Analog—ah, what a “hipster runoff” word. “So much better than digital,” murmur the early adopters. “So…. Warm,” they add, as their eyeballs set into a glazed faraway gaze, looking onto topographic oceans only they can see. Yes, vinyl is the uber-analog way to listen to music, of course, and so much better: even if you do have to buy (and assemble!) extra storage units at Ikea, it’s so worth it, do to the, you know, warmth. In truth, analog sound is the actual sound, whereas digital sound is a numerical approximation of the actual sound, which, even though that sounds like a really cool thing, turns out to be, erm, not as warm?

So, analog is to synthesizers what analog is to vinyl: the real deal. The grail. The warm summer versus the digital winter. As a result, the analog synth has become the collectible objet du jour of the current urban-dwelling, trend-setting boho youth conferring a certain hipster status. This actually isn’t such a new phenomenon; been that way for a minute actually: you know if you, like, drank a few PBRs and then broke into MGMT’s practice space-slash-recording studio, you’d find hella analog synths. What makes analog synths so cool? Well, dudes like Gary Numan and Vince Clarke (the key songwriter/sonic genius from electro-pop bands like Depeche Mode and Yaz) wrote hella cool songs that are not just classics, but kinda brought a new sound to pop music. As Clark said in a recent interview with VICE, artists like Human League and OMD were making the first truly synthetic pop songs, taking a page from Kraftwerk and yet making it their own. These types performed their first such inroads primarily with analog synths, dazzling youth with their combined fatness and futuristic, industrial chic vibe. Since then, the analog synth has been a music classic like, say, a Fender Stratocaster, but of late is enjoying even more currency and growing mainstream intrigue.

Moog is one preferred brand of analog synth, as is Arp, as is Roland, as is Korg (check ‘em all out here). If you’re, say, the Hipster Grifter and you pick up a bearded dude at some Brooklyn dive bar and he takes you home and he’s got an ill vintage analog Moog synth, chances are he’s pretty cool after all, you should sleep with him, and he also may be signed to DFA Records. But what’s clear is that the analog synth is spreading beyond the traditional hipster militia, from the early adopters to the still-early-but-not-as-early-as-the-early-adopters adopters. How do we know this? The conclusive proof hails from the fact that brand new (!) analog synths are now being sold at the mall—at Guitar Center and Urban Outfitters. Furthermore, they’re making them el cheapo so every ironic indie nerd can get them—kinda like knockoff Kanye glasses but more, well, warm. In truth, these new old machines are pretty awesome sonically, regardless of their cachet to those on the L train and standing in line at Spaceland. It’s amazing that one can purchase a legit version of one of the earliest analog synths, the Stylophone, at Urban Outfitters for just over twenty bucks! As well, another tiny yet potent analog synth, the Gakken SX-150 proved a must-have hipster stocking stuffer when it was introduced recently; the allure of the Gakken was heightened by the fact that you have to assemble it from a kit imported from Japan, which also includes a fine book about analog synthesis and its practitioners (trés collectible, naturally, yet a steal at 75ish bucks).

With all this activity, it’s no surprise that even the major synth manufacturers are taking notice and are returning to the business of manufacturing inexpensive, vintage style analog synths. First to jump on the bandwagon is Korg: the instrument company responsible for analog synth classics from back in the day like the MS-20, SB 100, and Polysix, Korg has just unleashed its first fully analog product in what could be three decades—the Monotron. The Monotron is exciting because, while primitive (in the greatest way), it still carries the filter of the original MS-20, makes crazy monophonic alien noises that are, you know, “warm,” and only costs around sixty bucks! What??!?! So tune in to the new analog synthesis craze, turn on and drop out: it’s good to see such cool sound creators back and badder than ever, and even—gasp!—fashionable. And cheap—the recession never sounded so good…