Having just got back from Berlin and Superbooth 2024 I wanted to round up some of the things I got up to. Here’s the pictures I took and a video crammed to the rafters of patch tips for you to try out on ANY gear that you have already, be it software, hardware, modular etc.
The Best Synthesizer Patch Tips from Superbooth 2024
You can download a PDF document of all 24 patches for free HERE.
While we’re talking Superbooth I went on Sonic Talk episode 801 to discuss Superbooth. You can watch that HERE if you’d like a chatty run down of the show with Nick Batt, Gaz Williams and Richard Nicol of Pittsburgh Modular.
Before we get into the pictures and gear round up, I also did a demo of Manic with Apollo View for Sonic State at Superbooth 2024, watch that HERE.
Onto some of the things I saw at the show …
I didn’t grab that many pictures at the show as I was busy blasting stereo Manic patches and chatting patch ideas but here’s some of what I did grab pictures of …
Dubby by Componental was a fantastic, performable quad in and quad out delay. Fantastically flexible for multi band, quadrature dub sound systems, studio use and more.
The Instruo system was looking lovely as ever, as was the board game and cards system.
The new Procyon stereo MS-20 style filter and drive sounded killer! New from new company EON who are part of the Instruo & Glasgow Synth Guild crew.
Befaco were showing us their original idea (why had no one thought of that!) that cases should be on Vesa mounts (I love it). Their Oneiroi is utterly fantastic too, I was lucky to get some time with a prototype of that back in March when I was Barcelona with them.
The series of analogue modules from Expert Sleepers was sounding great as ever, I might have to put together a case of them like that too.
Schreibmaschine had a fantastically colourful little set up of, logic and pulse action but it also dispensed stickers. Plus they had a selection of breadboard tools to help developers that looked really handy.
Soundfreak had some lovely EMS inspired Buchla builds which sounded great.
Frap Tools had a lovely looking new random module that I hope to try out in the future. I’ve also had my eye on their Frap Audio 500 series comp and expander for the studio. Looks lush!
The M600 wavetable oscillator from Mayer EMI looked great. Some things just need a screen and this was a nice use of one.
The Hans Zimmer authorised system commissioned for the new upcoming radiophonic workshop with AJH Synth was a stunning bit of kit. Knowing a lot of the modules in that system, it’s going to be fantastic.
Black Corporation had two new pieces with a new slider laden desktop and single voice ISE NINE Eurorack action. I love the Deckard’s Voice in Eurorack, hoping to try the new voice too.
Dannysound (rebranding to Tobinski) had lots of new modules that looked great. Clever, interesting ideas with nice interfaces.
Clank had a gorgeous looking small system. I really need to get into that sometime.
Eowave had their gong speaker (I still want one of those, not that I have room!) among nice new modules.
It was lovely to see the updated Major Tom from NONO, I loved the prototype I got to play so I’m looking forward to trying the final thing.
Pittsburgh Modular had their fantastic Voltage Research Lab 2 which is also something I’d love to deep dive, I think it really warrants some deep and rich patching and exploration.
At Superbooth Matthew Shaw came up to me and after nearly fainting from excitement said I had to see this … this being a huge research project from Poland (not sure of the company/academic institute name) that had a large BugBrand and Serge system among a custom made CV controlled desk that included two Make Noise Mimeophones and Morphagenes among a 36 io Max MSP controlled immersive speaker environment. Wow!
We have Cosmotronic who’s modules I’m already a fan of but their new drive and DJ style filter and surprisingly Messor (a nice compressor) in a pedal all looked good too.
Ohm orce came out swinging at Superbooth with their new Eurorack version of the classic Ohmicide plug in distortion. Plus multiple other prototypes. Lots of great sounds and a fantastic demo was given at the show.
The new sequencer from Rabid Elephant looked great, I liked the dual concentric pots and simple interface.
Tubbutec had a fantastic (I need one) whole 1U row sequencer but also had Brainstep which looks like an advanced MC-202 with sample play back. Smart stuff!
LPZW were giving hi hats (and rides) some love … they need your love … in a smart way with some nice reverse cymbal and open/closed hat options. I can see this becoming a key part of my drum case.
I then spotted a rare Yorkshire squelching Mylar Melodies in his safe place, the happy acid of the Din Sync booth! That whole tent was ace.
I’ve been into what Fine Gear have been doing since the Dust Collector, seeing the new mixer and the Dirt Magnet was great, I’d love to try those with some synths and modular.
Rubbish photos but the new SynthUX Academy units were interesting. Instant fun and playability and it was nice to share some modular integration ideas.
Like many things at Superbooth (as there’s just so much to get to!) I only got a brief hello and quick peak at the TEIA booth. The new OpticShifter looked interesting.
A real instant bit of fun and EDM riser action came from the META module from OXI Instruments, lovely sounding FX in a simple interface that I’m keen to try out in a variety of settings.
Synth Rise had a great stand system and I had a great conversation about gear/studio layouts and the mechanisms involved in their products.
The Schlappi Engineering booth was always absolutely banging with interesting and great sounding patches. New modules in the 4 bit logic range for making patterns and sounds differently were sounding good too.
Shakmat gave a great demo of their new modules. The new Ballista Blast was a great sounding and flexible voice and I really like that they commission a different artist to do their complimentary graphics each year.
The Memo from Acid Rain Technology looked great in the flesh. I’ve been talking to them for a while about this one and it’s packed full of smart highly flexible workflow for a no cable based fully routable modular system.
Back at the London Synth & Pedal Expo Enjoy Electronics were grinning like naughty children who had eaten too many sweets when they were telling me about new things coming for Superbooth. Yet they kept me in the lurch and I’m glad to see that waiting patiently was worth it for something that looked fantastic. The DeFeel / Modular Monotony Degenerator (killer name!) imparted variations on your sequences and modulations in a smart way.
Synth-Werk had a lovely looking and lovely sounding (we were greeted with a nice performance that was happening as I went into that room) classic Moog 5U style system. That room was bittersweet seeing the tribute to the late Geert Jalass of Moon Modular who passed away unexpectedly just before Superbooth. RIP.
One of the last things I saw at the show was Stimming a real highlight as a massive fan of his music with Doctron IMC breaking out parts of their Instant Mastering Chain device into a more affordable 500 series format. We got a great demo of how much compression this could do, while maintaining peak levels and not sounding overly compressed. Seriously impressive.
That’s it for the Superbooth pictures. Thank you to everyone that makes the show so special.
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