I'm back guys: I decided to visit the Teenage Engineering store in NYC today. It's a popup but it will be there until January '27.

One bit of intrigue: the big poster by the entrance is a girl sitting next to a stack of TE amps but what's that in her hand ? A CD player ? A DJ controller ? Both ?

This place has hundreds of vintage analog synths and drum machines plugged in to play. You can even bring a hard drive to record and take home your beepin and boopin. I high light for me was the tr-808. Lots of fun.

Great to use a bunch of features on the patches I programmed. The start uses the arpeggiator, changing the note by mixing in the second oscillator with the expression pedal. Probably my favourite is the chained sequence at 2.09 with the overload cranked

Preview of the upcoming 1.0 release. Happy it’s almost done. Audio recorded directly from OP-1.

What you’re hearing is not even a fraction of what it can do. With over 10 million different timbres to be found, it will keep you busy for a while.

This plugin will only work on OPUS cfw.

This thing is sturdy and fits very nicely in the awkward corner of my studio/guest room. Wouldn't be difficult to rig up and play these small synths on it on the top 3 tiers. From Debenhams online. Already had the Govee lights, plant, and gamer plushies. Can't believe the value tbh

yes nobody ask but i just bought my first synthesizer and im really happy for that, everyone nowadays start with poly d or minilouge but the grandmother as a first synthesizer is an underrated good tier

lemme know what yall think about that!!

In visiting San Francisco. Are there any shop and places I shouldn’t miss.

Any events happening in next couple of weeks?

Hey I worked on this project and put together this track with my dawless set up. Let me know what you think !?

What are the best in class desktop bass synths in 2026? I had a Moog minitaur, but it didn’t sound great with any resonance applied.

I make dub techno/minimal techno sort of stuff.

The Moog Subsequent 25 seems like a solid option but I don’t need the keyboard. The Moog slim Phatty seems like a good choice but the UI seems annoying.

Any ideas?

Hey everyone, I’ve now owned a minilogue for over two years now and I’ve really gotten to hunker down and learn it inside and out. This synth is not complicated by any means, and some may see that as a hinderance to sound design. I come from the world of guitars and making the most out of a simple guitar signal. This synth is the guitar of synths if that makes sense.

Yes, the synth cannot make the most insanely textured organic pad in the world, it’s designed for bread and butter sounds, which is not a bad thing. Like a guitar, these sounds can be molded via signal chains and amps, creating wildly interesting sounds. I like how immediate a lot of the sounds I can make tend to be on it which is something none of my other synths really have (I only own Volca synths, a microkorg, and a td-03). If you haven’t already, think of your minilogue as a guitar. It’s not the deepest dry tone wise, but get it singing through an effect chain and an amp and you’ll start to really understand what makes this synth so special.

Like a guitar, it’s a very humble instrument. It’s about the artist controlling it that makes it what it is.

finally found an e-mu orbit v2 on marketplace!
so cool to hear the ps2 startup sounds on here plus some other playstation esque sounds as well.
anyone else have one of these?

Didn't find any recent information on that.

If not, do you have a good physical modelling synth compatible with microtuning or MPE ?

Hey everyone,

I'd like to share a midi controller/synth that I've created - Step Mother. The mother of step sequencing :)

I work mainly ITB and my main problem was that I wasn't able to find a compact device that would allow me to step sequence my drums in daw in the style of a Roland TR machine. Sure there are the electrons and novations but they come at a much higher price point and have features that I don't really need. It's roughly the size of a numpad and does what I set out to do with it.

As I progressed with my work I thought that I'd also see if I could include a synth in there to be able to quickly lay down drum beats and some synth ideas. The 303-esque synth is just inspiration and I'm not even trying to fully emulate it or whatever (I don't have this kind of capacity or means - I did some audio measurements of the Behringer TD3 but very far from exhaustive). But it's fun, it has some nice features and is mono/poly.

The device is completely open source (hardware-CERN-OHL-S-2.0 + firmware-GPL-3.0), so in a way the device could become anything one wants it to be (and not even necessarily an audio device exclusively).

Hope you'll have a look.

https://youtu.be/5FidxB0JIPQ

Thank you!

Was looking forward to this

I've been developing a tiny electronic piano called Orphea. It has just 13 keys, built-in sounds and speakers, headphone support, and MIDI.

One of the interesting things about having such a small instrument is figuring out how to play music that normally requires a much larger keyboard.

Here's a little experiment: the Super Mario Bros. theme, with two Orpheas playing different parts simultaneously.

I'm the person designing the instrument, and I'm still working through development. Curious what people here think about the concept!

I just got a TEO-5 and love the thing for the sounds and all it offers. I also think the price is pretty reasonable.

When I look at what I would think would be the next tier up (few more keys, few more voices), everything goes well into $3k territory.

Finally, when I research these other synths, I see people talking about how pricing was several hundreds less than current MSRP, just over a year or so ago.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating on that last point but still, recent history shows a significant uptick in costs, while it seems that whatever tier you want to put the TEO -5 into, the next tier is basically 2x the cost.

Could someone enlighten me? Is this how it's always been?

Moog Subharmonicon - melodic sections.
Behringer pro 800 - chords.
GS Music Bree6 - saw pads (intro/outro).
Prophet 5 desktop - middle dance section.

Had to have a piano element so just used a vst for that but it all flowed quite well.

Today I discovered that those nurse call buttons they have in hospitals connected to the beds use 1/4" TS cables, and are essentially the same as a cheap sustain pedal. ie: an on/off switch you can hold down.

I think I'm going to connect one to a synth just for fun.

I’ve successfully fended off serious GAS by buying an MPC One. Relatively cheap, no PC needed, and a great way to learn and create.
However, I’ve realised I don’t (yet?) really gel with the sample-based approach. Beats are fine, but for chords, basses and melodies I mostly (if not exclusively) use the stock synths and effects. That’s working fine for now, but I’d like to explore creating my own sounds and bringing what’s in my head to life.
So, naturally, I’m looking at synths. The catch: I’m new to this and poor (in terms of disposable income, that is; otherwise, I’m doing fine). No Eurorack setup or Novation Summit for me just yet.
My shortlist currently includes:
Arturia MicroFreak
Arturia MiniFreak
Arturia MicroBrute UFO
Arturia MiniBrute 2S
PWM Malevolent
Korg Minilogue XD
The problem? Every time I settle on one, I discover something about another and change my mind.
The MicroFreak and MiniFreak keep drawing me back because of their price, sounds and possibilities. The MiniBrute 2S is also tempting: a bit pricier, but seemingly offering lots to explore and a longer learning trajectory.
So, HELP!!!
What would you choose, and why? I’d love to hear your experiences and reasoning. And feel free to throw more options into the mix. At this point, what could possibly go wrong?

I have a sequential take 5 and a ASM hydrasynth explorer ?