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Have to get my Brother in Law a Christmas present in secret santa.
He likes making electronic music. He uses Native Instruments Maschine controller like this:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/maschine/production-systems/maschine/
I'd like to get him a synth of some kind. Happy to buy used and buy one or more.
Have £70 to spend.
What would compliment that?
Please excuse my ignorance - I know jack about synths. I can talk about guitar amplifiers a lot though
My favourite synth...
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The bassist in my band has a couple of synth kits - one he has built on a Raspberry Pi to simulate a Moog (or something), and another which looked a bit like it was printed onto cardboard and included knobs and switches, and which slots together.
I can ask him what they are if that helps?
Edit: Aha, [url= http://www.modalelectronics.com/craft/ ]found one of them[/url]!
Would he enjoy a soldering project to make his own?
Voucher for loopmasters or similar, Maschine is effectively a controller and the computer adds the noises, a synth is a stand alone noise maker (ish, it's slightly more complicated).
Native instruments donsome good sound packages as well
That Modal Craft Synth looks good. He does like building things with my nephew.
Will have a listen to the sound samples when I get home from uni.
If he doesn't have a soundcard then a synth is useless unless he just wants to jam on it stand alone without being able to record it.
That being said,
The Korg Volca series are great. The Bass, Sample and FM being the best of the bunch. If he likes his Maschine, he'll like the Sample - it's a sampler as the name suggests. Might struggle at £70 but ebay might be lucky
Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators are cool slightly DIY slightly quirky 'toys' but still are cool:
https://www.teenageengineering.com/products/po
£50 new, im sure you can find a bargain.
Virtual synths are another ballgame that would require knowing a bit more about the music he makes as some things would be downright useless and have no utility depending on what he's into.
korg volca series - the keys in particular - would fit the bill and easy to find second hand around that price. Or something like a bastl kastle might be interesting (can be got as a diy kit or new on budget).
Edit - x-posts with the above. The Volca FM does look great but seems hardest to track down cheap used ones. Sample too (my favourite) also seems harder to find than the keys/bass/beats and less "designed" around melodic patterns.
Additionally, depending on what 'stage' of his hobby he is at (ie; newbie or experienced) this is a really good book on making dance music:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/0956446035
Note: I noticed you said "electronic music" and not dance music, not all electronic music is dance music and vice versa, so make sure he's into dance music!
\Sample too (my favourite) also seems harder to find than the keys/bass/beats
True, keys bass beats have been around the longest.
I had a bass, was a fun box. Not impressed with the beats, kick and snares are crap.
No one cares. No one sympathises.
I would suggest a sound library or VST soft synth of which there are millions
who doesn't love rob papen stuff