In they came from far and wide, sonic junkies again flocked to the NAMM conference in Anaheim. The conference is the largest
audio trade show of the year in the US. This years NAMM show
proudly boasted over 1500 exhibitors hocking their latest audio, musical, midi and recording and performing-related gear to over 85,000
audio-addicted registrants from 100 different countries.
Ever-evolving Software
Ableton unveiled its latest incarnation of Live: Live 8 which features five new effects, including Frequency
Shifter, Limiter, Multiband Dynamics, Overdrive and Vocoder, plus a
Warping Engine and Groove Engine, so you can apply patterns in real
time, and extract grooves from audio or MIDI sources. You can also
quantize audio and MIDI in real time. Live 8 also comes with a brand
spanking new groove library. Additionally, Ableton Suite 8 features an expanded sound library, and the Operator
synth has also been upgraded.
BIAS made another mark on the mobile and home studio market with its
release of an iPhone recording application: iPro Recorder for
iPhone/iPod Touch.
Digidesign introduced two new ProTools LE bundles:
Factory Complete and 003 Rack Factory. Both are designed for Digidesign’s 003 hardware
interfaces and Digidesign’s Complete Production Toolkit, which became available with the release of Pro Tools 8. This toolkit adds 7.1 surround mixing and support for up to 128 simultaneous audio
tracks to any Pro Tools LE 8 system. It also gives users the highly coveted Beat
Detective, which has previously been unavailable outside of higher-end HD systems.
This bundle includes virtual instruments and pro-grade
plug-ins, including Eleven LE classic guitar amp
emulator, Structure LE advanced sample player, Hybrid 1.5
high-definition synthesizer, Smack! LE compressor, DINR noise
reduction, TL Space Native Edition convolution reverb, X-Form, a time
compressor/expansion and pitch shifter, and Neyrinck SoundCode Stereo
surround-to-stereo mixer.
MOTU released a new virtual instrument plug-in called Volta that
lets users play and automate modular synths, or any
hardware equipped with control voltage (CV) inputs, from their
favorite host DAW.
IK Multimedia added another member to the Amplitube family: AmpliTube
Fender Software Amp & Effects Suite. This new amp emulator gives you 45 pieces of vintage gear, lets you tweak virtual settings to replicate a collection of
of stompboxes, heads, and amps.
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Native Instruments cranked up the volume on its GUITAR RIG 3,
while showing off its other hot ticket item, , a hardware
groove production studio that blends a computer-based music production
with a tactile interface — all within a stand-alone groove box.
Novation kicked out some
plugs with its Super Nova Plug-in FX Suite, a collection of five VST/AU
plug-ins, including Chorus, Delay, Tremelo, Phaser, and Filter
(overdrive). Some of these effects come from the SuperNova II, and the
Filter produces effects similar to the classic ones achieved via Moog
and Oberheim synthesisers and the Roland TB303.
In the Submersible Music booth, industry veteran Kord Taylor was
touting the latest incarnation of its award-winning percussion
software, DrumCore 3. This latest version comes in RTAS/AU/VSTi
plug-in formats and adds a host of drummers to its roster from bands
like Heart, Jeff Beck, Velvet Revolver, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Stewart,
Bob Marley, Santana, John Lennon, Yes, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam,
Testament, Helmet, Jane’s Addiction, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal
Flatts, Lenny Kravitz and more.
Spectrasonics lured in the crowds with an updated RMX, a new bass
instrument and an updated sound library for Omnisphere. Trilian is
Spectrasonic’s new virtual bass instrument, and RMX 1.7 features
Time Designer technology.
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Rocking the DSP
Focusrite introduced liquid heaven in the
form of a pre-amp in Liquid Saffire 56. This delicious rackmount gift
from the gods includes two Liquid pre amps, six high-end Focusrite pre
amps, a whole suite of Focusrite VST/AU plug-ins, 28 ins and outs.
Better yet, the interface is Firewire connected and records at 24
bit/192 kHz. Sweet!
Universal Audio finally delivered what mobile audio fiends far and
wide have spent years begging for: a UAD DSP card designed for a
laptop! The UAD-2 SOLO/Laptop is a compact ExpressCard version of UA’s
UAD-2 SOLO DSP Accelerator card. This new SOLO/Laptop DSP
card puts Universal Audio’s world-class analog
Moog, Neve, Roland, SLP and other authenticated emulations to work for
laptop engineers and artists.
The UAD-2 SOLO/Laptop works with VST, AU and RTAS plug-ins and is both
Mac and PC compatible. The UAD-2 SOLO/Laptop is scheduled to arrive to
market in Q2.
Axe Goods To Grind
DigiTech unveiled a brand-spanking-new pedal called TimeBender delay,
giving guitar gods — and those in the making — ten delay types including
Digital, Analog, Fixed Head and Moving Head Tape,
plus a 20-second looper. With the TimeBender, you can also create
custom repeat rhythms or patterns on the fly using Strum Pattern. You
can also add harmonies by choosing from over 100 different voices to
create your own unique delay effects.
DigiTech also showed
off its Vocalist VLD3 Vocal Harmony Processor, an effects processor that
makes sure your “backing vocals” sound uber perfect. This
box produces 3-part harmonies using DigiTech’s breakthrough musIQ technology,
analyzing a singer’s voice and adding musically
correct harmonies and real-time pitch correction.
Proven hardware and software effects processor company
of the gods, Eventide, decided to bless guitar players with some tasty little
stompboxes: the TimeFactor pedal gives guitarists 10 delay effects, while the
ModFactor has 10 modulation effects.
Gretsch showed off a new Fall Out Boy modeled guitar, the G5135-PS
Patrick Stump Signature STUMP-O-MATIC Electromatic Corvette guitar. The
guitar comes with three Mega’Tron pickups, a special two-position
rotary switch, and multiple combination settingsm, including the
ability to have all three pickups on at once.
TC Electronic unveiled a new treat for guitar players, designed by guitar players. The G-Major 2
single rack unit gives you all of the classic TC Electronic effects in G-Major, plus a
huge selection of new effects and features requested by users, including delays, reverbs, modulation, Tri-chorus, through-zero-flanger, modulated
delays, and Univibe.
VOX
Amplification and legendary amp designer Tony Bruno put their
heads together to kick out an amazing new 15-Watt, all-tube guitar amp
head called the NT15H Night Train, featuring both classic and new VOX
tones, all in a compact, portable, less-than-17-pound design. Inside
this puppy, a pair of EL84 tubes drive 15 Watts of power, as two 12AX7
tubes kick through a harmonically rich preamp to deliver clear and
defined sound.
VOX also revived and showed off an old classic in its new AC4TV, a
4-Watt, Class A Tube Amplifier, which is based on the popular 1960s
VOX AC4. This remake will be available as both as a combo, and in a head version.
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