January 26, 2013
NAMM 2013 Day Two...
by Chris Randall
Okay, NAMM, we need to talk. It's time you put on your big boy pants and moved to a real convention center. Anaheim was fun and all (okay, well, not really), but you've grown too large. It's time to consider moving to a larger convention center like L.A. or, if I might be so bold, Vegas. Anaheim can't feed all the people. Anaheim doesn't have room for all the vendors. Anaheim doesn't have a place to put all the cars. And wouldn't Anaheim really be happier just getting people to Disneyland, which is all they truly want to do anyhow?
In any event, between the two and a half hours (!!!) I spent parking and screaming at shuttle bus drivers, the hour (!!!) I spent in line trying to get lunch, and the hour (!!!) I spent un-parking, I didn't actually see very much yesterday. It was a banner day for the Anaheim Convention Center service industries. Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!
So, with that:
1. Eventide H9: This is a pretty crafty product. It's actually sort of a meta-pedal, and you get an iOS app to program it. Not great for synth-tweakers like the other pedals, which have banks of knobs for performance (you have to use the iPad app to program it) but the shear amount of DSP power in this tiny little pedal is somewhat overwhelming. It is more-or-less identical to the other pedals inasmuch as you, say, load up the Black Hole preset, and it's exactly like the the Black Hole algo on the Space pedal. Feels solid as hell, and looks great. If it had a "Like" button, I'd press it.
2. Eowave: Nori Ubukata was in the Eowave booth, and he was playing one of the stranger things I've seen at NAMM. Eowave makes a stand-alone ribbon controller, and he had it driving an oscillator/VCA combo. This was sent to a gong/speaker thing. In this way, he was able to "play" the resonant frequencies of the gong/speaker thing with the ribbon controller. Very odd and cool sounds. Throw that shit through the H9 pedal and we have ourselves a drone party! They had the Magma, of course, which is their current marquee product, and they were also showing a 6U all-in-one modular. It is labelled in French, so I wasn't able to parse out its full complement, but it looks pretty nice and capable.
Other than that, I had a couple meetings, and I wasn't actually at the convention very long, so I didn't see anything else worth noting. Today I have no meetings and I'm going pretty early, so it should be more productive.
In any event, between the two and a half hours (!!!) I spent parking and screaming at shuttle bus drivers, the hour (!!!) I spent in line trying to get lunch, and the hour (!!!) I spent un-parking, I didn't actually see very much yesterday. It was a banner day for the Anaheim Convention Center service industries. Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!
So, with that:
1. Eventide H9: This is a pretty crafty product. It's actually sort of a meta-pedal, and you get an iOS app to program it. Not great for synth-tweakers like the other pedals, which have banks of knobs for performance (you have to use the iPad app to program it) but the shear amount of DSP power in this tiny little pedal is somewhat overwhelming. It is more-or-less identical to the other pedals inasmuch as you, say, load up the Black Hole preset, and it's exactly like the the Black Hole algo on the Space pedal. Feels solid as hell, and looks great. If it had a "Like" button, I'd press it.
2. Eowave: Nori Ubukata was in the Eowave booth, and he was playing one of the stranger things I've seen at NAMM. Eowave makes a stand-alone ribbon controller, and he had it driving an oscillator/VCA combo. This was sent to a gong/speaker thing. In this way, he was able to "play" the resonant frequencies of the gong/speaker thing with the ribbon controller. Very odd and cool sounds. Throw that shit through the H9 pedal and we have ourselves a drone party! They had the Magma, of course, which is their current marquee product, and they were also showing a 6U all-in-one modular. It is labelled in French, so I wasn't able to parse out its full complement, but it looks pretty nice and capable.
Other than that, I had a couple meetings, and I wasn't actually at the convention very long, so I didn't see anything else worth noting. Today I have no meetings and I'm going pretty early, so it should be more productive.
18 comments:
Just saw that modular system on eowave's facebook page; looks very nice!
Here's what I can suss out. The system's called Orage Magn?tique, which means "Magnetic storm". The modules:
- Mult, Midi/USB interface
- "Storm 1, 2, 3 - Oscillators with bipolar modulation". The bottom two knobs on each are pulse width.
- Octave divider and vca
- Mixer
- "Magnetic fluctuations" - I see the words double and hi pass, some kind of dual filter?
- "Magnetic anomaly - transistor based band-pass filter" - There's a LP output and a something-else pass right out above
- "Discrete amplifier" followed by "Germanium 241"
- Trigger and "Gravity", looks like slew
- "Particle Impact" - dual looping adsr
- "Low frequency zone" - variable waveshape LFOs with sync
- "Magnetic Aurora - white and digital noise" can be clocked externally and has mod input
- "Ring traversal - ring modulator with symmetric modulation"
- "Dual polariser" I think
- "Space/Time - digital delay line" the switch says freeze
- "External signal treatment" - knobs say filtering and compensation, the switch next to the input says sensor/cv
- "Meteor shower" - knobs say "signal", "sweep" and "re-injection" hard to say what this is?
- Another mixer and mult
- "Main Volume", stereo out with cv controllable pan.
All in all a rather nice system, quite curious about the filters and the meteor shower
Here's what I can suss out. The system's called Orage Magn?tique, which means "Magnetic storm". The modules:
- Mult, Midi/USB interface
- "Storm 1, 2, 3 - Oscillators with bipolar modulation". The bottom two knobs on each are pulse width.
- Octave divider and vca
- Mixer
- "Magnetic fluctuations" - I see the words double and hi pass, some kind of dual filter?
- "Magnetic anomaly - transistor based band-pass filter" - There's a LP output and a something-else pass right out above
- "Discrete amplifier" followed by "Germanium 241"
- Trigger and "Gravity", looks like slew
- "Particle Impact" - dual looping adsr
- "Low frequency zone" - variable waveshape LFOs with sync
- "Magnetic Aurora - white and digital noise" can be clocked externally and has mod input
- "Ring traversal - ring modulator with symmetric modulation"
- "Dual polariser" I think
- "Space/Time - digital delay line" the switch says freeze
- "External signal treatment" - knobs say filtering and compensation, the switch next to the input says sensor/cv
- "Meteor shower" - knobs say "signal", "sweep" and "re-injection" hard to say what this is?
- Another mixer and mult
- "Main Volume", stereo out with cv controllable pan.
All in all a rather nice system, quite curious about the filters and the meteor shower
Is NAMM big enough to fill the LA Convention Center? I've only been to NAMM once, but I've been to several E3s, and E3 is fucking HUGE. Or at least it was in the early 2000s - I am blissfully unaware of what has been going on in the game space since then.
Anyway, I think that it is a positive sign that NAMM is packed this year. It might speak well for the health of the musical instrument industry. I can't think of any good conclusion for this Pollyanna paragraph, so I'll stop now.
Anyway, I think that it is a positive sign that NAMM is packed this year. It might speak well for the health of the musical instrument industry. I can't think of any good conclusion for this Pollyanna paragraph, so I'll stop now.
We have the same problem up here with PAX. The Washington State Convention Center only holds 70,000 people, but roughly 200,000 people want to go. We need to move to a larger center in LA or Vegas, but I think the Penny Arcade guys are reluctant to move the first PAX location away from home.
I have learned to get a hotel within easy walking distance and arrive the night before. I park, then leave the car in place until it's time to go.
I have learned to get a hotel within easy walking distance and arrive the night before. I park, then leave the car in place until it's time to go.
So apparently Stevie Wonder jammed with Bernie Worrell on dueling Moogs.
So some people got to see that happen for free and close up.
That's a NAMM experience I actually *envy.*
- c
So some people got to see that happen for free and close up.
That's a NAMM experience I actually *envy.*
- c
If that's real, it ain't on youtube yet, which means people must die. Those two could be playing dueling cocks and I'd buy the Blu-Ray.
I stood mere feet from Stevie when I went to that frappe of thinning pony-tails and oversized bowling shirts a few years back. Likely real.
Attending NAMM without these frustrations is entirely possible, actually very easy. I just did, for three days. Virtually zero wait/wasted time is attainable, but you learn over time, and I've had plenty of practice. Unfortunately, bar bringing your own, there's nothing you can do about the OC food... or the lack of appetite that comes with observing the local flora and fauna...
On the other hand, I'd love to be able to take the train to NAMM (downtown LA) but please... Vegas???
On the other hand, I'd love to be able to take the train to NAMM (downtown LA) but please... Vegas???
I could give a shit about what city it's in. (As long as it's not cold.) I just want a convention center that was built in the last 50 years, and is designed for something besides housewares shows. NAB is so fucking smooth, and it's easily twice the size of NAMM. I've never had problem one with hotels, parking, food, anything at the Las Vegas convention center. And Las Vegas actually has public transit.
And regarding the Worrell/Wonder jam, that's the outfit Bernie was wearing, so it's probably legit, although I didn't actually see it happen. I was probably outside yelling at the parking attendants. He was in the Moog booth all day.
But you see shit like that at NAMM all the time.
-CR
And regarding the Worrell/Wonder jam, that's the outfit Bernie was wearing, so it's probably legit, although I didn't actually see it happen. I was probably outside yelling at the parking attendants. He was in the Moog booth all day.
But you see shit like that at NAMM all the time.
-CR
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