Berlin’s FEZ centre played host to a mind-boggling array of new synths, Eurorack modules and studio gear last week for Superbooth 2025. Brands, dealers and musicians from around the world flocked to the German capital once again for three days of hardcore synth chat, networking and demonstrations. Despite the current uncertainties around global trade, there was no shortage of innovative new electronic instruments vying for your attention.

We were there on the ground soaking it all up, and we’ve picked out some of the most exciting products that we saw unveiled (or presented in public for the first time) at this year’s show. No matter what kind of music you make, if you’re into synths, these are some of the things that should be on your radar for the year ahead.

Big hitters are back

The major league of North American Eurorack were out in force, with Intellijel returning to Superbooth after a five-year break. Appropriately enough, they brought five new products with them: Jellymix, an extremely cool five-stereo-channel desktop mixer with tilt filters and two stereo aux sends that looks perfect for live use; Swells, a new multi-algorithm reverb in the same form factor as the mega-popular Sealegs delay; Scoops, a dual stereo filter with a few interesting twists; a 2HP Mic that looks like a perfect partner for the Multigrain granular module; and a new and improved version of their 7U Performance Case with more ¼” jacks on the back plus a movable 1U row. 

Make Noise also surprised everyone by unveiling PoliMaths, an eight-channel function generator that’s the latest instalment in their New Universal Synthesizer System (NUSS). Despite what the name might imply, it’s not simply a multi-channel version of Maths, but rather some kind of mash-up of the Mutable Instruments Tides, Mannequins Just Friends and their own MultiMod, offering triggered or looping functions that can be addressed sequentially, offset in time and manipulated in all sorts of fun ways. Look out for more demos in due course!

Elsewhere from the Stateside brands, 1010 Music showed a major new desktop groovebox, the Bento - a “portable sampling production lab” with a large touchscreen and 16 pads. Schlappi Engineering continue to fly the flag for classic analogue modular with a modern twist in the form of Boundary Layer, a three-channel function generator; Acid Rain Technology unveiled the Ripsaw, a follow-up to the super-popular Chainsaw stereo VCO; and everyone’s favourite in-rack oscilloscope-maker Mordax showed the Siren, a long-awaited multi-wavetable-oscillator drone generator. Last but not least, 4ms unveiled a 104HP addition to their ever-popular Pod case range, the Pod104X.

Bold new directions for Instruo and Frap Tools

Two of Eurorack’s most respected brands branched out into standalone synths, but with wildly different approaches. Our Glaswegian friends at Instruo have taken their analogue expertise and fused it with an innovative approach to DAW integration in the form of Seashell, a compact analogue monosynth with built-in audio interfacing and a dedicated plug-in. Announced just before the show and shipping already, it wowed everyone who played with it in Instruo’s forest tent.

Then there’s the Frap Tools Magnolia, which takes the opposite approach: it builds on their premium Eurorack modules by expanding and multiplying them into an 8-voice polysynth. Arguably the first true ‘West Coast’-style poly on the market, it makes the most of wavefolding and analogue FM to deliver a rich and complex sound palette. There’s still a bit of work to do before it’s production-ready, but it should be shipping within a few months with a target price point around €4,000.

Eurorack innovation

If there’s one thing you can always rely on at Superbooth, it’s that dozens of brands will turn up brandishing innovative Eurorack modules, and 2025 was no exception. Just weeks after their monstrous Samarkanda quad delay hit the streets, Xaoc Devices brought along Oradea - a four-channel analogue resonator that pairs with it very nicely. From pinged percussion to extreme sound-processing, this is a typically great-sounding piece of engineering from the Polish boffins.

Belgium’s Shakmat crew brought the missing piece of their Eurorack percussion puzzle, the Lancer’s Lash snare drum module. Slotting in with the existing Battering Ram kick drum and Archer’s Rig hi-hat, this multi-model marvel rounds out a formidable drum section. They also had a prototype of the Ballista Blast digital voice, which was sounding sweet, while fellow Belgians Klavis showed their new Terminal 4 quad LPG/VCA, which has some very smartly chosen features.

Greece’s Nekyia Circuits not only had their new Occult, Ouija and Wand modules, released in the run-up to the show, but also brought along some early prototypes of the next ones up, including a powerful stereo mixer. Spanish brand Patching Panda’s booth was rocking to beats generated by the Patterns trigger sequencer and a mind-blowing as-yet-unnamed complex oscillator module with a built in parameter sequencer.

Looking a little further afield (to Thailand, to be precise), the largest module of the show must have been the Tiptop Audio Buchla 248t, a Eurorack adaptation of the infamous Buchla Multiple Arbitrary Function (MARF) generator that weighs in at a hefty 72HP. Tiptop also showed the 230t envelope follower, as well as the latest modules in their ART polyphonic ecosystem and a new four-channel Resonator that’s not a million miles away from the Xaoc Oradea mentioned above - there must be something in the water!

A few of our favourite Brit brands were showing new things: RYK Modular and Venus Instruments were both showing incredible loopers due out later this year (the Time Slice and Veno Orbit respectively), and AJH Synth had their new Matrix VCF, which is already selling like hot cakes - more stock coming soon! But a late contender for our module of the show came from Bela, makers of the genius Gliss touch controller. They were showing Trails, which extends the concept into two dimensions and four channels with the same kind of intuitive gestural control. Their polyrhythmic sequencer demo had our jaws on the floor - can’t wait for this one later in the year. 

Dope drum machines

Erica Synths’ room at FEZ felt more like a sweaty techno club for most of the event, with their headline act undoubtedly being the new Hexdrums drum machine. Built in collaboration with Hexinverter, whose Mutant voices were recently revived for Eurorack, the Hexdrums is a nine-part powerhouse including a Mutant Hot Glue-style compressor and overdrive at the end of the chain. Absolutely massive!

Over in the more laid-back environs of the Bungalowdorf, Vermona surprised a few people with the DrumDING, a novel concept that combines analogue percussion generation in the style of their modern classic DRM1 with a sampler and sequencer. The idea is that you use the single analogue voice at the top to create drum sounds which you then pipe into the sampler at the bottom and arrange with the built-in sequencer. It’s an interesting idea and we’re looking forward to seeing more.

New takes on 'traditional' synths

We’re huge fans of the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave wavetable synth here at Signal Sounds, and there’s great news for anyone whose wallet couldn’t quite stretch to the flagship model. The 3rd Wave 8M is a new compact desktop (and rack-mountable) version of the vintage PPG-inspired synth with an identical sound engine but eight voices and a streamlined interface based around a large 7” screen - at a much lower price point.

Another favourite brand of ours, Argentina’s GS Music, had a lovely prototype keyboard version of their Bree6 analogue polysynth, which takes the classic Juno template and adds their own twist. The desktop version is already making waves, and the keyboard will take it to the next level, with a smart arpeggiator and sequencer.

Weird and wonderful

The ‘Italian Sonic Camp’ in the central zone was home to Nono Modular, Herbs & Stones, Clatters Machines, Jolin, LEP and Clank, who all had unusual and gorgeous-looking machines on display, from Nono’s stunning Major Tom drum sequencer to Herbs & Stones’ new Mousse groovebox.

It may boast a name that sounds a bit like a medical test for older gentlemen, but that didn’t stop Clank’s eye-catching microtonal synth/looper Uranograph bagging the coveted Sonic State Best of Show Award. Manifold Research Centre also had some typically idiosyncratic models on show. We’ll be honest, we don’t really have a clue how the Antilope works, but it’s a kind of super-organic, tactile drum machine and sounds wild. 

Exciting news for anyone who’s been following Korg Berlin’s progress on the Phase8 acoustic resonator-based synth after playing with prototypes during the last two editions of Superbooth: they’ve confirmed it’s going into production and will be available in early 2026 (with a target price under €1,000). Those who’ve dismissed it as a mere ‘electric kalimba’ might end up eating their words - this thing sounds sublime and the inbuilt sequencer is fantastic. We’ll be amazed if this doesn’t play a major part in the sound of ambient and deep techno in the second half of next year!

Finally, a big thanks to the festival organisers and everyone we chatted to - and apologies to everyone we missed out. There’s simply not time or space to include everything, but suffice it to say there was plenty more on show and we’ll tell you about it all in due course. Sign up to our newsletter to find out more about when new products will be hitting the store and drop us a line if you have any questions. We’ll be back next year for more - can’t wait!