Superbooth 2026: The Schmidt Synthesizer Eightvoice is one of those mythical dream synths most producers will only ever admire through YouTube demos and blurry studio photos. With a price tag hovering around $25,000, it isn’t hard to see why.

Now, Schmidt Synthesizer is attempting to bring that experience to the rest of us mere mortals.

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The company has announced Schmidt Vi, a software recreation of its flagship analogue polyphonic synth developed in collaboration with UJAM. According to Schmidt, the plugin – which has reportedly been in development for over a year – is “sonically on par” with the original hardware. Some pretty bold claims indeed.

Like the real thing, Schmidt Vi will be an 8-part multitimbral synth with flexible voice allocation and a frankly intimidating amount of synthesis power packed inside.

The plugin recreates the Eightvoice architecture in full, including four analogue-modelled oscillators with classic waveforms, PWM, sync, and ring modulation, alongside dual signal paths and multiple filter stages. There’s a Moog-style 24dB ladder filter, additional multimode filters, stereo panning modulation and enough routing flexibility to make even seasoned synth heads slightly nervous.

That said, the developers do seem aware that the original Schmidt’s interface can feel a bit like piloting a spaceship. Which is why they’ve released a second piece of software called the Schmidt deck. The virtual instrument allows you to play sounds created with the Schmidt Vi using simple Minimoog-style controls. Perfect for those who find the Schmidt VI interface too large and mind-boggling.

The Schmidt Vi and deck will be available in mid-2026 in VST3, AU, and AAX formats. Prices for the plugins will be announced in due course.

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Learn more at Schmidt Synthesizer.

The post Can’t afford the $25k Schmidt synth? A plugin version “sonically on par” with the actual thing is coming your way appeared first on MusicTech.