The 5 instruments you need to know about at Superbooth 2024 – New synths, samplers and drum machines
It’s super, it’s full of booths, and it’s happening this year: welcome, in other words, to Superbooth 2024, Europe’s premier synth and music technology event, which takes place at Berlin’s FEZ complex from 16 to 18 May.
The exhibitor list includes some of the biggest names in the industry - the likes of Ableton, Arturia, Bitwig, Elektron, FL Studio, Korg, Native Instruments, Nord, Polyend, Oberheim, Sequential and Yamaha - not to mention loads of boutique manufacturers who want to show off their latest modular and other music-making marvels.
Enough chit-chat, though - why talk when we can immerse ourselves in bleeps, bonks, drones and squeals? Let’s hit the Superbooth 2024 show floor.
Superbooth 24 LIVE
Polyend’s second drop of the weekend is Press, the brand’s first entry into the world of hardware effects.
This stereo analogue compressor pedal seeks to capture the sound of classic rackmount compressors while bringing modern features to the table more commonly found in software, such as a sidechain input and internal sidechain filters.
Cyma Forma ALT
Cyma Forma is a new synth-maker headed up by two amiable Frenchmen, evidently passionate about designing unique instruments crafted with care. Their first is ALT, an analogue synth with a more than a few unusual touches, namely its retro pin matrix and a light sensor that lets you play it theremin-style. Keep an eye out for a sound demo coming up on our YouTube this week
Pittsburgh Taiga and Voltage Lab 2
Back in March, Pittsburgh Modular announced a keyboard-equipped version of its Taiga analogue synth, a paraphonic and semi-modular instrument blessed with a six-stage wavefolder. Taiga’s latest iteration also features a 24hp expansion bay for slotting in Eurorack modules and augmenting the synth’s capabilities; here PM have dropped in a classic Mutable Instruments module and an effects processor from ALM.
Also on display at Pittsburgh Modular’s booth is the all new Voltage Lab 2, a “synthesis laboratory” for exploratory sound designers. Not your average dual-oscillator analogue synth, VL2 throws in some pretty deep waveshaping functionality - pair that with the dual-channel touch controller (and that controller’s assignable scales, step conditions, and generative sequencing) and you’re in for some expressive, experimental sound-sculpting.
Genuinely innovative
Tucked away in a forest glade, we found Korg’s experimental Berlin outpost showing off the latest prototype of Acoustic Synthesis_phase8, a hybrid acoustic and electronic instrument that generates sound by electromagnetically stimulating individually tuned resonators, producing eerie, spectral tones. It’s genuinely innovative stuff, and Korg tells us that they’re hoping to have a finished instrument ready for next year’s show.
Beetlecrab Audio Tempera
Tempera, from Beetlecrab Audio, offers up one of the most rewarding takes on granular synthesis we’ve seen at Superbooth this year, thanks to its touch-sensitive grid-based interface, that can be used to manipulate tiny snippets of audio into shimmering atmospheres of sound.
Still fun
An oldie but a goodie. Soma Labs’ Pulsar-23, an “organismic” semi-modular percussion synth, sounds gritty and wild in the flesh; we’re having a little too much fun patching up distorted, polyrhythmic patterns.
Melbourne Instruments’ Nina
Melbourne Instruments’ Nina has been around for a minute in a desktop format, but this keyboard version is all new.
The 12-voice hybrid analogue/digital instrument has a lot going for it, but the headline here is the motorised knobs, which will rotate independently to the correct position when you recall saved patches.
Look but don't touch
There aren’t many instruments on display at Superbooth behind a glass case, but then again, there aren’t many instruments like the Korg PS-3300 FS.
This lovingly crafted (and slightly modernized) remake of the classic and ultra-rare ‘70s-era PS-3300 was unveiled for NAMM last year, but Korg has just confirmed that it’ll be doing a limited production run that’ll hopefully be shipping at some point this year. If you’ve got $13k to spare, that is...
Dreadbox Murmux
Made by Dreadbox, the Murmux synth has been released in a couple different forms over the company’s lifetime, but its latest iteration - the Murmux Adept - has been supercharged with an analogue BBD chorus and increased polyphony, taking the voices up to 8.
It’s also clad in a fetching tweed fabric, which is a nice retro touch.
Soma's theremin-inspired Flux
Soma Labs’ Flux is one of the most innovative instruments on show at Superbooth this year.
Inspired by the theremin, it takes the touch-free concept to a whole new level of expressivity through the use of small magnets held in the players’ hands, the position and orientation of which can be used to control up to 16 parameters of its digital synth engine.
Kiviak WoFi
A modernised take on classic ‘80s keyboard samplers, Kiviak’s WoFi does all the things a sampling keyboard should do, letting you slice, dice, time-stretch and pitch-shift samples with ease - but it also does a whole lot more.
The Texturer function runs samples through a granular processor to create shimmering, textural soundscapes, and its built-in WiFi connection lets you access Kiviak’s cloud-based sample library.
Bastl
Bastl’s Thyme returns for a second time (!) with Thyme+, a much improved edition of its herb-inspired effects unit.
Though it emulates the mechanisms of a tape delay, Thyme+ is “proudly digital”, bringing a wealth of functionality (including some pretty advanced modulation capabilities) to the table that’ll make your Space Echo look like an ancient relic.
Moogs landing
Moog’s the talk of the show this year with multiple announcements expected over the weekend, the first of which has been the Spectravox, an analogue synth and spectral filter bank that can be used as a vocoder, or paired up with one of the brand’s other semi-modular units for even deeper creative exploration.
Far from Wee-dy: Wee Noise Makers’ PGB-1
As unsurprisingly tiny as its maker’s name would suggest, Wee Noise Makers’ PGB-1 is a wee little marvel. This all-in-one, open-source, customizable device is designed to be tinkered with, and can be almost anything you like: synth, sampler, sequencer or effects processor.
UDO Super 8
UDO’s Super 8 is a new poly synth that sits in the middle of its line-up between debut product, the 12-voice Super 6 and the beastly, 20-voice, bi-timbral Super Gemini, packing many of the features of its bigger brother into a slightly smaller, lighter form factor with a reduced price tag.
Erica Synths
Erica Synths’ “highly musical” Nightverb desktop reverb unit steps into the light
It was created in collaboration with plugin developer 112dB
Erica Synths is going all out at this year’s Superbooth. Not only did it catch us on the hop with its Bullfrog XL synth (below), but it’s also released a new desktop reverb unit known as Nightverb.
“Didn’t know they came in that size!”: Erica Synths supersizes its Bullfrog edu-synth for the classroom
Modular 101 class is in session as giant Bullfrog XL breaks cover
Following last year's introduction of its educationally minded single-oscillator synth, developed in collaboration with techno royalty Richie Hawtin, the Latvian firm has whipped a very large cover off of Bullfrog XL, a slightly augmented, but more importantly superized, iteration designed specifically for classroom use.
ASM
ASM crosses its Hydrasynth line with silver as it launches two very limited-edition 5th anniversary models
The Keyboard and Deluxe instruments have been given a metallic makeover
ASM’s HydraSynth was already a prime piece of synth real estate, and its curb appeal has been further increased with the launch of a 5th Anniversary Silver Edition
Nebula Sounds
Art? Instrument? Both!
Nebula's Euphone brings together a beatiful combo of resonators and plates with a keyboard of 48 glass rods to produce sounds ranging from glassy to wind-like fortissimo.
Bass Station 2 @ 10
To celebrate 10 years of the Bass Station 2, Novation has rigged up ten of them together to play in unison, complete with a giant cutoff knob. Genius.
Oberheim
"This isn't just a synth, it's Tom Oberheim's dream, realized": The TEO-5 gives you the classic Oberheim sound at an affordable price point
Based on the same platform as the Sequential Take 5, the TEO-5 keeps it Oberheim with a classic state-variable SEM filter and X-Mod functionality
Oberheim has announced the release of a new polyphonic analogue synthesizer, the TEO-5. Priced at £1499, the TEO-5 could offer a great way to access the classic Oberheim sound in hardware form, for a fraction of the price of the company’s top-end OB-X8 or OB-6 instruments.
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UDO
UDO's Super 8 is a slimmed-down Super Gemini with (almost) everything we loved about that synth - and a cheaper price tag
UK-based synth maker UDO has unveiled a new instrument at this year's Superbooth gear expo
Sitting in the middle of their product line-up between their debut synth, the 12-voice Super 6 and the beastly 20-voice, multitimbral Super Gemini, the Super 8 packs many of the features of its bigger brother into a slightly smaller and lighter form factor with a reduced price tag.
It's on
Our boots are on the ground to reveal the first big news for repeat attenders - after years of amending the show year with gaffer tape, Superbooth now has actual new signage.
Moog
Moog’s Spectravox is “not just an instrument - it’s a portal into uncharted sonic realms,” but you might have seen it somewhere before
Prepare yourself for a visit from the ghost of Moogfest past
Throughout the 2010s, Moog played host to a series of Moogfest weekenders in and around its North Carolina base of operations. Combining live performances, talks and workshops, the events were part music festival, part celebration of the synth brand’s heritage...
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iZotope
iZotope announces RX 11, the latest version of “Hollywood’s favourite toolkit for intelligent audio repair”
More power and spectral healing for post production, music-making and content creation
Billed by iZotope as “Hollywood’s favourite toolkit for intelligent audio repair,” the company’s RX software has been updated to version 11. Stacked floor-to-ceiling with machine learning technology, this offers both new tools and improvements to existing ones.
Dreadbox
Dreadbox reinvents the Murmux analogue synth in a limited-edition 8-voice version called Adept
Updated with built-in effects and increased polyphony, Murmux Adept retains the retro tweed finish of its younger brother
Dreadbox has announced the release of a new and limited-edition version of its Murmux analogue synth, first launched in 2014, and it's a rather beastly 5kg unit clad in tweed with pleasingly retro wooden panels
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Korg
"Think the strings of a guitar or keys of a xylophone, but embedded into electronic synthesis": Korg unveils the next prototype for the experimental instrument Acoustic Synthesis_phase 8
Is it an acoustic instrument or a synthesizer? Oddly enough, it's both
Last year at the Superbooth gear expo, Korg teased an intriguing prototype that was in development at its experimentally-minded Berlin office, showing a curious instrument they called Acoustic Synthesis_phase 5.
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Polyend
Tracker+ updates Polyend's flagship groovebox with 4 new synth engines, stereo sampling, an expanded sequencer and more
This major upgrade makes Tracker+ a real challenger to Elektron's recently-updated Digitakt 2
We were big fans of Polyend’s Tracker when it arrived in 2020. Although it draws its inspiration from the somewhat niche world of software trackers, beyond those retro leanings lies a well-equipped and surprisingly approachable sample-based sketchpad.
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AJH Synth
"The ultimate analogue modular system": This colossal £15,000 synth was specially designed for Hans Zimmer, but you can buy one too
AJH Synth's RadioPhonic was commissioned for Zimmer's rebuilding of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Not many of us have a spare £15,000 down the back of the sofa, but if you've got cash to burn and a penchant for unwieldy modular synthesizers, you can now purchase a recreation of a beastly modular system designed specially for Hans Zimmer's relaunch of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
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One Love
Could the friendly-looking First Love be the FM synth that you fall head over heels for?
It looks like a game, but will you want to play it?
It seems obligatory now that any new FM synth should come with the promise to make its sound generation method “fun” - instruments such as Yamaha’s DX7 helped to burden FM with a reputation of being anything but - and so it is with Love Synthesizers’ First Love
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