# Zynthian

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Zynthian and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as an open-source synth and groovebox platform on Raspberry Pi, praised for innovation, future-proofing and value.

## Why people recommend it

- Future-proof, forward-looking synth platform (3 comments): "Leading the pack for innovative music technology that has some serious weight in the future-proofing department." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49995325)) "a far better investment, with way more utility for the forward-thinking electronic-music making youngster" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278189)) "this is essentially the next generation of synthesizer platform, it has all the right elements" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46558700))
- Innovative beyond mainstream hardware vendors (2 comments): "Two simply AMAZING synth platforms of the 21st century which push things even further than the mainstream hardware vendors are willing to allow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46488746)) "Leading the pack for innovative music technology that has some serious weight in the future-proofing department." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49995325))
- Good value for the money (2 comments): "a far better investment, with way more utility for the forward-thinking electronic-music making youngster" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278189)) "It is huge bang for the buck!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48760380))
- Strong, faithful following (2 comments): "similar to that of Zynthian, which has attained a huge faithful following for the same reason" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48291530)) "Get on the Zynthian or monome bandwagon already" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278488))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [KORG phase8 Acoustic Synthesizer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/korg-phase8-acoustic-synthesizer.md): 21 recommend
- [Yamaha DX7](https://hackerapproved.com/p/yamaha-dx7.md): 8 recommend
- [Roland TB-303](https://hackerapproved.com/p/roland-tb-303.md): 8 recommend
- [Brume synth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/brume.md): 7 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Zynthian+open+source+synth+kit+Raspberry+Pi&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://www.zynthian.org/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zynthian", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zynthian/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).