The best keyboard synthesizers for under £500 (2024)

• No need for a host, or a controller keyboard
• Hands-on sound creation with no frustrations
• Analogue revival means classic hardware’s cheap, too

Hardware’s days are doomed – or so we keep being told, but keyboard players and electronic musicians just don’t want to give up their keys and knobs just yet.

It’s not just about the physicality of playing and controlling the instrument – using hardware leaves your DAW’s processing power free for effects, recording and mixing without glitches. There’s no license key to lose, no operating system compatibility that could stop your synth working overnight and best of all, you can play anywhere with power and headphones.

Added to all those practical considerations, there’s an authenticity of sound creation that – real or imagined – feels satisfying compared to turning virtual dials on a piece of software. Whether it’s via analogue circuity (yes, you can get real analogue synths for much less than £500), DSP or the latest FPGA emulation, the filters, amplifiers and controls all play a part beyond the seed of the simple oscillator that all electronic sounds grow from.

Looking for a bargain? Check out Thomann’s B-stock keyboard synth deals

I admit it – few plugins reach the heady heights of £500, but by the time you’ve added a keyboard and physical controls, it’s a different story – and most synths will double up as a controller, too.

Most of these synthesizers will need an amplifier or headphones – though if you are using a laptop or desktop computer that already features a line-in jack, that is sufficient for connecting one synth for listening and recording. A simple USB audio interface will allow more control over levels and gain, however, and protect against some of the more extreme signals a synthesizer can produce. Some instruments may also offer audio over USB, but at this budget it’s a rare bonus rather than the normal approach.

1. Behringer Odyssey – built to last, timeless sounds

From £399, check out deals from Thomann or Amazon UK

Pros

• Classic design, a ’70s synth legend, with modern effects
• Full-size keys and pressure-sensing mod and bend buttons
• Expressive, versatile and powerful sound

Cons

• Heavy and bulky if it’s an addition to the collection
• No patch recall or presets, steep learning curve

For your £500 budget, Behringer’s keyboard synth range offers something for every style, but my experience of the Poly D suggests that the compromises made to bring such impressive tech down to an affordable price can go too far in terms of feeling a bit cheap. The Odyssey, which falls into Behringer’s group of Korg-clones that DO have direct equivalents competing with them from the original manufacturer, initially stood out for featuring a full-size keyboard when Korg chose to make their reissue in a minikey-sized format.

Now Korg offers a full-size version, albeit in kit form, the Behringer competes purely on price. There’s not much compromise here, though. You’re hard-pressed to tell them apart when playing, and the Behringer Odyssey hasn’t been cheapened in terms of case construction (it’s tough metal), keyboard usability or controls. It even has an XLR output, and it adds a built-in digital effects processor.

The paraphonic/duophonic architecture is easy to understand and play (unlike the Behringer CAT) and the multi-colour illuminated controls make navigating sound creation easy. The effects are nice, usable delay, reverb and chorus with low noise and easy controls, and overall the Arp Odyssey architecture provides a versatile and flexible synth engine that can be turned to most genres. It’s easy to fall into Tubeway Army/Gary Numan style leads and basslines with it, but you can tune and tweak some sophisticated sounds using the dual filter controls for high pass and low pass simultaneously.

It’s #1 here because it’s got a full size keyboard and is a seriously capable instrument that fulfils the definition of ‘sub-£500 synthesizer’ perfectly – and it’s well made and tough enough for gigs and chaos. However, if you want something more generalist in sounds and ability, keep reading…

2. Korg microKORG S: self-contained synthesizer and vocoder

From £419 – view deals on Amazon UK or buy from Thomann

Pros

• Classic Korg virtual analogue engine
• Built-in speakers with 2.1 subwoofer layout
• Vocoder and USB audio interface as well

Cons

• No sampled or wavetable sounds
• Minikeys and a rather simplistic layout

What happens to classic synthesizer technology when the original product fades away? Korg’s first virtual analogue, the MS2000, was near the end of the pioneering wave of reasonably-priced DSP-based synthesizers in the late ’90s, competing with the Roland JP-8000, Nord Lead and many others that took the sheer processing power available by this point to go beyond the possibilities of analogue sounds, mixing and processing.

It looked a bit weak with just four-voice polyphony, but was cheap and sounded good. The reason you don’t seem many MS2000s (aside from some reliability woes) however, is the microKORG… launched in 2002 it brought the MS2000 engine to a smaller, more portable format at a very affordable price. The microKORG is still a strong seller (though the microKORG 2 has been released now with eight-voice polyphony and , it’s somewhat more expensive), and in 2016 it was revised to include battery power and built-in speakers. For many EDM and electronic acts the microKORG’s compact dimensions and punchy virtual analogue sound engine were more than enough, despite the rather simplistic cut-down interface.

If you don’t need the built in speakers the same budget will buy the microKORG XL+, which introduces another Korg synthesiser engine (the MMT engine from the RADIAS) for more natural, acoustic sound options, and greater polyphony.

3. Novation MiniNova: once the best value synthesizer ever made

From £369 – Buy direct from Novation – or find offers on Amazon UK

Pros

• Insanely powerful synth engine
• Versatile performance controls
• Easy-to-use vocoder

Cons

• Complex to edit without using a VST
• Minikeys have a slightly odd feel

We’ve tried to list three pros and cons for every option here – but the MiniNova really doesn’t have drawbacks given the insanely low price. Novation’s baby keyboard is the most recent incarnation of a synthesis technology that started life in the late 1990s and utterly dominated the anthemic dance, trance and techno landscape; even now, the Nova and SuperNova are cherished classics, rather than obsolete tech.

Repackaging the UltraNova into a smaller, 37-key minikey layout dominated by 8 rubber performance pads (not, as is so often the case, percussion pads) and a huge filter control underlines exactly where Novation see the MiniNova – a discrete, playable addition to a bedroom studio or sitting alongside bigger controllers, distinctive vocoder microphone at the ready. It’s even been sold as a limited-edition MoroderNova, with the famous producer’s sounds pre-loaded.

Play the MiniNova in-store and you’ll be blown away – with good reason. Some musicians would be happy with just a decent vocoder at this price; delving into the Mininova, you’ll find 3 oscillators per voice with standard, combined, wave and wavetable sources, 18-voice polyphony, six envelopes (four assignable), 14 filter types and five effect slots. It is astonishingly powerful, and capable of a huge variety of sounds.

Fine for serious electronic musicians – what about beginners?

Unlike many low-cost synthesizers, the MiniNova’s preset library is broad and generous, with 384 sounds available on-board all sorted by category. A versatile arpeggiator can play basic octave progressions or pre-programmed sequences entered into the step sequencer; you can mute steps during performance with the animate keys. Novation provide even more sounds online, so out of the box your MiniNova is ready with well over 500 diverse presets – including some classics from dance pioneer Giorgio Moroder.

Beginners won’t be left feeling like they’re just pressing buttons and getting sounds, as the Animate function provides 8 different modifications to the sound that can work in conjunction with each other; finding a unique character to suit your groove is surprisingly easy.

Back to that microphone – the MiniNova’s vocoder includes vocal tune functions, which sound a bit artificial – more Cher than the invisible corrections of modern software; your vocals can also be filtered and fed through the on-board effects (including compression and distortion) for a surprisingly powerful combination. External instruments are also supported – plug a guitar into the instrument input, and you’ve got access to the Mininova’s sound processing.

Sounds great – but how complex is it?

You can edit the sounds from the front panel with four assignable controllers and a simple matrix – combined with the informative white-on-blue LCD display, it’s not hard to navigate. If you’ve got a computer in the studio though, life gets a lot easier. There’s a VST editor which offers an intuitive, visual workflow for creating and modifying sounds, and a quick and easy librarian to store and organise patches.

The editor not only provides that quick functionality to shape sounds – it spells out just how deep, and powerful, the MiniNova’s synthesis really is. Given the budget, this Novation is impressive enough if all you could do is load presets, change them a bit and play with the vocoder; nothing is held back, however – and there’s a classic, high-end synth just waiting to be discovered in this little, lightweight keyboard.

4. Yamaha Reface series: mini-homages to classic instruments

From £319 – DX (FM synth), YC (Combo organ), CP (piano), CS (analogue synth) from Amazon UK

Pros:

• Battery power and built-in speakers
• Compact, simple design with powerful sound engines
• Diverse character, familiar format

Cons:

• Minikeys don’t suit all players – or teachers
• DX is limited to 4OP budget-DX flavour

Yamaha’s family of retro revival synths is an interesting crossover between classic pro audio instruments and home keyboards such as the Sonogenic range. They’re reasonably good value and include speakers, making them appealing for older kids who may find the sound shaping and ‘grown-up’ sound engine more interesting than the presets and childish style of keyboards obviously aimed at children.

Of the four, the most interesting for synthesizer enthusiasts is probably the CS. This analogue-esque style recalls the classic family of CS synthesizers, but is a simplified virtual analogue with up to eight voice polyphony for chords and pads, and a variety of oscillator models. The mini key design is inevitable, it can be used as a MIDI controller over USB and has an iOS app to support sound storage and editing as well.

The CS can create an impressive range of traditional synth patches, from squelchy 303-like basslines to dance and EDM supersaw patches, and sound shaping falls easily to hand with the row of sliders on the top panel.

Studio and gigging musicians may find the Reface YC particularly interesting. This compact keyboard packs a 128-voice polyphonic drawbar organ model and sounds jazzy, funky and cool. It can be switched between models of tonewheel, Italian, Japanese or British transistor, or the 1972 Yamaha YC-45D. It features a rotary speaker model with quick-access fast/slow control, it can set the controls for the heart of prog, or go full lounge act, distortion and reverb controls, and is surprisingly expressive. It’s the one Reface that I feel justifies its existence in a well-equipped studio as a sound source/module as well as a self-contained keyboard.

The Reface DX should be the holy grail of Yamaha recreations, but as an FM synth reboot it’s decidedly lacking when Korg’s opsix and Volca FM options exist. Why? The DX7 is six-operator FM, whereas the Reface is the lesser, four-operator model found in the consumer keyboards and MSX computers.

The fourth Reface is the CP. This compact electric piano/clav model also features 128-voice polyphony and classic control interface to replicate the Stevie Wonder etc. Rhodes, Wurlitzer and similar stage pianos. Crucial to that is the implementation of wah, phaser and distortion effects – yes, it’s clever samples in action, but it’s appealing. The only reason I put this below the YC and DX in the list is the cognitive dissonance of that big, melodic sound, and the tiny keys. It’s a weird feeling, hearing THOSE sounds emerge from that little keyboard.

There’s a ‘keytar kit’ for Yamaha Reface, but it’s really just a set of strap lugs – it doesn’t add the crucial ‘grip/neck’ and expression controls that truly turn ‘a keyboard you’re wearing’ into A KEYTAR. Sorry guys, not good enough!

5. Roland GO:KEYS 3 and 5 – home keyboard, classic synth sounds

From £299 – Buy the Roland GO:KEYS range from Amazon UK

Pros

• Home-keyboard looks and ease of use
• Built-in speakers and recording features
• Light weight for gigging

Cons

• Synthesizer abilities are just a DLC-fee away
• And they’re still more of a preset-player rather than editable
• GO:KEYS 3 has limited connectivity and can’t load wave expansions

The idea of a ‘best keyboard synthesizers’ list including something from Roland’s GO range of consumer keyboards seems far-fetched, and yet here are two of the best stealth-synths going for players rather than sound tweaking enthusiasts. The GO:Piano tried to make the home keyboard cool, and the GO:KEYS seems to have got very close to cracking that problem.

Both of the GO:KEYS keyboards use Roland’s ZENCore sound engine, with support for Roland Cloud instruments and sounds – though they can’t load the model expansions that allow full synthesizer features, they can load banks of slightly editable presets. The 5 can do more than the 3, loading up sample+synth waves similar to the old SRX cards.

The more affordable GO:KEYS 3 comes in funky colours, still features 61 full-size keys with velocity sensitivity, and has slightly lower quality built-in speakers. It runs on batteries if needed, and with a limited number of ports is very self-contained and low-risk to leave unattended for younger players. It can record sequences and use the wireless connection (accessory) for Roland Cloud integration, and already has enough presets to cover most genres.

Opt for the GO:KEYS 5, which costs a little over £120 more typically, and you get a microphone input, more sounds supported, inputs for pedal controls and extra USB ports for storage expansion. The speakers are also better, but the fundamental sound engine and keyboard combination is much the same.

Both models support audio over USB, making them one of the few keyboards at this price that you can record directly into a laptop or tablet. Sounds can be tweaked on a smartphone app, which also gives access to learning resources and of course, yet more subscriptions and paid content. However, from the point of view of ‘a kid who loves music, presented with a home keyboard’, the GO:KEYS ticks the boxes for features like keyboard split and layering, basic effects, and punchy synth sounds – it’s what I’d have wanted when the Yamaha PSS ruled the roost.

6. PWM Malevolent: semi-modular, but fully-featured analogue

From £406 – view deals from Thomann or buy from PMT Online

Pros:

• USB powered, lightweight controller and powerful analogue synthesizer
• Sophisticated filters can add something to even well equipped studios
• Clever arpeggiator and hold function, intuitive interface

Cons:

• Mini keys are a little too short and flimsy-feeling for grown-up hands
• Controls need subtle inputs, can quickly tip into aggressive sounds

This is a quirky entry in the world of low-cost synthesizers, as it appeared to come out of nowhere if you only pay attention to the noisiest brands. It looks, at a glance, like a monster – but those are mini keys, and it’s a similar scale to the Novation MiniNova. This isn’t the only similarity with the MiniNova – the designer and founder of PWM, Paul Whittington, is a long-term expert in the British electronic music industry with spells at Evolution, M-Audio and… Novation. The latter is the bit that should really pique your interest – Paul’s era covers the MiniNova, Circuit, BassStation II, CMS and Peak.

PWM’s flagship product, the Mantis, keeps the Novation theme going. It has the distinction of being the last synth designed with SuperNova (and Nova engine) designer Chris Huggett’s (EDP Wasp, OSCar) input. The somewhat more affordable Malevolent uses a sound engine created by modular synth artisans Future Sound Systems.

This means it takes the wild, creative modular analogue approach of FSS, and blends it with Paul’s experience creating intuitive UX and consumer-friendly instruments. The aesthetic feels retro-British cool – the kind of colours and shapes you’d find on those early ’80s pro audio boxes – but this is a new design, with some funky new features. It takes time to learn how to ‘drive’ it gently for nuanced, subtle sounds – the first explorations are inevitably aggressive, harsh and powerful, and you need to get the patch cables out to make the most of the filters and envelopes.

Saving some cable spaghetti, the Malevolent can be bus-bowered with its USB-C MIDI cable – but you’ll soon want to grab a few cables and start patching the open front panel. It can be played without any patch leads required, and it’s an excellent choice if you want a compact MIDI controller keyboard and a MIDI-CV interface as well – thanks to a novel joystick-controlled hold function and that single-cable connection, it’s an impressive tool for any analogue-synth studio as well as a synthesizer with a unique character, at a very tempting price.

7. Behringer MS-1 MkII: mini budget, full-size analogue joy

From £199 – buy from Thomann, Andertons or Gear4Music

I reviewed the Behringer MS-1 MkII, and learned two things – one, the MS-1/101 was probably better than it appeared to be based on the opinions of critical synthesizer enthusiasts, and two, it’s a bargain. The only reason it’s not at the top of this list is that for £500, a musician who is just starting out can get a lot more flexibility, convenicne and power than a single oscillator analogue synthesizer offers.

However, the MS-1 is cheap enough that you can buy it and another source of sounds, such as the Novation Circuit Tracks – often available for less than £250 from Amazon and other retailers, an MS-1 plus Circuit Tracks covers easy-access analogue sound shaping, polyphonic virtual analogue and wavetable synthesis, and sampled drum sequencing, for less than £500 in total. You can use the MS-1 as a keyboard to play the Circuit’s synth engines more naturally, too, if you’re already familiar with piano keys.

The main reason the MS-1 isn’t at the top of this list is that it’s too cheap – it’s comfortably the best keyboard synthesizer you can get for less than £250. For the £500 budget it could be bundled with a Novation Circuit Tracks to make a versatile, and complete, music production combination.

8. ASM Hydrasynth Explorer: mini keys, massive sound

From £479 – buy from Thomann or check Amazon UK

Pros:

• Flexible, wavetable-morphing hybrid sound engine
• Eight-voice polyphonic for chords and stacked sounds
• Poly aftertouch keyboard is very rare at this price

Cons:

• Most presets feel a bit thin, brittle
• Preset browsing is slow, clumsy

This is probably the most powerful synthesizer you’ll find at this budget, and it comes in the inevitable blocky mini-key format. There is one significant difference though – these keys not only offer aftertouch, they offer poly aftertouch. A crucial aspect of playing the Hydrasynth’s hybrid engine, the polyphonic pressure sensitivity means you can hold a chord, and gently or dramatically modulate one note.

If you want to imagine what that sounds like, think Bladerunner – not only is it the inspiration for the default patch when you first fire up a Hydrasynth, the Yamaha CS-80’s expressive playability set a benchmark for dystopian synth sounds under the skilled hands of Vangelis, and now you can play with that kind of control for less than £500.

The main reason the Hydrasynth sits so low in this list is that the blocky keys aren’t very pleasant to play. It’s more of a controller, than a keyboard, in that regard, and the powerful sound engine occasionally lacks depth and warmth. It’s a space filler, rather than a stadium filler, in its general sound and nature, and the preset browsing is still not quite as easy or well organised as rivals.

This is a competitive group of synths though. It’s far down the list, but it could be the perfect small keyboard and synth to complete your studio, with lots of control possibilities and integration with modular/CV equipment as well.

For the end of 2024, check out the 888 Limited Edition Hydrasynth Explorer.

9. Arturia MicroFreak: Best for sound creation and exploration

Currently £279 – See offers available through Amazon UK
The Thomann 70th Anniversary edition is £279 with a unique design and bundled software

Pros

• Deeply powerful synthesis with a very accessible interface
• Doesn’t skimp on connectivity – CV, USB and MIDI, audio input
• Can be used with an external USB powerbank and headphones

Cons

• Flat keyboard may not be to everyone’s taste

Arturia’s compact and astoundingly affordable MicroFreak deserves its name – it’s freakishly good, and capable of generating sounds that put synthesizers costing four times as much to shame. It also offers control possibilities rarely found outside of obscure, specialist and vintage instruments, including polyphonic aftertouch and an extended paraphonic mode that goes far beyond the traditional behaviour of paraphonic synthesizers; each of the four voices has its own VCA envelope that can be assigned like other sources via the easy to use mod matrix.

Embracing being a freak, the Arturia looks like no other synth. Rather than keys or even an EDP Wasp-style membrane, the MicroFreak’s capacitive PCB ‘keyboard’ is robust and expressive and unlike previous flat designs, can detect pressure. This can be routed to aftertouch – polyphonic, too – or velocity.

This clever design not only allows a more nuanced performance, it’s robust and lightweight – ideal for a portable synth. You can power the MicroFreak from a USB powerbank. It also saves money – the street price for the MicroFreak has been as low as £249 recently.

MicroFreak synthesis – a truly open-minded approach

Most affordable, portable synthesizers are very traditional in their approach – either focusing on a performance element, or emulating something more expensive. MicroFreak is different; even though Arturia themselves sell a couple of utterly traditional compact analogue synths such as the MiniBrute 2 and MicroBrute, the MicroFreak hasn’t been artificially limited to avoid competing.

In fact, it’s got a range of oscillator types rarely found on a single synth. Originally based around a dozen, including the traditional analogue saw/square/saw types and variants, FM, wavetable, formant, speech and modelling, Arturia has steadily added features over the years (at no extra cost) and the MicroFreak now includes a vocoder, user-sampled wavetables and granular synthesis.

These are fed into an analogue SEM-style filter, with a sophisticated mod matrix accessible via quick front panel controls.

MicroFreak Firmware 5.0 – Sampling, granular, and beyond

One of the advantages of not being purely analogue (like the Behringer clones) is the ability to throw a load of new features in, and that’s exactly what Arturia has done with each major firmware update – free to all MicroFreak users, of course. For users dissuaded by the MicroFreak’s capacitive keyboard there is now

Controlling this wild concept is amazingly straightforward, with logical panel design and clearly-labelled functions backed up by a small OLED display. USB, MIDI and CV ensure the MicroFreak can fit into any studio as a controller, or if you prefer, a sound source with a more conventional keyboard. As you’d expect from Arturia, there’s a 64-step sequencer with automation tracks too.

Spend a bit over £500 and you can get proper (albeit, less expressive) keys in the Arturia MiniFreak, and if you just want the sound engine, Arturia also offer MiniFreak V as part of its V-Collection of software synths.

10, Loog (x Duolingo) Piano: not a synth, but gives access to them

Unrated!

From £199 – buy from Loog, or Duolingo

The Loog (and Loog x duolingo) Piano has made it into this list not because it’s a synth (it isn’t), but because it’s the cleanest, neatest little self-contained keyboard I’ve seen for a while and it pairs with a simple and accessible music tuition programme from Duolingo.

Loog are already specialists in the field of making instruments for kids, with an ecosystem of education material and a slightly out of the ordinary approach such as making guitars with conventional strings – but only three of them – so small hands can learn the pressure and placement, without the complexity and cramped nature of a busy scaled-down guitar neck.

The piano is equally simple – velocity-sensing keys, a small format with battery power, and a simple USB connection, with a robust fabric and wood finish. As a tech enthusiast it annoyed me initially to see this basic playback device at twice the price of your average cheap home keyboard (and find that Duolingo did not seem to support my Casio PX-S7000 over wired or wireless MIDI), but a little research revealed that it’s been designed to get around the most offensive aspects of those keyboards by feeling like a proper instrument, scaled down. And that’s the same logic as the guitars.

As a musician who can’t read music, I’ve already been impressed by duolingo’s fast, flashcard style course, and adding the interaction of a simple portable keyboard makes it a no-brainer. So, this one is for the parents – if you want something for your kids to learn on, this is the one to go for. When they want some more sounds, or to explore synthesis, a smartphone is probably one of the most powerful synthesizers you’ll find – with hundreds of instruments, recording and arrangement apps to choose from, all of which can be controlled by the Loog piano.

Why do people want analogue synthesis?

These days, everything is some sort of virtual. Effects in movies, paintings on iPads, voiceovers and yes, the instruments you hear on most pop music recordings – it’s the result of a computer program simulating the behaviour of something else, be it light, sound or giant transforming robots. For some artists, that feels inauthentic; for others, there’s a perception that not directly affecting the process is less satisfying. Older instruments used chains of components to take an electrical current and change how it behaved – modern ones use electricity, but inside there’s a computer calculating what the sound should be and streaming it out. Every change is the result of software.

Analogue introduces unexpected effects, and also a feeling of each performance being subtly different as temperature, input voltage and the condition of the controls can influence the resulting sound. Building something with all those individual components is expensive compared to a single powerful processor, so until instruments like the Minilogue polyphonic – multi-voiced – analogue synths were very expensive.

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