Anyone at NAAM wanna share what they saw?

[jgest]

Anyone at NAAM wanna share what they saw?

I'll be there tomorrow or Sat, but I am curious, what's new?

Filthy, ratty dreadlocks is the new mullet.

D.J.'s are the new musicians.

MOTU has beta drivers for Windows Vista. That's about it

[RMD Music]

Filthy, ratty dreadlocks is the new mullet.

D.J.'s are the new musicians.

MOTU has beta drivers for Windows Vista. That's about it

Hilarious, dude. That sums it up.

Well, I'm glad I didn't go there this year because it sounded like a real dud when it comes to software this year.

RD

[Tim]

Hi Tim, yea,

Ask if their will be a Mac Pro version and if any new patches or sounds will be comming. Also, Is there a way for user samples to be added. If not make that a feature request.

Yes, yes, and no.

The response to the third question was something like:
Well, that would make it a sampler, and we have Halion for that.

[Tim]

Filthy, ratty dreadlocks is the new mullet.

No matter how cool in the now, it'll always end up in the "what the •••• were we thinking" bin...........until ten or fifteen years later when it's cool again.

I admire that guy for wanting to look different, and not be like anyone else. Therfore, I want to look just like him.

[Timeline]

Hi Tim, yea,

Ask if their will be a Mac Pro version and if any new patches or sounds will be comming. Also, Is there a way for user samples to be added. If not make that a feature request.

Yes, yes, and no.

The response to the third question was something like:
Well, that would make it a sampler, and we have Halion for that.

I thought as much on the third but I think we can figure it out eventually without buying Halion.

Thanks Tim. Very cool.

As Teil'c would say on SG1, "Once again I am in your debt sir"

Cheers

[Babz]

Okay, I wasn't able to make it out to L.A. this year, so I have to rely on my secret network of high tech tentacles stretching throughout the globe <"bwah-hahahahaaa"> (in other words websites, user lists, email contacts, and other mundane stuff).... Anyway, from what I've been able to pick up on my radar, here's my own personal list of some of the most exciting new products so far in no particular order:

- The Fender Rhodes is reborn! We've been hearing about it for months, and leading up to this there has been a lot of legal heat on the internet surrounding the Rhodes trademark etc., but now the real product is finally unveiled to the public. Details are still sketchy at this point, but we do know that the company scheduled a big Rhodes tribute concert w/ big name artists like George Duke, etc.

Official site: http://www.rhodespiano.com/
Gearwire video: http://www.gearwire.com/rhodes-piano-wnamm-1.html

- East-West announces 6 new VIs, the most enthralling and audacious of which (to me at least) is "The Fab Four" -- 8 GBs of Beatles gear sampled with exacting muso anality.

Also of note is their new 64-bit engine driving these VIs ... They appear to be moving away from the Kontakt engine, and who knows what kind of enhancements and possibilities the new engine might open up.

See: http://www.soundsonline.com/

- UAD-Xpander. UAD for laptops! Users have been clamoring for something like this. It isn't the Firewire box we had all expected (ala the TC model), but a new approach.

http://www.uaudio.com/

- Yamaha has updated their MOTIF line (double the waveforms, color screen, etc.).

- Korg has announced a new workstation, the M3 ... Plus new Legacy Collection - Analog Edition 2007 Virtual Instruments/Effects

- Eventide announces their first ever *stompboxes*!

- Mackie has a new control surface, the Control Pro.

- Arturia, a company known for their precise software recreations of classic era synths, announces their first ever *hardware* instrument (there's a new trend ... hard is the new soft!), plus a new Jupiter 8 virtual instrument. From what I can tell, the new Arturia hard synth -- called "Origin" -- is based around their soft synths (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, Minimoog and Prophet VS, etc.). It's not yet clear to me if it can exchange patches w/ the software instruments, or what might be possible in terms of integration w/ the software/computer world.

- Ultimate Sound Bank announces PLUGSOUNDPRO (an "8 GB core library [that] includes all the sounds from the award-winning Plugsound Box along with a new Classical section providing a wide range of acoustic instruments and a broad selection of ready-to-use loops and phrases." The good news here is for MachFive users (whew, on topic finally ), as these sound can be read by MachFive!

They also announced a Retro Keyboards instrument (electric pianos, clavs, etc.), about which the release notes state: "Retro Keyboards can be used as a stand-alone player, as a plug-in within any DAW/sequencer, or even loaded into MOTU's MachFive 2."

... which begs the question:

- MOTU? So far as I can tell nothing new from MOTU this time around. Hopefully the long-delayed MachFive 2 will emerge from vaporware limbo sometime soon. At any rate the Ultimate Sound Bank stuff represents a big hunk of native-format MachFive library material.

Finally, false rumors and now-discredited urban legends... No Reason 4 (if you missed the rumor, so much the better; it turns out to be bogus), and no new V-Drums.

So, there you have a few new products that caught my eye so far...

I look forward to details from others who might be able to fill in more details from the floor or posts covering other exciting new products that I may have missed.

Cheers,
Babz

[monkey man]

Great report, Babz; thank you.

The good news here is for MachFive users (whew, on topic finally ), as these sound can be read by MachFive!

Dude, you're cool; your entire post was on topic.

Details are still sketchy at this point, but we do know that the company scheduled a big Rhodes tribute concert w/ big name artists like George Duke, etc.

Yo, the Dukey Stick himself.
Although none of my peers had heard of him and didn't want a bar of his stuff, I lapped his good vibes up, man.
The Dukester was my original Meister, 'till I met Shooshie.

... and no new V-Drums.

Whoa... I'm about to sell my DM Pro and cough up a chunk of dough for a TD-20 module.
Is there something I should know?

Thanks again, Babz.

[Timeline]

Can't find Mackie Control Pro Info. Maybe not posted yet.

[jarok]

Hi

Here is some info of Mackie Control Pro:

http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/lang/en/id/5061/

jarok

[Timeline]

Thanks J

Well it looks pretty close to MC. A few more buttons and larger meters. Hmm, what's the deal I wonder.

Nevermind. .. cool it has usb. right on!

HEY any one going today ask Mackie if DP is compatible..

Thanks

[monkey man]

Apart from the USB thing, is there anything actually new about them?

Adding buttons is like growing an extra arm; there's no new information there, only repetition.
New colour-schemes and super-imaginative names like ~Pro (!) don't constitute a viable sell-your-existing-gear and rush-out-and-buy-this excuse.

Please, somebody tell me there's more to this than (doesn't) meet the eye.

[Timeline]

The one thing that makes this appealing to me is usb and now the software is all in their hands. We might expect better management plus faster response times than outboard MIDI, I HOPE.

[David Polich]

I spent Thursday and Friday at NAMM. Impossible to see everything of course.

I didn't expect MOTU to show anything new, and personally didn't care anyway. Fine by me.

No new version of Logic (like we care).

The new Rhodes sounds and plays great, just like you'd expect it to. But too pricey (2 grand for the 61-key model, for starters).

Nord Stage 2 was cool. Their new organ sounded great - but the lack of drawbars is a total deal-killer. You can't even run your finger down an "LED" drawbar and get it to change - you have to use increment decrement buttons to change the drawbar settings. This is just beyond lame.

Arturia's hardware was just mockups with a display - couldn't actually hear it. The Jupiter-8 has a good basic sound, but no good presets were done for the show.

Yamaha's XS looks and sounds great. I couldn't hear the Korg M3 demo. It certainly looks cool. The addition of the Mono/Poly to the line of Korg softsynths is cool.

Synful Orchestra was improved, if you care about that product. It's still not a real-time sampled instrument, just a playback instrument. Garritan's new solo cello looks to be as good as their solo violin. Vienna's got their •••• together, latest products sound and work great. Way expensive. New East-West stuff looks very promising. New "Ocean Way" drums from Sonic Reality look good.

NI showed a new DJ-oriented product - who cares. Nothing new in the synth or sampler line. New DJ product wasn't working the 2nd day of the show. Don't know if they got it fixed.

FxPansion has a new line of software synths coming (not shown at the show) and a new version of BFD coming soon - BFD 2. No details on BFD 2.

Looks like bad news for Waves users - Waves6 won't be out until sometime 2nd or third quarter. If your WUP expires before then you'll have to pay for the upgrade, as usual. Absolutely no details on Waves 6, they were pushing Mercury, which is too expensive for most of us anyway.

Roland showed the V-synth GT - very cool looking, new "instrument articulation modeling" mode, great sounds. 3200 bucks - yowza. I'm keeping my "old" V-synth. Oh yes - the new V-synth doesn't accept the D50 card.

Alesis looks to be out of the synth/keyboard business atogether. Maybe the recording business too. No ADAT HD on display, no keyboards on display. My gut feeling is that the Fusion is going to be dropped this year.

Spectrasonics wasn't at the show, although the Ilio booth had demos of Stylus RMX and other Spectrasonics products.

Steinberg was showing off Cubase 4. Lots of excitement about that.

Way too many new guitar stomp effects - does the world really need another analog delay or "tube distortion" pedal? Lots of goth wanna-bes in the drum and guitar area as usual. They look younger every year to me. Also a few too many old Spinal-Tap types wandering around. There must have been a yard sale on used black hair extensions prior to the show.

[Timeline]

Also a few too many old Spinal-Tap types wandering around. There must have been a yard sale on used black hair extensions prior to the show.

But did any of the new amps crank to 11?

[jgest]

any news from ACCESS?
Tc-powercore running on intell?

thanks.