5 of the Best Holiday Synth Gifts So Great I Wish Someone Would Buy Them for Me Too
Amazing synth gift ideas from Korg, Behringer, Teenage Engineering, and more!
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Looking for something fun for the synthesist in your life this holiday season? These are our picks for the best holiday synth gifts. They’re so cool, we want them all too.
Best Holiday Synth Gifts
So there’s a special person in your life who likes synthesizers. I’m sorry. Shopping for synth fans is like trying to find your keys in the garage in the dark. You fumble around for hours, grasping desperately at anything that feels kind of sort of right but you still end up with something that they return the next day. I get it.
My wife gets it too since I am that hard-to-shop-for synth fan. That’s why I’ve made this handy want list. It’s full of extremely cool synth-related items that, while substantial, won’t force you to remortgage your home or anything like that. If you’d like a list of appropriate items that are even cheaper, come back next week for our synth stocking stuffers list.
Here then are the best holiday synth gifts for 2024.
Best Holiday Synth Gifts: Artiphon Orba
Imagine a song ideas machine that fits in the palm of your hand. That’s Orba from Artiphon, a series of fun, portable instruments that are roughly the same shape and size of half a softball. It’s a series because they’re now up to Orba 3 but number two is still on sale – and may actually be the more attractive option, but more on that in a minute.
All Orbas feature eight capsense touch and velocity sensitive buttons for interacting with the device but in reality the whole thing is interactive, meaning you can move it around in the air and sounds will change. Those sounds come in four varieties, drum, bass, chord, and lead, and you can use them to put together songs with four tracks. It also has a looper for getting down ideas and built-in speakers. Both 2 and 3 let you play with samples via a smartphone app but only 3 has a microphone to record your own sounds on the fly.
If your special synth friend is a sampling fiend, Orba 3 is the way to go. Otherwise they’re sure to be happy with Orba 2. Either way, the Orba is one of the best synth gifts around.
- Artiphon Orba product page
Best Holiday Synth Gifts: Dübreq Stylophone Theremin
Even if you don’t know anything about synths, you may have seen a Dübreq Stylophone before. A tiny, toy-like instrument from the 1960s and updated in the 21st century, its distinctive tweezy tone has been used by everyone from David Bowie to to Pulp to Orbital. Now the company has something new as part of its expanded Stylophone range: the Stylophone Theremin.
Taking the fun, on-the-go aesthetic of the original and applying it to the theremin (an early electronic instrument that you play by waving your hands around in the air), Dübreq Stylophone Theremin is an utterly unique instrument that combines elements of both classic Stylophone and theremin concepts.
It looks cool, it sounds great, and it’s sure to end up on their Instagram feed within seconds of opening the package. And isn’t that what the holidays are all about?
- Dübreq Stylophone Theremin product page
Best Holiday Synth Gifts: Behringer Edge
What makes a good synthmas present? Something that offers a little bit of everything in a single package, is fun and – most importantly – won’t make you regret your life choices when you see the credit card bill. That’s why I’m recommending the Behringer Edge.
Blurring the line between a drum machine and synthesizer, this mini synth in a box has its own sequencer so your synth buddy can start making bloops and bleeps right out of the box. It’s also what we call semi-modular, meaning you can attach cords (included!) to the patch points across the top to access more features. Trust me, it’s pretty cool – and definitely one of the best synth gifts.
If the synth person in your life has a big wall of synth modules under a nest of cables, or likes to listen to music that sounds like tuned farts, this will be perfect for them. Trust me on this.
- Behringer Edge product page
Best Holiday Synth Gifts: Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval
Another hallmark of an excellent synthmas gift is something that they probably wouldn’t buy for themselves yet are instantly pleased with. That’s the Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval, a sampler groovebox that, as the name suggests, is inexplicably full of medieval sounds.
And by medieval I mean proper medieval. I’m talking hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, trumpets, drums and even swords, arrows and farm animals. Yes, farm animals. Jesus was born in a manger so why not?
Unless you’re a synth nerd, you won’t know just how coveted Teenage Engineering instruments are. This is an alternate version of the EP-133 K.O. II, a general sampler. They may even already have that one. But the Medieval version is obviously the one for the holidays. I mean, it even looks Christmasy.
- Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval product page
Best Holiday Synth Gifts: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-3 Kaoss Pad Kit
Imagine it: the presents have all been opened, torn wrapping and half-opened boxes spread all around the living room. The coffee has been drunk, the cinnamon rolls consumed, and Dad is already into the spiced wine even though it’s only 10:30 am. With a few hours to kill before it’s time to start getting ready for guests, though, there’s nothing to do, and everyone soon disappears into their phones, the holiday spirit lost in a haze of TikTok videos and misleading Facebook posts.
But wait! Wouldn’t it be great if there was a synth gift that was also a DIY kit, so you and your synth fan could spend some quality time putting it together? Don’t worry, I got you. Check out the Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-3 Kaoss Pad Kit.
Part of Japanese musical instrument company Korg’s line of synth-related kits, Nu:Tekt NTS-3 is an effects unit that you put together yourself. It’s got a touchpad – what Korg calls a Kaoss Pad – that lets you blend between different effects types with your finger. It’s super fun and the kit is dead easy to put together too. There’s no soldering required. You can even do it on the living room floor.
Best yet, it’s super affordable, making it hands down one of the best holiday synth gifts.
- Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-3 Kaoss Pad Kit product page
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4 responses to “5 of the Best Holiday Synth Gifts So Great I Wish Someone Would Buy Them for Me Too”
Love the fake synth Santa is playing in the illustration. There must be close to a hundred knobs and 50 or more selector buttons.
Uli! Make this now!
I love Santa’s special keybed with the extra notes.
Santa is a regular fixture on the jazz scene at this time of the year and it’s always a joy when he brings his oversized instrument and flare with both the blue and the brown notes.
It’s the Virus North Polar🙂
All I want for Xmas is an Akai Rhythmwolf.
Thanks,
Inmate G542 Rampton Top Security Mental Hospital