Winter NAMM 2001 Report
Part 6
As previously reported, this year’s show was the largest ever, and NAMM may have already outgrown the Anaheim Convention Center. We’ll have to see what show organizers think about that for next year, but for now it means that there’s still a lot of cool gear to report on, so here goes.
Alesis had a pair of sharp looking processors on display. The PEQ450 (list $399) is a dual channel 5-band fully parametric EQ plus high pass filters. The CLX440 (also list $399) is a dual channel compressor, limiter, expander and gate. Both units have an analog knob for every function, but are actually digital processors. With great sound and the ability to process either 2 stereo or 2 mono signals at once, balanced 1/4″ TRS I/O and internal power supplies, these units will bring a new performance level to this price point.
Alesis was also displaying a new set of powered studio monitors, the Pro Linear 820’s. With a 150W amp for the 8″ woofer and a 60W amp for the 1″ cloth dome tweeter, these speakers have plenty of power to deliver the goods. What really sets them apart is the unique onboard DSP engine that allows the user to compensate for listening room anomalies, or simply alter the response curve to suit individual tastes or music styles.
One of the most futuristic pieces at the show was the Surface One from MIDIMan. This difficult to describe control surface uses “smart fabric”, a fiber optic-based touch sensitive material developed by the Canadian Space Agency, which can read up/down, left/right and pressure information simultaneously. By converting this information into MIDI data, the Surface One’s objects are incredibly versatile virtual controllers. Surface One can be a virtual mixer, soft synth controller, lightboard controller, an input device for graphics or animation software, or a controller for anything else that can use MIDI data for input.
Over at the Samson booth, the new S-Class series of signal processors was getting its share of attention. This sharp looking group of single rack space units includes the S•Phone 4 channel headphone amp ($259.99), the S•3-way stereo 2-band or mono 3 way crossover ($289.99), S•com ($219.99) and S•comPlus ($279.99) stereo dynamics processors and S•com4 ($289.99) 4 channel dynamics unit. With some serious bang for the buck and snazzy looks, these processors will find a home in a lot of live sound and project studio racks.
BIAS was showing off a new control environment for VST plug ins for the Mac. Vbox can combine, repatch and mix in real time any of the plethora of VST plug-ins out there. Plug-ins can be routed in series, parallel, or in combinations, solo’ed, muted, hot swapped or bypassed, all in real time. Vbox will also ship with more than 25 VST plug-ins to get users started.
Yamaha had some upgrades for their popular AW4416 hard disc recorder to check out at their display. Version 2.0 software will make a number of operations more efficient, and analog input and output expansion cards from Apogee will give audiophile quality I/O options. The real stunner however, was the Y56K DSP card from Waves. Designed to install in one of the expansion slots in the rear of the AW4416, the Y56K card has 2 Motorola 56000 series DSP chips to run Waves plug-ins. The L1 Ultramaximizer, Renaissance EQ and Compressor, TrueVerb reverb, SuperTap 2 tap delay and De-Esser are all included, and ADAT lightpipe I/O on the card means you won’t have to sacrifice extra I/O for processing power.
Marshall was showing off a wall of its latest amplifier line, the AVT, or Advanced ValveState, series. Combining a real ECC83 tube in the preamp section, with enough plate voltage to push the tube into true overdrive, and a newly designed solid state amplifier section which uses frequency dependent power amp damping and a proprietary dynamic clip level to emulate the power performance of a tube amp, the AVT series delivers the sort of warm, musical, 3 dimensional sound that is usually only associated with all tube amps costing several times more.
Takamine was showing off the 2001 version of their heralded LTD series guitar. Sporting a solid rosewood back and new, lighter scalloped bracing, the LTD2001 has increased sustain, volume and acoustic purity. Known for their unique tasteful inlays, the current version of the LTD line doesn’t disappoint here either. The leaping dolphin motif around the rosette and at the 12th fret inlay is stunning, and a portion of the profits from the sale of this instrument will be donated to the Cousteau Society to continue its work in ocean ecology.
Boss’s Twin Pedal Series is a new line of high quality single effect floor processors. The GP20 Amp Factory is the lowest priced COSM modeling processor on the market. With 22 onboard amp models and 5 cabinet models, tonal possibilities are really stretched with this pedal. The EQ20 Advanced EQ is a programmable 10 band parametric EQ with 9 internal memory settings. The RC20 Loop Station has 5 1/2 minutes (yes minutes!) of total sampling time, and can store up to 10 looped phrases and 1 “one-shot” phrase, even after the processor is turned off. All these pedals feature Boss quality all metal chassis construction, simple knob based operation and 2 footswitches for easy performance control.
That wraps up today’s “New Toys for Big Boys” NAMM report. With a show this big, I still haven’t come to the end of my notes, so there will be more tomorrow. Until then, this is David Klausner, your former man on the warm, sunny scene in LA, signing off.