The Formanta Polivoks must be the best known soviet synthesizer. That thing really packs a hell lot of character and can sound as clunky and martial as it looks. Its design seems to be directly derived from 1980s soviet military gear. Due to the unavailability of western synthesizer components in the USSR, this two-voice paraphonic synth really sounded like nothing else at that time and still does. Its filters can really scream when driven into self-oscillation.

The panel is labeled in all Cyrillic, so understanding the synth comes with quite a hurdle already. Luckily, the design is so resembling of other subtractive synths of the decade, that tweaking it comes quite intuitive. Its brutal look, its sound and soviet aesthetic made it quite legendary among musicians in the realms of techno and industrial. It has been famously used by Franz Ferdinand (“Ulysses”, “Lucid Dreams”) and Goldfrapp as well as Composer Mick Gordon for the Soundtrack of Doom 2016.