There's just so many!

Korg Mini/Monologue and Volcas, any Behringer analog stuff, Arturia Mini/Micro Brute/Freak, Roland Boutique, Yamaha Reface CS/DX, Modal Electronics Skulpt, Waldorf Rocket....

And Teenage Engineering has a more affordable OP-Z, and not to mention their Pocket Operators that are wonderful machines for $60 or so (I use PO-12 as a drum sequencer for jamming).

And that's not even going into the old/used gear market. I got a Soviet analog polysynth for under $500 off Reverb last week. However, I feel like getting started, the newer stuff is both cheaper and better. We are living in the synthesizer renaissance era.

If I were to pick just ONE synth to recommend, it would be Korg Monologue. It's a masterpiece with a lot of depth, but simple to get started on, and super hands-on. For other recommendations, see articles like [1].

[1] https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-cheap-synthesizers

I love my Korg Minis, both the monotribes and the kaoss pads. They don't have a lot of features, but I see them kind of like musical Lego. You just plug them into each other in different ways and then just play around all day. And I think buying all of them, plus enough cables to connect them all, would only set you back about $800 total.

Novation Circuit is a great starting point for electronic music. Just released a new version too. Step up from that would maybe be a Digitakt (from before mentioned Elektron), basically Circuit but even more powerful in probably every way. If you have the money to spend, go for a Octatrack.

Roland MC101, Roland MV1, Elektron Model Samples, Elektron Digitakt, Novation Circuit, Ableton Push 2 + Ableton Live, Roland SP404 series, Fruity Loops software, Ableton Live software.

Stock up on Behringer gear. Haters will call you everything from cheap to anti-semetic, but their synths hold up just as good as some of the biggest contenders on the market.

Just because Uri Behringer happens to be antisemitic[1] doesn't mean that people buying Behringer gear are also antisemitic, so I don't think people would call you that if you buy it. Although I personally stay clear from their gear for lots of reasons.

- [1] https://www.musictech.net/news/is-this-how-behringer-respond...

Axoloti Core comes to mind

http://www.axoloti.com

http://www.axoloti.com/examples/

Might be worth getting a PO-12 or PO-32 Pocket Operator (the drum machine models). Beyond one of those and the PO-33 I wouldn't go too deep into that range as they're way more toys than full fledged synths but that could be all you want (it was all I wanted tbh) and they're a lot of fun and will retain their value if bought used.

I keep a PO-32 beside my desk to mess with when I get frustrated coding.

Modal's CRAFTsynth and a cheap USB MIDI keyboard. Together with an OTG adapter for your phone/tablet, Modal's app and a USB hub, it's a really fun and cheap setup to play with. It is more finicky to control than more expensive synths, but the range of sounds possible and the quality of those sounds is downright astonishing.

Synthstrom Deluge (or any good DAW on the home computer you already have if you don't actually care about hardware).

Sure, iPad and Garageband.