Best hardware experimental Synthesizer releases 2024

Discover the best hardware experimental Synthesizer releases of 2024, including epic drone ambient machines, weird sound boxes, and more.

Synthesizers, whether hardware or software, are my passion. Whether tweaking knobs in real life or building sounds with touch, I love synths in every possible form. I am particularly interested and pleased with experimental synths that offer new concepts, sonic options, designs, and more.

Also, in 2024, just before the turn of the year, I present you my selection of the best hardware experimental Synthesizer releases.

Best Hardware Experimental Synthesizer Releases 2024

This best-of-series focuses primarily on small developers who, with smaller budgets, bring their beautifully weird synthesizers or noise machines to the highly competitive market. 

Like the last four years (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), the order of the mentioned experimental synths doesn’t mean anything. A synth that is #4 or #9 doesn’t mean it’s better or worse. I just listed them randomly and left it up to you, my continuous-supporting readers, to choose which sound generators you liked best.

Important: the choice is strictly personal. It’s not the ultimate best list; everyone can have a different choice.

Every year, I find it exciting to incorporate my favorite experimental releases into an article. Although there were few experimental synthesizer releases in 2024, I did my best to put together the best selection of this year. This year, I have not 10 but 11 for you, plus one who didn’t make it.

We have to start somewhere, and I thought we’d launch this wild trip with something simpler. 

Home Bake Instruments CHAOS

At the beginning of the year, the Japanese developer Home Bake Instruments released CHAOS. It’s a portable semi-modular drone Synthesizer with two oscillators, a filter, and a chaos generator that utilizes shift registers to create chaotic signals. 

When I published my article about it in February, opinions were divided. Some people thought the synth was beautiful; others thought it sounded terrible. I’m a big fan of small synths that can’t do much but give you a rapid, easy, and hands-on way to work with. See Korg Monotrons, etc. They don’t have a lot of features but are tons of fun.

The Home Bake Instruments Chaos also has this approach. Chaos is not a stunning new synth of the year but a nice drone synth that can make a lot of weird noise.

More information here: Home Bake Instruments / Article

Jolin Avalith 

Superbooth 24 in Berlin is always the come-together of the Synthesizer world. Synthesizer developers and enthusiasts from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Berlin for three days. Here, you can also find one or two crazy synths every year.

At the booth of the Italian company Jolin, you could explore the new Avalith drone Synthesizer, which has been available since the Superbooth. Jolin was previously known to most for Eurorack modules with an experimental touch. With the Avalith, they built their first unique desktop synth.

Avalith is a drone Synthesizer with a matrix of 100 raw oscillators. The emphasis is on raw because the synth doesn’t feature classic, perfectly tuned oscillators we know from hardware synths or Eurorack modules.

Unlike others, it operates on the principle of utilizing transistors in a state known as registers—a concept the developers already used in their fascinating Tabor module. More precisely, it uses 100 transistor-based oscillators with 20 different oscillation frequencies divided into 10 banks.

This unique configuration allows you to create soundscapes and drones by manipulating pure electrical signals. The sounds that come out of Avalith are filthy, crackly, and weird. 

More information here: Jolin Avalith / Article

Destiny Plus Pogramma 900

Destiny Plus has become a permanent member of the best-of list. The company is now known for coming up with the craziest Synthesizer ideas. The developer “Kirkis” also released a new fascinating synth in 2024.

Programma 900 is a desktop harmonic/additive Synthesizer workstation with a built-in looper and effects to keep it simple and less complex. Its FPGA/ARM cortex-based core allows users to delve deeply into generating harmonics and frequencies, making it a harmonic musical supercomputer. 

This additive sound factory has top morphing capabilities and can record CVs of up to 6 minutes. And there is much more crazy stuff that I didn’t mention. Programma 900 is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary releases this year.

More information here: Destiny Plus / Article

Sonic Seed Seofon 

The synth is particularly striking due to its space-alien design. It could be from the props of a Star Trek episode. Its sound and engine are just as different and bizarre. It’s all about noise and strange sounds. 

Seofon uses self-wired organic oscillation generators, aka nodes (seven groups), that can interact with each other and the internal features, including the pulse oscillators and the built-in filter.

When the nodes “collide,” interference occurs, as do sounds, which can be pure noise or rhythmic elements. The banana patch cables and the settings determine what comes out of the playable synth with touch plates. Seofon is an experimental Synthesizer for fans of raw noise music, which proves the linked jam underneath.

More information here: Sonic Seed / Article

Erica Synths Steampipe

Physical modeling synthesis instruments still belong to a tiny minority in Synthesizer, especially in hardware. For many musicians, the sounds that usually come out of such synthesizers have less of a direct connection than to a Moog, Oberheim, or Roland sound.

I’m probably one of the few people who is inspired by the sound and exotic behavior of physical modeling synths. Maybe that’s one reason why I love them so much in software. I was much more pleased when Erica Synths released the Steampipe shortly before the holidays. 

Steampipe is an 8-voice desktop physical modeling Synthesizer developed closely with plugin developer 112dB. The reason I put the Steampipe on the list of the best experimental synth releases 2024, is its sound capabilities, not the interface. This is very classic and could also be one for a new analog synth.

In terms of sound, Steampipe walks a tightrope between classic acoustic-like sounds (keys, flute, string) and heavy feedback drones and soundscapes. With just a few tweaks, it moves from beautiful, lovely to heavy “metal.”

Is the Erica Synths Steampipe an experimental synth? Some would say mainstream, but I’m for the experimental side, as the engine can quickly drift into crazy, feedback-ish sounds.

More information here: Erica Synths / Article

Ciat Lonbarde Clicker 

Let’s now move from large to something much smaller that almost fits in your pocket. Ciat Lonbarde, led by Peter Blasser, is known for his experimental, colorful wood synthesizers with banana patch cables. In 2024, he teamed up with the Berlin music duo Mouse on Mars to create the mini synth.

Jan St. Werner, one of Mouse of Mars, had the idea of a mini synth, a modulatable impulse generator capable of generating clicks and tiny sound moments. The result is Clicker:  “Where synth-makers often aim for sustained, lush sounds and expansive forms, the clicker unfolds its magic in the briefest moments imaginable.”

It’s a dual-voice Synthesizer with Rob Hordijk-inspired ring modulators (Ringlers), cross-mod options, and more.

The ability to make “lightspeed” sounds by manual patching or even self-triggering patches using feedback puts this instrument in its own category. It’s a super niche, special-interest synth, and I don’t know of any Synthesizer specializing in this kind of clicky sound. 

More information here: Ciat Lonbarde / Article

Neutral Labs Scrooge

In last year’s list of the best experimental Synthesizer releases in 2023, I mentioned the Neutral Labs Elyra 2, which is a massively further development of its former Elyra drone Synthesizer, which the Soma Labs Lyra inspired.

The German developer has expanded its portfolio to include the Scrooge drum machine. However, this is no ordinary drum machine. Of course, we are in the best experimental Synthesizer releases in 2024.

Scrooge offers a passive circuit with five distinct, fully analog voices of special circuits using CMOS components and more. A sequencer with advanced creative features (ratcheting, probability, etc.) and fun generative elements supports all this and gives the power of the voice through their voltages. 

Anyone who embarks on the Neutral Labs Scrooge adventure expects anything but an 808, 909, CR-78 preset machine. Depending on the setting, you get a rhythmic fart and noise machine with a broken, glitchy nature up to boomy drum patterns ready for the next techno set.

Scrooge is a fascinating drum synth/drum machine that looks at the subject of drum generation from a different sound perspective. You will enjoy it if you have a good affinity for noisy, glitchy sounds.

More information here: Neutral Labs / Article

Tasty Chips Electronics GR-MEGA

At Superbooth 2023, the Dutch developers from Tasty Chips Electronics presented the GR-Mega, a true workstation dream for granular synthesis fetishists. Delivery has now started, and the first user demos are already available on YouTube. 

I’m talking about a workstation because GR-Mega can do more than just granular synthesis. It’s a multi-timbral Synthesizer/sampler with four layers and five distinct engines: sampling, granular synthesis with up to 5000 grains, tape mode, granular/sampler slice mode, and spectral. There are also tons of modulators, sequencers, etc.

GR-MEGA is a dream instruments for anyone who loves to generate massive soundscapes and textures in hardware. With its spectral or granular slice engine you can dive very deeply into super complex, experimental sounds. 

At €1500 + VAT, the GR-Mega is one of the most expensive experimental instruments on my list this year. If that’s too much for you, there are plenty of alternatives on the iPad or for the DAW. 

More information here: Tasty Chips / Article

Error Instruments Dark Marie

Paul Tas from Error Instruments is not to be missed on the list of the best experimental Synthesizer releases in 2024. He has released some crazy synthesizers and Eurorack modules again this year. I chose the Dark Marie for this year’s list. 

Dark Marie is a patchable semi-modular Synthesizer and processor inspired by the story of Marie Antoinette. Design, features, and sound stand out from the synth crowd. I think the rustic is the least.

The heart of the synth is a patch matrix which is divided into six bizarre, noisy engines and six functions, both with analog and digital elements. The matrix invites the user to a crazy patching party where you can marry the different synth elements with each other.

These patchings turn Dark Marie into a noisy experimental Synthesizer, a crunchy delay processor, or something in between. This synth is definitely designed for loud, quirky, experimental noise kitchen parties.

More information here: Error Instruments / Article

Synthux Academy Audrey II

All these experimental synth developers have one thing in common: they are very closely connected to the synthesizer community. People know each other, are friends, and respect each other and their projects/products.

The Synthux Academy project is deeply rooted in the community. It comprises various developers creating open-source projects. This year, they unveiled Audrey II, a feedback-controlled Synthesizer developed by Nick Donadson from Infrasonic Audio and designed by Roey Tsemah, founder of Synthux Academy.

Audrey II is a standalone desktop digital Synthesizer with a Karplus-Strong synthesis engine, spacious reverb, filters, tape delay, and more. It’s more of a drone synth, with which you can explore the behavior and limits of feedback-based sounds.

Synthux Academy Audrey II has a solid drone range, depending on where you take the Karplus Strong synthesis and the linked features. This goes from beautiful, hypnotic sonic walls to distorted, aggressive, haunting noisescapes.

More information here: Synthux Academy / Article

It’s a big shame that two synthesizers announced this year didn’t make on the list: the Stylophone CPM DS-2 drone synth from NAMM 2024 and the Koma Elektronik Chromaplane. Both are fascinating announcements that are not yet available.

We are still waiting for delivery. They will probably be on the best experimental synthesizer releases 2025 list if there aren’t 10 better releases in 2025

Summary

That was 2024. This year, too, brought us many exciting, crazy synthesizers. As usual, many of these original releases have, unfortunately, flown under the radar of many major synth communities. I hope I was able to focus on some exciting new releases again with this article.

I’m already looking forward to 2025 with more new synthesizers—especially the fresh and crazy ones from small developers. Until then, I wish you all a happy new year, and thank you very much for your support in 2023.

In case you need one or more cans with crazy, out-of-this-world sounds, I linked the lists from the previous years below. 

Best hardware experimental Synthesizer releases from the other years:

2023

2022

2021

2020