If our Top 10 Picks from SuperBooth 2024 are too mainstream for you, how about celebrating the WWW (weird, wild, and wonderful) side of the Berlin event? As in our previous article, these names are in no particular order.
And the awards go to…
Silhouette Sport
This experimental synth is not new to SuperBooth visitors, but it keeps improving every year. The technology is based on the “optical soundtrack” technology from the beginning of the sound film in the 1920s which offers a visual sampler. The Silhouette Sport synthesis leans on this concept and makes the sounds playable in real-time.
Price: €4000
Key Takeaways: if you are “waiting for the gift of sound and vision” (copyright: D. Bowie), this is the right synth. The Silhouette Sport synth would fit perfectly in a Blade Runner movie, as well as on stage. It’s not cheap, but it might be a solid replacement for those drugs you would like to quit anyway. Thank me later.
Learn more here.
Korg Acoustic Synthesis_phase8
This one is an innovative prototype synthesizer that merges acoustic and electronic synthesis. It features physical resonators and acoustic sound sources integrated with digital control and modulation capabilities. SuperBooth visitors from last year will remember this one as well. The Korg Berlin team this year showed an upgraded version, which should be quite close to the final release unit (ETA: Q1 2025). Let’s hope the stars align.
Price: TBA
Key Takeaways: this Korg Acoustic Synthesis_phase8 is intriguing. I love the idea of an instrument that blends the acoustic world with the digital one. Think of it as a sort of “Kalimba meets electronic synthesis and sequencer”. It can be tonal but also percussive. There’s potential, but it remains to be seen how the digital section (in particular the sequencer, and possible add-ons like effects and modulation options) will be implemented. In short, with the heavyweight brand name behind it, it could be a hit or a flop.
Learn more here.
Koma Chromaplane
The Koma Chromaplane is a collaborative project between Koma Elektronik and the musical duo Passepartout Duo. The Chromaplane features a touchless interface, organic analog sounds, and an intuitive way of playing, all made possible by invisible electromagnetic fields. It combines the expressivity of traditional acoustic instruments, with the endless experimentation of electronic sound design.
Price: TBA
Key Takeaways: not exactly exciting at a glance (it looks like you’re playing a closed old Windows laptop). Sound-wise it’s very expressive and definitely promising. It should be out soon and I’m looking forward to getting more familiar with it. If the price is right, Chromaplane could be an interesting alternative to the recent wave of expressive electronic instruments on the market.
Learn more here.
Timeless Garden Horizon
Horizon is the result of a collaboration between Trent from Whimsical Raps and Meng Qi, the developer of the Wing Pinger. The Horizon features a resonator system built around the Wing Pinger device, with delays, a filter bank, and a touch sequencer/play surface.
Price: TBA
Key Takeaways: building on that peculiar cult-instrument which is the Wing Pinger, Horizon looks and feels like an organic happy-accident machine. The final layout will probably change, but there’s already a lot to enjoy here. The supposed price point (between 1k and 2k USD) might make it more esoteric than I would like to be, but that’s the fate of such lovely boutique productions.
Learn more here.
SOMA labs FLUX
According to the ever-creative Vlad Kreimer from SOMA labs, FLUX is a Theremin-inspired, touchless high end professional synthesizer with expressive possibilities, an innovative interface design with top quality digital-to-analog converters and analog components. FLUX features a unique continual touchless keyboard that offers seamless control, through magnets held in the user’s hands, over a number of sound parameters without quantisation. It can be as beautifully melodic as in the video below, or as crazy as it gets. You’re in control.
Price: TBA
Key Takeaways: if there’s a person that can reinvent the wheel, that person is Vlad Kreimer. FLUX is an incredibly exciting project and I look forward to seeing it on the market. By the way, FLUX works in monophonic, duophonic, and polyphonic modes. Will FLUX be the new Theremin of the 21st century? For sure, it’s going to be much easier to play, but also much more inspiring than a Moog Theremini.
Learn more here.
Final Thoughts – Our 5 Crazy Picks From Superbooth 2024
As we wrote in our Top 10 Picks from SuperBooth 2024 article, the Berlin event has proved once again to be a fantastic container for all the diversity and innovation within the music technology industry. These five products we picked for our Weird, Wild and Wonderful list are only a small fraction of the crazy creative output we’ve seen this year at SuperBooth. There’s a thin red line that connects both the mainstream and the more experimental and DIY sides of the event. It’s the quest for more expressive and inspiring electronic instruments, from the success of the MPE standard to the constantly bigger presence of creative tactile (or even touchless) instruments, modern electronic musicians are in for a treat. If only they could get paid decently…
