Superbooth 2026: Art, Science, and Technology in Berlin

This was my third Superbooth and I understand it better every time: it's not just a gear fair. It's a gathering where art, science and technology meet. And this mix is what makes it hard to compare to anything else. Yes, way better than NAMM.

The crowd is growing and getting more unique. Engineers, musicians, visual artists, producers, collectors and the simply curious. All of them converging around strange machines and sounds you didn't know you needed to hear.

The best live set: Robert Henke and four Commodore CBM 8032s

The standout performance of the festival was Robert Henke (also known as Monolake and one of the co-founders of Ableton Live) playing at the Volkspark Wuhlheide. Two songs away on bicycle from my house, which felt both absurd and wonderful at the same time.

Henke performed with four Commodore CBM 8032 computers: machines from 1979, running an 8-bit CPU at 1 MHz with 32 kilobytes of total memory. What he did with them was a deeply expressive electronic concert: emotionally dense and surprisingly high-definition for hardware with those constraints. There was no nostalgia trick here. There was intention, control, and real music.

Listening to it was a reminder that restriction doesn't limit expression. Sometimes it defines it.

The most fun instrument: Erica Synths Bullfrog Drumcomputer with Richie Hawtin

Of all the instruments available to play at the festival, the one I enjoyed most was the new drum machine from Erica Synths, developed together with Richie Hawtin. It has 909-style buttons and large, comfortable knobs built for being grabbed and twisted with force and expression. This is not an instrument you look at — it's one you play.

It has CV/Gate outputs, making it a natural fit for modular setups. While you were trying it out, you could have a sake from Hawtin's own brand right there in the tent, which gave the whole thing a strangely generous atmosphere. Not something you see at many gear fairs.

The effect that shifted my perspective: Eventide H9000

I already had a lot of respect for Eventide, but the H9000 surprised me anyway. Sixteen DSP engines running at 96 kHz, 4 GB of RAM, and an architecture that lets you chain effects in ways very few things can match.

What really got me was this: it can now be modified and expanded using Max/MSP RNBO. For someone who works in Max, which I do, that's not a small detail. It's the ability to get inside the hardware using a language you already know, and push the machine into places Eventide may not have imagined. That's tempting in a very specific way.

Special mention: FORS and the FMS for Game Boy Advance

One of the most unique things I saw was the FMS by FORS: an FM synthesizer and sequencer that runs entirely on a Game Boy Advance. Not as a retro gimmick, but as a coherent, considered instrument with its own identity.

What makes this more meaningful to me is that it was developed by a former classmate from my sound design master's program and her partner.

The worst part of the festival: the weather

It was cold and cloudy the first day. Superbooth usually happens under a warm May sun that makes walking between the halls and the park a genuinely pleasant experience. This year, that didn't happen.

But when the weather is the worst thing you can point to, it means everything else was excellent. And it was.

See you in Berlin next year.