Love Synthesizers - Love Synthesizers - First Love (Pink)

First Love is the debut instrument from Reykjavík-based LOVE Synthesizers. It's a standalone, polyphonic, multitimbral FM synthesizer that pairs a 7" touchscreen with hardware buttons, knobs, and pressure-sensitive pads. The whole project comes out of a fairly specific frustration — FM has always sounded great, but it has rarely been fun to program — and the interface is the answer the team spent a long time developing. It picked up Sonic State's Best Innovation award at Superbooth 2024, which gives you some idea of how it was received.

The premise: you build patches by drawing FM connections on the screen rather than parsing matrix grids and operator pages. Each of the four timbres runs its own 4-operator engine with user-definable algorithms, and the operators are sines that pass through a wavefolder and a sine-to-square shaper before modulating one another — which pulls FM, additive, and rougher digital territory all into reach of the same controls. The four timbres can each take their own MIDI channel or stack into a single polyphonic patch, and the central waveform on the touchscreen handles morphing between them in real time. Round that out with morphing envelopes, a flexible modulation matrix, a microtonal tuner holding up to 256 user scales, and an effects section that runs from the usual suspects (reverb, delay, chorus) into other directions like Freezer and Bit-Cruncher — and there's a lot of synth to dig into without ever scrolling through a menu.

Outside of synthesis duties, the riff arpeggiator strings notes and rests together in any order, the 4x4 live looper handles record/bounce/overdub/merge/arrange, and built-in stereo speakers plus optional battery operation mean the whole thing actually functions without a laptop, a host, or a power outlet. Connectivity covers four mono or two stereo outs, MIDI DIN, sync, USB-C, and Bluetooth.

The accessibility focus is clear throughout — a low barrier to entry without a low ceiling, and portable enough to actually go places with you. Good for anyone who's been put off by FM programming in the past but always wanted a way in.

Features:

• Standalone polyphonic, multitimbral FM synthesizer with touchscreen and hardware controls
• Four parts, each a 4-operator FM engine with user-definable algorithms
• Custom FM routing drawn directly on the touchscreen
• Wavefolding and sine-to-square shaping per operator (FM, additive, or hybrid territory)
• Up to 4 timbres simultaneously, each polyphonic or monophonic
• Each part addressable on its own MIDI channel or stackable into one polyphonic patch
• Touchscreen morphing between the four timbres
• 7" touchscreen with animated graphics
• Four "L-O-V-E" knobs, buttons, and pressure-sensitive pads
• Morphing envelopes
• Flexible modulation matrix
• Effects including Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Freezer, Bit-Cruncher, Flanger
• Riff arpeggiator with adjustable rate and customizable note/silence sequences
• 4x4 live looper — record, multiply, bounce, overdub, merge, arrange
• Microtonal tuner with up to 256 user scales (quantized or freely tuned)
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Battery operation with 4 lithium batteries (optional)
• 2 x stereo or 4 x mono outputs (1/4" jacks)
• 1/4" headphone output
• DIN MIDI In / Thru, up to 4 channels simultaneously
• Mini-jack sync in/out
• 2 x USB-C (separate ports for data and power)
• Bluetooth wireless
• "FIRST LOVE JAM" patch collection from invited artists included
• Winner of Sonic State Best Innovation Award, Superbooth 2024
• Designed and developed in Reykjavík, Iceland