From the newly rebranded, Sequential, is the OB-6 Desktop, a revolutionary collaboration from two of the most iconic synthesizer pioneers, Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim. The sound engine is inspired by Tom Oberheims's original SEM, the core of many of his revered synthesizers. Features many d. Rackmount Synths For Sale on Reverb. Taking the power of a traditional synthesizer and placing it into a much more versatile format, rackmount synths are one of the most versatile options in sculpting a unique synth sound. Losing the keys allows easier mix-and-matching.
2018 saw a raft of updates and new releases, from emulations of vintage gear to new and totally unique soft synthesizers. There's never been a better time to make music with virtual synths.
iZotope Vocalsynth 2
Not only is VocalSynth 2 a creative tool for vocalists, but it also offers the opportunity to process all kinds of instruments and audio material through the flexible chaining architecture. A multitude of controls and sonic surprises await you within iZotope’s clean and user-friendly design interface.
The BioVox, Vocoder, Compuvox and Talkbox Voice Modules all expand to reveal advanced sound sculpting tools, including two oscillators with 5 waveshape options, pitch shifters, multiple modulation knobs, filter, LFO and pan. In order to use multiple voice modules, it’s important to have access to these controls for blending, filtering and matching waveforms if need be. We’ve gone over the Vowel Shaper in the BioVox section, but also worth noting is the ‘Bands’ control in the Vocoder section. Here you can adjust the Vol and the Pan of the Vocoder Bands to bring out or cut certain frequencies and also spread the frequencies of the Vocoder across the stereo spectrum. it's a powerful tool not only for voice processing but all kinds of other sounds too.
The BioVox, Vocoder, Compuvox and Talkbox Voice Modules all expand to reveal advanced sound sculpting tools, including two oscillators with 5 waveshape options, pitch shifters, multiple modulation knobs, filter, LFO and pan. In order to use multiple voice modules, it’s important to have access to these controls for blending, filtering and matching waveforms if need be. We’ve gone over the Vowel Shaper in the BioVox section, but also worth noting is the ‘Bands’ control in the Vocoder section. Here you can adjust the Vol and the Pan of the Vocoder Bands to bring out or cut certain frequencies and also spread the frequencies of the Vocoder across the stereo spectrum. it's a powerful tool not only for voice processing but all kinds of other sounds too.
Price: VocalSynth 2 ($149), Creative Suite ($349)
Web:https://www.izotope.com/en/products/create-and-design/vocalsynth.html
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-izotope-vocalsynth-2
Web:https://www.izotope.com/en/products/create-and-design/vocalsynth.html
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-izotope-vocalsynth-2
Learn Vocalsynth: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=course/3077/vocalsynth-explained-and-explored
UVI Drum Designer
Drum Designer combines the best of synthesis and sample-based drum techniques, breaking down drum hits to the component level and allowing users to rapidly create, edit and combine sounds with the flexibility of a synthesizer and the polish and impact of high-quality sample libraries.
Users can make broad-stroke changes to preset sounds with front page macros or take complete control over individual hit components with detailed editors and a versatile effects section. Each voice archetype (kick, snare, clap and cymbal) allows surgical sound shaping through component-specific editors including control over time, gain, pan, pitch, key-tracking, HP and LP filters, sample start time, phase, AHD amp envelopes, stereo width and more. Drum sounds can be further tweaked and refined through an effect section including transient designer, soft clipper, stereo width, EQ and convolution reverb.
Users can make broad-stroke changes to preset sounds with front page macros or take complete control over individual hit components with detailed editors and a versatile effects section. Each voice archetype (kick, snare, clap and cymbal) allows surgical sound shaping through component-specific editors including control over time, gain, pan, pitch, key-tracking, HP and LP filters, sample start time, phase, AHD amp envelopes, stereo width and more. Drum sounds can be further tweaked and refined through an effect section including transient designer, soft clipper, stereo width, EQ and convolution reverb.
Price: $149
Web:http://www.uvi.net/drum-designer
Web:http://www.uvi.net/drum-designer
ROLI Cypher 2
FXpansion’s world-class sound designers and software engineers have built on the best features of Strobe2 and Cypher from DCAM Synth Squad, while also creating the world’s most extensive library of MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) compatible sounds.'¨'¨ Cypher2 is an analogue-modelled synthesizer built for advanced sound design projects and expressive performances.
Download emulator android. An intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface invites Cypher2 creators to manipulate sound in almost infinite directions with 1,300 included presets, a TransMod modulation system, dynamic oscillators and filters, a state-of-the-art step sequencer and 30 effect modules. Cypher2 is fully compatible with both standard MIDI controllers and MPE-enabled devices, which include ROLI’s award-winning Seaboard and BLOCKS instruments.
Price: £159
Web:https://www.fxpansion.com/products/cypher2/
Web:https://www.fxpansion.com/products/cypher2/
Learn more about ROLI's software and hardware and FXPansion's tools: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=category/audio/application/fxpansion
Roland JX-3P
Now available as part of the Roland Cloud, the virtual JX-3P offers crystalline ACB-component replication of the original’s sounds. From classic strings to crushing metallic pads, this six-voice polyphonic recreation is identical to its hardware counterpart. With push-button interface and supreme versatility, users will discover what made this synth a singular addition to Roland’s catalog.
In addition to its 64 iconic memory programs and revolutionary two DCOs, the updated JX-3P comes with an all-new effects module—including delay, distortion, reverb, etc. — and a powerful arpeggiator. Experience the JX-3P in its traditional format, or with a click, unleash the power of the coveted PG-200 interface.
In addition to its 64 iconic memory programs and revolutionary two DCOs, the updated JX-3P comes with an all-new effects module—including delay, distortion, reverb, etc. — and a powerful arpeggiator. Experience the JX-3P in its traditional format, or with a click, unleash the power of the coveted PG-200 interface.
Price: Cloud pricing tiers apply
Web:www.rolandcloud.com/
Web:www.rolandcloud.com/
Propellerhead Europa
Reason’s flagship Europa synthesizer was released as a standalone VST/AU plugin and in web audio format, running in a browser. Europa is an infinitely powerful spectral wavetable synthesizer capable of creating unforgettable sounds using 30+ engine models and wavetables, 24 filter types, advanced modulation and powerful effects. The Europa plugin and web version now bring these unending creative possibilities to even more musicians and producers.
Through accessible controls, sounds are shaped by bending and animating once static waveforms into kinetic modern sounds. With three independent synthesis engines, advanced spectral filtering, powerful modulation options, a full suite of effects, customizable envelopes, and over 500 presets from leading sound designers, Europa can create epic pads, huge chords, aggressive biting basses and everything in between. Reason users get Europa for free, but non-Reason users can buy it to run as a plug-in inside their DAW of choice.
Price: $149
Web:https://www.propellerheads.se/europa
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/reason-europa-synth-plugin-vs-europa-synth-online
Learn Europa: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=course/2691/europa-demystified/
Web:https://www.propellerheads.se/europa
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/reason-europa-synth-plugin-vs-europa-synth-online
Learn Europa: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=course/2691/europa-demystified/
Arturia Pigments
A late entry, this one. Pigments is the latest software synthesizer from Arturia. Combining the best of two worlds, it features hugely powerful, cutting-edge wavetable synthesis alongside their award- winning virtual analog technology. Pigments has some colorful tricks up its sleeve. In fact, it can do things other synthesizers simply cannot do. These include: scale quantized pitch modulations to build complex melodic sequences, continuous unison controls that can be modulated, with classic and chord mode, extensive waveshaping options for the wavetable oscillator, with great aliasing control and a Polyrhythmic sequencer with a strong emphasis on randomness, with scale control to remain musical.
Price: $199
Web:https://www.arturia.com/products/pigments/overview
Web:https://www.arturia.com/products/pigments/overview
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2.5
Spectrasonics takes its time with new releases but when they do appear they’re always impressive. With the new version 2.5, Omnisphere becomes the first software synth in the world to offer a Hardware Synth Integration feature, which transforms over 30 well-known hardware synthesizers into extensive hands-on controllers that unlock Omnisphere’s newly expanded synthesis capabilities. Simply put, this ground-breaking new feature makes using Omnisphere feel just like using a hardware synth! The extensive new FREE update also features a newly announced hi-resolution interface, support for Windows Multitouch, new Granular Synthesis capabilities and a stunning new sound library of over 1000 brand new sounds, bringing the total number of included sounds to over 14,000. It's a sound designer's dream.
Price: $499 full version
Web:https://www.spectrasonics.net
Web:https://www.spectrasonics.net
Learn Spectrasonics instruments: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=category/audio/topic/spectrasonics
Sugar Bytes Aparillo
Aparillo has a 2-Operator FM engine with 3 FM algorithms. The carrier/modulator pair within each Operator section exclusively uses sine waves but changing up the modulation routing via the FM algorithm can lead to some really complex waveforms. It’s a 16-Voice polyphonic synthesizer but the real power comes when it's used in 16-Voice Unison mode. In Unison mode, parameters for individual voices can be modulated in very unique ways. It's a fun playground for sound design and great for creating weird otherworldly textures but it can also be used to create more controlled standard musical elements like basses, pads and textures.
Price: 99 Euro
Web:https://sugar-bytes.de/aparillo
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-sugar-bytes-aparillo
Web:https://sugar-bytes.de/aparillo
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-sugar-bytes-aparillo
Arturia Synclavier 2
With the release of Synclavier V 2, alongside many other workflow enhancements and improvements, Arturia expanded Synclavier so that it now now includes sampling capabilities and an exciting resynthesis engine for musicians, producers, and sound designers to explore. Load in samples by simply dragging and dropping, and play them back with vintage digital grain and pitch scaling. Samples of up to 30 seconds can be imported and processed using Synclavier V’s effects and routing, perfect for creating retro sampled keys and pitched-down pads. Arturia’s sound design team have been busy creating hundreds of new presets for you to enjoy in Synclavier V, showing off some of the key new features to get you inspired. On top of that, the updated version includes a selection of the original New England Digital sample library files for that authentic touch.
Price: 149 Eur
Web:https://www.arturia.com/synclavier-v/overview
Web:https://www.arturia.com/synclavier-v/overview
XILS-Labs Magical Matrix Modular
V1.5 represents a major update to its self-styled ultimate matrix modular soft synth, emulating a conceptual ‘blend’ of the legendary VCS4, a ‘dual VCS3’ analogue matrix modular synthesizer prototyped by British trailblazing entity EMS (Electronic Music Studios) back in 1969.
XILS 4’s full feature list is impressive — cue 12 aliasing-free oscillators, grouped in six pairs across two synthesizer modules, with wave shaping and hard sync, plus two additional noise generators, and two (virtual) analogue multimode filters, each with non-linear and zero-delay behaviour and three different (12/18/24 dB) modes.. just for starters. With up to 1,140 simultaneous connections per patch, perhaps it is all the more understandable that it has been dubbed, “one of the best soft synths on the market for experimenting with new ways of creating sounds!”
XILS 4’s full feature list is impressive — cue 12 aliasing-free oscillators, grouped in six pairs across two synthesizer modules, with wave shaping and hard sync, plus two additional noise generators, and two (virtual) analogue multimode filters, each with non-linear and zero-delay behaviour and three different (12/18/24 dB) modes.. just for starters. With up to 1,140 simultaneous connections per patch, perhaps it is all the more understandable that it has been dubbed, “one of the best soft synths on the market for experimenting with new ways of creating sounds!”
Price: 179 Eur
Web:https://www.xils-lab.com/products/xils-4-p-148.html
Web:https://www.xils-lab.com/products/xils-4-p-148.html
Roland System-8
The latest update to Roland Cloud added several new dimensions to the already powerful SYSTEM-8 soft synth. There are 2 new FM oscillators with 6 variations each, providing virtually 12 new oscillator types to build upon! This update also adds 5 all-new filter variations, including the famous JUPITER-8 and JUNO-106 high and low pass filters as well as a formant filter that can apply vowel shaping to just about everything you can sculpt.
For synthesizer power-users, you can combine the Roland SYSTEM-8 Software Synthesizer with its hardware sibling. You’ll be able to play and shape your sounds with a great-feeling, velocity-sensitive keyboard with dedicated physical controls for nearly every function. And the SYSTEM-8 hardware is also a high-quality, high-resolution USB audio/MIDI interface making live or setups clean and simple. If you perform live, you’ll appreciate being able to transfer your SYSTEM-8 Software Synthesizer patches to your hardware and take to the stage computer-free!
For synthesizer power-users, you can combine the Roland SYSTEM-8 Software Synthesizer with its hardware sibling. You’ll be able to play and shape your sounds with a great-feeling, velocity-sensitive keyboard with dedicated physical controls for nearly every function. And the SYSTEM-8 hardware is also a high-quality, high-resolution USB audio/MIDI interface making live or setups clean and simple. If you perform live, you’ll appreciate being able to transfer your SYSTEM-8 Software Synthesizer patches to your hardware and take to the stage computer-free!
Price: Sign up to Roland Cloud from $19.95 a month (30-day free trial available)
Web:https://rolandcloud.com/news/summer-of-system-8
Web:https://rolandcloud.com/news/summer-of-system-8
Samplefuel POLY / WAVE
Samplefuel is a relative newcomer to the software market, created by TV and movie composer Danny Lux whose credits include Grey’s Anatomy, Dawson’s Creek and many more. POLY is a 3-oscillator synth that includes up to 8 voices, all of which can be detuned, and Sub and Noise Oscillators. There’s a free demo version of this synth available from the website which you may want to check out.
The Main page provides hands-on control of the main parameters but to tweak the synth in-depth you can move to the Synth section where it’s a breeze to select waveforms, detune, mix and otherwise play about with controls. Modulation is controlled via the Motion page, with 2 LFO's, 2 Step Modulators, User Envelope, Amp Envelope and a Pitch Envelope.
WAVE is a slightly different proposition - a dual oscillator wavetable synth with presets featuring 2 layers, and patches in up to 16 slots that can be used multitimbrally or in layered mode. The core sections are much the same as POLY, but the synth section is different since the sound generation method is not the same. Here, you get two selectable wavetables as well as a sub oscillator and a flexible noise generator. There’s support for wavetables from Steinberg’s FLUX and ANIMA which can be used inside this synth. POLY and WAVE are excellent synths not just for composers or sound designers but electronic musicians as well. At the incredibly accessible price, they’re a very safe bet.
Price: $34.99 each. Hybrid Bundle (both synths with extras) $49.99
Web:https://www.samplefuel.com/
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-samplefuel-poly-and-wave
Sono Elements SolinStrings
Sono Elements SolinStrings features the sound of the legendary ARP Solina String Ensemble synthesizer. The Solina was a multi-orchestral keyboard created in 1974 by Eminent BV. The instrument was ahead of its time in its use of preset synthesizer sounds and has been used by such acts as Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Brian Eno, The Rolling Stones, Joy Division, and the Cure. More recently, during the 90s, Air used it in their music to create their classic records Moon Safari. Sono Elements sampled the 6 sounds of the Solina and embedded them in a 'no fuss' easy to use plugin.'
Price: $19
Web:https://www.sonoelements.com/2018/08/solinstrings.html
Web:https://www.sonoelements.com/2018/08/solinstrings.html
Audioutlaw Boots N Kat
Boots N Kats is the perfect drum machine for musicians and live performers who want to compose rhythm sections quickly, featuring an intelligent automatic algorithm that provides endless pattern combinations for spontaneous improvisational workflows. Packed with a sample library of 400+ meticulously sampled drum sounds, this automatic drum system seamlessly integrates with Drum Rack in Ableton Live 10 Suite.
The “Automatic” section chains and plays the 16 available patterns together sequentially in a sort of “Song Mode.” You can choose for all of the patterns to change every 1 Bar, 2, 3 or up to every 16 bars! Boots N Kats also features a dedicated Macro System that allows you to remap any of its knobs to any Ableton parameter you wish! it's also very affordable.
The “Automatic” section chains and plays the 16 available patterns together sequentially in a sort of “Song Mode.” You can choose for all of the patterns to change every 1 Bar, 2, 3 or up to every 16 bars! Boots N Kats also features a dedicated Macro System that allows you to remap any of its knobs to any Ableton parameter you wish! it's also very affordable.
Price: £20.20
Web:https://audioutlaw.com
Web:https://audioutlaw.com
Learn more about synthesis in the virtual world with hundreds of pro video courses: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=category/audio/topic/synthinstruments
Related Videos
It’s pretty common to hear synth buffs talk about how we’re living in a Renaissance period of synthesizers.
And there’s certainly a case to be made, what with all of the dirt cheap analog synths that Korg is currently producing, a thriving Eurorack scene making modular synthesis more accessible than ever, and opulent new polysynths coming from Dave Smith Instruments and Waldorf.
The current era — typified by designs boasting analog circuitry, knob–heavy interfaces, or both — likely kicked off in the mid–’00s with Moog launching the Little Phatty and Dave Smith Instruments rising by way of the Evolver and Mopho. But it’s not like we were living in the dark ages before those synths were in production.
In fact, the strides made in digital synthesis were just as accessible to the masses as Korg’s rebooted ARP Odyssey is today. The ‘90s and ‘00s saw just about every company in the game developing its own proprietary form of synthesis and putting it into as many packages and price points as possible.
Indeed, some of the best synth deals of today — according to sheer sound quality and power–per–dollar spent — are available to the intrepid who can live without knobs and keys. The tabletop and rackmount synths from the ‘90s and ‘00s had exceptionally engineered sound engines, making for a trove of old studio equipment unmined by today’s home recording culture.
These synths tend to be total sleepers, thanks in part to unsexy naming schemas including combos of letters and numbers and to the fact that no one is nostalgic for esoteric digital sounds yet.
With that said, not everything on this list is digital, and a couple entries mark some of the best analog circuits ever produced.
So if you’ve bought your Korg Monologue and feel like you don’t need another fat analog monosynth with a great sequencer for the rest of your life, consider some dirt cheap, high–quality rack and tabletop synths.
While the lack of keyboard undoubtedly keeps the price down on these hidden gems, they’ll work fine with a MIDI controller and even better when run off of Ableton Live over MIDI.
Yamaha FS1R
Yamaha FS1R
A great example of a mass–produced synth that really pushes it to the limit, the FS1R is the first FM synth that Yamaha built after taking a few years off from milking that cash cow. Yamaha knew it was effectively competing with its own DX7 that it produced in massive numbers, so the company stepped its game up with this 1998 synth by including its own Formant Shaping Synthesis.
Typically, formant synthesis is used to emulate the vowel sounds in human speech. And sure, you can do that with the FS1R, but the bigger appeal is that you can combine the FSS and FM synthesis techniques to make some truly out there sounds. This is Yamaha delivering on the promise that digital’s natural value is that it can really sound like nothing else.
Roland MC–808
In the days before computers took over, Roland saw a market demand for a synthesizer that would become the center of any beatmaker or dance music producer’s workflow. This led to the MC series of grooveboxes (the synth counterpart of the SP series of samplers), and the MC–808 was the biggest and baddest one ever made, first introduced in 2006.
The MC–808 is effectively a wavetable synth with a step sequencer, souped up to the nth degree. It contains a series of percussion sounds, subtractive–style digital synthesis, sampling functionality, an arpeggiator, a song mode, and, well, a lot more. It’s a powerful and fun synth that basically has all of the power of Ableton Live for a running price of $300 to $500 used.
Oberheim Matrix 1000
Oberheim’s OB series would produce some of the most iconic synth tones of the ‘80s. But by the end of the decade, the company was facing the same ails as Sequential Circuits and Moog, with digital synths getting better and better at the acoustic emulations that the music industry so craved. The Matrix 1000 was one of the company’s final designs, and an effort to create a true studio synth.
Oberheim Matrix 1000
The guts include two analog DCOs per each of the 6 voices, a great filter, and ramp generators (that’s on top of the more conventionally used envelope generators). The Matrix 1000 sounds incredible and tends to sell for around $600, but its minimal interface does make it a drag to program. You can buy Access's Matrix Editor to do that work, though.
Kurzweil K2500R and K2500RS
Kurzweil K2500RS
Best Desktop Synth 2018 Version
Founded by Stevie Wonder and public intellectual and futurist Raymond Kurzweil, the Kurzweil Musical Systems company has often been an outlet for next–generation performance keyboards. Often, this has translated to really good emulations of grand pianos — both in terms of feel and sound — but it also meant an audacious run of synths back in the ‘90s.
Those efforts would culminate with the K2600, but the K2500 is the purest distillation of the company’s vision for synths. It features the proprietary VAST synthesis that does everything from acoustic modelling to analog–style subtractive synthesis to totally bonkers digital sounds well. It also features microtuning, which pretty rare for any synth, period the end.
The K2500R is obviously the rackmount version of the K2500, and the K2500RS has a sampler built in, stepping on the Ensoniq EPS–16+’s toes and totally ruining its shoes. The K2500 originally listed for around $20,000, but the rack versions now run for a few hundred.
Roland MKS70
This is literally one of the best analog synths Roland ever made. The only reason it hasn’t been swept up in the vintage rolling craze is likely that it doesn’t have the keys or the control interface of the Juno and Jupiter series synths. Snapchat app for hp laptop.
The MKS70 is is the rackmount version of the JX10, and the last analog Roland produced as part of that analog run that started with the Jupiters back in the early ‘70s. It was released in 1986 around the time of the other JX models, and like the JX10 and the JX3P, it can be programmed with an external PG–800 controller.
Sure, a rackmount analog (especially without the external programmer) isn’t as fun to program as a keyboard analog with all those knobs and sliders, but if you want top notch analog sounds to run off your sequences in your DAW, you can grab these pretty consistently in the mid– to high–hundreds price range.
Roland Sound Expander M–SE1
During the ‘70s, the only type of “synthesizer” really available to the masses was the string synth, which was effectively an electric organ using an array of sawtooth waves to approximate the buzzy timbres of orchestral strings. Polysynths being made accessible to working musicians was really an ‘80s phenomenon.
Roland Sound Expander M–SE1
But because string synths appeared on so many recordings — especially disco cuts — they became part of the popular synth lexicon. Hence, it makes a lot of sense that Roland would seek to create the most hi–fi string synth ever wrought, with its M–SE1.
As part of Roland’s Sound Expander series (which includes plenty of great rackmount synths that do more typically synth sounds, all of which run for just over $100 now), the M–SE1 is such a faithful string synth that it actually sounds like the strings it emulates. This works great as a pad generator for your ambient music or for some haunting Twin Peaks jams.
Kawai K1M
Kawai K1M
Following up one of the most expensive and least obtainable synths with a baffling amount of power in existence is one of the least expensive and most obtainable synths with a baffling amount of power in existence. The Kawai K1M is a beautiful synth whose low bitrate makes for a digital synth with warm, gritty sound that scratches the same itch for many as analog circuitry.
Logic one download. Developed somewhat in the vain of Roland’s D–50, Kawai’s lifelong mission of bringing synths to the working musician resulted in this tabletop synth that’s both simple to use and vast in its functionality. It lacks a filter and effects, but the ability to layer waveforms give you all the sound you’ll really need out of a high–quality polysynth that rarely sells for more than $200.
Yamaha TG33
While we’re talking about total tabletop steals, the TG33 is another exquisite digital synth from the ‘90s that often sells in the low– to mid–hundreds on the used market. This uses a pretty similar wave sampling technique as the Kawai K1M, but also employs Yamaha’s signature FM synthesis.
Best Desktop Synth
Like any of Yamaha’s other FM options, it’s not all that easy to program using the button interface that comes native to the machine, but it has a joystick that makes transforming the preset tones a snap. If you’re thinking about buying Korg’s Volca FM, consider saving your pennies for Yamaha FM perfected, featuring 32 voices of polyphony over the Volca’s 3.