NAMM 2010: AKAI APC20 – The Left Hand of Ableton Live

.:Akai APC20:.

First news from NAMM is trickling in. Akai has announced a new version of their APC line with the APC20. This is essentially half of the previously released APC40 from last year. The new APC20 features everything but some send effects, additional knobs and the crossfader from its older brother.

From the press online it appears that the APC20 is meant to be more of a companion kit then a standalone. You can chain up to six of them together.

Price is $199

NAMM 2009 Beat Kangz Beat Thang: Yes, it is real!!!!!

Gearwire.com got a great NAMM show video with the Vice President of Beat Kangz and their new Beat Thang Groovebox. There was a lot of pre-show hype about this thing, but almost no reports from the show floor. Gotta say, I am more excited about this after seeing the video. There is even a nice video of them building a beat with it.

NAMM 2009: SonicState.com – Korg Microkorg XL demo

 

Korg always had a hit with their ubercheap and very accessible Microkorg. They are releaseing a new version though now that incorporates their MMT synthesis technology and updates the look with a retro feel (see what I did there?). SonicState.com got a new close up of the new little synth and I have to admit it sounds fantastic. I personally really dig the aesthetics on this one too so lets hope Korg prices it right because it was the cheap price more than anything that sold the original Microkorg.

NAMM 2009: Sonicstate Gets Teases Peek at Spectralis 2

SonicState.com Spectralis 2 Teaser (Sorry Video not embeddable)

The Drool worthy Spectralis 2 has rumored to be making an appearance at NAMM. Along with the Beat Thang though there was nary an announcement regarding it. SonicState.com however seems to be on the ball as they have announced a full review coming soon. In the mean time they have posted a super short little teaser on their site.

NAMM 2009: Akai EWI USB Wind Controller

http://www.akaipro.com/

This announcement gets a big “YES!!!” in my book. I have always had an infatuation with wind controllers (probably because I am a saxophone and clarinet plaery), but their implementation in hardware has always been spotty because they generally have not been able to work with any synth you plug them into.

Hopefully Akai has been able to get around that limitation with the new EQI USB wind controller. Presumably one would expect this to be able to work within any DAW with any VST instrument, but the details are a little scare at the moment. It does say that there is a platform software for the model but that is it.

Quote: Press Release

EWI USB enables anyone, regardless of wind instrument-playing experience, to perform with the expressive capabilities of the wind instrument of their choice. The wind controller features a plug-and-play USB interface for use with the included Aria software, with Garritan and Akai Professional samples as a sound source. EWI USB is Mac and PC compatible.

Professional players will find EWI USB fully capable of performance for stage and studio with a five-octave range, breath modulation with adjustable threshold, pitch bend, adjustable vibrato, transposition and octave shifting capability, and fingering modes to emulate various electronic and acoustic instruments. Further, the Garritan/Plogue Aria software enables instrumentalists to perform with up to four instruments selected from the full collection of more than 75 orchestral, band and synthesizer sounds.

While EWI USB has full professional capabilities, its attractive price point and easy-to-play design make it a perfect choice for wind students. With a removable, dishwasher-safe, interchangeable mouthpiece[ Ed. Nice touch] that works well regardless of embouchure, EWI USB is excellent for introducing students to the world of wind instruments. Former wind instrumentalists who would like to return to playing will find EWI USB easy to adapt to, eliminating much of the embouchure-building time required with a traditional instrument.

Thanks to multiple fingering modes, EWI USB perfectly emulates saxophone, flute and oboe, as well as traditional EWI and EVI trumpet. The result is completely intuitive performance, even for players who have never picked up an electronic instrument.

"With EWI USB, we are delivering an incredibly expressive instrument to a whole new world of wind players," states Gregg Stein, Director of Marketing, Akai Professional. "Traditionally, electronic wind instruments have fallen into two categories: very expensive professional instruments, and inexpensive instruments of low quality. EWI USB is the first instrument to offer professional quality at such an affordable price."

NAMM 2009: Ableton Quietly Allow Free Upgrades of Live from 6 to 7?

CreateDigialMusic is reporting that Ableton is offering free upgrade paths from Ableton Live 6 to Ableton Live 7. There doesn’t appear to be any official announcement or download link for this update, but heading over to the Ableton forums would presumably direct you in the right direction for the upgrade.

via CreateDigitalMusic.com

NAMM 2009: Rumor – Native Instruments Releasing Maschine Groovebox

The stories of Grooveboxes just keep piling up in my inbox this morning with Native Instruments reportedly coming out with their own Groovebox capable of loading the company’s VST plugins. 

Earlier this morning there was an image circling the net from ZirconStudios.com which showed a scanned image of the reported box from an upcoming Electronic Musician magazine. The direct link to that image was here, but has since been taken down, presumably to a “cease and desist order” from NI. I have contacted the site owner for comment, but have not yet received a word from him/her. After searching the net I found several other discussions regarding the box on forums, including NI’s own forums, but almost all of the discussions have been removed or closed. To me this almost guarantee's the device’s existence.

The initial image though that I saw earlier this morning showed another MPC like groovebox with lit up display pads and apparently the ability to load VST plugins. Unfortunately I don’t have any more details at the moment on the box, but if someone has details on the specs or the original image please send an email to staff.livepa (at) gmail.com. 

UPDATE: I have just found a copy of the image of the new device and posted it above. It looks to be a nice hybrid software/hardware platform that incorporates some KORE like features along 16 backlit pads, 2 LCD  screens, 5GB of samples, effects, sampling/resampling and more. Lets hope that it can run stand alone without the need for a computer like the failed MC-808.

Update 2: Well the announcement is out and it appears that we are 0/2 with new Groovebox announcements. The Maschine is another Kore like hardware software interface for percussion sequencing and sampling. There unfortunately does not appear to be a stand alone mode without the software, but there does appear to be sequencing built into the box with midi outputs.There are no audio outputs on the box itself. Whether that means that the Maschine is capable as a sequencer for LivePA remains to be seen.

NAMM 2009: Rumor - Motu Getting into the Groovebox Business with BPM?

 

Update: The announcement is out and it appears that this is just a software drum machine. Gotta say I am pretty disappointed. What is the market for something like this these days when you have everything from Ableton Live to FL Studio that can do this built in? The interface doesn’t seem conductive for software IMO.

I have more news trickling in here about some additional groovebox “MPC Killers” . Yesterday I posted about the Beat Thang which looked cool in and of itself.  Today though I have word of an an even cooler piece of kit being developed by Motu called the BPM.

All I have is a blurry scan but from the image above here are the specs that I could discern.

• Drum machine style operation with VST support
• Run as a tempo synced plug-in with your favorite DAW
• Live Midi Recording
• Unlimited Sample layers
• Built in drum synthesizer
• Drag and drop sequence capabilities in song mode
• 15+ GB of sounds built in
• “Deep” Synthesis engine
• 4 Pad banks with full kit capabilities and 2 racks
• Complete internal mixer with effects
• SP Mode which emulates the SP1200.

Nothing on pricing or details, but again something impressive coming out of the site. The built in LCD screen on this thing (if real) looks amazing and equivalent to the waveform and sample editing screens one would see in your computer software.

via Binary-Punks.com

NAMM 2009: Beat Kangz Releases the Beat Thang

http://www.beatkangz.com/main/product

Here we are kicking off NAMM 2009 with a very interesting piece of hardware. This is in fact perhaps the most livePA oriented piece of hardware I have seen in a long time. To be 100% honest I am not sure of this product is real. The name is pretty dreadful, but if you can get past the name the hardware and the spec list look to actually be pretty impressive.

The Beat Thang is a 16 track sampler (and rompler?) that features six digital effects types, waveform editing and beat creation. Full spec list below.

• Sampling with onboard waveform editing
  
• Over 3000 Blazin' Brand new sounds designed by The Beat Kangz
  
• 16 Track MIDI sequencer 
  
• 500 production ready Platinum beats and loops created by The Beat Kangz
  
• Sleek design and styling with customizable “Paintz” and “Grillz”
  
• Convenient, light-weight portable design with internal rechargable battery
  
• USB In & Out 
  
• Pitch and Mod Wheels
  
• On Board FX including Reverb, Delay, Automated Filters and tons of Crazy "Freak FX" including "Chopped and Screwed"!!!!
  
• On Board "Mo Bang" Mastering with EQ and Limiting
  
• 256 MB Ram standard
  
• 2 High Speed SD Card Slots
  
• Export Beats to a Mac or PC 
  
• Very Easy to USE!!!
  
• More top Secret Features and Surprises that we dont want our sleezy, thieving corporate competitors to know.... but we'll tell ya soon!
  

I have to admit. The hardware itself looks pretty cool and the specs even cooler. I would like to know some more details about that sequencer and the sampling capabilities. But hopefully we have a nice new Groovebox on our hands here.


Update: Some more specs have been posted over at the Harmony Central Forums by what appears to be the company itself.

General Information

• 2 Headphone Jacks
  
• Carry audio output via USB. USB Connects to any Hard drive, USB keys can also be read and write to
  
• Read directly off of the SD cards. 2 Slots capbable of 16GB's each
  
• 256 MB Ram Stock! 
  
• 512 Flash for user content on board. Higher if its a custom order
  
• Stereo Mic Line input with Phantom Power
  
• Sampling, and Resampling of outputs
  
• Tempo sync Delay, Mastering, Reverb, Filters and tons of other weird FX
  
• Plans to open FX section to 3rd party developers . Can you say VST (Ed. Very interesting.....)
  
• Custom Paint. Any Color LED's, Custom Grillz
  
• Each pad can have 16 layers with independent pitch, cut off res, pan, velocity, vol and a single pad can be spread across a whole keyboard with Loop points so you can sample synths strings or anything and turn it into multi layered patches.
  
• PC Drum Kit builder with Drag and Drop capabilities
  

Sequencer Information

• 96 PPQ
  
• 1000 Sequences
  
• 500 Songs
  
• Individual Bar Length which can be changed in real time even while recording. (Ed. Excellent!!)
  
• Quantize and Swing can be changed in real-time.
• All your Songs, Sequences, Beats, Kits, Patches, Samples and settings that are on your SD cards are always there and show up just like the presets.
• 13 Pads with Velocity
  
• 8 Pad banks per track 
  
• 16 Tracks 
• Pad and Track mute and Solo 
• Mixer with level control FX send, Pan, Pitch Automation, Filter and EQ Automation per Track including (Low Pass, Band Pass, Hi pass, Low Shelf, High Shelf and Notch, Automated Q control to)
• Dynamic Kit and Patch creator which is easy and to use. Samples can all have categories (Kicks, Snares Hats etc) App for converting your own samples into the categories and the ability to create your own.
• 16 Layers per PAD with velocity, pan, pitch ,cut off, res and volume control
• Can create multilayerd patches that span a keyboard from one pad or multiple. Each bank can have a different patch (keys and bass or drums and synth )

Lets hope they aren't over promosing here and under delivering.

NAMM: Tascam DR-1 Portable Recorder

.:Tascam DR-1 Portable Recorder:.

Always on the look out for a new and better handheld digital recorder, Tascam has announced a new digital recorder featuring stereo microphones and a 1GB SD card standard. Priced very competatively at $299 to compete with the M-Audio Microtrak Pro.

Paul Jenkins, Director of Sales and Marketing for TASCAM

The DR-1 is the portable recorder that everyone's been waiting for. It's the first to include a card big enough for serious recording, and the price point is a wake-up call for the entire industry. TASCAM has a thirty-year history of creating the recorders that musicians want, and the DR-1 is sure to be our latest hit recorder."

Specifications
-Included 1GB SD card media
-Built-in High-quality Stereo Condenser Microphone
-Variable Angle Microphone Mechanism with A/B Configuration
-48 or 44.1kHz / 24-bit Recording Resolution
-MP3 and WAVE file Recording and Playback
-Switchable Low Cut Filter
-Analog Auto Gain Control
-Analog Limiter
-Rechargable Lithium-Ion Battery
-USB 2.0 Connection to Computer
-Built-in Tuner and Vocal Cancel Features
-Overdub Feature to record narration, singing or instruments over an existing recording

NAMM: Mini Moog Voyager OS (Old School)

.:Sonicstate - Mini Moog Voyager OS:.

So you think you are retro, hip, a synth god of some sorts......you think you are old school? Well now is your chance to prove it to all of us that you can handle a world without midi or presets. Heck, I know I can't, but that doesn;t mean I can't drool over the new Moog Voyager OS

Sonicstate.com

Moog Music have Introduced the Minimoog Voyager OS - Old School, a new synth with the analog sound engine of the Voyager, but without the digital controls.
They say that it is the perfect solution for players looking for a road-worthy replacement for their venerable Minimoog Model D, a full-featured centerpiece for their modular synth rig or just craving direct, hands-on connection to their creativity…

Price: $2595 MSRP

NAMM: Waldorf Blofield

.:Waldorf Blofeld:.

While the BloFeld isn't really an NAMM announcement, NAMM is actually the first place I think most people are really getting a good inside look at the Blofeld.

"New" from Waldorf the Blofeld is a very deep synth featuring 16 timbres, 25 voices and 3 oscillators per voice. It features your standard oscillator waveforms in addition to Waldorf's famous wavetable synthesis. Specs are way too deep to fully feature here, but be sure to check out Waldorf's website for the full list of features.

Specifications
-16 Timbres
-25 Voices
-7 Continuous Encoders
-Stereo Outputs
-Q, Microwave and XT wavetables
- Load Micro Q presets
- Built in Effects
- Built in Arpeggiator
- 2 Multi-Mode Filters

NAMM: Alesis SR-18 Drum-Machine

.:Alesis SR-18 Drum-Machine:.

You sick of the drum-machines yet?

Alesis has announced a weird addition to their product lineup with an update to their classic(?) SR-16 drum machine. Known for its ultimate clean sound and toms I can only imagine that this one one brings that back with new updated features. Ironically its specs seem very similar to the Akai XR20 with battery operation capabilities, built in effects such as EQ, compression and Reverb.

Specifications
-AC and Battery Power capability (6 AA’)
-24 voice polyphony
-Backlit LCD
-MIDI In and Out
-TRS ¼” Aux Output
-Drum Roll function
-Headphone output
-Instrument Input
-100 Preset Patterns and 100 User Patterns
-Tempo / Value dial
-Footswitch control- Start/Stop and Count/A-B fill

NAMM: Akai XR20 Drum-Machine

.:Akai XR20 Drum-machine:.

Well. It is the year of the drum-machines isn't it. Here we are with Akai announcing another drum-machine to the fray with the XR20. The XR20 has over 700 drum sounds with integrated reverb, EQ and compression. Of course it also has the MPC styled pads and it can also run off a battery.

While I am thinking this is just another ho-hum addition to the plethora out there, if it is price right then it might be a great addition to your arsenal.

Specifications
-Backlit LCD
-Bright, glowing, backlit pads that follow the beat
-Microphone input and Headphone output
-Pattern Play Mode - Different patterns can be triggered from individual pads
-Drum Roll / Note Repeat feature for realism and expression
-Battery Power capability and AC Adapter

NAMM: Roland Aquiring Majority Share in Cakewalk

KVRaudio.com - Roland Aquiring Majority Share in Cakewalk

Wow, now here is something that is not really LivePA related, but will defintely have a major impact on the industry. Roland has just announced that it has purchased a majority share in Cakewalk.

Roland Corporation President, Hidekazu Tanaka

"Through this mutually beneficial partnership, both corporations have enjoyed a marked increase in sales and market share. As a logical evolution of our relationship, we have decided to increase our investment in Cakewalk by becoming its major shareholder." New products for musicians and professional audio producers will be branded as "Cakewalk by Roland."
"This is an exciting milestone in the relationship between Cakewalk and Roland. Cakewalk products complement a wide range of our products and we see a great future with the plans we have set for our alliance."

Greg Hendershott, Founder and CEO of Cakewalk

"We all look forward to working on new projects we have planned with Roland. Our two companies work well together and our respective customers will benefit from our ongoing collaboration. Roland makes great hardware. Cakewalk makes great software.

So what do you think; good for the industry as it pools hardware and software resources, or bad because it is another example of consolidation?

NAMM: MPC 5000 Announced

Akai MPC 5000

NAMM has kicked off and we are now getting our first trickle ins of the latest and hottest gear. First up that has come through my inbox is Akai announcing the new MPC 5000. Packing all the traditional midi sequencing and sampling as you expect from previous MPC's with 64mb upgradeable to 192 this one has a few new features with an 8-track recorder to hard disk and a new 20 voice 3 oscillator synth. Additional features include a new 960 ppq sequencing engine, 64 continuous sample tracks, pad muting and a new effects section with 4 effects busses.

It is not entirely clear if your samples can be stored on the hard disk or if only the 8-track recorder has access to it. No word on the size of said hard disk either (ED: the video states 80 gigs). Overall looks to be a very solid live setup. Let me know if anyone can find the price on this puppy let me know

Specifications:
-64-voice drum/phrase sampler with 64MB memory built-in. Expandable up to 192MB RAM
-Three-oscillator virtual analog synth engine with built-in arpeggiator
-Over 300 Virtual Analog synth presets included
-Eight tracks of Direct-to-Hard Disk recording
-Over 40 all new effects available within a modular 4-bus effects processor
-Master compressor and equalizer
-Built-in hard disk drive
-Optional CD-R/DVD drive
-USB 2.0 port for computer connectivity
-CF Type-2 card slot (up to 2GB)
-Chop-Shop 2.0 - slices a stereo loop into individual samples with automatic pad assignment
-Patched Phrases - creates multiple splits in looped samples to ensure proper tempo sync without changing pitch
-Continuous Sample Track - ensures samples play in perfect sync no matter where you start the beat in a loop
-12 Q-link controllers for internal automation, external MIDI control and quick parameter editing
-240 x 128 hinged backlit LCD
-10 built-in analog outputs, plus 8 ADAT-optical outputs and stereo S/PDIF IO
-Powerful new multimode filter
-Two MIDI inputs and Four MIDI outputs
-Turntable phono inputs with RIAA pre-amp
-XLR / 1/4" combo jacks with selectable mic/line levels
-Sample library provided by Loopmasters.com

The Open Labs Miko Workstation

The Miko workstation is the latest droolworthy invention from the eggheads over at Open Labs. As you can see in the video, the Miko further blurs the line between DAW and PC by integrating control surfaces like a 37-key semi-weighted keyboard, a control module featuring 5 faders, 5 Modes buttons, 3 Transpose buttons, 5 directions buttons and 5 Transport buttons, a qwerty keyboard, and a Penny & Giles crossfader (among other things) with a windows-based computing architecture and an impressive built in 24 bit/96khz audio interface with multiple ins and outs. The idea is to completely replace the need to bring any other hardware to the stage, as it offers itself up as a seamless host for literally all PC-compatible audio software.

The Miko also offers a full complement of PC goodness, including multiple expansion slots (like PCI/PCIE spaces and empty 3.5" drive bays), an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a dual layer DVD-RW drive, and a hard drive that is expandable up to 1.5 terabytes, and even a 10/100 ethernet card and wifi. While the Summer NAMM video is a bit dry and noisy, it gets the point across and shows off all the major features; visit the the Open Labs homepage for a full rundown of features, specs, ad copy, audio demos and videos of famous people talking about how cool it is.

There are several different versions, including the scaled-down Neko and the attrociously titled Timbaland Edition; the standard model retails around $4,099 USD.

Summer NAMM 2007: Roland SP-555

.:Roland SP-555:.

Summer NAMM is upon us, and with that comes some new gear. From all the reports that I have read online thus far it appears to be a real lackluster show except for one very interesting piece of kit coming out of Roland.

Roland has announced the SP-555 sampler, based off of the SP-404. The new sampler comes with 16 velocity sensitive pads, 37 effects algorithms from the Fantom, and a new Loop Capture feature.

The new LOOP CAPTURE function allows users to sample live audio from the 555’s inputs, (you can also play loops from the pads of course), with real-time effects tweaks. Hasn't this always been a feature? Wow, welcome to 1997 Roland.

Internal memory includes up to 6 minutes of stereo sampling, but is expandable with a 2GB compact flash card that can be accessed on the fly for up to 12 hours of sampling. Doesn't it seem like 2GB should be standard in these machines now?

Despite some of my minor quips, the new SP-555 does appear to be a fairly solid sampler. No news on release date or price as of yet, but this may be one to keep an eye out for livePA artists.

The Jury is in: head scratchers from NAMM '07

Well kiddies, the long and lustful days of NAMM are over, giving the music world a chance to sit back and digest some of the odder and more interesting revelations this year's convention had to offer. While much of this year's fare mostly featured new extensions of existing technologies, not to mention more than a few gimmick guitars, a few strange and slick electronic jewels have appeared to give us LivePA types newer, shinier daydreams.

Among these were a few new analogue-style sequencers, most notably the Octopus by GenoQs Machines and the Surfin' Step Sequencer by Surfin' Kangaroo Studios, both of Dusseldorf, Germany. Another strange one, which might not be ready for the masses just yet, is the Axis Natural Keyboard by C-thru Music, which seems anything but natural, or "c-thru", for that matter. (While it looks badass, the revies haven't been kind, and its function is somewhat obtuse.) On the plus side, many new and curious filters and effects generators hit the scene, such as the Metasonix Scrotum Smasher and the Ebb un Flut by Schippmann Music, both of which seemed to re-invent the art of artistically fucking up one's sound. And last but not least, a treat for the retro at heart: Haken Audio has taken its popular Continuum Fingerboard and given it its own CV/Gate module. While a MIDI fundamentalist myself, I know a few retro and modular enthusiasts whose interests were piqued by this one.

For those of us who like to use microphones for things, the Samson G-track USB condenser mic made a big impression, what with it being a mic and an audio interface, with all kinds of built-in geegaws and gimcracks previously unheard of on mics, like headphone outs and a peak meter. And of course, there's these two: the Audio Cubes by Percussa, which generate controller data by sensing their relative locations to one another, and finally a peice of hardware so cool and complicated, nobody has any idea what it actually does-- including the people at the booth. It's the Resonator Neuronium, and even after reading writeups on the website, I still don't get it. Once again, like the Axis Natural keyboard, at least it looks wicked. Guaranteed to be the next Theremin, I think.


I can't wait until next year.

NAMM 2007: Korg R3

The microKorg has been an extremely popular synth for a lot of livePA artists. For NAMM, Korg has announced the microKorg's successor with the R3, which features full sized keys this time around as well as much cleaner interface.

Here is a little info from Korg's website


Synth
2 oscillators + noise generator
Oscillator 1
Wave: 8 types (Sawtooth, Pulse, Triangle, Sine, Formant, Noise, DWGS, Audio In), Modulation: Waveform, Cross, Unison, VPM
Oscillator 2
4 types (Sawtooth, Square, Triangle, Sine), Modulation: Ring, Sync, Ring+Sync
Waveshape
12 types: Drive, Decimator, HardClip, OctSaw, MultiTri, MultiSin, SubOSCSaw, SubOSCSqu, SubOSCTri, SubOSCSin, Pickup, LevelBoost
Multimode Resonant Filters
Filter 1: -24 dB/oct LPF ~ -12 dB/oct LPF ~ -12 dB/oct BPF ~ -12 dB/oct HPF ~ Thru, Filter 2: LPF, HPF, BPF, COMB
EG x 3, LFO x 2
Vocoder
16 channel vocoder, adjustable level and pan for each channel, Formant Shift function, Formant Motion function, Formant Hold function
Effects
Timbre: 2 band EQ, Insert effect (per timbre), Program: Master effect
Arpeggiator
Six types: UP, DOWN, ALT1/2, Random, Trigger, Individual step on/off function
Programs
128 programs (16 banks x 8 programs), 16 formant motion data sets (7.5 second x 16)