UVI has released Synth Anthology 5, the newest edition of its long-running hardware synthesizer archive — and for the first time, the entire collection ships with native MIDI Polyphonic Expression support baked in from the start.
The Biggest Anthology Yet
Synth Anthology has always been about preservation: sampling classic hardware synths in painstaking detail so producers can play them without hunting down vintage gear on the used market. Version 5 pushes that mission further than any previous edition, expanding the library to 300 hardware instruments — a jump of roughly 100 machines over Synth Anthology 4. The result is what UVI is calling its most complete synth collection to date, spanning more than 6,000 sound layers, over 4,700 presets, and upwards of 38,000 individual samples.
What sets this release apart for MPE players specifically is that the instrument was built to respond to expressive controllers out of the box. Modern MPE hardware — the Expressive E Osmose, ROLI Seaboard, Haken Continuum, and grid controllers like the LinnStrument — can now drive per-note pitch, pressure, and slide directly into decades of sampled analog and digital hardware tone, something earlier Anthology releases weren't designed to fully exploit.
Dual-Layer Design and Deep Modulation
Synth Anthology 5's engine allows any two of the 300 sampled synths to be combined into a single hybrid voice, with a fully modulatable blend between the pair — useful for anyone using MPE pressure or slide to morph between two distinct timbres mid-note. The instrument includes two LFOs and two multi-step modulators with adjustable smoothing, and UVI has added a "Proximity Explorer" that analyzes the sonic character of whatever patch is loaded and surfaces eight related sounds from across the library, making it easier to audition alternate textures without manually digging through presets.
Deep mod-wheel integration is also part of the package, so players without a dedicated MPE surface still get expressive control at their fingertips, while owners of true per-note controllers get the full benefit of independent pitch bend, pressure, and timbre per finger.
Format and Pricing
The plugin is available in VST, VST3, AU, and AAX formats, and runs standalone through UVI Workstation or inside UVI's Falcon sampler. The full library weighs in at roughly 28.45 GB using lossless FLAC-based sample encoding.
UVI is offering Synth Anthology 5 for $149, with an introductory price of $89 available through July 20, 2026. Existing Synth Anthology 4 owners can upgrade for $49 during the same window, after which pricing reverts to standard rates.
Why It Matters for MPE Players
Sample-based synth collections have historically been a poor fit for expressive controllers — most were built around fixed velocity layers with no per-note articulation. By designing Synth Anthology 5 around MPE from the ground up, UVI is signaling that even nostalgia-driven, hardware-emulation plugins are being rebuilt to meet modern expressive playing styles rather than treating MPE as an afterthought.
For musicians who already own an MPE controller and want to explore vintage synth character — think classic Jupiter, Prophet, or Memorymoog-style tones — without needing a dedicated MPE-native synth engine, Synth Anthology 5 offers a rare combination: encyclopedic hardware coverage plus genuinely expressive, per-note control. It's a strong sign that plugin developers see MPE compatibility as a baseline expectation rather than a niche feature, and it adds one more serious option to the growing list of expressive-ready virtual instruments worth auditioning alongside dedicated MPE synths.
More details and demo audio are available on UVI's product page.