It’s every musician’s and music technology enthusiast’s favorite time of year: Winter NAMM. This is the show the whole industry has its eyes on, when the big guns in music technology roll out their hot new releases. As always, your inSync NAMM Report crew is there, scouring the enormous show floor to bring you the scoop on all the latest and greatest.
The NAMM Report is not intended as a complete listing of every single piece of new gear debuted at NAMM. 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 we thought you’d be most interested in hearing about, and some stuff that we just thought was cool.
If you see anything that catches your attention here (and we think you will), please give your Sales Engineer a call today! He or she can give you all the updated information.
Now, on with the show…
Yamaha
This just might be the year of the keyboard. Yamaha and several other manufacturer’s released and showed more synths and workstations than we’ve seen in years.
• The P250 features three levels of Yamaha CFIII Grand piano stereo samples for dynamic selection according to your touch on the keyboard. The result is a delicacy of tone and expression that faithfully reproduces the experience of playing a real piano. If playing out live is your bag and you need to have the finest feel and sound, the P250 is worth putting on your list of “must-haves.”
• The P60 or P60S are the perfect pianos for someone who is just starting out and wants to learn to play piano or for the accomplished player who wants a very light weight, portable instrument. It comes in two striking designs – the P60 in Black and the P60S in Silver. It features the same the 88-key, GH (Graded Hammer Effect) keyboard found on more expensive Yamaha digital pianos – and we don’t mind reporting that it does feel great!
• Yamaha also showed the rack version of their extremely popular Motif keyboard workstations. While they probably could have just scaled the Motif down into a rack version, Yamaha wanted to take Motif technology to the next level. So the new rack is not just affordable, it uses a newly designed sound chip that includes double the polyphony (128 Notes) and inserts effects (4 Inserts in Mix Mode) of the keyboard versions.
• Following closely on the heels of the recently introduced 02R96 digital console comes a new generation successor to the 01V. The 01V96 delivers a significantly enhanced feature set made possible by advancements in Yamaha’s proprietary chip technology. The 01V96 fits comfortably into a tight studio space (and budget) while delivering sound, capacity, control, and compatibility on a par with much larger consoles. The 01V96 does give you a choice – you can work at 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, or 96 kHz, depending on the needs of each individual project.
• At the Yamaha showcase, these little wonders were being used everywhere – from keyboard monitors to PA systems. The MSR100 fills many sound reinforcement and stage monitor needs in one inexpensive, lightweight package. As a mixer (I/O and channel control is on the back panel), power amplifier, and speaker system combined in a single, compact unit, it’s perfect for small events and club gigs. Mix in a CD player, drum machine and/or keyboard with your voice – all without the need of a separate mixer or power amplifier.
Alesis
• Alesis has made it even easier to own an analog modeling keyboard with the affordable ION. Building on the success of the Andromeda, the ION is poised to appeal to many musicians who have always wanted an analog keyboard but were either intimidated by all the countless knobs or the price.
• Along with the GuitarFX that Alesis released toward the end of 2002, the new BassFX and AcousticFX deliver new sounds and value to guitar and bass players everywhere! The BassFX features 80 programs, 9 effects modules and 8 different signal routing options for re-ordering effects modules. The AcoustiFX delivers 40 programs and 6 effects modules.
• What do you do if you already own a set of monitors but need to monitor in 5.1 surround occasionally? Say hello to the ProActive 5.1 System from Alesis – a complete surround system with a digital decoder. THX approved, this little system sounds fantastic and won’t take up hardly any space in your studio! It features 450 watts of power, digital and analog I/O and a wireless remote control. There are so many applications for a smaller, high-quality surround system such as this that it makes you wonder why someone didn’t beat Alesis to it.
Aphex
• Countless albums and CDs owe part of their success to the Aphex Aural Exciter and Big Bottom! Adding transient harmonic details (Aural Exciter) and perceived extended low end (Big Bottom), has proven its worth time and time again in the studio, on the road and in countless installed systems. Well, Aphex is taking that same technology and giving it to the masses in the form of stomp boxes! With a model for bass players, electric guitar players and acoustic instrumentalists, nearly everyone can now have a wider ranged of expression, deep tone and clean and open voicing.
Apogee
• Following the huge success of the Mini-Me, Apogee rolled out an addition to the Mini Series – the Mini-DAC. This portable and compact 192kHz capable unit is a great solution for studio playback, reference monitoring and USB connectivity to your DAW. As a two-channel converter, the Mini-DAC is built to go anywhere and delivers optimum stereo imaging and faithful analog reproduction for today’s digital world.
• For quite a while now producers and engineers have wondered when Apogee was going to make their clocking technology available as a stand-alone master clock. Enter Big Ben, a studio time tool that just might be the cure for the common jitters. Apogee is touting a new clock, the C777, which is said to handle jitter like there’s no tomorrow.