Several of us from Sweetwater Sound attended the 1996 NAMM (National Association for Music Merchants) International Music Market which was held from January 18 - 21, 1996, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

This amazing 4-day show featured over 1,000 exhibitors and was attended by over 50,000 registered attendees who excitedly swarmed over the 410,000+ sq feet of exhibit space! The extra added day was a blessing as there was just too much new gear and software to see in only three days. In fact, the City of Anaheim has officially recognized the 1996 NAMM Show as the largest show ever staged in the city.

And to think we almost didn't make it! Our flight from Ft.Wayne through Chicago was canceled twice due to fog in the Windy-City. Our third try involved chartering a private plane to Detroit, but before we got to the private plane the Detroit connection had sold out. So we refiled the private flight plan, flew to Cleveland, ran clear across the airport to barely make a flight to LAX. Now we were stuck at LAX, so we rented a helicopter to buzz us to the John Wayne Airport and we were only five minutes late for our first NAMM meeting.


Was it worth it? We'll show you. We snapped a bunch of pictures with our Apple QuickTake digital camera, ran back to our hotel room where we downloaded them to an Apple 5300c Powerbook and rushed back to the show to get more. Here is a quick "instant report" that we have put together as a service to you, our loyal supporters. Please feel free to call a Sweetwater Sales Engineer for more information on these or other desired products.



Below are the manufacturers listed alphabetically A - M.
Click here to see manufacturers listed N - Z.

AKG showed for the first time their MicroMic Series II microphones. They are as follows: C419 Wind Instrument Mic, C420 Headset Mic, C418 Drum and Percussion Mic, C411 Acoustic Pickup, DB1 Double Bass Bridge Pickup...very cool!.

Alesis made price-point history with their new QS8 64 Voice 88 Key Expandable Master Synthesizer retailing at only $1,999.00! This roadworthy keyboard has 16 Meg of ROM and 640 Programs and 500 multitimbral Mixes, expandable via two Card Slots to 32 Megs of ROM, 1,792 Programs and 1,400 Mixes. You can even load up to 16 Megs of your own samples via their Sound Bridge 2.0 for Mac and PC. The keyboard action feels incredible!
They also introduced their ATK Integrated Drum Trigger System, it includes the new DM5 Drum Module, 7 Pads, High Hat, and Kick Trigger. A steal for under $2,000.00!
If you like small, the new 1/3rd rack space 18 Bit Digital NanoVerb is a must have processor for only $179.00.


APHEX showed the 109 Tubessence 4 channel parametric EQ. This unit will sound hot for $499.00 and will ship in the spring.

ART has several new products to offer. Since the introduction of digital technology, professional recordists and sound engineers have been attempting to regain the warmth and definition that are the hallmarks of analog technology. The PRO MPA offers a professional, no compromise solution...two independent channels bring all of the warmth and clarity you need for your recording or live needs. Two large, illuminated VU meters provide full monitoring. The PRO MPA also provides phantom power, phase-reversal, variable bass rolloff and balanced operation. Retail price $599.00

At $149.00 the Tube MP is the hit of the year! A cost-effective way to bring tube-generated warmth to your vocal and instrumental tracks, plus a heaping helping of noise-free gain. Now, here are two MP's in a single space rack chassis, the Dual MP, giving you twice the flexibility in a convenient, compact package. Perfect for home/demo studios or live performance.Retail price $329.00

At last, a multi-processor that offers the incredible sound quality of dedicated high-end processors. Use the Effects Network as a reverb, and the intuitive interface behaves exactly as you'd expect it to. Shift to a delay or chorus, and both the sound and interface are right there with you. If you don't have the budget for a dozen dedicated processors, and are tired of the sonic and interface limitations of a multi processor, the Effects Network is the answer. Retail price $449.00

The DST-4 brings to the world a great tube guitar preamplifier, that combines the sound of your favorite vintage tube amps with an arsenal of digital state-of-the-art effects. Or, if you like, create your own distortions to get a unique sound. You can use the DST-4 as a stand alone Guitar Preamp with Effects, or split the two functions, so that you can go in the front end of an amp with the preamp, and route the effects through the amp's effects loop. Retail price $499.00

The Power Plant gives you all the characteristics of the best classic tube amps - it cleans up when you turn your guitars volume down, and goes into full saturation when you crank it. most importantly, because it reacts to your playing, the Power Plant sounds like you - your sound. Retail price to be announced.

With the world's first digitally controlled eight-channel analog gate, the Pro-Gate, ART has developed an intuitive interface that adds new meaning to the words "user friendly". One universal set of controls is assignable to any of eight channels by simply pressing a button. Introducing full-featured gate functions, astonishing audio quality, and true octal dynamics processing. Retail price $1099.00. This really is a "Pro" Gate!



AUDIO-TECHNICA has announced the premiere of its new 1100 Series True Diversity Wireless Microphone System. The series is composed of the ATW-1127 UniPak transmitter system, the ATW-1128 hand-held dynamic microphone system and the ATW-1129 hand-held condenser microphone system. Competitively priced in the $499.00 - $900.00 range.
All three systems feature true-diversity reception with two independent RF sections for superior reliability, and a selection of 20 VHF frequencies for minimum interference. No prices yet.

Audio Technica has expanded its 40 series microphones with the AT4041, a pressure-gradient capacitor mic with a uniform cardoid polar pattern. It is designed primarily for professional recording and critical broadcast applications. Based on the other 40 series mics, I'm sure you can't beat this mic for quality and value. Retail price $395.00.



CODA MUSIC TECHNOLOGY INC. recently reduced the suggested retail price of Finale and Allegro, music notation software, from $749 to $545 for Finale, and $349 to $199 for Allegro.
Recent upgrades have made these industry standard award winning applications even easier to use.



CROWN displayed their CM-700 Cardoid mic for semi-pro and pro studio recording and sound reinforcement. Small size is also ideal for stand miking at lecterns. Bass rolloff/cutoff switch. Retails for $289.00. We have them in stock now and have been selling alot of them.



dbx's new 1066 ($549.95 retail) is a stereo compressor, limiter and gate designed to provide simple, flexible operation for recording, broadcast or live sound reinforcement applications.
At the heart of the 1066 is dbx's new V2 VCA. The new VCA, combined with the unit's design, enables the 1066 to perform like compressors selling for hundreds of dollars more.
Also shown was a great sounding inexpensive new 2 channel compressor named the dbx 262 retailing for $199.00



The new DENON DN-2500F professional CD player extracts the essence of the DN-2000F MKII and the DN-2700F, both of which have become de facto standards for basic model CD players in the DJ market, and this new model also sports some additional advanced features of its own. This Dual Well CD player features auto/key pitch control, sampler, looping, brake effect, voice reducer and disc discrimination function. Retail price to be announced.



DIGITECH showed their new VTP-1 Tube Preamp (under $1,000.00) which incorporates a vacuum tube mic preamp, tube/line amp, flexible EQ section and a digital output. It includes a 18 bit A/D converter all in an attractive 2U chassis. It's fantastic for warming vocal tracks as well as allowing synthesizers, guitars and basses to be run directly into a recording device. It looked very "retro" and knowing Digitech I am sure it sounds incredible!



EMAGIC showed their latest and greatest versions of Logic Audio for Mac and Windows. Call us for more details. These are incredibly powerful programs!


The Emulator 4 Keyboard from E-MU SYSTEMS had large crowds trying to get their turn to play. It's basically the E IV rack (128 notes, 128 MB of RAM slots) with a 76 note velocity and pressure sensitive keyboard, plus 4 Slider Controllers, an 18 bit FX board, a Standard MIDI Sequencer and it comes equipped with a 270 MB internal hard drive loaded with more than 150 MB of new sounds. The SoundSprint feature allows you to quickly browse through the hard drive as if it were a "virtual ROM Bank". Very cool!
There are two versions: a 128 voice version ($4,895.00) and a 64 voice version ($3,995.00) which can be updated with an option board. I thought it sounded great...I want one!



JBL introduces the MR900 Series Sound Reinforcement Speakers (based on the popular SR800 Series). These speakers have even better sound quality and protection with several new features including SonicGuard Circuitry, redesigned crossovers, Neutrik Speakon Connectors, HF Compression Driver, SHG cast frame woofer and more. These speakers are built for the road and are available in the following models: MR902, MR905, MR918, MR922, MR925, MR926, MR935 and MR938.

Also on JBL's menu is the new TR Series. JBL wanted to make a more affordable speaker yet not compromise the quality that they are known for. The TR Series has brought over features from their high-end concert touring and live performance systems. Features like SonicGuard Circuitry and liquid cooled compression driver made with pure titanium. Look for the TR105 ($549.00), TR125 ($499.00), TR126 ($599.00) and TR225 ($699.00) at prices that will blow you away. Available later this spring.



The KORG booth was packed with people waiting to see Joe Zawinul push the Prophecy and Trinity keyboards to their full potential. There was also a once-a-day preview of the long awaited OASYS keyboard which all of us can't wait to play.

On the recording end, Korg was eagerly showing their SoundLink DRS which is a collection of recording components designed to work together as a complete system.These include the 168RC Digital Recording Console (approx.$3,500.00), the first truly affordable fully digital 8 buss automated recording console. It has a 16x8x2 configuration with a total of 24 Input and 22 Output interfaces in a combination of analog, ADAT Optical and S/PDIF formats. Available later this year!


The RM8 Reference Monitors were engineered and manufactured as a team effort with Boston Acoustics to create the ultimate in very low distortion and accurate sonic reproduction. (Under $500.00)
These gorgeous speakers were designed to be driven by the new RMA 240 Monitor Amplifier, a 120 watt per side amp which uses a minimal component count. With a minimum of components the sound quality is very open and detailed. This allows it to be convection cooled with no fan. (price to be announced)
And finally the system offers the 1212I/O PCI Multi-Channel Audio Interface with DECK II . This card features 12 inputs and 12 outputs configured as two analog I/O's, an S/PDIF I/O, and an eight channel ADAT Optical I/O. (price to be announced). Available later this year!



KURZWEIL is now shipping the K2500 76-note semi-weighted ($4,720.00) and K2500X 88-note fully-weighted keyboards ($5,250.00), which have all of the features found on their successful K2500R ($3,685.00) Rack plus 8 Sliders, 2 Ribbons, 4 Pedal Inputs, Breath Control Input and more. They are 48 note polyphonic and can hold up to 128 MB of Sample RAM.


They also announced their newest 61-note K2vx ($3,495.00) and K2Svx with Sampling ($4,195.00) keyboards. They both have 24 MB of ROM on board, plus PRAM and 600 Factory Programs, 300 Setups and over 80 QA Banks. There will be an upgrade for existing K2000's later this spring.


Kurzweil Music Systems announced the latest in it's line of Home Digital Pianos: the 88-key weighted Mark 12 (price to be announced), with SRS "3D Stereo Sound", plus over 300 sampled instruments and 64 user-editable auto-accompaniment styles featuring "Anyone Can Play" and a 16 track recorder/sequencer. There is also a Drawbar Organ feature that lets you create and save you own custom registrations.



LEXICON demonstrated the new PCM 90 Digital Reverberator which offers Lexicon's highest quality reverbs in a compact, single space, affordable package at $2,995.00. The PCM-90 can create realistic reverbs from large canyons down to incredibly realistic small spaces like phone booths and drum rooms. These can be controlled in real-time by preset or custom controllers and Dynamic Patching which maps data from any of 143 control sources to any effect parameter. It sounds so good everyone will want one!



MACKIE has once again dropped the jaws of all who passed by with their new MS1202 VLZ , MS1402 VLZ, and CR1604 VLZ ($429.00, $599.00 and $1199.00) which, on top of having many new improvements, all feature Very Low Impedance circuitry that keeps these mixers as quiet as is humanly possible.
They also gave a sneak peek at their new SR40*8 , a large-format, center-master section-style 40+4x8 mixing console with an unbelievable price-point. Under ($10,000.00), available mid-late summer.



MARK OF THE UNICORN. Every time I went by the Mark Of The Unicorn booth it was packed. Industry legend Don Muro was astounding the audiences with his impressive demo of Digital Performer. I even saw Phil Ramone's jaw drop! Digital Performer looked and sounded great!



Click here for Manufacturer's listed alphabetically N thru Z.