best synths I've used this year

The instruments that actually earned repeat use, not because they are objectively best, but because they keep producing ideas fast.

Best is the wrong word. I keep using it anyway because it's the cleanest way to say: these are the ones that made me stay. Not because of their spec sheets or their street cred. Because something about the interaction stayed interesting past the first session.

I've worked with a lot of instruments over the past few years that are objectively impressive and that I never want to touch again. These are not those.

A few of these are recent acquisitions. A few I've had for years and only started understanding. One of them I borrowed and have been pretending not to have for six months.