The original OB-X is one of the classics. A sublime synthesizer that was one of the first poly synths to combine full programmability from a single set of controls and portability. You’ll find it all over the music of the 1980s including, of course, Van Halen’s Jump.

Fast forward 40 years and Oberheim has reclaimed its legacy with the new and extraordinary OB-X8. It has that classic Oberheim sound because it is built to the same exacting standards and combines the designs of the OB-8, OB-X and OB-Xa in one machine. It has the ability to pull a huge smile across your face. It’s 100% analog in nature and is full of warmth, punch and nostalgia.

The OB-X8 has 8 voices of polyphony using two VCOs per voice that have their heritage in those original 80s synthesizers. The filters come from the classic SEM and OB-X synths with an additional filter that offers the OB-Xa and OB-8 tones. You can run two tones at once, either layered or split across the 61-note velocity and touch-sensitive keys.

It looks every bit like a proper Oberheim synthesizer and sounds fantastic. The controls are large, obvious and beg to be tweaked. It’s full of fantastic presets that will inspire you on your own journey. If you’re looking for classic synthesizer sounds, then the OB-X8 is the finest analog polyphonic synthesizer on the market.

Street Price: $4,999
Oberheim.com

The Sequential Prophet 5 was the original polyphonic synthesizer that changed everything. It brought the concept of multi-voice synthesis into one, portable and playable machine and enabled Oberheim, Roland, Korg and everything that came after it. Over it’s life from 1978 to 1984 there were three versions plus a double keyboarded Prophet 10. For the new, modern and reimagined Prophet 5, Sequential has taken the best from all the versions and created an awesome legacy synthesizer that oozes style and competence.

The Prophet 5 is built on the exact same components and designs of the originals but with updated stability and expressive enhancements. But Sequential wanted to keep the character of the originals intact and so has built in desirable fluctuations and flaws that you dial in with the Vintage knob. So you can find your own level of cleanliness or grittiness and flutter.

You have two CEM 3340 VCOs per voice and 5 voices on the Prophet-5 or 10 on the Prophet-10. There are a couple of filters to choose from; the Dave Rossum-designed filter from Rev1 and 2, and the Doug Curtis-designed filter from the Rev 3. All of them can be overdriven into self-oscillation. The layout, modulation options and waveshapes are all very straight forward by modern synth standards but that’s part of the charm that’s shared with the OB-X8. These are great synths precisely because the workflow is so well designed and easy to follow. Anyone can stand in front of one and start crafting sounds – they are a joy to play.

The Prophet-5 and 10 voice version are classic synths that sound every bit as good as they look.

Street Price: $3,599
Sequential.com

Following on from the original and very popular PolyBrute, Arturia has released the slightly more immense PolyBrute 12. It’s an iconic looking machine with an extraordinarily expressive interface that makes it a joyful instrument to experience.

The “Fulltouch” keyboard is newly designed with polyphonic aftertouch and release velocity, there’s a morphing controller for sound transitions and triple axis control, a ribbon controller for performance slides, and then there’s an advanced modulation matrix to animate and modulate almost every parameter. You are not just playing a synth you are embodying dynamic and expressive sound – it is great to play.

The sound is underpinned by 12 voices of dual-oscillator analog warmth and power. The oscillators and sub-oscillator can handle multiple shapes with a Brute factor pushing it into harsher tones. The two filters are based on classic designs for power and subtlety, resonance and aggression, warmth and smoothness. There are three LFOs and three envelopes ready to shape and push things into motion. The modulation matrix ensures a dramatic adventure in possibility while giving you automation tracks to run with the sequencer.

The PolyBrute 12 is the most impressive new synthesizer we’ve seen in a long time that really nails the expressive control we want over the sounds we love.

Street Price: $3,999
Arturia.com

You get a definite vintage Roland vibe from the UDO synthesizers. There’s something about that front panel that oozes Juno/Jupiter while being remarkably futuristic. And the Super 8 is definitely coming at us from the future.

The Super 8 is a 16-voice polyphonic analog-hybrid performance-orientated synthesizer. It’s bi-timbral, meaning it can be two synths at once and comes with an expressive 61-note keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch. It has two FPGA-based digital oscillators per voice. They can produce all the usual waveforms plus some more complex possibilities. Each one can spread into six “sister” oscillators for some very rich and animated sounds.

The analog filter has multiple modes of operation with some classic designs and some superb overdrive to feed the resonant monster. There are three envelopes to control the sound and a single regular LFO plus two digital modulators that can be all sorts of things. And finally we have a stereo chorus and delay.

The routing within the Super 8 is binaural giving you twin signal paths for extraordinary width and stereo imaging. You can detune the left and right oscillators, VCA or filter to give a very unique sonic experience.

The Super 8 is a beautifully engaging synthesizer.

Street Price: $3,995
Udo-Audio.com

This is the synthesizer Behringer has been working on the longest. When they set out to redefine the synth landscape by bringing back the legends of the past, it was this synth that they had in mind.

The UB-Xa is based upon the classic Oberheim OB-Xa from 1981. It was superbly lush 8-voice analogue synthesizer that defined the sound of the early part of the decade. The UB-Xa attempts to recreate it using modern versions of all the same circuitry at a vastly reduced cost. And honestly, Behringer has got it about right.

You’ve got the same basic architecture with 2 VCOs per voice based on the CEM 3340 chip and the 12dB/oct and 24dB/oct CEM 3320 based low pass filter. That alone defines the foundation of the tone. But Behringer has taking things further by pumping up the voice count to 16-voices, split it into a stereo signal path and made it bi-timbral. That means that you can run two sounds at once, split or layered across the keyboard. That feature alone turns it into a very different synthesizer.

They keyboard is a newly designed 61-note full size semi-weighted keybed with polyphonic aftertouch. This means that each key can modulate its own note independently. There’s also room for 512 presets. The only thing missing is any effects, but then the origianl didn’t have any either. All the controls are on the surface, ready to be manipulated.

The UB-Xa looks and sounds great and is available at a stunning price point.

Street Price: $1,499
Behringer.com

The 3rd Wave reinvents the concept of the modern wavetable synthesizer. Inspired by the PPG Wave, the 3rd Wave pushes the polyphony up to 24 voices, splits it into 4-part multi-timbrality and gives you onboard wavetable creation.

Each voice has three oscillators capable of running one of 64 different wavetables, or, for a bit of analog goodness, you can run a virtual analog waveform. Many of the wavetables from directly from the original PPG Wave. These then run into a pair of analog filters. The first filter is based on the one found in the Sequential Prophet-5, the second is a state-variable filter like those made famous by Oberheim in the SEM.

For modulation the 3rd Wave has a whopping four envelopes for any destination and a dedicated six-stage envelope for sweeping the wavetables on each oscillator. If that’s not enough then four LFOs can push any parameter into all sorts of trouble.

The sequencer uses the four parts to layer up possibilties within the synthesizer. Each part has its own arpeggiator and modulation routings so you can pull together distinct layers of sound. And finally an effects engine gives a range of studio digital effects.

The 3rd Wave is an immensely creative synthesizer that displays the fully formed power of wavetables in a very striking form.

Street Price: $4,995
GrooveSynthesis.com

The hottest new synth in town is the deliciously hybrid MiniFreak. It blows the lid off the earlier MicroFreak and oozes into a larger space of 6-voice polyphony and dual digital sound engines. The sounds are inspired by the bleeps and bloops of modular synthesis and in particular, those from the multi-oscillator Plaits from Mutable Instruments. It takes that monophonic space and transforms it into a fascinating polyphonic experience like none other.

It’s funny-looking but in a good way, a way that engages with you and pulls you in closer. It’s software driven and hardware interfaced to give you a playable surface to investigate the weirdness of the sound engine. There are 22 different oscillator types running from waveforms to chords, filtered sounds to supersaws, FM to formant and more. And you get to choose a different one for each oscillator and then play with its parameters.

MiniFreak is massively experimental while also being warm and rewarding when you just want some synth sounds. The SEM-style analog filters are lovely, bringing multi-modes of colour and shaping. And the modulation can come from all sorts of places. A solid digital effects engine gives it loads of room to breathe.

It’s not just a synth with a keyboard either because the keyboard is surrounded by other possibilities. There’s a sequencer and arpeggiator in here with lots of exciting modes, variations, spontaneous movements, repeats, ratchets and randomisations. It’s always got more things to do.

MiniFreak is fabulously unconventional and is the synth you need if old analogs leave you cold. Do it differently.

Street Price: $599
Arturia.com

The Multi-/Poly brings together ideas inspired by Korg’s classic 1980s analog synth, the MonoPoly and transforms it to fit into their recent and very popular mid-sized form factor. The inspiration is there in the four oscillator architecture but then the Multi/Poly soars into wonderfully diverse areas.

It is a digital synth but it’s running a new generation of analog modelling to give breathtakingly authentic sounds and new ways of interpreting them. The four stacked oscillators can use virtual analog waveforms, wavetables or waveshaper types. The whole architecture is then modelled from the VCAs, envelopes and LFOs through to the large collection of filter types and topologies. The filter section is huge, with a dual channel setup to take parallel or serial advantage of a wide range of filter tones.

You can use sync and cross-modulation to find whole new tones within the four waveforms, or split them into pairs with separate controls. You can load your own wavetables to mix in your own sounds or explore a ore West Coast vibe with the dynamic harmonics of the waveshaping. And then there’s the Kaos pad that can give you physics filled interactions with multiple parameters.

There’s far too much in this synthesizer already but you’ll also find that it has four layers that can have individual patches, it has Motion Sequencing with automation lanes, a bunch of studio quality effects and a maximum of 60 voices of polyphony. And it’s remarkably affordable.

Street Price: $899
Korg.com