Superbooth 2026: Love Synthesizers showcased its almost-finished First Love, a multi-timbral Synthesizer that makes FM synthesis fun – shipping in September.
Synthesizers from Iceland? Yes, there are. At Superbooth 2024, the startup Love Synthesizers unveiled the First Love FM Synth. Last year at Superbooth, they showcased further progress.
Now, the official release is on the horizon. Love Synthesizers was at Superbooth 2026 and presented the nearly finished First Love Synthesizer, which will now ship in September 2026.
Love Synthesizers First Love
As a reminder, First Love is a desktop 4-part multi-timbral FM Synthesizer with deep FM editing and waveshaping options. FM synthesis doesn’t always have to be DX-7-style. Love Synthesizers proves this.
Instead of dragging the user into the next operator nightmare, they’ve developed their own playful concept consisting of a 7-inch touchscreen, knobs, and buttons. This is supported by a colorful user interface that tries to enhance this new FM synthesis experience
For example, to create FM, you swipe one oscillator to another with your finger, and so on. At Superbooth 2026, the developers, including founder Kári Halldórsson, showcased the progress they have made over the past few months.
This includes a finished sound engine featuring four polyphonic FM synthesizers, a dedicated onboard FX engine with reverb, delay, chorus, and freezer per part, and the now-implemented “The Playground”.
The Playground
The Playground is Love Synthesizer’s idea for creatively playing the four FM engines in the First Love. Either all independently or together. In this, you can use a versatile arranger, sequencer, and arpeggiator.
Tools such as a microtonal quantizer with up to 256 user scales, a strum generator, and free assignment of slots with ready-to-use chords are available here. These performances, which you do in The Playground, can also be captured in the onboard MIDI looper.
It’s a unique way to make FM synthesis accessible to users.
In the case, you don’t scroll to the old article one more time, the connections. It has independent outputs (two stereo or four mono outputs), headphone output, 5-pin MIDI I/O, USB-C for power and data, and analog sync I/O.
Also onboard are built-in stereo speakers, and Bluetooth connectivity. USB-C is for power. Alternatively, you can power it with 4 lithium batteries.
Love Synthesizers First Love is available now for pre-order for $699/595€. Shipping starts in September 2026.
More information here: Love Synthesizers
Available from my partner
Update from May 6, 2024
There was great interest in the First Love synthesizer last week. The developer and founder, Kári Halldórsson, contacted me and gave me additional information. It is important to say that FLS won’t be a handheld synth; it will be a tabletop device with a 19 x 24 cm footprint and a 7″ touchscreen.
According to the developer, it will have a feature-rich hands-on FM synthesis engine with four simultaneous mono or polyphonic timbres, each playable through a separate or same MIDI channel. So you can archive multi-timbral or stacked sounds.
4 Layers – 4-Operator FM Synths
Each timbre is a 4-operator FM synth, allowing users to create their own algorithm on the screen. All operations are done through the graphical touchscreen interface, with most options also editable with the buttons and rotary knobs, says the dev.
Then, it hosts a morph envelope where the user designs the journey of each note through time. The user creates snapshots of the sound where any of the operators’ values are set at points in time. These values are then morphed easily throughout the lifetime of each note, either fast, for sudden changes and attack, or over long periods of time for slowly evolving sounds.
Additionally, each operator will have a dynamic wave folder operation and a calculation that tweaks the sine wave towards a square wave. These variables are applied to the operator wave before it either modulates or is modulated by another operator. So the synth is capable of FM, additive synthesis, or a mix of both.
Each timbre also has an amp envelope, and a mixer controls the overall sound of all timbres. According to the developer, it will also host an effect section and a built-in player/looper.
On the connection side, the alpha/prototype version will have two mono full-size jack outputs, DIN-5 MIDI-IN and MIDI-THRU, and a USB-C connector. But these can change. A built-in speaker and headphone output (stereo mini jack) are also in the works.
First Love Synthesizer is not in production yet. On Superbooth 24, they will show an alpha/prototype version to give users an idea of the synth. Later this year or early 2025, they will announce a price and begin pre-sale. Shipping in 2025.
Article from May 3, 2024
Superbooth 24: Love Synthesizers, a new Icelandic company, will showcase First Love Synthesizer, turning FM synthesis and wave morphing into a fun experience.
It’s the same procedure every year. A few weeks before the Superbooth, I scroll through the list of manufacturers to see who will be there. There seem to be a lot of new companies this year. Yesterday, we saw one of them,Cyma Forma from France.
Another one is Love Synthesizers, a new synth startup in Iceland. According to the Superbooth manufacturer list, they will unveil their first synth, First Love Synthesizer.
First Love Synthesizer
The full feature set of the FLS is not yet known, but the first info can already be seen on the official developer website.
First Love Synthesizer is a compact digital Synthesizer offering a touch-screen interface with animated graphics, four knobs, and buttons. The knobs that have the letters LOVE engraved on them are very striking
It looks like it also has a built-in speaker on the left side. FTL reminds me of a Gameboy à la Teenage Engineering.
The core of First Love Synthesizer uses FM synthesis with wave morphing. Love Synthesizers promises FM synthesis in an intuitive, limitless, and free-flowing manner not available in any other hardware FM synth you have used.
That sounds interesting, as FM synthesis is always seen as complicated and not very enjoyable. We will see how the engine is implemented in the unit at Superbooth 24 at the latest.
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Stay tuned for more information. It looks like a lovely, fun device.
Love Synthesizers First Love Synthesizer will be unveiled at Superbooth 24 at booth W250.
More information here: Love Synthesizers
Looks like AI-inspired, don’t know what to think about these weird designs that are just aestheric over function.
It looks like a care bear and a Gameboy had a child! I agree with your comment. I think that music is a serious subject.
I disagree. I think music should be fun. People are so diverse and so are creators, the market should reflect the populus. I will buy this device if it’s at a price point that is reasonable and I will share it with my children who are also creators. The right tools in the right hands
What do you mean aesthetic over function? Have you tried it? Or are you just making baseless assumptions?
We’ll see. Most of these devices are coming out way overpriced especially if their going for the TE vibe.
there is also a lot of well designed for very affordable
There’s a Dirtywave M8 hidden underneath all that white plastic, isn’t there?
Love the design. But in the end I wonder what you get for which price. Hopefully the Superbooth will give answer.
Does Love Hultén have anything to do with “Love Synthesizers”? Love his work.
Once per year you hear about this thing… was seeing the show of this at Superbooth25… I had secondhand embarrassment.. I found it really bad… was not aware this thing is still alive, even in synthyoutube I never hear about it..
because it’s still in development. They are shipping in September that why you don’t see much
The fact that it has TWO usb-c….. Power AND connect aline makes it a far superior device. Lol.