Best Synths for Ambient Music – 6 Capable Synthesizers

I use the 8-bit lo-fi mode when I want metallic or arpeggiated percussive sounds to feel more dreamy and less aggressive. Digital wavetables can sound too plucky compared to analog oscillators — that's what I often find harsh in many modern synths.

What started as a technological limitation — 8-bit or 12-bit circuitry being the highest fidelity available when the original synths were created — is now something I miss. I've even bought expensive samplers and digital boxes like the OTO biscuit to recreate that lo-fi circuitry that was so crucial in ambient music.

With the Wave, I don't need to resample to achieve that authentic lo-fi sound — it's built right in. I prefer 8-bit for plucky and percussive sounds, while switching to 12-bit for pads and more lush sounds. The 12-bit mode introduces a musical noise to pads. This sound, technically called aliasing, comes from combining undersampling with low bit resolution.

Many plugins with "lo-fi" or "redux" in their names try to emulate this sound, but they're merely approximating it. The Wave delivers the genuine article.

Like all Behringer gear, it's got everything everybody loved about the original, plus modern amenities you can't do without: MIDI control, a much nicer-feeling modern 49-key bed, and the ability to import and export samples through USB to the Behringer Synth Tribe application.

This keyboard represents 40 years of evolution — from the PPG Wave through its descendants at Waldorf and Access — culminating in this latest iteration from Behringer. It's truly phenomenal and, at just over $600, quite affordable compared to other synthesizers on this list.

I snagged one as soon as Sweetwater had them in stock, and I've already spent 20 hours exploring it. The sound-crafting possibilities are mind-blowing.

A common misconception about digital synths is that they're merely "binary code in a hardware shell," making them no different from plug-ins. Nothing could be further from the truth. Behringer went to extraordinary lengths to capture both the lo-fi character of the original converters and incorporate an analog filter — elements that make all the difference.

Think back to that polarizing synthesizer that revolutionized music: the Yamaha DX7. While I personally can't stand it, it remains one of the most widely used synths in music history.

After reflecting on why I particularly disliked the DX7, I realized it was due to its poor digital filter. Earlier synthesizers had combined digital waveforms with analog filters as standard practice; to reduce costs, Yamaha eliminated the analog filter completely.

Initially, I thought I was alone in this opinion that the DX7 sounded horrible. However, the current popularity of digital wavetable synthesizers with analog filters — like the Sequential Pro 3 and the Behringer Wave — suggests otherwise. These models are perpetually sold out.

Maybe history is teaching Yamaha a karmic lesson.

If you treasure gritty, Waldorf-type sounds but always wished they had more of that Moog low end, this might be the synth you've been waiting for. The ability to save and load presets directly from your computer isn't just mind-blowing — it's incredibly fun. Plus, all the wavetables from the original PPG Wave come factory-installed on this keyboard.

Until now, the only way to get these wavetables was to buy the Waldorf PPG-V plug-in emulation. While not bad, a digital emulation and a hardware synthesizer with real 8- and 12-bit converters plus analog filter are two completely different animals.

And of course, no ambient synth can hold its weight without an arpeggiator — after all, that's what made Tangerine Dream so dreamy.

The arpeggiator on the Wave is easily one of the most musical and best-sounding I've ever heard. I've been using it extensively for a dance remix I'm creating.

Not only does it have an excellent groove, but thanks to their cloning of the original PPG layout, Behringer lets you do plenty of live knob tweaking while the arpeggiator is running, creating incredible and unusual loops.

If you get one of these synths, start experimenting with the arpeggiator and record the audio output. Just play different chords and fiddle with the knobs — no MIDI, just real-time performance — and track everything you're doing.

Trust me, within 10 minutes you'll have incredible soundscapes and loops for your ambient music productions.

I often skip MIDI sequencing entirely with this synth. Instead, I create audio loops by performing evolving sounds and soundscapes, then crop them and send them to Ableton to extract rhythms from my experiments. It's amazing and far more unique and creative than downloading samples from splice.com or using a plug-in with MIDI for typical filter sweeps and reverb returns.

I even extract the groove of the pattern from audio and save it as a Groove Template — it's that good. You can then use the extracted groove as the main quantizing template for the rest of your rhythms. This really helps your track have a very unified and flowing feel, especially if you're not using any beats, which is fairly standard to do in ambient music.

I also often run this synth through both guitar distortion plugins and pedals to create strange, Trent Reznor and Depeche Mode–style industrial sounds.

Then I add beautiful effects on top to soften them. You'll be shocked how, with a 100% wet signal, the most intense industrial sound can transform into a gorgeous ambient drone.

Give it a try.

Its series of knobs and buttons, along with the classic black metal and wood panels are what gives the OB-6 its old-school look. But the LED displays and lights give away its true nature as a modern analog synth.

The OB-6 does look a bit intimidating at first with all its knobs and lights. But everything has been grouped and labeled very nicely. Every effect and setting is easy to find, with the red LEDs clearly showing what effects are active.

Along with the 49 semi-weighted keys, the OB-6 is easy to use for live composing and production. You won’t be stuck scrolling through menus to look for the effects you want.

The buttons are a bit of a disappointment and bring down the overall quality of the OB-6 a bit. They feel very cheap, which might just be because of the fact that they are plastic. I have used many plastic buttons that don’t feel cheap, so, this shouldn’t really be an excuse.

But having easy access to effects and settings doesn’t mean much if they don’t also sound good. The OB-6 sounds fantastic.

The OB-6 is a fully analog synth, meaning it has a very natural sound. The OB-6’s sound is actually quite comparable to the older Prophet 6.

The biggest difference, at least to my ears, is that the OB-6 has a much fatter and fuller sound. The sound also feels a bit more dynamic and colorful.

The excellent sound quality, combined with all the different and varied effects, make the OB-6 a dream for any producer or musician. It can do everything from loud and heavy drum and bass to more minimalistic ambient music.

I remember visiting the Sequential headquarters in San Francisco after speaking with the legendary Dave Smith at several NAMM shows. He had invited me to visit the offices when I was next in San Francisco. I took him up on it, and it happened to be right before they unveiled the OB-6.

At the time, I was very interested in the Prophet-6 because I owned the Prophet Rev2 but wanted something closer to the original Prophet-5. However, when the Prophet-6 was released, I wasn't that impressed.

It didn't quite capture the essence of the many Prophet-5s I had played. The sound was more modern and cleaner — it just didn't have that special vibe I was familiar with from my extensive experience with Prophet-5s.

I had purchased a small version of his original Prophet-8—the Tetra, a compact keyless synth module. When I heard the OB-6, I was blown away. I'd expected it to sound more like the Prophet 6, since they'd already incorporated some Oberheim sound into the Pro 2's filter options, but was I ever wrong!

What truly amazed me was how they captured that detuned, phasey '80s sci-fi sound, particularly in sustained pads. If you've listened to the "Stranger Things" soundtrack, the pads in the opening theme come from a vintage Oberheim OB-8.

Oberheim synths have such a distinctive sound that no emulation or hardware clone has ever truly captured — until now. While I'd still choose a vintage Oberheim over the OB-6 if money were no object, the OB-6's modern features like USB MIDI, better weighted keys, and built-in effects make it hard to justify the huge cost of vintage units.

The effects section alone makes it a standout for producing ambient music. Some might wonder if this is just Tom Oberheim lending his name to a Dave Smith Sequential product — it isn't. The sound, oscillators, and design are pure Oberheim, while Dave Smith adds his signature touch through incredible effects and the sophisticated modulation routing that Sequential is known for.

These features are crucial for ambient music because the combination of reverbs, delays, flangers, and Sequential's analog distortion, all modulated by LFOs, truly expands your sonic possibilities.

The evolving, washy sounds you can create with a synthesizer are what made ambient music so captivating from the start. This wasn't bland spa music — ambient music was about synthesizers creating otherworldly sounds that evolved and transformed over time.

Whether through arpeggiated sequences or filter sweeps, ambient music offered much more complexity than typical New Age music.

It also had an edge to it. Though drenched in beautiful reverb and space echoes, the underlying sounds often had a certain rawness — this is where the analog distortion and the character of this synth's oscillators really shine.

If you're drawn to the sound of vintage OB-8 and OB-X synthesizers, or interested in soundtrack creation and film scoring, this synth is perfect. I regularly use it to create string-like '80s soundscapes reminiscent of John Carpenter or "Stranger Things."

This aesthetic upgrade echoes what Access achieved with its Blackstar line for the Virus synthesizer. The design isn't just cooler — it gives the XD more edge compared to the original minilogue.

Korg aimed to match this visual upgrade with improved sound quality. My ears can confirm this, and browsing synthesizer communities like Reddit and Gearspace reveals a consensus: the XD sounds more aggressive, punchier, and fuller than its predecessor.

I also like that Korg has gone with switches instead of buttons on the Minilogue. They provide a bit more tactile and visual feedback than buttons to show what settings and modes you have selected.

The biggest change from its initial release is the transformation from a fully analog synthesizer to a hybrid design. Instead of being a four-voice, fully analog synthesizer, it's now a four-voice hybrid with two analog oscillators and one digital oscillator.

This makes it much more versatile, allowing you to blend aggressive, punchy digital sounds with warm, traditional analog tones — ultimately extending the synthesizer's capabilities.

One of my favorite features of the Minilogue is its ability to shape the waveforms. It has three standard waveform shapes (sawtooth, triangle, square). But if you want to shape the sawtooth, for example, that is easily done with the Pitch and Shape knobs.

The waveform is then displayed on the small OLED screen. This helps you visualize the shape of your waveform, and is just kind of cool to watch it dance around while you’re playing.

The same applies to its new digital oscillator, which can create incredible sounds through FM synthesis and wavetable manipulation — pushing these capabilities far beyond what was possible in the original Minilogue's analog engine.

The filter drive has also been enhanced, offering more bite and analog warmth than its predecessor. This improvement explains why many users describe it as more aggressive-sounding — in the best possible way.

The design draws inspiration from the newer Waldorf synths, and the Sequential Pro 3, combining a rich analog filter with FM capabilities and traditional analog oscillators.

This makes it perfect for ambient music, as it combines digital and analog elements in a single synthesizer. This approach mirrors what ambient producers historically achieved by synchronizing multiple synths — often mixing analog and digital instruments, particularly in the late '80s.

Combined with excellent effects, this captures the essence of the ambient music movement. Brian Eno's signature technique — which I also enjoy — involves creating bell-like, metallic, almost orchestral tubular bell sounds using FM or wavetable synthesis.

These sounds are then processed through warm delays, like Roland Space Echoes or Echoplex, adding tape saturation and characteristic tape wobble effects.

The Minilogue XD models all these effects beautifully. Additionally, Korg essentially invented the ensemble chorus sound in their early synthesizers like the Monopoly and Poly-6 — their answer to Roland's Juno-106 chorus, which became legendary.

While Korg's ensemble may be subtler than the Roland Juno's, it still creates beautiful ambient pads and lush sounds.

The Minilogue is certainly a great piece of equipment. But I can think of two types of people who are likely to get the most out of it.

Professional producers and DJs looking for a synth to help expand their sound or just looking for something different. Especially if they are looking for something a bit more lightweight and compact that they can throw in a backpack and take with them.

The second group that will benefit greatly from the Minilogue: beginners. I think the Minilogue sits in that sweet spot of being affordable while also being feature-rich.

The Minilogue is fairly easy to learn while having plenty of room for growth. A perfect beginner synth.

With five voices — one more than the Dave Smith Tetra — it aligns more closely with the Prophet-5 than the Prophet-6. Its voice handling is particularly impressive, offering both polyphonic glide and a rich unison mode that harkens back to the Sequential Pro-One's capabilities.

For ambient music, the unison mode is outstanding. It layers all five oscillators into a monophonic sound — imagine five Mini Moogs playing simultaneously. Combined with the onboard effects, this creates a lush, thick sound that's perfect for ambient production.

The effects section is equally impressive, featuring many of the same processors found in the Prophet-6 and premium OB-6 line: reverb, delay, modulation, distortion, and notably, the same overdrive circuit used in the Pro 3 and Tempest.

Speaking of the Tempest — I own this drum machine, a collaboration between Dave Smith and Roger Linn (creator of the Linn drum machine). It features one of the most remarkable overdrive circuits I've ever heard, which I still use frequently. I've confirmed with Sequential that they implemented this exact circuit in the Take 5.

My initial impression of the Take 5 as Sequential's greatest hits compilation holds true — it cleverly combines elements from six different products into one compact synthesizer, creating perhaps the most successful "Frankenstein" instrument in a small format.

If I had one minor criticism, it would be the oscillator selection. While it offers continuously variable sawtooth, sine, and pulse waves, these are standard Prophet-5 style oscillators.

This choice makes sense given the name — "Take 5" suggests a portable, live-performance version of the Prophet, like taking the Prophet on the road.

Still, I think adding some digital waveforms from the Pro 3 would have expanded the synth's sonic possibilities.

Nevertheless, this is a stunning instrument that's remarkably well-priced considering its prestigious heritage.

Remember my rant about disliking the Yamaha DX7 and FM synthesis? The Digitone is what Yamaha might have created if they had today's technology and knowledge back in the '80s.

While it's technically an FM synth (frequency modulation synthesis), calling it just that would be limiting — it goes far beyond traditional FM synthesis.

For those synth newbies reading this, FM synthesis creates those distinctive bell-like tones you've heard in countless '80s and '90s pop songs — think Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" or the bell sounds in Whitney Houston's productions.

Trust me, you've heard it, even if you don't know the technical term.

When the first Digitone launched, I was skeptical about its purpose. As someone who wasn't the biggest FM synthesis fan, and given Elektron's impressive work with analog engines and sample-processing devices like the Octatrack, I initially approached it with suspicion.

But like all Elektron devices, once you start experimenting, you discover it's far more capable than its description suggests.

Elektron, a Swedish company, is renowned for their sequencers as much as their synthesizers. Until you've used an Elektron device, it's hard to grasp how integral the sequencer is to the overall sound.

And no synth — in Elektron's lineup or anywhere else — is more deeply integrated with its sequencer than the Digitone 2.

Here's why: Elektron sequencers feature a unique capability called “parameter locking”.

While creating sequences using an x0x-style interface (similar to a Roland TR-808, where buttons correspond to a 16th-note musical grid), you can manipulate any synth function — filter movements, reverb decay, distortion, wavetable changes, anything — and record it directly into the sequence.

This creates immediate automation control over hundreds of parameters.

You might ask, "Isn't this just like drawing automation lines in Ableton Live for filters or reverb decay?" While similar, the key difference is that you can precisely automate parameters on one 16th note and completely cut them on the next — something that's challenging to achieve in any DAW, even Ableton Live.

The magic lies not just in its speed but in its execution. You can program a reverb to last exactly 3/16 notes before cutting off, or create a delay that shifts from 2/16 notes to a single 16th and back. It's remarkable — words don't do it justice, but the sound is unlike anything else.

Combine this precise control over dramatic parameter changes with the synth's metallic, bell-like tones, and you've got an incredible toolkit for ambient music.

The filters are another story entirely! Elektron's filters and effects are second only to Moog's.

The onboard reverbs are mouth-watering. I wished for a standalone effects unit — then realized the Digitone already has analog inputs, allowing me to process external keyboards, drum machines, and DAW audio through its fantastic ambient effects.

I use this feature constantly. The digital filter, while not analog like the Behringer Wave's, still sounds fantastic and adds another layer of processing power.

This new version of the Digitone elevates everything further by expanding both sequencer capabilities and sequence lengths. Elektron has enhanced the musical possibilities with added randomization features. They've included a unique Euclidean sequencer — something previously found only in modular synths.

This mode uses mathematical principles to determine when to trigger notes, effects, accents, and filters — anything you choose to apply. The result is sequences that seem to develop their own life, as if guided by AI.

It's forward-thinking technology that produces mixed results — sometimes brilliant, sometimes less so — but I'm glad to have it. It's generated some amazing happy accidents, and for ambient music, it's perfect, creating endless sound evolution just as the pioneers of the genre intended.

To ensure longevity, Elektron developed Overbridge, an audio transfer system that goes beyond preset storage and OS updates. This application appears as a VST or AU plugin in your DAW, similar to Ableton's ReWire.

The implementation is flawless — you can use your Elektron device as a plugin, streaming tracks directly to your DAW for immediate recording, editing, looping, and more. This versatility elevates the machine to new heights.

In the world of synthesizers and instruments, Moog has always been synonymous with quality. While this synth commands a premium price, its exceptional build quality, commanding size, and substantial weight speak to its craftsmanship.

The layout of the effects and settings is fairly practical and straightforward. Everything is grouped and labeled quite nicely, although I wish the labels were a bit larger. They are a bit too small to make them as easily readable as the Dave Smith Instruments OB-6 for example.

But practically every effect, setting, and parameter are right there in front of you. Everything can either be changed or adjusted with the simple press of a button or turning of a knob.

Having everything in front of you, though, does mean that the Moog One is quite the big piece of gear. The Moog One isn’t going to be able to just chill on your desk between uses.

It is going to need either its own desk or a stand. The Moog One is also far from lightweight, coming in at a whopping 45 lbs.

But what about the sound? Honestly, the Moog One, and just Moogs in general, have to be heard to be believed. Words can’t really describe how these synths sound.

The Moog One has a very rich, vibrant, lively, and any number of other adjectives you can think of, sound. The best way I could probably describe it is to think of films from the ‘70s and ‘80s with a synth score.

Blade Runner, The Thing, Tron, all had their scores or part of their scores done on Moogs. Or for more modern reference, The Social Network, Tron: Legacy, Blade Runner 2049.

When I first heard the sound of the Moog One, it reminded me of three legendary synthesizers combined — the Yamaha CS-80, the Roland Jupiter-8, and the warm tones of a Minimoog.

These three vintage synths feature prominently in many film scores I mentioned. Perhaps this inspired the Moog One's creation, as I've often found myself layering these same synths, even in their emulated forms.

I work with Arturia's CS-80 while owning both a real Roland Jupiter-8 and Minimoog.

When composing for songs or film scores, I typically lay down chord foundations, then add a Minimoog bass note for that characteristic fullness found in works by Vangelis, Hans Zimmer, and Trent Reznor.

After borrowing a Moog One from a producer friend, I had a revelation. Though I still dream of owning a real Yamaha CS-80, nothing else has come closer to achieving the layered sounds I've been pursuing through my combination of software and hardware.

In other words, it might just be the perfect polyphonic synth.

Its multi-mode variable filter is awesome for ambient music, enabling both mid-band pass and high-pass sounds. This creates warm, deep pads and arpeggios alongside airy, ethereal textures — essential elements of ambient music.

The independent sequencer and arpeggiator allow you to play arpeggiated chords in real time while running a sequence pattern, creating lush soundscapes reminiscent of Tangerine Dream or Blade Runner.

Better still, they sourced their reverbs from Eventide, one of the world's premier effects companies.

Eventide's hardware units were the go-to reverbs for Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, and countless other artists, helping create some of the warmest, most lush sounds ever recorded. Their H3000 plug-in, which emulates their famous vintage harmonizer, remains one of my favorite effects.

When I've maxed out the Moog One's effects, I love running it through the Eventide H3000 plug-in for even more dimensional color.

And this brings us to the Moog One’s price. It is an expensive synth, prohibitively expensive. Its price is going to keep it out of reach for most people, but if you can afford one, you will have perhaps the best synth ever made.