artifactor

Perhaps I will revisit and lengthen this review at a later time, but for now I'll just be writing a brief pros & cons overview. The Peak has a ton of synthesis on tap. What it lacks in the richness of its OSCs, it makes up for in the filter and all of its analog drives and distortions. The FX are almost too good and can become a bit of a crutch. The mod matrix is very usable, and there really isn't a whole lot of menu diving which is great for a synth that is this complex. The Peak can sound pretty warm and "analog", but it seems to really shine in the icier digital realm where it can become almost supernatural. This is a great synthesizer for someone who really likes the power of software synthesizers, but wants a sprinkle of analog and the joy of interacting with physical hardware. The build quality is quite nice, and I think it could gig if you mounted it to a solid stand. I wouldn't want this to be my only hardware synthesizer, but it makes a great companion to an analog mono or poly.

The Matriarch is the best sounding synthesizer I've ever owned. It's sonic palate can feel a little limited at times in spite of all of the potential patching, but what it does do it does with a real sonic beauty that's hard to put into words. The build quality is pretty nice here. It feels solid enough, but with all of the patching it might be dangerous to gig it. The keybed is great. The OSCs are so beautiful. Ugh... The filters are gorgeous as well. You have to go out of your way to make the Matriarch sound bad. It has a gigantic sweets spot that is hard to escape. I want to also shout out the mixer because it drives very nicely into the filter. While it's not a polyphonic synthesizer, the Matriarch, in my opinion, is at its best in 4-voice paraphonic mode. Holy moly! In this setup, this synthesizer will take you into sonic bliss. Add a bit of the stereo delay, and you are off on a cosmic exploration. It's truly a blissful experience. This is the only synthesizer I've ever owned that I could absolutely never part with under any circumstances. In many ways, it's ruined my relationships with some of my other boards.

This is going to be a short review. I love this synthesizer. It's a nice feature-complete monosynth in the sub-$1000. It's extremely straightforward, simple, and immediate. The OSCs and filter sound phenomenal, and the spring reverb adds a quirky and unique character to an otherwise basic general architecture. While it lacks the killer multidrive, extra 5 keys, handsome wood end-cheeks, 2nd LFO, and 2nd ENV, I think it's a way better synthesizer than the larger and more expensive Sub/sequent37. While the Sub/sequent line definitely has more synthesis available to the user, it just isn't as fun to play as the old Granny. The Sub-line OSCs don't sound as nice either. The one area where the Sub line does do better is for modern bass sounds that utilize boosted resonance, but I think the Granny sounds better in almost every other circumstance. The build quality is where I have to give the Granny a big knock though. My unit suffers from what appears to be a common issue with a scratchy and faulty filter pot. It's a real shame too because this is the type of synth that really invites real-time knob twiddling. If the filter knob is functioning properly then this is the monosynth I'd recommend to someone who has a generous budget and is interested in learning synthesis or someone who wants a newly built synth that sounds vintage.

The Matrixbrute is an incredible instrument. The available palate of sounds within this brute is wildly broad, and is capable of producing amazingly beautiful and organic sounds. What is even more amazing than the breadth of timbre is just how amazing the interface is for programming patches and exploring sonic possibilities. Arturia analog synths are really interesting and unique, and that interest starts with their OSCs. While they can sometimes veer into harsh and overly bright territories, the OSCs are so alive and drifty without being unwieldy. The wave-folding and shape modulation available can make some an incredibly rich sounds with very little work. These OSCs also feed nicely into a mixer which can drastically effect the drive feeding into the two filters. The filters here are a ton of fun to use. There's a 12/24db state variable Steiner-Parker filter that does LP,HP,BP, and notch. Then there's also a 12/24db ladder filter that can be run in LP, HP, and BP. These filters can be run in parallel or serial, and each OSC can be run in to either or both filters. If that wasn't enough, there's drive and brute factor for each filter! With a 3rd OSC that doubles as an LFO, there's a potential total 3 LFOs and 3 ENVs. Each of these has a unique feature such as onset delay or phase adjustments. The LFOs also let you draw a custom shape in on the matrix if you are feeling spicy. The best part of the modulators is that they are an absolute breeze and joy to assign via the matrix. The patching on this synth really is phenomenal. And all of these modulators with destinations has their own depth/attenuation value assigned to them! WOW! I've read a lot of criticisms surrounding the FX engine on the Matrixbrute, but I would contend that it's one of the most pleasantly characterful qualities of the instrument. The lofi analog FX engine can add some wonderfully organic sounding ambiance to your patches. You can get some seriously woody and percussive sounds that sound almost physically produced rather than synthesized, and a lot of that natural feel can be attributed to the "reverb" effect. Another criticism I've seen made of the Matrixbrute is about the keybed. On any other keyboard-based instrument, I'd probably agree. However, this keybed is really well paired on this brute. It's extremely light and fast action with really, really wonderful velocity sensitivity. I feel like I can be extraordinarily expressive with my playing on this instrument. This instrument has so many more features that this review could drag on for ages, and there are already so many more much better reviews on the internet already that I refuse to give those features anything more than a cursory glance.. The ins and outs on this synth are amazing, and it includes a nice pedal insert point pre-FX. The performance controls on this synth are dope. The 4 macro knobs are incredibly powerful. The sequencer is really well done, and can sequence parameters as well as notes. The arp exists and is very usable. Everything you want to do is so quickly accessible that you just have to experience it for yourself. If I had to bag on this instrument for a second I would say that 44 lbs is WAY too heavy for an instrument that you might want to gig. It's also massive in size, so it can be difficult to place comfortably in a smaller space or even in a flight case. The last drawback I can think of at the moment has to do with just how flexible it is as an instrument. It's so complex that it doesn't have large sweet spots, and it really requires you to dig in to the sound design portion of the synth if you are going to get the most out of its glorious existence. If I had to summarize my feelings about the Matrixbrute then I'd probably label it as the greatest monosynth ever made. It's not my favorite synthesizer due to the drawbacks I listed in the previous paragraph, but it is such an amazingly powerful and creatively inspiring instrument that I can't imagine ever parting with it. It makes gorgeous sounds that no other synthesizer is capable of making, and it sounds more alive than any other synth that I own.

Due to my less-than-positive feelings about this instrument, I'm not going to write an in-depth review. My basic feelings about this instrument are that of love and hate. I LOVE the sequencer. The Elektron sequencer is the bee's knees, and you can do some absolutely wild and creative things with the sequencer. In that respect, I'm not sure if there's another synth that is as powerful as the Analog4/Keys. The problem that I have with this board is that it just doesn't sound all that impressive in the 2021 synthesizer universe. There are so many synths available right now that have better sounding sound engines. I wouldn't be surprised if the latest generation of digital synthesizers sounded better than this synth's raw sound. The build quality is great, and it's a very giggable synth. I'd recommend this instrument to anyone who loves the Elektron way, and anyone who wants a synthesizer with a world-beating integrated sequencer. If you are real player then I imagine there's probably at least 10 synthesizers in this price range that you'd enjoy playing more.

This is an amazing interface that can remove some tedious mouse-clicking from your music production process. Unfortunately, it does fall short in many way. For $800, it should be an audio-interface as well as a controller. I also think it needs to be significantly larger with more physical controls. This kind of device would be an actual instrument if the grid were 16 columns wide rather than the 8 provided. It would also greatly benefit from having 8 to 9 faders in order to quickly bring elements in and out. Real pitch bend and mod wheels would also greatly benefit the playing experience in the Push 2. This is simply, imo, a device that is a jack-of-all-trades and a master-of-none. It doesn't go far enough in any direction to become a truly focused and essential device. If you are interested in using Live as a groovebox then the Push 2 is a really great device, but it's often much easier to reach for the mouse when you have to do more technical things to your tunes.

The ES-1 is a perfectly usable piece of gear, and can be quite charming in its simplicity. If you need a lofi sampler then this unit is decent option to explore. It does has a distinctively late-90s to early-00s budget feel and sound, but that is part of its charm in many ways. I think they may be a little pricey in the 2020s given the feature set on tap, but it does have some interesting options such as motion sequencing. In today's gear world, this would be a nice supplementary sound source, but I wouldn't build a kit around it.

First, let me say that this synth is built beautifully, and it is a pleasure to play. With that said, it's incredibly expensive for a synthesizer with so few features. It makes up for a lack of advanced synthesis with it's clean and clear front panel and nice 4-octave keybed. The Poly Mod section is a tad underwhelming with the depth of modulation being relatively shallow and with few destinations, but it does considerably broaden the palate of the instrument. This is especially important since it has only one global LFO that is hardwired to a total of 6 potential destinations. The OSCs sound good but not great. Particularly, I find the triangle wave to be pretty disappointing, but the square/pulse section is quite nice. The Sub OSC is very subtle, and it can really add some oomph to a patch. The noise sounds lovely when filtered down a bit. There is a Sync function, but I haven't found it to be very useful or musical thus far. The filter section consists of two resonant filters. There's a highpass that has a strange cutoff scaling on the knob. It's useful to thin out the low end of big patches, but it rarely sounds musical to my ear. The 24db lowpass filter is nice, but it doesn't have a ton of character. Perhaps that's intentional since this is a poly? There's two envelopes, one for the amp and one for the filter. These work as expected, and the scaling on the knobs is quite nice, imho. The amp envelope requires you to add a touch of attack to keep from hearing the snappy click of the amp opening, but that's an easy and fast adjustment. There is one issue I have here though, and that's with the velocity-sensitive mode attached to the amp envelope. When engaged, it's too easy to create clipping in patches where the mixer is driven a little too hard. This issue coupled with the amp envelope's tendency to introduce clicking can make for a needlessly fiddly experience. The FX section consists of two slots of various FX choices. The reverbs seem to be restricted to 1 of the two slots, but that's okay since I haven't found any of them to be particularly inspiring. You are much better off reaching for a pedal or plugin when it comes to the reverbs here. Some of the mod FX are quite nice though, and they definitely add a little extra stereo sauce to your patches. A nice little bonus is the ring modulator effect. While almost all of the FX are digital, there is a true bypass which is great. Oh, and the analog distortion is quite nice; much nicer and more useful than I was expecting it to be. If I could give this synth another half-star then it would have earned a 4.5 out of 5. This is the type of synth that offers bread-and-butter poly sounds in a modern format. The build quality is beautiful, and it sounds really gorgeous when it's in a sweet spot. Unfortunately, I have a hard time stating that it is worth the $2900 is currently retails for in the US. That's a ton of money for a 4-octave 6-voice synthesizer. I appreciate the VCOs quite a bit, and the Prophet 6 definitely has a cool analog vibe to it at times. At the same time, I can't help but think about the fact that the Korg Prologue 16-voice is nearly $1000 less. Sure, the Korg lacks aftertouch, but in exchange you get an extra octave, 20 more VCOs, a digital OSC, and a compressor. To sum this up, The Prophet 6 is expensive, but it looks, feels, and sounds really wonderful. It's the kind of synth you could keep for a lifetime. It's the kind of synth that invites you to play it rather than talk about all the cool things it can do. It's certainly a player's keyboard, and I find that charming. Is this synth for you? Well, probably not. I'm not even sure it's for me. If you have $3000 to spend on an analog polysynth in 2021 then I'd say there are probably better options out there for you unless you gig in a band that takes advantage of the classic sounds on tap here in the Prophet 6. If you are a gigging synth player then this might be exactly what you want in a band setting.