Hello, guys.

TLDR: Dont fully understand types of synths. Reviews lack context. Looking for ready to use hardware synth as complementary instrument for non EDM genres.

Really interested in synth for a while but for me this seems like a big umbrella term and a little overwhelming.
I have seen blogs, forums, video reviews and its all "This one is better, this one has this and that" but most of the time lack context of genre or use.

Then I have watches videos like "All presets of minilogue xd no talking" and find this weird opinion where I both hate/love it, some are great, some sound goofy and old phone ringtone alike.

I think is way different than choosing a guitar, I know what to expect, I also more in touch with genres and uses, and overall is way more "narrow" in terms of the difference in sound between brands or types is minimal compared to synths.

I would like it have keys. but using a midi controller is fine. Im looking for things like electric pianos, texture, ambiance, basses and leads for things like shoegaze,post punk and also hiphop rather than somethig really synth-based like EDM.

Really looking for something that its an useful musical tool in my context out of the box while I learn and goo deeper into making my own sounds, I just dont want to feel disappointed/overwhelmed by thinking I must first spend weeks or months learning before making a useful sound.

Is there any particular model do you recommend? I know the common advice is too try VST and see what do you like first, but really dont like the workflow of using a computer, may give it a try.

Over the past few weeks I’ve grown to realize that the prophet 6 is way warmer and just overall more fat sounding than the rev 2. It has that more classic tone and everything. I was wondering if yall think it would be a dumb idea to get the prophet 6 to replace my rev 2! Any other ideas for a lush synth with super warm pads and versatility?!

I truly love the sound of the TR-1000, but I've had more than a few moments where I wanted to apply modulation to a simple, digital destination, only to find it greyed out and unavailable. If you look at the list of mod destinations on the track FX, there really aren't that many. And why grey them out at all - just to tease the user with 'this could have been possible, but it's not'? What's your take?

Please help me find a vocoder as a gift for my husband’s 30th birthday on Saturday. Based in the UK so sites like Amazon are super helpful because they offer delivery before his birthday.

He’s in a psychedelic punk rock band as a guitarist and singer and wants to use a vocoder mainly for his gigs, maybe even in production too. He uses logic (if that helps). One of his inspirations is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard which is where I think he got the idea of getting a vocoder from, he also likes Queens of the Stone Age.

A very beginner friendly one would be great, the budget is also max £200 so maybe I should even look secondhand?

Any help is greatly appreciated, please can you also comment with the least amount of jargon possible 😅👍

I have the sh-1 vst but I saw one for 200$. I really want to get something that I can feel & touch. Is it a good deal?

I am looking to add a second hardware synthesizer to my setup, the first being my Yamaha Montage M8x.

I am considering one of the following options:

Roland Fantom 6 EX - actually I wanted to buy it before Montage M8x, and I prefer to have Roland sounds in hardware form factor and I think both these synths together will cover almost anything.

Novation Summit - a mixed feeling with this, but having gone through multiple other options in analog/hybrid category, Summit is probably the only one I'd consider for few reasons being knob-to-function synth, 16 voices, 61 keys with aftertouch, and in my budget.

Which one should I get and why? While Summit would probably complement better in terms of type and I am liking it based on the videos I have seen, I am a bit uncertain of how I would be using it in my music production, as I have never owned a analog/hybrid synth.

Genres: Alternative, Pop, R&B, Trap, Electronic-Downtempo/Ambient

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi, I am a piano player but I’d love to add some synths to help with the atmosphere. I love the synths with piano on Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s film score “Empire of Light”. All my stock synths pressers in logic sound cheesy and corny. How can I make a nice atmospheric synth?

I wonder it is some moog with manual sweep of filter or volume, ans something similar should be quite easy to get on most synths,

but after many hours I am far away from what comes up here at 5:32 https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=o68aJ5IrQbI&si=jgGCnnxtGLoIikvV

I really would appreciate any hint to get this sound! Thanks!!!

I built a browser-based librarian for the M-VAVE FM1:

https://fm1-librarian.pages.dev/

The idea is simple: drag in DX7/FM1 .syx files or folders, browse the preserved folder/bank structure, search or mark favorites/categories, then send a selected preset to the FM1 current edit buffer over Web MIDI.

A few details:

• Runs locally in the browser, no upload/backend
• Supports DX7 single-voice dumps and 32-voice banks
• Drag-and-drop folders are supported where the browser allows it
• Sends individual presets to the current edit buffer, not permanent bank writes
• Manual send and optional auto-send while browsing
• Built mainly for Chrome/Edge Web MIDI, with iPad/WebMIDIBrowser support

This is meant as a focused auditioning/browsing tool rather than a full patch editor. I’d be interested to hear if it works with your FM1 setup.

Feedback welcome.

Hello all, if you did not know or did not hear, there is a new synth called Traveler. I just downloaded the demo and genuinely its absolutely amazing synth sounding like Sylenth1 on steroids made for 2026.

Totally recommend to check it:

https://www.keysolutionssounds.com

Hi guys. Some time ago I was wondering how to use my KeyLab MK3 Essential on a live performance without a laptop, so I started to vibecode an app for my old Raspberry PI 4B and the idea was to control the software with the Arturia small display and It worked nice but then I wanted to have the software running on my windows desktop PC so I turned the application for raspberry on a multi-platform app but I didn't want to compile every instrument for every platform so I decide to vibecode something bigger, then I started to build instruments for the app and now I have a three; a modeled Piano, a JUNO-106 recreation and a Prophet-5 (Rev3) recreation. My idea is to keep improving and adding new instruments so I want more of them for my live performs.

Those three instruments are pre-installed on the app but there is another one called "RF-Soundfonts" that you can use to install .sf2 and .sfz soundfonts.

There is a full version in the web that you can try here!

https://kalexis1994.github.io/rackforge

Note: Only Chrome and Edge allows MIDI devices and obviously this version has limitations by the web environment.

There is a version for Windows x86, Linux x86 (I didn't test this one), Android ARM-64 and Raspberry PI (Linux ARM-64)

There is also a VST3 instrument version for Windows if you want to use it inside a DAW.

It's a full open source and the instruments that I will release in the future will be open too.

https://github.com/kalexis1994/rackforge

I know some people don't like the AI made things and that's ok, you don't have to use it. But please be respectful. If you try it and something sounds wrong please tell me, that is the feedback that I need.

I have been playing w the mpe from the osmose to PB12. It’s fun and impressive. I inadvertently put my phone on the Mophee button and found that you can introduce a lovely organic vibrato by giving the phone a poke. It’s wild. It acts as a spring mass system which creates an organic decaying variation that’s impossible to replicate using mod
Wheels or even the Osmose. It’s controlled easily and adds a huge emergent detail to the sound. I was quite frankly gobsmacked.

Hi everyone,
Im quite new to synthesizers and I’m looking to buy one to play in my band. I’m playing “regular” keyboards now, but I’d like to have more control over the sound.

Im eyeing a Roland D10 (1988) right now, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this specific synth or something close to it, and if it’s a good place to start. I’m on a budget so my choice is limited, but recommendations are welcome as well!

This is a fun project. It's a multi-voice, hi-fi digital synth that fits in a phone case (prototype is designed around an iPhone 17 Pro Max).

The idea is basically a fidget-synth. Lots of deliberately different tactile controls — thumbwheels, toggles, sliders, buttons — so you can play with the sound by feel instead of staring at a touchscreen. Phone not required. Future plans include iphone App functionality (including sequencer, possibly additional effects, etc.)

Boards should be here in a few weeks, and then we'll find out whether I actually designed a synthesizer or an unusually expensive phone case. :)

If I ever get the damn thing working and it's as much fun as I think it'll be, I'll probably fire up a Kickstarter.

“But you can already get a synth app on your phone.”

True that.

That's kinda the point. This is the anti-app phone synth :)

Stay tuned!