The Best Of Musikmesse 2013

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Over 1,500 readers weighed in our Best of Musikmesse 2013 poll, and the Korg Volca Beats came out on top.

The entire Volca line was a hit with Synthtopia readers, sweeping the top three slots. But introductions from Novation, Roland/Boss, Nord, Image-Line and MFB were popular with readers, too.

Here are reader picks for this year’s Best of Musikmesse:

Best Of Musikmesse 2013:

  1. Korg Volca Beats
  2. Korg Volca Bass
  3. Korg Volca Keys
  4. Novation BassStation 2
  5. Nord Lead 4
  6. MFB Tanzbär Drumcomputer
  7. MFB Dominion 1 Keyboard
  8. BOSS RC-505 Tabletop Loop Station
  9. FL Studio 11
  10. Korg Kross Keyboard

All in all, this year’s Musikmesse was a great year for electronic musicians, with new gear introductions equalling and maybe even topping the 2013 NAMM Show.

What do you think of this year’s introductions – and reader picks for the ‘Best of Musikmesse”?

21 thoughts on “The Best Of Musikmesse 2013”

  2. Interesting that the Volca units were all split votes, instead of one big vote for all of them, and they still take the top three. If you added up the numbers for all three, would they total more than the rest of the entries combined?

  3. Great news about the Volca. It’ll put cheap decent quality analogue hardware into the hands of the young generation who’ll use it to create a new age of electronic music. Plus, if they start getting a feel for hardware, they’ll be a damn sight more interesting to watch on stage than someone standing in front of lap-top.

    1. I definitely agree – cheap analog is awesome! I’m excited about these and will be picking up all three. As I’m working towards live shows I’ve been trying to think about keeping things visually interesting – do you really think watching someone hunched over hardware is any different than watching someone hunched over a laptop? If so, what is it about hardware that makes it more interesting?

      1. My own thought (only my own) is the laptop is suspicious. People may wonder if the computer is actually playing the music, instead of the performer. Actually, I have seen this occur onstage, where I can see the laptop is doing the work and the performer is only pressing buttons that have little impact on what is being heard. While one can do the same thing with hardware, it is at least harder to get away with and less suspicious looking. Plus, to the extent that the audience can see the interface, it’s more interesting than a keyboard and a mouse (assuming one doesn’t have a controller of some sort).

      2. Laptop screen covers any hand movements, the unit is so small you don’t even take steps left or right.

        A friend used use various hardware and synths for live shows, lots of knob tweaking, said the applause always got better if they were doing something really tricky, as though the audience knew when their knob twiddling was getting really technical – being able to see the hand movements, the equipment , thef lashing lights, and the person moving from one station to then ext is far more interesting to watch than the glow of a laptop upon an apparently stationary person who could just be playing Solitaire with a backing track.

  6. The main thing korg did right, was releasing an analog drum machine. So many synths, yet how many are analog drum machines? It will be a must buy…

    1. why an analog drum machine? Sorry for my naïveté – I have a tr-606 and electribe esx. I prefer the non sampled sounds. But I’m not sure I care if it’s analog. Please enlighten me, I agree volca beats is awesome, sounds great, well designed, but I hadn’t really thought about being analog as a benefit for a drum machine before?

      1. seriojsly? 4 people dislike me asking a question? how’s about giving me a useful response so I can have my question answered?!

  8. i preordered all three at my store. even if they are not perfect korg should be supported on these products. hope there is more to come.

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