Recording - April 2013 - 10

2013 Winter NAMM Show Report

Winter NAMM once again graced Anaheim,
California, with tens of thousands of showgoers, hundreds of vendors, and thousands and
thousands of new products from ukulele strings
to grand pianos, from pocket-sized iOS gadgets
to room-filling digital mixing consoles. The
recently-renovated Anaheim Convention
Center boasted a new outdoor stage and openair pedestrian mall, a year of frantic construction being completed just in time for NAMM...
and for four days of rare but perfectly timed
rain that delayed or halted many of the outdoor events. Such is life.
Inside the Convention Center, the industry’s
mood was upbeat, as the economy’s continued
slow recovery manifested itself in more vendors, more new products, and more initiatives
to get music into the hands of more people. In
this report, we’ll give you a broad overview of
the new recording products we saw; please
remember that we can’t possibly list every vendor or relevant product, and we apologize in
advance for any omissions. We recommend that
you read our 2012 AES Convention Report
(January 2013 issue) to see new products from
companies that were debuted at that show a
mere 3 months before NAMM. Oh, and when
offered a choice by manufacturers, we’re quoting “street” prices rather than list. Time to head
out onto the show floor...!—MM
Acoustica (acoustica.com): As part of a new
partnership with MXL Microphones, the new
Mixcraft 6 Vocal Studio ($169.95) will bundle the
Mixcraft 6 DAW (reviewed March 2013) with a
custom-designed cardioid USB condenser mic, the
MVS. The package includes a stand, adjustable
mount, and USB cable.

RECORDING April 2013

Agile Partners (agilepartners.com): The AmpKit
amplifier and effects modeling software originally
designed for iOS is now available for Mac OS X
($49.99), with dozens of amp, pedal,
cabinet, and mic models and
improved simulation fidelity.
AIR Music Technology (air
musictech.com): the Ignite composer-centric music creation
DAW is now available for free
download. Two new virtual instruments were on display: Vacuum Pro

($149), an analog-modeling synthesizer with a straightforward
interface and extensive tube modeling to add warmth to its sounds, and Loom ($149), an additive synthesizer with a unique user interface and sound creation workflow.
Akai (akaipro.com): In addition to the MAX25 ($349), a compact version of the MAX49 controller reviewed in this issue, and the MPC Studio
($599), a streamlined and lightweight MPC sampler/sequencer, Akai also
introduced two entirely new products: the MPX8 ($99), a compact sample
player with 8 backlit pads loaded from SD cards, and the MPC
Headphone line, DJ-centric headphones ranging from wired/wireless earbuds up to the MPC Pro ($499), a top-level model with 50mm drivers.
AKG (akg.com): The C1000 S has been updated to a new model
($279) with a number of upgraded features. The new model runs on
2 AA batteries and offers two gain settings, three filter frequency settings, and a choice of cardioid and hypercardioid patterns.

http://www.agilepartners.com http://www.airmusictech.com http://www.airmusictech.com http://www.akaipro.com http://www.acoustica.com http://www.akg.com

Recording - April 2013

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