Based on sound demos, I've compiled a list of the best sounding synthesizers available. This is based on sound quality and availability. There are some really good analogue synths that should not be ignored. Arturia has some nice sounds. The Aturia Minibrute is an interesting synth with great sounds. The Arturia Origin is a very high quality synth. I like Analogue Solutions gear. As you can see most of the digital synths really don't "pop" out of the speaker with a unique voice or have that same emotion. An exception is with Arturia. But Many sound terrible. As you can see I don't like the Virus TI sound. Why they haven't figured out how to do a nice digital sound, I'll never know.These were demoed on very good speakers (Behringer B1031a). If you'd like to hear these you should look them up on Soundcloud or YT. One bias I have is that I don't find hard distortion or muddiness agreeable. Stick with Korg Analogs or Arturia.
Recommended:
Arturia Minibrute
Arturia Origin
Korg Volca BassKorg
Korg MS-20 Mini
Analogue Solutions (all)
Not recommended:
Moog Sub Phatty
DSI
Moog Little Phatty
Virus TI
MicroKorg
MiniNova
UltraNova
Moog Minitaur
King Korg
Jupiter-50/80 (synth engine sucked, Supernatural was great)
Gaia Sh-01
Casio XW-P1
DSI Prophet 12
Elektron Analog 4
Vermona Perfourmer
Nord Lead 4
Waldorf Blofeld
Tom Oberheim SEM
I should have known something was wrong when you left off the sub patty, virus, DSI and a few other killer synths. No wonder! You were listening on Behringer speakers.
ReplyDeleteThe term "very good speakers" has never applied to anything behringer has made!
Those Behringers aren't bad for the price ($200 per monitor) but as monitors go I don't think they deserve to be considered "very good" for determining the sound quality of a synth - ESPECIALLY when you're dealing with the low-bitrate sound from Soundcloud and the squashed bitrate Google applies to Youtube videos, where you can't really make a final determination of anything.
ReplyDeleteAside from the synths left off the list (as mentioned by another commenter) the fact that you don't recommend excellend-sounding synths like the Analog 4 or the bang-for-the-buck Ultranova makes it clear that you've never played any of these synths through decent monitors.