NAMM:: Ok, I'm finally back home. I've been running on so little sleep the past few days, but it's been really quite a successful trip. After stuffing my face with some healthy food and taking a long nap, I'm ready to report on the other cool stuff at NAMM.

I think this year's show was equally as impressive as years past, but it took a lot more work to find those interesting and cool things. You had to stop, listen to the demos, and ask questions to discover exactly what's cool in the new products.

It seems like all the software has cool GUIs now (I always give credit to Propellerheads software for causing this trend in music software), so it's not like you can glance at something and judge it's "coolness" by visuals alone. Everyone has interesting interfaces, but some are still a lot better than others. I think next year , or even at Messe, I'm going to go around and rate the GUIs :-)

I'm going to reformat the Report into something that makes sense, so bear with the changes here.

Propellerheads:: Although they have no new product announcements, there was a bit of exciting news that Digidesign is going to incorporate ReWire into Pro Tools 6 for MacOS X. Yay! No more going through the unstable max/msp bridge thing or reFuse. The other bit of exciting news is the announcement of Reload which imports Akai Sample libraries :)

The Props are launching a new advertisement campaign that features demonstrations of how Reason can be used for music other than electronic styles.

"In the Cold Light of Reason", The Rock Metal demo track by Clawfinger is really quite impressive. They did a lot of preproduction work, creating custom guitar and drum samples which were assembled into a very impressive RPS file.

"Vikings Dub", the Dub demo by the Mad Professor is really quite cool too. It sounds so slick and clean, you probably would not guess that it was done entirely in Reason.

Of the Hip-Hop demos by Tommy Coster, the one I found most impressive is "No Way". This track has impressive drum programming.

The props put me to work! I guess i was a third string product demo'er. As the show was winding down, Stefan took a break and had me get on the system. At first I just started some beat chopping to get a nice d'nb groove going, then people started coming up asking questions. Next thing I knew, I was giving a product demo on how to wire up CV configurations.

Thanks to Wolfgang Merkle for the image

Reason never sounded so good as Myron McKinney from Earth, Wind, and Fire demonstrated his talent live through Reason. Myron created some backing tracks and created a custom solo patch on Malstrom.

A really great Sax Player (can't remember his name) joined in for this really slick duo while Myron just ripped up the MIDI controller. It was really a treat to see someone with such skills handle the application.

This demo drew a really large crowd around the M-Audio stand. Stevie Wonder was there watching...er...checking out the performance!

M-Audio:: I had the chance to catch up with Chad and Marc from M-Audio. This is the team that put together the Producing Music with Reason Tutorial CD. Chad (L) did the graphics and director editing and Marc (M) produced the dialogue and edited the video together. These guys did a really superb job and Chad says that the OS X projector for the tutorial will be available soon. :-)

Lapjockeys:: I had the good fortune of meeting up with Su, Ian and Simon who are the people behind the "FlatPack" Refill project. Ian and Simon are at the show giving presentations on Reason.

They have kindly given me a copy of Flat Pack, and when I get home, I will check it out and provide a detailed review of the sounds. It was interesting that they use techniques that are very similar to mine to sample the various instruments.

Roland:: Ok. Normally I'm not one to push grooveboxes, but there were a couple really interesting features in the new MC-909. They have incorporated a pitch slider. This enables you to tweak the tempo of a sequence like a turntable, but the sample engine keeps the pitch the same. It seems like such a simple solution to make the unit more friendly for live use.

They have a beat chop feature that resembles ReCycle. I guess it's a bit of reciprocity since the Propellerheads took Roland Boxes and put it in Software. Now, Roland is taking Propellerheads Software and putting it in a box.

A very interesting product from Roland is the new VariOS. They have taken the VP-990 technology and built a universal processing device around the software. The VariOS is a dedicated DSP unit that connects to a computer via USB. The software for spectral analysis and manipulation is ready with the exception of MacOS X. The demonstrator was unable to give a definite time frame when the X version would be available.

Akai:: There was a curious little box at the Akai booth called "X1 Red Universal DSP Processor" (jeeze this sounds vaguely familiar). The back connectors were unlabeled. I asked what it does, but no one seemed quite certain. Apparently it was just a prototype box, and one of the knobs was missing :-)

Manifold Labs:: One interesting new concept at the show is to take the world of VST plug-ins and bring them to the hardware market. Plugzilla from Manifold labs is a rack device that loads VST effects and instruments. Instead of having that great TC Reverb plug in stuck on your computer, you can load it into the Plugzilla and integrate it into a hardware studio. The parameters appear on the LED displays and are controlled by rotary encoders. There is some limitations with VST plugs that have copy protection.

OpenLabs:: Another device that merges the virtual with the real worlds is the Opensynth EKO. It's a PC in a keyboard with a variety of control interfaces all in one unit. It has a 15"LCD panel, a touchpad, and a keyboard as well as a slider bay, a knob bay, and a soft button bay. It runs windows, and you install your own audio interfaces into the pci slots built in. So your entire computer music workstation is housed in a single keyboard unit. (Now, if they could just make a mac version)

SoundArt:: Down in the basement there was a curious little booth that had a couple of guys tweaking around on some synths. Aside from some interesting analog synths, they were the only ones demonstrating the SoundArts Chameleon. The Chameleon is also another universal DSP processing device but it does not have a USB port like the VariOS and X1 Red. Development and DSP programming of the Chameleon are limited to Windows.

Also on display were these cool little MFB Synths (in front of the Oxy8) and the rather big and phat Macbeth M3X which is a minimoog clone. I asked if they got a blessing from Bob Moog, and the guy told me that "Bob kicked his ass" :-)

Waldorf:: The cool looking unit at the top of the rack is the new AFB-16 analog filterbank unit. Unlike the typical filterbank, this unit has NO ANALOG INPUTS or OUTPUTS! It is a USB. device that includes the circuitry for 16 filters.

The device is solely controlled via USB. from the Plug in Control. Digital Signals are routed out of the computer into the Afb, converted to analog signals, processed through analog filter circuitry, digitized, then sent back into the computer via USB., and routed back through the software effect bus. It sounds really cool.

Moog Music:: A trip to NAMM would not be the same without paying respects to really nice people at Moog Music (formerly big briar). At this year's show, they've introduced a major software revision for the Voyager (which is way cool and necessary), and something even cooler, the VX-351 Voyager Control Voltage Expander and Rack mount kit. The CV expander adds CV outputs to the voyager so that it can interface with other modular synth gear. It should be available in a few months.

Also on display at the moog booth at the show was the custom ATA flight case designed for the Minimoog Voyager. I jokingly said, "Man, I really need that. Will you sell me that one?" and Mike replied, "Yes. After the show is over we will let you take that one home. We don't want to lug it back to North Carolina." So, I bought it :)

Arturia:: has introduced a very cool looking and sounding new virtual instrument based on the Moog IIIc modular synthesizer. It has an interface similar to Reason with a nicely rendered GUI of the old Moog modular and with animated cables that allow you to patch up different configurations. Naturally, the controls are all MIDI controlled and you can save patches with the ease of software. It works as a stand alone application and supports just about all plug-in formats. It really does sound good. This is one that will probably go on my wish list.

IKmultimedia:: From the people who brought you T-Racks, comes Amplitube. I don't play guitar (well), but I can appreciate the aesthetics of nice distortion units, and from what I could barely hear, the new Amplitube software distortion plug is really quite nice.

For the T-Racks users, I didn't find out about a native X version release, however they announced Pro Tools 6.0 Plug-in version which will run under MacOS X. Amplitube seems to be the only X native stand alone they are offering.

Digi:: With Digidesign's announcement of Pro Tools 6, came many RTAS/TDM/HTDM plug ins.

Fans of classic Eventide gear (like me) will be pleased to hear that they have created software emulation of their old delay units for use in Pro Tools systems.

Emulation is quite good these days, so these plugs really do sound like the real deal. it's quite amazing and a smart marketing decision to take advantage of vintage gear nostalgia.

PSP Audioware:: These guys get high marks for their GUI on the PSP Vintage Warmer. A software company from Poland. The plug in doesn't really emulate any device, but it looks like a vintage piece of gear and has a nice squashy tube like compression sound. I'll have to take a closer listen in controlled surroundings

They also have an interesting freeware VST reverb plug which emulates resonating piano strings. At the show they announced that they are working a classic Neve Pre/EQ strip plug in which looks really lovely. I hope it sounds as good as it looks.

One Plugin that I found really interesting is McDSP. Aside from the Console and Tape machine and compressor modelling features, they offer a wavetable synthesizer plugin. The really cool aspect of the plugin is that you can grab a snippet of audio from a PT track and import it as a new wavetable providing for some really unique tweakiness.

Ohmboyz:: Speaking of Tweaky...The Merkles introduced me to a group of French software developers who have created a set of truly unique GUIs. One interface surface was actually a scanned piece of cheese, and the device is called "Frohmage". Their flagship product is the "QuadFrohmage" which is a really exotic filter (plug in for all formats). Unlike some software filters, the QuadFromage actually resonates and the modulation routing is really versatile. The Ohmboyz products are distributed through Gmedia Music

Native Instruments:: One of the first stops was over at the NI booth. They have announced a whole line of products that will be Mac OS X compatible including major updates to Reaktor, Traktor, etc.

The Vokator and new Reaktor look really nice. The vokator is a 1024 band vocoder with a high resolution FFT processing engine which could potentially be very useful. It's not just a vocoder, it's like a Grainwave sampler which can be useful for creating your own Malstrom like graintables.

NI is also introducing a new feature in Traktor that interfaces with turntables via a USB device. On the turntables are custom vinyl records with Time Code (like snippet). So now you can use Traktor and scratch and cue using the traditional interface.

Inakt is NI's version of Dr. REX. A bit more versatile than Dr. REX, but it will reads Recycle files just the same.

NI seems to be taking the tweaky music trend seriously as the new Reaktor is introduced with GRM Tools styles of Granular delays modules.

MOTU:: DP for MacOS X is coming...just be patient.

In the meantime play with the Mach5 it looks pretty cool, and the editing features and sample slice/automap features make sample editing really quite simple and fast.

Apple-Emagic:: Logic Audio 6.0 for Mac OS X will be available in 30 Days...I sat down for the demo, and it is really nice. They have incorporated some new editing features as well as sample organization features which make the upgrade really quite attractive.

Naturally the most important feature will be included: Rewire 2 for compatibility with Reason and ReBirth! However you would need ReBirth for OS X which has not been announced :(

Cakewalk:: has introduced a new product called the Project 5. Since it's PC only, I really didn't check it out, however it does have a connection to Reason. One of the GUIs was designed by Bitplant!

Naturally if you take a look at the interfaces, you will instantly recognize the beautifully designed PSYN as the work of Thomas and Wolfgang Merkle.

I made poor Thomas stand underneath the monitor until the shots of his interface came up on the display. He is quite proud of their accomplishments having three products at the show had bitplant involved: The sound arts Chameleon front panel, the original Reason interface, and now the Cakewalk Project 5 Psyn.

It's pretty impressive considering that this career all stemmed from creating a really cool ReBirth Mod :-)

Korg:: was celebrating it's 40th Anniversary, and they had a very cool display showing the various synthesizers and drum machines they have produced over the last several decades. It was not a complete collection of devices, but if you consider that every series of keyboards since the M1 had 2 or 3 derivative keyboards

They had a minikorg, a PS800, Poly Ensemble 1000, a MS-10, a VC-10, and a massive PS-3300, poly 6, a mono/poly, as well as some of the newer keyboards like the prophecy, M1, Oasys, etc.

Pictured is an MS-20. This was a first for me since I've never seen this model, the MS-20c which was used as a classroom teaching unit.

Apogee:: I also checked out the MiniDAC. It really is ready for CoreAudio and has another cool feature that I didn't see before: A switch will allow you to monitor through the headphones only. This is great if you're tracking in the same room that you monitor in so you can mute the audio from loudspeakers to prevent feedback. It's not Pro Tools compatible, but you can route AES/EBU from a Mix3 or an HDi system and monitor your mix through the MiniDAC.

JL Cooper:: This was definitely an interesting find at the show, the JL Cooper CS-32 Minidesk. Yep, it's a miniature control surface.

It comes complete with transport controls and a jog/shuttle wheel as well as 32 channels of minifaders and assignable button controls. It also has a bank of 6 assignable knobs.

The output options are MIDI, USB, and RS-232, but you have to decide which version you want. A CS-32mini only has one of the 3 types of output. The USB version seems the most sensible since there is control software to assign CC routings.

Big Fish Audio:: if anyone remembers "oink" from the rebirth/computer controlled days, you'll be interested to hear that he's still up to some cool stuff. He's been busy creating custom Logic Environments for a string library for Big Fish Audio.

Donnie (pictured) gave me a thorough demo of the solo strings library and an impressive demo of an orchestral drum and percussion Library.

Musebook:: At the international section of the show, there was an interesting bit of technology. Using a tablet PC, the MB Score is a score display system for musicians. There's a unique feature that uses a microphone/pickup connected to the audio input of the PC. The software tracks the pitch and displays the notes played on the score as the musician plays the instrument. As the musician nears the bottom of the page, the software automatically changes the page.

Evening Antics:: On Saturday night, I ventured out of Anaheim into Downtown Los Angeles to the Native Instruments/Ableton Party. The place was really packed with Locals who came out to see Monolake perform -- after all they are involved with Ableton Live.

The place got so humid and crowded that we had step outside to get some breathable smog. Pictured: Tage, Wolfgang, Michael, and Johan.

Inside the party they had one performance room with a VJ projecting some interesting graphics on a couple of walls. The loft space has pretty high ceilings so this worked out really well.

We got there early, but as the evening progressed it was overrun with people, and a cue started forming down the street.

After a couple of nights of drinking I had enough beer, so i volunteered to be designated driver.

So I had my water while the others started having Tecate and vodka Redbulls. It amazes me how much the Europeans can drink.

Seen here: Wolfgang, Stefan (yes he's as crazy as he looks in those glasses, but you have to love him), and Thomas.

You can't smoke in public places in California, so we spent quite a bit of time outside.

A funny thing happened to Michael the previous night. We went to a bar, and he got carded. He had an international drivers license with him, but no passport. The Bartender was being a bit of an asswipe and demanded that he provide a passport. I didn't know this, but if you plan to drink the US, bring your passport with you :)

It worked out in the end, the waitress accepted his License as valid proof of age.

Wolfram pleading for a cigarette...

Michael telling Wolfram "You can have the rest of my butt"

NAMM2003:: It's that time of the year again, when I make the pilgrimage to the holy communion of gear and music madness: the NAMM convention in Anaheim, California.

Special thanks to the Propellerheads for inviting me to come join them at the convention again this year. Although they are not showing any new products, they are launching their first advertisement campaign, and they have their new promotional material on display at the show.

As usual NAMM is crazy... There are tons of people and lots of talented musicians and the occasional celebrity. It was fun to watch as Herbie Hancock pulled into the hotel in his Ferrari. Another interesting sighting was Gene Simmons cruising through the lobby with a couple of barbies :-)

The main thing about NAMM is the introduction of new gear, and unfortunately, this year has a smaller list of really innovative stuff to report on.