Superbooth 2026: What Amazing Things Can We Expect?
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It’s just a few days until Superbooth 2026 kicks off in Berlin, so we take a look ahead to speculate what we may or may not see and hear at FEZ!
What To Expect At Superbooth 26
Superbooth 26: It’s Getting Close!
As I sit here in the British sunshine writing this, I am very quickly beginning to feel the excitement build as I prepare my bags for my annual pilgrimage to Berlin! I keep checking my weather app and it seems Berlin is experiencing so very warm weather, something Superbooth mostly seems to be blessed with.
However, the forecast for next week is somewhat less warm, but it looks pretty good so far. In fact, the rain seems to be stopping just after my flight gets in, so that makes me smile! Anyway, how very typically British of me to kick this article off with some weather-related observations.
A Quiet Year?
So, what can we expect at this year’s event, and should we be saving our pennies for a new, amazing piece of gear that will change the way we make music? Probably not, in my very humble opinion. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and predict that this year’s Superbooth will be, gear-wise, fairly quiet.
So, what makes me think this? Well, I am in a very privileged position in my job as a freelance music technology journalist and writer in that I receive notifications of impending products days, weeks, sometimes months in advance of them being announced.
At the time of writing, the things that I know of are few and not hugely exciting. I don’t think we’re going to have big reveals like we did with the PolyBrute 12 and AstroLab that Arturia announced two years ago, just ahead of Superbooth 24.
Last year, we had the wonderful Moog Messenger, and there was a huge buzz around that. So it is very surprising, and somewhat disappointing, that Moog Music aren’t even going to be at Superbooth 26, nor will their inMusic stablemates, Akai! The latter is surprising given the rip-roaring success of the MPC Sample.
Moog Music’s CEO, Joe Richardson, recently announced that they are working on three amazing new synths, all scheduled for release in the next 12 months, so I’m guessing this is a fallow year for them, show-wise. I will miss the likes of Lisa Bella Donna and Erik Norlander…
And so it very much looks like Superbooth 26 will be about consolidation of product lines, a handful of exciting but smaller-scale releases and the chance for many people to get hands-on with some brilliant existing gear.
What To Look Out For – The Big Guns
As far as the big companies go, and I define them as Roland, Yamaha, Korg and Arturia, all four will be represented this year. Roland has been absent in recent years, but this year they will have two ‘stands’. One will be dedicated to their existing synth and music tech line-up, so expect large huddles around the TR-1000!
The other Roland stand will be their Future Design Labs, so I’m really hoping to see something exciting there. Maybe we’ll see some prototypes of new analog synths because I am very much of the opinion that they didn’t re-tool their manufacturing of analog gear simply to produce the TR-1000. Maybe there’ll be a new synth, or maybe they’ll break out parts of the TR-1000 into smaller, more affordable units?
Either way, it’s great to see them back at Superbooth. Then there’s Yamaha, which always have a well-featured stand, but aside from the Montage M and MODX M, what else can we expect, synth-wise? Many of us have hoped that they’d break out the AN-X engine and do a dedicated VA synth, something like a modern take on the AN1x?
Last year, they had those amazing knob-per-function Montage M controllers, which were amazing and utterly unobtanium! KORG are traditionally represented by their European distributor, with a stand in the main entrance hall of FEZ. It’s all been quiet there for some time, so I’m not expecting any surprises.
And, of course, Tats and his team from KORG Berlin will be there, in their traditional location with the caravan, but now that the KORG Phase8 is out, what can we expect from them this year? Every year for the last 3 or so years, we’ve seen iterations of the Phase 8, so we really ought to be expecting something equally innovative and exciting!
Arturia are puzzling me. According to the floor plans, their usual glitzy stage in the corner of the ‘Gym Section’ of FEZ is not there, replaced by a conglomerate of Icelandic manufacturers, such as Genki and Love. This year, Arturia’s location is a side room. I don’t know whether this is invitation only or whether they have simply decided to move somewhere quieter.
For the last two years, I’ve been very much hoping that a new hardware synth will break cover, specifically a full-size keyed version of their hybrid Freak technology. After the MicroFreak and MiniFreak, we really ought to be having a MaxiFreak, shouldn’t we? But maybe, like Moog, things aren’t ready and so it is just a case of maintaining a presence. We will see.
The likes of Sequential, Oberheim, Novation, Groove Synthesis, Modal, Elektron and more will be there. I’d love to see an Oberheim iteration of Sequential’s Fourm. The TEO-5 and Take Five worked well as a concept, so this would be somewhat predictable.
Groove Synthesis is celebrating the first birthday of their baby Third Wave, the 8M, and I’ve heard whispers that Modal may have a very nice surprise. But that’s all I’ve heard. Oh, and Teenage Engineering won’t be on site this year. Shame, as I fancied some picnic chairs to go with my picnic table!
And let’s not forget Ashun Sound Machines who will be bringing their superb Leviasynth keyboard and desktop to the show, ably demonstrated by Ken Pierce, Randy Lee and Dominic Au. If you have yet to try out the Leviasynth, this will be the best place to do it, with expert guidance on hand.
Small But Mighty Manufacturers
All this talk so far has been about the big guns, but what about the smaller developers? This is where I think most of the buzz will be. George Hearn and his company, UDO, will be showing off their excellent DMNO synth, which I got to play with last year at Bristronica. Frap Tools and Supercritical, two amazing new developers, will be returning with the Magnolia and Redshift 6, respectively. Head on over to the Bungalowdorf to see all three!
Expressive E will be there with the new Osmose CE and their amazing Ctrl-E software plugin that delivers multiple synthesis engines from superb developers. You’ll be able to try out the DAW integration functionality, and I’m also hoping there will be an opportunity to get hands-on with the upcoming Haken Audio programming interfaces.
SONICWARE, purveyors of some of the most ingenious and cool instruments of recent years, will be there in their own right this year, with Dr Yu Endo himself in attendance! Could this be some sort of hint at a special revelation? Either way, it will be very cool to meet a truly brilliant guy!
Another small developer that I am super excited to meet is Guido Salaya, the man behind GS Music, who has just released their Bree6 keyboard synth and has hinted at something new and exciting. Guido will be flying in from Argentina, so it will be a real treat to meet him!
Tubbutec will be showing off their incredible custom MIDI controller concept, which is a genius idea if you ask me, which you didn’t, but I’m going to tell you anyway! Local boys Waldorf are always good value, and I wonder if they might choose Superbooth to expand on the affordable desktop units they started with the brilliant Protein?
One more manufacturer I am very much looking forward to catching up with is FRAKnoise and their main man, Allard Krijger. Last year, Allard debuted the Melancholytron, a synthesizer driven by emotion. The concept was fantastic. Write a book about the concept of melancholy and then sell that book with an instrument that was inspired by it.
Allard had built prototypes, sampling numerous sounds, many from home keyboards like Casiotones and Portasounds, and then processing them in ways tied to elements of melancholy. It was brilliant, original, and now they are finally going into a limited production run of both keyboard and desktop units.
Along similar lines, Auxy’s first keyboard, the Svensson 49, with sounds designed by Cuckoo, promises to be a big hit at Superbooth 26. A beautifully simple looping keyboard, primarily designed to inspire and explore ideas, it will garner a lot of attention.
It’s not just synths that will be at Superbooth 26. The ever-present Bjooks will be there to officially launch their next title, authored by Oli Freke, entitled Beat Gems. This will be a stunning and definitive publication on drum machines across the decades and an essential item on any synth lover’s bookshelf.
As always, there are bound to be a few very pleasant surprises but however you make music electronically, whatever tools or methods float your boat, Superbooth 26 will be the place to be this year to indulge your habit!
The Real Reason I Go To Superbooth
For me, however, the biggest attraction of all is to be able to hang with my tribe. Friends from all around the world, congregating at one of the best events of its kind, in one of the coolest cities on the planet. What more could you want?
There will be loads of superb musical performances throughout the day and long into the evenings, plenty of places to just chill, drink beer, talk without shouting and indulge in our shared passion of synthesizers.
So if you’re going to Superbooth 26, have the most amazing time, and if you see me wandering around, please do stop and say hi! I wish you all safe travels! And if you can’t make it this year, but don’t want to miss out on all the latest gear, news and gossip, make sure you follow our Superbooth Rolling News article!
See you there!
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