Editors' Blogs
Thoughts from NAMM: Day Four
January 17, 2010
The NAMM Show is over, and I'm soaking my sore feet and relaxing after a very long weekend. The fourth day of NAMM is traditionally a bit quieter and less hectic than the first three; most of the business has been done, last meetings tend to be fairly relaxed, people return to their more interesting meetings for second looks, and the manufacturers themselves get a bit of a break to stroll around the show and see each others' work.
It's a chance for me to say a few final hellos (including to Mike Rivers, who was back in the Press Room feeling fine and sending his best wishes to those who were worried about him; he was just dehydrated, and was back on his feet almost immediately) and revisit some cool gear that I'm curious about as well; here are a few of the last items I had a chance to see.
McDSP's founder and chief developer, Colin McDowell, has this message for the world of computer users who lust after his company's excellent plug-ins but don't use Pro Tools: "Sorry it took us so long, thanks for your patience, and here we go." The company's entire lineup, including the new 6030 compressor bundle, will be available as Audio Units this spring. Usable in any native Mac DAW, the new versions will feature added features and user interface tweaks as well.
Acoustica's MixCraft is the most insanely great deal in music software (possibly even including GarageBand, even though it's free). Version 5 is only ten dollars more than its predecessor, a whopping 85 dollars, but adds a ton of new features and some fantastic virtual instruments and plug-ins, any one of which would cost more than the whole program if purchased separately.
A big shout out to Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, who just defended his Ph.D. dissertation. The subject was convolution reverbs, and in fact there's some great convolution available in the newest version of Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro, which has cabinet and spatial modeling along with a variety of virtual preamps and effects.
JDK (formerly called Arsenal) is the new line of rackmount audio processors from API, including the R22 compressor, a linkable stereo unit with API's well-liked Thrust circuitry for more presence in mixes.
Sonoma Wire Works was showing its own applications, as well as virtual instruments and libraries from the recently acquired DrumCore and Discrete Drums, but the big news was a semisecret prototype attachment for the iPhone that's undergoing final approval by Apple, a lovely stainless-steel device that could solve the issue of hooking up audio gear to the iPhone for good.
And last but not least, a new Swedish company called Teenage Engineering AB was showing early prototypes of a new instrument called the Operator OP-1 (see the detail of its data display in the photo above), a slick little desktop unit that combines synthesis, sampling, rhythms, recording, and sound editing in a graphically beautiful and fun package that sits neatly on a tabletop and invites playful exploration. It won't be cheap, but from what I saw, it will win a lot of converts in a hurry.
Time to get some sleep before I catch my plane back to Colorado. Thanks for reading, and watch this space (and the pages of Recording) as we turn our experiences into NAMM reports in future issues, and then into reviews of some of the great gear we had a chance to see over the past few days.
The NAMM Show is over, and I'm soaking my sore feet and relaxing after a very long weekend. The fourth day of NAMM is traditionally a bit quieter and less hectic than the first three; most of the business has been done, last meetings tend to be fairly relaxed, people return to their more interesting meetings for second looks, and the manufacturers themselves get a bit of a break to stroll around the show and see each others' work.
It's a chance for me to say a few final hellos and revisit some cool gear that I'm curious about as well; here are a few of the last items I had a chance to see.
McDSP's founder and chief developer, Colin McDowell, has this message for the world of computer users who lust after his company's excellent plug-ins but don't use Pro Tools: "Sorry it took us so long, thanks for your patience, and here we go." The company's entire lineup, including the new 6030 compressor bundle, will be available as Audio Units this spring. Usable in any native Mac DAW, the new versions will feature added features and user interface tweaks as well.
Acoustica's MixCraft is the most insanely great deal in music software (possibly even including GarageBand, even though it's free). Version 5 is only ten dollars more than its predecessor, a whopping 85 dollars, but adds a ton of new features and some fantastic virtual instruments and plug-ins, any one of which would cost more than the whole program if purchased separately.
A big shout out to Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, who just defended his Ph.D. dissertation. The subject was convolution reverbs, and in fact there's some great convolution available in the newest version of Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro, which has cabinet and spatial modeling along with a variety of virtual preamps and effects.
JDK (formerly called Arsenal) is the new line of rackmount audio processors from API, including the R22 compressor, a linkable stereo unit with API's well-liked Thrust circuitry for more presence in mixes.
Sonoma Wire Works was showing its own applications, as well as virtual instruments and libraries from the recently acquired Synful and Discrete Drums, but the big news was a semisecret prototype attachment for the iPhone that's undergoing final approval by Apple, a lovely stainless-steel device that could solve the issue of hooking up audio gear to the iPhone for good.
And last but not least, a new Swedish company called Teenage Engineering AB was showing early prototypes of a new instrument called the Operator OP-1 (see the photo above), a slick little desktop unit that combines synthesis, sampling, rhythms, recording, and sound editing in a graphically beautiful and fun package that sits neatly on a tabletop and invites playful exploration. It won't be cheap, but from what I saw, it will win a lot of converts in a hurry.
Time to get some sleep before I catch my plane back to Colorado. Thanks for reading, and watch this space (and the pages of Recording) as we turn our experiences into NAMM reports in future issues, and then into reviews of some of the great gear we had a chance to see over the past fe
The NAMM Show is over, and I'm soaking my sore feet and relaxing after a very long weekend. The fourth day of NAMM is traditionally a bit quieter and less hectic than the first three; most of the business has been done, last meetings tend to be fairly relaxed, people return to their more interesting meetings for second looks, and the manufacturers themselves get a bit of a break to stroll around the show and see each others' work.
It's a chance for me to say a few final hellos and revisit some cool gear that I'm curious about as well; here are a few of the last items I had a chance to see.
McDSP's founder and chief developer, Colin McDowell, has this message for the world of computer users who lust after his company's excellent plug-ins but don't use Pro Tools: "Sorry it took us so long, thanks for your patience, and here we go." The company's entire lineup, including the new 6030 compressor bundle, will be available as Audio Units this spring. Usable in any native Mac DAW, the new versions will feature added features and user interface tweaks as well.
Acoustica's MixCraft is the most insanely great deal in music software (possibly even including GarageBand, even though it's free). Version 5 is only ten dollars more than its predecessor, a whopping 85 dollars, but adds a ton of new features and some fantastic virtual instruments and plug-ins, any one of which would cost more than the whole program if purchased separately.
A big shout out to Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, who just defended his Ph.D. dissertation. The subject was convolution reverbs, and in fact there's some great convolution available in the newest version of Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro, which has cabinet and spatial modeling along with a variety of virtual preamps and effects.
JDK (formerly called Arsenal) is the new line of rackmount audio processors from API, including the R22 compressor, a linkable stereo unit with API's well-liked Thrust circuitry for more presence in mixes.
Sonoma Wire Works was showing its own applications, as well as virtual instruments and libraries from the recently acquired Synful and Discrete Drums, but the big news was a semisecret prototype attachment for the iPhone that's undergoing final approval by Apple, a lovely stainless-steel device that could solve the issue of hooking up audio gear to the iPhone for good.
And last but not least, a new Swedish company called Teenage Engineering AB was showing early prototypes of a new instrument called the Operator OP-1 (see the photo above), a slick little desktop unit that combines synthesis, sampling, rhythms, recording, and sound editing in a graphically beautiful and fun package that sits neatly on a tabletop and invites playful exploration. It won't be cheap, but from what I saw, it will win a lot of converts in a hurry.
Time to get some sleep before I catch my plane back to Colorado. Thanks for reading, and watch this space (and the pages of Recording) as we turn our experiences into NAMM reports in future issues, and then into reviews of some of the great gear we had a chance to see over the past few days.
The NAMM Show is over, and I'm soaking my sore feet and relaxing after a very long weekend. The fourth day of NAMM is traditionally a bit quieter and less hectic than the first three; most of the business has been done, last meetings tend to be fairly relaxed, people return to their more interesting meetings for second looks, and the manufacturers themselves get a bit of a break to stroll around the show and see each others' work.
It's a chance for me to say a few final hellos and revisit some cool gear that I'm curious about as well; here are a few of the last items I had a chance to see.
McDSP's founder and chief developer, Colin McDowell, has this message for the world of computer users who lust after his company's excellent plug-ins but don't use Pro Tools: "Sorry it took us so long, thanks for your patience, and here we go." The company's entire lineup, including the new 6030 compressor bundle, will be available as Audio Units this spring. Usable in any native Mac DAW, the new versions will feature added features and user interface tweaks as well.
Acoustica's MixCraft is the most insanely great deal in music software (possibly even including GarageBand, even though it's free). Version 5 is only ten dollars more than its predecessor, a whopping 85 dollars, but adds a ton of new features and some fantastic virtual instruments and plug-ins, any one of which would cost more than the whole program if purchased separately.
A big shout out to Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, who just defended his Ph.D. dissertation. The subject was convolution reverbs, and in fact there's some great convolution available in the newest version of Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro, which has cabinet and spatial modeling along with a variety of virtual preamps and effects.
JDK (formerly called Arsenal) is the new line of rackmount audio processors from API, including the R22 compressor, a linkable stereo unit with API's well-liked Thrust circuitry for more presence in mixes.
Sonoma Wire Works was showing its own applications, as well as virtual instruments and libraries from the recently acquired Synful and Discrete Drums, but the big news was a semisecret prototype attachment for the iPhone that's undergoing final approval by Apple, a lovely stainless-steel device that could solve the issue of hooking up audio gear to the iPhone for good.
And last but not least, a new Swedish company called Teenage Engineering AB was showing early prototypes of a new instrument called the Operator OP-1 (see the photo above), a slick little desktop unit that combines synthesis, sampling, rhythms, recording, and sound editing in a graphically beautiful and fun package that sits neatly on a tabletop and invites playful exploration. It won't be cheap, but from what I saw, it will win a lot of converts in a hurry.
Time to get some sleep before I catch my plane back to Colorado. Thanks for reading, and watch this space (and the pages of Recording) as we turn our experiences into NAMM reports in future issues, and then into reviews of some of the great gear we had a chance to see over the past few days.
The NAMM Show is over, and I'm soaking my sore feet and relaxing after a very long weekend. The fourth day of NAMM is traditionally a bit quieter and less hectic than the first three; most of the business has been done, last meetings tend to be fairly relaxed, people return to their more interesting meetings for second looks, and the manufacturers themselves get a bit of a break to stroll around the show and see each others' work.
It's a chance for me to say a few final hellos and revisit some cool gear that I'm curious about as well; here are a few of the last items I had a chance to see.
McDSP's founder and chief developer, Colin McDowell, has this message for the world of computer users who lust after his company's excellent plug-ins but don't use Pro Tools: "Sorry it took us so long, thanks for your patience, and here we go." The company's entire lineup, including the new 6030 compressor bundle, will be available as Audio Units this spring. Usable in any native Mac DAW, the new versions will feature added features and user interface tweaks as well.
Acoustica's MixCraft is the most insanely great deal in music software (possibly even including GarageBand, even though it's free). Version 5 is only ten dollars more than its predecessor, a whopping 85 dollars, but adds a ton of new features and some fantastic virtual instruments and plug-ins, any one of which would cost more than the whole program if purchased separately.
A big shout out to Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, who just defended his Ph.D. dissertation. The subject was convolution reverbs, and in fact there's some great convolution available in the newest version of Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro, which has cabinet and spatial modeling along with a variety of virtual preamps and effects.
JDK (formerly called Arsenal) is the new line of rackmount audio processors from API, including the R22 compressor, a linkable stereo unit with API's well-liked Thrust circuitry for more presence in mixes.
Sonoma Wire Works was showing its own applications, as well as virtual instruments and libraries from the recently acquired Synful and Discrete Drums, but the big news was a semisecret prototype attachment for the iPhone that's undergoing final approval by Apple, a lovely stainless-steel device that could solve the issue of hooking up audio gear to the iPhone for good.
And last but not least, a new Swedish company called Teenage Engineering AB was showing early prototypes of a new instrument called the Operator OP-1 (see the photo above), a slick little desktop unit that combines synthesis, sampling, rhythms, recording, and sound editing in a graphically beautiful and fun package that sits neatly on a tabletop and invites playful exploration. It won't be cheap, but from what I saw, it will win a lot of converts in a hurry.
Time to get some sleep before I catch my plane back to Colorado. Thanks for reading, and watch this space (and the pages of Recording) as we turn our experiences into NAMM reports in future issues, and then into reviews of some of the great gear we had a chance to see over the past few days.
The NAMM Show is over, and I'm soaking my sore feet and relaxing after a very long weekend. The fourth day of NAMM is traditionally a bit quieter and less hectic than the first three; most of the business has been done, last meetings tend to be fairly relaxed, people return to their more interesting meetings for second looks, and the manufacturers themselves get a bit of a break to stroll around the show and see each others' work.
It's a chance for me to say a few final hellos and revisit some cool gear that I'm curious about as well; here are a few of the last items I had a chance to see.
McDSP's founder and chief developer, Colin McDowell, has this message for the world of computer users who lust after his company's excellent plug-ins but don't use Pro Tools: "Sorry it took us so long, thanks for your patience, and here we go." The company's entire lineup, including the new 6030 compressor bundle, will be available as Audio Units this spring. Usable in any native Mac DAW, the new versions will feature added features and user interface tweaks as well.
Acoustica's MixCraft is the most insanely great deal in music software (possibly even including GarageBand, even though it's free). Version 5 is only ten dollars more than its predecessor, a whopping 85 dollars, but adds a ton of new features and some fantastic virtual instruments and plug-ins, any one of which would cost more than the whole program if purchased separately.
A big shout out to Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, who just defended his Ph.D. dissertation. The subject was convolution reverbs, and in fact there's some great convolution available in the newest version of Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro, which has cabinet and spatial modeling along with a variety of virtual preamps and effects.
JDK (formerly called Arsenal) is the new line of rackmount audio processors from API, including the R22 compressor, a linkable stereo unit with API's well-liked Thrust circuitry for more presence in mixes.
Sonoma Wire Works was showing its own applications, as well as virtual instruments and libraries from the recently acquired Synful and Discrete Drums, but the big news was a semisecret prototype attachment for the iPhone that's undergoing final approval by Apple, a lovely stainless-steel device that could solve the issue of hooking up audio gear to the iPhone for good.
And last but not least, a new Swedish company called Teenage Engineering AB was showing early prototypes of a new instrument called the Operator OP-1 (see the photo above), a slick little desktop unit that combines synthesis, sampling, rhythms, recording, and sound editing in a graphically beautiful and fun package that sits neatly on a tabletop and invites playful exploration. It won't be cheap, but from what I saw, it will win a lot of converts in a hurry.
Time to get some sleep before I catch my plane back to Colorado. Thanks for reading, and watch this space (and the pages of Recording) as we turn our experiences into NAMM reports in future issues, and then into reviews of some of the great gear we had a chance to see over the past few days.
3 Responses to Thoughts from NAMM: Day Four
Todd says
January 18, 2010 at 9:25 am
I really enjoyed your reports from NAMM. This was the only blog I kept up with!
Mike Metlay says
January 20, 2010 at 10:28 am
http://www.recordingmag.com
Thanks for the compliment, Todd. We'll publish a full show report in our April issue -- thanks for reading!
Kevin Robinson says
March 30, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Hello..I am relatively a new reader but I must say I am impressed with the content discussed..I will be a regular patron of recording magazine now. I am an aspiring prodeucer and just reading some of the storys of the engineers in the magazine gave me priceless advice.I am happy to join the Recording Magazine family : ) Thank You !!!