In the earliest days of synthesis, instruments were monophonic. They could only create a single sound at once or, in some cases, simple duophonic chords by cleverly detuning oscillators. To create true polyphony, where multiple pitches can be played at once using individual notes on a keyboard, synths needed to expand. Full synth voices needed to be added for each potential pitch, involving additional oscillator, filter and amp circuits. As a result, early polysynths were considerably bigger than their monophonic counterparts, both physically, as a result of the extra components needed to make them work, and sonically, since they could generate rich, full-bodied chords created by the complex timbral interplay of multiple synth voices interacting.
Over the years, technology has allowed for the creation of polysynths far smaller and more affordable than these early analogue behemoths. On the analogue front, circuit mount components now allow for full multi-voice synth engines to sit in portable, desktop-friendly boxes, with even classic designs like Sequential Prophet-5 now getting the downsizing treatment.
When it comes to digital hardware, prices and sizes have taken an absolute nose-dive in the past few decades. You can, after all, download a full polysynth to your mobile device. Hardware like 1010’s Nanobox range show how you can fit a fully-featured, complex hardware polysynth into something you can fit in the palm of your hand.
The point is that there has never been so much diversity in the synth market, from cheap options to long-term investments, whether for left-of-centre sounds or classic analogue tones.
This issue, we’ve examined the finest and most feature-packed instruments the modern synth market has to offer. We’re focussing on the upper-end of the market, with instruments that will appeal most to serious hobbyist, long-time players and pro producers, but we’ve also rounded up some of the best budget options and alternatives.
Why buy a hardware polysynth in 2023?
Is it really worth spending a significant chunk of change on a hardware synth in 2023? It’s hard to argue against the fact that, if cost is your primary concern, plugin synths offer far better value than their hardware counterparts. In terms of pure feature comparisons, something like Arturia’s Pigments softsynth or u-he Diva outstrip the flexibility of hardware instruments over ten times their price.
So why do hardware instruments remain so popular? One obvious, albeit contentious factor is the sound. We could waste this entire feature debating whether genuine analogue sounds better than virtual emulations, but whatever your take, it’s certainly true that as soon as you go ‘out-of-the-box’ and plug a real hardware instrument into a mixer or interface, you’re introducing sonic nuances that are difficult to truly emulate purely in the software realm. (Whether this is enough to warrant the cost of a high-end synth is up for debate though).
Another selling point is the physicality of hardware synth design. A good MIDI controller will let you get hands-on with your software, but a well-designed hardware instrument will be perfectly configured to allow you to feel properly connected to its sound engine. This is one area where hardware design has made significant progress in recent decades, with the basic keyboards of
