5 of the Best Synths for Industrial Music
Hard-hitting synthesizers from ASM, PWM, Behringer, Waldorf, and more.
Need a modern hardware synthesizer for EBM, cold wave or industrial? These are the best synths for industrial music – at all price points.
The Best Synths for Industrial Music
Best Synths for Industrial Music
Since its inception in the late 1970s, industrial music has gone through a number of evolutions. There’s the murky and experimental style first developed by groups like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, the more electronic sounds of the 1980s, and modern takes on the genre, which lean into techno and other electronic styles.
No matter your take on it, if you’re making industrial music, EBM or cold wave, you need a synthesizer that hits hard. Something cold and even brutal that isn’t afraid to get noisy.
These are five of the best synths for industrial music on the market today. I’ve tried to choose ones for a variety of budgets, and, since there can only be five, I’ve endeavored to hit certain synthesis styles like analog, wavetable, and FM. Is there a synth that you think I missed? Let me know in the comments.
Best Synths for Industrial Music: Behringer Pro-1
When I was in high school, I was a massive industrial head. And my favorite group was Canada’s Skinny Puppy. I loved their theatrics, their uncompromising style, and their hard electronic music. A big part of their sound was the Sequential Circuits Pro-One, a monophonic synth based on Prophet-5 circuitry. With its heavy bass and beefy sound, it helped hold down the low end for the band and gave their music a real sense of weight.
Original Pro-Ones are pricey on the secondhand market. If you want that sound but don’t have deep pockets, Behringer has you covered with Pro-1, a tabletop take on the analog beastie. It’s got two VCO oscillators, three simultaneous waveforms, a 24dB/Oct lowpass filter and a modulation matrix. You can even pop it out of its case and slot it into a Eurorack case (if you have space for it, that is).
Best Synths for Industrial Music: Waldorf Protein
Industrial synth tones are harsh and uncompromising. One way to get that sound is by distorting analog synthesizers. Another is to go digital with wavetables. That’s what I’m recommending here with the Waldorf Protein, a modern wavetable synthesizer that revels in dirt and grit.
Protein is an affordable alternative to Waldorf’s pricier M. Both feature wavetables sourced from the original Microwave, a 1989 instrument used by Nine Inch Nails, among others. The 8-bit wavetables are gloriously gritty and cut through the mix like a knife with a serrated edge. You get eight voices of this aliased goodness along with a dirty modeled filter plus an arpeggiator, step sequencer, chord mode, effects and more. It also features four-part multitimbrality so you can squeeze lots out of it.
Best Synths for Industrial Music: PWM Malevolent
If ever there was a synth with name ready-made for industrial music, it’s the Malevolent by PWM. And, as that name suggests, this is not a synth that plays nice. It’s exceedingly aggressive. If you do heavy electronic music, you really need to look into this one.
So what’s going on here then? Malevolent is a semi-modular analog monosynth. It’s got two VCOs with two frequency modulation inputs, so you know it can get gnarly. The 2-pole multimode filter is ready to throw down too, with an additional two frequency modulation inputs to rough up the lowpass, bandpass, and highpass modes. It’s a monster, and truly one of the best synths for industrial music.
Best Synths for Industrial Music: Torso Electronics S4
Sampling is a massive part of the sound of industrial music. Whether that’s capturing dialogue from movies, using sampled acoustic instruments, or creating heavy beats, sampling is at the heart of the genre. While these days it’s easy to use your DAW to sample, there’s a lot to be said for a hardware-forward approach, especially if you’re playing live. And for that, I’m recommending S4 from Torso Electronics. (And really, how EBM is Torso for a company name?)
Since it debuted back in 2023, Torso Electronics’ S4 has gone from strength to strength, adding new features at a regular rate. It’s a sampler, granular processor, four-track-style recorder, live looper, and lots more. It’s the modern evolution of classic samplers like the Ensoniq Mirage and E-mu Emulator – and in a much more compact form factor.
Best Synths for Industrial Music: ASM Leviasynth
So far, we’ve covered analog synthesis, wavetable, and sampling. I haven’t mentioned FM yet, as I’ve been saving that for last. You may associate FM with cheesy electric piano sounds but if that’s the case, it’s time for a reset, because you can’t have industrial without FM bass. Hard, cold, and punchy, it’s the sound that’s powered hundreds of amazing records.
While there are cheaper ways to get hardware FM tones, ASM dropped the ultimate FM synth earlier this year. Called Leviasynth, it takes frequency modulation into all new territories, with plenty of ways to modulate oscillators beyond simple sine waves and craft those hard, buzzy sounds.
Here are a few specs to entice you: 16 voices of polyphony, eight oscillators, seven synthesis types, an analog 4-pole resonant filter plus 18 digital filter types, algorithm morphing, and so much more. It’s expensive, yes, but it’s also a pinnacle of modern synthesizer engineering. Your music will thank you for it.
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