Future Gear
Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Markkus Rovito
Who says you can't look into your future? At the annual NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., you can. Every year, a fair share of the coolest musical instrument and pro audio hardware and software makers trot out the new gear that will change the way you make and perform music…that is, once it becomes available. Most of the time it's a bit of a tease because the stuff is not yet shipping, and this year's show — which took place Jan. 17-20 — was no different.
A full buffet of mouth-watering treats for DJing, producing tracks and just plain rocking out were commonly earmarked for release at the end of February, but a couple of tantalizing virtual instruments will take even longer. Spectrasonics debuted its amazing, huge-sounding Omnisphere ($499) — the heir to the popular Atmosphere ambient synth — but it's not scheduled for sale until Sept. 15. EastWest was a little more vague when it said that its kooky and cool Forbidden Planet sample-based morphing synth — aimed at composers and forward-thinking musicians — would be available “not anytime soon.” In the past, that has meant up to a year of impatient waiting. For a tasty hardware temptation, there was the Vestax VCM-600, a beautiful DAW control surface with tight integration specifically for Ableton Live, available in June.
Fortunately, there were plenty of eye-popping toys at NAMM that were much closer to the counter; for a first look at some of them, check out New Products on page 62. See also the Remix/Mix/EM NAMM site at http://emusician.com/ms/namm08 for full coverage and videos.
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