The word for this year’s Summer NAMM in Nashville was "HOT," and we don’t just mean the new equipment. The weather this weekend combined the elements of a scorching kiln and a steaming swamp. It made checking out Nashville’s vibrant music scene a little taxing for your NAMM Report staff; we often were caught between heat exhaustion and country music, and I now can testify that anyone who claims they would rather endure any manner of excruciating hardship than listen to country music is not speaking from experience.

But the Jurassic climate couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm for checking out the great new gear Summer NAMM ’99 had to offer, and there was quite a lot of gold to be found on the vast, air-conditioned floor of the convention center. We waded through the crowds, poked among the booths, and asked lots of questions – the most oft repeated of which was "Could you repeat that again? I couldn’t hear you over the noise from the acoustic drum displays." Sweetwater’s Summer NAMM ’99 report is a compilation of the most exciting brand new music technology equipment we found, as well as some important upgrades, progress reports on up-coming gear, and a few hidden gems we thought you should know about.

Please keep in mind that this is not intended as a complete listing of all new or relevant products debuted at this NAMM show, nor is all of the information here guaranteed to be 100% correct. In many cases, manufacturers are still solidifying things like price, availability, and features. We gathered all we could from the things that caught our eye. We hope you enjoy this first sneak preview. More details will follow soon.