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 further highlights from SUPERBOOTH ’26, featuring instruments and technologies that are new or may have been available for some time, but are still relevant today. These will undoubtedly be spotlighted on this website in future articles.
Stylophone Voice by Dübreq
The Stylophone by Dubreq is a very simple synthesiser operated with a stylus. It contains little more than an oscillator — which can be tuned using a rotary dial — a volume control, a power and vibrato switch, a selector for three octaves, a built-in speaker, space for batteries, the familiar metal playing surface spanning roughly one and a half octaves, and of course the stylus itself.
Despite its limitations, the original version of the Stylophone can still be heard on various recordings by artists including David Bowie, most famously on the song Space Oddity.
Today, several variations of the Stylophone are available, including a drum sampler and sequencer, a theremin, and more advanced — even highly sophisticated — synthesisers. All featuring plastic casings and affordably priced.
During SUPERBOOTH ’26, visitors were given an early preview of the Stylophone Voice, a sampler with an orange design and surprisingly extensive features for its compact size — and presumably also for its price.
Field Kit by KOMA Elektronik
In Part 2 of this series, you were already introduced to the Kassiopeia by KOMA Elektronik — a so-called DC interface designed to control motors, solenoids, LEDs, fans, lights and similar devices, which can then be used to generate sound.
Another KOMA Elektronik product that has been available for quite some time is the Field Kit, although I have not encountered it very often in music education settings. That is actually rather unfortunate, especially if inquiry-based learning forms part of your music curriculum, if you want your students to experience the creation of ambient music, or if you aim to encourage creativity through music education.
The Field Kit is an electro-acoustic workstation that can best be described as a Swiss army knife for exploring electro-acoustic music. It includes a four-channel mixer, an LFO, a CV-controllable radio, an envelope follower, a sensor interface, and a DC interface.
KOMA Elektronik also offers a dedicated effects unit — the Field Kit FX — as well as two expansion kits containing, among other things, a spring reverb tank, a speaker, sensors, a DC motor, a solenoid, and a wide variety of cables.
Launch Control and Launch Control XL by Novation
Novation products are appearing in classrooms more and more frequently, particularly in the form of Launchpad and Launchkey MIDI controllers.
At SUPERBOOTH ’26, Novation presented, among other things, the Launch Control and the Launch Control XL.
The Launch Control and Launch Control XL are MIDI controllers designed to let you operate software using physical controls, reducing the need to constantly look at a screen and removing the limitations of working solely with a mouse or trackpad.
The Launch Control features eight assignable buttons and sixteen endless encoders. The Launch Control XL expands on this with additional assignable buttons and endless encoders, as well as eight faders for more hands-on control.
For educational settings, these controllers are particularly interesting because they can provide students with a richer and more tactile experience when mixing music on a computer or controlling effects during live electronic music performances.
Boutique Series en Aira Compact Series by Roland
Roland is also is a familiar brand in many music classrooms, particularly when it comes to keyboards, digital pianos and electronic drum kits such as the Roland V-Drums.
Roland also offers a range of interesting technologies for creating and performing electronic music. One example is the Roland Boutique Series, which features compact versions of iconic instruments, including classic drum machines such as the Roland TR-808 and Roland TR-909, as well as synthesisers like the Roland JD-800, Roland JX-8P and the Roland Juno series.
The Roland AIRA Compact Series is also particularly relevant for music education, not least because multiple devices can easily be connected together, allowing all units to be heard through a single audio output.
You can read more about the AIRA Compact Series in my earlier article.
NTS-4 performance mixer by Korg
Alongside the Korg Phase 8 (see Part 1 of this series) and several instruments from their Volca range, Korg also presented devices from its Korg Nu:Tekt Series at SUPERBOOTH ’26.
The Korg NTS-1 digital kit is a DIY programmable synthesiser, the Korg NTS-2 oscilloscope kit is a multifunctional utility kit featuring — among other things — an oscilloscope for visualising the waveforms generated by a synthesiser, and the Korg NTS-3 Kaoss Pad kit is a DIY version of Korg’s programmable effects units from the Kaoss Pad series.
These three NTS devices have already been available for some time. During SUPERBOOTH ’26, however, a fourth device was presented that will further expand the series later this year —the Korg NTS-4. The NTS-4 is a so-called performance mixer, designed as a compact and portable mixer for live use. It allows several musical devices to be connected so their audio signals can be mixed together.
An analogue performance mixer is already available within the Volca series, but that model is limited to mixing three audio signals. The NTS-4, by contrast, supports two mono and four stereo signals. In addition, the NTS-4 includes built-in effects. This makes it a particularly interesting compact mixer for classroom use, especially when you want students to hear multiple synthesisers simultaneously and do not have access to the synths from the Roland AIRA Compact Series.
More SUPERBOOTH ’26
Read my other articles about SUPERBOOTH ’26 for music educators
Finally
Have you already used any of these or similar devices in your teaching practice?
Please let me know in the comments how you integrated them and what your experiences are.
Also, there is a special version of SUPERBOOTH –Mini Booth (16-17 May 2026), which is targeted at children. See: https://fez-berlin.de/veranstaltungen2026/minibooth
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