Dieter Doepfer assembling his DIY Synth at SchneidersLaden, Berlin, Germany, March 18, 2010.

This week, I’m finishing up a trip to Berlin, where I played in the MaerzMusik Festival, followed by a mini-tour to the Czech Republic. I decided to forego Musikmesse in Frankfurt altogether, in order to get to know the musicians in Germany’s capital a little better.

Among the highlights of the trip so far (besides the gigs, of course) were behind-the-scenes visits to Ableton and Native Instruments (including a peek at a few unannounced projects at the labyrinthine offices of the latter). NI had a banner year in 2009, and they’ve got a lot of great products coming down the pike. For example, check out the video demos of their new drum collection, Abbey Road 70s Drums. Not only does it sound amazing, but the programming under the hood makes it very flexible. I also got a quick look at the upcoming rev of Reaktor, along with a quick chat with the man who designed it, Stephan Schmitt.

But the synth-geek in me was most excited about visiting the new Schneiders Buero shop, now called SchneidersLaden, which is truly analog heaven in Europe. Schneider has a dry sense of humor that extends to the design and vibe of his store, as well as his display at Musikmesse, which he appropriately calls SuperBooth because of its vast collection of hardware goodies. more