What are your favorite multitimbral synths?

normanion · 2025-08-08T21:26:02.982Z

I am not sure, if I replied to this thread, so sorry for eventual repetition. ;]

My favourite multitimbral synth is Modal 002. The reasons being:

It is one of the best sounding synths that I ever tried;
It is fully multitimbral, which means that all 12 voices can have own timbre;
The interface makes it breeze to program;
The modulation via animator is incredible departure from commonly seen approach to modulation - I mean: it’s double edged sword here;
One can grab each voice and process it independently (would love to have digital board to grab it via USB, but when I asked Modal, they don’t have any left from previous era);
it might sound stupid, but… I love that leather sides. :]

I am not sure now, but somehow I remember that this video utilises its multitimbrality. Might be wrong, though…

Bignill · 2025-08-08T22:41:29.370Z

Stixman:

DSI Prophet 12…. 2 channels

normanion:

My favourite multitimbral synth is Modal 002

Lets ~~fight~~ compare

We’ll compare the Prophet 12 and Modal 002 across a wide range of sounds — lush pads, punchy basslines, evolving textures, aggressive leads, and complex sequences. You’ll hear how their digital oscillators stack up, how their analog filters shape tone, and how they perform in real-time for sound design, electronic music production, and film scoring.

LyingDalai · 2025-08-08T23:20:13.440Z

I have the module.

But you can still play one layer while controlling the other from e.g. a DNII. They make a excellent pair

bwo · 2025-08-09T02:25:41.956Z

Interesting reading back through the archives on this thread… more or less confirms my belief that Waldorf Q and XT are still somehow the best. I have a Waldorf M but the multi implementation is sadly lacking in direct comparison with these old guys even with it having stereo outs per part only being a 4 part device… here’s hoping the next firmware release will bring it a bit more in line. Maybe the 3rd wave out does the M in the multi space.

My dark horse pick in this space is the spectralis, hybrid mono engine + 3 digital multisample synth engines with 32 voices… honestly not totally sure how he managed to get the multi samples so lively I think it’s a mix of start variations and subtle drift and unison options and really fantastic dsp filters. The option to route it all through one or both the analog filters and the filter bank… I dunno it’s got the sauce. Being a groovebox the multi side of it is very easy to manage but yea you might have your brain doing back flips trying to get a handle on the normal workflow. It’s got nice one shot sample based drum engine and nice time based fx also but yeah if you’re coming to it for multi you’re probably after the synthesis.

schoolbabyboy · 2025-08-09T14:22:42.324Z

my casio ctk 601 is 16 part multitimbral with 24 voices of polyphony, fully general midi compatible too…

sacguy71 · 2025-08-09T14:42:42.516Z

I would so love to jam on a Modal synth as well as the Solaris synth

moredat · 2025-08-09T15:12:44.295Z

I think that many multitimbral synths suffer from having shared controls. Digitone II does multitimbrality the right way with its screen and endless pots.

First price thus goes to DN2. It’s an unbelievable powerhouse as a synth with great hands-on tweakability that is fast AF to navigate and it doubles (triples) as great brains for a setup or a groovebox. It’s my dream hardware box. Second price goes to Virus TI2, which sounds a lot better IMO but is limited to being just a synth.

moredat · 2025-08-09T15:17:54.686Z

It’s a great synth but it looks pretty bad IMO. Usability seems OK. Sound is pretty modern too which is kind of weird considering oscillators and filter are analog. The already implemented features and promised features are golden. The price is really good considering the innards and that it’s not an Chinese manufacturer or something.

Definitely feel bad for not already supporting it as it comes from Finland. I just don’t need more multitimbral synths. I love to use mostly WYSIWYG boxes to pair with DN2 so that my brain can (often) grasp what’s going on more easily.

mkdsl · 2025-08-09T17:07:20.003Z

“Demon core oscillators”
Pass

moredat · 2025-08-09T17:43:14.366Z

It’s a nice quirk. The guy behind the company is a physics phD and all the names come from there.
Watch some videos where he represents the synth, they are great.

Oxenholme · 2025-08-09T19:08:42.830Z

Alesis Micron! 4 part multitimbral with 8 voices (like the DN) and I think you can load like 26 sounds for the drum part. Truth be told, I don’t really use its multitimbrality at all… but it can do it!

aleyas · 2025-08-09T19:45:54.320Z

Definitely didn’t read this whole thread, but the Vermona Perfourmer is a sneaky and unique multimbral synth. What’s so fun about the P4mer’s multitimbrality is how the separate voices can continue to impact each other through sync, fm, or filter fm. It can turn a pretty vanilla instrument into a reactive, experimental playground very quickly. But you can still do interesting traditional sound design by dedicating a voice or voice pair to the transient/attack of a sound, and the rest of the voices to the body. Great synth!

dragonaut · 2025-08-09T20:13:21.181Z

A4MKII is my fave.

Supercritical redshift looks really interesting but man none of the sound examples I’ve heard sound good at all. I don’t know if that’s just down to what the guys at the company are into or what because it seems on paper like it should be extremely flexible.

normanion · 2025-08-09T22:12:57.444Z

Bignill:

Lets ~~fight~~ compare

I saw that video after my post here, probably recommended, because I was searching for that video from my post.

I saw only couple minutes and couldn’t go thru all that, but also - I read comments - and I must say that there are some misunderstanding about it.

Regarding comparisons, I don’t think it can be objectively done. I am, for years, big fan of Dave Smith’s design philosophy. His user interfaces, by my measure, are at the top. And that, again: by my measure, is the biggest factor for good musical experience.

I wanted to make a point that is also related to another post I will reply here. About common ground for many synths and the things that are unique to them. Because there is a comparison somewhere in the net comparing Modal 002 to JB Solaris. And person doing that did great job at programming almost identical patches. But to me best comparisons are in areas of parameter space, where only compared synth can go. This will never yield objective results, but will be best source for drawing own conclusions about what an instrument can do and is it worthy of one’s money.

sacguy71:

I would so love to jam on a Modal synth as well as the Solaris synth

I had together at one time among others these synths:

Modal 001
Modal 002
John Bowen Solaris.

And I can tell you that from mentioned three - Solaris is gone. And it isn’t any benchmark regarding Solaris. It’s rather how too much it was for my brain. It reminded me of the thread at another forum, about Omnisphere, that went something like this “Omnisphere is the worst thing that happened to my creativity”. It was about choice paralysis. Because Solaris is so powerful, where each patch can be its own new voice structure. Just feedback options were incredibly complex, and I am not counting all the models in it.

Solaris is almost opposite to what Modal 002 is. Not only in sound quality, where Solaris sounds hifi, where every model, modulation included, is computed at 96 kHz. The models are clean and the distortion gave me that Matrix (movie, not the synth) vibe. Like: “in Matrix every analog synth is VA”.

Contrary to that: Modal 002 sounds truly analog. And I mentioned too many times, why is that, but the point being - it sounds organic. It is polite, there is no doubt about that - when there were many attempts to recreate “Everything in Its Right Place”, the best result for me came from Modal 002, with drive in mixer fully turned up.

Anyway, what I wanted to say in this comparison, by my measure. The most important opposite between the two is that one is complex and the other is immediate and quite shallow due to mentioned approach to modulation. While jamming with Modal 002 is quite a breeze, when I was jamming with Solaris, I found myself lost for hours in sound design stage. The patches were complex, beautiful, to show off even, but… I never found a way to make music with them. It seems that I need less of options to not overdo it. And probably, if I ever learn moderation in my life, I might miss Solaris. But then: I might be able to grab one with Polyphonic Aftertouch.

Damn! I need to start learning moderation in my life, beginning with how much I write…

sacguy71 · 2025-08-10T15:38:45.929Z

yeah that is how I feel about the Virus TI2 it has soo many choices in a small package. Modal and P12 would be really fun along with a Waldorf synth.

Stickhit · 2025-08-10T16:08:50.076Z

My favourite synth used to be the Virus TI2, but that changed when I got a Montage.

ex · 2025-08-10T20:30:10.040Z

I enjoy having the DN2, Virus and SH-4D around currently. Digitone for most cases, SH-4D to quickly whip up basses or pads and Virus when I want to get deeper into synthesis.

jbowman · 2025-08-10T21:44:03.914Z

Kodamo EssenceFM - 300 voice polyphonic, 16 part multitimbral, 8 outs - a real powerhouse.

Kodamo Mask1 - 12 voice polyphonic, 5 (4 really, but one of the parts can be a split / layer) part multitmbral, only 2 outs but sounds phenomenal and very quick to program.

Cheerful Electronics OPL Studio - 36 voice polyphonic, 16 part multimbral (but one of those channels is a drum channel), only one out and so much less powerful than the EssenceFM but it has that dirty gritty Yamaha chip FM sound which is amazing.

Dishonerable mention - I briefly had the Waldorf Kyra, in theory another powerhouse multitimbral synth but I did not get on with it at all - too many bugs, glitches and gotchas in the audio and in the UI which Waldorf made it clear they were never going to fix. I only mention it because I used to see it brought up in lists like this and thought it was worth giving it a try - big mistake on my part.

bwo · 2025-08-11T04:49:18.270Z

Yeah Kyra is a bummer of a story… I feel like there is likely more to it than we will ever know but it seems like the creator maybe invested too much in it and Waldorf was able to help right the ship. Then the guy turns around and bails on the project as soon as he could. It’s not a great look for him or Waldorf. From the sounds of it the creator took the code with him and essentially left Waldorf in an awkward situation of having to discontinue it. Seems like a strange deal was worked out for the project maybe not beneficial to either party.

normanion · 2025-08-11T13:21:04.272Z

sacguy71:

Modal and P12 would be really fun along with a Waldorf synth.

It’s interesting thought, because Waldorf XTk and Modal 002 are on the same rack in my home. I don’t have P12 - wanted to grab one though, but since I have Tempest and Prophet X, I felt it would take too much space for too much overlap. Don’t get me wrong: as mentioned before, there are almost always some things that are unique to each design, but there has to be moment, where one has to stop. Anyway, what I wanted to comment on your idea: jamming with Modal 002 and Waldorf XTk is great so I recommend you to try it. If you are looking for that sound, I think that Modal 001 is even better (I kid you not - I prefer to program sounds on 001 and then move them to bigger sibling). They both feel like having similar energy and none is overtaking the other (XTk vs 002). What is interesting: Prophet X, when it was in the same rack, played in the same league.

To give you some context. Deckard’s Dream is step above and has this energy that makes others disappear. In contrast: Modal 008 is step below, which made it stay kind of behind. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but can determine the role in a raw mix. What I want to draw from that is: if two similar models from one team can give this perception, then maybe Prophet 12 could have similar role, based on what I know about its filter (vide: Tempest) and how it stacks against SSI 2144 (PX).

One more point - again! - about interface. Also as mentioned before: that touch strips and wheels on P12 and PX are essential for interesting jams, where modulators are changing texture of sound, one can change things drastically with mentioned controls on panel (doesn’t count with P12 desktop).

Damn, you made me think of changing my setup again to return PX there and to jam with only those three…

P.S. Is it off topic? It kind of feels like bordering one.