We spent only one day at NAMM this year due to work, and there was a TON of great stuff we were chomping at the bit to see. I pretty much made direct line through the wild hoards of guitar wilderness (stringed instruments? HELP!), finally to the safety of the “synth zone”! There, Rosser from Moog was just bringing the new Moog Model 15 modular to life – the booth had just opened and I was eager to beat the crowds.
Here’s a word from Rosser about the lovely Model 15 that has captured my heart and made me rethink whether or not I really need a car:
We then had the pleasure of visiting our dear friends from the Bob Moog Foundation, Michelle Moog Koussa & Marc Doty! In their booth was Michael Boddicker’s amazing Moog Modular system (which was used on an insane bunch of albums…quite a historical instrument indeed). Michelle showed me a few tweaks!
Then it was a run to the lovely people at Arturia to see the new Beatstep Pro and the new audio interface they will be releasing – Audio Fuse!
After spending a dreamy while in headphones on the Minibrute waiting for Sean & Nathalie in their VERY busy booth, they showed me all the rather magnificent new features of both new machines. Both sleek & super – cool, they are perfect for my upcoming gigs where a more streamlined setup is very much yearned for. Compact & powerful. And the Beatstep Pro has loads of super-clever new features, read about them here.
We did a quick video with Warren Huart about the MiniLab from Produce Like A Pro - stay tuned for a giveaway with us of said Arturia machine by the way!
So! Then it was a dash to see what Eric at Spectrasonics was cooking up with the new Omniphere 2! Hell’s Bells. Just the new granular features melted my face! And I’m also very excited that there will be loads of new sounds by my friend & masterful sound designer, Diego Stocco.
And we had the pleasure of running into Gemma and Gary Numan! Awesome, kind people and of course Mr. Numan is one artist whose work was a real game changer for me. And we all were pretty stoked about the new Spectrasonics creations!
Me & Gemma Numan amongst the chaos…
Gary Numan, Eric Persing and me…who couldn’t seem to stop flapping her hands.
With only an hour or so left, we hit a few more beauties on our list. I made sure to go give the Elektron Analog Rytm a kiss and made off with their product guide (I want one of these SO BAD.):
A few more wonderful moments at our fleeting NAMM visit:
A dabble in rainbow glasses with the wonderful Swarmatron at the Big City Music booth:
Moi & Leon Dewan Swarmatronning…
With the gorgeous new Oberheim 2 Voice Pro. As with the vintage one I borrowed from Benge last year, the Oberheim just has a very special indescribable sensation to me that makes it really stand apart from other machines. This is MAGIC:
And OF COURSE the Pro 2 and Prophet 6 at Dave Smith Instruments ( Sequential Circuits)! I had trouble “getting a leg over” on the Prophet as there was always someone on it – but it is divine. I want to play it MORE though. I was able to grab Marc from the Bob Moog Foundation & have him walk me through the Pro 2 a bit. It is indeed a modulation monster, and capable of doing some wildly unique things. REALLY crazy. Watch Marc’s series on the Pro 2 here, by the way. Great stuff:
The Pro 2
Dave Smith and his new Prophet 6:
Having a buzz on the Buchla Music Easel..
And the creator of my all time favorite drum machine, the LM-1, Roger Linn – shows us the new Linnstrument:
The lovely MS20M + SQ10 sequencer from Korg – brilliant!
And hell’s bells. By the time we got down to Hall E to see Make Noise, they were packed up. *sulk. Maybe next time!
So much to take in of course – I wish we had time to hit it a few more days! What did you guys like the most? It was definitely a great, vibrant NAMM show for the short portion we spent there. Indeed 2015 will be a great year to make some noise.
