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Hello, my name is Carl and I love synthesizers. More specifically, multitimbral synths. For those who aren't familiar with what "multitimbral" means, it's a really sweet feature. To put it simply, you can compose full songs with just one synth. For example, take the Yamaha FB-01, which is probalby the most inexpensive and coolest multitimbral synth there is. The FB-01 can playback 8-voices, meaning you can play 8 notes at the same time. However, since it has multitimbral capability, you can assign different midi channels to each voice and control them independently. The easiest and most straight forward setup would be to assign one voice to midi channels 1 through 8. So, essentially you have 8 independent monophonic synths in one rack unit. How I set it up is for channel 1 to allow for 2 voices, channel 2 to allow for 2 voices, and then channel 3 to allow for 4 voices. This  gives the option for a bass line (with extra voice for layering), a lead line (with extra voice for layering), and a chord sequence to all be going on at the same time and independent of each other.

Or an even simpler example, MIDINES is a 5 part multimbral (5 voice) synth (2 pulse channels, 1 triangle, 1 Noise, 1 sample channel).

I think its pretty sweet that you can have just one synth unit, hook up a midi cable and write a full song on it. And then just record the stereo out, without having to multitrack each part. I wish all synths could do that! Also, it makes it nice for live use if planning to use the actual synth. You would just need a midi sequencer to playback the midi file and the one synth unit. A pretty nice live solution when wanting to use actual hardware.

So I figured to compile a list of synths that have this feature because I have always had interest in them, and its very useful to know if the keyboards have multitimbral capabilities. Maybe some of you can use this a quick reference guide. And feel free to post about ones I have not yet mentioned, and I will add it to the list!

Feel free to post any questions you may have if you want to enter the wonderful world of multitimbral synths!!

List of Multitimbral Synths:

Ensoniq ESQ1/ESQ-M/SQ-80
-8 voice, 8 parts
-one of my favs!

Ensoniq VFX/SD-1
-21 voice, 12 parts

Ensoniq TS-10/TS-12
-32 voice. 12 parts

Yamaha PSS-680 *under $100!*
-portasound keyboard, sb16 sound chip!
-16 voice I  believe, 16 parts

Yamaha FB-01 *under $100!*
-8 voice, 8 parts

Yamaha TX802
-16 voice,  8 parts
-upgraded DX7ii in a rack unit! super sweet!

-Yamaha QY70/QY100 *$100 or less!*
-portable GM unit !!
-32 voice, 16 parts

-Yamaha YS200/B200
-8 voice, 8 parts

-Yamaha FS1R
-32 voice, 4 parts

Roland MT-32 *under $100!*
-8 voice, 9 parts

Roland JV-1010
-64 voice, 1/2 space rack
-16 part multimbral

Roland JV-2080
-64 voice, 16 part

Roland U-220
-30 voice, 6 part

Roland XV-5080
-128 voices, 16 part

Roland PMA-5
-handheld with stylus!
-28 voice, 16 part

Casio VZ-1/VZ-10
-16 voice, 8 parts

Casio CZ-1
-8 voice, 8 parts

Alesis Micron
-8 voice, 8 parts

Alesis Ion
-8 voice, 4 parts

MIDINES cart
-NES required
-5 voice, 5 parts