5 of the Best Desktop Synths: No Keys, No Problem
Gorgeous tabletop synthesizers from Black Corporation, Dreadbox, Waldorf, Behringer, and more!
Need top sound quality but don’t have any room left in the studio for a new set of keys? Maximize both real estate and sound quality with these amazing desktop synths.
The Best Desktop Synths
It used to be that synthesizers came in two flavors: keybed and rackmount. Around about the turn of the century, though, rackmount units fell out of favor for instruments, with manufacturers switching over to tabletop formats. I’m still a fan of rackmount, but it has to be said, they don’t look nearly as sexy on Instagram and YouTube as a desktop synth.
With a desktop instrument, you get all the amazing sound, just without the keybed. That makes it a popular form factor for boutique companies that want to deliver the best synthesizer that they can without upping the price.
Today, let’s take a look at five of the best desktop synths. Note that I’m restricting my choices to instruments that are only available as tabletop units. So while I love the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave 8M, for example, it’s already got a key version, so it won’t be making an appearance here.
The Best Desktop Synths: Supercritical Synthesizers Redshift 6
What would you say to 96 oscillators? That’s the too-much-is-never-enough premise behind Redshift 6, a six-voice desktop synth from Supercritical Synthesizers. And while this kind of OTT synthesis may sound like it has to be VA, it’s actually analog. The secret is the digitally controlled analog Demon Core Oscillator, which can pump out up to 16 oscillators per voice. Remember your math? That gives you a total of 96 oscillators. Crazy.
That Demon Core can be configured in different ways, too, such as twin oscillators, supersaw engines, flanging phase sync, and transistor organ modes. There’s more, though. Along with all the sound generators, you get a 4-pole analog multimode filter with drive, plus four envelopes and four LFOs, and a 32-slot modulation matrix. It’s even got multitimbrality, MPE, and DSP effects.
The Redshift 6 also sounds amazing. It’s a real hidden gem, this one.
- Supercritical Synthesizers Redshift 6 product page
The Best Desktop Synths: Dreadbox Artemis
Dreadbox knows analog synthesis. Sinevibes is a master of DSP effects. Together, they complement each other in ways unexpected and beautiful. Artemis is the latest collaboration between the synth company and the plugin effects developer. More than just the sum of its components, Artemis is an exceptional polyphonic synth that has to be heard to be believed.
As with most Dreadbox instruments, it’s less about the crazy features and all about the sound. The six-voice desktop synth gives you two VCOs per voice with continuous waveshaping, a resonant lowpass filter with 12dB/Oct and 24dB/Oct slopes, a resonant 12dB/Oct highpass filter, two ADSR envelope generators, OTA-based VCAs, two LFOs per voice, and four categories of effects, plus a 64-step polyphonic arpeggiator and sequencer.
Give it a listen. If you’ve always admired the sound of Dreadbox but have yet to pick something up, Artemis may be the one to finally get you to hit the Buy Now button.
- Dreadbox Artemis product page
The Best Desktop Synths: Behringer Pro-800
Back in the 1990s, I had a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600. I loved the sound of it, and it worked well with my Roland Juno-106, but it often broke down. Since I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I could take it to Wine Country, the repair shop set up by ex-Sequential employees in San Jose. Which was cool, but also kind of annoying since I was there more often than I liked. I eventually sold the 600 when I went entirely into the box in the 2000s.
All of this preamble is to say that I regret selling it (despite the high repair bills). Thankfully, Behringer makes an eight-voice version of it called the Pro-800. Housed in the company’s usual Eurorack-ready format, it’s got the two VCOs and VCF, plus GliGli-inspired modern envelopes, so it’s not as sluggish as the original. And it sounds wonderful.
- Behringer Pro-800 product page
The Best Desktop Synths: Waldorf Protein
The Waldorf Protein has ended up on quite a few of my lists since it came out last year, and for very good reason: it sounds amazing. It helps if you happen to like old school wavetables. And being a child of the 1970s, I do. Very much. It’s the sound of the music of my teenage years, from Depeche Mode to industrial music. This latest desktop synth puts those classic 8-bit wavetables into a small and affordable form factor, making it a great alternative to pricier affairs like the company’s M.
All-digital like some of the company’s ‘90s efforts, Protein gives you eight voices of dirty digital goodness arranged into up to four layers. You get dual Microwave 1 ASIC oscillators and the original wavetables, an emulation of the CEM filter with dirty types, three envelopes and two LFOs, two effects slots with plenty of top DSP styles, and more.
Who couldn’t use some more Protein in their diet?
- Waldorf Protein product page
The Best Desktop Synths: Black Corporation Deckard’s Dream MK2
Black Corporation makes sumptuous recreations of classic analog synthesizers – all in desktop configurations. Deckard’s Dream was the company’s first. A Yamaha CS-80 remake, it turned the world on to what the company could do. MK2 continues that, slimming down the case and expanding control for sustain modes and time.
As with the original CS-80, you get two four-voice synths in one for a total of eight notes, with two sets of duplicate controls for shaping the sound. As with the original, it’s capable of lots of expressiveness, with MPE and polyphonic aftertouch support.
Black Corp’s instruments are expensive, yes, but they also sound it. They’re classy and sophisticated and – if you can afford it – worth the extra outlay. Truly one of the best desktop synths available today.
- Black Corporation Deckard’s Dream MK2 product page
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