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Spending four figures on a synth is a big call, so every synth on this list earns its place through sound, build and staying power rather than hype. These are analogue, hybrid and digital machines that professional producers and sound designers actually reach for once the budget goes past £1000.
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Oberheim OB-X8
Price: £4,269 at Thomann, in stock now.
The OB-X8 is a fully analogue polysynth built by Oberheim and Sequential together, and it is the closest thing you can buy new to the original OB-X, OB-Xa and OB-8 machines that shaped so many records in the eighties. Eight voices, two analogue oscillators per voice, and genuine Curtis filters give you six different filter options pulled straight from those classic circuits. The factory banks include the original sound sets from all three legacy synths plus new patches from modern designers, so you get both nostalgia and fresh material.
MusicTech named it Product of the Year, and their review summed it up well: turning it on and picking almost any preset gives you a huge slice of Oberheim history in seconds. It has a 61 note Fatar keybed with velocity and aftertouch, a built in arpeggiator, and walnut end cheeks that make it look as good as it sounds.
The main knock against it is price. Owners on Thomann’s own review section keep bringing up the same complaint, that the deeper features hide behind a small screen labelled Page 2, which means a fair bit of menu diving once you go past the front panel knobs. A few reviewers also feel the pitch and mod levers could be firmer. Behringer’s cheaper UB Xa clone gets brought up constantly as the budget alternative, but it does not carry the same circuit pedigree or build quality.
Best suited for studio producers and collectors who want the real Oberheim tone with modern reliability and full MIDI and USB support.
Moog Muse
Price: £2,550 at Thomann, though it does sell out of stock from time to time given demand.
The Muse is Moog’s modern flagship polysynth and effectively replaces the pricier Moog One while keeping eight fully analogue voices. Each voice has two main oscillators plus a third oscillator that doubles as an LFO, with bidirectional oscillator FM for extra grit. Dual transistor ladder filters and a sixteen slot modulation matrix give it real depth, and the stereo Diffusion Delay built into the signal path is one of its standout features.
It comes with a 61 key Fatar keybed, a 64 step sequencer with probability editing and sequence chaining, an arpeggiator and chord memory. At 14.5kg it is a serious piece of gear, not a toy.
Reviewers point out a few gaps. There is no polyphonic aftertouch, only one onboard effect, and the pitch and mod wheels are plastic and feel a bit cheap next to the rest of the build. Early units also had some tuning drift that Moog addressed through firmware updates. It is also less flexible tonally than some of the digital hybrids on this list, since it stays purely in Moog’s analogue wheelhouse.
Best suited for producers and performers who want unmistakable Moog character in a polyphonic instrument without paying Moog One money.
UDO Super Gemini
Price: £3,650 at Thomann, in stock and shipping now.
Built in Bristol, the Super Gemini is one of the most ambitious synths in this price range. It runs twenty voices in mono mode, or ten super voices in a true stereo binaural mode where each ear gets its own complete voice. Two FPGA based digital oscillators per voice feed into an all analogue signal path with SSI based filters, so you get digital flexibility with analogue warmth on the way out. It is also dual layer and bi timbral, meaning you can run two completely different sounds with their own arpeggiators and sequencers at once.
MusicRadar called it one of the great twenty first century polysynths, and once you hear the binaural mode in headphones it is easy to see why. The 61 note semi weighted keybed has polyphonic aftertouch, and there is a custom ribbon controller plus built in chorus and delay with a freeze and looper function.
It is a big, heavy instrument and it costs a lot, so this is one for people who want the depth and are willing to spend the time learning it. As with any newer boutique brand, some buyers stay cautious about firmware maturity early on.
Best suited for sound designers and composers working in ambient or cinematic music who want serious stereo width and dual layer control in one box.
Arturia PolyBrute 12
Price: £2,899 at Thomann, in stock.
The PolyBrute 12 doubles the voice count of the original six voice PolyBrute and fixes its two biggest complaints, limited polyphony and mono aftertouch. Each voice runs two analogue oscillators with a wavefolder on one and a sub oscillator on the other, feeding into dual filters, a 24dB ladder low pass and a 12dB multimode design, that can run in series or parallel. Arturia calls it the most expressive polyphonic analogue synth ever made, and the FullTouch keybed with real polyphonic aftertouch backs that claim up.
What really sets it apart is the Morph knob and the Morphée touch pad, which let you blend between two full patch states in real time, plus a wooden ribbon controller and a motion recorder that captures your performance moves. The 64 step sequencer and the black walnut cabinet round out a genuinely premium package.
Reviewers generally love the expressive side but note the step sequencer feels a bit like an afterthought, and raw oscillator tone can come across slightly thin next to something like the OB-X8. Some also point out the jump from six to twelve voices costs a fair bit more for essentially more voices and a bigger keybed rather than new synthesis features.
Best suited for expressive live performers and sound designers who want morphing textures and hands on control more than raw analogue punch.
Waldorf Iridium Keyboard
Price: £2,250 at Thomann, in stock.
The Iridium is Waldorf’s multi engine flagship built around the same synthesis architecture that made the pricier Quantum MK2 so highly rated, minus the analogue filters, and now the only version of that engine still in production. Three digital oscillators per voice can each run in one of five completely different modes, Wavetable, Waveform, Particle, Resonator and Kernel, covering everything from classic wavetable and hard sync sounds to granular sampling, resonator modelling and six operator FM. All of that feeds through digital dual filters, a large touchscreen and a five slot effects rack per timbre, with 59GB of internal sample storage on board.
The 49 key Fatar keybed carries polyphonic aftertouch, and the sound library pulls from well known sound designers including Richard Devine, giving you a serious head start on patches. It genuinely does feel like a full studio in one box, covering wavetable, granular, FM and sampling territory that nothing else on this list attempts all at once.
The touchscreen dependent workflow is the main criticism, since deeper envelope and LFO editing leans on menus rather than dedicated knobs, and a handful of owners have flagged wonky buttons around the display on early units. Some also miss the analogue filters and extra octave you get on the discontinued Quantum MK2, though the Iridium keeps the identical digital engine for considerably less money.
Best suited for sound designers and composers who want the widest possible synthesis palette in one instrument without paying flagship analogue prices for it.
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