HAINBACH’s $10K Chalkboard Synth: From Kraftwerk’s Classroom to Chaos

Let’s kick things off with a synth story that’s stranger than a kangaroo at a school assembly. HAINBACH stumbles upon the Beam Music Board at the estate auction of none other than Florian Schneider from Kraftwerk. This isn’t your average eBay find—it’s a $10,000 slab of educational history, designed for teaching music in schools, but with a twist that’s got synth nerds frothing.

The model HAINBACH gets his mitts on isn’t the exact one from the auction, but it’s a close cousin: the S&T 36 by Huton, aka the Sensorica Notova Tabula. Complete with a secret chalk and sponge compartment, this board was meant for scribbling notation and then playing it back—think of it as the world’s nerdiest musical whiteboard. It’s a rare beast, and HAINBACH’s excitement is as contagious as a BBQ gone wild.

Now, don’t let the school vibes fool you—this thing’s got more tricks than a magpie at a picnic. The Beam Music Board is a classic divide-down organ at heart, but it’s polyphonic and loaded with quirky controls. HAINBACH demonstrates how you can set beats, tweak filters, and even program scales with German note names that’ll make any synth geek grin.

The real kicker? You can play chords, scribble melodies in chalk, and then trace them out like you’re back in music class—except this time, you’re making Kraftwerk-style beeps instead of Hot Cross Buns. It’s playful, unpredictable, and just the kind of oddball interface that keeps experimentalists coming back for more.

Here’s where things get properly bonkers. HAINBACH, never one to shy away from chaos, starts jamming with sausages as capacitive touch controllers. Yep, you read that right—he plugs banana cables into literal sausages and uses them to trigger notes. It’s the sort of madcap experimentation that’d make any Aussie proud.

Beyond the sausage shenanigans, HAINBACH explores the board’s potential for mods and alternative setups. Whether it’s adding reverb until the sound’s thicker than a bushfire smoke cloud or dreaming up wall-mounted installations for group jams, this board proves it’s more than just a relic—it’s a playground for sonic mischief.

Peeling back the layers, HAINBACH uncovers a backstory that’s as tangled as a possum in a clothesline. The Beam Music Board and its siblings were born out of a quest to make music education hands-on and fun, with roots stretching from German patents to Czech factories and communist-era detours.

The tale involves failed mass production, leftover stock from the Iron Curtain days, and a stubborn inventor who kept the dream alive. It’s a wild ride through music tech history, showing how a humble teaching aid can end up inspiring electronic legends and experimental tinkerers alike.