Editors' Blogs

In an effort to stem this tide, NAMM instituted a process of stringent screening of photo ID with badge ownership; if you're wearing a badge that doesn't match your driver's license, you can forget getting into the show. This has cut down on unqualified traffic quite a bit, but also occasionally leads to trouble: for example, I got stopped by an overzealous security guard today and questioned because my driver's license photo, which is a few years old, doesn't match my current face all that well: a thick head of long black hair from my youth, now turned grey and fallen out thanks to my kids, leaving me with a very conservative buzzcut. It would have been very funny if I hadn't been late to a meeting at the time.

I spent a good chunk of the morning at American Music & Sound, taking a closer look at the products by Novation, Focusrite, Allen & Heath, and Kurzweil that I mentioned in yesterday's blog. Also distributed by AM&S is the Phonic line of audio products, including a very sexy new digital mixer called the Summit, complete with moving-fader automation and a color graphic touchscreen for easy display and editing of many parameters, including settings for the 26 (!) onboard effects processors. AM&S is also handling distribution of beyerdynamic mics, including new omni and hypercardioid versions of its well-liked M930 pencil condenser.

From there, I hopped over to the Numark booth, where the Alesis and Akai brands were showing some cool new products, including pocketsized audio and video recorders from Alesis at very aggressive price points, a new smaller Akai APC controller for Ableton Live, and a nifty little gizmo called the iPK25: a two-octave keyboard with pitch and mod wheels with audio outputs and a cradle for an iPhone or iPod touch -- it's designed to let you play a software synth (also by Akai) from the iPhone itself, and will street for under $100. Should be fun!

Furman has a newly revamped line of Power Factory power conditioners, with heavy duty models and uninterruptible power supplies in various sizes... even a model that will automatically convert any line voltage in the world into something your gear can handle.

At the ART booth, the company continues to put out affordable and useful studio tools of all kinds. The latest entries are an 8-channel rack preamp with ADAT I/O, and a very cool 6-channel headphone distribution mixer with nice extras like the ability to mix in a signal on an aux send and solo the left or right channel for each listener.

Line 6 has released a free update to its POD X3 lineup that adds a variety of very cool effects from the M9 and M13 virtual pedalboards. Also new: upgraded versions of the Shortboard foot controllers for the Spider modeling amps, that now function as USB-enabled generic DAW controllers.

We spent a bit of time at the Steven Slate booth, seeing the products released by the company's three divisions, from the drum libraries that made the name of Steven Slate famous to the new plug-ins that look to redefine how in-the-box mixing takes place to the all-analog Dragon compressor... and a sneak peak at some other cool hardware, details to follow.

Blue's newest mic is the Yeti, a big, hefty USB mic with built-in headphone output, pattern control, and more, all on a solid metal stand and at a great price.

The newest plug-in from brainworx is a software version of SPL's delightful Vitalizer, which adds punch and clarity to a variety of signals. The ever-faithful software reproduction even warns you that its virtual tubes aren't warmed up yet!

Acoustica is showing version 5 of its brilliant Mixcraft DAW; a few dollars more expensive than version 4, but with vastly extended features and a free version of the excellent Lounge Lizard modeled electric piano from Applied Acoustics Systems.

At the PMI Audio booth, the Trident HG3 monitors were being demoed, and we got a glimpse of the new (old?) Trident A-Range eq reissue.

Sonic Reality's latest library taps into the rooms, gear, and expertise of Ken Scott, with a variety of famous drummers recreating the sounds of bands from Supertramp to the Dregs on the equipment used to record the Beatles.

The Eigenharp from Eigenlabs (shown above) is an alternative controller looking like a cross between a bassoon and a standup bass with lots of buttons added; the demos were beautiful to watch and listen to, and we'll have to see how this costly but well-made controller handles the uphill climb that faces all new ways to play music.

MikTek is a company in Nashville that combines globally sourced components with US-made transformers and custom capsule designs, assembled in the USA, to make unique and great-sounding mics: multipattern solid-state and tube mics and a nifty little pencil condenser design.

DigiTech has two new looper pedals, updates of its famous Jam Man rack looper; the Solo, a mono pedal that packs much of the original's power into a small-format stompbox, and the Stereo, a larger pedal with extended control and overdub options... very slick.

Universal Audio has added yet another prestigious name to the companies it's emulating in its UAD plug-in engines: Manley Labs, whose famous Massive Passive eq is the first piece to be modeled.

We don't normally discuss business deals in the industry, but Avid announced a fairly significant one today: a distribution agreement with Hal Leonard, the well-known publisher of music books and sheet music. This gives Avid a route into many small music stores it couldn't reach before, letting local "mom and pop" operations compete with the big-box chains by offering M-Audio and Digidesign products. Also on an Avid note, I would like to thank my counterpart at Avid, Mark Williams, for not pounding me into dog food when he read my February 2010 Fade Out editorial on the Avid/Mackie situation. I live to editorialize another day, it would seem. 

And speaking of "another day", it's time for me to get some rest. Two days to go and another hundred or so vendors to visit... stay tuned!