Every December, when we look back on the synths released over the past year, we come away thinking: ‘Surely a pinnacle has been reached? Surely there’s no way to out-innovate the innovations we’d been treated to that year?’ Then, inevitably, come January during The NAMM Show, a new, innovative synth will be launched and we’ll be blown away all over again.
- READ MORE: The best studio gear released in 2024, according to MusicTech’s reviewers
So let’s check out the synths and instruments from 2024 that 2025’s crop of releases will have to beat.
Arturia AstroLab
Arturia AstroLab. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTechNot all musicians want to expend their efforts learning the intricacies of synthesis and how it applies to different instruments. This is what motivated Arturia to create the AnalogLab software instrument that wraps hundreds of V Collection presets into a unified instrument featuring simple and predictable macros for modifying the sound.
AstroLab, then, is AnalogLab built into a dedicated hardware instrument. It allows you to take AnalogLab’s vast library of synths and sounds from the studio to the road without the need to lug a laptop along for the ride (with all the associated risks).
AstroLab is no mere preset player, though. With dedicated controls for the AnalogLab macros, which themselves have been carefully tailored to create useful and effective modulations, it allows musicians to explore their creativity without bogging down in the deeper technicalities of synthesis.
The instrument is finished to an exceptionally high standard, with a chic elegance that would not look out of place in an interior design portfolio – it really does look beautiful! But that beauty belies the rugged, road-ready solidity of AstroLab.
Read our interview with the Arturia team on the release of AstroLab.
Read our review of the AstroLab.
Oberheim TEO-5
Oberheim TEO-5. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTechAt 87 years old, and after half a century in the business, Tom Elroy Oberheim knows what it takes to design a synth. “It’s always a matter of thinking about the sound, effects and modulation, but keeping the cost in mind,” Oberheim explained to us. “It’s a puzzle and, if you’re lucky and know what you’re doing, you can solve that puzzle in different ways. After 50 years, you find yourself getting good at that.”
The TEO-5 proves what an understatement this is. Named in honour of Oberheim himself, the instrument delivers the quintessential Obie sound and character (and, yes, the Van Halen Jump sound) thanks to its fat oscillators and original SEM filter circuit. It looks the part too, with a well-laid-out control panel and the blue-striped design of vintage Oberheims. But it also caters for the needs of modern producers, with features such as digital effects, oscillator X-mod and step sequencing.
“If we made this 30 years ago, we’d have ruled the world,” says Oberheim.
Read our full interview with Tom Oberheim on the TEO-5.
Beetlecrab Tempera
Beetlecrab Tempera. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTechNothing we have seen in the past 22 years of MusicTech prepared us for the Beetlecrab Tempera, which tears up the entire concept of what an electronic instrument is and how it should be played.
At heart, the machine is a granular synth, and so creates sound by extracting audio snippets – or grains – from a sample and then looping and pitching those grains to create new and original waveforms. But what Tempera does is split a loaded sample into eight equally-sized chunks, and treats each chunk as a granular synth source. A sample’s chunks/grains are assigned consecutively to vertical strips of touch-sensitive buttons on the 8×8 control matrix, allowing each chunk to be triggered as an independent voice.
Different tigger types, or ‘Emitters’, modify the way in which a chunk will play – one-shot, looping, and so on. Emitters can also trigger other Emitters around them. In this way, Tempera provides a fascinating sonic palette that begs to be explored, and the results can be jaw-dropping.
Tempera is exceptionally hard to describe, but much easier to understand through demonstration, so be sure to check out what the ‘synthfluencers’ on YouTube have been doing with it… it’s mind-blowing.
Read our full interview with the Beetlecrab team on the Tempera.
Moog Spectravox
Moog Spectravox. Image: PressHaving been acquired by InMusic in the latter stages of 2023, we waited with bated breath to see what the reformed Moog would give us in 2024. The answer came in the Summer with the release of Spectravox, an extension of the Mother line of Eurorack-compatible semi-modular instruments.
The unit has a basic oscillator and some modulation options, but its the filter that’s the star of the show, making Spectravox less a synth and more a dedicated processing module.
Low- and high-pass resonant filters are joined by eight narrow band-pass resonant filters, in a design based on the vintage Moog 907 filter bank. The band separation is set according to the original specifications of the Voder, an early precursor of the vocoder, so vintage analogue vocoding is a Spectravox speciality. The cutoff frequencies can be swept en-masse, too, resulting in phaser-like modulations and filter sweeps.
“If this is the shape of things to come from Moog” we said at the time, “then the future is bright”.
Read our full review of the Moog Spectravox.
Moog Labyrinth
Moog Labyrinth. Image: PressLanding around the same time as Spectravox was Labyrinth, Moog’s second Eurorack-friendly synth of the year, and one that marked something of a new direction for the company.
The synth’s two-oscillator sound engine features a novel (for Moog) 12db/octave state-variable filter that can morph from low-pass to band-pass modes. More surprisingly, there’s Buchla-style through-zero frequency modulation and wavefolder. What next? Dogs lying down with cats?!
Dual generative sequencers bring random chance to the fore, and the myriad ways these can influence the synth engine, and each other, is what creates the labyrinthine signal pathways that give the instrument its name.
“You have to always be recording when you’re using it” reckons top synth YouTuber Andrew Huang, “because you’re able to transform sounds and sequences so quickly, you can never fully predict where you’re going to end up with it.”
Read our full review of the Moog Labyrinth.
Arturia PolyBrute 12
Arturia PolyBrute 12. Image: ArturiaThe original PolyBrute caused a stir with its big analogue sound, advanced modulation matrix and bi-timbral voicing, but its six voice polyphony proved to be a major shortcoming. The brute-force solution Arturia came up with was to pack in twice the number of voice boards, giving us the PolyBrute 12.
This polyphony boost was much needed, but what really sets PolyBrute 12 apart from many other synths is the depth of performance control afforded by its advanced keybed. This boasts true polyphonic aftertouch and various aftertouch modes, all backed by full MPE support. It’s a fabulously expressive machine!
As we put it in our review: “PolyBrute 12 proves that [Arturia] can out-innovate even the most established names in the game.”
Read our full review of the Arturia PolyBrute 12.
Elektron Digitakt II
Elektron Digitakt II. Image: PressThe original Digitakt drum sampler/machine/workstation, from Swiss company Elektron, sharply divided opinion. Admirers (or “Elektronauts”, apparently) adored the unit’s classic workflow, whilst naysayers criticised memory, storage and polyphony specs that weren’t much better than the 90s workstations that are Digitakt’s spiritual forebears.
This year’s release of Digitakt II was therefore bound to generate a buzz as people argued over whether its advances make for a more globally-appealing device or are merely, as the acerbic wit of AudioPilz puts it, “a perfect fan service [for] Stockholm Syndrome victims”.
Certainly, like its predecessor, Digitakt II isn’t everybody’s cup of boiled leaf clippings, but there’s no doubt that Elektron has massively upped the power and capability of the unit with, amongst other things, a new suite of digital effects, 16 stereo tracks, and a massive jump to 20GB of internal storage, 400MB RAM, and up to 1024 samples per project.
These big advances come with a commensurate price jump, but the Elektronauts are unlikely to mind this given the advances Elektron has woven into the beloved Digitakt platform.
Read our full review of the Elektron Digitakt II.
Moog Muse
Moog Muse. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTechRumours about a new Moog thoroughbred had been building all year, but these did not prepare us for what Andrew Huang describes as “One of my favourite synths of all time”.
Muse replaces the Moog One as the company’s flagship instrument, and does so at a more accessible price – not exactly affordable, but considerably more-so than its predecessor. To achieve this, the Muse design team reigned in the raw power of One whilst maintaining focus on performability. As development lead Chris Miller told us: “We really wanted to make something that was going to speak to the needs of touring musicians”.
Muse has grown from the Matriarch family, which itself referred back to the original modular designs of the 60s, and so Muse is 100% Moog through-and-through. It has modern elements too, though, with generative and probabilistic functionality developed in tandem with Labyrinth.
Read our full interview with the Moog team about Muse.
Read our full review of the Muse.
Ableton Move
Ableton Move. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTechThe £400 asking price of Ableton’s latest device may seem steep for such a compact little unit, but that’s only until you understand what it actually is. Move is a four track workstation that packs within its tough and portable innards the Drift, Wavetable and Drum Rack instruments found in Ableton Live.
The pad control panel is reminiscent of Push and, as well being used to play the instruments, mimics Live’s Session View, so arranging patterns and parts is a breeze. Best of all, Move can connect to Live to pass across the jams and sketches you create on the hardware ready for further development within the DAW.
The hardware is only useful to those who already use Live (or plan to start using it), but if you’re on the platform then Move is the perfect way to capture and sketch your ideas, wherever and whenever they come to you.
Read our full interview with the Ableton team about Move.
Read our full review of Move here.
Polyend Synth
Polyend Synth. By Simon Vinall for MusicTech.Polyend Synth is the latest addition to the company’s popular range of grooveboxes. However, unlike Tracker’s and Play’s sequencing focus, Synth is much more about playability and performability, its 5×12 pad matrix offering full polyphonic aftertouch and some clever chord and scale modes.
Synth provides three independent synth engines. Each engine can load one of eight different synth models, with each model designed to create its own particular type and flavour of sound. Four of the synth models are taken directly from Tracker+ and Play+, but the remaining four are unique to Synth (ACD, FAT, VAP and WTFM).
Having landed so late in the year, we have yet to form our own opinion on Synth, but it’s clear from the online reception and the growing number of YouTube demos that Polyend are on track to play another blinder (puns fully intended… sorry!).
Read our full interview with the Polyend team about the Synth.