FM synthesis has never lacked power. It has lacked patience from the people trying to learn it.
The sound can be glassy, metallic, percussive, strange, emotional, and almost impossible to fake with subtractive synths, but the workflow has scared off plenty of musicians who do not want to spend the first hour of a writing session decoding operator relationships.
That is the problem LOVE Synthesizers is trying to solve with FIRST LOVE.
The Reykjavík-based company’s first instrument is now available for pre-order, with shipping expected to begin in October 2026. FIRST LOVE is portable, standalone, multitimbral, and polyphonic, but the central idea is much easier to understand than the spec list: make FM and wave morphing feel immediate without flattening the depth that makes the format worth learning.
That gives the instrument a good editorial angle. It is not trying to make synthesis less serious. It is trying to make the first move less punishing.
Touchscreen movement meets physical control
FIRST LOVE combines animated touchscreen interaction with tactile knobs and buttons, which is probably the right direction for an exploratory FM instrument.
A touchscreen can make abstract sound behavior easier to see, while hardware controls keep the instrument from feeling like another app trapped in a box. That pairing matters because FM is often easier to understand when the player can see motion, shape, and relationship in real time. Menus can hide the sound. FIRST LOVE appears built to put the sound closer to the player’s hands.
The instrument includes a four-part multitimbral sound engine with polyphonic and monophonic operation, FM synthesis, wave shaping, morphing envelopes, effects, and modulation. It also includes live looping, riff sequencing, scale creation, and microtonal tuning, which makes it feel less like a tone generator and more like a full writing environment.
That approach connects nicely with the broader hardware-synth conversation in my Korg Minilogue XD review, where the better instruments are the ones that make exploration feel natural before the user starts thinking too hard about the architecture underneath.
Built for studio, stage, and away-from-desk writing
FIRST LOVE includes pressure-sensitive performance pads with velocity and aftertouch, a battery option, built-in speakers, DIN5 MIDI, sync, USB connectivity, quarter-inch TS line out, TRS headphone out, and flexible output routing with two stereo or four mono options.
That makes the instrument easy to picture in several settings. It can sit on a producer desk as an FM sound-design box. It can travel as a standalone sketch machine. It can fit into a hardware setup with MIDI and sync. It can also send multiple parts out for more detailed mixing, processing, or live performance routing.
That matters because standalone instruments need to justify the space they take up. FIRST LOVE is not only offering a different synthesis engine. It is offering a self-contained way to write, perform, sequence, tune, and process.
For producers who like hardware that gets them away from the screen, this sits near the same mindset as our article on Eternal Research’s Demon Box, where the appeal was not only sound, but a different relationship between the player and the instrument.
Pre-orders are open now
FIRST LOVE is available for pre-order now ahead of October 2026 shipping, with the first production run limited.
Retailers include SchneidersLaden in Berlin, Perfect Circuit in the United States, Tónastöðin in Reykjavík, and Woodbrass in France, with more retailers listed on LOVE Synthesizers’ official Where to Buy page.
For producers, sound designers, and performers who have always liked the idea of FM more than the usual workflow around it, FIRST LOVE looks like one of the more interesting hardware launches of the fall. It keeps the depth, adds a more inviting control surface, and treats curiosity as the center of the instrument.
That is the part I like most. FM synthesis should feel less like homework and more like discovery.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
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