Schmidt Vi brings the $25,000 Eightvoice to plug-in form at €179
One of the priciest analog synthesizers now has a software twin. Schmidt Vi is out as a plug-in for €179, while the Eightvoice it copies sells for about $25,000.
What the plug-in offers
Vi is described as a precise emulation of the hardware. It reportedly uses a new kind of modeling to capture how the analog parts of the original affect one another.
The interface has two display modes. One mode keeps all three synth sections in view, the other toggles between them. Vi works with MPE, can randomize parameters and has MIDI learn for mapping controllers.
There is one omission: no multimode. Beyond that, the plug-in matches the hardware, apart from the price. It is sold on the Schmidt site and runs on macOS and Windows in VST, AU and AAX formats. There is no news yet on the Deck editor.
What is being copied
The Eightvoice packs eight polyphonic voices into a fully discrete circuit design and offers unison and multitimbral modes. Its signal path is analog and its control is digital. Inside are four oscillators and two parallel paths with complex filtering, which includes a 24 dB Moog-style ladder filter and two 12 dB multimode filters. A third VCF and many modulation sources, from LFOs and envelopes to ramp generators, round it out.
Schmidt says every section has its own LFOs or envelopes, so no modulation matrix is needed.
How the project got here
The plug-in was announced at Superbooth 26 in May 2026, made together with UJAM. Schmidt said then that the synthesizer had been on the market for 12 years, was used by many prominent musicians and studios, and that Vi took a year of development. At that stage the company described it as "sonically on par with the original Schmidt hardware".
A second instrument, Deck, was announced alongside it. Details were scarce: it was to play back sounds made on the Schmidt and offer simple controls in the Minimoog style.
The hardware's last run
Schmidt is also making a final run of the Eightvoice. The Final Series has a black finish and is limited to 20 units at €18,900. Buyers have to contact the manufacturer through a form on its website.
Source: Gearnews