Synth

TL;DR - The last month gave producers three things worth paying attention to. Superbooth 2026 in Berlin put neural audio processing into a hardware pedal for the first time and handed Buchla a $999 entry point. The AI music legal picture kept moving, with a fresh lawsuit against Suno and a still-pending Sony ruling expected this summer. And the tooling caught up quietly, with Ableton Live 12.4 and REAPER 7.73 shipping solid point releases. Here is what actually changed - and what is just noise. ...

TL;DR Six months in, the Yamaha Montage M (M8X) is the most musically rewarding synth I have owned - and I use maybe twenty percent of what it can do That is not a complaint: it is a flagship trying to be a stage piano, sample workstation, FM synth, virtual analogue, and controller all at once, and no working musician uses all of it The question that matters is whether the things it does brilliantly map onto the things you actually do; for my hybrid-rig use case the answer is yes Some showroom features were quietly abandoned, while features I initially overlooked became indispensable - the six-month view is very different from release day Your mileage will genuinely vary with your use case; this review is from a hybrid hardware rig perspective, not a stage or sound-design one A six-month review is a different beast from a release-day one. The honeymoon is over. The early enthusiasm has cooled. The features that demoed well in the showroom have either earned their place in your daily workflow or quietly been abandoned, and the features you initially overlooked have either continued to be irrelevant or become indispensable. ...

TL;DR MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) gives every sounding note its own continuous pitch, pressure, and timbre control, where standard MIDI shares those controls across the whole channel The trick is channel rotation: a master channel carries global messages while each note gets its own channel, making per-voice expression a first-class citizen Hardware and synth must both participate - an MPE controller into a non-MPE synth gets you nothing It is genuinely worth the cost for solo lines, expressive pads, and modelled acoustic instruments; it is overkill for step-sequenced and quantised material Once you have spent serious time on an MPE instrument, a fixed-velocity keyboard feels like trading a touch screen for a number pad If you have spent any time around electronic music in the last decade, you have probably seen the letters MPE written on the side of a controller and not thought too much about them. The acronym sounds like a feature bullet. It is not. It is a quiet but fundamental reframing of what an electronic instrument can do, and once you have spent serious time playing one, going back to a fixed-velocity keyboard feels like trading a touch screen for a number pad. ...

About iOS has quietly become one of the most interesting platforms for music making. The combination of multi-touch, low-latency audio, AUv3 plug-in hosting, and instant-on hardware means an iPad can sit somewhere between a notebook for ideas and a fully credible studio instrument. The list below is what I keep installed and reach for - synths I actually open, grooveboxes that have made it into finished tracks, and a couple of learning tools that are genuinely useful. Apps are grouped by developer so you can find related instruments quickly. Where an app is iPhone-only or particularly suited to one device, I’ve called that out. ...

In the realm of software synthesizers, few names command as much respect and anticipation as u-he. And among their legendary lineup, Zebra has always stood out as a chameleon – a semi-modular powerhouse capable of almost any sound. Now, with the long-awaited arrival of Zebra 3, the beast has truly been unleashed, promising to redefine what’s possible in digital sound design. This isn’t just an update; it’s a complete reimagining, building on the strengths of its predecessor while pushing the boundaries of flexibility, sonic fidelity, and user experience. ...

TL;DR The 1983 Yamaha DX7 sold over 200,000 units by 1989 and remains arguably the most influential synthesizer in history - it did not just change synth design, it changed how modern music sounds It was built on FM synthesis, invented by John Chowning at Stanford in the 1970s and licensed by Yamaha - six operators producing timbres subtractive synths could not touch The glassy electric pianos, basses, and bells of mid-80s pop are DX7 presets; a huge share of the era’s hits used the factory sounds unchanged It was notoriously hard to program, which nobody cared about - and which accidentally created the preset culture that still defines synth use today Its influence runs to the present: FM engines sit inside most modern workstations and software synths The Yamaha DX7 wasn’t the first synthesizer. It wasn’t the most powerful. It wasn’t the cheapest. But in 1983, it became the most important instrument released that decade - and arguably the most influential synthesizer in history. By 1989, over 200,000 units had been sold. Today, it remains the second-best-selling synthesizer of all time (after the Casio VL-Tone, which was technically a calculator with a synth). ...

If you’ve ever compared a Behringer Model D or Poly D to a classic Moog, you might have thought: “Wait… that looks exactly like a Minimoog!” Yet somehow, Behringer isn’t breaking any laws. How does that work? The answer lies in the fascinating intersection of patents, copyright, trademarks, and trade dress - the legal forces that shape hardware synth design. Patents: The Clock Ticks Out Patents are the most obvious form of protection for inventors. They grant exclusive rights to an invention for a limited time - usually 20 years. Once a patent expires, the invention becomes public domain. ...

The Roland Jupiter‑X is one of Roland’s most ambitious synthesizers, combining classic analog-inspired tones with advanced digital synthesis and modern performance features. Designed for musicians, producers, and live performers, it offers the sonic breadth of vintage instruments while providing hands-on control and studio-ready flexibility. As of January 2026 in the UK, the Jupiter‑X typically retails around £2,155 at Andertons Music Co. A Modern Take on a Classic Lineage The Jupiter‑X isn’t a simple reissue of any single classic synth. Instead, it leverages Roland’s ZEN-Core synthesis platform to model multiple legendary instruments, including the JUPITER‑8, JUNO‑106, SH‑101, and classic drum machine sounds. This makes it a complete sound studio in a keyboard, capable of producing everything from vintage leads and pads to complex layered textures and modern synth sounds. ...

Roland Juno‑X Review: A Modern Reinterpretation of a Classic Synth The Roland Juno‑X is Roland’s contemporary take on one of the most iconic synth lines in history. Designed for musicians and producers who love the classic Juno sound but need modern reliability and flexibility, the Juno‑X blends vintage-inspired tones with hands-on control and studio-ready digital features. As of January 2026 in the UK, the Juno‑X typically retails around £1,618 at Andertons Music Co. ...

The Yamaha MODX M and Roland MC-707 make a surprisingly elegant pair when you stop thinking of them as separate instruments and start treating the MC-707 as a MIDI recorder and playback brain for the MODX. In this setup, the MODX becomes your hands and sound engine, while the MC-707 becomes the place where performances are captured, edited, looped, and arranged. It’s a simple idea, but it unlocks a very fluid, performance-first workflow. I use a closely related architecture with a Montage M instead of a MODX, which I cover in Hybrid systems: Montage + MC-707. ...