Ronald Meij Maker · 1 d ago
Twenty instruments, and one honest line each about what they are. Before the list, four things. Prices are what a European shop was asking on 14 September 2026, including VAT, and they are discounted street prices that move week to week, so read them as a bracket and not a quote. Links go to the maker first and to a shop second. Nobody paid to be here and there are no affiliate links. And this is not a ranking: it is a spread across price, synthesis type and maker, filtered to instruments that are actually shipping. Nothing here is announced-but-unavailable. Every maker here is doing serious work, the cheap ones included. Two things worth saying before the list. First, this is a what-can-you-buy-now list, not a vintage list: everything here is shipping, and four of them have a dealer lead time rather than stock on a shelf. Second, the split that actually matters when you are choosing is not analogue against digital. It is whether you want an instrument with one control per function that you play, or a machine with a sequencer in it that you write on. Several of these are firmly one or the other, and people are regularly disappointed by buying the wrong kind. 01 Sequential Prophet-6 Analogue, six voices. Two discrete VCOs per voice with continuously variable shape plus a sub, a four pole low-pass and a two pole high-pass, digital effects. Straight descent from the Prophet-5. For: warm poly pads, brass, string machine textures, bass and leads About EUR 3429. sequential.com/product/prophet-6 www.thomann.de/de/sequential_prophet_6.htm 02 Sequential Take 5 Analogue, five voices. Two VCOs per voice, a four pole filter from the Prophet-5 Rev 4 design, onboard effects, 44 keys. For: the same analogue poly vocabulary in a smaller room and at half the price About EUR 1454. sequential.com/product/take-5-compact-poly-synth-keyboard www.thomann.de/de/sequential_take_5.htm 03 Oberheim OB-X8 Analogue, eight voices, bi-timbral. Two discrete VCOs per voice, and you can choose between the discrete SEM lineage filters and the Curtis filters. It holds the OB-X, OB-Xa and OB-8 voice architectures in one instrument. For: wide analogue pads, the layered brass and unison leads of the early eighties, scoring About EUR 4899. oberheim.com/products/ob-x8 www.thomann.de/de/oberheim_ob_x8.htm 04 Moog Music Muse Analogue, eight voices, bi-timbral. Two discrete oscillators per voice, two ladder filters per voice, a sixteen slot modulation matrix, a 64 step sequencer, 61 keys with aftertouch. For: the ladder filter applied polyphonically: bass, pads and leads where that filter is the point About EUR 2897. www.moogmusic.com/synthesizers/muse www.thomann.de/de/moog_muse.htm 05 Moog Music Subsequent 37 Analogue, mono with a two note paraphonic mode. Two oscillators plus sub and noise, ladder filter switchable between 6, 12, 18 and 24 dB, arpeggiator and sequencer. Minimoog lineage by way of the Sub 37. For: bass and lead duty, and a common studio default for a saturated resonant bass About EUR 1679. www.moogmusic.com/synthesizers/subsequent-37 www.thomann.de/de/moog_subsequent_37.htm 06 Arturia PolyBrute 12 Analogue, twelve voices. Two oscillators per voice, a Steiner-Parker morphing filter alongside a ladder, a 64 slot modulation matrix, and a 61 key MPE keybed with polyphonic aftertouch plus the Morphee controller and a ribbon. For: morphing pads and per note expression, sound design driven by physical control About EUR 3359. www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/polybrute-12/overview www.thomann.de/de/arturia_polybrute_12.htm 07 Arturia MiniFreak Hybrid. Two digital oscillator engines covering 31 modes, from virtual analogue through FM, additive, granular and wavetable, into a polyphonic analogue state variable filter. Six voices, twelve paraphonic. For: fast unusual digital textures with an analogue filter over them, sketching About EUR 545. www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/minifreak/overview www.thomann.de/de/arturia_minifreak.htm 08 Korg opsix mk II Digital six operator FM, 64 voices, where the operators also do waveshaping, additive and ring modulation, with MS-20 and Polysix filter models after them. One control per parameter, which is the reason it exists. For: bells, electric piano tones, metallic percussion, hard digital basses About EUR 555. www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/opsix_mk2 www.thomann.de/de/korg_opsix_mkii.htm 09 Korg wavestate mk II Digital wave sequencing, 96 stereo voices, four playable lanes each with their own effects, 4 GB for your own samples. The Wavestation, continued. For: pads and textures that move on their own, scoring, ambient work About EUR 567. www.korg.com/au/products/synthesizers/wavestate_mk2/index.php www.thomann.de/de/korg_wavestate_mkii.htm 10 Roland JUPITER-X Digital modelling on the ZEN-Core engine, 61 keys with aftertouch, four synth parts and a rhythm part. Carries models of the Jupiter-8, Juno-106, SH-101, JX-8P and XV-5080, plus the 808, 909, 707 and CR-78. For: a lot of recognisable Roland in one instrument, live and in production About EUR 2349. www.roland.com/global/products/jupiter-x www.thomann.de/de/roland_jupiter_x.htm 11 Roland SH-4d Digital, desktop with 25 keys, up to 60 voices across five parts. Oscillator models include the SH-101 and Juno-106 alongside wavetable, cross FM, ring and PCM. Sequencer per part, and it runs on batteries. For: sketching away from the desk and self contained pattern jamming About EUR 519. www.roland.com/global/products/sh-4d www.thomann.de/de/roland_sh_4d.htm 12 Yamaha MONTAGE M8x Three engines in one: AWM2 sample based, eight operator FM-X, and AN-X virtual analogue. 400 voices, 88 weighted keys with polyphonic aftertouch. The DX line runs through the FM side of it. For: studio and stage workstation duty, pianos, FM tones, layered performance patches About EUR 4880. The 61 and 76 key versions cost less. europe.yamaha.com/en/products/music_production/synthesizers/montagem/index.html www.thomann.de/de/yamaha_montage_m8x.htm 13 Novation Summit Hybrid. Three digital oscillators per voice, capable of virtual analogue, wavetable and FM, into an analogue OTA state variable filter per voice with a 12 or 24 dB slope. Sixteen voices, two parts, 61 keys. For: bright digital-into-analogue leads, pads and basses About EUR 2199. us.novationmusic.com/products/summit www.thomann.de/de/novation_summit.htm 14 Elektron Digitone II Digital, sixteen voices, sixteen tracks, four synthesis machines including FM Tone, FM Drum, Wavetone and Swarmer, six filter types, and a 128 step sequencer per track. For: writing straight into the sequencer with parameter locks, as a whole track box rather than a keyboard About EUR 911. www.elektron.se/product/digitone-ii www.thomann.de/de/elektron_digitone_ii.htm 15 ASM Hydrasynth Deluxe Digital wave morphing. Three oscillators per voice over 200 single cycle waveforms, dual Wave Mutators, two multimode filters, a 32 slot matrix, and a 73 key Polytouch keybed with polyphonic aftertouch and a four octave ribbon. No vintage ancestor: an original design. For: per note expression and deep digital sound design, MPE work About EUR 1539. Keyboard, Desktop and Explorer versions cost less. www.ashunsoundmachines.com/hydrasynth-deluxe www.thomann.de/de/asm_hydrasynth_deluxe.htm 16 UDO Audio Super Gemini Hybrid, from a small British maker. Two FPGA oscillators per voice into analogue low-pass and high-pass filters and analogue VCAs. Twenty voices, ten in binaural mode, bi-timbral, 61 keys with polyphonic aftertouch. For: wide stereo pads and dual timbre performance patches About EUR 4190. www.udo-audio.com/super-gemini www.thomann.de/de/udo_audio_super_gemini_white.htm 17 Waldorf Iridium Keyboard Digital, sixteen voices. Three oscillators per voice, each switchable between several synthesis modes including wavetable, granular and resonator, two stereo filters, a 40 slot matrix, a seven inch touchscreen, 49 keys with polyphonic aftertouch. The Quantum engine, and behind it the PPG wavetable line. For: complex digital timbres, granular and wavetable textures, scoring About EUR 2539. waldorfmusic.com/produkt/iridium-keyboard www.thomann.de/de/waldorf_iridium_keyboard.htm 18 Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave Wavetable hybrid, 24 voices, four parts. Three digital oscillators per voice into an analogue low-pass and a state variable filter, and it carries 32 of the original 8-bit PPG Wave 2 wavetables. Explicitly a continuation of the PPG line. For: PPG style digital tones with a modern voice count, scoring, hard digital leads About EUR 5689. groovesynthesis.com/3rd-wave-keyboard www.thomann.de/de/groove_synthesis_3rd_wave.htm 19 Behringer UB-Xa Analogue, sixteen voices, multitimbral. Two oscillators per voice with sync, two filters based on the 3340 and 3320 designs with switchable slopes, an eight slot matrix, 512 programs, 61 keys with polyphonic aftertouch. Modelled on the Oberheim OB-Xa. For: large analogue poly sounds at a low price, layered brass, pads, unison leads About EUR 899. www.behringer.com/en/products/0722-AAF www.thomann.de/de/behringer_ub_xa.htm 20 Make Noise 0-Coast Analogue semi modular, monophonic. A triangle core oscillator with a wavefolder and a transistor low-pass gate, thirteen patch sources and fourteen destinations, MIDI to CV with an arpeggiator. It borrows from both traditions rather than descending from one instrument. For: percussive and plucked lines that shift harmonically, and a first step into patching About EUR 568. www.makenoisemusic.com/synthesizers-and-controllers/0-coast www.thomann.de/de/make_noise_0_coast.htm That is twenty. Left out with real regret, and all worth a look: the Sequential OB-6 and Trigon-6, the UDO DMNO, the Moog Matriarch, the Korg minilogue xd, the Dreadbox Nymphes and the Teenage Engineering OP-XY. If something you own belongs here and is not, reply and say what it does that these do not. Corrections welcome too: a price that has moved, a revision that has landed, a link that has died.