For me, nothing I’ve tried previously (probably 30-40 synths/samplers) comes close to the Sequential Prophet X.
It’s a looot of money but crazy possibilities.
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Have you tried pushing DN well out of its comfort zone, so to speak? That thing can get really surprising/nasty in the sound design area when you start pushing the headroom with lots of filter resonance, master distortion, etc. Check out some of Ess’s stuff for possibilities in that direction - it’s mellow and heavy at the same time! Also, now midi loop back is more stable since the recent update, try setting up the mod wheel and pitchbend, etc, fire some CCs at them and control up to four parameters on each one at the same time. FM and the DN in particular really benefits from lots of LFO action imo.
If you really want something completely different, tho, try any of the Nords for lots of sweet spot sound design in a familiar subtractive style or go down the granular route with Tasty Chips GR-1, for example.
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With regards to synths like the Typhon, interesting and original though it may be, when someone asks about utilities for sound design, the first thing that comes to my mind are synths that have a completely open architecture and vast, detailed modulation capabilities, wherein you have finite control over every facet.
As an engineer and sound designer myself, I couldn’t work with the Typhon. That’s not to say it can’t make compelling sounds; it’s just that you’re at the mercy of its rather limited design, which is purpose-built and can only be manipulated to a point, within a relatively narrow range.
Cheers!
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Thanks for the feedback… Appreciated.
With regards to the pads on HS, they are actually the one detail of its design that I consider a major strike against it. Personally, when I buy a desktop synth, I’m doing so because I want something compact that I intend to play with my main controller. In this respect, I see the pads as a gratuitous waste of space.
The Peak and the HS are roughly the same size, and both are just a hair bigger than I would prefer them to be (I’m looking to augment my live touring rig). Had ASM dispensed with the pads, the HS would have been the clear winner for me.
I do like the underlying ideology of the Peak better though: i.e. digital oscillators feeding into analog filter and drive.
Both synths sound fantastic though.
Cheers!
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A vote for the A4/AK
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nord modular
blofeld
a4
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Peak has had a big brother coming, so it could explain this.
I have one and it sounds amazing, the palette of sounds is extremely wide, and there are a lots of controls.
Modulation matrix menus are a bit disappointing at first, but you quickly get used to it…
Solid synth!
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Microfreak. Considering the price, it’s an exploration gold mine. You have to put it through some proper reverb (or other fx), tho.
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I’m gonna put a vote in for Prophet 12. Very suggestive and haunting. The module has a lovely interface.
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I was thinking this a bit while reading through.
I’m going to say it again as it largely goes unnoticed and I see so much hype for the Pro-3 but the Motas-6 is unparalleled when it comes to sound design in hardware… It really is a modular in a box with presets so for anyone who’s looking for a crazy deep mono, this is the one to get 
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UltraNova it’s tons and tons of synth for your money, especially used. Love mine to bits.
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The Hydrasynth is a a good choice to go for. For sound design it is magic. You can make it do a lot of the things you want. Love it and wish I took the Keys version.
Now aiming for the Novation Summit. Two Peaks in one with a couple extra features and.
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Another vote for the Iridium (and presumably Quantum, though I haven’t used it). Insanely versatile, but almost as importantly, really a joy to patch. Great mod matrix. I wouldn’t call it a beautiful UI, but I find I actually like patching from scratch on it. Very expensive, but having one hardware synth that makes me want to make weird noises is totally worth it to me. (Aside from an MPC and a Korg stage keyboard, I’m otherwise totally ITB for now.)
If you’re into playing keys, the Nonlinear Labs C15 is also great. I rented one for a few months and really enjoyed it. Eventually came up against the limits of my keyboard skills, so I sent it back and started putting the money into piano lessons. But it sounds amazing, a weirdo physical modeling synth. It’s all about carefully setting your live inputs (velocity, key tracking, expression pedal, etc.) to make dynamic patches. Obviously you can do that to some degree on any synth, but there’s something about the way that the components of the C15 respond that make it feel like a real instrument…chaotic interaction of organic elements. Favorite synth keybed ever, too. I miss it and one day hope to get my hands on one again.
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The problem with Sound design is you start to hear everything you’ve heard before. I’m not saying each synth doesn’t have its own flavour, but the majority of sounds from synthesizers are all very similar(pads etc etc). I think there will come a time when people will really get bored and thats concerning. If i had to pick one for the next few years only i would say the Novation peak/summit. Mike Batt will eventually run out of anything new to say. Maybe a shift in architecture is on the way.
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This is true, particularly because many of us work with subtractive synthesis, maybe followed up by wavetable and FM synthesis …
But using a “spectral” synth (aka additive synthesis), which is giving control over the frequency spectrum, can do so much more. Or let me mention the sound options of audio-rate modulation or of wavefolders or waveshapers.
And we have some inventors of new instruments, who are not working according to mainstream expectations like Vlad Kreimer or the instruments by Ciat-Lombarde and some more.
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Nord Modular V2, Analog Four, Blofeld and Cwejman S1 mk2
I also highly recommend Octatrack. Most of people look on it as a sampling groovebox, but you’d sonically venture into uncharted territory by modulating field recordings with LFO designer and parameter locking. It can also do the amplitude modulation which is one of parameters in the bit reduction effect.
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Mike Batt ? Didn’t he write the theme tune for The Wombles ? I think you mean Nick Batt 
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Idk, sounds like The Beatles or The Kinks to me. I don’t think the guy from Sonic State made it.
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