Superbooth 2026: Plinky 12 consists of three touch instruments with shared synthesis and swappable musical concepts by mmAlex, Making Sound Machines, and Toadstool Tech.
At the last Superbooth, the German developers at Making Sound Machines presented the large-format version of the Plink touch synthesizer. This year, the Plinky family is growing again, not once but three times.
Ahead of Superbooth 2026, mmalex, the developer of the original Plinky, has teamed up with Making Sound Machines and Toadstool Tech for the Plinky 12, a new expressive touch Synthesizer available in three feature and design flavors.
Plinky 12
Plinky 12 is the latest collaboration between Making Sound Machines, mmalex, the creator of the original Plinky Synthesizer, and Toadstool Tech.
Three original touch instruments are making the start with full expressive control in mind, but each with a different concept. At just 12″ x 12″ (305mm x 305mm) and 12mm deep, they are super thin.
Three instruments, yes, but just one Plink 12 hardware. It’s basically a universal piece of hardware that, thanks to swappable panels, can be configured into three distinct instruments, each offering a different playing experience and musical thinking.
Since this is just the beginning, I expect more panels with different concepts to follow. The hardware interface consists of 16×16 RGB pressure-sensitive capacitive touch pads that can have different functionality depending on the chosen panel.
At its core is an RP2350 microcontroller (CPU), 2MB firmware, 512k RAM, 8MB PSRAM, 128k + 7.5MB free to use by panels, an SD card slot, a stereo microphone, an accelerometer, and four tactile side buttons.
Frozen Wavetables
All three variations share the same all-new polyphonic synth engine with the Plinky character. The engine uses samples that can be transformed into frozen wavetables.
It comes with classic synth ingredients like start and end point of the wavetable, ADSR envelope, panning, filters, reverb and delay, chorus, wavefolding, and more. The controls are very different.
There are no knobs or sliders; everything is operated via touch, just like the original Plinky. Glide your finger from one position to the next to change a parameter. These movements can also be animated, to have movement to the sound.
A dedicated editor lets you edit your preset banks, and you can also design and audition sounds even without a Plinky device.
Alongside the synth engine, all three instruments also share the same connectivity: audio input/output, clock in/out, 2 CV in and out, MIDI in/out, USB for power, firmware, and MIDI, and microSD port for samples, presets, and panel states.
Toadstep
Three instruments, three concepts. The first one is called Making Sound Machines Plinky 12 Toadstep, developed by Toadstool Tech, the designer behind the lovely Ectocore breakcore sample Eurorack module.
It’s a 4-track step sequencer built for funky riffs, self-generating melodies, or even acid jams. The panel turns the Plinky 12 into a fun touch groovebox with immediate control optimized for live performance and improvisation.
It offers per-step slides, probability, velocity, gate length, and lots of randomization. Advanced step repeating and ratcheting are also possible. You can create up to eight patterns per track with full pattern chaining.
Chords
Plinky 12 Chords is described as a harmonic inspiration machine that invites you to experiment with melodies and chords, with expressive control over voicings, progressions, and immediate musical play.
It has up to 12 voices of polyphony that are split between six chords and six melody voices. There are 13 palettes with 45 chords each and ships with four distinct polyphonic melody surfaces.
Part of this harmonic machine is also a polyphonic arpeggiator (32×16 step patterns), and a built-in sequencer with 128 steps to sequence the shape of your chords.
It has individual track length, modulo, probability, pattern generator, and the famous Making Sound Machine Stolperbeats shuffle.
Blocks
The third and last surface for now is Blocks, aka the distraction and label-free panel. It’s an open panel that offers a lot.
First, it divides the panel into large blocks: a huge 6-stringed play surface on the left, a clip launcher, and an XY pad on the right.
Then, each ech clip is a full 128-step polyphonic sequence with performance-oriented muting, shuffling, per-step probability, and more.
One key feature of Plinky 12 is Monome-Grid compatibility, and the Blocks panel is ideal for it, offering a bare minimum of visualization.
On top of that, you can create your own panel using the upcoming browser-based coding environment to prototype your ideas. The open API gives you access to the hardware features, synth, FX, MIDI, CV connectivity, and touch controls.
Plinky 12 First Impression
At first glance, a very original concept and an exciting evolution of the original Plinky. The ability to design your own surfaces makes it particularly appealing. I’m just not sure how much fun it is to tweak parameters since you don’t have any knobs.
Plinky 12 will be available in Summer 2026. Price is TBA. You can explore it at Superbooth 2026.
More information here: mmalex
Waiting for the price to drop to justify buying an iPad over this.
I’m thinking having both would be a great combo?
That’s what I don’t get. One wants to be supportive, but if all the controls are touch, why not an ipad, with infinitely more cpu power?
iPad needs account and internet to be useful. These are independet devices.