NAMM Report, Part Five!

Happy Friday. We’re going to keep rolling through the NAMM report here inSync. For those of you reading along in daily issues or receiving this via our e-mail digest keep in mind that this isn’t the entire report. You’ve seen about half of it so far. We will continue to roll with the other half in next week’s inSync. If you would like to see the whole report with photos right now just go to the link in the Publications section of our website. See you next week with more great news from NAMM.

Summer Namm 2001

Midiman has now made Reason available to both the Mac and PC platform.

Adding to a growing list of inexpensive USB audio/MIDI control interfaces, Midiman is releasing the Surface One this fall. This interface has 16 knobs, eight faders and doubles as a 2X2 MIDI interface. The Midiman Duo is due out in October. This mic pre-amp sports two inputs and two outputs. Retail: $349.

Want audio in and out of your Mac or PC, but don’t want to mess with PCI cards? What? You’re also on a tight budget? Perhaps the Quattro was made for you! This USB audio interface gives you great audio quality, at an affordable price. It won’t take up too much desktop space, and is portable enough to go anywhere with your laptop. This is a great sounding, 24-bit USB interface that is easy and convenient to use. Retail: $349.

Monster showed a new product at summer NAMM 2001, a new cable for guitarists playing through combo amps.  Following the lines of specified cables such as their ever-popular Jazz and Rock cables, these new cables will deliver the same Monster quality that you’ve come to know and love.

The luthiers at Brian Moore Guitars have certainly been busy, with an amazing array of their finest custom shop pieces on display at the show. The concept of ‘built to order’ is taken to a completely different level with Brian Moore’s electric guitars and basses.

New to the BMC lineup is the addition of the RMC piezo pickup to their i2000 Series models i2p, i8p, and i9p. Piezo pickups allow the emulation of an acoustic sound in an electric instrument, and further expand the tonal soundscapes available on these already versatile instruments. Retail prices range from $1,295 to $1,695, and are available immediately.

Presonus had a tremendous showing of new products. One really cool new product is their DEQ624 digital 31 band equalizer. Unlike most other digital EQs on the market, this unit has 74 high resolution digital encoders which give the unit that old school touch of having a control for each band.  But, the innovations didn’t stop there, as you can program the frequency band controls to act as a typical 6 or 12 dB cut or boost control, or even an amazing +12 or —24 to really be able to notch out troublesome frequencies.  Even that was not enough for the wizards from Louisiana, as you can also change the Q of each band individually.  Also included in the unit are high and low pass filters, expanding, and limiting available on each channel. All of this along with scene snapshots and security lockout make this one monstrous unit at only $799, available today.

For those that thought the BlueTube was cool, what happens when you take a Presonus high gain/low noise tube mic pre and add a three band parametric EQ?  You get the amazing new TubeStrip. Other stunning features include: a dual connector for both mics and instruments, an astounding 22 dB of headroom and 70 dB of gain. This unit has both XLR and 1/4″ outputs, but this time around the phone jacks are TRS, and another jack is provided for an insert. All this for only $249, look for it mid-fall.

All those acoustic musicians out there that want to get much better sound at an incredible value definitely need to look at the Presonus Acoustique. The TRS jack on the front panel accepts two inputs (for example a pickup and a mic) and can blend between them. These inputs are passed through the same high gain/low noise preamp that is available in the TubeStrip.  This unit also has a notch filter, semi-parametric midrange EQ circuit as well as brilliance and bass controls to have tremendous control over the tone of your instrument. It even includes a footswitch input to mute the output or engage a preset cut/boost level. Also available in mid-fall, this fabulous piece is only $249.

Presonus also introduced two new multichannel products. The CL44 is a new 4 channel Compressor/Limiter with ‘Companding.’ The GTX-44 is a 4 channel Noise Gate and Expander with low pass sidechain filters. Both units utilize new advanced Digital Sidechain Processing and include high pass filters. Both also feature ten segment meters on each channel for real-time visual feedback. And, with XLR and TRS inputs and outputs, you will have no trouble interfacing either unit with anything.  Watch for these to come out at the end of the year for only $599 each.

We found the Roland booth tucked comfortably away in a private suite filled full of new music technology. Roland has been keeping their engineers very busy indeed! Leading the way with a host of new products is the highly anticipated Fantom workstation keyboard. A lean and mean, uncluttered and easy to use interface makes creating music with this powerful 76 note synthesizer keyboard a musicians dream. The Fantom has 64 voices, is 16 part multitimbral, has 1,024 patches plus 29 rhythm sets, and uses the same professional sound engine as the XV5080, with 24-bit reverb and 90 multi-effects, including COSM Amp Modeling. With its Variable Arpeggiator and Rhythm Generator, the Fantom is designed to keep the music flowing, bridging the gap between performance and composition. Roland has another keyboard hit on its hands with the new RD-700 Expandable Keyboard, the Ultimate 88 note piano, with Progressive Hammer Action and 64 MB of stereo sampled piano and instrument sounds, and the ability to expand via two SRX Series Wave Expansion Boards. On the digital audio recording front, the VS2480 hard disc recorder/digital mixer/workstation/wonderbox continues to amaze, and has a new operating system update that is available on Roland’s website, enabling it to, among other things, interface with almost any other digital recording system on the planet. But for totally new cool, you absolutely have to check out the revolutionary CDX-1 Multitrack CD recorder/Audio Sample Workstation. It is the world’s first digital recorder that allows you to record multiple audio tracks (2 simultaneously, 8 total) directly to CD-RW, digitally mix, add effects and master to CD-R, all in one box. Add phrase sampling pads, waveform editing, high quality time-stretching, BPM synching and a special Mastering Tool Kit, and you begin to realize what all the fuss is about. We could go on for pages with details about Roland’s newest products, but we’ll have to be content with providing you with a few more highlights. Among the attention grabbers were a new V-Drums kit, the V-Club Set, that brings the acclaimed V Series to its most affordable price point, featuring newly developed rubber pads and the new TD-6 module, with 64 note polyphony, 1,024 drum sounds, 262 backing sounds, 99 kits and a 6 part sequencer. The D2 is a new breed of groovebox that puts the sound and power of the MC Series at your fingertips with the new D-Field controller, a touch sensitive pad that provides realtime control over multiple parameters in three distinct modes. We can’t forget to mention the DB-900, Roland’s new flagship bass amp. Big, bad bottom end with 4×10″ speakers, 2×12″ passive radiator speakers, horn tweeter, COSM Amp Modeling and 320 watts of power with Feed Forward Processing for maximum punch and clarity.

New to the already incredibly powerful, ever expanding line of digital recorders from the company that redefined digital recording in a box, the Boss BR-532.  The Boss BR-532 is ready to take that reputation of an excellent quality “studio in a box” and push it even one step further, this time concentrating even more on ease of use and improved sound quality.  The BR-532 features four primary audio tracks accompanied by a stereo drum track and on board effects.  They have also improved the drum sounds found on the already super friendly built in Rhythm Guide.  Other new features of the new BR-532 is the fact that this unit has stepped away from the use of Zip™ disks and has now switched to the ever popular Smart Media cards.  Couple these cards with the new disk loader and you will have the awesome ability to record on the BR-532 and then save the project right on to your computer, freeing up all of the space available on the Smart Media card to begin recording your next hit song. The BR-532 is going to be available later this fall with a retail price of $495.00. Also from Boss this summer comes the all-new GT-6 guitar foot pedal processor.  Going for a much easier user interface, the new GT-6 is loaded to the brim with knobs for easy access of control on the board.  Just grab a knob and turn it for results.  The expression pedal has also been given a more realistic control feature.  Now to turn the expression pedal on or off, simply press it down harder at the top of it’s sweep like an authentic Wah-wah pedal design.  Sounds great and will be ready to over take your rig also later this fall. And, Roland is preparing for quite the Halloween Spectacular with the announcement of four new products with expected availability in late October. The WP20G gives access to an incredible assortment of great guitar effects for any instrument with a 13-pin connector or a GK2A synth pickup.  Its incredible wave processor reshapes waveforms to create stunning delay, chorus, synth, ring mod, VG88 sounds and much more for only $299.  Next in line we have the OC20G polyoctave GK effect.  This amazing unit allows you to generate octaves on an individual string or any possible combinations glitch free also for only $299. Also they were showing the GT6 which replaces the GT3 & GT5, but at the price of a GT3. With a beautiful anodized case that is built like a tank and has plenty of controls for all of the functions you will enjoy the look & feel almost as much as the wonderful sounds of the COSM created amp models and effects, it even includes a digital S/PDIF output.  For only $499 look out Charlie Brown, the Great Pumpkin is coming and he means business.