Polyend Announces Drums, an Eight-Track Hybrid Drum Machine at Superbooth 2026

Polyend turned up at Superbooth 2026 in Berlin with a new piece of hardware that slots cleanly into its existing design language. Drums is an eight-track drum machine built into the same aluminium housing already used for Synth and Play. The company has been steadily filling out its instrument range with devices named after their core function, and this one arrives as a deliberate mix of sound generation methods rather than a single-minded tool.

Four of the voices are fully analogue, built around modern SSI chips. Each provides two voltage-controlled oscillators, a noise source, and a third digital oscillator that can either layer with the analogue side or run in frequency modulation mode. Every analogue voice runs through a multimode filter and an envelope-controlled VCA, so shaping and sculpting are part of the signal path from the start. The remaining four tracks rely on sample playback and digital synthesis, pulling from a pool of sounds that Polyend hasn’t fully detailed yet.

This configuration moves Drums away from both pure analog replica territory and from the sample-only architecture of earlier Polyend drum tools. The hybrid approach seems built for producers who want analog tone without losing the flexibility of digital layering and FM. The interface carries over the grid-based workflow and colour screen that have become the company’s standard, which means existing users won’t face a steep learning curve.

Polyend is expected to release full specifications and pricing closer to the shipping date later this year.