Zynthian
Ranked 5 of 5 synthesizers by recommenders
Recommended as an open-source synth and groovebox platform on Raspberry Pi, praised for innovation, future-proofing and value.
Recommended as an open-source synth and groovebox platform on Raspberry Pi, praised for innovation, future-proofing and value.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Future-proof, forward-looking synth platform
“Leading the pack for innovative music technology that has some serious weight in the future-proofing department.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Reverse Engineering of the M-VAVE FM-1 Pocket Synthesizer Firmware” “a far better investment, with way more utility for the forward-thinking electronic-music making youngster”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “TP-7 Field Recorder” “this is essentially the next generation of synthesizer platform, it has all the right elements”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Linux DAW: Help Linux musicians to quickly and easily find the tools they need” Innovative beyond mainstream hardware vendors
“Two simply AMAZING synth platforms of the 21st century which push things even further than the mainstream hardware vendors are willing to allow.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “From silicon to Darude – Sandstorm: breaking famous synthesizer DSPs [video]” “Leading the pack for innovative music technology that has some serious weight in the future-proofing department.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Reverse Engineering of the M-VAVE FM-1 Pocket Synthesizer Firmware” Good value for the money
“a far better investment, with way more utility for the forward-thinking electronic-music making youngster”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “TP-7 Field Recorder” “It is huge bang for the buck!”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “My Favorite Keyboards” Strong, faithful following
“similar to that of Zynthian, which has attained a huge faithful following for the same reason”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “TP-7 Field Recorder” “Get on the Zynthian or monome bandwagon already”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “TP-7 Field Recorder”
Other synthesizers people recommend
The four most recommended other synthesizers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KORG phase8 Acoustic Synthesizer | 21 | 7 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Yamaha DX7 | 8 | 3 | 73% | 5 | — | — |
| Roland TB-303 | 8 | 3 | 73% | 2 | — | — |
| Brume synth | 7 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| ZynthianThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
12 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Leading the pack for innovative music technology that has some serious weight in the future-proofing department.”
“It is huge bang for the buck!”
“Its pretty freakin' powerful”
“similar to that of Zynthian, which has attained a huge faithful following for the same reason”
“I would have loved that device in my teens.”
“Get on the Zynthian or monome bandwagon already”
“a far better investment, with way more utility for the forward-thinking electronic-music making youngster”
“I can also use it for Zynthian”
“this is essentially the next generation of synthesizer platform, it has all the right elements”
“Thank you for Zynthian, this is awesome.”
“Two simply AMAZING synth platforms of the 21st century which push things even further than the mainstream hardware vendors are willing to allow.”
“Zynthian (a RPi-based synth collection & groovebox) lists some of the most prominent ones on its website”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.