The 5 instruments you need to know about at Superbooth 2024 – New synths, samplers and drum machines
Video and sound demos of some of the biggest hitters at this year's show, from Elektron, Arturia, Polyend, Oberheim and UDO
Berlin's Superbooth trade show is the biggest event in the calendar for new music tech gear. MusicRadar's Matt Mullen hit the show floor to find the 5 most noteworthy new instruments on show at this year's event.
• For everything from Synth Central, as it happens, tune in to our LIVE Superbooth 24 hub
On demo parade for you today, we have...
00:00:55 – Elektron Digitakt II
Elektron says the next edition of Digitakt has "so much more power under the hood", and it's not wrong; with the addition of stereo sampling, an expanded track count and sequencer, more memory, effects, LFOs and a host of workflow upgrades, the machine is likely to please devotees of the original while offering something a little more capable to those thinking about making the jump.
00:03:02 – Arturia PolyBrute 12
PolyBrute 12 is supercharges what's already one of the most popular polys on the market, which offered six voices (with two analogue oscillators per voice), dual filters with flexible routing, multitimbrality and tons of potential for expressive performance thanks to its ribbon controller and Morphée XY pad.
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00:05:10 – Polyend Tracker+
We were big fans of Polyend’s Tracker when it arrived in 2020. Although it draws its inspiration from the somewhat niche world of software trackers, beyond those retro leanings lies a well-equipped and surprisingly approachable sample-based sketchpad.
00:08:01 – Oberheim TEO-5
Based on the same platform as the Sequential Take 5, the TEO-5 keeps it Oberheim with a classic state-variable SEM filter and X-Mod functionality.
00:10:20 – UDO Super 8
Sitting in the middle of UDO's product line-up between their debut synth, the 12-voice Super 6 and the beastly 20-voice, multitimbral Super Gemini, the Super 8 packs many of the features of its bigger brother into a slightly smaller and lighter form factor with a reduced price tag.
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