The Doppler

Picture this: a pint-sized desktop FM synth that packs an 8-voice polyphonic punch into a stompbox-sized chassis, making classic FM tones feel fresh and endlessly tweakable with every knob turn.

At its heart is a streamlined 2-operator engine where a sine wave modulator—tuned precisely via stepped octave and semitone switches—can hit the carrier's frequency, phase, or both, plus a feedback loop and pink noise for extra grit. Toggle phase or frequency mod on or off, crossfade between carrier and modulator, shape with a 4-pole lowpass filter, and twist a versatile ADSR envelope that defaults to the carrier but can also control FM depth via Env Mod switch, while Mod Trail adds a swelling attack just to the modulator. Built-in stereo delay with tap-tempo touchpad and lush reverb (with expanded controls over its sibling synth) let you process its sounds or external stereo audio through TRS ins and outs; plug in via USB-C MIDI host for controllers, DIN MIDI in/out, and power it all from USB-C.

Since launching post-Kickstarter in 2023, it's earned praise for hands-on immediacy and surprising depth from cold bells to immersive pads, though some find the stepped modulator tuning a quirky constraint rather than a smooth glide.