Lyra 8
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Lol yeah… I also owned a moog werkstatt 🤷
How dare you question my impeccable ears tho
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And there’s the choice of both filters, which is handy to have at the flick of switch on the M as well. I remember that the original MS-20 had a certain dustiness to its sound, but that might just be the nostalgic placebo effect anyway.
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The original Bugbrand SV filter is amazing for dripping wet organic sounds, probably one of my favourite sounding filters ever.
Korg MS10 whilst not as full featured as the 20 is also right up there for that analogue mojo.
Monotribe is also fantastic, amazingly versatile given the modest number of controls, it has a lot of very sweet spots, but still has quite a lot of scope. Unique imperfect wave shapes, MS10 type filter with a fairly unique resonance response.
Werkstatt has a really beefy sound, and comes alive with modulation, I could, if practical, own a few of them, I love its simple directness and pretty well featured mod options.
System 100m despite being probably the most precise vintage analogue ever made has a definite analogue signature, I can’t understand why they are still so affordable, given the price of other vintage Roland stuff, probably due to their relative scarcity. Good news for me as I was able to finally afford one 
Minimoog. The stank of funk. Odyssey too.
TB-303 - best “simple” analogue synth ever made, bar none IMHO.
Probably a few more I’m forgetting.
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I really need to hook up the CV from the Analog 4 or maybe a Keystep to the Monotribe again - it has a definite character.
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never owned one (and will certainly never ever own one… ) but Oberheim Two Voice Pro sound is like electricity flowing through my veins…
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If I had to pick out three for most raw analogue sound:
- Pittsburgh Modular Voltage Research Laboratory
- Erica Synths Syntrx
- Korg MS-20/MS-50
and some others of course …
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Despite the typical Teenage Engineering sub par build quality the 400 modular sounds very nice indeed, great sounding VCOs and filter. I will probably eventually rebuild mine into a more suitable form, the tiny pots make accurate tuning impossible, and it is a bit too fiddly for adult people to use.
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Never played one but as no one has mentioned it (and from what I hear in demos, it’s the business):
Prophet 5
(Also, an honourable mention must be made for the UDO Super 6. Those two are my dream analogs)
(Edit: Super 6 not analog, as pointed out below by @buzz)
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I do agree, Soma stuff has organic / analog aspect but rather chaotic / harsh not really precise, present and rich. The interface and concept is interesting and lead to experiment, but “sound wise” it’s mediocre. It’s a heretic thing in a world of analog Gods : )
However I owned Lyra8 and maybe wold love to see mkII one day with a bit different sound and more control over pitch, mod path etc…
Super 6 is not analogue but the FPGA oscillators sure as hell sound analogue. The analogue filter helps though.
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And that stereo binaural thing and efx… sounds quite wet)
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I’m afraid all other machines I would add to the list are vintage… Some modern stuff has warmth but lack that vintage “electricity thru veins” thing…
And for some reason I do believe that it’s a matter of
- design
- components
Hi end things are usually better sounding: )
I really appreciate Rob Hordijk synth designs. They always super hi end and quality.
IIRC the original MB-33 was designed by the legendary Jürgen Haible along with some of the other MAM designs.
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Don’t forget age. Vintage synths are 40-50 years old at this point. We have no way of knowing what vintage synths from the 70s and early 80s sounded back when they were new. We can only hear them recorded on tape which adds a layer of saturation and mostly by a professional sound engineer, who definitely affected the sound in many ways too.
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I borrowed an MS10 from my school, around ‘93. I had it for a year or two! I SO wanted to buy it from them. OMG the nostalgia is strong! I learned loads about synthesis from that beast. The filter is a screaming banshee with 30 years of smoking and cheap whisky.
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MS10 has better bass than MS20. I would love to get my hands on one. I missed one a year or so ago, for sale for 400 euros. The seller sold it to a friend of his and not to me despite me telling him I’d buy it first. I’m still salty about it, hah.
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Undoubtedly.
Often but not always, 303 was a budget piece, for example, sometimes compromises in design can have interesting unintended positive consequences on sound.
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