A Tale of Two Expos: Our Report From The London Synth & Pedal Expo 2026

Thanks to a perfect storm of German federal administrative blunders, UK passport renewals, and the extortionately priced logistics of moving my life and studio from Berlin to London, 2026 is shaping up to be the first Superbooth I will miss in nearly a decade.

So it was with some satisfaction that I learned of the London Synth & Pedal Expo 2026 taking place in Hackney Wick on March 21 and 22. And since the very last music production industry event I attended in London before moving to Berlin in 2016 was a modular synth expo in Hackney Wick, it felt like a nice bookend to my time in Germany. 

A lot has changed in that fateful decade, for both the world and our industry, so I‘m looking at this event in that context, not least because in a world of AI-generated content, the only mildly competitive thing I have left to offer editors is my experience and perspective.

Hosted and organised by Delicious Audio Events, KMR Audio, and the SEO-friendlyly-named guitarguitar, the event was held in No. 90, a large bar and event facility.

I did a bit of a double-take when I saw this. I know the space, and I know how much interest in synth hardware has surged since my last London event, so I wasn’t surprised when the organisers told me Saturday was sold out and asked me to bring my freeloading ass along late in the afternoon (phrased more politely, of course).

And they weren’t kidding. I arrived at 3.30 pm, and it was still rammed, despite this being the first year to charge a (very reasonable) entrance fee. 

The event was split into two distinct rooms: one for pedals, one for everything from synths and drum machines to modular toys and esoteric wireless MIDI controllers. And it’s pretty extraordinary how much they managed to pack in – nearly 50 different manufacturers in the synth space alone, from industry standards like Arturia, Moog, and Korg to synth-show favourites like Melbourne Instruments, 1010 Music, and Dreadbox.

The intimate, windowless nature produced a buzz and excitement you struggle to get in larger, brighter rooms. Anybody who’s been to Superbooth, for example, knows that the hype is always in the cramped smaller tents. 

This event felt more like walking into a record fair than a trade show, which is not a bad thing.

The best thing, though, was the chance to see some exhibitors you won’t find in the grounds of FEZ-Berlin this year. For example, the highlight of the show for me was unquestionably the TMA1 from The Monk Project. 

This engaging generative sequencer offers up over 20 different sequencer models. Hook it up to a MIDI keyboard, and you can play 16 channels of expressive, never-repeating live jams ranging from club banger to Vangelis-style score. 

They cover a range of styles and concepts. Cool-but-practical Drummer and Amen for percussive duties. Bassline, Acid, and Fingerpicking for basslines, acid, and six-string guitar-style. Trendy modern classics like Euclidean and Step. And some truly mind-boggling options like Birds, TicTacToe, and Turing, all of which showcase the beautifully bonkers-looking interface. 

By far the busiest stand I saw, though, in terms of both guests and people meaning the stand, was for a new polyphonic rackmount synth from Iceland’s Genki Instruments. Named after the North Atlantic nation’s largest subglacial volcano, Katla is made for “generating rich, evolving, multi-layered textures” which is an accurate but fairly unstimulating description which does no justice to the instrument. 

This shit is Blade-Runner-in-a-box, with five voices – each with their own suboscillator – which can ‘rotate’ in various ways. For example, arpeggios can be set to cycle through the different voices for different notes, and individual voices can be punched in or out by hand or muted to create gated gaps in the pattern. And that doesn’t even scratch the igneous rock surface (and it really is… they use actual volcanic lava for the knobs and side plates). 

Analogue purists might balk at the digital oscillators, especially when they see the more-than- five-thousand-bucks initial price tag, but this really is one of the most innovative and organic-sounding instruments I’ve played with in years. And having spent £20 in Reykjavik on some McDonald’s chicken nuggets in 1998, I’ll bet the synth’s price tag doesn’t even get you a Happy Meal in 2026. 

Finally, a special mention must go to Flowfal. This free app turns your smartphone or smartwatch into a 3D motion controller for Ableton Live, letting you use sweeps and shakes and changing angles to control anything from filters and LFOs to drum hits or clip triggers. Just keep in mind it takes a lot of effort to keep apps up to date, so if you use it, be sure to donate via their website. 

If there was one minor downer, the enduring lack of diversity since my last Hackney synth expo was a little dispiriting (it’s Hackney FFS!,) and the male-to-female ratio was arguably even more man-tastic than the crowd that descends on Berlin each May. 

None of this can be blamed on the organisers, though. It’s their job to put on a well-managed, well-attended event where synth and pedal fans can come along to play with some really cool kit in a welcoming environment. And they absolutely nailed it. 

From event staff and exhibitors to the punters, the vibes were great. Realistically, if this event grows much more – and it definitely deserves to – I’m not sure how much longer No. 90 can sustain it. But assuming it’s in the same place next year, I will most definitely be there. And you should be too