Best Synthesizers of 2023 - Sinesquares Awards!
Best Analog, Digital Synths and Samplers!
We are so excited to announce our favorite gear from 2023! The first Sinesquares Awards are here! Keep in mind, that we only included gear that was released in 2023.
Synths
Our second category is for our beloved Synthesizers and Samplers. Not a very busy year for hardware synth releases but there were a few standout releases. So let’s see the winners for 2023 in our three categories!
Best Analog Synth
Bronze Medal: Erica Synths - Bullfrog
Erica Synths makes some of the most exciting synthesizers and Eurorack modules in the world. The Bullfrog Synthesizer was created in collaboration with Richie Hawtin as an educational electronic music instrument and this is something I totally support. But don’t be fooled and think it’s a toy synth. Bullfrog has a fully analog signal path with a VCO, a 24db/Oct Lowpass Filter, a VCA, two Looping Envelopes, a Sample & Hold, a Mixer with a Noise Generator, and a Delay! Plus a slot for Voicecards that’s something that expands it even more!
Bullfrog is a semi-modular synthesizer that sounds thick and beautiful and embraces experimentation. So even if you are a beginner who wants to learn more about subtractive synthesis and signal paths, or a seasoned producer with a modular system, the Bullfrog can find its place in your studio!
Silver Medal: IK Multimedia - UNO Synth Pro X
The UNO Synth Pro X is a paraphonic analog synthesizer that actually lives up to its Pro name. IK Multimedia’s synthesizers have been a bit entry-level synths but the UNO Synth Pro X is a beast of synth and feature-packed.
It has all the things you’d ever want on a synth like 2 filters, envelopes, LFOs, a modulation matrix, a sequencer & arpeggiator, effects, and more! And before those things, three analog oscillators with continuously variable waveforms. On the specs side, I don’t think I can find any mono synth that has more features and at this price point, it’s extremely hard to match. The user interface is very well-designed to pack all these things on a small and highly portable synth.
This is by far the best IK Multimedia release and if they keep going to that direction, the future is bright!
Gold Medal: UDO - Super Gemini
What can I say about the UDO Super Gemini? It is probably the most beautiful and massive synth I’ve ever seen. The Super 6 was already a majestic synth while the Super Gemini is essentially two Super 6 synths in one enclosure.
20-voice polyphony, multi-timbral, analog hybrid, and the list goes on. And when we’re talking about multitimbrality we are talking about two separate synthesizers with their own knobs and faders. No A/B switches here. By the way, the oscillators on this synth are digital so you may consider it a digital synth but since it has an analog signal path after the oscillators I decided to include it in this category.
The Super Gemini is a 4.000€ synthesizer so if you’re about to spend that much money, you probably already know how glorious it is. So I’ll stop drooling here and just say that the Super Gemini is our undisputed, crowned winner of this category!
Best Digital Synth
Bronze Medal: Roland - Gaia 2
I must admit that I’m not such a huge fan of Roland. I’m so bored of the capitalization of vintage Roland synths and except for some products I don’t really care about most Roland releases. The Roland Gaia 2 is one of those releases that I think deserves a bit more recognition since it’s such a powerhouse digital synth that can do so many things while it’s very well-priced.
It has 22 voices of polyphony, 3 oscillators per voice, a multi-mode filter, two LFOS, envelopes, and a wide effects section. The emotional pad that they added it’s kinda cool because you can record the motion you do with your finger and overall, Gaia 2 ticks all the boxes of what a synth should have.
The only “problem“ with it, is that it’s a vanilla synth. Full specs but nothing too exciting, experimental, or fresh. But at the same time, I can’t deny that, especially as a first poly-synth, it’s a great choice.
Silver Medal: Waldorf - Iridium Core
Waldorf, with the release of Iridium Core, tried to make a more affordable (if you consider Waldrof’s pricing) Iridium synthesizer that takes all the essential (or core) things the Iridium can do and I feel they did a very good job.
Iridium Core is definitely not for the faint-hearted musician. It’s a sound designer’s synth that allows you to program the most complex patches you can imagine. It has 12 voices of polyphony, it’s Duo-Timbral, and the three oscillators per voice can be wavetables, waveforms, granular samplers, or even resonators.
It’s such a deep machine that you’ll probably never get to max out its potential so if you are a sound designer who likes to program complex patches you will love it for life.
Gold Medal: Expressive E - Osmose
That was an easy one. The Osmose is a ground-breaking instrument that essentially creates a new type of electronic instrument. Not everything is new on the Osmose but the implementation of MPE on its 49-key gesture-sensitive, semi-weighted keybed is so innovative and expressive that it sets it apart from everything else on the market.
The Osmose is not just an amazing MIDI MPE controller but also a digital synthesizer with more than 500 presets that you can tweak and customize. It looks so sleek and beautiful and it sounds even better. It’s an instrument that will completely transform your playing and open up new paths of creativity and expression.
Expressive E has created an awesome piece of gear that I’m sure will define a new generation of instruments and the Osmose could not have been anything else than our Golden Medal winner for 2023!
Best Sampler
Bronze Medal: 1010 Music - Nanobox Tangerine
The Nanobox Tangerine is the 4th Nanobox instrument and to me the most appealing one. It serves a very specific purpose as a sampler and that is to sample short snippets of sound that can later be played melodically. That’s my favorite feature on the OP-1 field so having that with more features than the OP-1 in such a small form factor (and a much lower price) is very interesting.
The thing that makes it more powerful is that you can combine more than one sound in one patch and then use it as a melodic instrument. It essentially is a sample library creator that you can fit in your pocket. The size and menus are, as expected, something that you’ll have to get used to and accept but overall, I feel that it’s a cool device that deserves our attention.
Silver Medal: Polyend - Play+
This device created a lot of drama within the synth community. People were furious that Polyend decided to release an updated version of the Play that was released just over a year ago. Polyend Play was priced at around 799€ and less than 2 years after its release, Polyend reduced its price to 499€ only to sell the new and better Play+ for 799€. And also giving people who have the original Play to send it back and get the new one for 399€. Meaning that if you got the Polyend Play you’d have to pay 1.198€ for a device that retails for 799€. Not to say that your original Play has lost so much of its resale value overnight. This was such a ridiculous and plain stupid move in my opinion.
If you never bought the original Play, the Play+ is a great device though. It is a groovebox and a sequencer that can be used with samples and to create full tracks, it can be a great sequencer for your studio, and it now has multi-timbral synth engines that make it even more powerful than its predecessor.
So, the Play+ is a great piece of gear. But the way Polyend decided to treat its early adopters and customers is undeniably wrong and they have every right to be mad about it.
Gold Medal: Teenage Engineering - EP-133 K.O. II
Drama Number 2! Teenage Engineering probably made the most epic release of the past few years. The K.O. II was immediately sold out and everyone was so hyped about it. The EP-133 K.O. II (that name though!) is a glorified version of the Pocket Operator PO-33 K.O. that’s bigger and better in every way. It’s a sampler that‘s made to play one-shots, has amazing punch-in effects, and, of course, has a sequencer with scenes to create your jams.
Its design is stunning looking like a huge calculator and having LEGO-compatible parts but the most impressive thing about it it’s its price. Being a Teenage Engineering product and costing only 299€ was enough to make people go nuts and buy every single one of the first batch in one day. The K.O. II is not just a cheap TE product but a very powerful sampler that’s simple and very fun to use.
But the drama hit Teenage Engineering’s door once again. A lot of people who bought one have reported that the fader on the unit was dead on arrival so they had to return it and wait for a new one #fadergate. This was clearly a quality control issue that I’m sure TE will fix with the new batch and I’m also sure that it will again sell like crazy. So congrats to Teenage Engineering for winning this year’s Sampler of 2023! Certainly the most dramatic category of the year.
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