This is our review of good synthesizers for beginners.
At this point you already know what a synthesizer is, and you have probably (or about to) read tons of reviews and videos about which synth should you buy.
I’m here to save up your time with these 5 synthesizers below that we think would be a great fit for a beginner to start with.
So, let’s get started!
Our Recommendation of Good Synthesizers for Beginners
- Korg Volca Key (Best Budget Synth for Beginners)
- Moog Mother-32 (Best Semi Modular Synth for Beginners)
- Korg Minilogue (Editor’s Choice)
- Teenage Engineering PO-20 (Best Portable Option for Beginners)
- Arturia MicroFreak (Best Digital Synth for Beginner)
Analogue Vs Digital Synth
Before jumping right into the reviews of these fabulous synthesizers mentioned above, I think it’s important to first talk about the main differences between an analogue and digital synth, and which one is right for you?
Although I really like jamming with analogue synthesizers, like the sounds coming from them; the digital synth has often outperformed an analogue synth in many way too.
The purpose of our discussion here is not to pick who is the winner, I think they are both very versatile and unique in their own way.
An analogue synth generates sounds by manipulating electronic voltages while a digital synth uses digital signal processing techniques to create sounds.
In simple words, the way analogue synth works is more like an instrument, it starts with an oscillator to produce the waveform with an electronic signal.
It’s kind of like when you plucking a guitar the sound was generated by the vibration of a string. After that we transform the sound by manipulating the waveform with a filter, modulation etc.
The digital synth is like a computer that is trying to mimic the sound of an analogue. It generate according to some algorithms and then you have your sound.
Analogue synth is great for people who are looking for a smoother, warmer, kind of sound, it has got something matchless from them. The down side of it is really less flexible than digital synthesizers, and can be more expensive to design and build.
Digital synthesizers have the potential to be more capable, flexible, and complex. You can implement things in digital that would be difficult or extremely expensive to implement in analog.
Alright, without further ado let’s jump right into our main course of today!
Pros: ✅
- Handy size
- Compact features
- Very affordable price
Cons: ❎
- Small knob
- The built in speaker is tiny
- No velocity sensitive keys
Korg has a bunch of kick ass synthesizers, and the Volca series is definitely one of the best options especially for beginners.
The first thing that is most compelling to most people it has to be the size of it. I love how handy it is, you could literally just throw it into your backpack and forget about it the fact that you have a synthesizer with you the whole time.
The Korg Volca Key is actually my first synthesizer when I was a complete beginner and first got into this extremely addictive hobby. Many synths later, there is still a very special place for this little synth in my heart.
What makes it great for beginners is the simplicity of it, very straightforward analogue synth, not too many fancy features on it.
It has all the essential function that a synthesizer should have, making it a great starting point for beginners to really learn the fundamentals, sometimes less really is more.
An analogue synthesizer in this size and price point, there’s really nothing more I would ask for.
Pros: ✅
- Great sound quality
- Awesome built quality
- Build in step sequencer
- It’s a Moog!
Cons: ❎
- Only one VCO
- A bit pricy
The Mother-32 is one of the most classic synthesizers, even though it only has one VCO on this synth which is kind of rare for a semi modular, but a Moog is a Moog, what does it mean? The fatness and the timbre of the sounds coming from a Moog is what set it apart from all the other competitors, it has a matchless uniqueness in it.
That’s why a Moog synthesizer is always at a higher price point than other brands in the same category with similar features. The Mother-32 is probably one of the most entry level products for you to get into the Moog family, and to experience the awesomeness of it.
It has a killer step sequencer, the 32 point patch bay is perfect for beginners who are interested in getting your hand dirty working on a semi modular, I could literally spend a whole day in front of this beast here and skipping meals without noticing.
Funny story about it is that there is actually a clone version of this synth and I think you should definitely take a look at it too, which is the Behringer Crave. Similar features with a much affordable price, frankly speaking I was truly impressed by how great it actually sounds. Worthwhile checking out!
Pros: ✅
- 16 steps sequencer included
- Built in effects
- Option to change to polyphony settings
- Very versatile
Cons: ❎
- Slim keys
The second Korg product on the list, just as I told you Korg has many great synthesizers, I personally am undoubtedly a big fan of their products too (No, they didn’t pay me to say this), somehow I just magically click with Korg product very well.
The Korg Minilogue is truly an amazing synthesizer, if I had to choose a winner in this list that has to be this guy right here.
When It first came out in 2016 NAMM, it took the synth industry by storm, and right away became one of the best selling synth products of all time.
What makes it so great for beginners is basically because of the workflow. It’s very hands on, versatile, super easy to tweak and create sounds on it, it’s really good for learning synthesis.
Unlike the Mother-32 that you have to take sometimes to experiment with those patch cables, it could be a bit overwhelming for novices if you are not familiar with it yet.
It’s obviously way bigger than its little brothers from the Volca series, but if you are willing to compromise with the portability, there is so much more the Minilogue has come to offer.
Pros: ✅
- Super Handy
- Great for 8bit music
- Very integratable
- Ease to use
Cons: ❎
- Not very versatile
- Looks fragile
Teenage Engineering has a series of innovative products, and most of them are very handy as well. Oftentimes people may not take it seriously at the first glance because of the toy-like appearance of their products, but don’t be fooled by it!
There are a couple of digital synthesizers in the Pocket Operator series, the PO-32 is one I would recommend. It’s packed full of 8-bit blips & beeps, you could easily create your own retro gameboy-like gaming soundtracks with this arcade synth here, very fun and addictive to play with.
128 chord & pattern chaining, 16 sounds and punch-in effects. If you are one of the 8bit music enthusiasts like me you will love this tiny digital synthesizer. Intuitive interface, ease to learn, especially great for beginners.
Pros: ✅
- Comes with different oscillator types
- Polyphonic after touch
- Inspiring workflow
Cons: ❎
- Keybed takes some getting used to
The Arturia MicroFreak is one special piece of synth device. In building it, Arturia has taken some of the magic from the world of modular synth, and they’ve ported it over to this synth.
Instead of having like the regular oscillators that you’ve come to expect from an analog synth, such a triangle, square, sawtooth synth wave, etc. It has digital oscillators with an analogue filter, which alone would make it pretty different from most of the synthesizers.
The MicroFreak has 14 different oscillator types emulating many classic synthesizer engines. It’s got a traditional ADSR as well as an LFO and then it’s also got a cycling envelope.
The compelling flat keybed that can actually act as a modulation source depending on how much of your finger is on the key.
If you don’t know what kind of sound you want to first start off with when it comes to electronic music and hardware synths, this is a great place to start. Because you can explore all these different sounds on this one synthesizer.
Once you discover something that really speaks to you, you can deep dive into a synthesizer that specializes in that one type of sound.
What’s Next
In short, I think all these synthesizers are very unique in their own way. Although I’ve chosen the Korg Minilogue as a winner in this article, but at the end it really brings back the question which is what are you looking for from a synth?
If you are interested to know more about synthesizers, you could also check out this similar article I wrote about the best synthesizers for live performance here.
Thank you for sticking around until the end, hope you find it useful in choosing your first hardware synth. Cheers!
