The Merkle Brothers of Bitplant, the graphics designers behind the Reason User Interface were at NAMM again. Thomas (jesuspark) and Wolfgang (frizz) hail from Germany. If you're looking for a couple of really talented artists for a User Interface project, these guys come highly recommended.

It was good to see them after a year! We spent a lot of time out eating, drinking beer, and watching girls dancing at a local establishment called "Fritz's". Thanks to Midro and Chuck and Greg for the "dessert" :-)

Tage, Dan, Ernst, and Niels also came this year. Peter and Marcus stayed back (working on Reason, I'm assuming). This was the first time for me to meet Fredrik Solenberg -- the man behind most of ReCycle 2 :-)

Also representing the Propellerheads were Stefan (1/2 of the Puff) and Wolfram who handles the German division of Propellerheads.

There was a bit of a Computer Controlled meeting at NAMM 2002. It seems like a lot of people who hung out spending countless hours working on ReBirth Mods showed up to say hello. Jesuspark and Syrusate (Bone Vibes, etc.)

Also, I met up with Dan (aka Weezy) who helped out scouring the web for illegitimate mods and cleaning them up for use with regular ReBirth. He's now working for EastWest - yeah the sample CD people :-)

Unfortunately it seems like EastWest isn't going to hop on the ReFill wagon any time soon.

Other interesting things included Native Instruments incorporation of RTAS for Pro Tools Users, and Cycling 74 has announced RTAS support for Pluggo 3! I look forward to some Max/MSP Patch conversions to Pluggo brand of RTAS plugs!

Some interesting new technology that appeared at NAMM were several different types of Turntable interfaces. These devices connect to regular decks and interface to your computer. You use a specially coded 12" which sends time information to the interface, and you can scrub MP3 audio using a turntable.

The D-Vinyl 2020 is pictured here. While you can't really see the UI, it's pretty cool - it reminds me of reason the way the interface modules sit in a rack :-)

Another thing I had a glimpse of was the Vestax Vinyl Cutter - It's a monster, but the ability to cut your own vinyl is rather exciting.

NAMM:: Today started off as quite a surprise. Mr. Ray Charles arrived at the Midiman booth to check out the Surface One controller. The station was set up with the S1 and O8 connected to a system running Reason :-)

Mr. Charles gave the thumbs up!

It was quite a surreal moment watching a legend perform and tweak Reason with the Controller.

Anyhoo, the Surface one is quite cool. The tactex technology that I checked out last year is making quite an impression on the new products this year.

Standing next to Mr. Charles is Mr. Adam Castillo, Marketing Director of Midiman, and he's loving every minute of this rare and surprising photo opportunity. His smile may also be due to the arrival of a happy healthy baby, day before yesterday. Many Congratulations to Adam and his wife!

Akai has introduced the MPC-4000. This thing is really impressive. Probably one of the most impressive updates I've ever seen. The New MPC features 96khz/24 bit audio and comes loaded with a 60gig HD, 256+16Mb of Ram, and options for lightpipe, 8 analog I/O's and Digital I/Os, and USB communication to a computer system running the ak.sys software.

This hefty piece of sequencing and sampling technology really made me drool, but the $4,000 price tag made me choke :-/

Also from Akai is the new PD16 MIDI Pad Controller. This i found quite interesting since it has very low profile and would site nicely next to a TiBook. It also has a USB interface to MIDI. I didn't have a chance to test out it's response, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it might be pretty cool if you want to tap in rhythms in the Reason Sequencer.

Spectrasonics Introduced a new line of VST Instruments which feature really high quality samples (in the spirit of Eric Persig).

These act as VST instruments for use with Nuendo or Logic Audio or DP, etc. There are three products being introduced in this line, but the one that really impressed me was the "Trilogy" Bass Instruments.

The Acoustic bass is really really nice. There are two samples that are triggered with each MIDI note. One sample is recorded through a Neumann (Telefunken) U-47 and the other is sample is from a pick up on the bass. You can Mix between the two phase locked samples and get a really warm and realistic bass production.

While the Emu products didn't really strike any surprises, one thing really caught my eye at their booth. They had brought down a vintage E-mu modular system to show how the company got started in the electronic music instrument business. The pristine modular system is quite a site to behold :-)

The backside had a clear panel so you could even inspect the old circuitry and wiring. Unfortunately, (but not surprisingly) it was not for sale.

The PUFF, performed live at NAMM!

Yes, Propellerheads very own Tage and Stefan were on stage demonstrating how Reason can be used in a live performance situation. Basically they had a series of song files on their powerbooks and synced up the tracks the old fashion way (with their ears and the space bar). The two Powerbooks were wired into a dj mixer where they could cross fade between the two systems.

Their session was really great! They put together some exciting tracks and really attracted a big crowd!

Nestled down in the corner of the "Dungeon" (the basement level of the Anaheim Convention center I discovered quite a few interesting little goodies. The lower levels feature smaller booths and because the ceiling is a lot lower, it has a more intimate feel.

The name should not deter anyone from visiting the lower level because there are a lot of hidden goodies down there and you can actually speak to people without shouting over the cacophony of drum loops, guitar amps, and Reason Demos playing.

Odell Borg (hehe, gotta love that sirname), from High Spirits Flutes displayed his collection of Native American Indian Flutes. It was a cool little display and he let visitors try out the instruments. Since I have a little weakness for the woodwind, I ended up picking up one of his pieces to tool around with. He was quite cool and even gave me a few lessons on playing the different scales on the flute. If you're interested in these instruments, Check out his site.

Legendary Beat Box creator, Roger Linn was demonstrating his new Guitar Effects processor device, AdrenaLinn. It doesn't look like much, but the concept is like a ReBirth PCF with pattern based filtering effects.

Actually it's a lot more intuitive than just a pattern based filter effect. They had some guitars on stands for people to audition the device. I checked it out (with my barely limited guitar skills) and was amazed by how quickly you could come up with interesting noises with this device! The Amp Modelling feature is really cool and would be worth the price alone :-)

The Main purpose of my visit to the dungeon was to check out the Mobile I/O from Metric Halo. The Mobile I/O is an 8in/8out Audio Interface that is ready for Firewire PowerBooks :-) The device is powered completely from the Firewire port - no external power is required, but it will suck your powerbook G4 dry in about 90 minutes. I will say that the box is built like a brick! Solid and durable and ideal for field recording or even gigging. The guys at Metric Halo kind of remind me of the Propellerheads. It's just a small group of guys with a lot of technical talent who produce some excellent products. Except they are New Yorkers :-)

Another interesting concept I discovered was a completely self contained powered mixer system. Mr. Jim Walker of Walker Labs was demonstrating his 60 Watt Stereo Powered Mixer which lasts 6 to 8 hours and comes in a small portable pelican type case.

He was quite generous in his information and I suggested that he might consider making something with a little more power for those DJs who really want to be mobile. 60 Watts is okay for PA systems or a small party but if you really want it to kick, you need a couple hundred watts :-)

Walker offers engineering services so if you have an application where generators and ac power is a problem. He offers some design solutions like solar panels and inverter systems.

NAMM:: Greetings from NAMM 2002, the International Music Products Association™ Trade show in Anaheim (aka Disneyland), CA.

I only had a few hours to see the floor on the first day and most of the time was spent greeting old friends and trying to plan things for after the show.

I hate to say it but Anaheim is a pretty uneventful town outside of Disneyland. There really isn't much to do in the evenings, but the convention has a lot of festivities going on.

Reason for Mac OS X:: The most important information from Propellerheads is the announcement of Reason for Mac OS X. Yes it's running and they are demonstrating it this year at NAMM.

This is basically the same thing as Reason 1.0.1 rewritten for Mac OS 10.1 - any rumor of version 1.5/2.0 was not shown.

Just as I arrived at the Propellerhead's booth, Ernst was talking to Craig Anderton. I had to stop and thank Craig for putting a link to this site in his new book "Quick Start Guide to Reason". He contacted me earlier last year and wanted to include a few refills, but the time constraint prevented it, however Craig added Peff.com to the list of cool reason related sites in the back of the book.

I already had a copy of the "Quick Start Guide to Reason," so Craig gave me a copy of another work of his on Audio Mastering :-)

As Usual, The propellerheads booth is buzzing with interested buyers and dealers :-)

The golden head in the lower left is Niels, aka Zuwonga, the man behind the patch bonanza :-)

Mark Midro, the front man for Reason was out demonstrating Reason on his TiBook with a Midiman Oxygen8 and the new Surface One.

Backing Midro, was the other Marc, who was directing the video cameras on those little arms sitting on the presentation table over the O8 and S1.

Well, I finally touched it, and IT IS PHAT!! The Minimoog Voyager from Big Briar! You can tell that Bob Moog has gone through a lot of work to make this synthesizer even Better than the original Minimoog without compromising the analog phatness.

I have mine on order, and they said there are about 80 signature series left. So if you want one of the originals, place an order soon :-)

X.1 seems to be the theme this year for software (well software that matters to me). I was walking along and suddenly found myself engrossed in Arboretum's Hyperprism for Mac OS X demonstration. This was pretty cool since the new version of hyperprism allows you to arrange video and audio elements along the timeline, then nest the classic hyperprism effects within each other as objects on the timeline :-)

IRCAM, had a little booth at NAMM, and they were demonstrating the Atomic Pro, 32 channel Analog to MIDI converter. This interesting little box is for hardcore tweakheads out there who want to use pressure sensors, or build a light beam sensor array to control MIDI devices. Pictured is Cyrille, demonstrating a glove that has pressure sensors. There is a Max/MSP object for Atomic Pro, and Cyrille, demonstrated a little FM synth project where the Carrier and Modulator frequencies were controlled by the pressure in the glove (hehe...yeah it sounds funny in more ways than one).

Next to IRCAM was the Universal Audio booth - the guys who make the reissues of LA-2's and 1176 compressor/limiters.

UA also has their Mic-Pres on display, but the big news is the introduction of a a new DSP card that will power several of their emulation plug ins. So for about $1000 you can have multiple vst versions of LA-2's, LM-1176s, and now Pultecs. Mr. Putnam also said that they have a new series of Guitar effects like fuzz, overdrive, distortion etc.

The new UAD-1 Powered Plug in Card is technology being developed with Mackie. Anyways... i though it was cool that people don't necessarily need a TDM system or PT RTAS to use these nice plug ins.

That's it for now. I'll post more stuff as soon as I discover it.