continue to expand with recent additions to engineering resources in the US and EU.”

He also doesn’t think the Hydrasynth is a particularly ‘Chinese’ synth.

“The only place where geography sometimes plays a role is in sound content, or maybe with alternate scale/tuning support”, he stresses, pointing out that one of the 32 microtonal scales ASM has is based on a 300 AD Chinese wind instrument scale.

“On synthesizers, sound sets tend to follow musical genres rather than geography. On sample-based instruments we might include sounds from Chinese or Middle Eastern instruments, but those are also widely used by film, television and game composers around the world”.

Summing up, Glen says, “Ultimately, our goal is to design instruments that musicians everywhere can use to create their own sound”. The company’s recently released Leviasynth - a 16 voice, hybrid algorithmic synthesizer - continues ASM’s journey.

So, what does make a synthesizer Chinese?

“There's practically nothing to define a Chinese synthesizer from its western counterparts”, says Yukes. “And that's a good thing. Electrical engineering is a universal concept, as are synthesizers”.

Gone are the days when developers looked to classical Chinese instruments and the past for inspiration. Modern Chinese-made synths are just that, modern, and more reflective of their creators than anything broadly indicative of culture.

“That being said”, counters Yukes, “there are a few differentiators to consider. Almost immediate access to electronic components and PCB printing means incredibly fast development, lots of niche components, and things that'd require commercial or special order overseas. It's a DIY tinkerer's dream here, and as such many devs here use and rely on interesting components”.

Accordingly, many feel their “design culture is rooted in the DIY scene, not the country of their origin”, says Yukes.

However, some instruments may end up reflecting aspects of Chinese culture by happenstance. “Synthesizers are all about sonic exploration, and if (developers) choose to design a synthesizer rooted in Chinese mysticism or an ancient scale, it's because it's what interests them”, Yukes explains.

“I’ve yet to see a synth be Chinese for China's sake”.

One look at the products currently available from developer Meng Qi - who Yukes calls the first Chinese indie synth developer to find success overseas - and you get an idea of what he means. Meng Qi’s instruments, such as the Wingie2 Stereo Resonator and Cricket Sound Jewelry Synthesizer, are utterly unique and also available through retailers around the world.

Meng Qi’s bio confirms that he’s an artist with a highly personal vision that, like Yukes says, has little to do with where he’s from:

“(Meng Qi) focuses on the duality of instruments: control/chaos, harmony/noise, quantization/continuity, and so on, and he concentrates these ideas on highly gestural interfaces”. Not Chinese in the slightest.

Other developers that Yukes namechecks in his TEDx video include Electro Weird, the Eurorack outfit Synso, and Modular Theatre, just three of “two dozen or so indie developers” currently active.

And these are just the ones that sell their creations. With manufacturing in China so prevalent, prototyping is easy and affordable, leading to many whipping up instruments for personal use only. Yukes relates striking up conversations with random people in his adopted city of Chengdu who just happen to make electronic musical instruments for fun.

Many of these Chinese indie developers, hobbyists, musicians and artists come together in the fall for Modular Commune, a “series of events about modular synths and other electronic instruments” in Beijing, China.

Most of the community, however, tends to meet on the internet, which makes sense when you consider just how big of a country China is, geographically speaking.

“Lack of a strong cohort means a lot of learning online, a lot of shared resources, and not many offline opportunities to share their interests”, says Yukes. “There's some brilliant work being done but unfortunately not enough people to share it with within the country”.

While America, Japan and Europe experienced something of a Golden Age of synthesizers in the 1970s and 1980s, China didn't have the same kind of culture-defining spotlight that synths had overseas. No synth-pop, no Doctor Who soundtrack, no Rick Wakeman rocking four Moogs on stage in China.

“I can't speak authoritatively on how absent the conversation of synthesizers were in music history here”, says Yukes, “but I did have a thought on this. China has a model called technological leapfrogging, where they tend to lag behind in one technological development so they can innovate on the next, like skipping over credit cards entirely and getting straight to digital payments. Chinese music producers have completely embraced DAWs and workstations, maximising efficiency and access to a wide array of tones and functionality. Maybe there was a generation lacking such focused tools”.

Thankfully, this does seem to be changing. Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou now has a Department of Musical Instrument Engineering where students are learning about musical instrument design, both hardware and soft.

There’s clearly an interest from younger generations in creating the next wave of Chinese instruments. And, with the country’s robust manufacturing infrastructure in place, exciting things can happen quickly. Move fast and break things? More like move fast and build things.

Hopefully, this will also translate into more global exposure.

Unless you’re like Yukes and happen to live within the country and speak the language, getting access to some of the companies mentioned in this piece can be difficult.

China tends to operate a parallel internet, one separated largely by language, with Chinese versions of most popular Western sites like eBay and YouTube for the local population. This can be daunting for outsiders. It would be great to see more of the country’s homegrown instruments someday available for overseas purchase.

After all, as Glen Darcey of ASM says, “I don’t think there is really a Chinese way of thinking, just as there is not an American way of thinking. Like any large country, China contains many different cultures and perspectives. The same is true in the United States or Europe. Think of the differences between California, Texas, Utah… China is similar - cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhuhai, and Hong Kong all have their own distinct styles and character.”

With a little luck, one day soon the rest of the world will be able to experience what the Chinese developers of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hong Kong have been building. “Truly”, says Yukes, “there are great minds in our industry here.”

SYNTH WEEK 2026: It's likely that we're all guilty of periodically shunning our existing repository of plugins and VIs, and splashing out on a shiny new synth, hoping it’ll provide us with a fresh, inspiring new sound for our latest project.

Meanwhile, back in the land of reality, we all know that there's a lot of hard work and graft that goes into creating the right synthetic sound for a track, let alone constructing a good mix.

Often it's best to stick to what you know - and focus on widening your knowledge.

Extending your synthesizer plugin techniques doesn't have to be demanding, but it might require a slight change in your working practice.

So, if you fancy taking your synth sounds to the next dimension, then follow this guide to making the synths in your collection go further - and not being slowed by option paralysis!

1. Tweak a preset

There’s not a producer on the planet that doesn’t load up a synth for the first time and then trawl through the preset patches, but how often do you find something that immediately fits the bill? Maybe you find something cool, then re-shape your track to suit the sound you’ve found. We’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way!

Don’t fear the preset, but also don’t be afraid of tweaking the basic settings, such as the filter or envelope. You might also find that switching up other elements within the patch drives your work in a better direction

2. Start a new patch

Bored of your usual preset options? Most synths offer a perfectly-placed button on their interface, inviting you to craft a new patch of your own. The benefits and rewards to be found here are huge, as this process will allow you to create a bespoke sound to suit your very own requirements.

Designing a sound from the ground up, is one of the most fulfilling aspects of production, and not something to be feared.

3. Turn off the effects

Find us a plugin synthesizer, and we will find you an included set of effects. Locating the effects page will reveal everything from chorus and delay, to the ubiquitous reverb, and probably more besides. However, these onboard effects may not be as good as the third-party effects, which are specifically designed for purpose, residing within your DAW.

Sure, many of the effects may add something to the preset sound, but don't be afraid to switch these off, and employ your own selections. It’ll also provide greater flexibility in your working.

4. Multi-layer parts in mono

More complex synths often allow multi-timbral usage, meaning that you can load a single instance of a synth, but use it for anything up to 16 different sounds, at one time.

This puts less loading on your computer. However, you don't have to settle for a single channel of sound, thanks to the ability to set up multiple outputs.

Organise these to apply different mix settings for each sound.

Total flexibility in your mix, without the need the load more than one synth plugin.

5. Automate!

How many times have you seen a synth-genius playing live, carefully massaging settings as they play? Extend this philosophy to the ambidextrous world of the DAW, and you can tweak a series of different settings all at the same time, placing them under automated control.

Moreover, this will add a wonderful layer of developing interest to your synth patches, that can make your tunes feel less repetitive.

6. Get yourself templated

Next time you start a project, take a look at a small selection of plugin synths, the ones that you tend to use the most.

If you have a go-to synth for basses, set it up in a template, so that every time you start afresh, you can get cracking with creativity, and not have to continually think about plugging in your usual set of sounds. Not only will it save you time, it will provide a common thread from one track to another, which might be beneficial for an entire project.

7. Arpeggiate

Part of the package that accompanies most plugin synthesisers, is the use of onboard sequencers and arpeggiators. These notes may be preordained, but they don't have to stay that way

If you can utilise the sequencer within the plugin, change the notes and settings to suit the developing rhythm of your track, or alternatively, look at using similarly-equipped plugins residing within your DAW.

8. Modulate

If there is one technique that occupies the very heart of synthesis curiosity, it's modulation.

Some synths can take modulation to extremes, with the ability to modulate every aspect of a synth’s sound, from wave shape to LFO speed and depth.

Experiment fully with the options available within a plugin, and you may find that the odd happy accident drives your creativity in a new direction.

9. It doesn't have to be software…

It doesn't always have to be about plugins! Most DAWs are fully equipped to handle an incoming signal from devices including external synthesizers.

Moreover, they are equipped to handle MIDI, making light work of the ability to patch in a hardware synth.

If this becomes something that you do regularly, pop your hardware device into your template, then it will always be ready to go when creativity takes a hold.

10. Learn, learn, learn!

We get so bombarded by products and deals that we're all guilty of having far too many plugins on our systems, in fact you may have so many - you have forgotten what they all do! (certainly a problem I can vouch for, Ed).

Herein lies one of the biggest problems with production in the current age, but if we take a step back, we could learn a lot from previous synthesis of pioneers.

Next time you load up a synth that truly inspires you, set yourself the goal of really learning how it works - just as previous synth pioneers had to do with their limited set of hardware synths.

Many aspects of software synths may appear to be simple enough - and you may feel you've got a handle on their essentials - but the chances are there are a ton of complexities which remain uncovered, and could provide you with that extra push over the sonic cliff. You could try reverse engineering a preset sound, or better still, create a sound from scratch, and take it in a direction that you wouldn't normally go.

If you find yourself scratching your head, reach for the online manual, and take a bit of time out to scrub up on what a particular parameter does to induce a particular sound. You probably have everything you need for a track within just one synth. Often, it's not even the most expensive.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: Vintage synths cost a fortune, you know that, we know that, everyone knows that. So why on earth would you consider owning one in the 2020s, especially with so many top quality new hardware synth releases, and so many software versions which, in many cases, replicate everything that the dusty old hardware does, right down to its resistors and capacitors?

Well, owning an original classic synth could be an investment (usual terms apply, investments can increase or decrease in value, please speak to a qualified financial advisor… which we clearly aren’t). It could be that only a real, classic synth will give you that real, classic sound, it could be a prestige purchase.

Yes, you might want to show off, or it could be that you’ve found a bargain. And that’s where this feature - perfectly timed for Synth Week 2026 - fits in!

Believe it or not, there are vintage synth bargains to be had because the second-hand synth market can be, shall we say, quite liquid in its reliability.

So where some Rolands and Moogs were skyrocketing in price, some of those five-figure asking prices are now starting to look, at the very least, a bit cheeky, and at the very most, daylight robbery.

Today’s synth market can be a minefield, then, where you think that a classic 1970s modular or early 80s Jupiter will only increase in value, when the opposite can also be true.

And remember that those ridiculous asking prices are what people are asking, not what they are selling for (which is usually substantially less).

That’s not to say there aren’t some crazy prices out there, especially if the synth has some history. Witness the five figures paid for some synths and vocoders in the Florian Schneider/Kraftwerk auction last November that we, ahem, might have partook in…

And if you really do want a Yamaha CS-80 and have the funds and the muscles, you will still have to pay between $20k and $60k (plus a good wedge for the postage) for the undoubted pleasure of owning one of the best synths ever made.

But not all vintage synths are expensive, and not all are prone to these kinds of price fluctuations; in fact many synths from the 1980s have stayed relatively cheap.

There are bargains to be had, so let’s try and track some down.

1. Casio CZ-1

Average cost £/$€250 to £/$€600
A recent Reverb.com listing

The CZ-1 gets into this list mostly because it uses the somewhat different 'phase distortion' synthesis (unlike every other synth here) and because it was produced by a company pretty new to pro keyboards when it was introduced in 1984.

Yes, Casio was more at home with digital watches and auto-accompaniment keyboards at the time, but threw its electronic expertise at the burgeoning synth-pop market of the mid-80s to come up with synths that still start those Reddit ‘best synth I ever used’ threads today.

The CZ range is famous for gnarly digital sounds, those with a more aggressive edge, especially when compared to the more polite (but admittedly more popular) Yamaha DX7 of the time.

Of the many models in the range, some are just slight variations with speakers, but the ones worth checking out are the 1000 and 3000, although the CZ-1 is the champ of the lot and actually often sells for less than some of the less powerful models (from around $£500).

If you want an even cheaper Casio, the company’s VL-1 (or VL-Tone) has 'classic' status written all over it because it was famously used in a novelty hit called Da Da Da by the, er, trio called Trio.

You can pick this beauty up for at little as $/£30 and while it might not match any CZ in sonic range, you do get the beats from this hit record thrown in. You pays your money…

2. Korg Poly-800

Average cost $/£300 to $/£650
A recent Reverb.com listing

Incredibly, here is an analogue poly synth from the ‘80s that you can pick up for low three figures in whatever currency you choose.

That's the price of a weekend away in Magaluf, all drinks and breakfasts included, all for a polyphonic vintage Korg synth! Look, we don't make the rules.

You can get eight voices out of a Poly-800 if you push it, and while the voices might be a little arcade-y on occasion (which is both a plus and a minus, depending on your taste) there’s enough beneath the surface to twist and tweak them into some very nice textures… if you can be bothered to lift the lid and look.

That’s because the ’surface’ leans towards being button-based and not as intuitive as a standard ‘knobs and sliders’ analogue synth.

This means that if you want to actually synthesise, you’ll find yourself on more of a deeper dive, but it’s the lack of traditional controls that keeps this and other synths like it (the fellow Korg Poly-61 from 1982 is another prime example), at an affordable price point.

Should you get the shovel out, though, you can expect to wrestle classic Korg sounds that even rival those on the company’s ‘proper’ vintage models. Think Mono/Poly and MS-20 (yes, really).

Happy leads, decent pads, nice sawtooths and organs, and a very good filter, albeit one that is shared in a paraphonic way.

Grab one while you can because these prices can only really go one way.

3. Roland JX Range

Average cost $/£500 to $/£1,000
A recent Reverb.com listing

Continuing the 'lack of hands-on controls equals a lower asking price' theme we have just introduced with the Korg Poly-800, now we have a range of keyboards from Roland that most definitely sound incredible, but are also affordable simply because changing their sounds is a bit of a faff.

The JX range was introduced at a time when Roland had hit synths on its hands in the form of the Juno and Jupiter but was also trying to fathom how best to deploy the all-new digital technology that was about to take over the synth world.

The company's quandary was simple: how to keep the lush analogue sounds that everyone loves, but enjoy this all-new digital tech at the same time.

You can almost see the arguments for both sides in the JX designs: ‘We'll keep the analogue sound but make it more affordable with less controls'. A winner all around, right? But, and almost admitting defeat straight away, Roland then offered optional programmers, in the form of the PG-200 and 800. to give you back the knobs and sliders it took away. If you can, then, try and pick up one of these synths with an original programmer - you'll thank us later. Here's a Reverb.com listing for the PG-800.

The 3p is a 6-voice mono-timbral synth; the 8P has a similar spec but more tweaks and a brighter sound; while the 10 ups the polyphony to 12 notes and is the most expensive second-hand option, but still a great buy for what was at the time Roland's last analogue synth.

Expect to pay between $/£500 and $/£800 for the 3p and 8p, and you might want to stick with these as the JX-10 is often stupidly expensive at over $/£2000. Add the controllers for between $/£200 and $/£600.

4. Yamaha DX Range

Average cost $/£150 to $/£900
A recent Reverb.com listing

The Yamaha DX7 is undoubtedly one of the most important synthesiser releases ever, simply because so many were made. Some have put the number of DX7s loose in the wild these days at around 200,000. We've previously gone into great depth as to why in an extensive feature here.

The synth brought an entirely new palette of sounds to the masses thanks to its FM synthesis, which is especially adept at re-creating bells, whistles and electric pianos, while also being very capable of creating lush pads and atmospheres if you have the programming chops.

Chops you will need though, as the DX7 was and is notoriously difficult to program.

It is also very, very available, hence the low price, solely because so many were produced, so while we’ve tricked you into thinking you need one, we’re now going to turn tail and point you in the direction of some other Yamahas that will deliver the same sounds, but are easier to use and cost even less cash.

Yes, go for a DX7 if you want ‘the classic’ FM synth (and expect to pay between $/£400 and $/£700 for the privilege) but if you want the sounds, the cheapest option is to look at some of the many and varied rack options or just go for the DX11.

This is a multitimbral version of the DX7, meaning that it is effectively eight of them piled one atop of the other (metaphorically, not actually - that would be very impractical), but does limit the number of notes you can play in total to just eight. So perhaps think of it as eight mono FM synths?

Yes, that will do.

While the DX11 sells for between £250 and £400, other variations of it (the TX81z rack and bi-timbral DX21 being the most notable) sell for even less, starting at just £150 for the module.

Of course there are many other ways to get DX sounds, software, and newer FM hardware synths, but just to muddy your FM water some more, we’ll throw in another set of synth bargains in the form of the Yamaha SY range. These more advanced FM synths (they literally used ‘Advanced FM’ synthesis) began life in 1989, spawned four models of increasing polyphony (the 22, 77, 85 and 99).

This multitimbrality, cost an arm and a leg when they came out, but for some reason now sell for almost throwaway cash; as low as $/£150. In short you won’t find more FM for less cash anywhere else.

5. The Roland 800s (JD-800 and JP-8000)

A recent Reverb.com listing

Honestly, we haven't tried to include loads of synths with '800' in their names on purpose; it's just some kind of weird second-hand coincidence. And these two Rolands have a couple of other things in common, on top of that number being in both names.

The most obvious is that the JD-800 and JP-8000 have controls. Lots of them.

Both were Roland's attempts to bring such controls back to synthesizers after a very dark period in history when all knobs, sliders and dials were removed from all synths in 'the name of progress'.

Thankfully, VA synths packed with controls brought them back in vogue and Roland responded not so much by bringing back the analogue synths with controls that everyone wanted, but by adding controls to existing tech, or bringing out their own VA, hence the inclusion of both of these synth beasts.

And they really are beasts. The JD is effectively all of Roland's LA synthesis (made famous in the D-50) under control in one massive 'board, while the JP invented trance music with its lively and enjoyable take on dance music in the 1990s.

Price-wise, both of these soared in value but have considerably fallen back in price for a couple of reasons: the JD is notorious for 'red glue' issues that need to be sorted before you part with any cash, while the JP can have audio out issues (and other 30-year-old capacitor problems).

However if you can find either the JP or JD in good condition for $/£500 or $/£1500 respectively you could bag a future classic.

Good luck with finding some synth bargains out there. There are still many to be had, but do bear in mind that the synth business can be a tricky one to invest in and those prices can go down as well as up.

Let us know of any synth bargains you've picked up in the comments below.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: When surveying today's synthesis landscape, to say that we’re spoiled for choice would be a serious understatement.

On the hardware front it's like the 1970s all over again, with historic names such as Moog, Sequential and Oberheim back in action, completely new creations from the likes of Arturia and Dreadbox, many homages to (not to mention copies of) classic instruments of the past, and a resurgence of interest in modular systems.

With none of the physical and financial constraints of hardware - and all the benefits of modern CPU power - there's an even greater diversity when it comes to software synths. Models of classic instruments abound, but there are also many entirely original synths, a good number of which boast capabilities that would have made Don Buchla throw down his soldering iron in despair.

The thing is, despite this vast range of choice, there’s a common thread running through practically all of these instruments, hardware or software. With only a few exceptions, the vast majority essentially follow a subtractive synthesis model, and so present a fundamentally similar set of features and controls. Even those synths that eschew conventional oscillators in favour of some alternative tone generation method are, more often than not, subtractive in every other respect.

This is all well and good – it works! – but do you ever feel it can all get a bit... well... samey? Do you ever wish you could break away from the technical dryness of oscillators and filter types, and approach sound design in a more intuitive, abstract and novel way? Music is all about creative expression, after all, so surely there are ways to conceptualise and craft sounds without worrying about frequencies and cutoffs and cross-modulations and all the rest of it? Indeed there are!

The unconstrained freedom enjoyed by software synth designers means that, every now and then, a new instrument will pop up that flies in the face of convention. Do such instruments open up new and exciting avenues of inspiration and creativity, or are they just distracting gimmicks? To find out, we set aside our Falcons, Pigments and piles of Minimoog emulations, and sought out five instruments that approach synthesis in their own thrillingly singular fashion.

1. Madrona Labs Sumu

Additive synthesis, the conceptual opposite of subtractive synthesis, is theoretically capable of producing acoustic instrument emulations that are indistinguishable from the real thing - and indeed, any other sound you can imagine.

It works on the basis that all sounds consist of layers of sine waves (also known as partials) that combine to create shifting tones and timbres as their relative volume changes over time. The fly in additive's ointment is that a stack of partials (and associated envelopes) large enough to fulfil the theoretical potential is too unwieldy to program and manage, hence its rarity.

The related technique of resynthesis aims to tame these cumbersome complexities by analysing a source sound and creating from it a template or map of sorts that can be used to govern the partials generated by an additive synth engine. But resynthesis never really caught on, either, because in the hardware age, its technical requirements made it very expensive at a time when the cost of samplers - which can easily deliver such realism - was tumbling.

Madrona Labs Sumu, then, is built around an additive engine capable of generating 64 partials per voice, and comes with a companion app, Vutu, that analyses audio to create resynthesis data for loading into the plugin. The synth is modular too, so its different stages can be patched in any way you like. These interconnections carry each partial as a discrete signal, allowing the modules to do their work on a per-partial basis.

Thoughtful interface design and visualisation makes all of this workable. You do not, for instance, have to configure 64 individual envelopes. Rather, Sumu twists a regular ADSR graph into three dimensions, with the Z dimension representing each individual partial. Scaling controls shape the base ADSR values across this Z dimension.

Sumu's modular patching system unlocks a wide vista of sonic possibilities, making it as good at creating deep, solid, percussive bass sounds as it is light, tinkling, evolving pads. The inclusion of Vutu gives Sumu sampler-like capabilities too, allowing patches to be built from audio recordings and snippets. The synth's processing stages are very different to the subtractive architecture of a regular sampler, though, so the creative possibilities are very different too.

There's a distinctly digital flavour to the sound produced by Sumu, but this is richer and smoother than the characteristic coldness of an FM synth, or indeed of other modern additive implementations.

On the downside, with up to eight simultaneous voices each consisting of 64 partials that are, in effect, individually routed and processed, Sumu is exceptionally resource-hungry. Even a powerful machine will struggle to serve up more than a couple of simultaneous instances, so you'll be forever bouncing or freezing your Sumu tracks.

Also, despite clear visualisations, straight-forward controls, and the manual's largely successful efforts to keep things light and approachable, Sumu is inherently complicated, and takes quite some time to get to grips with.

Overall, then, Sumu is a powerful synth with a fulsome sound that delivers an extensive sonic palette that's as distinctive as it is diverse, but if you're looking for an instrument that masks the deeper technicalities of synthesis with a user-friendly interface then Sumu is certainly not for you.

2. MOK Waverazor

The synth engine underlying MOK Waverazor is, perhaps, the most conventional in this roundup: the output of three oscillators (and optional external input) is routed to up to three filters, can be controlled by a wide range of modulators, and can be polished with three effect processors. What makes Waverazor different, and qualifies it for inclusion in this roundup, are its oscillators and user interface.

Conceptually, Waverazor's oscillators are much like any other, producing regular, repeating waveforms to feed to the rest of the synth. However, in Waverazor's case, that waveform can consist of up to 16 segments, each based on any of 162 preset shapes which can be further shaped and distorted via the oscillator's controls. As well as doing a good line in classic synth tones, these oscillators lend the instrument huge potential for creating original and interesting timbres.

Construction of these segmented waveforms is performed in an advanced view where all the synth's other modules and controls are also accessed. The layout of this view is crisp and logical, but with so many modules and options, and few visual cues to help differentiate between them, it is easy to get a bit lost – some module-specific colour-coding and styling would certainly help here!

Conversely, Waverazor's main view is much more approachable and intuitive. Here, Waverazor's plethora of parameters is boiled down into an easy-to-manage collection of nine macro dials, three buttons and two large X/Y pads, each of which can be mapped to up to 16 destination parameters. Additionally, the large central oscilloscope view can also serve as an interactive panel for modifying the oscillator waveform shapes.

Waverazor's voice and character is impressively varied thanks to its clever oscillators and detailed underlying architecture, but it is short a bit of oomph in the lower end of the frequency spectrum and so lacks a certain sonic sumptuousness – nothing that a bit of EQ can't fix, of course.

The synth's generous library of presets can be extensively modified via easy and intuitive controls that are ideal for both sound design and performance, but things become somewhat less intuitive when delving into the advanced view.

3. Native Instruments Reaktor

Native Instruments Reaktor is a deep, complex and powerful environment in which synths, audio processors and other sound-wrangling tools, referred to collectively as 'ensembles', can be created and hosted. (Yes, we know the last significant update to Reaktor was released in 2020, and this is primarily a list of shiny, new synths - but we believe Reaktor still holds up five years on.)

The ability to design custom synths from the ground-up is as unconventional as its possible to get and, for a certain type of nerdy inquisitive mind, can be a hugely satisfying thing to do. Raw synth design isn't everybody's idea of a good time, but this isn't the only reason we've included Reaktor in this roundup – we're also interested in the collection of synth ensembles that it comes with.

There are conventional synths here, such as the basic-yet-satisfying 2-Osc, or the Minimoog-inspired Monark, but many of Reaktor's synths take a more leftfield approach. Some have a familiar appearance but unusual underlying architecture; some are more sonically conventional but feature novel control panels; and some simply defy all explanation (we're looking at you, Gaugear).

If you ever get bored with the bundled synths then hundreds more are available in Native Instruments' Reaktor User Library. Here, alongside some conventional fare, you will find all manner of inventive, experimental and off-the-wall instruments to explore. And, if you are yourself inclined to unleash your inner synth designer, you can upload your own creations to the library so that others can marvel at your genius (or madness!).

Reaktor can also operate as a virtual modular environment into which specially designed ensembles, called Reaktor Blocks, can be loaded and patched together in whatever way you like. This is infinitely more immediate and intuitive than creating a synth from scratch, but still allows your sound design imagination to run wild. It's a lot cheaper than putting together a hardware modular system too!

No matter what you load into it, Reaktor delivers a consistently rich and detailed sound and, given its open-ended nature, its sonic palette and potential for unconventionality is limited only by your imagination.

4. Dawesome Myth

There are loads of synths that use sample-based sound generators, and most of these are happy jumping between basic sample triggering and granular playback, but there are none that come at things in quite the same way as Tracktion's Dawesome Myth.

The synth is based around a pair of 'Iris' sound generators, so called because their circular visualisation looks like the iris of an eye. Dragging or loading a sample into an Iris triggers Myth to analyse that sample, decomposing it into component parts (tonal, noise, transient, etc.) that each has its own colour-coding within the Iris's visualisation.

Below each Iris is a set of 14 "Transformers", these being small draggable discs that influence the sound in different ways. Each has a predictable outcome – adding frequency modulation, making the sound more saw-like or more string-like, and so-on. This masks the deeper synthesis complexities that are happening under the bonnet, thereby allowing you to focus purely on the sound.

The Irises can be crossfaded together or, for a more dramatic result, can be switched to ring modulation mode. Their combined signal is then passed to a series of processing stages, each aimed at a particular purpose: additional oscillators, filters and effects.

Each stage can host multiple modules, chosen from a list of appropriate options, which allows Myth to serve up a whole host of different configurations and architectures. All of this is topped-off with a flexible and easy to manage modulation section for bringing life to the Transformers and modules.

This makes for a very versatile synth that is exceptionally easy to work with, and that delivers beautifully clear and full-bodied timbres. Myth's level of abstraction isn't as far-out as that of Synplant, featured below, but it successfully hides the complexities of its synth engine behind an instinctive and easy to master GUI which lacks nothing in its ability to shape and sculpt sounds. It's a true gem of a synth!

5. Sonic Charge Synplant 2

Although built on familiar two-oscillator subtractive synth foundations, Sonic Charge Synplant's approach to sound design is both unique and, quite literally, organic.

Sounds start life as a seed and, just like an actual seed, this has a genetic makeup that determines the characteristics of whatever will grow from it. The parameters that define a seed's genetics are familiar enough – waveforms, filters, envelopes, cross-modulation, and so-on – but the magic comes from the unfathomable ways in which these parameters influence and impact on each other when the seed grows.

A sound's seed is shown at the centre of Synplant's main view, and is surrounded by a ring divided into 12 segments. Depending on operating mode, these segments can be triggered by base note (I.E. all A notes, all A# notes, all B notes, etc.), a note range, a velocity range, or can simply be a layer within the final sound.

Dragging in a segment causes leafy branches to grow (or recede) within that segment – the longer and leafier the branch, the more the parameters of the seed's gene will interact and evolve, and so the more complex the sound produced by the segment becomes. It's also possible to grow all segments simultaneously. And, just as in real horticulture, if you create a sound that has characteristics you find particularly pleasing, you can capture its evolved DNA as a new seed and then grow new sounds from it.

Synplant also includes Genopatch. This analyses a given snippet of audio and generates from it a selection of seeds that recreate the sample through subtractive synthesis. You can then select one of these seeds as the basis for a new sound, with each seed having the potential to grow into radically different sounds.

It may seem that Synplant's unique approach to synthesis doesn't exactly lend itself to focussed sound design that seeks to create a specific sound. However, if you embrace the concept and, over a few generations, evolve a sound towards what you originally imagined, it's possible to end up with exactly the sound you were looking for without once thinking about frequencies, filters and all the rest of it. There's also a good chance that the sound you evolve will be more interesting than the one you were aiming for, and may itself inspire new musical ideas.

Synplant is by far the most abstract and original synth in this roundup. It sounds amazing, and its concept turns the studio-bound process of sound design into a highly intuitive, fun and relaxing spot of gardening!

SYNTH WEEK 2026: Few soft synths are as legendary as Massive. This is the history of Native Instruments’ evergreen wavetable instrument, from development and release to its rebirth last year as Massive X Player.

Massive. Has there ever been a better-named soft synth? Native Instruments’ bass monster arrived in late 2006, blowing the competition out of the water with its astonishing sound quality, novel use of wavetables, semi-modular structure, powerful modulation options and ease of use. It soon established itself as the instrument for electronic music producers, helping spawn not only dance music genres like dubstep but a glut of copycat wavetable synths of varying quality.

And, almost 20 years later, it remains a high-water mark for soft synths and a blueprint for what a dance music-focused plugin instrument should be.

“Violinists have their Stradivarius, guitarists have their Strats, and producers have Massive,” said user reviewer FarleyCZ on KVR, echoing the thoughts of many, many musicians. Or, as producer Lawrence Hart said succinctly: “Massive does everything I want.”

It’s hard to believe that a piece of software two decades old could still be in such demand when the life-cycle for most is a few years at best. How did Massive come to dominate the music production landscape, and how is it able to maintain its position in a market saturated with similar instruments?

The story begins in Berlin in the mid-2000s with a man named Mike Daliot.

In the 2014 book Presets – Digital Shortcuts to Sound, Massive designer Mike Daliot described his creation as “bass in war mode.” Much like the monster getting away from Dr Frankenstein, Mike’s creation seems to have taken on a life of its own, with its sound inspiring countless records. “I’ve heard tracks where someone took a preset and just added a snare and some chords and that’s all they did,” he said in the book.

Mike, who had previously created the Reaktor instruments Carbon and Vierring, wanted to make a synthesizer capable of generating huge bass and lead sounds. While virtual analogue was still the most popular synthesis style at the time, Daliot turned instead to wavetables, a sample-based approach closely associated with 1980s hardware like the PPG Wave and Waldorf Microwave. However, he took things far beyond what these clunky older instruments were capable of, animating the playhead with modulation and adding an Intensity section to further alter the sound.

“The way Massive could manipulate wavetables in real time was unique for a VST at the time,” explained Frank Elting, Native Instruments' original Project Manager for Massive. “Mike favoured the perspective of a musician rather than that of an engineer, and this philosophy was reflected in the creation of the built-in wavetables.”

Another novel feature for Massive was its self-contained GUI, with most controls confined to a single screen. “Mike and the team designed a remarkably effective single-view interface, which was just as important as the sound in driving Massive’s success,” said Frank. “That simplicity helped make it accessible, especially for young producers starting out. In fact, the single-view layout became so influential that it was later adopted by many other synthesizers.”

While it may sound surprising today, sales of Massive were slow at first. This was due to the team’s decision to prioritise sound quality over CPU efficiency. “The initial reaction wasn’t as overwhelming as Massive’s long-term success might suggest,” said Frank. “At launch, Massive was very demanding on CPUs, and it took time for producers to fully appreciate its sound quality and usability.”

Rather than immediate adoption, the music producers gradually found their way to the instrument as processing power improved. “As computers became more powerful, Massive gained wider recognition and ultimately established itself as a genre-defining instrument,” said Frank.

Although slow out of the gate, Massive soon became the instrument that everyone wanted. Much of this came through word of mouth, with producers hyping the synth’s power and sound quality to each other. “I was having a conversation with someone, I think it might have been George Fitzgerald, and I was talking about how certain people get certain sounds and he was like, oh, that's just Massive,” said Lawrence.

Reviews of the time praised it for its astonishing depth of sound, which was achieved by employing high sample rates not only in sound generation, but for modulation, another area where the instrument broke new ground. Drag-and-drop modulation assignment, as well as the sheer variety of modulation possibilities, played a big part in the wildness of the sounds that you could make with it, controlling not only filters and amplitude but the wavetables themselves.

Native Instruments designed Massive for bass duties, and that’s exactly how most people used it, cranking out earth-quaking bass and ever-more wild wobbles. Arriving just when a new generation of producers was coming online, it became the instrument to have, and was soon popping up in tracks across genres, from the deepest underground dubstep to the chart-topping EDM.

Producer Lawrence Hart, who crafts gorgeously melodic, UK garage-inflected tracks, may have a studio full of analogue synths from Moog and Roland, but when it comes to bass, his go-to is Massive. “I use the Moog One quite a lot for pads and poly synth parts but generally for Massive, I just use that for basses,” Hart said. “It's rare I ever use an analogue synth for bass these days.”

Continuing, he added: “I used to use the SH-101 quite a bit for bass and the Moog Subsequent 32 and different things like that, and I just found that the subs were so much more consistent on Massive. I was listening to other people's records and thinking, I want my basslines to hit like that. And as soon as I started using Massive, I was like: 'oh, this is the sound I've been wanting.'”

Lawrence’s experience is probably like many musicians, who found that Massive gave them consistent power in the low end.

“With Massive, you can have three oscillators on top of each other, slightly detuned, and that should be out of control (with) phase cancellation, but with Massive you still seem to be able to have quite a consistent sub with that.”

“I assume Lawrence is referring to the Restart Via Gate option on the oscillator page, which ensures a consistent and reproducible phase relationship between the oscillators for each note,” answered Frank Elting when asked about why this might be the case. “The setting is another example of Mike’s attention to detail and experience as a sound designer. It makes a noticeable difference if you’re aiming for a stable, predictable sound.”

Lawrence also likes how the LFOs are easy to use. “The fact that you can map LFOs to pretty much anything in there means quite quickly you can get these evolving sounds,” he said. “I make a lot of bassline-influenced music with wobbly rhythmic basses. Massive is great for that because you can put a synced LFO on an out-of-time LFO. You can have your LFO start to slow down or whatever it might be, and that's architecture that you don't really have on much else, really.”

Although Massive is a wavetable synth, Lawrence finds that it sounds very ‘analogue’ in a way that appeals to his love for hardware synthesizers. “I think there's a warmth to it that I don't hear as much in [other wavetable synths like Serum],” he said. “They sound very modern and very cutting but there's still this analogue sound to Massive.”

When asked about this, Frank answered, “I don’t think making Massive sound analogue was an explicit goal. The ‘analogue’ association, in my opinion, comes from the unison features, the musical modulation system, and the multiple drive stages. These aren’t necessarily modelled after analogue gear, but they contribute to an analogue-like sonic character. Interestingly, the first version didn’t even include virtual analogue oscillator modes.”

Twenty years is a long time. For music production software, it’s an eternity, so it was inevitable that something else would come along to challenge Massive’s bass hegemony. That something arrived in 2014 with the name Serum, another wavetable synthesizer with a single-screen UI and similar feature set. As Lawrence mentioned, Serum (and other modern wavetable challengers) tend to have a cleaner sound than Massive, one that found favour with modern dance music producers.

“Native Instruments’ Massive might have been the synth that made wavetable synthesis the de facto approach for modern electronic music, but Steve Duda’s Serum took Massive’s blueprint and ran with it, becoming the go-to for producers of EDM and bass music,” Our own Ben Rogerson said in MusicRadar’s guide to the best synth plugins.

Native Instruments’ groundbreaking instrument faced further competition from Arturia’s Pigments, which borrowed Massive’s influential modulation animations while adding additional synthesis engines, something that Serum has also done in its second iteration.

Released in 2019, Kilohearts’ Phase Plant also built on Massive’s semi-modular architecture, an instrument that confidently handles Massive-style bass sounds while providing a broader array of synthesis options.

In 2019, Native Instrument released Massive’s successor Massive X. While a solid instrument with even-better sound quality, flexible routing, new oscillator modes and an advanced modulation system, it failed to make the same kind of impression on the public as its predecessor.

Unlike last year's Serum 2, which is an upgrade rather than a sequel, Native Instruments released Massive X as a follow-up, effectively trying to capture lightning in a bottle a second time. It didn’t.

In our 2019 review, we called it “a hugely characterful, immensely powerful synth with a number of issues, some of which feel like the result of a rushed release.” Some of the issues mentioned include one less oscillator and the baffling disappearance of modulation animation, something now de rigueur in most modern soft synths.

To be fair, the antipathy directed at X does feel unwarranted. It’s an excellent instrument in its own right. You can’t help but feel that if Massive X had been released under a different name - something not saddled with all of the expectations from the first - it might have developed more of a fan base.

Native Instruments seems keen to address this, recently giving X some new features such as the Play tab with a Morpher and an Animator, and also gifting the music-making community with Massive X Player, a free version of the instrument.

“Massive X is very powerful in its capabilities but it can feel a bit intimidating with its love for detail and its flexibility,” Tobias Fricke, Lead Product Manager at NI, explained. “We were looking for ways to make the instrument more accessible to our users and offer something different than what you can find in other synths.”

This is not just a one-time drop but part of a larger effort to boost the profile of X with some much-needed updates. “We are dedicated to building on Massive X,” said Tobias, “and are currently working on the next free update that will include the long overdue addition of automation of all parameters – currently only macros are exposed to the DAW – plus some improvements to the Play tab.”

Twenty years on, Massive’s position as an electronic music production powerhouse remains unchanged. From its humble Reaktor instrument beginnings to its CPU-gnashing debut, through the twists and turns of the Massive X sequel release and redemptive 2025 comeback, it remains a formidably powerful force for bass.

“Massive makes basslines that are so big and impactful and interesting and intriguing and weird that it allows (for) whole genres of music,” summed up Lawrence Hart. “It’s pretty iconic in that sense.”

SYNTH WEEK 2026: Why search for the ultimate soft synth when the very DAW in front of you might well include everything you need? It's time to dig into your DAW to find its hidden gems, because the synth sounds you need could be just a mouse-click away…

There’s no doubting that the software synthesizer market is huge, almost ridiculously so. From the vast range of solid freeware titles to those high-end professional instruments and collections that could set you back well into four figures.

Soft synths also give you the bulk of the sonic power that hardware synths can muster (and often much more) at a much lower price. Yes, analogue synths might get you another 2% of vintage reality, but why spend a fortune on a hefty physical unit when a cheap plugin will literally ‘plug-in’ to your studio setup and workflow immediately, smoothly and quickly, and do most of the heavy lifting, without, well, any actual heavy lifting.

However, there is a category of soft synth that often gets overlooked. You might already own at least one and not be aware of its potential - you probably actually own a lot more.

Best of all, they’re kind of free. We’re not talking about second-rate freeware here. These are the real deal; proper plugins for proper synthesis.

We’re talking, of course, about those free synths that come bundled with your DAW. These are the ones that have been put together by the pros to tempt you into spending a decent wedge of cash on a complete software studio system for music creation.

These synths are often the flagship USP of DAW point updates, so they must be good, right?

In the main, yes - they really are good. But they’re often maligned as, when you open your DAW you’re spoiled for choice by the workstation’s other features and its myriad of compositional and effect options.

When you're scrolling through your favourite third-party synths to assign to a track, those default synths are sometimes not considered at all. They're left, festering on your hard drive like dusty, forgotten toys from your childhood.

So, as it's Synth Week here at MusicRadar, we’re here to remind you of just how good those stock options can be; and which of the many DAW freebies are worth booting up again.

So without further ado, let’s count down the best synths in your DAW you need to use more.

1. Drift (Ableton Live)

A more recent synth to kick-off with, Drift was actually introduced to Ableton Live around three years ago in the 11.3 update. Greeted by some as just another 2-oscillator subtractive synth, it enjoys a few extras that take it away from this unfair comparison and also away from Analog, Drift’s more popular and famous older sibling.

One of Drift’s big plusses is its MPE compatibility, meaning that you can twist its sounds into something more unusual with extra performance dimensions, like those found on ROLI’s 5D and Expressive E’s Osmose keyboards, plus many other controllers from the likes the Roger Linn (Linnstrument) and Ableton’s own Push.

That said, Ableton’s Analog also introduced MPE at the same time so really we have to look at the synth’s workflow to find its more attractive qualities and this is where we start to majorly ‘drift’ away from any comparisons.

In short Drift has pretty much everything right there for you, all the common controls you need and simple drop-down menus to access deeper tailoring options.

You can easily route oscillators through the filter or miss it out completely, add tuning variations between those core ingredients, introduce keyboard tracking to change filter characteristics according to the note you play and, this is where it gets really good, drop in some modulation quicker than possibly any other synth out there.

Drift's icing on the cake comes from the parameter of the same name, introducing drift between oscillators for more vintage swirls and character or subtle stereo effects just by playing with two parameters - or you can go completely mad in Unison mode for extra detuning and conjuring massive pads.

It’s easy, fun, all there in front of you, and best of all, Drift is available in all versions of Live, from the cheapest Intro version (€79) upwards.

For more on how to get to grips with Drift, check out our hands-on guide to navigating its intricacies here

2. Europa (Reason)

Yes we could (and many will say should) have included Reason’s Thor in this list (and by mentioning it in this sentence, I guess we kind of have), but while Thor was an absolute beast on release, it has been (arguably) superseded by other big, bold and massive synths since. Europa takes our ‘hidden gem’ award, then, simply because it strays away from the norm more than Thor.

Introduced in Reason 10, Europa is a three oscillator 'shapeshifting' wavetable synth that also does good strings thanks to an included modelling algorithm. It is capable of a lot more weirdness, hence the shapeshifting name, by way of Spectral Filter and Harmonics modules which allow more extreme and partial processing of your sources.

Add in effects and an easy modulation matrix and you might even forgive the slightly dated UI, because this really is a synth to dive into, rewarding any time you spend with it.

Like many of the synths here, you can't get it unless you get the DAW, but Reason is also available as a rack, which means that you can pick up all of its instruments and effects to use as a plugin minus the DAW stuff, for £199 (as opposed to £299 for the DAW).

Read our original 2018 review of Europa here

3. Alchemy (Logic)

Logic has one of (if not the best) libraries of instruments, effects and sounds. Apple has made it this way in order to shift hardware, after all. Stalwarts of this collection include the ancient-looking ES synths, which still pack a decent punch but look like they've turned up at your DAW by way of a Charles Dickens short story.

Alchemy, on the other hand, is modern (ish), punchy, clean and easy on both the eye and ear. In fact it's as good as any third-party synth plugin, pretty much because it was a very good third-party synth plugin before its incorporation into the Logic suite back in 2015 for version X.

Before this, Alchemy existed as an incredibly well-regarded synth from Camel Audio, but its insertion into Logic has certainly helped shift a few copies of the DAW and resulted in many a song being created within it.

It's not so much that Alchemy sounds that different, although with its mix of additive, granular and spectral synthesis, it certainly can if you wish it to, it's more that you can choose to interact with it on a very simple level to twist sounds into your own in no time at all.

In fact, it's one of those synths where you're almost embarrassed to call the results of a couple of preset tweaks your own. But you still do as, come on, no-one knows you just tweaked the Frequency dial, do they?

We won't tell anyone.

Check out our ultimate guide to getting the best out of Alchemy here

4. 3x Osc (FL Studio)

Many hardware synths are so old we call them 'vintage’, and quite right too, but software, by its very nature, never tends to get that label, even though some soft synths have been around since the dawn of time. Ok, the outset of the 21st century. One that quite literally ticks that box, and even has 'since 2000' proudly written on itself, is 3x Osc, one of FL Studio's standout plugins.

Whether it's pronounced 'Three Ex Osc' or 'Three times oscillator' or any variation/combination of those is up for debate, but what isn't is the fact that this thing can do pretty much anything, despite being one of the most basic looking synths out there.

Thanks to an easy tab interface that allows a lot of simple envelope editing, you can literally shape your sound, with just enough modulation flexibility to lift it away from standard subtractive fare.

Yes there are better synths (it is a quarter of a century old, after all) but 3x Osc is one of those plugins where you can quite easily master it and do everything you need with it, or transfer a lot of that knowledge across to other plugins.

Basically, 'start here' and maybe 'stay here', but definitely 'come here and use me'.

5. Padshop 2 (Cubase)

We could have gone for the 'definitely a synth' option of Retrologue here, but as good as that is, it's just another VA style synth of which we have plenty of already.

No, instead we're opting for Padshop 2, a synth that crosses so much into sampler territory that we might even be breaking our own rules by including it.

Never mind though, software instruments tend to challenge definitions these days, and to be honest, if it has synth features, it's a synth, so there.

And what features. Simply drag in a sample, apply the on-board grain oscillator and you'll start shifting your core sound into, well, pretty much any atmosphere, drone and sound effect you can imagine.

You might not be able to aim for a specific sound, but you'll have a lot of fun along the way if you do, even if you don't end up with what you intended. This is out-there, wild and, well, droney.

Use your retro synths for anything analogue, and this for all the atmospheric backdrops and experimental textures you could ever need.

SYNTH WEEK 2026: “You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar…” is easily one of the most recognisable opening lines in pop, oft-heard at karaoke bars and wedding parties the world over. The hit 1981 single, Don’t You Want Me by the Human League undoubtedly had mass appeal. But, beyond its success, it holds a considerable number of important accolades.

Firstly, it was the first song to exclusively use a drum machine to make it to No.1 in the UK single chart. Released as part of the album Dare, the album initially employed analogue synthesizers to recreate drum sounds, as was then the norm.

During this process, the studio where the League were working took delivery of one of the first Linn LM-1 drum machines in the country, significantly changing direction for the album and forcing the removal of all synthetic facsimiles, replacing them with the more convincing samples from the LM-1.

“Our music was so simple: we’d all laugh when [keys player] Adrian Wright moved just one finger on the synthesizer and it sounded great,” lead singer and co-writer Phil Oakey told The Guardian.

Released on November 27th 1981, Don't You Want Me sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK, followed by enormous successes in the US a few months later. The success of the song was solely responsible for saving Richard Branson’s Virgin record label from bankruptcy.

Branson was so grateful to the League, that he bought Oakey a motorbike, as a way of saying thank you.

Not a bad result for a song that Oakey witheringly described as the band’s ‘Des O’Connor moment’, due its enormous popularity. (Des O’Connor was a UK celebrity, singer and light entertainer).

Although not a fan at first, we're sure that Oakey warmed up to it once the royalties flowed.

As for the motorbike, Oakey couldn't ride, so he returned the bike to Branson.

“The key to that song is that we didn't spoil it, I think,” Oakey told website Culture Brats in 2011. “With most songs you think of a couple of nice tunes and some words and then you start working and you work until they're not very good. We happened to stop before, stop while it was still all right. It's a pretty simple sort of a song. It just does its job and then it gets out of the way and leaves people wanting to play it again.”

The Human League were at the vanguard of what some in the press called the ‘second British Invasion’, among a host of other synth-based British bands infiltrating America and beyond.

Under the watchful eye of producer Martin Rushent (appointed by Virgin and not the band) the album Dare was equally successful, both critically and in terms of sales. The album relied upon cutting-edge 80s music technology, including the Roland MC-8 sequencer, System 700 and Jupiter 4 synthesizers, all of which were heavily used in the creation of the song’s sounds.

We're here today to try and replicate the central iconic riff, which offers a little more complexity than you might notice at first hearing.

Step 1 - The Synth

The sound we are going to recreate was likely crafted using the legendary Roland System 700. As these systems are less available than a set of hen’s teeth, we are going to rely exclusively on software.

In order to accurately create the first element of our sound, we’ll need a soft synth which offers two oscillators, with the ability to tune one of these.

There are many Roland-inspired synths that will do an admirable job, as will most DAW-based synths which offer a subtractive architecture, but we are going to use Cherry Audio’s Miniverse synth; being based on the Minimoog, it offers some useful flexibility.

Set up the first synth on a track of your DAW, and let’s get programming!

Step 2 - VCO Pitch

Firstly, initialise a patch, so that we start from a default setting. We are going to use Oscillator 1 and 2; we want to re-create the slightly reedy sound that we can hear on the track.

Beginning with Oscillator 1, select the wide rectangle shape via the Waveform selection pot. If you are working with a different synth, you can select a square/pulse, and slightly modulate the wave using manual PWM. Set the range to 8’, then duplicate these settings on Oscillator 2.

Step 3 - VCO 2 Pitch

If you listen really carefully to the opening riff on the track, you can hear that there is a part playing a perfect 5th higher than the bass part - actually it’s an octave and a 5th, but you get the gist!

We can re-create this by revisiting Oscillator 2, and adjusting the variable pitch pot to a value of ‘7’. This translates as 7 semitones higher, which is the same as a perfect 5th.

Step 4 - Mixer

We need to adjust the balance of the two oscillators, which we do from the Mixer section.

Ensure that both oscillators are switched to ‘On’, then adjust the volume of each, so that Oscillator 2 is a little bit louder than Oscillator 1. Make sure that all other mixer elements are switched to ‘Off’

Step 5 - Filter

Next, we turn to the Filter section, where we need to engineer some brightness, with the help of the filter envelope.

Replicate our settings across the filter, which includes adjusting the Amount Of Contour pot, to provide brightness at the front of each note. Notice that as we adjust the envelope settings, we have engineered a slight swell, using the Attack Time pot. There is also no resonance (aka Filter Emphasis) employed in this sound.

Step 6 - Loudness Contour

The volume or amplitude of our sound, is handled by the Loudness Contour section, which is Moog’s language for amplitude envelope.

Once again, we’ll use relatively short timings here. As the notes being played are quite short, the level of sustain remains high, to maximise the volume potential.

Step 7 - LFO

You may have already noticed that this sound does not feel overtly bass-like, but we will be addressing this shortly, with the addition of a second sonic element. However, there is one tiny subtlety in the sound, which we should engineer.

If you listen really closely, you can hear a tiny bit of modulation in the pitch. In order to achieve this using Miniverse (or many other Minimoog soft-synths) we have to employ Oscillator 3 as an LFO.

Visit the Oscillator 3 section, and ensure that the range is set to ‘Lo’. We also need to select the triangle wave, and we can adjust the frequency to suit our track - not too fast!

The easiest way to apply a small amount of modulation here, is by nudging the modulation wheel slightly, so that you get a tiny amount of pitch modulation. It's subtle, but it will make a difference!

Step 8 - Bass

Having addressed what we could call the upper sound element, we are now going to re-create the bass element. The easiest way to do this is to employ another track, and use another instance of synth.

This will also mean that the LFO modulation, applied in the last step, will not apply to the bass part, which is exceptionally helpful.

Step 9 - VCO 1

Compared to our previous sound, this is nice and simple. Start by initialising a patch. All we want is a basic square wave, generated by Oscillator 1, set to a healthy volume. Ensure that all other elements within the mixer section are switched off.

As this is our ‘true’ bass part, we want to set the range to ’16’, which will be one octave below our previously created sound.

Step 10 - Filter and Env

The filter and envelope settings are incredibly similar to the ones used in our last patch, so set up the filter and envelope sections, to create a nice snappy bass sound. Our screengrab below will guide you here, if you can't quite remember what we did before.

Step 11 - The Riff

Now it's time to record the riff, or more appropriately, try creating something of your own, but with the flavour of Don’t You Want Me.

A top tip is to work within a minor pentatonic key, which should sound great with the 5ths in the upper sound.

Once you have recorded your track for the upper sound, and you are completely happy with your playing and level of quantise, copy and paste the track onto the lower bass sound, and the same riff should play one octave below. You can also pay attention to the balance between the two sounds/tracks, so that it suits your production.

So there you have it - instant ‘cocktail bar’ vibes, without the need to spend thousands on a Roland System 700!

Cherry Audio: Get up to 60% off classic synth plugins all through May

Cherry Audio is celebrating Synth Week 2026 with significant discounts on its top virtual synthesizer and effects plugins.

Now you can get 44% off premiere plugins like the Mercury-8, Trident Mk III, GX-80, Rhodes Chroma, and P-10 synthesizers, each priced at just $39.

Additionally, the entire Rackmode Signal Processors effects bundle is available for an unprecedented 60% off, also for just $39.

Don't delay. Don't miss out. The Cherry Audio Blockbuster Sale, must end June 1!

Read More>>

KV331: Audio: It's the last week of the SynthMaster 50% off spring sale!

Right now, KV331 Audio is running their annual Spring Sale on their desktop software and preset banks. You can grab the following products with huge discounts…

But that sale has to end on May 1.

SynthMaster 3 is KV331 Audio’s flagship modular synthesizer, combining multiple synthesis engines in a powerful all-in-one instrument. It includes 3,200 presets, with over 60 additional expansion banks available for just $7 each at synthmaster.com

Now just $49 – that's 50% off.

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Moog Messenger: One year with the new monosynth

Launched at Superbooth 2025, the Moog Messenger drew immediate attention as one of Moog’s most unexpected modern releases. With a new form factor and a lower price than recent Moog keyboards, its cryptic, symbol‑driven campaign prompted the obvious questions: What is this—and what does it mean for Moog?

One year later, Messenger has more than justified the buzz. It marks an evolution of widening access without losing the unmistakable Moog voice. Here’s what real‑world use and reviews have confirmed.

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Novation: The Story of the Bass Station

Let's celebrate the Novation Bass Station, the humble, bass-focused mini synth… That turned out to be so much more.

The diminutive and distinctive synth was introduced by Novation in 1993, being their second ever hardware product, and 33 years later it's still raising the roof.

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Sequential: "It’s amazing to have a pro, vintage sound in such a small package!" Fourm isn’t trying to be everything. And that's kind of the point

In a market saturated with ever larger feature sets and increasingly complex workflows,  Sequential’s Fourm – perhaps their most accessible synthesizer to date – takes a more deliberate path.

That's because Fourm's design focuses on essentials. Size, polyphony, and signal path are used intentionally, allowing more musicians to experience a premium Sequential instrument without sacrificing tone, build quality, or playability. 

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SOMA Labs: Put gestures in… Get music out… Meet FLUX: The incredible, intuitive instrument that you play without touching it

We all know that making music is like magic. But SOMA Labs FLUX – the instrument that plays without touch – is elevating that entire notion to the max.

FLUX is a high-end synthesizer inspired by the classic Theremin – the original no-touch-required spooky-sounding synth that was invented way back in 1920, becoming the world's first source of synthetic sound – but one which takes the Theremin's principles and simplicity and creates it's own brand-new way to make complex music with speed and ease.

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u-he: Zebra 3 is here!

It’s been a long road, and Zebra 3 is finally here! Built on decades of experience gained from developing Zebra 2 but surpassing it in every way, Zebra 3 is packed with powerful new modules that take advantage of Zebra's renowned workflow.

Read More>>

SUPERBOOTH 2026: German developer Making Sound Machines has announced Plinky 12, a trio of touch-focused instruments with swappable faceplates, each of which makes use of the same core hardware design and a shared synth engine.

Plinky 12 is, essentially, a single instrument, although its interchangeable panels allow it to function in a multitude of different ways. According to its developer, this concept means that “it can become different instruments built for different kinds of musical thinking”.

Each iteration of Plinky 12 will be available as a fully assembled distinct instrument, but additional panels will be available to purchase separately, allowing owners to expand the capabilities of the unit.

The Plinky 12 series is an evolution of the original Plinky, an open-source touch-sensitive polysynth that is available in both DIY and fully assembled forms.

Beneath the faceplate, each Plinky 12 unit is built around the same 12-inch by 12-inch hardware, based on a RP2350 microcontroller CPU and equipped with MIDI and CV I/O, as well as a stereo unbalanced audio input and output and USB connectivity.

The hardware interface consists of a 16x16 grid of touch capacitive buttons, the functionality of which is dictated by the attached faceplate. Each of the three variations in the initial range is created by a different designer and allows users to interact with the machine in a unique way.

Chords is designed by Making Sound Machines itself, and is described as a ‘harmonic inspiration machine’. The layout is intended to aid improvisation around melodic and harmonic patterns, with expressive control over chord voicing and progressions.

Toadstep is a sequencer layout created in collaboration with Eurorack developer Toadstool Tech, known for its Ectocore sampling module. The Toadstep turns the Plinky 12 interface into a 4-track sequencer designed for performing with acid-style synth riffs and generative melodies.

Blocks is the most open and adaptable of the three configurations. It’s designed by mmalex, who is one of the developers behind Making Sound Machines and designer of the original Plinky synth. It uses a monome-compatible grid for touch-controlled synthesis, based on the original Plinky concept. A browser-based code editor will also be launched alongside the Plinky 12, allowing users to create their own custom grid controllers.

In all cases, Plinky 12 makes use of the same sample-based polyphonic synth engine, which the developer says can ‘turn samples from simple sounds into frozen wavetables’. According to Making Music Machines, “since synth presets, system settings and certain control styles like LFOs and envelopes are shared across panels, once you learn one panel, the others already start to make sense.”

In the demo videos – above – it sounds appropriately bright and percussive, befitting of its onomatopoeic name.

The interchangeable faceplates can be swapped using a screwdriver. The Plinky hardware will automatically adjust to any new faceplate, adapting the software without the need to change the firmware.

There’s no definitive word as yet on a release date or price, but the Plinky 12 will be on display at Superbooth next month, and Making Sound Machines promises the instruments will have a price that is “as competitive as we can make it.”

Head to the official website for more information and to sign up for updates.

Moog has unveiled a limited-edition version of its Minimoog Model D reissue, the Bob Moog Tribute Edition, of which only 500 units will be available worldwide.

Honouring the legacy of Bob Moog and celebrating "the technology and imagination of electronic musical instrument design", the Bob Moog Tribute Edition will be hand-built by the Moog Music team in North Carolina.

Functionally, the Tribute Edition is the same synth as Moog's 2022 reissue of the Minimoog Model D, combining a meticulous all-analogue recreation of the sound engine and signal path of the original '70s instrument with a handful of modern enhancements.

These updates include comprehensive MIDI support, an analogue LFO with triangle and square waveforms, a self-centering spring-loaded pitch wheel and a Fatar keybed with velocity and aftertouch accessible via top-panel CV ports.

There's also a neat mixer modification that allows you to dial in the same feedback-based overdrive that '70s synthesists achieved by routing the synth's output into its external input, giving you that classic warm and distorted tone with the twist of a knob.

What's new, then? The differences are purely aesthetic: the Bob Moog Tribute Edition arrives in a custom quartersawn white oak cabinet (the 2022 reissue was bedecked in Appalachian cherry wood) and you'll find a custom Bob Moog Foundation decal on the rear panel. The synth also comes with a semi-rigid case custom-built for the Model D.

It may be a three-oscillator monosynth with few bells and whistles, but the Model D is a foundational piece of musical history, a synth that's regularly been described as the greatest of all time.

If all you're after is a respectable imitation of a Model D's sound, then there are more affordable options available in both hardware and software. If you're after the real deal, though – or as close as you're going to get without tangling with the maintenance headaches of a vintage Model D – then these modernized reissues deliver that unmistakable Moog sound while making your life a whole lot easier.

And while the Bob Moog Tribute Edition's aesthetic tweaks are relatively minor, the bragging rights associated with its limited-edition status might well be priceless to the diehard collectors amongst you. Plus, $500 from the sale of each synth will be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation, so you'll get a side order of good karma too.

The Bob Moog Tribute Edition Minimoog Model D is priced at $3,999.

Find out more on the Moog Music website.

What is it?

Elektron's music machines are not always obvious devices, marrying synths, drum machines, grooveboxes and sampling together in pretty much whichever way you wish, focusing on everything from dynamic processing (Analogue Heat + FX) to grooves (Model:Cycles), analogue drums (Analog Rytm MkII) to analogue synths (Analog Four MkII).

Tonverk is the company's latest and most-anticipated music box, a polyphonic sampler, sequencer, granular machine, audio interface and effects processor all-in-one. You might be thinking 'sampling groovebox' and you wouldn't be too far off, but there's a not-so-hidden depth to this machine that takes it up a few levels as a sound design tool, with a character that can evolve, twist and shout more than most.

It's dirty, fun, and importantly to us, straightforward to grasp. We've not always enjoyed – sometimes endured – the Elektron user experience, having owned and used many a device over the last three decades. But this time around, Tonverk's larger form factor, extra keyboard and effects give it an edge over other Elektron devices, so while we came for some dirty beats, we went away with a lot more, including a new-found respect for this particular 'sound factory'.

Performance

There's a lot to get across with Tonverk and inevitably we're not going to be able to cover everything here. The modulation alone is worth its own chapter, as is an extraordinary set of sequencing and dynamic features, but focusing on Tonverk's tracks, new effects and architecture – basically how to make a tune – will give you a flavour of what it is capable of.

Tonverk has a total of 16 tracks. The first eight are audio, each with eight voices of polyphony. Tracks 9 to 12 are bus tracks, with tracks 13 to 15 acting as effect sends and track 16 the overall mix. All tracks can also be used as standard MIDI tracks for use with external gear.

Typically Tonverk works by layering up the audio tracks with either preset samples (from a supplied 64GB SD card) or your own. Select a track by holding the Track button – top-left above the very welcome mini keyboard – and one of the first eight track buttons along the bottom. Then you select a 'Source Machine' from the Setup options for the chosen audio track. These determine how the audio is played back and, at the time of writing – they can and have been expanded with system updates – include five options.

Single Player is an eight-voice polyphonic single sample player where the audio is mapped across the keyboard. Multiplayer mode acts like a multisample or soundfont player, able to load in more detailed, velocity-layered sample setups. Subtracks are a huge addition as they are like kits of sounds, up to eight together per track, split across the keyboard.

Think of Subtracks as tracks within tracks, with Tonverk able to play up to 64 sounds simultaneously across its eight tracks, with each block of eight able to access a very comprehensive effects section. However you think of them, they are a big Tonverk highlight, especially given that each Subtrack has its own two filters, an envelope and modulation.

Finally, in addition to the aforementioned MIDI tracks, the last of the Source Machines is the all-new Grainer, Elektron's first granular engine, so an important update that gives Tonverk a lot of its sonic bite, smashing, as it does, a sample into manipulatable grains.

Effect madness

Tonverk's other effects are, quite simply, stunning. You get two insert effects per audio track plus three send effects, with around a dozen types to choose from. These include the usual Elektron compressor, reverb, delay and chorus, plus all-new mostly filter and lo-fi style effects like Degrader, which should be heard to be believed. Its eight assigned parameters can truly smash a sound to pieces which, along with others like Chrono Pitch, prove that Tonverk, while clean if you want it to be, excels at proper filth with some outstanding, dirty options.

You can easily layer two of these effects per audio track, with the flexibility to add up to three more via send effects, found by dialling up each of tracks 13 to 15, and with the level of each adjusted via the main FX page. Tracks 9 to 12, meanwhile, offer four bus tracks for setting up even more flexible routing – like you think you must be needing it at this point – as each also has two more insert effect slots.

All of the main parameters within Tonverk's effects have been mapped to the eight function dials on the top-right of Tonverk, which change function according to what mode you are in, so it's dead simple to tweak each one, and you can quickly set up very complex layered insert and send effects right across your song or parts of it.

Layering more icing onto an already sweet cake, you can also add an Effects Machine to the overall mix of a pattern by selecting track 16 and hitting Func>FX to select – it's basically an effect to add to the entire track. While we're on Track 16, the Mix track, here you can also set your mixer up, adjusting settings across the audio tracks, and also those for Tonverk's two audio inputs.

You can get an overview of Tonverk's potentially complex routing setup by hitting the Shift and Routing/Mute button which offers a simpler view of your setup and allows you to set up the routing for everything. Here, for example, you can set the audio destinations for multiple tracks to the main Mix, four busses or direct out, and you can even send the audio from one of the three send effects to an external effects box, and route the effected signal back into Tonverk's input, which obviously opens the box up to processing with a mountain of external modular or other studio gear.

Other features worth noting are that each track has a sequencer, and effects can be (quite) easily automated to create incredibly moving and dynamic sequences; set sequencer steps, for example, to route to certain effects and levels. You can also control effects in real time using hands-on performance options like freeze and stutter via the function knobs to liven up any live performance.

Sequencing is often where we used to fall down with some Elektrons – here you get Projects with up to 16 songs, each with up to 128 patterns for the 16 tracks. You might struggle with some of the terminology, with sequencing rows and suchlike, but seasoned Elektron users will be at home, and it's probably (OK, likely) more logical than our brain realises. Certainly the recording options – step and real-time plus Grid recording to add trigs – fulfil those composition requirements, and the real-time editing options are endless.

Add in that modulation we mentioned, including a filter, two LFOs per track, effects bus and mix plus a modulation envelope per voice, and you have an almost overwhelming number of options – Tonverk really is just on the right side of 'doing too much'. Yes, some processes can seem convoluted on occasion – mostly because there are just so many options – but it is by no means as complex as it could be for such a flexible beast.

We should also touch on the sampling – this is a sampler at heart, after all – and here you can load in samples from an extensive and high-quality Elektron library (from the SD card). There are 80 multisampled synths here, for example, plus kits, basses, single samples and projects.

Sampling yourself is easy. We touched on how you can route to external hardware earlier, but standard sampling includes an Auto Sampler that makes creating multisamples easy. Select audio via USB or physical inputs, set a number of velocity layers and notes, record and Tonverk maps and layers for you. Finally, an on-board arpeggiator and chord mode add even more creative possibilities should you tire of the rest of the machine's extensive features (you won't).

Verdict

Tonverk has certainly opened our eyes up to 'the Elektron way'. While it follows a similar Elektron path to other Elektron devices, it gels better as a product to us, possibly because its larger format makes everything more approachable. The point of the machine also seems more obvious and a happy compromise between what we expect a device to do while keeping some of Elektron's rather exclusive clubby feel – basically, we've been invited to the VIP area of a bar and are actually enjoying it.

Tonverk, then, is a bit of a triumph to our eyes and ears. We're not surprised that it is so deep – Elektron will always prioritise flexibility and sonic mayhem, while rewarding your time spent diving in – but the fact that we actually get the message and can use it is the real joy.

With an emphasis on the dirtier side of music production – the Grainer machine alone here will suffice – and with a range of effects and routing flexibility that can back this up in any situation, Tonverk has surpassed our expectations in many ways. We started out wanting a box to add some filthy beats to some way-too-nice tracks we've been working on, but ended up pretty much getting this particular sound factory to supply most of the actual tracks.

Tonverk isn't cheap but a) it does cost less than two of our alternatives and b) it's not 2024 anymore. Yes, it's not quite as mobile as it could be, and there are maybe one or two extra button pushes over what we'd like, but if you want in-your-face electronic music productions, Tonverk has the flexibility to be whatever you want it to be, and is easily one of the most inspirational and accessible Elektrons we've used.

Hands-on demos

Elektron

Alternatives

Specifications