Dutch Modularfest 2026
Dutch Modularfest 2026 returns to WORM! Artists, builders, and enthusiasts from across the Netherlands – and beyond – come together for a full day of modular culture. Expect live performances, hands-on workshops, DIY exploration, and a curated market with gear, makers, and independent creators.
Whether you are deep into modular synthesis or just getting started, Dutch Modularfest 2026 gives you a place to connect, learn, and explore. Whet your appetite by watching this amazing video of 2025’s festival courtesy of DivKid
MUSIC PROGRAMME:
Titanic Ambient with T. Raumschmiere
T. Raumschmiere – aka Marco Haas – needs little introduction: but for those who need to know, he is one of the brains behind the Shitkatapult label and a fantastic live performer who flits between punk, electro, techno, noise, and pop like a card sharp shuffling a pack. This show will NOT be a normal Raumschmiere show but, as the title suggests, one anchored in ambient sounds. Expect the unexpected!
Raaf and Estroe
Both artists operate at the intersection of electronics, improvisation, and texture — each with their own signature, yet always in dialogue.
Raaf weaves rich melodies and sparkling arpeggios from his modular system. His sound is layered, organic, and infused with a cinematic sensitivity. Estroe, known for her subtle and atmospheric approach to electronic music, brings warmth, depth, and a keen ear for nuance. Live, her love for improvisation shines through: an intuitive play with sound, texture, and timing. Each performance is a carefully crafted whole, with room for surprise.
KROON
Bass producers and live performers Hajo Krijger, Kubus and Kypski formed KROON in 2023. This trio of producers made a fierce and vast output of many sizzling and hard hitting bass tracks. In June 2025, the unthinkable happened: Hajo Krijger, musical mastermind and initiator of KROON, suddenly passed away, aged 29. Remaining KROON members Kubus and Kypski pursue their KROON Legacy in Hajo Krijger’s name, keeping Hajo’s productional bass brilliance proudly in the limelight.
Numbers Station
Numbers Station is a sound designer with a background in visual and performative arts. She works with a hybrid modular system consisting of Doepfer and Serge modules. The configuration of her system is intentionally as low-level and patch-programmable as possible. Numbers Station performs atonal pieces using feedback patching and no input mixing techniques. "The machine and I split the work fifty-fifty," Numbers Station iteratively builds generative patches that she deliberately tilts over the edge to allow her system to make its own mistakes, until its path that brought it there can no longer be retraced.
Alberta Balsam
Expect glitchy rhythms, skittering percussion, and sweeping ambient dreamscapes from Rotterdam-based Alberta Balsam. With releases on labels such as Dekmantel and Clone, she channels the space-age spirit of early electronica, the techy, trippy vibes of 1990s IDM, and her lifelong love of science fiction. Her hardware-focused live sets are dynamic, featuring hard-hitting drums, modular freak-outs, and hyper-human voice mangling. Recently founding the label, Terra Atomika, she continues her search for the perfect soundtrack to our distorted reality: sad, beautiful, and cathartic.
Colloid
Colloid is the moniker of Jan Willem Hagenbeek, a Dutch electronic musician and the founder of Ginkosynthese. Colloid is a mixture of insoluble particles throughout another substance. This reflects the live sets by Jan Willem Hagenbeek on his modular synth. His live sets blend dense, unpredictable layers of sound into a cohesive flow. Jan Willem is one of the guiding spirits of Dutch Modular Fest. After organizing Ginkofest in 2016 and 2017 at his atelier The Besturing in The Hague, Jan Willem asked all modular event organizers in the Netherlands to join in a Dutch gathering for modular synth enthusiasts. Ginkosynthese (The Hague) joined forces with Modulation (Utrecht), Noodlebar (Rotterdam), ModuLab (Eindhoven), and Voltage Control Amsterdam, and in 2018 the first Dutch Modular Fest was born. Without him, there would be no Dutch Modular Fest. Our eternal gratitude and respect goes out to him!
TALKS
The Conductive Performer by Jeroen Visser – Touch the cable. Become the circuit.
Patching with banana cables accidentally opened the door to a sort of a punk interface. Unlike shielded minijacks, grab them anywhere, bridge them with fingers, and suddenly the body becomes part of the synthesizer. Like a Cracklebox on steroids, the performer is inserted directly into the flow of voltages and sounds. Resistance, conductivity, pressure, sweat, skin contact — all become musical parameters. Every patch is different. Every body is different. Every performance carries a unique electrical signature of the performer.
It is not control over sound. It is participation in sound.
WORKSHOPS
Workshops will be on these subjects:
– circuit bending and modding
– Synthux (maker)
– Schreibmachine (maker)
CIRCUIT BENDING & MODDING from Jan de Block
In this talk & demo four topics will be covered:
– how to create a great BoC lofi sound for less than €100?
– how to expand your Volca Modular into a west coast easel in a simple way?
– how to mod a PT2399 delay module to get endless feedback and glitchy sounds?
– how to expand your modular with DIY sensitive touch points and piezos?
Before diving into these topics, we start with general modding & circuit bending tips: understanding the basics will drastically reduce white smoke moments! The whole session is about analog & DIY: no coding or firmware.
Jan De Block designs and builds noise circuits, modules and installations under the name AddictiveNoise. With his project Silent Noise Revolution he combines electronics and minimalist piano. He is also founder of Modular404, a label dedicated to modular synth tracks with a duration of 404 seconds.
MARKET
The Dutch Modular Fest Market will take place across two spacious rooms at WORM in Rotterdam, providing exhibitors and visitors with a comfortable and inspiring environment to explore the latest in modular synthesizers, electronic music gear, DIY projects, and creative technology.
A Headphone-Only Market Experience
To create the best possible experience for everyone, this year’s market will be a no-speaker event. Amplified sound systems and loudspeaker demonstrations will not be permitted at exhibitor booths. Instead, exhibitors and visitors are encouraged to use headphones for product demonstrations and listening sessions. This approach reduces noise levels, allows for more meaningful conversations, and ensures that every booth can be enjoyed without competing sound sources.
