Summer NAMM 2000 Report
Part 6
Your NAMM Report staff continues to bring you the best of 2000 Summer NAMM with Part 6 of this exciting saga.
CODA: They were showing off the latest version of their very popular Finale notation software package. The Finale 2001 adds some excellent new features, like an interactive web publisher that allows you to publish on the Web. You can Save as a Web Page or “Publish to Finale Showcase”, Coda’s web page designed as a Community Center for Notation. There’s also MicNotator, which notates as you play (via a computer microphone), an expanded Set-up Wizard feature, and a fretboard editor. Musitek’s MidiScan technology is now included free with Finale 2001.
MOTION SOUND: You can always count on Motion Sound for delivering something a little interesting in the speaker department, and this year’s NAMM is happily no exception. First up is the SR-112 Rotary Sound Speaker, a real mechanical drum type cabinet that utilizes your own amplifier to power the cabinet’s 12″, 150 watt speaker. Controls include Base Speed Control that sets a preset speed, ranging from stop to fast, and delivering some great three-dimensional chorus and tremolo effects. Then there’s Pedal Speed Control which sets a second preset speed and toggles between base speed and pedal speed settings (via footswitch). Finally, Acceleration Control lets you set the time it takes to speed up and speed down between the base and pedal speed settings. A built-in dynamic microphone to XLR output provides convenient PA connections. For those of you that use combo amps, a combo amp adapter is also available.
Their KT-200S seems like the next step up from their KT-80. It’s an awesome 200-watt keyboard amp with two channels. The first: a stereo hi-fidelity input channel with 3D expand for clean transparent amplification of piano and synth sounds. The second: a REAL tube channel that adds warmth and overdrive to organ and electric piano. Via an optional footswitch, you can switch between channels on demand. One second your sound is all pure and pretty; the next it’s straight from the Georgia woods! (And we mean that as a GOOD thing).
MARTIN: Do you like purdy guitars? So do we. I mean, we love music technology equipment, and it’s always exciting seeing all the digital marvels and fantastic new gear available out there, but there’s something about going to the Martin booth…
One of the standouts this year was the “Edmund Fitzgerald,” the Gordon Lightfoot Limited Edition signature guitar ($3500), a vintage D-18 Dreadnought made of genuine mahogany. Gordon’s signature is inlaid in pearl at the end of the fingerboard, while each instrument bears an interior label personally signed and individually numbered. The catch? Only 61 were made, and by the time we got to the Martin booth, they were already sold out (and we got there pretty early in the show, too). We’re not sure what back stairs you’ll have to creep around to find one, but good luck…
Country legend George Jones also gets the signature guitar honors. The D-41 Dreadnought acoustic that bears his name is crafted from select solid tonewoods and features abalone “scalloped hexagon” fingerboard inlays. Jones’ signature is inlaid in pearl at the end of the fingerboard. The edition is limited to 100 guitars (each with a signed and numbered interior label), and part of the proceeds will be donated to support the work of the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville (the guitar retails for $4750).
Guitar hero Steve Miller gets not one but TWO signature guitars to his name. The 00-37K SM ($5750) and the 00-37K2 SM ($6250) are traditional 00 12-fret instruments and feature back and sides of rare flamed Hawaiian koa. The difference between the two models? The 00-37K SM has a top of fine, book-matched Engelmann spruce, tinted with vintage toner for the classic pre-war Martin look. The 00-37K2 SM has a top of flamed Hawaiian koa. Both models feature hand-scalloped 1/4″ bracing. Each instrument has a limited run of 68, to commemorate the year of the first Steve Miller Band’s debut record.
Another limited edition guitar, the Cowboy X ($999) features a 000-sized body with a fantastic reproduction of artist Robert Armstrong’s “Dreamy Illusion” painting on the soundboard. You obviously won’t be taking this one to open-mic night, but it’s an impressive looking instrument. The Cowboy X is a limited edition of 250 instruments.
One of the notable instruments in Martin’s special edition guitars was the 00-16DBFM ($2750), the fifth instrument in their Women In Music Series guitars. The 00-16DBFM features flamed maple back and sides, a solid Sitka spruce soundboard, natural mahogany top and back bindings, black ebony fingerboard and bridge, a V-matched maple neck, and slotted headstock. The tone? Full and rich, very much what you’ve come to expect from Martin’s 00 Series. As a side note, your inSync editor took a trip to Sitka (among other places) last year and can tell you these folks are obsessed with fine woods. So when we say Sitka Spruce it means top quality.
In the realm of “normal”, non-signature guitars, Martin had plenty to offer, with some impressive editions to their many guitar lines. Three new guitars join their X Series of “entry level” guitars, all constructed of solid spruce soundboards and high pressure laminate “mahogany motif” back and sides. First up is the 000X1 Auditorium ($649), a small-bodied six-string guitar. Second is the D12X1 ($749), a beautiful 12-string Dreadnought. Finally, there’s the DCX1E ($899), a Dreadnought cutaway with electronics – a Fishman Classic 4 Sonicore sound reinforcement system.
TASCAM: They were showing off their new 788 Portastudio ($1149), a sleek, silver 24-bit digital workstation with hard disk recorder for mixing and recording professional quality CDs. Features include 8 tracks and 256 virtual tracks, integrated effects, and a built-in digital mixer and high-powered digital editing functions. Also from Tascam was the PCI-822 Computer Interface Card ($369) for digital audio recording and MIDI sequencing. It can handle 32-channel MIDI and works for both Mac and Windows. This is an ideal companion to their soon to be released US428 control surface. They also had working RC-2424 units (now in stock at Sweetwater) being shown with the MX-2424, 24-track hard disk recorder (now shipping).
AKG: Two new hotties from AKG. First up was the C2000B ($289), a versatile recording mic designed to bridge the gap between the extreme high-end studio microphones and the more affordable models. It produces a very clean, clear “up-front” sound. For vocals, there’s a switchable bass rolloff filter for close-up miking of the singer. But there’s also an extremely flat frequency response with a slight high frequency boost for clarity during far-miking. So you get the best of both worlds. Then, there’s the C3000B ($520), an excellent editon to AKG’s already impressive line of large diaphragm cardioid condensers. Features include a 1-inch condenser capsule of gold-sputtered mylar for optimum transient response, and a switchable internal pad for high SPL environments.
They also introduced their Emotion II mics, solid pro-quality mics for use on stage. They included the D 440, a cardioid dynamic mic for percussion instruments as well as guitar amps and winds, and the D 550, similar to the D 440 but with a lower frequency range for bass amps and baritone wind instruments. The D 660 S ($98) is a dynamic mic with a hypercardioid polar pattern for all types of stage use. The D 770 MkII ($129) is a cardioid vocal/instrumental microphone fitted with a dent-resistant, spring steel wire-mesh grill. Finally, the D 880 MkII ($142) and D 880 S MkII ($155) are supercardioid mics designed especially for vocals. Both include the same wire mesh as the D 770. The D 880 S features a recessed silent ON/OFF switch.
M AUDIO: Designed as a “front end” for the Delta 44 and Delta 66 interface cards, the Omni I/O Integrated Desktop Audio Station ($299) is a very cool half-rack space unit with all your basic recording tools. More than just some mic pres attached to an audio card, the Omni I/O acts as a sort of “split console” making it easy for you to record mics, guitars, keyboards and more while monitoring multiple sources. It’s split into a recording section and mixing section. The mixing section features four Delta outputs and four stereo aux inputs for MIDI devices. In its own quiet way it was one of the more impressive things we saw at NAMM, and sure to be appreciated by all the Delta users out there.
The latest addition to their Delta Series of audio cards is Delta Waveform, a 24-bit, 96kHz, 4 in/4 out PCI digital recording interface with MIDI. If you’ve been looking for an inexpensive, “jack-of-all-trades” digital audio solution, Delta Waveform looks like a good bet. It can handle practically any digital audio task you throw at it. Multitrack recording is just the beginning. You can also use it for digital transfers and mastering, for maintaining a high standard of sound quality while transferring your cassettes and LPs to CD, and for your computer-based home theater or hi-fi systems. Like the rest of the Delta Series, the Delta Waveform supports all computer platforms and all major software programs.
That’s all for this week. We saw so much great stuff at NAMM that we’ll have to rap up the report in Monday’s inSync. If you just can wait until Monday we are posting the entire report on our Web site complete with photographs. After Monday inSync will return to its regularly scheduled programming.