On the NAMM 2008 horizon

On the NAMM 2008 horizon

14 January, 2008 | 11.34AM

• Written by: francispreve
• Filed under: Music News: namm

With less than a week to go until The NAMM Show, we’ve unleashed the Beatport Bloodhounds to sniff out pre-show tips and tidbits.

Naturally, there’s a high degree of secrecy surrounding every new product release – especially at NAMM.

Fortunately for our readers, we’ve heard some whispers and whatnot that gets our spider-sense tingling.

Granted, some of this is hearsay, so take it all with a grain – or pound – of salt.

All will be revealed in a few short days…

Ableton

Since Live 7 and Ableton Suite have already been released to both critical and public acclaim, it goes without saying that the Ableton booth will be a hotbed of activity.

While celebrity sightings and mind-boggling demonstrations will undoubtedly be the order of the day, another question remains.

Will Ableton have any new surprises for us?

Perhaps we’ll hear some news on their previously announced partnership with Cycling 74.

Hmmm…

Apple

With Logic Studio making waves – make that tsunamis – on both sides of the pond, we can all be assured that Logic will be the focus of Apple’s massive tradeshow presence.

But one of the key elements of Apple’s Logic story isn’t actually a product invented in Cupertino, but a product created by one of their esteemed partners, the legendary Apogee.

Never heard of Apogee?

In a nutshell, Apogee is one of the most revered audio companies in the industry, best known for audio interfaces that are priced far beyond the reach of mere mortals.

Now that Apogee’s more affordable FireWire interface – the Duet – is finally shipping, I imagine we’ll hear some very interesting demos at the Apple booth, as well as the Apogee booth itself.

Then again, maybe Apple will finally announce the long-awaited Jam Pack “Jazz” soundware and sample collection.

Or GarageBand for the iPhone.

Applied Acoustics Systems

AAS has innovated some of the top softsynths in the industry: Lounge Lizard, String Studio and Ultra Analog, to name a few.

In fact, their products sound so good that Ableton licensed some of their technology for Ableton Suite’s new array of sound generating devices.

At the NAMM show, AAS will be unveiling a new, modeled emulation that can actually replicate the voicings and articulations of a strummed acoustic guitar.

Now you too can sound like classic Kaskade.

Look for a showfloor evaluation of this product in the next few days.

Dave Smith and Roger Linn

Last fall, Dave Smith blew away the world with the release of the flawless Prophet 08, which has become the “waiting list” synth of the century.

Around the same time, Mr. Smith announced that he would be collaborating with another legend, Roger Linn.

On the outside chance that you’ve never heard of the LinnDrum (the first drum machine to use samples of real drums), perhaps you’ve heard of Roger Linn’s other major contribution to electronic grooves, the Akai MPC60.

Well, Roger and Dave have a new product that is currently slated to ship next summer.

The LinnDrum II Analog: A hybrid drum machine that includes both sampling and four totally programmable analog voices (pictured above).

Will we see a prototype at NAMM?

M-Audio

M-Audio is clearly one of the leaders in the music production industry.

With a product portfolio that covers everything from audio interfaces to softsynths, it’s no understatement that M-Audio really does bring music production to the masses with an ear for quality.

So what’s on tap for NAMM?

Two tidbits have crossed my desk within the past few days.

I’m hearing some rumors about a set of awesome studio monitors for the club music producer and another revolutionary advance for laptop DJs.

Wow.

Percussa

Last summer, we touched upon Percussa’s otherworldly AudioCubes.

Well they’ve got a presence at NAMM and we will definitely be stopping by to see if these glowing MIDI controllers can hold a candle to a pair of glowsticks and some poi lessons.

Steinberg

The big news here is that Steinberg is going to take the wraps off their new VST3 plug-in format.

This could be really serious stuff.

Vir2

Vir2 is a relative newcomer to the softsynth arena, but in the past few years they’ve created some lovely sampled acoustic instruments – as well as several more electronic-oriented products.

My sources have suggested that they’ll be unveiling some remarkable orchestral percussion and bass-specific products at the show.

Yamaha

While Yamaha’s Motif series has long been a mainstay among do-it-all hardware fans, the really big question looms.

Will the Tenori-On finally grace US shores?

Or will it be an overseas widget exclusively?

Ain’t gonna lie. If there’s a Tenori-On within fifty miles of the NAMM show, I’m gonna get my mitts on it and relay the facts from the perspective of a full-time producer.

Only a few more days to go…

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Check back for Beatportal’s live coverage of NAMM by Francis Preve from Thursday, January 17th through Sunday, January 20th.

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