5 Next Level Hardware Synths: The Future Is Here Now
Exciting instruments from KORG, Frap Tools, ASM, and more!
Looking for cutting-edge analog and digital synthesizers? You’ll find five next level hardware synths here.
Next Level Hardware Synths
5 Next Level Hardware Synths
You may have the idea that all of the advancements in synthesis and synthesizer technology are happening in either Eurorack or software. And while there are some amazing things transpiring in those two sectors, good old hardware synthesizers have their fair share of cutting-edge tech too. Sure, there are plenty of traditional analog and FM to be found, but look a little deeper and you’ll uncover some real forward-thinking gems, instruments that are pushing the envelope with ideas and features that others will eventually adopt.
Here are five next level hardware synths on the market in 2026.
Next Level Hardware Synths: ASM Leviasynth
When Yamaha started releasing FM synthesizers in the early 1980s, it felt like the future. Clean and glassy, FM could do things that analog could only dream of. Yamaha kept advancing FM over the years, and while it’s still a powerful form of digital synthesis, it’s not exactly cutting edge these days, is it? Leave it to ASM, then, to redefine FM for the future.
I’m talking, of course, about Leviasynth, the company’s latest, fantastic instrument. What Hydrasynth did for wavetables, Leviasynth does for frequency modulation. But that’s not all, it can also handle phase modulation, pulse width modulation, HTE Sync (oscillator sync), and three types of phase distortion. And rather than just sine waves, as with trad FM, ASM’s algorithmic beast lets you work with 300-plus waveforms, with limitless algorithmic possibilities.
All of this would be academic if Leviasynth didn’t sound so beautiful, which it does. If you’re looking for the bleeding edge of digital (and analog too – check out that 24dB lowpass filter!), push out to deep waters and track down Leviasynth.
- ASM Leviasynth product page
- More about ASM
Next Level Hardware Synths: Frap Tools Magnolia
I just got finished telling you that FM is a digital thing, but many of you will probably already be yelling at your screens about analog FM. Yes, analog synthesizers often do have frequency modulation, such as using an oscillator to modulate the cutoff frequency. But for something that tracks harmonically clean, you generally need digital. Unless you’re Frap Tools. The Eurorack company has infused its first traditional keyboard synth, Magnolia, with the ability to achieve through-zero FM – and it’s analog.
An eight-voice polysynth, Magnolia combines East Coast and West Coast flavors, with two oscillators per voice, one as a carrier, the other as modulator. Oscillator 1 is the Buchla-style oscillator, with FM, wavefolding and flip sync, while oscillator 2 provides a more traditional East Coast-ish PWM. You’ve also got analog high- and lowpass filters, a stereo VCA and analog distortion.
Magnolia is not cheap – Frap Tools is a boutique company, and Magnolia is a premium instrument – but it is technically impressive. It also sounds amazing.
- Frap Tools Magnolia product page
- More about Frap Tools
Next Level Hardware Synths: Tasty Chips Electronics GR-MEGA
We generally think of granular synthesis as confined to software, but that’s not 100% the case. GR-MEGA from Tasty Chips Electronics breaks this rule by putting granular in a hardware synth.
The next level hardware synth GR-MEGA may start with granular synthesis with up to 5000 grains to play with, but that’s not the only engine present. You also get traditional sampling, a tape mode, granular slice mode, and a spectral phase vocoder engine. To take full advantage of these five, you also get four multitimbral layers and 20 voices of polyphony per layer, plus four LFOs, four envelopes, four step sequencer modulators, a mod matrix, an FX section, and much more. The name GR-MEGA is starting to make sense.
With plenty of hands-on control, including a vertical slider for moving through the material, and a 7-inch monitor, you won’t even miss the computer screen.
- Tasty Chips Electronics GR-MEGA product page
- More about Tasty Chips Electronics
Next Level Hardware Synths: Genki Katla
What do you think of when you hear the name, Iceland? If you said “next level hardware synths,” you’re way ahead of me. Yes, along with Bjork and Vikings and the Northern Lights, Iceland is also home to Genki Instruments and its just-released Katla, a hybrid polysynth inspired by the country’s volcanoes.
The key to the synth is randomness. Much like a volcano, it feels alive in an awe-inspiring way. This is achieved by having five independent synth voices, each with a digital oscillator, sub-oscillator, analog filter, amplifier, LFOs and envelopes. Like a KORG Mono/Poly or Oberheim Four Voice, the synth voices cycle as you play, delivering unique results per note. It’s also got four different types of distortion for lava-like sound, an ‘80s digital plate reverb, and five external inputs to process and sequence external signals. And it’s all packed inside a beautiful, lava-rock-encrusted tabletop housing.
Genki Katla is certainly not cheap. It’s also not bread and butter. But for sound design freaks, ambient explorers, and those living their musical lives on the cutting edge, this is one to seek out.
- Genki Katla product page
- More about Genki Instruments
Next Level Hardware Synths: KORG phase8
So far, we’ve looked at analog, digital and hybrid next level hardware synths. But an acoustic synthesizer? Now that is next level.
Born out of KORG Berlin, the European R&D department headed by Tatsuya Takahashi, phase8 is the group’s long-gestating first product. Like an electric kalimba or cut-down Wurlitzer, phase8 uses amplified electro-acoustic properties combined with synth-like modulation to generate sound. You get eight voices sourced from tuned steel resonators, which you can swap out, allowing for customization of tone and scale. There’s also a sequencer with step and unquantized modes, and you can record parameter changes live to sequences.
The fun when working with the phase8 comes when you start messing with the resonators, physically obstructing them with found objects like John Cage preparing a piano. There’s even a limited edition version with uniquely shaped resonators, with more reportedly on the way for separate sale.
Whether you fall in love with phase8 will depend largely on how you resonate with the sound. Much like a piano or guitar, it is what it is. There are no alternate synthesis engines or presets. However, phase8 certainly represents a unique take on what a synthesizer can be.
- KORG phase8 product page
- More about KORG
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