Welcome to my last full day in this eastern corner of Berlin, where I’ve taken a liking to the quiet neighborhood and my daily walk to and from FEZ. Today is perfect, allowing me to leave my jacket in the room in order to lighten my load and not worry about where I stow it at Superbooth. I’ve progressively gotten later and slower on the 4.5km walk over the Spree River and into the woods. While I’ve shared a few images of the forest, I thought it was time to show what it is I walk by as I’m passing through the neighborhood I’m staying in. Springtime is in full celebration, and I can’t throw enough superlatives at my feelings of enthusiasm for it.

If there was a war for identifying a problem and stickering the world would win the offensive, the anti-Nazi side would surely be winning. I’ve seen anti-AFD (right-wing nut jobs) graffiti in an impossible spot to spray paint high up on the side of a seven-floor building, but there it was. Every day I see something written, plastered, or painted on surfaces everywhere, letting fascist dickheads know where people stand. The only problem is that there’s a giant silent majority that is implicitly supporting the ugly rise of nationalism due to fear of non-white immigrants who stir the anxiety that Germans will lose their Germanness if those coming for work do not integrate into the culture.

Their concerns cannot be dismissed out of hand, as I’ve seen first hand while living in Frankfurt 25 years ago and subsequently walking around Germany and other corners of Europe the past couple of years that there is self-isolation from those who have taken refuge here, but isolation also from Europeans who hold some deep-rooted hostility towards those who are failing to conform to social norms and blend in.

As the future is never explained at the bottom of the cup of tea leaves, we can only hope and work hard towards making our experiment of living in a civilization come to positive fruition. Maybe encouraging people to eat more Nazis might help, too, so I think I’ll have a bowl of them later.

The ADDAC System‘s crew, led by the skinny guy on the left, won the Superbooth 2019 award for Biggest Rack at Show. These Portuguese guys are bundled with an incredibly well-adjusted sense of humor and are welcoming in the most heartfelt way. André Gonçalves (the skinny guy) is the founder of the company whom I first encountered online when I ordered the MONSTER Frame you see behind the guys.

Now that I’ve sung their praises, let me tell you of the evil they represent. The rack you see is different than mine in that it has an extra row at the top that attaches to the base of the frame, and then down in the front row is a new addition to their brand of exploiting people’s financial stability in the form of a single 197hp row that conveniently sits in front of the already enormous 1,379hp of MONSTER. The expense of filling this thing is bad enough without adding the insult of being able to add another 394hp of aesthetically integrated wallet-emptying torture.

When I was asked by Andreas Berthling (in the center) which ADDAC modules I owned, I almost fell on the floor in laughter at the thought they should be responsible for taking anything else from me; at least I still have some dignity and haven’t given them everything. Of course, most of this is hyperbolic nonsense as, given the opportunity to acquire a second MONSTER and add a couple of rows of their modules to my collection, I’d be right on it. Sadly, it’s difficult to get your hands on the modules in the United States to gather first-hand experience of just what they are like. So this is a hint to the skinny guy to bring on a retailer or two in the U.S. who ALWAYS have everything in stock so John Wise can have the convenience of not needing to head to Lisbon to learn more about things like the Voltage Controlled Stochastic Function Generator, Marble Physics, and the Lissajous Curves. Finally, the quiet guy on the right is Ruben Costa, who I think would be more talkative if he grew a beard.

Meet Dan Green, Baby Green, and Kendra, who without the baby would probably be only sorta cool as the force behind 4ms Company. Oh, I know someone will correct me and say Kendra and the baby are not officially part of the company of wireheads who build some great modules, but I’d disagree because anyone who is happily married knows that much of their passion, drive, and dedication comes to them from being soundly in love. Maybe you don’t see that love in the photo as they stare at me and my camera, but I saw them look at each other and hand Baby Green between each other, so I can tell you with greater certainty than the next 4ms module being released on time that they are digging life and the bundle of love between them.

Ah, my favorite teacher on the internet is Chris Meyer. I first learned of his wizardry more than a decade ago when I was trying to learn Adobe After Effects, and he and his wife Trish were masters of that universe. Today, Chris is doing the same for the modular community with his Learning Modular website. His methodical deep dives into the intricacies of systems, concepts, and individual modules come from being immersed in electronic music since way back in the late 1970s. Most recently, he collaborated with Kim Bjørn to produce the book titled PATCH & TWEAK – Exploring Modular Synthesis, which is epic in the way it looks at the current state of Eurorack. Yes, YOU should buy one today.

Benefiting from the large shoulders of Chris Meyer and, of course, DivKid Ben, we come to Robin Vincent of Molten Modular. I first stumbled upon his YouTube material while looking to connect my Eurorack gear to Bitwig. Turned out that Robin was also playing with the Microsoft Surface, just as I was and still am.

You think you’ve seen it all here at Superbooth, and then you take a turn down a hall that you somehow missed, and an entire universe of synth-related stuff is packed in these back rooms. I found Moog through one door and this art/music room through another, along with a presentation room further on where I never took the time to tune in to what was going on, which is likely a shame. I suppose all those people over these three days who asked if I was returning next year knew something I didn’t: I was probably missing out a lot due to the social butterfly act I was performing.

Just some of the women in synths who were attending Superbooth this year. I must admit how pleasantly surprised I was by not only the number of women at the conference but the age range of visitors, along with a heaping dose of friendliness. At Synthplex in Los Angeles, it was basically an arrogant hipster sausage fest where everyone seemed a bit too cool to be inclusive, though I’m sure they pay lip service to such ideas as it’s part of the current credo.

Twas my lucky day, and just maybe it was that bird shitting on me two days ago that made Superbooth so extra special. I just happened to walk up when Colin Benders and friends were talking with Dieter Doepfer and checking out some new modules. What happened next blew me away, and Dieter, too, for that matter. Colin and company started a 30-minute jam on the Doepfer rig that rocked those few who were intrigued enough to stop. Not only was the gig spontaneous and electrified, but I had the pleasure of talking with Ali’s wife (the guy on the right who is the founding member of The Architect crew out of Maryland who was part of the ensemble that patched the beats directly to my heart.

World-renowned and fading fast after 50 interviews here at Superbooth is the inimitable DivKid Ben. Anyone who has explored Eurorack modules to try and decipher their mystique has come to rely on his demos and live streams, where he interviews some of the greatest minds in the synthesizer world, such as Chris Meyer, Daniel Steele, and Andrew Huang.

Legends and upcoming legend are seen here, pictured together for the first time ever. Of course, everyone knows Richard Devine on the left as the master of the universe with what could easily be the largest Eurorack synthesizer of all time. Well, I have to admit that was just a blatant lie because, as everyone knows, Martin Gore of Depeche Mode fame squashes spacetime when it comes to horizontal pitch.

In the center is Ken MacBeth, whose work is making synthesizers. If you know who Bob Moog or Don Buchla is, you must surely know Ken, but if you don’t, well, you can just go over there and Shut Up! By the way, do you also get the impression that’s a sly smile on his face? You should hear the voice that goes with it.

To the far right, over there on the edge of this photo, is Tenkai Kariya, who is the founder of Zetaohm and creator of the first alien-influenced sequencer. His buttons are directly inspired by machine elves whose contact with entities of other dimensions has worked to create a unique device that just might transport you into another world.

Andreas Schneider is the founder of Schneidersladen and Superbooth. Superbooth had humble beginnings back when it was simply a “super” booth of vendors that would show up with Andreas at Music Messe in Frankfurt. As the market grew, an opportunity a few years ago allowed him to set up a conference outside of the giantness of Music Messe with a facility in Berlin. Now in its fourth year, Superbooth is still growing, and during the main event, it is hard to find Mr. Schneider, who seems like an incredibly busy fellow these days. I suppose working deals for the upcoming year with all of his existing suppliers while considering the bevy of new creators would keep anyone busy. I have to offer a giant heap of thanks to this guy for bringing such a wonderful community together for these three days of merriment.

Der Plan is to the music of Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) what the Sex Pistols are to punk rock. These innovators of the sound of post-punk, new-wave music with electronic influences got their start back in the late 1970s. I had the opportunity to see them at least once, that I’m certain of, at Cooky’s nightclub in Frankfurt, but I have a vague memory they played at the Wartburg in Wiesbaden at some point and that I was there for that too. I should have asked about that gig when I was talking with Frank Fenstermacher of the band. I can’t believe I’ve seen this band at least twice and that they performed Gummitwist tonight. Life is funky.

Toys for your ass at Dildoking can only be advertised streetside in Germany. I told Caroline about it, so she looked them up and told me all about their Fisting Anal Relax Spray in 30ml bottles for only 12,95 €, should you be so inclined to need such a product. I’m sending some out this Christmas to a few people I know.

Will you have lived, or will you have only been? The path we are walking in this life is littered with beauty, where tears are able to manifest when you see and sense just how essential it all is. Have you been in love with your own life? Is your perception tuned to the real or that which you hope is real? Who is here to define such things or teach us how to belong to life instead of life belonging to us?

Church was the artifice of nature when that which was in the wild frightened our souls. Our best music takes us for a walk outdoors under the shimmering leaves of spring past the pooling water that mirrors the forest above. We are enchanted with the glistening surface of the river and the delicate skills of the bird seeking out its existence on its bank. We are exalted on the throne of breathing, and yet there is little recognition of how sacrosanct this innate opportunity is to be present.

When all that is embodied in the nature of beauty is found in the face and eyes of the one you love, do you not shed a heavy tear when denied this chance to gaze within yourself and upon that face when you feel the most vulnerable?

As I walked along the forest path on my way to Superbooth, I couldn’t help but recognize the profound opportunity that has been afforded me to not only find some beguiling personalities, esoteric and sublime pieces of engineering, but also an hour of walking alone in my thoughts. I have had little regard for schedules as what I will take from the conference awaits me. The serendipity of the day is a dish best sampled out of randomness.

My first visit of the day upon my arrival is with Eric who is the founder of Landscape.fm. Arriving back in Phoenix, Arizona, after this sojourn to all things indulgent, I hope to find one of these devices pictured above. This little green and gold box with blue and silver knobs is the HC-TT or Human Controlled Tape Transport. What is it precisely? A long-awaited accessory to my Eurorack setup that will allow me to manually play cassettes into my synthesizer. Eric’s first run of these sold out fairly quickly over a year and a half ago; I’ve patiently been waiting for one to be sent to me. We will be upon that day soon.

The celebration of friendship between Philip Mease and Yoni Newman had the guys dancing in the aisles of Superbooth while the band played bleeps and bloops with a dash of feedback thrown in that only enhanced the festivities. I can point out right now that of all the laughter I will have shared during my stay in Berlin and specifically here at this conference in the woods, these two knowledgeable and creative guys notched my experience up more than a couple of degrees. Should I ever make it to another Superbooth, they will be some of the first people I run to say hello to again.

You may have noticed from the banner behind them that they are responsible for the evolving universe of Rabid Elephant. I was one of the lucky few to have obtained unobtainium in their Natural Gate last year with their second run of modules. The price of used units skyrocketed in the past months for those averse to waiting for the next run which appears to be on the horizon. Portal Kick is their next module to come to market, and from what I’ve heard, it will set a new paradigm on how we shape drum sounds. The sample and hold function is wicked. I should be careful about how much I contribute to the hype, as I’d like to be certain I get in on the first batch.

Carlo and Lana were at the booth of Brandon Fessler, who is the founder of Mordax. Brandon is the maker of the DATA which I wrote briefly about back during my visit to Synthplex in Los Angeles at the end of March. It’s great to find familiarity with some of the people who attend these events.

This is the Meatlog with a meat pretzel. Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics for the past year had enthusiastically encouraged me to attend Superbooth this year, and while I didn’t need much convincing, it’s been great seeing him in his element, demonstrating the modules I had some small part in helping him bring to market. I did notice that many of his customers tend to be tall; I wonder how he builds that attraction into his modules. A rumor I heard while milling around his booth was that there appears to be a sweet spot on the Piston Honda when tuned to certain low frequencies and a particular octave while in unison mode that is said to produce DMT-like visions in the listener’s mind.

Future Sound Systems was on hand, but of course, they were because why wouldn’t everyone who makes Eurorack modules who lives in Europe not descend on Berlin to share their wares? On the right is Finlay Shakespeare, and after I find out again who is on the left I’ll share that information too. These guys have made modules with Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey fame, and their new modules are being built in cooperation with Daniel Miller of MUTE Records.

Love the smile of the guy photobombing my shot, but it’s the guy’s face in the center that I felt best represents the expression of so many people when looking at a Eurorack setup and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. BTW the guy in the yellow t-shirt is Matthew Allum, the founder of ALM / Busy Circuits.

This is Daniel Miller in another incarnation of who he is. Today, he’s a live performer on a Eurorack synthesizer, forcing many in the crowd in front of the stage to cower with their ears covered as they try to escape the heavy pressure of some deep low-frequencies he’s sending out. Daniel likely holds a special place in the formative history of many a creative person around the earth as the founder of MUTE Records; he’s the guy who brought us Depeche Mode, though for me, it was his contribution to the Throbbing Gristle catalog and later his promotion of Nitzer Ebb that endeared me to his label. Then there was The Normal, who gave us Warm Leatherette, which was an anthem of alternative music back when I was 15 years old. I heard that Daniel DJ’ed on a water taxi returning to Mitte later that night, but I missed it. I wonder what other hats he enjoys wearing?

FucKETy BuCkEty frontman Ken MacBeth took the stage by storm, insistent that he would take no prisoners and remain as uncompromising about his onstage performance as his direct, often confrontational interpersonal communication. I believe anyone who ever met Ken knows that particular hand gesture that comes at them with a bark of “SHUT UP!” Bald Beardy Man in the background on the right was responsible for the soundtrack to this evening’s festivities, though the man behind ShitKatapult, Marco Haas, aka T.Raumschmiere, was over in his corner of the stage occasionally adding some electronic stabs of one sort or other. The secret MacBeth instrument was plugged in, and what its role was will forever remain a mystery as no one is said to have seen it, and you couldn’t be certain it was heard.

Mr. Shitkatapult dominated the lyrical content during the first bit of the performance. I can’t help but think this only antagonized Ken to work his way into a frenzy so that when he laid into Convincing People by Throbbing Gristle, he was nearly but not quite thoroughly pissed. I was never sure when SK (short for Shitkatapult) was going to finally leave the stage; he threatened it often but always came back for more. If I were a betting man, I’d have to guess he returned because before the performance got underway, a case of beer was delivered to the stage.

Maybe it was after the two versions of Joy Division’s Isolation, but at some point, Ken leaped into the water like a deft dolphin, emerging from the depths to not only walk on water but to come out pointing at the mother fucker who was about to be confronted in the audience. While Mr. MacBeth has obviously demonstrated his ability to channel Jesus, he wasn’t able to leave the lake with dry clothes, so I’m not all too sure about just how pious the man is, though I do know that he is quite sanctimonious.

For his encore of this latest rendition of the FucKETy BuCkEty brand of shenanigan antics, Ken, in his rage, violently threw himself into the depths of the lake as a kind of water-immolation. Some say he slipped, but fuck that; this was part of the art and spectacle that runs deep in the veins and guts of Bald Beardy Man, the ShitKatapult, and fucking Ken MacBeth. If you were on hand and didn’t enjoy yourself, just SHUT UP about it.

For me, the evening would take a bizarre turn of events when I ran into the apparition of David Bowie. Okay, so it was Ken MacBeth, still drying out, who put on his crooner’s voice and serenaded me while taking requests for Bowie songs. From Lodger and Scary Monsters to Blackstar, he worked his way through them like a pro. On my request for Where Are We Now, he winced, pointing out that this was a good one, and if I’m not mistaken, he might have brought a misty eye to his rendition. So there we are in the middle of the night in the forest near Berlin with the holy damp dolphin singing to me; it doesn’t get better than that.

It started with a walk in the woods just before my day began to travel among the wires. Down this path, you will find temptation where gods and monsters live. Those who dwell beyond the horizon are the engineers of wicked dreams who toil at building fire within the mind. This is no German fairytale taken from the pages of the Brothers Grimm; it is the electronic reality where people from around the globe embarked on a temporary emigration to the woods of Berlin to attend Superbooth 2019.

Superbooth is super chaos. The first few hours were relatively chill, the afternoon a bit unhinged, but Saturday has been promised to slide into a madhouse. There are a lot of recognizable personalities on hand, more than a few I’ve had the opportunity to speak with. Learning anything at all about Eurorack, I think, is likely impossible. This event has more to do with networking with people you may only know from afar. At some point in the middle of the day, it becomes a spectacle of noise.

Having walked my brains out yesterday I’m afraid my mind is as flat as my feet were yesterday after my walk. This creates a blogging problem because I’m now saturated with a million impressions to the point of being overwhelmed. Some of the conversations verged on the amazing, while simply listening to the creators and manufacturers of the tools of this industry could offer delightful insights.

By the end of the day when I finally got around to jotting some notes about the event, I’d already been talking, exploring, and learning over 12 hours. With that much information acquired, I have no idea where to begin or what to share. Add to that, I’m hungry, a bit cold, and have a 50-minute walk back to my Airbnb. So, while I’d love to continue to sit here on the grounds of Superbooth 2019 with this buzz of people surrounding me and writing, I think I’m going to have to give in to some other basic necessities and get moving. What a day.

Had to say hi to Scott Jaeger at Industrial Music Electronics right away, and it happened to be while the founder of Make Noise, Tony Rolando, was making the rounds, so I felt compelled to ask these two veterans if they could give me a second for a photo. Happy is good.

I thought I saw someone I met last month at Synthplex. At first glance and in profile, I thought it might be Dave Rossum of Rossum Electro-Music, so I walked right up and said hello in an overly friendly way before recognizing that this was, in fact, Dieter Doepfer. Dieter is the person who conceived of the Eurorack format, thus revitalizing modular synthesizers back in 1996. Today, Eurorack is a fast-growing global phenomenon.

This is Mark Verbos of Verbos Electronics. Had a great chat with him about electronic music, where he got his start in the music industry back in the 1990s. Tongue-in-cheek, I lamented his overly brief postcard-sized user manuals but had to admit that back when I started and was frustrated by the lack of documentation, what I really wanted/needed, were lessons in the fundamentals of synthesis, which nobody’s user manual was going to be able to offer me.

I had to go find this guy early. He is Elos Eloi of Winter Modular and the creator of the Eloquencer, which is a Eurorack sequencer. I was his first customer after waiting patiently for months and the completion of the module. I’m also starting to notice a trend here about how these creators of such intrinsically magical tools are some seriously nice people.

Out of a doorway and into my arms, Ross Lamond spotted me first and offered a hug as my smile grew larger, recognizing who this was. Ross and I have conversed more than a few times over the past couple of years, and in many ways, I feel like we are distant brothers separated by a continent, but not in the spirit of perspective. Ross is bowing out of the world of Eurorack and exploring options. The guy has been a fixture in the world of Eurorack, building custom racks for some of the most famous composers and musicians around our planet.

Uhhh, yeah, well, maybe Baseck is just jet-lagged? I know you might be thinking I got him mid-blink or something, nope all three photos I took of him and Peter Edwards of Bastl, founder of Casper Electronics, had this dude looking mighty stoned. I’m not saying he’s wrecked, but if looks are not deceiving, then one might believe he’s been puffing on the chronic. As for Peter, it was as great seeing him again today as it was meeting him back at Moogfest in 2016 where I bought his bitRanger self-contained synth voice. At the moment I bought it, I was certain that other than the Moog Mother 32 I’d just acquired, this would be all the synth gear I would ever own. Little did I know that within 24 hours, I would have eaten those thoughts.

Met blue-haired Vladimir Pantelic of VPME. A puff of bright blue atop his head actually works as a beacon due to his towering stature of nearly 3 meters in height. Okay, I joke about his height, but the guy is seriously tall. Then, all of a sudden, it dawns on me why his first seriously popular Eurorack module, seen above on the left and called the Euclidean Circles, is the brightest module on the market: the light needs to reach heights most of us will never know. His new module, the Quad Drum Voice, has me reconsidering my drum setup, and to be honest, there wasn’t much to think about. Upon getting home, I will put up for sale about 90hp of modules, and I will be able to reduce that footprint down to 22hp with the same functionality.

Yoni Newman and Philip Mease of Rabid Elephant are being interviewed by DivKid Ben for an upcoming video on DivKid’s YouTube channel. First of all, DivKid is a key figure in the lives of many, many people just starting out in the world of Eurorack due to his inimitable presentation style and all-around great skills in exploring modules that feel alien to first-time users.

Philip is the engineering mind behind the Natural Gate, which is a dual lowpass gate. The magic behind Philip’s design is that it doesn’t use vactrols, and yet it has an incredibly smooth roll-off. The lowpass gate module was first invented by synth pioneer Don Buchla back in the early 1970s; Phil’s design represents a milestone in the creation of what is better known as an LPG.

Meng Qi is a module and instrument designer who has earned a reputation for the unique designs and playability of the music tools he creates. I’ve tried finding a break in the crowd around him to talk shop, but he remains just out of arm’s reach. Hopefully, before the days of Superbooth come to an end, I’ll have had the opportunity to say hello.

Moritz Scharf founded the company Endorphin.es, and if someday I can afford the width and cost of his luxurious modules, I just might find his Furthrrrr Generator Dual VCO Waveshaper taking up residence in my rack. There are a lot of crews keeping these developers busy with interviews. When Superbooth got started back in 2016, I think DivKid might have been the only person covering the tiny trade show. Today, there are dozens of people from the press, and the event has mushroomed.

Endorphin.es new sequencer. I don’t really want to know about it because do I really need a fifth sequencer? I know there are those who would recommend that one own ALL the sequencers. And, of course, those guys over at ADDAC would just love for me to buy a second MONSTER frame because who doesn’t need another 1,379hp of modules?

This is Jessica Kert, who is one-half of the live modular act ZV_K. She was our 7:00 p.m. entertainment provider at Seaside. I met her a couple of days ago at SchneidersLaden.

The crew of FucKETy BuCkEty includes Marco Haas giving the English salute, Ken MacBeth masturbating a pencil, and the gray beardy guy on Ken’s left. The Red Beard Man-Wolf dude with a beer is Bart Wolff and is not a member of FucKETy BuCkEty. And the others? That’s Wowa Cwejman looking off to the right, while I have no idea about the rest.

So, that was my first day at Superbooth 2019 in Berlin, Germany. Pretty spectacular, really. This photo was taken of the Spree River, which I have to cross on my hour walk to and from FEZ, where the trade show is happening.