A perfect combo of snacks alcohol and pharmaceuticals. Thanks Mera!

Just plain weird…

Thats just plain weird…

Gaz here. Made my first Namm 2015 purchase already. The Teenage Engineering PO range have just become available to buy at 59 euros each. Get 'em while they are hot!

At $99 the Korg SQ-1 is looking like a must have for owners of Euroracks, Korg's diminutive Volca range or Arturia's Brute synths. It has loads of great functionality as demonstrated to Nick in this video. 

Waldorf in the euro game!

Keith Macmillen k-mix

Interesting things at Delptronics - yes, even cowbells.

Club of the Knobs

Wow things are really heating up in the dedicated Ableton Live controller world with this latest release from Novation taking on the likes of the Akai APC 40 MK2, Ableton's Push and Livid Instruments Base. Great to see Push like note mode including velocity sensitivity plus you can't deny RGB pads are so cool! Actually the fact that it can function as a class compliant midi interface in its own right is brilliant featuring as it does midi in and out ports too. Game on!

Hmm this is very odd. KMI are entering the audio interface/small mixer market with this Quneo inspired unit. It's midi controllable 8 in/10 out audio interface that can operate as a stand alone mixer. It has only two mic preamps and all midi functions have to be through a mini USB input. Bah, no midi din plugs. This is a trend I don't like! With its squishy faders, no VU or display, relatively limited I/O and costing $599 I'm not convinced about this sadly so I will need to see a mind blowing demo to change my mind. Gaz.

Casio XW-DJ1 and XW-PD1

Gaz here again. been chatting with Robbie Bronniman and we both agree that Namm this year is much more exciting than previous ones. The Arturia Beat Step Pro for instance looks like a great product for interfacing with the deluge of new modular kit that's appearing by offering loads of hands on control. Looks great fun! The Akai Timbre Wolf brings a genuine analogue four voice poly for under $500 but is essentially four voices of the Rhythm Wolf's not very impressive bass synth element. Makes more sense in this layout though.

Moog

Dave Smith

Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator series. Video is on its way!

Rane MP2015

IConnect Audio

Streaming Live at 3pm from the Universal Audio booth! Andrew Dawson takes us step-by-step through how he crafted Childish Gambino's “3005� with UAD Powered Plug-Ins.

Akai Timber wolf 4 voice poly wtf!?

Nothing could be finer UA classic console

New Prophet 6

We are here

Arturia Audiofuse sure is cute. Video soon

Yep Omnisphere is getting a sequel! Here is the link for the video. Finally import your own samples! Eric Persing is the king of the product demonstration. Looking trim too!

Omnisphere 2.0 takes all the good stuff from its predecessor and improves on it in many ways. The side browser which can display modulation routings as well as patch browsing is nifty but the preset lock looks like possibly the best feature. Browsing the gigantic 10,000 patch library can be navigated by finding elements in a patch that you like, say arpeggiator, locking that then browsing the entire library with that arpeggiator.

Almost there! Namm 2015

The proposed 10 am PST Spectrasonics announcement appears to be delayed due to a Vimeo crash.  Update will be along soon….

NAMM news from Universal Audio! Apollo Expanded Software coming March 2015 — mix and match up to 4 Apollo interfaces over Thunderbolt, a completely re-imagined Console application, and new UAD plug-ins. Learn more at: http://www.uaudio.com/namm-2015.

Mickey is in the building!

Wow! Didn't see this coming. Sequential have just announced a Prophet 6! Yes you read that right, not DSi but Sequential! Watch the video here for more details.

Maybe Akai have been listening to the various criticisms of their recently released Rhythm Wolf as they seem to have given it a complete facelift and overhaul and renamed it the Tomcat. Whether this will be sold alongside the Rhythm Wolf or replace it entirely will remain to be seen. The Tomcat effectively replaces the rather limp bass synth with toms - Labelled here as Disco Toms (I feel like I'm in love 'boo boo boo boo'etc) also the percussion section has been replaced with a clap. When I tested out a Rhythm Wolf recently I really wanted to like it as the build quality and layout are really nice but sadly there were too many negatives for me. These appear to have been addressed with the Tom Cat. Scheduled to be released in July.

Who me?. No officer i think you are mistaken

Hello everyone, Gaz Williams here. So we are into Thursday at Namm so I thought it would be good to round up some of the highlights from the synth and high tech world so far. Some of these we knew a little about and some are complete shocks:

Moog Modular-We speculated after the announcement of the recreation of the legendary Keith Emmerson modular that something like this may be inbound but this is still quite a surprise!

Teenage Engineering/Cheap Monday Pocket Operators - We also knew that TE would be at Namm showing off their previously announced super cheap PO12 drum machine what we didn't know is that there is a full range a là Korg's Volcas. There is a drum machine, a bass synth and a general synth.Presented as bare circuit boards, the good news if that puts you off is that there are silicone cases coming soon.

Roland's new synths and mixer - We had seen the leak about the JD-Xi which we can now confirm as a hybrid digital and analogue synth but also there is an unexpected big brother in the JD-XA.  It is interesting to note that although these synths have some styling similarities to the Aira range, they have an orange red led colour scheme compared to Aira's green as if to differentiate between different product lines. Details are a bit vague at this moment about this JD-XA, more soon! Roland are also announcing a very interesting new approach to a mixer in the MX-1. Of particular interest to users of the Aira range, this mixer actually acts as an audio and midi USB host to those existing units. Put simply, connect your TR 8 to the MX-1 and you can pass midi, audio and sync data back and forth over a USB with no computer attached. One port will also power either the TB-3 or the VT-3. Of course the mixer also acts as a control surface and audio interface for computer connection should you wish.

Arturia Audio Fuse-Arturia have been teasing for a few months about this supposedly game changing $599 audio interface, well the details are now here. The big life changing feature set includes…umm its available in three different colours surely a first for audio interfaces! Seriously, it looks like a great small interface with an impressive array of connectivity.  It could be just the ticket for those looking for an interface to work on both computer and iPad platforms especially the latter as connectivity is usually very limited on existing products. Very welcome is the USB host with the ability to have three USB devices attached. Excellent news again for iPad musicians. Attached devices have to obviously be class compliant.

Korg's Arp Odyssey-This has been one of the most eagerly awaited announcements of this Namm so far. What do we know? Well we know that it is 86% the size of the original which doesn't sound like a lot but does make it appear far more diminutive than the original including a 3/4 length keybed which may disappoint some but does have some modern upgrades such as midi and a choice of three different filters. Also new is a drive switch which apparently boosts (thicken?) the output stage.

Nektar Panorama Mainstage 3 support - This announcement while not maybe as bigger news as others, this is a highly welcome announcement that may excite some live keyboard players due to its deep support of Apple's unique hosting software. I know from my touring experience that this would be extremely useful!

Pre-show madness Acoustica booth done!

Moog booth setup

Arp Odyssey sighting. Pre-show floor. Mini keys!? 

Setting up the Acoustica software booth. Makers of Mixcraft 7.

My Moog water supply is running low. Be sure to stop by the Moog booth to see their new modular and grab a couple bottles of water while you’re at it.

For thursdays music tech blog, Dont forget to put your name in the label/tag if you want to get credited