The first ever Sample Music Festival, held in 2015 in the iconic GRETCHEN venue in Berlin, was truly an unforgettable event. Not only did it provide a platform to showcase extraordinary talent, like the renowned DJs Unkut, ESKEI 83, and Jimmy Penguin, but it also featured a very special treat as Mad Zach and Comfort Fit wowed the audience with their finger drumming performances. This remarkable festival further made history as it was the first time that turntablism and finger drumming were presented side by side under one roof.

One of the main attraction of the event was a lecture by Gabriel Prokofiev on his orchester piece, „Concerto for turntable“, which featured the acclaimed turntablist Mr. Switch as the soloist. In addition to that, a thoroughly exciting thesis on acoustic consequences of scratching presented by Kjetil Falkenberg Hansen and Tim Kroker's music notation for finger drumming were also a part of the symposium.

Berlins legendary DJ Marc Hype gave an insightful overview of the evolution of DJ techniques, while Alex Sonnenfeld, the founder of Sample Music Festival, made history by presenting his transcription methodology for turntablism for the very first time.

The event was rounded off with workshops and an exhibition of music technology from esteemed partners such as STANTON, TASCAM, KRK, Native Instruments, and Reloop. Attendees were able to get hands-on with the latest in music production technology and get expert advice from the representatives of each company.