Winter NAMM 2016 Overview - Part 2 "Oddities"

Part 2 of my Winter NAMM overview looks at some of the odder offerings at NAMM. Some may be useful to certain customers, but the rest of us may be left scratching our heads. Here we go.




The 24 string guitar - because you can't have too many strings, right? This was actually a trend at NAMM, with quite a few companies showing guitars with extra strings.





The accordion controller - because accordions are just so cool.








The lightshow PA speaker - Most Chinese companies showed products like this. I guess it keeps you from getting bored at the show.










The lightshow PA speaker with crystal ball - Let's tell some fortunes during Karaoke this evening.









The Shure Electrostatic Ear Buds - I listened, but they just weren't $2,500 better than what came with my iPhone. Oh, and you need the special $1,000 amp to drive them.













The Stomplight - because floor lighting makes you look so amazing.







The traffic cop controller - You can go direct traffic after the gig.








The wearable metronome - It's so large that you may not be able to hold your arm up to see it.











The multi-switch guitar - For those guitar players who have an extra $6k and are truly bored on stage, here are many more controls to play with.










The plastic mixer cover - Protect your mixer when those bar fights break out and the suds are flowing everywhere.

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Winter NAMM Wrap-Up On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

This week I've got a very special podcast for you. It's my annual Winter NAMM wrap-up that will showcase both the latest trends spotted at the show and some cool new products.

It's a bit different and more in-depth than what's been posted here, as it covers a few interesting new products as well as a number of re-releases of old favorites, so be sure to tune in to find out what might be the next piece of gear in your life.

Remember that you can find the podcast at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, or either on iTunes, Stitcher and now on Mixcloud and Google Play.

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Winter NAMM 2016 Overview - Part 1

Winter NAMM has come and gone once again, and left us with a lot to talk about. Once again there was nothing so new and revolutionary that everyone at the show was talking about (as expected), but there were some cool new things that were shown, as well as some disappointments, and some that were downright absurd.

Here are a few things that jumped out at me during my walk around NAMM. I covered it from a slightly different angle and more in depth on my Inner Circle podcast.

Shure KSM8 Dualdyne - This is a dual diaphragm condenser mic that reportedly gets rid of the 3.5kHz bump and the proximity response. The problem is that after 50 years of SM58s, I think we all like that sound. It's expensive at $499.




Manley Nu Mu - Here's a less expensive alternative to Manley's famous VariMu compressor with a new HIP control that allows lots of compression without losing any detail. Around $2,300 on the street.




Mackie AXIS - This is a remote controllable mixer with remote preamps that's intended for installed sound systems. It can use up to 3 iPads as displays. Available in 16 and 32 input versions. No word on prices yet.






Dave Smith OB6 - One of the sounds of the 80s is the Oberheim OB6 synthesizer and now Dave Smith Instruments has brought the unit back in collaboration with Tom Oberheim. Complete with effects and a sequencer, it sells for around $3k






Slate Raven MTi2 - I think I'm softening on my position to touchscreen controllers after playing with the new Raven MTi2. All of the most used parameters are at the bottom of the screen so you don't have to lift your arm that much. Plus, there are a ton of useful add-ons that will work with any DAW. A bargain for a 27" touchscreen monitor/controller at $1k






Solomon LoFreQ -  Many engineers won't record a drum kit without using a subkick mic, but up until now the commercial ones have used 8 inch drivers instead of the 6 1/2" NS10 driver that we all grew to love. The LowFreQ uses that same diameter driver, and compensates for the level differences between subkick and regular kick mic as well. Priced very reasonably at $199.







Subwoofer Pros - There hasn't been a company since M&K that specialized in subwoofers, but that's exactly what Brad Lunde's new Subwoofer Pros does. The cabinets are not ported so there's a smoother frequency response, they have a lot of power, and a built-in crossover and bass management. Two models available, either a 12" or 18" starting at around $2k









GTC Revpad - This is one of the coolest things I saw at the show. It's a wireless touchpad that velcros to a guitar's pickguard. From there you can wirelessly control and crossfade between a variety of onboard or external effects with the greatest of ease. Around $1200.








Fostex Headphones - I love Fostex headphones and have used T20s in various versions for more than 20 years. Now the T models are back in circulation. From about $120.

Part 2 tomorrow.

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Winter NAMM 2015 Overview - Part 1

Another Winter NAMM is over and I'm here to report the trends and products that caught my attention over the 4 day show. This year's exhibition was sleepy as far as new products were concerned, but there sure was a lot of enthusiasm.

As has become the norm at not only NAMM but trade shows in general, there wasn't much that could be considered groundbreaking, but there were a lot of evolutionary products. I'm going to get to things like the latest Pro Tools 12 and PT First release tomorrow, but today we'll touch on the audio products that caught my eye. These may or may not be products that others talk about, but I found them personally interesting.

Trident Hi-Lo 500 Series Filter Set - This wasn't released yet, and I'm not even sure that it was shown much at the show, but I thought it was one of the cooler things that I saw. It's a dual hi and lo pass filter set where the frequencies overlap, which is cool by itself, but the fact that it also automatically tracks the signal make this unit very provocative. It wasn't connected and unit might even be a prototype, but I like what I see so far.

iZ Radar Studio - Radar has always been an excellent sounding DAW that was one of the first to have a dedicated controller. That said, it was based around a tape machine remote that once served a great purpose but is a bit passe today. Radar Studio opens up the architecture for the first time so you can use the Radar hardware with your favorite DAW. This new iteration ships with Harrison's Mixbus, but is also capable of running Pro Tools or anything else if you want.

Mackie FreePlay Personal PA - This is basically a boom box that's loud enough to use as a small PA system if you want to. It's battery powered, has two mic/line inputs, some DSP effects and even a feedback suppressor, and the whole thing can be driven from an app on your iPhone. There's also a little kick stand that allows you to use it as a personal monitor as well. It's about $400.

Cherub DT-20 Infrared Drum Tuner - I almost hesitate to include this because the product doesn't appear to be ready, but I like the idea. Via an infrared beam, the unit senses the vibrations of a drum and provides a note equivalent readout. It if works, drummers and engineers everywhere will rejoice.

Behringer X Air XR12 mixer - Behringer has a whole slew of unusual wi-fi mixers that use an iPhone or iPad as the main controller. This XR12 has 12 inputs, 4 onboard effects engines, automatic mixing, and Midas-designed preamps. The price? How does $299 grab you?

Manley Labs Force - Manley showed it's new Force, which features 4 tube preamps from it's very popular CORE channel strip. Best of all, it's priced at a very reasonable $2,500.

Apora Bohemeth - Here's a very interesting dual channel Pultec-style tube EQ that's controlled from a computer or tablet. It has cool displays, it looks well put together, but not much information is available, as you can see from the company website.

Coleman Audio Phone Mix DI - If you ever wanted to plug your phone or tablet into your recorder or DAW you know it's a pain to do. Glen Coleman is always on top of things like this, and has developed an interface to make it easily happen. Plus, it can also act as a regular DI or even as just a way for someone to privately practice while waiting for the next take to begin. The price is around $450.

Blue Hummingbird Microphone - I used to love the swivel mount that was available for the AKG 451's way back in the day. It allowed you to get the mic capsule into some tight places, or just keep the mic body generally out of the way. The cardioid Blue Hummingbird has that same 180 degree rotating head, plus it's capsule comes from the very nice Blue Bottle mics. It's designed to take the high SPL and quick transients of a drum kit. The price is only $299.

Dangerous Music Convert 2 and Convert 8 - Dangerous Music makes some serious gear that's used by pros with discerning ears everywhere. The company adds to its product line with the new Convert D/A stereo and 8 channel convertors. They both feature up to 192 sample rates, excellent internal clocks, precision calibration, and 4 inputs.

Tomorrow I'll get into some of the trends I spotted at the show, and on Wednesday we'll look and guitars and keyboards.

Bobby O's NAMM 2014 Gear Awards

This year I thought I'd change things up a bit and give out some awards out for products I liked at the Winter NAMM show. These are products that really stood out to me either as something I would personally want to use or something that's innovative. In this inaugural year of the Bobby O NAMM Awards, we have 8 winners.

Coolest Monitor Speaker Award
Equator Audio D8 - I'm already an everyday user of the Equator D5s, which are built around 5 inch dual concentric drivers. I love their sound but always wished for more bottom end. The D8's appear to have solved that problem, and sounded tremendous on the floor (the booth was at the back of the hall somewhat away from the noise so you could actually hear them a bit). They also had a potentially very useful feature for some in that the DSP could switch to the curve of an Auratone or NS-10 if desired (not that I every would, personally). Their curve was also tweaked by golden ears engineer Francis Buckley and mastering engineer Chris Bellman, so they have some of their mojo, which really made them stand out.

I actually thought I was going to give this award to the Presonus Scepter 8's, which I heard at the Presonus factory studio back in June. I loved them at the time, but they weren't set up for a serious demo at NAMM so there was no way to even remotely compare them with the D8's. Still, I'd like to hear both products side by side to see which I'd like better.

Scariest Audio Product Award
Midas M32 Console - Midas consoles are legendary for their great audio in the live sound world, and were purchased by Behringer a few years ago. Now after undergoing a makeover in manufacturing techniques, the new M32 has arrived.

What's scary is the tremendous bang for the buck here. I mean it! I did a double take when I looked at the $4,999 price tag for a real Midas (same analog electronics, I was assured) for 40 inputs, 32 Midas mic preamps, and 25 mix buses, plus a built in stereo recorder. It's a fully digital console complete with 192kHz convertors, and it looked to be really easy to use. I had it figured out to the point where I think I could use it after only a couple of minutes, or about what it would take on an analog desk. All I can say is "Wow."

Best Home Studio Product
Universal Audio Apollo Twin - The UA Apollo has been a runaway preference as a multichannel computer I/O interface since its debut, but the problem was that it was too much for many home studio owners who only need two channels. UA heard the call of that market segment and came out with the Apollo Twin, a scaled down two channel Apollo, in response.

The Apollo Twin can handle sampling rates of up to 192kHz, has two UA quality mic amps built in, and has all the same functionality as its larger Apollo brothers. Best of all, it sells for $699 for the solo core and $899 for the dual core thant can handle more of the built-in plugins in a mix. The only downside for those with legacy computers is that it's only available via a Thunderbolt connection, which should be no problem if you own a newer computer.

Coolest Controller Award 
The Beamz - This is a pretty cool controller that kind of works like a theramin but triggers loops instead. It can be connected via USB or MIDI to control either a DAW or sequencer, but it also comes with a library of instrument sounds that work together so that anyone can make music in just minutes by waving their hands. There are three packages that start from $199, including one for DJs and one dedicated to education and health care.

Coolest Camera Audio Accessory
Tascam DR 60D - If you want to add some professional audio recording to your DLSR camera, the DR 60D is just the thing. It's a 4 track recorder with a built-in mixer that's designed to closely integrate with the digital cameras of today. There's also multiple record modes, including a dual "safety" mode with lower levels so you never had to worry about those sudden overloads that sometimes happen. One of the best features is a dedicated camera output so that you also print a high-quality reference track as well. Best of all, it's a very affordable $349

Coolest Guitar Idea
Fishman Fluence Pickups - Since the beginning of the electric guitar, guitar pickups have been made pretty much the same way, with coils of wire wound around a bobbin with magnets in the middle. The Fishman Fluence changes that by having smaller winds mounted on separate layered circuit boards, which means that multiple sounds can be easily chosen externally without having to change pickups. The Fluence pickups are made in single coil or humbucker forms so that they look like the real thing and fit easily fit into the slots of a Strat or Les Paul (or guitar with humbuckers).

Coolest Recreational Guitar Product
Line 6 Amplifi - Here's a great idea if you just want to have some fun playing guitar at home. It's a full modeling guitar amp with a couple of big twists. First of all, it's fully Bluetooth so you can send the songs from your iPad or phone to it for playback. Here's where it gets cool. There are actually two playback systems in the amp; one stereo for the song playback, and another for the guitar. But even better is the fact that the amp will determine which song is playing, go to the cloud to look at a database of sounds, and dial in the right guitar sound for you to play along with that particular song! The 75 watt Amplifi is only $399 while the 150 watt version is $499.

Coolest Outboard Piece
Manley Core Reference Channel Strip - Manley always been known for great sounding outboard gear and the new Core channel strip is no exception. It starts with a Class A mic input into a 3 band equalizer with a sweepable midrange, into an ELOP compressor (the same one as the VoxBox), completed by a fast-attack FET limiter. Add to this a brand new switching power supply (one that actually works well for audio) and you have a very cool package perfect for any studio. At $2250, the price is right for so much power in two rack spaces.

These are the products that knocked me out. Tomorrow, some that made me scratch my head.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

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Walk The Floor With Me At NAMM

Going to NAMM? Come with me on Friday for a 3 hour walk of the audio hall. Meet high-level company execs and see behind the scenes into the latest products at:
Manley
API
Royer
Mojave Audio
Universal Audio
PSP
ATC,
Bock Microphones
Daking
TubeTech
PreSonus and more. 

Space is limited. You must already have a badge. Send me a private message at office @ bobbyowsinski.com (sorry, doing this to deter the spammers - delete the spaces and paste in your email client) and tell me what like best about my blogs to reserve your spot.

NAMM 2013 Overview - Part 1

Winter NAMM in Anaheim is certainly a winter-wonderland of gear, music, friends and celebs that should be experienced at least once in a lifetime. If you've been to it more times that I'd like to admit, it's not quite the experience that it once was. That said, it's still the best way to spot trends (which is what I try to do), gauge the health of the industry, network, and catch up with old friends.

First a few NAMM bitches. The TSA-like security was at an all-time high, with rules that even many of the door attendants didn't seem to understand. Then, the cell phone communication was as troublesome as ever. And still no free wi-fi? Come on, Anaheim, it's 2013 already.

Then there was the new promenade that was created in front of the convention center between the hotels. It was great for the concerts at night (Tower of Power on Thursday night, Legends of Rock on Friday) as it seems to accomodate about 5,000 people, but it made the foot and car traffic much more difficult. And parking was harder than ever, although that was no doubt due to the 100,000+ crowds.

Okay, let's get on with some of the trends that I saw.

The Livid Base

One of the things that was bigger than ever was controller category, with new offerings by Akai, Ableton, Livid and many more. Here's the Livid Base, which caught my eye as very cool, although the picture doesn't do it justice.

Akai MPC Studio

Speaking of Akai, they had some cool new products with the new streamlined MPC Studio.

Akai MPC Fly

Akai also got the "best idea in packaging" award for coming up with MPC Fly which is built like a laptop with the top half being an iPad dock.

Blue Nessie

It seemed like ever mic company at the show had a new USB offering. Here's the new Blue Nessie, which has a built-in EQ, limiter, desesser and even zero-latency monitoring. Very cool.

Behringer iS202 iPad Dock

One of the things that I expected to be hot that wasn't was iPad software and accessories. Last year that was the big trend for the show, this year not so much, although Behringer had a number of products like this iS202 Docking Station. Behringer had so many new products that they've truly become a major force in the industry. Like Yamaha from about 30 years ago, they've developed into a powerhouse by making their products better and better, yet they've managed to keep the prices extremely low.

By the way, Yamaha was truly disappointing at the show, with only a minimal showing of very dated products. I don't know what that means exactly, but it's not looking good on that front.

Tascam iPhone Accessories

While the iPod had some decreased traction, the iPhone had some renewed energy, with a ton of new products and accessories like mics and mic preamps similar to these offerings from Tascam.


So those are the big picture trends that I saw from the show. I was only there for 2 days and didn't see all of it, but I did get around enough and speak to enough people to get the general feel. Tomorrow we'll take a look at audio products, then we'll visit with music products, and some oddities.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

A Look At NAMM 2012 - Part 3

Here's the last of my NAMM 2012 overview, and this time it's more about some of the odd or unusual things that I spied during my all-too-fast gallop around the show. I was actually at NAMM for 2 entire days, but the problem was that I was involved in meetings most of that time, so my floor time was actually pretty limited. Sometimes that's for the best though, since you tend to see the big picture a little better as you race through the 4 giant halls, the basement, and 2nd and 3rd floors (yes, NAMM is pretty big). Let's see what we have.

First up is a rather interesting drum kit from Molecule Drums. As you can see they have this round bulb on the bottom where the bottom head should be. Surprisingly, they actually sounded really good for the brief bit that I heard.















Speaking of drums, this company puts blinking LED overlays on drums, heads and guitars. You can't see them blink here, but it probably looks pretty good on stage.













Here's a company that makes stained glass drum heads and speaker cabinet grills. This is definitely a case where image wins over audio quality, but if that's important to you, contact revampedglassdesign.com.

With Mumford And Sons so big at the moment, having a guitar player also play a rhythm instrument has become an important musical element. This piece (I think it's a "Footbass") is just the thing for that acoustic act that needs a heartbeat.

If you want to be cool, you need a hat. What better place to buy one than at NAMM?
















Here's an interesting instrument called a "Slaperoo" that's a combination upright bass and percussion instrument. I can actually see this going somewhere as it seems to have some real possibilities in the right hands.















Just won the lottery and want to buy the fanciest piano known to man? The Hand-Built Piano Company can help you out. I don't know what they sound like, but they sure are ornate.











Want everyone to think that you're playing a real grand piano onstage instead of your synth? Time to get a Grand Illusion piano shell. This looks like the real thing from every angle except that of the player.









Okay, imagine you're playing playing in a piano bar in Afganistan and you want to keep the Taliban away. What better way to do it than to make them think that you have a Predator drone at your disposal. Yes, this really is a real grand piano.





Let's say you're a piano player that never could get the hand of guitar fingering, this device let's you use what's familiar.

Believe it or not, this is really an organ with 5 white keys on the left hand and 5 on the right. The songs aren't great but the sounds are good. It was found at Big City Music.

And finally, the sound police were out in force at NAMM. Here one regular sound cop and one undercover one check the sound level of a dobro player with a Radio Shack meter and an iPhone app. At the same time, none could be found around the various drum, brass and amplifier booths.

That was NAMM 2012 through my eyes. The other stuff you can read on any blog or website, but you have to come here for the cool stuff.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.