Superbooth 2025: Making Sound Machines Plinky+, the popular open-source 8-voice polyphonic touch Synthesizer gets a bigger version.
The Plinky v3 touch Synthesizer is an exciting open-source project by mmalex. A while ago. The German company Making Sound Machines (DivSkip…) took over production of the synth.
They brought a surprise to Superbooth 2025. Making Sound Machines showcased the fascinating touch synth in a larger format called Plinky+ v3.
Making Sound Machines Plinky+
Plinky+ retains all the features and functionality of the regular Eurorack-sized Pinky. It simply offers a significantly larger user interface and display. This provides considerably more space for the individual elements and more area to interact with them. There is another knob on the interface.
Like the smaller version, Making Sound Machines Plinky+ is a fully featured 8-voice polyphonic Synthesizer with up to four oscillators (pulse, supersaw, or wavetable) or granular samples detunable by the tiny movements of your finger. Plus, there is a noise generator.
From the West Coast world, each voice also has a resonant 2-pole lowpass gate controlled by your finger pressure and the sensitivity control. Then, it has two envelope generators, one with repeat, and multiple multi-wave LFOs.
Making Sound Machines Plinky+ also has a distortion, saturation effect, and master effects, including delay and reverb, to refine your sounds. You can also work with different built-in scales and microtonality. Also part of the engine is a playful arpeggiator and sequencer with probability, Euclidean generation, and more.
On the backside, you have a stereo main output on L/R mono sockets, a dedicated Eurorack stereo output, a line input, and an eurorack input.
Further, you have dedicated CV inputs and outputs, clock in/out, and TRS MIDI in/out.
First Impression
The decision to make Plinky a larger version is very clever. I’ve been following the project for a long time and am interested in the synth, but the interface has always been too crowded. This is especially problematic for people with large or even sausage-shaped fingers.
Even though it’s not an entirely new product for Superbooth 2025, this is one of my highlights this year. Plinky is opening up to more people and hopefully reaching more users. This version is also part of the open-source community.
Making Sound Machines Plinky+ will be available soon for 450€ (DIY) and 550€ (assembled) (if I remember correctly from the booth).
More information here: Making Sound Machines
keep us posted. Wil you buy and/or review one?
not planed but let see.
Tried this at Superbooth and it sounded and felt fantastic! Will probably pick one up when it’s available.