Best Hardware Synthesizers
Under $1,000

The MiniFreak is a 6-voice hybrid: two digital sound engines offering 22 oscillator modes between them, running into analog filters. Those modes cover virtual analog, FM, wavetable, granular, additive, sample-based, Karplus-Strong and formant synthesis, and Engine 2 can process Engine 1's output rather than just sit beside it. Add three effects slots with 13 algorithms each, a 64-step sequencer with four modulation automation lanes, and a 37-note slim keybed with aftertouch, and at $599 it covers more ground than anything else on this page.

Four voices of genuine analog polyphony, built as 2 VCO plus a digital multi-engine, into 1 VCF, 2 EG, 1 VCA and 1 LFO per voice. That third digital oscillator is what separates the xd from the original minilogue: it runs noise, a VPM/FM oscillator with 16 types, and 16 user oscillator slots you can load your own code into. Effects are 32-bit floating point DSP covering modulation, reverb and delay, with 16 user effect slots, and the 16-step polyphonic sequencer records motion on up to four knobs per step.

The SH-4d is four independent synth parts plus a dedicated rhythm part, sharing up to 60 voices of polyphony. Roland gives you 13 oscillator models including the SH-4d's own engine, wavetable, cross FM, and modeled JUNO-106 and SH-101 voices, so the four parts can each be a different instrument. The rhythm part carries 49 preset kits with 26 instruments each and 64 user slots, and the sequencer holds 128 patterns of up to 64 steps with pattern chaining. It runs on USB-C or four AA batteries for roughly four to five hours.

A true analog signal path with two oscillators offering four waveforms each, a dedicated sub oscillator, plus noise and ring modulation. The reason to buy it is the filter section: two distinct analog filters, a state-variable Classic filter and a 24 dB per octave Acid filter, with overdrive and distortion after them. It has 25 full-size velocity-sensitive keys with aftertouch, octave shift from -5 to +4, a 32-step sequencer with four memory slots and a 32-step arpeggiator with swing.

Six-operator FM, which is the same architecture as the classic DX7, with the parts that made the DX7 miserable to program replaced. Korg calls it Altered FM: 40 preset algorithms plus user algorithms, an operator mixer laid out like a small mixing desk, and 11 filters including MS-20 and Polysix models sitting after the FM engine. There are three EGs, three LFOs and 12 virtual patches for modulation, three blocks of 30 effect types, and a 16-step polyphonic sequencer taking up to six notes per step with motion sequencing. This is the keyboard-less desktop module, so it needs a MIDI controller.

Mavis is a semi-modular analog monosynth built around Moog's own oscillator and filter circuits, with a diode wavefolder that was the first analog wavefolder Moog put in an instrument. It ships as an easy-to-assemble kit, works standalone thanks to its one-octave keyboard, and comes out of its case as a 24-point, 44 HP Eurorack module if you go further. At $299 it is by some distance the cheapest way onto this page.