Buyer’s guide: Drone synths
Table of Contents
When it comes to discussing the merits of drone synths, I could go on and on and on and on… But seriously, drone-focused devices do occupy a very different territory from your typical synthesiser. They often forgo a keyboard, with its tendency to guide you towards traditional chords and melodies, in favour of shifting timbres, beating rhythms and hypnotic tones.
While ambient and drone artists have been exploring these sonic landscapes for decades using a variety of gear, it feels like it’s taken some time for the synth-making world to catch up in the form of dedicated instruments. But in recent years, we’ve seen the tide turn, and today there are many options for those who want a dedicated drone instrument.
So you may be wondering: what’s the best drone synth in 2025? From the compact to the mighty, from the meditative to the chaotic, there’s a plethora of options. Let’s take a closer look.
Affordable drone synths
If you want to dip your toe in and see if you’re a drone person, these options are friendly on the wallet while still giving you lots to work with.
Crows Electromusic Ovum
The Ovum is the perfect starter drone box. It’s all analogue, with five oscillators and a wonderfully simple interface. You get faders for controlling the volume of each voice, knobs for tuning the pitch and changing the timbre and a switch per voice to change between triangle or square waves. It’s also available in Eurorack format if you fancy adding it to a modular system.
Crows Electromusic Ovum Desktop Drone Synth
£105.00
Manufacturer's description OVUM is where you start: standalone all-analog tool for exploratory sound synthesis - all you need to start creating is headphones. OVUM is...… read more
Dubreq Stylophone CPM DS-2
When I heard the makers of the Stylophone were releasing a desktop drone synth, I thought someone was playing an April Fools’ prank, but I couldn’t believe how good CPM DS-2 was when I got a shot of it. You can tell the designer really knows their stuff: it has two oscillators, with their own filters, run through some lovely-sounding FX, plus two LFOs with complex waveshapes for getting some crazy modulation going. It’s really well designed, plays nicely with other gear (including Eurorack), and the price is amazing when you consider the feature set.
Dubreq Stylophone CPM DS-2 Analogue Drone Synth
£229.00
We say... A cracking little drone synth that's a lot more fun than it has any right to be! The DS-2 has a nicely chosen...… read more
Moffenzeef The Runner
Made in collaboration with electronic duo Boy Harsher, The Runner is a pedal-based drone synth that can get pretty gnarly with built-in distortion. It’s voiced really nicely, and the chorus effect sounds great, lending itself to the slightly darker tones and vibes.
Moffenzeef The Runner - Boy Harsher Drone Synth (Ltd Edition Red)
£438.00
Boy Harsher and Møffenzeef have teamed up again, this time for an upgraded version of the ‘The Runner’ synthesizer (originally released in 2021 and quickly...… read more
Dark and noisy drone synths
These options sit on the more challenging side of drone - unsettling, noisy tones aplenty!
Hikari Monos CV
A firm favourite for the chaos-inclined! The Japanese-made Monos CV went about as viral as it’s possible for a desktop drone box to go after Skee Mask showed it off as one of his studio essentials in a Resident Advisor interview. It’s probably the most rhythmically capable of everything on the list, but it’s madness in a box.
Hikari Instruments Monos CV Desktop Noise & Drone Synth
£229.00
We say... A secret weapon of the one and only Skee Mask! Manufacturer's description Introducing the Hikari Monos Desktop Noise Synth, a unique non-modular standalone...… read more
Error Instruments Lucifer
For those after some atmospheric dread, try Lucifer from the always-interesting Error Instruments. These clashing FM tones get really wild - “extra mechanical sometimes, like a drill machine of your dentist”, as the product description puts it! There’s a joystick driving things for a fun way to interact with it.
Error Instruments Lucifer FM Drone Desktop Synth
£208.00
Lucifer . It’s a dark FM Oscillator that also can be used as drone . The sounds are created by frequency modulation in a low...… read more
Synthux Academy Audrey II
Audrey II is a great-looking feedback-focused box that lives for unsettling sounds. It’s gnarly and creepy and sounds like a horror movie soundtrack right out of the box. It’s incredibly fun to play around with and there’s a lush reverb and tape-style delay built in.
Synthux Academy Audrey II Feedback Synth
£389.00
We say... A beautiful limited-edition drone synth with effects and stereo output. Manufacturer's description What is a horror-scape synthesizer? Audrey II is a droning horror-scape...… read more
Maneco Labs Manecolin
The Manecolin delivers some gorgeous sci-fi/horror vibes, complemented by the HR Giger-esque panel design for a little Alien flavour! It takes some loose inspiration from the classic Benjolin design from Rob Hordijk so it’s capable of going Rungler-style crazy too. As with many Maneco boxes, there’s also a Eurorack version.
Maneco Manecolin Desktop Drone Synth
£509.00
Manufacturer's description Desktop version of the Manecolin Eurorack module. Chaotically emerging from the minds at Maneco Labs, the Grone Manecolin is a dual-oscillator digital voice...… read more
Performance drone synths
If you’re looking to take your drone synth on the road, or just want an instrument you can learn to play, there are lots of options, often with unconventional but highly expressive interfaces. Here are our favourites.
SOMA Laboratory Lyra 8 & Lyra 4
The folks at SOMA aren’t shy about making noisy, fun experimental instruments, and the Lyra 8 and its little sibling, the Lyra 4, are classics in their range. Individual tunable oscillators with some intermingling cross-modulation, all feeding into delay and distortion, make for a playground of clashing drones and swooping tones. Each oscillator is played via touch points.
Soma Laboratory Lyra-8 Analogue Performance Drone Synthesizer (White)
£654.00
Welcome to the world of sound of LYRA-8, the unique organismic analogue synthesizer designed by Vlad Kreimer. “Organismic” means that LYRA uses some principles that...… read more
Neutral Labs Elmyra 2
As the name implies, the Elmyra takes inspiration from the Lyra, but with the release of the second version, it really stepped into its own territory. It’s got tons of patch points for those looking to intermingle with other gear, and has options for chromatic tuning - so you won’t end up in the spaces between notes if you don’t want to!
Neutral Labs Elmyra 2 Desktop Synthesiser (Black)
£529.00
The successor to the widely acclaimed Elmyra, Elmyra 2 is a 4-voice digital/analog hybrid drone synthesizer and platform for microtonal sonic exploration, capable of creating...… read more
Ultimate drone system
There’s one particular synth that really deserves its own category because it’s in a league of its own…
Elta Music Solar 42N
This has to be the ultimate drone instrument. It takes bits of all of the above and gives it to you in one big, beautiful playground. It’s easier to get to grips with than you might imagine from a first glance at the packed panel. The interface is mirrored left to right, so once you’ve learned the left-hand side, you’ve learned the other side already! There are different flavours of drone voicings, different ways to modulate and interact with those (touchplates, LFOs, joysticks, a 5-step sequencer), as well as global FX loaded on cartridges. It’s almost like someone designed the perfect Eurorack drone system and then did all the hard work for you and put it all in one convenient package. For drones, it simply doesn’t get better than this. It’s even available in a choice of colours - black, white, blue, yellow and pink.
Elta Music Solar 42N Multi Voice Drone Instrument (Black)
£1899.00
We say... A drone dream machine! This beautiful instrument packs a hell of a lot in. It offers a unique combination of drone parts and...… read more
What else are drone synths good for?
It goes without saying that all of the above synths are good for making drone-type compositions, but there’s definitely more than meets the ear to these devices.
You’ve made your bed
Having tones undulating in the background is a wonderful way of padding out a production in any genre of music, from pop to ambient to techno and beyond. I often find having something constant like a drone, noise or foley sitting low in the mix in a session can really help things from feeling too sterile. You can add some sidechained compression to make it pulsate, or shift the tones slowly in the background to change the mood. It’s something that can really bolster your productions.
Transitions, builds and more
In a similar manner to creating beating rhythms and bleeps, noisy swooshes can really be useful for those ‘ear candy' moments. Many of the boxes above, particularly the slightly more chaotic devices like the Dubreq or Monos CV, can whip up a storm of noise and create interesting textures that can help build energy as you segue to big moments in your tracks. Little details like these all add up and can help bring things to life.
There are many sonic worlds you can explore with drone synths, and the right unit for you will depend on your needs. From compact backpack-friendly boxes to deep modular-inspired devices and all those in between, there are options for all aspiring drone-lovers. Get in touch if you need more information or want to arrange a showroom visit to try any of these in person.
