“Like a prophecy from 1980 fulfilled”. Here’s Model 80; a 5-voice synth (VST/VST3/AU/AAX) by Softube aiming at replicating the famous Prophet 5, the first synth with a digital microprocessor to control the analog polyphonic engine made famous through hits made by the likes of Daft Punk, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Peter Gabriel and Radiohead.

Model 80 comes with the original Prophet 5 presets heard on countless hits and they’ve eased the workflow a little by adding poly-portamento glide, voice pan spread, modulation by velocity and aftertouch, quantize filter cutoff, DAW sync, “aging” knob and a Invert Voice Mod button.

High-end and highly sought-after, this is a synthesizer that many producers and artists have aspired to own. Our expert modeling of the circuit, interactions, and performance of this five-voice legend ensures that anyone can have the authentic sound, feel, and experience of the hardware.

Read more (and buy) at Softube.com (USD $100)

See it in action here:

While FM synthesis can produce incredible sounds it can also be quite a struggle to grasp as a concept (which you pretty much need for FM sound sculpting). This is something the Swedish company Elektron seem to have focused on when they created Elektron Digitone – an 8-voice, polyphonic FM synthesizer with a classic subtractive synthesis signal flow and a really interesting interface. Or as they put it, “from jagged chaos to mellow soundscapes in less than a second”.

The price tag for the Digitone is about $1,000, but it looks like it’s completely sold out at the moment.

Check out the Elektron Digitone in action here:

Elektron.se: Digitone