FM | MASTERCLASS
Futuristic synths
Discover the latest features from today’s forward-thinking software instruments, and keep up to date with the newest sound generators
Ever since they arrived in popular music in the ’70s, synths have always seemed new and otherworldly. Bristling with strange knobs and controls and emitting weird electronic noises, many synths might seem more at home in the bridge of the Nebuchadnezzar than in your studio or bedroom. Initially, musicians responded with horror at the arrival of these newfangled music-making machines, fearing being replaced entirely (a sentiment echoed in some of the scepticism surrounding AI’s role in music today).
First came the analogue synths: brutish modular systems with cables and real circuitry. These gave way to more portable and playable models like the trailblazing Minimoog. Then came their digital ancestors, which used mathematical representations of audio waveforms. Wavetable, additive, FM, physical modelling and sample-based synths took grip on the global music market, with releases like the Yamaha DX7 and the Roland D-50 possessing previously unseen universal appeal.