Who are we? AMSynths is an innovative synthesizer manufacturing company, owned and design led by Rob Keeble. I am an electronics engineer (trained at University of Essex), electronic musician and retired IT professional. My company is based in the beautiful countryside of West Sussex in the UK.
Our Mission AMSynths design and deliver high quality analog synthesizer modules which sound fantastic, are flexible and packed with features. Our modules have an Atheistic Design that inspires the musician to create music from electronic hardware, using design cues from the past and future. Our mission is “more analog than analog”, we hope you enjoy our products!
Minisonic 2
Background I built my first analog synthesizer in 1975 – a Practical Electronics Minisonic 2. It had the tuning capability of an EMS VCS3, so it was not going to compete with a Mini Moog or even an SH-3, and its inability to play music notes meant it was constrained to providing sound FX thanks to its diode ladder filter. I sold it in 1979 before emigrating to the USA. I have been intrigued and involved in analog synthesizers ever since. I studied Electronics Engineering & Computing at the University of Essex in 1976 but chose an IT career in the UK, including systems programming, Sun Microsystems and Java and IT Programme Director.
By the mid 1980’s I was collecting and playing analog synths, thanks to the low prices. However as fantastic as they sounded they were let down by the worn out pots and keyboards. In the 1990’s I was able to afford secondhand Emulator samplers, such as the EII and EIII. This led to setting up the Emulator Archive web site in 1999 and meeting up with Dave Rossum and Scott Wedge the founders of E-mu Systems in 2002. My collection of synths and sampler was sold off in 2002 when I hit hard times.
Workshop in 2011
Inspiration Whilst at Scotts Valley I met up with Dana Massie, Ed Rudnick and Riley Smith, some of the team behind the development of the Emulator II. Riley gave me some schematics of the E-mu Systems Modular and I started a project to build a clone in 2002, dusting off my electronic engineering skills for the first time in 25 years. This first modular system was completed in 2005.
Over the next few years I designed over 50 different modules for my own studio in FracRac format and sold over 100 PCB’s to customers across the world, with an increasing demand for completed modules. Modules ranged from VCO, LFO, to VCA and ADSR but by far the largest number were VCF modules, as I have a soft spot for them!
AM8109 VCF
Foundation of AMSynths At the end of 2011 I founded AMSynths and started manufacturing and selling EuroRack analog synth modules.
The modules are manufactured in low volume at about 500 a year. Customer demand has been fantastic and production runs sell out very fast with many reserved ahead of launch.
In 2017 and 2018 my day job proved very busy and AMSynths was put on the back burner until I semi-retired in 2019, thus giving me more time to complete both my own projects and develop new modules.
Behringer Partnership In June 2019 I joined forces with Behringer to design analog synthesizers with the UK and Chinese teams. I worked on three projects; the ARP 2600 replica, the ARP 2500 modules and the MS-5 monophonic synth – which was released in mid-2024.
In June 2020 I completed the projects with Behringer, and whilst being offered a job in Music Tribe I decided to return to the AMSynths business part time to create new designs.
I have restored vintage music gear for many years, and you can read the repair and restoration stories in the Refurb section of the website. During the 2020 Covid lockdown I had to close my workshop for building work, so much of my spare time was spent on Eagle CAD creating new synth designs such as a Prophet 600 rack mount synth.
AM1031 MPF
Full Time Business AMSynths became by full time job on 1st May 2021, and I have launched a new product range every year;
- Moog Modular – 2021
- Roland SH – 2022
- Roland 100M – 2023
- ARP 2500 “Lost Modules” – 2024
- New, diverse & digital – 2025/2026
PCB assembly moved to offshore SMD in May 2023 to speed up module production and keep prices competitive. My UK based workshop built in 2018 does prototyping and final assembly and was completely updated in July 2024 to provide more space.
Synth Shows AMSynths is a regular exhibitor at UK synth shows. We have attended Synth East in 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and Synth Fest in 2022, 2023 and 2024. AMSynths had a spotlight presence at Machina Bristronica in September 2025. Our next show will be Synth Fest in October 2026.