Cheap Synths FAQ
Which is the best synthesizer for beginners?
If you’re just starting out, then grab yourself a Behringer Crave synthesizer. It’s a fun and great-sounding box that will make pleasing and familiar sounds without you having to know anything about how synths work.
How much does a good synth cost?
Not as much as you’d think. All the synths in this round-up are between $100 to $200 and they are all decent synths that are suitable for new comers and professionals alike.
What is a beginner synth?
One that’s going to be easy and obvious to use and doesn’t hide its functions behind menus. As a beginner you want something that’s hands-on and is going to give you the opportunity to learn and understand more. Start with the Behringer Crave or Roland AIRA S-1 and see where it takes you.
Behringer TD-3 Bass Line
Behringer has turned the synthesizer industry on its head with it’s remarkable cut-price synthesizers. They bring long-lost classic synths back to life, that would cost a fortune in the second-hand markets, and put them in reach of everyone. The most affordable option is Behringer’s take on the classic Acid-inspiring synth, the Roland TB-303.
Behringer calls it the TD-3 and it sounds amazing. It looks great, it has all the functionality of the original Bass Line monosynth and in no time you’ll be tripping out those squelchy melodies and tweaking that filter like it’s the early 1990s. The sequencer takes some getting used to, it’s authentically difficult but that’s all part of the character.
In terms of improvements over the original 303, Behringer has added a distortion effect that’s based on the Boss DT-1 pedal. It also has MIDI and USB connection so you can sequence the sound and parameters from your DAW if you wish.
The TD-3 is every bit a 303 down to its bones. It’s fun, quirky and will have you wanting to buy a companion drum machine.
The TD-3 is available in a range of groovy colours from around $135
Korg Volca FM2
The Korg Volca FM2 is a perfectly formed 6-voice FM digital synthesizer. It perfectly encapsulates the sound of the classic Yamaha DX7 with its 6 Operators and 32 FM Algorithms. The crazy thing is that this little box can load original DX7 sounds via a webpage interface.
But let’s not get too excited, the Volca FM2 is not trying to be an old Yamaha synthesizer, it has ideas of its own. The Volca series are all about the 16-step sequencer. It puts a forever evolving machine of movement in your hands that’s enormous fun to use. You can throw in notes, move steps around, warp and randomise. But the greatest thing is the Motion Sequence that captures knob movements, changes and parameters onto every step.
The result is a synth that’s alive and energised. While it only has a few controls they are perfectly curated to move all the right stuff under the hood to give you an enjoyable FM experience without the headache of deep programming. It feels good, sounds good, has some great effects built in and can run brilliantly over MIDI for a much bigger synth experience.
Korg has several other Volca boxes around this price point that cover bass lines, drums, percussion and other synth styles but for me the FM2 is the best yet. Check out my review in the video above. You can pick one up for $169.99.
Roland Aira Compact J-6
Creeping in just under the budget limit is the fascinating Roland Aira Compact J-6 Chord Synthesizer. This is a part of a series of compact music-making boxes from Roland that includes the T-8 Beat Machine and E-4 Voice Tweaker.
The J-6 is amazing and very different to most other synths in this list. It’s a 4-voice polyphonic synthesizer based around the sounds of the classic Juno-60 synthesizer. It’s designed to play the sounds in chords that you can program and sequence. When you first turn it on and play it you will be astonished at how great this sounds. It throws up chord progressions that are instant bangers, and you know the party is about to kick off. There are swooshing pads, joyful keys, evolving synths and high-energy stabs that love you playing with the filter.
The J-6 is a bit different in that the sounds are presets and you only have a little bit of control over them. Right on the front panel you have a filter, envelope and delay and reverb effects. While you can play them as a 4-voice synth from the little keyboard or over MIDI, what the J-6 wants you to do is put in chord progressions. It’s so easy to do, it has a huge library of chords, styles, variations and genres to choose from.
It’s so much fun and the sound engine, which is directly from the JU-06a Roland Boutique, is superb. You are going to want to match it up with the T-8 Beat Machine for the perfect techno dance party. Pick one up now for $199.99.
Roland Aira Compact J-6 Chord Synthesizer
Modal Electronics Craft Synth 2
This is a futuristic looking synthesizer from Modal Electronics and a massive improvement over the original Craft Synth. It’s just a monosynth but they’ve packed in 8 oscillators and 40 waveforms to give it a huge and versatile sound.
The sound engine consists of digital wavetables giving you a wide range of tones that you can evolve, tweak, distort and morph. Each sound can be a mix of two selected waveforms spread across 4 oscillators each and you can detune them for some lovely phase modulation. In terms of modulation there are 8 slots in which to assign the two LFOs and three envelopes to your chosen destinations.
It’s a small synth but you have a whole bunch of knobs to play with that double up to give you deeper functionality. The biggest knob is reserved for the filter cutoff so you can get sculpting those frequencies. And if that’s not enough you 16 oscillator modifiers to squash, bend and break the waveforms into new directions.
The 8-note touch-keyboard isn’t particularly fabulous but it does the job in letting you play with Craft Synth 2.0 without any extra gear. It’s also battery powered for complete portability. It has proper MIDI ports and USB so you can connect it to other gear or your computer. There’s a software editor available for deeper editing.
Craft Synth 2 is a completely editable wavetable synthesizer in a weird and portable box for $159. If you have a bit more money to spend the new Skulpt SE takes the format into virtual analog territory and 4-voices of polyphony.
Modal Electronics Craft Synth 2
Akai Pro MPK miniplay Mk3
Something a little bit different now in the Akai Pro MPK miniplay. This takes one of Akai’s MPK MIDI controller keyboards and builds in a PCM-based sound engine and speaker. The mini keyboard is packed with 128 sounds including acoustic and electric pianos, bass, guitar, synths, strings and much more. It also has a number of drum kits that can be loaded onto the pads for immediate beat-making.
While not exactly a synthesizer the miniplay comes with a really good filter, with cutoff and resonance controls, an envelope and effects. You can use the to completely transform the presets into all sorts of directions. All your changes can be saved. It also has an excellent arpeggiator so you can set things playing while you get deeper into the sounds.
It comes with an excellent package of software including the DAW and MIDI sequencer MPC Beats. It’s a great way of adding keyboard control to your computer that you can also take away and play on all by itself.
It has 25velocity sensitive keys, 8 MPC-style drum pads and costs $149.
Akai Pro MPK miniplay
Korg NuTekt NTS-1
The NTS-1 is a little portable synthesizer that you build yourself. While it might not look like much it has a remarkably versatile synthesizer engine. The sounds are derived from the much bigger Minilogue and Prologue synthesizers and includes a digital oscillator and multi-effects engine.
It has a traditional analog architecture but based on digital technology. It’s monophonic and offers four waveforms, sawtooth, triangle, square and VPM or virtual phase modulation. You get a single envelope, three LFOs and ridiculously good multi mode filter. But what sets this little synth apart is that you can upload new oscillators just like you can on the bigger Korg synths. There are many different sounds and effects that can be injected into the NTS-1 to give it a whole other character.
The effects engine is also from the bigger synths and is so good it can turn the NTS-1 into a stand alone multi-effects unit. There’s an audio input in the side so you can patch in sounds from any other source.
The little keyboard isn’t up to much but once you set the arpeggiator going or wire in a MIDI controller then this little synth really sings. You do have to built it yourself but it’s only really a matter of snapping together some pieces and put some screw in, no soldering required. It’s only $119.99.
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