In November 2014, and January 2015, in Soundbytes Music Magazine, I had two reviews of new synthesizers published. The first was Bazille, by U-He, and the second was Kaivo, by Madrona Labs. Both of these are small synthesizers that do unique things, and both encourage lots of interesting sound exploration.
Here's a link to the Bazille review: http://soundbytesmag.net/bazillebyuhe/
Here's a look at the faceplate of Bazille:
And here is "Perfect Harmony for David Dunn," a 15 minute piece I made with Bazille, in which I'm exploring some of the microtonal harmonic possibilities of the machine.
Here's a link to the Kaivo review: http://soundbytesmag.net/kaivobymadonalabs/
And here's a picture of the faceplate of Kaivo:
Here's an 8 minute piece, "Polyrhythmic Pulse Sequence," I made with Kaivo, using the sequencers, 2D LFOs, and Noise Sources to make a polyrhythmic piece that gradually gets thicker and thicker throughout its duration.
I hope you enjoy the reviews and the pieces. I can recommend both new synths highly.