The 5 Best Budget Polysynths for your Home Studio & Playing Live
Polyphonic synth keyboards and modules for your setup.
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Traditionally, polyphonic synthesizers were priced on the expensive side. Even the DX-7 – which was regarded as more affordable – cost close to $2000 when it was launched back in 1983. Times have changed however and we show you our pick of the best budget polysynths.
Browsing the Best Budget Polysynths is a pastime that didn’t always exist! Thankfully in recent years, manufacturers have taken major steps toward making these instruments more accessible. Moreover, the home recording and content creation revolution we are currently experiencing means that the demand for quality at the budget end of the market creates healthy competition.
This means we will continue to see innovation, with exciting new synths being developed in the future at a price that more of us can afford.
Best Budget Polysynths
Choosing the Best Budget Polysynths
Don’t be fooled by the marketing of synth architecture stereotypes. Analogue oscillators do not guarantee a warm sound and digital or wavetable synths are not automatically harsh in comparison either.
There are plenty of examples of hybrid digital instruments with digital oscillators and analogue filters; they’re equally capable of producing incredible warmth and texture like the famous E-Mu Emulator II sampler.
The key factor to finding the perfect synth is all about how you contextualize it into your musical process, which goes beyond the sound alone.
The Best Budget Polysynths: Arturia MiniFreak
The Arturia MiniFreak is the souped-up bigger brother of the tiny MicroFreak. Offering six voices of polyphony, it’s based on the same incredibly versatile digital multi-engine oscillator as the Micro, but boasts two of them per voice. There are no less than 31 oscillator modes to choose from, including virtual-analog, wavetables, FM, samples, additive synthesis, granular, and even a vocoder.
The MiniFreak’s list of features also includes great-sounding analog multi-mode filters, an extensive modulation engine with twin LFOs and cycling envelopes, a great selection of on-board effects, and a powerful sequencer with four modulation lanes. And as a MiniFreak owner, you even get the software version of the synth for free.
The Arturia MiniFreak is available at Thomann*.
The Best Budget Polysynths: Yamaha reface DX / reface CS
The reface DX brings you back to the mid-1980s when the DX7 dominated pop music. While its 4-operator FM engine is somewhat limited compared to the DX7, it does have some of the famous sounds from the original. More importantly, however, it’s a simple and affordable way into FM synth programming.
Although you might find the mini keys a little quaint, the overall build quality is surprisingly good. The touch sliders may be limited, but you can easily program and attach a controller of your choice to expand the tweakability.
And if FM isn’t your thing and you’re more into analog-style subtractive synthesis, check out the equally affordable Yamaha reface CS. Based on the virtual-analog engine from the famous AN1x, it offers eight voices of polyphony, five oscillator types, and even a built-in phrase looper.
The Yamaha reface DX and reface CS are available at Thomann*.
- More from Yamaha
The Best Budget Polysynths: Behringer DeepMind 6X
The DeepMind series that kicked off Behringer’s “Synth Wave” may have started off as a modern alternative to the Juno-106, but it has evolved steadily. Rather than simply being a vintage reissue like many Behringer synths that came after it, the DeepMind 6 provides far more synthesis capabilities with an extensive mod matrix and effects section.
Overall, the interface is familiar (read: Juno-like) enough to immerse you immediately, and the user community has grown enough to allow you to even buy 106-style patches for the DeepMind if you so desire. And while the new DeepMind X series retains the same synthesis engine as the original DeepMind, Behringer has updated the paint job to make the synth look even more like a Juno.
The Behringer DeepMind X series is available at Thomann*.
- More from Behringer
The Best Budget Polysynths: ASM Hydrasynth Explorer
The Hydrasynth Explorer is an excellent entry point into the underexplored world of wavetable synthesis. The obsession we have with vintage-style synths often leads us to neglect the overall synthesis capabilities of an instrument, which would be ill-advised in this case.
The Explorer can produce an incredibly diverse range of sounds, and its interface is remarkably intuitive for such an advanced instrument. Equipped with eight voices, 37 mini keys with polyphonic aftertouch, and excellent built-in effects, it’s among the best budget polysynths.
You can get the Hydrasynth Explorer at Thomann*.
- More from ASM
The Best Budget Polysynths: KORG Minilogue XD
Although it’s been out for a while, the KORG Minilogue XD still deserves a spot among the best budget polysynths. Although it only has four-voice polyphony, there are several voice modes, including Poly, Unison, Chord, Arp/Latch, and a 16-step polyphonic sequencer. Available in keyboard and desktop versions, the Minilogue XD offers a unique combination of two analog VCOs with a powerful digital multi-engine oscillator that can deliver anything from morphing wavetables to FM. You can even load additional oscillator models created by third-party developers and the vibrant user community. This makes the synth incredibly versatile.
Compared to the standard Minilogue, the effects section has been expanded considerably and offers a selection of modulation effects, delays, and reverbs. Despite the Minilogue XD’s extensive capabilities, it has a straightforward user interface that makes it very approachable, even for synthesis beginners.
The KORG Minilogue XD is available at Thomann*.
- More from KORG
More about the Best Budget Polysynths:
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15 responses to “The 5 Best Budget Polysynths for your Home Studio & Playing Live”
two words: dreadbox nymphes.
Great choice, but modules weren’t covered in this post.
you mean in the sense it doesn’t have a keyboard? ok I see. In my book it’s still in the “budget poly synth” category (of the “it can fit in my limited space and I definitely don’t want it to have a keyboard as I already have one” variety which is a bonus)
Agreed, the term “budget” is constantly changing. A Juno-106 for example was very much a budget synth compared to the market of its time.
Maybe check out the post on Desktop Synths:
https://www.gearnews.com/the-best-desktop-synths-under-1000-for-studio-and-live-performance/
Here we focused on synths with sequencers or some kind of triggers onboard.
It’s more expensive, but for the money, the Korg opsix (which costs the same as the DeepMind 6 on this list) is a far better buy than the Reface DX for FM synthesis.
really missing the minifreak in thus list
Although it’s a great synth, the price makes it slightly out of reach.
“In addition, the multi-engine oscillator allows youto to load your own wavetable presets via the desktop app.” you can load any kind of synthesis engine you can write in 32K combined code+data space; FM, additive, VA, karplus-strong, modal, wavefolders, Phase modulation, anything; not just wavetables – and it’s 32 entry wavetables to be precise.
As real budget DIY alternatives I would recommend two amazing projects: Microdexed Touch and TubeOhm Jeannie. But they are only available for musicians who also have skills in electronics, soldering and little mechanics. But these two polyphonic DIY desktop synthesizers sound absolutely incredible and have rich features.
About right, and as stated above, the now dropped Opsix is probably a better choice for FM than the Reface
I’d rate ’em
1 Hydrasynth (a joy!)
2 Deepmind 6 (unpredictable)
3 Wavestate (many uses)
4 Minilogue XD (very stable)
5 Cobalt 8 (the new Virus)
6 Microkorg (still a fat sounding VA synth 20 years on)
7 Modwave (fiddly but fat)
8 Argon 8 (nice wavetable)
9 Ultranova (cracking VA if you can still find one)
10 Access Virus (still up there)
Minifreak? Clearly the best in this price range…
I love the Cobalt 8x (which is still a budget synth). Stellar keyboard and a sound engine that gets you absolutely anywhere. I’ve bought and sold quite a few analog synths since getting the Cobalt because that blue digital box is a better analog synth than any of them 🙂
Besides that, with 64(!) Oscillators, it also gets you places that no analog could ever go.
No mention of the Wavestate?
4gb of RAM for multisamples, does VA, Rompler, 4 partials, automated vector, mock wavetable, mod matrix, a dozen simultaneous effects, and a baffling but incredible sequencer! The big newish one I suppose is more expensive and would be better for live work. We are blessed in this time by some of the best budget Raspberry Pi synths ever made 😎
interesting how the date and time of the comments changes from 26 December 2022 16:04 to the next comment at 13 June 2024 16:42 – apart from that it is incredible that you can now get a polysynth for the same (in absolute numbers) amount of money that you payed for a MS-20 in the 80’ies – more voices and no effect of inflation…
Since writing this article, the Behringer Pro-800 has also been released, which I think is a basic desktop-level poly.
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