5 of the Best Hardware Synths With MPE
Deep and beautiful MPE-equipped synthesizers from Behringer, Expressive E, Waldorf, and more.
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Broaden your range of expression and explore MIDI polyphonic aftertouch with these five hardware synths with MPE.
The Best Hardware Synths With MPE
Synthesizers are constantly improving. For the price, the ones we have at our disposal in 2025 are magnitudes more powerful than those from 40 or 50 years ago. Onboard effects, sheer variety of synthesis architectures, and modulation possibilities are but three of the areas where we’re currently blessed. Another is MPE.
Also known as MIDI Polyphonic Expression, MPE gives you new ways to play keyboards, with per-note control over parameters in three dimensions: horizontally, vertically, and instantaneous pressure. MPE does this by changing how the machine uses MIDI, assigning each note to a separate channel. Crazy stuff.
If this all sounds expensive, it doesn’t have to be. While MPE tends to be more common in higher-end units with fancy keyboards, you can also find it on plenty of sub-$1K machines – and if you’re willing to go desktop, the price comes down pretty fast (although you’ll still need an MPE-equipped controller to take full advantage).
Here is my selection of five of the best hardware synths with MPE available now. There are plenty of amazing synths with MPE that didn’t make the list, but I’ve tried to include synths from a variety of manufacturers, with different synthesis types and form factors.
And if you’re confused about the difference between MPE, polyphonic aftertouch, and MIDI 2.0, check out this story.
Best Hardware Synths With MPE: Expressive E Osmose
You can’t talk about MPE keyboards without talking about the Expressive E Osmose. Both a controller and a synthesizer, its radical design gives you unprecedented expression in a keyboard format, with every key responding to velocity, pressure, aftertouch, per-note pitch bend, pressure glide, strum, and vibrato. And it’s now available in a new 61-key version along with the original 49-key version.
It’s also a synth, and the onboard EaganMatrix sound engine from Haken (a company that also knows a thing or two about MPE) is a revelation, with virtual analog, FM, and physical modeling engines plus effects and all sorts of other sonic goodies on hand.
Expressive E Osmose remains the controller to beat. The fact that you get an amazing synth engine, too, is the icing on the cake.
- Expressive E Osmose product page
Best Hardware Synths With MPE: ASM Hydrasynth
Five years is a long time in synthesizer years. But it was 2020 when the first ASM Hydrasynth (now known as the Hydrasynth Keyboard) debuted. There are now four different models available, but they all have the same amazing engine inside, one that sends wavetables into the future with incredible sound quality and plenty of sound-altering parameters.
And yes, MPE. All four Hydrasynths support MPE in and out, and all offer some kind of proprietary Polytouch key technology (the keyboardless Desktop version sports Polytouch velocity and pressure-sensitive color LED pads). Pair these with the powerful modulation matrix, and you’re performing with sound design.
- ASM Hydrasynth product page
Best Hardware Synths With MPE: Waldorf Protein
The newest (and smallest) entry on this list of hardware synths with MPE is Waldorf’s desktop Protein. Compact and affordable, it’s based around the original Microwave 1 8-bit wavetables, many of which have their roots in the PPG Wave itself. Gloriously gritty wavetable madness, then.
This eight-voice, four-part multitimbral synth with effects also boasts MPE support, meaning that if you own an MPE-compatible controller (like an Expressive E Osmose, above), you can take advantage of what Protein has to offer. Old school meets new school.
- Waldorf Protein product page
Best Hardware Synths With MPE: Behringer UB-Xa
Oberheim’s OB-Xa is one of the most legendary synthesizers ever made. Behringer’s take on it, the UB-Xa (and the desktop UB-Xa D), ups the ante in almost every way, doubling polyphony to 16 voices, adding splits and layers, and making it MPE-compatible. Surely one of the best hardware synths with MPE.
Not convinced? It’s also extremely affordable. The UB-Xa gives you a 61-key polyphonic aftertouch keyboard (not MPE, but still pretty good) for less than $1000. Take away the keys for the desktop UB-Xa D, and your wallet will be even happier.
If you’re all about expressing yourself with analog but can’t afford an Oberheim OB-X8, this is the way to go.
- Behringer UB-Xa product page
Best Hardware Synths With MPE: Arturia PolyBrute 12
The last instrument to grace this list of the best hardware synths with MPE is the Arturia PolyBrute 12. Yes, the price is up there. For many, it will be more aspirational than attainable, but if you have the means, it is (as a wise man once said), so choice.
The star of the 12-voice analog machine – at least in terms of expressiveness – is the FullTouch keyboard. Going beyond basic polyphonic aftertouch, it gives you three aftertouch modes: Mono, Poly, and Alt. It’s the latter, Alt, where things really shine, with three different modes for triggering envelopes, including one where you advance it through envelope stages by how you hold down and release the key. It’s remarkable stuff and has to be played to be believed.
- Arturia PolyBrute 12 product page
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