This Week’s Highlights: Superbooth Stories
Highlights of the week.
3,7 / 5,0 | 
In this week’s highlights, we catch up on some of the most exciting stories from Superbooth25, with releases from Vermona and Moog Music.
This Week’s Highlights:
The prototypes on show are some of the most exciting instruments at Superbooth, as you get to be among the first to get the feel of these creative new inventions. Let’s catch up with some of the highlights announced this week:
Highlights: Vermona drumDING
Vermona unveiled a new prototype in the form of the drumDING drum machine. This unique hybrid instrument combines a simple analogue percussion synth voice with a six-track sequencer, sampler, and digital effects. The workflow allows you to dial in your analogue sounds and then save up to 16 samples per project with the use of an SD card.
The sequencer also has some neat creative features like parameter locks and polymeter, as well as per-step effects sequencing. This includes pitch, reverse, decay, overdrive, and bitcrusher, which makes it possible to create some truly expressive rhythm patterns, and you can tweak sounds live.
At first, you might think that a single voice limits the drumDING’s capabilities, but you only need to create one sound at a time in this workflow. This way, you create your drum kit piece by piece before you dive into the really fun part – the sequencing. Overall, this should be a fun tool for sound creation and Dawless jams. I also wonder if you’ll be able to load your own samples via SD card? Ah, the possibilities!
Highlights: Morphor Echon 6
The Echon 6 is the latest prototype from Morphor, a manufacturer based in Belgium, known for its BBD and Karplus-Strong style Eurorack modules. Using both of these concepts in a 6-voice rackmountable desktop format, the Echon 6 uses Exciter, Quad LFO, and BBD Resonator sections to generate and manipulate completely analogue sounds.
The synth is also multitimbral, so each of the voices is an individual layer with its own mono output that can be assigned instead of the main stereo outs. Besides noise, there is a range of sounds you can send to excite the resonator, including a variable VCO and an external input, while a crossfader lets you balance the signal between these three sources.
For shaping your sound, the BBD Resonator section has two filters: one on the input stage and one in the feedback circuit. In addition, you can adjust the Exciter’s envelope and route four LFOs to different mod destinations. Overall, the Echon 6 seems like an exciting instrument creatively, and it sounds wonderful.
Highlights: Tiptop Audio
As usual, Tiptop Audio had a bunch of new modules to show off at Superbooth25 in their ART and Buchla ranges. In the innovative ART series of polyphonic modules, Tiptop added two new members to the family, including the OctoLFO 8-voice LFO and the Multipass 8-voice multimode filter. Both modules are designed to function within the ART system, but you can also patch in modules from other manufacturers and access the versatile features.
Meanwhile, TipTip’s Buchla series also expanded with two weird and wacky new modules: the Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator and the Triple Envelope Follower. Few modules capture the essence of West Coast synthesis quite like the Model 248t, with a 2×16 output voltage and time intervals, you can configure it to function as a sequencer, a curve generator, or a range of other processes. What’s more, the Model 230t provides three AC amplitude follower inputs and six CV outputs, as well as three pulse outputs for gate and trigger signals.
Highlights: Moog Messenger
Any new Moog release will always have a certain amount of hype surrounding it, and this was definitely the case with the Moog Messenger. After the Subsequent 25 was discontinued earlier this year, there was a gaping monosynth-shaped hole in all of our hearts that needed filling, and luckily, Moog obliged our collective yearnings.
At first glance, it almost looks like the Moog Prodigy with the same look, colour scheme, and keybed size. For sound generation, the Messenger offers two variable-shape oscillators, a sub-oscillator, and a noise oscillator, with an impressive multimode filter section and dual envelopes with which to shape your sounds.
What’s more, there’s a 64-step sequencer/arpeggiator, two LFOs, and a range of connectivity options, including MIDI I/O, Gate I/O, CV I/O, Clock I/O, USB-C, as well as Expression and Sustain ports. Also, the oscillators have a hybrid wavefolding feature that will be familiar to Mavis and Labyrinth users.
Highlights: EVE Audio EXO
On the studio side of things, the Berlin speaker manufacturer, EVE Audio, introduced their new EXO range of active nearfield monitors. The series offers four models ranging from 4-inch to 8-inch in size, all equipped with EVE Audio’s Precision AirMotion Tweeter and coated aluminum woofer diaphragms.
The key to the new EXO series is its amazing versatility, which will appeal to users who are planning to upgrade to immersive audio setups. With S/PDIF I/O and software control via Ethernet, you can connect and configure your system with the EVE desktop software app and take care of future firmware updates.
Overall, the EXO series is impressive, and it’s reasonably priced enough to make users seriously consider it as a viable option. Whether you’re an electronic music producer or an aspiring mix engineer, these should definitely be on your radar, and there are different size options to suit any setup.
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