This will be the final installment of our special inSync Winter NAMM coverage, but don’t despair, we have our full report available online, and we will be updating you throughout the coming weeks and months, as news on NAMM products becomes available. Stay tuned!
Celemony amazed the industry when they introduced their DNA (Direct Note Access) technology at the Musikmesse trade show last March. (DNA allows the individual notes in a polyphonic audio performance to be accessed and tuned or transposed.) Now, Melodyne Editor is the first product from the company to bring DNA into the hands of musicians and engineers. Expect a lot of interest in this one when it arrives this spring.
The “Holy Cow” moment of the NAMM show had to be when we were shown the Peavey IPR power amplifiers. To keep it short and sweet: two channels, up to 6,000 watts into 2 ohms, cool operating temperatures, and under 7lbs. Plus, the prices will blow you away. You can bet the other manufacturers were scrambling to figure out the new IPR technology behind these lightweight beauties.
Ableton Live users are going to love the AKAI APC40, which is a hardware controller codesigned by Ableton and AKAI to provide completely integrated support for Live. The APC40 has a clip matrix with 40 triggers, two banks of eight knobs, channel faders, bus faders, a crossfader, and much more – a total of 72 controls. Specialized controls include tap tempo, tempo nudge, record enable, solo/cue, and two assignable footswitch inputs.
Paul Reed Smith was busy this year! New at the show were the PRS tube amplifiers, which were created by a team led by Doug Sewell. The Dallas harkens to classic American reverb amps, the Blue Sierra offers British and American tones with “Texas attitude,” while the Original Sewell focuses on the tones of great ’50s American amps. Also new from PRS was the latest in the Mira family, the Mira X, which has a lightweight basswood body, a 24.5″ scale length, and a pau ferro fingerboard. Angelus and Tonare are new acoustic guitars that were designed with direct input from artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Cody Kilby, and Tony McManus. Features include German spruce tops, rosewood or curly mahogany backs and sides, Peruvian mahogany necks, exotic inlays, and ebony fretboards and bridges.
TC Electronic expanded their Nova family of stompboxes, with the Nova Drive, an all-analog distortion and overdrive pedal. The pedal has 24 programmable presets and true bypass, plus it can simultaneously produce both distortion and overdrive effects. The two effects can be chained in any order and can also be used in parallel for completely new sounds. The RebelHead is a new bass amplifier head that can be combined with either 2×10”or 2×12” RebelStack cabinets and with the optional RebelControl remote control system, to create a comprehensive bass system. The RebelHead features 450 watts of emulated tube power, SpectraComp compression, three onboard memory locations, a Rehearsal Input connection for an MP3 player or other audio source, a 96kHz digital recording out, and a built-in tuner.
