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Inside our first India event: Plugin Boutique at Bootcamp Goa
In March 2026, Plugin Boutique made its first appearance in India. We partnered with Bootcamp Goa to host a masterclass at their annual residential music camp in Morjim, North Goa.
Now in its fifth year, Bootcamp Goa brings together DJs, producers, live performers and visual artists for 14 days of focused music education.
The masterclass was led by Krishnamurthy Ramesh, an Ableton Certified Trainer, as part of the camp's Advanced Music Production Week. It was built around Excite Audio's Bloom Palette Modular plugin and how modular sounds can fit into everyday production workflows.
Addressing the inaccessibility of modular gear in India
The choice of plugin wasn't arbitrary. Access to modular hardware in India remains genuinely limited. The infrastructure that makes Eurorack practical elsewhere, specialist retailers and repair networks, hasn't yet taken hold in India at scale. And while modular synthesis is something many Indian producers are aware of and drawn to, it remains largely out of reach for most.
Bloom Palette Modular addresses this directly. It brings a modular workflow into a standard DAW session without the cost, complexity or scarcity that comes with the hardware. For a room of producers who had come to Goa specifically to sharpen their workflow, it was a relevant and practical tool.
Building a track with modular sounds
Krishnamurthy structured the session around making a complete dance music track from scratch, using modular sounds at every stage, in under an hour. Drums, bass, synth lines and melody: each element was approached through the modular workflow inside Ableton Live.
The masterclass highlighted how Bloom Palette Modular could introduce sounds that felt fresh while still fitting the direction the track had already set. Modular sounds are still a niche. Most producers don't hear them as often as standard synth sounds, and that unfamiliarity is exactly what makes them stand out.
The production challenge
Following the masterclass, participants were given a few hours to produce an original track using only stock Ableton instruments and effects plus Bloom Palette Modular. Working with a limited toolkit forces creative decisions. Participants had to find what was interesting about what they had, rather than reaching for what they were used to.
All submissions were judged by a panel of respected figures from the Indian electronic music scene: Rummy Sharma, Krishnamurthy Ramesh, Anejath, Syncsystem, and Ma Faiza. They assessed entries on musicality, structure, sound design depth, and mix clarity. The mentors were genuinely surprised by how much the production quality had improved across the camp, from sound design and arrangement through to mixing.
Winners received the full Excite Audio plugin bundle, along with mentorship from Bootcamp Goa's mentor network.
Dhruv Pratap, one of the challenge winners, said "It was a great experience, it really helped me grow creatively and connect with some amazing people."
Akkash Vaish, another winner, has spent a decade working as a sound engineer and producer. "Learned a lot of new things," he said. "My skills will surely shift in a better way."
Looking ahead
The Indian music community is one of the fastest-growing and strongest communities in the world and the enthusiasm and energy in the students truly reflect that. For Plugin Boutique, this was a first step into addressing the challenges faced by up-and-coming producers in the nation, and showing how music software such as Bloom Palette Modular can address a long underlying problem around accessibility. Closing the gap between what producers want to explore and what is available to them is a conversation we will continue to be part of.
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