Synths reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 183 Reddit reviews across 15 subreddits and 38 posts to rank the best Synths brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/synthesizers, r/musicproduction, r/synthesizercirclejerk, r/windsynth, r/NativeInstruments. Top-rated brands include Arturia (4.4/5), Korg (4.3/5), Vital (4.8/5).
Stats
Reviews183
Subreddits15
Posts38
Brands65
Products79
183 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Arturia
4.4
(24)
"Pigments can do new and interesting big evolving pads forever if you get into programming it."
"In hardware the PolyBrute is a current favourite of mine for evolving pads."
"Pigments and Serum can do so much that if you're getting bored, it's probably because you're not using them to their full potential."
"MiniFreak would be better than the MicroFreak in this regard as the Mini can stack 3 different FXs."
"I'm personally a fan of the microfreak bc of the after touch with the PCB keypad."
"MiniFreak and Syntakt were made for one another."
"I demoed the MiniFreak VST, and it was exactly what I wanted, so I bought it! The hardware itself is at the top of my wishlist for as soon as I can justify it. It’s maybe the single most inspiring instrument I’ve ever owned."
"Minifreak has a VST, and a demo, if you want to try it out."
"Arturia Pigments"
"The minifreak VST is perfect."
#2
Korg
4.3
(23)
"The Modwave is a phenomenally flexible sound design monster!"
"Have to second the Korg Wavestate."
"Korg Wavestate Native VST or Hardware version. This thing is a cinematic soundtrack machine."
"I sold it to get a Korg Minilogue XD, which also works great."
"Korg minilogue is a good beginner synth."
"Korg Modwave (30-60 voice bitimbral, virtual analog + wavetables + samples as oscillators)."
"Check out a Minilogue or a Studiologic Sledge."
"My weapons of choice are: Korg Monologue and Drum brute impact."
"Modwave is an amazing synth, I own one but use it not so often..."
"If you are more of a preset surfer you could also try Omnisphere, Roland Galaxias, Korg Wavestate for starters."
#3
Vital
4.8
(12)
"Check https://vital.audio/ . It does pretty much everything both of those do and it's got a free tier."
"With Vital you can replicate sound design tutorials that use Serum quite well."
"Yes Vital! I've just started making my own sounds. Extremely happy so far - vital is so versatile."
"I absolutely love programming pads with Vital but anything really."
"1) Vital - wavetable"
"Vital or Wavetable (if using Ableton)"
"Vital to experiment serum like wavetable and substractive synthesis"
"Vital. SurgeXT. Vital. As a beginner, go with free."
"Vital for the win."
"Vital, Serum, Phase Plant. The holy trinity."
#4
Novation
4.8
(11)
"If you can go used: Novation Peak or Korg Prologue"
"Another vote for the peak, my best friend got one a bunch of months ago and we love the damn thing… the no sequencer isn’t that big a deal."
"If you want something better, go bigger than $1K. Novation Peak."
"One of the best synths for EWI is hands down the Novation Peak. Absolutely wonderful synth."
"For what your trying to do with that u-Ziq style stuff, the Bass Station 2 would actually be perfect. It can get super gnarly and agressive when you want it to, but its also capable of those smooth, warm bass lines."
"Novation Summit. All the important controls are easy to find."
"Bass station 2. Fantastic beast."
"Went with the Bass Station 2, thanks for the help everyone!"
"You want a Bass Station 2. I bought mine for 200 bucks used. It's simple as fuck, sounds phat as fuck, fuck!"
"Used Novation Summit (with a bit of good luck) - else go for a Peak."
#5
Roland
4.6
(9)
"Jupiter-8, CS-80, PPG Wave 2.3, Waldorf Quantum, good place to start."
"I picked up a Roland TR-8S today for $400. Like new! I feel so lucky."
"Roland S-1. Its inexpensive and a great starter synth."
"Ask someone with a jupiter 8 to sell you 1/4 of it."
"Roland's JD-Xi would be a perfect candidate here."
"A good one to ease into it would be the Roland S-1."
"TR-8S"
"Roland S1 is fun and cheap(ish)"
"I got the Roland JD-Xi, was my first synth ever, it’s a hybrid."
#6
Native Instruments
4.6
(9)
"Dude if theres any way you can save to get to the full version of Reaktor - theres thousands of free synths built in it"
"In my opinion, the best NI synths are Form, Rounds, and Monark."
"In my opinion, the best NI synths are Form, Rounds, and Monark."
"I liked Form because you can use your own samples and create new shit out of your existing loops."
"FM8 is probably the best out of the bunch."
"Absynth is perfect for this."
"This + Massive X will cover almost everything"
"Monark is just a really good Minimoog clone for $19."
"FM8 is much more advanced and can also do everything dexed does."
#7
Behringer
4.7
(7)
"DeepMind 12D for $400 is a bit of a deal. If you didn’t like it surely you could sell it for at least as much as you paid."
"I would get the Deepmind 12D, 400 is a great deal."
"Behringer Crave responds to CC5 for glide time! Awesome little synth for the price."
"Behringer Crave responded immediately to MIDI CC 5 for glide time! Hot damn!"
"Unpopular opinion but a behringer deepmind."
"For the price, assuming you already have a controller, I'd probably get the Deepmind and see how you like it."
"Behringer Crave ($160 new. $130 used)"
#8
Waldorf
4.2
(6)
"Waldorf Blofeld , micro korg is portable so good for spontaneity."
"Get a Waldorf Blofeld nothing else compares in terms of voices and power in that price range."
"Blofeld"
"The Blofeld is a classic dreamy big pad synth. and is great for ambient sounds too."
"Blofeld is still fun, still sounds great, is very small, and you could buy 3 of them with your budget."
"Waldorf blofeld"
#9
Dreadbox
4.4
(5)
"Look at the Dreadbox Typhon, it's driven by analog oscillators."
"I love, love, love the Dreadbox Typhon for EWI. Massive MIDI implementation, massive mod matrix, tons of very solid FX, that awesome Dreambox sound — and it’s even pre-configured with a CC2 mod lane that makes breath routing. Small, built like a tank, can be battery powered. Very affordable. Love it."
"Or this phat baby called the Dreadbox Typhon."
"Will investigate the Typhon!"
"Ive been controlling my Dreadbox Typhon with a Digitakt and really liking what I can get out of it."
#10
Elektron
4.0
(5)
"Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet."
"Digitakt."
"Elektron Syntakt will cover both a versatile synthesizer with digital and analog machines, effects, a drum machine and powerful sequencer."
"Best value: used Elektron Digitakt OG"
"I would pick up a used syntakt."
#11
Reveal Sound
5.0
(3)
"For what you want to achieve i would recommend you to try Spire or Dune 3."
"Spire, predator. Dune3, sylenth1 ive used them all, really good."
"Try Spire, has very good presets. Great sound design."
#12
ASM
4.3
(3)
"As many Hydrasynths as you can get for $6k."
"Super 6"
"I got this sexy baby right here called the Hydrasynth Explorer."
#13
Moog
4.0
(3)
"I've really enjoyed using a Moog Mother 32."
"Minitaur for the win"
"Had the Sirin. It’s nice. It’s just too expensive since it’s limited."
#14
Sequential
4.0
(3)
"Prophet 6"
"You really should have gotten the Prophet T8."
"Consider the Summit as a bi-timbral Peak with double the voice count and a nice 61-key keyboard."
#15
Sylenth1
5.0
(2)
"Sylenth1 has a really big preset bank, that can be super useful sometimes."
"You can't go wrong with Sylenth, even if the UI & controls are a bit old school."
#16
Kilohearts
4.5
(2)
"The interface is super intuitive for building your own synths. I find it easier to use than Vital, and far more powerful."
"For me, my go to is Phase Plant. Their subscription plan is pretty nice since you can unlock items permanently each year with a coupon they give you."
#17
Access Music
3.0
(3)
"Virus Emulation covers it all for me, analog to wavetable to jv 1080 like"
"Aura editors (Access Virus and vintage synths)."
"Virus Ti………NOT"
#18
Expressive E
4.0
(2)
"My vote is also for the refurbished osmose."
"What about an Osmose? Expressive E has their refurbished sale going on."
#19
Spectrasonics
4.0
(2)
"Omnisphere and some of the Play Series synths for Kontakt."
"If you are more of a preset surfer you could also try Omnisphere, Roland Galaxias, Korg Wavestate for starters."
#20
SynthV
4.0
(2)
"SynthV2 and V6 are about the same price and VoiSona has a perpetual license now."
"I’d say go with SynthesizerV. It’s more versatile compared to other synths, and doesn’t require a subscription like Voisona. Plus, you can make the same AI voicebank sing in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, regardless of their original language. In addition, it’s much cheaper than Vocaloid 6."
#21
Modal Electronics
4.0
(2)
"The modal stuff has a great editor, and overbridge on the electron stuff is 👌."
"Modal Cobalt and Argon 8 have great editor software."
#22
Synth1
3.0
(2)
"Synth1, Vital and any Full Bucket synth"
"I really liked the kind of tactile UI, and the restrictions of it actually helped my creativity and keeping it retro. But synth1 keeps crashing Reaper and, worse, ruining my project files."
#23
Yamaha
5.0
(1)
"Jupiter-8, CS-80, PPG Wave 2.3, Waldorf Quantum, good place to start."
#24
u-he
5.0
(1)
"Zebra is amazing for pads, and most other sounds too"
#25
PPG
5.0
(1)
"Jupiter-8, CS-80, PPG Wave 2.3, Waldorf Quantum, good place to start."
#26
Sigabort
5.0
(1)
"Sigabort (Summit, Peak, Hydra etc) absolutely brilliant."
#27
Dave Smith Instruments, Black Corporation
5.0
(1)
"Here’s a sexy Pro3 with a delicious ladder filter AND a sem filter. Not spicy enough? Here’s a pure Black Corp Deckard’s Dream. This baby will bring all the Blade Runner boys to the yard!"
#28
Mutable Instruments
5.0
(1)
"20 plaits!"
#29
Synthstrom Audible
5.0
(1)
"Synthstrom Deluge. It’s a battery powered standalone digital synth with plenty of depth, a sampler with a built in mic and line in, and an awesome sequencer and arranger."
#30
Serum
5.0
(1)
"Serum or Vital other than that tho. Just the simplest it can be while still doing everything."
#31
Source Audio
5.0
(1)
"It's the most versatile stereo (digital) distortion pedal I've ever used."
#32
Pro Co
5.0
(1)
"I like the Rat the best for TB-303 and making hardstyle kicks."
#33
SOMA
5.0
(1)
"I've run it through all my synths and drum machines and it sounds gnarly."
#34
BramBos
5.0
(1)
"BramBos Mononoke is a drone synth like Lyra-8."
#35
Uhe
5.0
(1)
"My go-to Softsynths are Uhe Diva, Phaseplant, Pigments, Dune 3 and Spire."
#36
Dune
5.0
(1)
"For what you want to achieve i would recommend you to try Spire or Dune 3."
#37
Hilda
5.0
(1)
"Hilda; beautifully dirty synth"
#38
Gauss
5.0
(1)
"Gauss is great for droning loops, great pitch control, filters and delay."
#39
Circuit Tracks
5.0
(1)
"Check out the Circuit Tracks."
#40
Logic
5.0
(1)
"Logic comes with a ton of world class synths."
#41
Ruismaker
4.0
(1)
"I think Zyklop reinvigorated me after using Pigments so much."
#42
Polyend
4.0
(1)
"I think the new Polyend Synth fits the bill perfectly. It’s nicely priced at $499."
#43
Erica Synths
4.0
(1)
"It's not analog, but you gotta check this out: Steampipe"
#44
Ableton
4.0
(1)
"The Samples is also very intuitive and fast to work with if you can sacrifice not being able to sample live."
#45
Dave Smith Instruments
4.0
(1)
"Just bought a synth, please recommend another peak r/synthesizers lol"
#46
Korg, Roland
4.0
(1)
"For a synth, probably a minilogue xd or if you have a bigger budget the TEO 5/Take 5. For a drum machine, you are already good with the daw tbh. I have a few drum machines but find myself just programming in the DAW. But the Roland TR8s is easy and sounds good."
#47
Arturia, ASM
4.0
(1)
"If you have that stuff just get a Minifreak or hydrasynth and you will be golden."
#48
Arturia, Korg
4.0
(1)
"And you could throw in a Microfreak or Minilogue XD, the latter being more easy to learn for a synth beginner."
#49
Elektron, ASM
4.0
(1)
"MC-707, ASM Hydrasynth 🧡"
#50
Nord
4.0
(1)
"Nord lead a1 also make enormous pads due to the ability to stack 4 patches."
#51
Casio
4.0
(1)
"Casiotone SA-50"
#52
Modal, Korg, ASM, Arturia
4.0
(1)
"Modal Argon8, Korg Opsix, ASM Hydrasynth, Arturia Minifreak to name a few."
#53
Oberheim
4.0
(1)
"Most VAs can do that really well. If you want to try something else, I'd recommend an Oberheim or emulation of one."
#54
Buchla
4.0
(1)
"Eat less avocado toast and up your budget to get a Buchla."
#55
Surge XT
4.0
(1)
"SurgeXT is a free good one for the whole setup. Plenty of wavetables and presets and things to try and learn from just not many filters."
#56
Cardinal
4.0
(1)
"2) Cardinal - modular"
#57
Alchemy
4.0
(1)
"3) Alchemy - granular, additive, and sample based"
#58
Full Bucket
4.0
(1)
"Full bucket (or paid arturia collection) or other free options as classic synths emulations"
#59
VCV Rack
4.0
(1)
"VCV Rack or Cardinal to experiement modular synthesis"
#60
Walrus Audio
4.0
(1)
"5 different types of overdrive plus it has a clean blend."
#61
Michigan Synthworks
4.0
(1)
"The Michigan Synthworks Xena is also in my eye."
#62
H.G. Fortune
3.0
(1)
"Check out the many offerings from H.G. Fortune."
#63
Ru-he
3.0
(1)
"Never heard of it but looking now looks cool. I have used some othe ru-he stuff gonna try it out"
#64
Fizmo
3.0
(1)
"The FIZMO is on the cheaper side, get two!"
#65
Novachord
3.0
(1)
"You should get a novachord"
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