Arturia PolyBrute: The morphing analog polysynth that redefined expression

The other part is its ability to become smooth, deep, and fluid without losing personality. The ladder filter brings a darker and rounder contour, and because the two filters can be run in series, parallel, or blended between those modes, the PolyBrute can move from snarling mono-style leads to wide pads, animated chord textures, unstable drones, and shifting hybrid tones that feel less like static patches than states in motion. It is a synthesizer that often sounds best when it is changing.

That is why morphing matters so much here. On many instruments, movement is something you add after building the patch. On the PolyBrute, movement is much closer to the core identity of the instrument. A sound can begin as something creamy, thick, and almost classic, then drift toward something metallic, sharper, or more synthetic without collapsing into a simple crossfade. That gives the synth a rare kind of musical elasticity. It can cover basses, leads, pads, stabs, effects, and cinematic textures, but its strongest voice emerges when you let it exploit gradual timbral evolution rather than treating it as a conventional fixed-voice polysynth.

In practical use, that makes it especially strong for players and sound designers who want one patch to contain multiple emotional temperatures. It can sound elegant, bruised, glossy, unstable, or huge, often within the same performance. That alone separates it from many analog polysynths whose appeal depends more on one instantly recognizable sweet spot.

Features and architecture

• Manufacturer: Arturia
• Year: officially announced in September 2020, but commonly catalogued and sold as a 2021 model
• Production years: still current and sold new as of 2026
• Synthesis type: digitally controlled analog subtractive synthesis with morphing, waveshaping, FM, sync, and digital effects
• Category: flagship analog polysynth
• Polyphony: 6 voices
• Original price: about US$2,899 at launch
• Current market price: official direct price sits above major dealer street pricing; major U.S. retailers commonly list it around US$2,999 while Arturia’s own store lists it higher
• Oscillators: 2 analog VCOs per voice, plus sub oscillator on VCO 2 and a continuously variable noise source; saw, triangle, square with pulse width, Metalizer wavefolding, sync, and linear FM functions
• Filter: dual analog filter architecture per voice; Steiner-Parker multimode 12 dB/octave filter plus 24 dB/octave ladder low-pass filter, with series or parallel routing and dedicated filter FM paths
• LFOs: 3 LFOs
• Envelopes: 3 envelope generators
• Modulation system: 96-button matrix used for preset access, sequencing, morph editing, and modulation routing; deep internal modulation with morphable amounts across A/B states
• Sequencer / arpeggiator: 64-step polyphonic sequencer, arpeggiator, matrix arpeggiator, motion recorder, and modulation lanes
• Effects: three-part stereo digital effects section covering modulation effects, delay, reverb, EQ, distortion, and related algorithms depending on firmware generation and mode
• Memory: 768 preset slots, plus additional library management through PolyBrute Connect
• Keyboard: 61 keys, 5 octaves, velocity-sensitive, with aftertouch behavior and expressive control options
• Inputs / outputs: stereo main outputs, headphone output, sync in/out, sustain input, two expression pedal inputs
• MIDI / USB: MIDI in, out, thru, and USB-B with MIDI plus PolyBrute Connect integration
• Display: OLED display plus matrix-based visual workflow
• Dimensions / weight: 972 x 378 x 110 mm; 20 kg
• Power: 100–240V AC, 50–60 Hz, 85W

Strengths

• The morphing system is not a gimmick but a structural idea, allowing one patch to behave like a continuum rather than a fixed destination.
• The dual-filter architecture gives the synth more tonal range than its six voices might initially suggest, moving convincingly between aggressive Brute textures and darker, rounder analog body.
• The Matrix is one of the clearest examples of deep modulation made genuinely playable on a hardware keyboard, avoiding the usual disconnect between power and immediacy.
• Morphée, the ribbon, and the aftertouch implementation make the instrument feel designed for performance, not just programming.
• The front panel remains unusually hands-on for a synth with this much depth, which keeps experimentation fluid instead of academic.
• Internal effects are strong enough to be part of the instrument’s identity rather than a perfunctory add-on.
• PolyBrute Connect meaningfully extends the hardware, making patch management and visual editing far easier without reducing the synth to a controller for software.
• Sonically, it excels at evolving pads, expressive leads, cinematic textures, unstable drones, and large stereo gestures.

Limitations

• Six voices can become restrictive faster than expected, especially in layer, split, long-release, or stereo-heavy patches.
• It omits the CV connectivity and audio input found on the MatrixBrute, which narrows its role in modular or external-processing setups.
• It does not have polyphonic aftertouch on the original model, which matters more on a synth built around expression than it would on a more conventional design.
• The front panel is fixed rather than tilting, which some MatrixBrute users still consider an ergonomic downgrade.
• At 20 kg, it is not especially convenient for musicians who move gear often.
• It has always lived in a price band where competition is serious, so buyers inevitably compare it against higher-voice-count alternatives.
• Its deepest strengths reveal themselves through programming and performance time; players looking mainly for instant vintage sweet spots may not exploit what makes it special.

Historical context

The PolyBrute appeared at an important moment for Arturia. The company had already become highly influential through software instruments and had earned real credibility in hardware with the MiniBrute in 2012 and the MatrixBrute in 2016. But those products defined Arturia primarily as a maker of monophonic or mono-leaning machines with strong identity rather than as a builder of elite analog polysynths.

That made the PolyBrute more significant than a routine flagship launch. It arrived in September 2020, around the company’s twentieth anniversary, and it answered a long-running expectation in the market: what would Arturia do if it took the Brute design language, the Matrix concept, and its growing sophistication in digital control, then pushed them into a true polyphonic analog instrument?

Its answer was revealing. Rather than building a vintage tribute or chasing the exact archetype of a Prophet, Jupiter, or OB-style polysynth, Arturia chose to emphasize transformation, performance, and modulation. The PolyBrute did inherit ideas from the MatrixBrute, especially the matrix workflow and the dual-filter thinking, but it redirected the brand away from brute-force monophonic impact alone and toward something more elastic and expressive. In market terms, it entered a premium analog polysynth field already filled with strong personalities, so its survival depended on offering a genuine idea rather than merely solid specs. It did.

Legacy and significance

The PolyBrute matters because it expanded the definition of what a modern analog polysynth could prioritize. Many instruments in this category are built around one of three appeals: classic sound, high voice count, or luxury status. The PolyBrute pursued something more unusual. It treated expressivity and transformation as primary design goals, not secondary embellishments.

That gave it a distinct place in the broader history of contemporary synthesis. It was one of the clearest demonstrations that a high-end analog keyboard did not need to be organized around nostalgia alone. Its filters, oscillators, and physical build clearly speak the language of analog hardware, but its deeper identity lies in how it stages relationships between states, gestures, and modulation. In that sense it is not simply a “Brute poly.” It is one of the more conceptually coherent flagship synths of its era.

It also helped change how Arturia was perceived. Before it, the company could be admired for making clever, characterful instruments. After it, the company could also be taken seriously as a designer of premium synthesis systems with a clear philosophical point of view. The later arrival of the PolyBrute 12 only reinforced that the original concept had real depth. The first model was not a prototype for something better; it was already a substantial artistic statement.

Artists, users, and curiosities

The PolyBrute’s story is tied as much to sound designers and demonstrators as to celebrity-name ownership, which actually suits the instrument. Its official material foregrounded design contributors such as Kenny Larkin, Lily Jordy, Matt Pike, and others in the factory sound design credits, which is telling in itself: Arturia clearly understood that this was an instrument whose reputation would be built through deep patch work and performance discovery rather than through brand mythology alone.

One of the most memorable curiosities around the instrument is that Arturia’s official “Lost In Space” demo was created on an early prototype in the summer of 2019, before the public launch. That matters because it shows the company was already treating the PolyBrute not simply as a spec sheet but as a serious musical platform during development. Other official demonstrations leaned into similarly revealing choices: one track highlighted duophonic aftertouch using only factory presets, another presented darkwave material for synthwave users, and several demos emphasized how much of the instrument’s identity could stand on its own without external effects.

There is also a useful market-side curiosity. In 2023, Arturia released the PolyBrute Noir, a limited black variant rather than a redesigned successor. That move suggested the original machine had already secured enough visual and cultural identity to justify a special-edition treatment before any major architectural replacement arrived.

Market value

• Current market position: still a premium current-production analog polysynth, now sitting beneath the PolyBrute 12 in Arturia’s hierarchy but not rendered irrelevant by it
• New price signal: current dealer pricing in the U.S. commonly sits around US$2,999, while Arturia’s own direct store lists it at US$3,449
• Used market signal: the used market is active and noticeably softer than new pricing, with examples commonly appearing well below dealer-new cost
• Availability: still easy to find new through Arturia and major retailers, and not especially rare on the used market
• Buyer notes: excellent for players who value interface, morphing, and expressivity more than sheer voice count; less ideal for buyers whose first priority is dense layered polyphony
• Support ecosystem: strong; Arturia continues to provide firmware, manuals, and PolyBrute Connect updates
• Findability: easy new, reasonably visible used
• Long-term position: not a fully settled collectible yet, but clearly more than a transitional model; its reputation has strengthened rather than faded
• Market behavior: stable in reputation, softer in used pricing than its conceptual importance might suggest

Conclusion

The PolyBrute is important not because it tries to be the most traditional analog polysynth or the most specification-heavy one, but because it organizes analog synthesis around movement, touch, and transformation in a way few hardware keyboards have done so convincingly. It gave Arturia a real flagship polyphonic identity, and it did so with a design language that was recognizably its own. For musicians who want a synthesizer that rewards performance as much as programming, and programming as much as timbre, it remains one of the most distinctive modern analog polysynths of its generation.