One way to discover the latest developments in music technology is by visiting trade fairs and exhibitions dedicated to music technology.

One of these events is Superbooth in Berlin — an international event for electronic music— which I attended to get inspired, get to know the latest music gear and meet the makers of so many inspiring electronic and digital musical instruments.

In this three-part series, you can read about new music technology equipment that could be relevant to music education in primary and secondary schools.

In this article, I will share more highlights of Superbooth’26, which are on the more experimental side of the technology spectrum. These will undoubtedly be spotlighted on this website in future articles. 

Orbita by Playtronica

The design of the Orbita by Playtronica is clearly inspired by a record player. It features a circular platter driven by a rubber belt. However, instead of a moving tonearm with a cartridge and needle, the Orbita has a bridge equipped with sensors that can recognise colours.

Unlike a traditional record player, the Orbita is not designed to play vinyl records, but to function as a playful MIDI sequencer. On the platter, your students can place small coloured discs (triggers) anywhere along the printed lines. The position of each trigger on the platter determines when a sound is played, while the colour determines what sound is played.

This information is converted into MIDI data, allowing you to choose the sounds yourself by connecting the Orbita to a synthesiser, keyboard, or computer running a DAW or virtual instrument. As the triggers repeatedly pass beneath the sensor bridge, a looping sequence is created automatically.

Playtronica also showed a new musical instrument that uses weight to play music

Tembo by Musical Beings

Another MIDI sequencer that also uses small discs is the Tembo by Musical Beings. In the case of the Tembo, the discs are placed on a grid consisting of 8 × 5 squares. Each of the five rows corresponds to a different instrument.

The position of the discs within a row determines when the corresponding instrument is triggered. When the discs are placed normally on the grid, the rhythm is divided into eight steps. It is also possible to stack an additional disc on top of an existing one, which changes the rhythm from a single eighth note into two sixteenth notes. Placing a disc upside down creates a syncopated note.

The Tembo includes a sampler function with a built-in microphone, effects, a filter, and an integrated speaker, as well as various ways to connect it to other musical instruments or to a computer.

Its most striking feature — and one that may make it particularly attractive for educational settings, quite literally — is that both the casing and the controls are made from wood.

Enigma by Soma

Like the Orbita and the Tembo, the Enigma synthesizer by SOMA generates sound through the placement of objects on a surface. And much like the Korg Phase 8 (see Part 1 of this series), the objects you place directly influence the sound that is produced.

The Enigma is an experimental synthesiser. Because it has very few controls and provides no indication of what sonic result a particular area of the surface might produce, users are encouraged to discover the possibilities of the instrument for themselves. The exact position on the surface is extremely important — even moving an object by a single millimetre can noticeably change the sound.

It does not matter what you place on the surface of the instrument with regard to shape, size and type, as long as it is made of metal. That will almost certainly become an assignment for your students one day: bringing metal objects from home to experiment with in class.

Orchid by Telepathic Instruments

With the Orchid, Telepathic Instruments introduces a chord synthesiser with a distinctive retro look. The synthesiser features three different synth engines, built-in effects, and several performance modes.

The Orchid has an interesting take on chord performance. The right hand is for playing the root note, while your left hand is used to select the chord type using eight dedicated buttons. The Orchid can produce major, minor, diminished, suspended, sixth, minor seventh, major seventh and ninth chords — with even more possibilities available by combining buttons.

After selecting the root note and chord buttons, you can further shape the chords using the voicing dial. The Orchid also includes real-time looping controls, an onboard beat machine, a display showing the chords being played, a key mode for performing harmonically suitable chords within a chosen key, MIDI integration — allowing chord tones to be distributed across four MIDI channels — as well as a built-in speaker.

One particularly striking aspect of the Orchid is that Telepathic Instruments aims to reduce the “difficult thinking” traditionally associated with harmony and chord theory, making music-making more accessible. Whether this approach fits within your own educational philosophy is, of course, something you will need to decide for yourself.

Easy Capture Contact Microphone, Geophone, and Microphonic Soundbox MKII by LeafAudio

Now that we have arrived in the realm of inquiry-based learning, there was even more to discover at SUPERBOOTH ’26 for your students’ sonic explorations.

With the Easy Capture Contact Microphone and the Geophone by LeafAudio, your students can record sound sources that would otherwise be almost impossible to hear.

What does the inside of a cabbage sound like when you squeeze it? Or how does the railing of a bridge sound when a car drives across it?

The Easy Capture Contact Microphone and Geophone open up recording possibilities that would simply not be achievable with a standard vocal microphone, such as a Shure SM58.

In the Easy Capture bundle, four Easy Capture Contact Microphones come with a summing amp and a range of accessories that can immediately be used in sound exploration activities and recording experiments.

Leaf Audio’s contact microphones are probably also part of another experimental musical instrument that LeafAudio showcased at the event — the Microphonic Soundbox mk2

Kassiopeia by Koma

Where the Microphonic Soundbox mk2 by LeafAudio functions as a kind of sound installation using everyday objects and materials attached to a wooden box as sound sources, KOMA Elektronik takes a very different approach to creating your own sound installations with the Kassiopeia.

The Kassiopeia is a so-called DC interface designed to control motors, solenoids, LEDs, fans, lights and similar devices, which can then be used to generate sound. A solenoid — essentially a small mechanical hammer — can, for example, be used to strike everyday objects automatically.

By connecting the DC interface to a sequencer or computer via MIDI, you can control the tapping using a MIDI controller or programme it to strike objects at precisely the moments you choose.

Automat Toolkit by Dada Machines

Dada Machines also offers a kit featuring solenoids — twelve of them, to be precise — together with a DC interface and a range of accessories.

With their Automat Toolkit the possibilities for making music with the real world as your instrument seem almost endless.

Does it ever stop? Well— this article does.

Finally

Have you already used any of these or similar devices in your teaching practice? 
Please let me know in the comments. I would love to hear about your experiences.

Also, there is a special version of SUPERBOOTH —Mini Booth, which is targeted at children. See: https://fez-berlin.de/veranstaltungen2026/minibooth