bart_van_zon's Electronic Synth Setup

Arturia started out 30 years ago as a creator of software emulations of classic synthesizers. They've gained quite a bit of experience in that time, and have applied that in their creation of hardware synthesizers. They don't have the arrogance of bigger older companies that live on old fame and release classic synthesizers with limited capabilities at inflated prices. Arturia on the other hand, built the Polybrute from the ground up. They looked at what made the classic synthesizers that great, took the best aspects of each and designed hardware around that with the most intuitive UI that would be most affordable to produce in present day.

The Polybrute is an absolutely fabulous analogue synthesizer. A pleasant vintage sound comparable to old synthesizers that cost many times more (like the Prophet 5 and OB-Xa), but with a lot more possibilities to fine-tune your sounds and get something really interesting. All of that whilst the interface remains easy to understand. On top of that, it has a lot of modern effects and features to get sounds that you only get from modern synths.

Arturia also gives you a free VST editor, so you can connect the Polybrute to your computer via USB, and load the VST into your DAW that you operate with the Polybrute, or you can operate the Polybrute with the VST. The boundaries between hardware and software disappear. With my Sequential Prophet 5 and Oberheim OB-X8 which are much more expensive, I had to buy the VST editors separately for $160 each, and they didn't work nearly as well as Arturia one for the Polybrute. Moog also offers free VST editors, but I also have more problems with those than with the Polybrute. Arturia also releases frequent firmware updates that never gave me any trouble and helped make the instrument even better. Arturia released tons of great free presets.

The Polybute is solidly built. Metal housing with wooden side panels, sturdy metal and plastic pods and rubber buttons with multicoloured LEDs inside. The look is timeless. It combines 1960s teal and wood, with 1980s rubber buttons with LEDs in them and deep black and pure white keys and knobs that are very modern. The most beautiful synth I've ever seen. In terms of sound it's right up there with my Prophet 5, OB-X8 and Subsequent 37. Different character but at least as good.