Best synths

Best Synthesizers over $1000* ($1k – $3k) (June 2025)

Lists
robinv

So, you’ve got a couple of grand to drop on a synth hey? Synths start getting serious at this price range and you could end up with something rather special. Here are my picks for the best synths that you can buy from around $1k to $3k. The list is drawn from my experience in the industry and is absolutely just my opinion, but I hope it will help you in your search for an awesome synth, or at least provoke discussion. Feel free to tell me your favourite synth in the comments.

This was a harder list than I thought. There’s such a smattering of mid-premium synths mixed in with innovation, updated emulations and oddities that it was hard to pin down exactly what makes a synth “great”. You start to mix in legacy, ideas, format and build quality along with feature set and sound that’s no so important in cheaper synths. So, to keep this list under control I had to make some decisions. First of all I’m keeping under $3000 – this pushes the really posh and premium synths to another list and leaves room for the smaller, groovier and possibly more interesting offerings. I’m also leaving out the workstation keyboards such as the MODX, Fantom and Nautilus because their focus is really on being a massive sound source for production rather than a playground for sound exploration and design. Also with the legions of Behringer fans out there who want to see the UB-Xa on this list, I feel while its a fine clone of the Oberheim it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table whereas all the other synths here spin their own character and personality.

Pittsburgh Taiga – $1299 £1159 €1319

This is a fascinating synthesizer that pulls in classic forms while twisting them all about in unusual ways. It comes from Pittsburgh Modular who have been exploring all sorts of different directions. The Taiga Keyboard explores different forms of analogue synthesis making it exciting and slightly disconcerting. You could see it as a three oscillator Minimoog-like monosynth, and that’s certainly where to start, but then you find it has variable waveforms, waveforms that can fold in alarming ways, a filter that’s saturated and sweet all the way round before falling into a strange dynamics section that travels from west to east coast in a flurry of expectation. To round it off is a fabulous side bay for add Eurorack modules and a wide row of patch points to get as modular as you like. It’s quirky, experimental and full of adventure. Pittsburgh also have the Voltage Lab II that would fit into this list – while it’s awesome it’s probably too experimental for most people and the Taiga keyboard is that bit more accessible. There’s also a cheaper desktop version but for me the expanded nature of the front panel, the keyboard with extra modulation and the modular bay make this a much more interesting prospect.

https://pittsburghmodular.com/taiga

Dreadbox Artemis – $1499 £1105 €1319

I got play with this at Superbooth and good lord it’s a lovely thing. Dreadbox have a different vibe that runs through everything they do. Artemis is 6 voices of analogue tones and it just sounds and feels really nice. It has an easy layout combining knobs and sliders in a very pleasing way. The two oscillators per voice glide deliciously between waveforms and detuning, giving dramatic and pulsating movement while the filter carves and emphasises and the effects billow and smudge. You don’t really need the screen to play but it does give you access to a large preset library and details on the effects and sequencer. Simple, elegant, unfussy, and beautiful.

https://dreadbox-fx.com/artemis/

Soma Terra $1599 £1369 €1625

So, what the heck is this, have I lost my mind? Quite possibly – Soma Labs weird experiments with reality can seem a bit unhinged but what you find in the Terra is an elegant exploration of sound and interface. Behind the polished wood, shiny sensors and knob controls is a 12-voice digital synthesizer that pulls in 32 different synth algorithms to lead you down the road of experimental expression. You drape your fingers across the surface and effortlessly find notes to play, aftertouch to lean into, parameters to manipulate and effects to fall into. You can play with velocity and modulation in ways you wouldn’t have thought of before. Along with polysynth sounds you’ll find physical modelling, percussion, noise and organic environments. It’s designed to connect you with your inner artist and with a built in gyroscope you could even dance with it. I played with one recently and it’s an intoxicating experience.

https://somasynths.com/terra/

Oberheim TEO-5 – $1849 £1399 €1633

This is a gorgeous compact synthesizer designed by Oberheim and made by Sequential, so it packs both legends into a superb little instrument. It has many similarities to the Sequential Take-5 and they could definitely share this spot but I believe the Oberheim has a slightly more interesting angle. It is 5-voice polyphonic and analogue all the way through. Each voice gets two oscillators and a sub with a mix of waveforms. It has a really mice cross-modulation control for melodic through-zero FM which is very unusual and fascinating on this type of synth. There’s also plenty of modulation from the two fully equipped LFOs and envelopes. It has that lovely Oberheim filter, Oberheim modelled effects, arp and sequencer. But overall it’s a classic synth that gives exactly the sound you want with vintage overtones and then drifts off into weirder and unexpected realms.

https://oberheim.com/products/teo-5/

Studio Electronics Boomstar MkII $1849 £1792

Studio Electronics have been making studio-ready, high-quality analogue synths for decades. They borrow from classic designs and turn them into hard working boxes that capture the magic of vintage synths through their use of hand-crafted circuits and discrete components. Each Boomstar from the range of five is a high-end dual oscillator analog synth  with sub oscillators, waveform mixing, cross-modulation, two envelopes, LFO mixing and overdrive. The only decision you have to make is which classic filter to you want to carve your sounds with. You can choose from a Moog filter, CS-80 filter, Roland Juno, SEM or the ARP 2600. All of then authentically replicated and built into a solid desktop box. Beautifully made, semi-modular, monophonic boxes of joy.

https://www.studioelectronics.com/products/desktop/Boomstar

Moog Matriarch – $1899 £1790 €2125

Moog are going through some changes and so it’s difficult to know how long the last generation of synths are going to stick around. But while we still have it, the Matriarch feels like a celebration of Moog legacy. It combines the keyboard of the Minimoog with the vast possibilities of modular while pushing towards polyphony. It has four oscillators that can be stacked or split before being subsumed into that classic ladder filter that’s been broadened into a stereo view. It’s surrounded on all sides by modular mayhem and modulation, making it extremely patchable and immediately adventurous. It’s all about big controls, intentional patching, enjoying and revelling in the limitations while getting excited by the possibilities. It feels huge to play with and while I love the colour, it’s also available in black. The Sub 37 is the cool, calm and professional looking sibling of the Matriarch. It’s been around longer, has presets and could be a more serious looking alternative for people without a sense of adventure.

https://www.moogmusic.com/synthesizers/matriarch

Elta Music Solar 42F – $2099 £1859

Something for the fan of endless soundscapes, drones, moods and modifications. The stunning Solar 42F is an adventure playground in synthesizer form. It features two melodic oscillators for playing and sequencing and then six drone voices that build and layer the textures. Feed into them the two S&H generators, five LFOs and envelopes. Route through two battling filters and mix into a bucket of effects to spread, deepen and modulate. You can let things evolve at their own pace or introduce prompts from the touch-plate keyboard and joystick controller. It’s exciting and different and the sort of machine you can get completely lost in.

https://www.eltamusic.com/solar-42f

Erica Synths SYNTRX II – $2179 €2179 £1835

A exquisite synthesizer inspired by the Putney VCS3 and yet forging its own path in sumptuous synthesizeriness. The concept behind the Syntrx is one of quality, precision and total fidelity. It starts with two high-precision continuously variable waveform oscillators that can sync or vibe, detune or mess with each other. A third oscillator acts as a freeform modulator and you can also mix in noise and a pair of audio inputs. It all falls into a multimode filter before finding its way to a very controllable stereo output via a slightly baffling trapezoid envelope. Once you’ve gotten over the sheer class of the front panel your eyes are drawn to the modulation matrix. Gone are the pins of the VCS3 and instead we have a digitally controlled matrix that can patch everything to everything else, remember it, refind it and browse through 254 patches. Rounding things off are a sequencer, joystick, envelope followerer.

https://www.ericasynths.lv/shop/standalone-instruments-1/syntrx-ii

Roland Juno-X – $2199 £1518 €1581

This is Roland’s finest attempt at trying to recapture what we loved about their analogue synths without actually making an analogue synth. The Juno-X looks like a Juno, sounds like a Juno and yet is completely digital. Inside is Roland’s highly versatile ZEN-Core engine which can pretty much emulate anything. It has complete emulations of the Juno 106 and Juno 60 that sound fantastic and you have the front panel to immerse yourself in like it’s 1984. However, once you’ve got over your authentic analogue disappointment you’ll find that there are layers upon layers of sounds and possibilities. It comes with a library of XV 5080 PCM-based sounds including RD series pianos, drums and percussion. You can layer up or sequence 4 different parts and add another rhythm track. It’s in danger of being a workstation keyboard but doesn’t quite go all in on the song construction. If you subscribe to Roland Cloud you can also import further sounds and synth emulations making the possibilities completely huge. It also has ridiculous things like a vocoder and built in speakers which are definitely a pro for some people. It’s a bit expensive in the US at the moment, more reasonable in Europe and would make for a wonderfully complete home synthesizer, or gigging machine with a huge and playable range of sounds.

https://www.roland.com/us/products/juno-x

Arturia Polybrute – $2499 €2445 £2059

Probably considered one of the nicest and well-balanced synths of recent times the Polybrute is a wonderful exercise in crowd-pleasing analogue sound combined with nuanced expressive control that makes it feel artistic. You have a busy front panel to play with that starts with a pair of waveshaping oscillators that run through a dual filter environment that gives either a classic Moog ladder or a Steiner filter for additional rasp. The filters can be controlled together or separately and you can even squirt them with audio rate modulation. There’s a generous selection of modulators from three LFOs to 3 envelopes and a 64-point matrix for sources and destinations. Nice things include the morphing between two preset states, the ribbon controller, the 3-axis wobbly morph controller and the 64-step sequencer with motion recording. Drown it all in effects at the end and you have one heck of a responsive, gooey sounding synth.

https://www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/polybrute-noir/overview

Sequential Prophet rev2 – $2499 £2432 €2017

The Prophet rev2 has been around a little while now and was really, in my view, what brought the return of Sequential back into focus. While the Prophet-6 is around the same money and offers and entirely analogue experience, the Rev2 blends in digital control and a modulation matrix to make it a bit more precise and versatile. It has two digitally controlled oscillators per voice and a choice of 8 or a more expensive 16 voice. The usual waveforms are available and they can all have their widths modulated. You’ll also find a sub, sync, glide and white noise. The filter is the classic from the Prophet-5 but with an additional self-oscillating slope. A generous 3 envelopes and 4 LFOs provides a large amount of modulation that’s routable all over the place through the matrix. It’s bi-timbral letting you split the voices between layers and sequence both or one or the other with the polyphonic synthesizer. It’s a desperately solid synth that’s not trying to be flashy but builds itself into a reliable hard working instrument that would fight the Polybrute for being the finest synthesizer under $3000.

https://sequential.com/hybrid-analog/prophet-rev2/

UDO Super 6 – $2835 £2899 €3026

This is one classy looking synthesizer. It’s a hybrid design, based loosely you could say on the Roland Juno in form but the insides are definitely futuristic. The oscillators are forged in an FPGA digital environment and manipulated through a binaural analogue signal path. It can either produce 12 regular voices or 6 binaural super-voices that play around in the stereo field completely independently. The result is a rich and animated sound that is simply a joy to play. The filters are based on classic analogue ladder designs with two levels of overdrive. There’s a single LFO, two envelopes but a matrix brings in other performance elements to engage the parameters. And there’s an arp. Sequencer, delay and chorus. All of it is more of less on the front panel for intuitive interactions.

https://www.udo-audio.com/super-6

Future Sound Systems Cric – $2999 £2499

FSS don’t really need to be on this list as they can’t make them fast enough and the last thing they need is more orders. Cric has captured people’s imagination because it is forthrightly weird and stunningly unique. Built from theie experiences of making modular instruments Cric pulls together flexible modular ideas into a performance instrument that can take you on all sorts of adventures. It has three analog recombining oscillators with white noise, a zany filter section that smooth off edges or rework your audio into decimated tones and overloaded elements. It has four function generators that can be envelopes, LFOs or even as oscillators. All of it is interrupted my the massive pin matrix that will give you hours of fun routing and rerouting CV and audio to places it really shouldn’t. It can also process up to 4 external inputs including a mic preamp if you’d like to get your voice in there. Cric is exciting, different, exploratory and rock hard.

https://www.futuresoundsystems.co.uk/returncric.html

Buchla Easel Command – $2999 £2999

And finally a piece of synthesizer history in the form of the Buchla Easel Command, a slimmed down version of the full Music Easel that does away with the keyboard and case to give us a beautifully realised introduction to the Buchla way of doing things. To the uninitiated it’s both beautiful and baffling – few things work as you’d expect but the Easel invites you to spend some time figuring it all out. And if you do you’ll be rewarded by some of the most elegantly balanced synthesis you’ll ever find. It has two oscillators, two lowpass gates, mixing and a complex oscillator with variable waveshapes and wavefolding. It’s FM, it’s modulation art, it’s a confusing rummaging around in signal paths looking for melody and often finding something else entirely. There’s no going back.

https://buchla.com/easel-command-and-208c