SUPERBOOTH25 – Synth Expo Berlin (Part 2)

After visiting the crowded Moog stand in Part 1 of our report …

… we’ll continue in the synth section. As expected, the Arturia PolyBrute 12 aroused great interest …

… and the AMS Hydrasynth in Orange was a real eye-catcher …

And the obligatory Sequential / Oberheim synths were popular as ever …

Everything under control

As we all know, today’s computers can do everything. But how can it be used in practice? This question has preoccupied mankind since the invention of . Keyboards have proved their worth. After some initial hesitation, the mouse was also added. But for complex applications, such as which are typical of music electronics, there is a desire for more convenience at the interface between man and machine. Controllers of all shapes and sizes are therefore still in vogue. They are now not only capable of USB communication and MIDI, they usually also provide freely configurable control voltages for the analog world.

Rhythm units …

What would contemporary light music be without beats? That’s why this area is still as hotly contested as it is prestigious and profitable. After last year’s Perkons HD01 hybrid drum synth, Erica Synths is now relying on the tried and tested. The housing and digital control technology of the HexDrums come from the Latvian company and the sound generation is provided by the tried and tested Eurorack modules based on the 808/909 model from Hexinverter. Optimal workflow meets the finest analog technology. HexDrums has been announced for the fall.

Something new from Saxony …

Vermona, on the other hand, presented a completely new idea. The company has been active in the field of drums since its beginnings in the 1970s and the latest Mark IV version of its DRM-1 analog drum expander was released in 2021. Now the company from Klingenthal in Saxony is presenting its drumDING. The device consists of a complete analog drum voice that can be used to create anything your heart desires, from kicks, toms, snares and cymbals to claps, rimshots and effect sounds, and this freshly created analog voice is then recorded on the fly into a 16-voice sampler that is controlled by an integrated step sequencer. Analog distortion and a bit crusher round off the whole thing.

Workshops …

What would the Superbooth be without its popular workshops on plugging modules, soldering synthesizers and, of course, creating and using tape loops (Sascha Bachmann, Hand-Music).

Jewels …

And, of course, a trade fair like this is also a place for rarities and gems. A beautiful Roland Jupiter 8, a complete Roland System 100 and a classy Alesis Andromeda in black met us right at the entrance to the FEZ: the welcoming committee, provided by the Synthesizer Museum Berlin, which only opened this year.

And while we’re on the subject of jewelry: They still exist, albeit not entirely for free. We’re talking about the PPG 1002, a replica of a monophonic synthesizer by Wolfgang Palm, which was only produced in small numbers 50 years ago and later became famous for its hybrid polyphonic wave keyboards. The PPG 1002 will cost 9999 euros. The edition is limited to 102 units.

Elektromechanics and Vinyl

Korg has now completed its Berlin project in the field of contemporary, electromechanical musical instruments with the production-ready Phase8 model. The compact synthesizer will be launched on the market at the beginning of next year for around 1000 euros.

Meanwhile, the Japanese parent company was not lazy either and came up with the small m-version of the Korg miniKORG 700S. And for the first time in its long history, the company also has a record player in its range. It’s called Handytraxx PLAY, is strikingly white and portable, mains-independent and has integrated speakers. Digital effects and a looper are also on board.

But Korg is not the only manufacturer from the electronic musical instrument segment to have put out feelers in the direction of vinyl: Dinsync, otherwise better known for its faithful Roland clones, is launching NC-V8 Acoustic Lathe, a compact and comparatively inexpensive device that can be attached to a powerful turntable and used to cut records and dub plates at home in the bedroom studio.