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Numark introduced its new $59.95 Laptop Stand at NAMM.
Key Features:
* Solid, easy-to-assemble laptop stand for DJs
* Secure construction, yet portable, and collapsible with low-weight design
* Fast to assemble or disassemble
* Comes with a zippered, protective case for convenience in transport
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Teenage Engineering was demoing their OP-1 Synthesizer, which is very impressive and powerful – but expensive at the expected $700 retail price. They expect the release date to be about a year off, and they are working on finishing the software and looking for ways to make the synth more efficiently.
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Imposcar 2 Features:
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“Most recommended for use for lead parts, especially in Drum’n’Bass, Breakbeat, Dubstep, Jungle music.”
Zombie Killah 2 Features:
* 2 detuned oscillators.
* 1 sub bass oscillator
* Easy and quick modulators:
o One-Knob Adjustable Frequency Modulation.
o One-Knob Amplitude Modulation.
o Double-Knob Pulse Width Modulation.
o Vibrato and Tremolo.
o 3-way filtering.
o Host-synced BPM LFO Speeds.
* All parameters automatable, but an assignable MIDI CC for LFO Speed is available if needed.
* Chorus effect for stereo widening.
* 10 Factory Presets to get you started.
Zombie Killah 2 is a free VSTi plugin for Windows. Mac users will have to find their own “ultimate badass synth.”
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2010 NAMM Show: EKS has announced the debut of their latest DJ Controller – Otus RAW.
Features:
* Otus RAW is equipped with two long and sturdy SL-turntable-style pitch sliders, one for each virtual deck.
* The Otus RAW also features large velocity pads and buttons allowing for fast and easy operation .
* A layer switch immediately multiplies the layers of controls available on the Otus RAW, resulting in nearly an unlimited number of control possibilities.
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SoundMagic Spectral is a free suite of 23 Audio Unit plug-ins that implement real-time spectral processing of sound.
Included in SoundMagic Spectral are the following effects:
* Spectral Averaging
* Spectral Bin Shift
* Spectral Blurring
* Spectral DroneMaker
* Spectral Emergence
* Spectral Filterbank
* Spectral Freezing
* Spectral Gate and Hold
* Spectral Gliding Filters
* Spectral Granulation
* Spectral Harmonizer
* Spectral Partial Glide
* Spectral Pitch Shift
* Spectral Pulsing
* Spectral Shimmer
* Spectral Shuffle
* Spectral Stretch
* Spectral Tracing
* Chorus
* Comb Filter Bank
* Grain Streamer
* Idee Fixer
* Mr Filterbank
It’s an impressive collection of free sound-shaping plugins. Check out the demos at michaelnorris.info to hear what they can do.
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The Pythagorean Lambdoma Harmonic Keyboard, designed by mathemetician Barbara Hero, is an unusual MIDI controller that’s based on ancient concepts and fundamental harmonic relationships between notes.
The keyboard is based on the Lambdoma Matrix, a mathematical grid attributed to the philosopher Pythagoras. The Matrix plots whole-number ratios, with whole numbers along on side (1,2,3,4….) and their inverse fractions (1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4….) along the other.
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Ableton founder Robert Henke (Monolake) has released a set of free devices for Max for Live.
The devices include:
* The legendary PX-18 step sequencer – The PX-18 is a step sequencer, originally written by me and Gerhard Behles around 1995. More or less all rhythmical Monolake tracks have been sequenced with the PX-18 and a lot of inspiration for the way how Ableton Live deals with ‘clips’ and ’scenes’ came from experience with the PX-18. This version offers the functionality of a single track of the original PX18.
* Black – A simple device which does two things: It displays songtime in hours:minutes:seconds – at least as long as you are working with a constant song tempo. And it allows to black out the computer screen while listening to the music.
* Distance – This audio effect device is for those who are into careful placement of sonic events in the stereo field. Its main parameter is a big ‘distance’ control. It affects volume, filtering, pan and stereo width of the incoming audio signal. With the right choice of settings it provides a very nice simulation of a source disappearing in the distance: The further away, the less high frequencies, the more the stereo image is reduced to a mono source and the lower the signal level.
* Circular Doppler - Two virtual microphones rotate around a single sound source. Doppler delays, distance dependent amplitude modulation and filtering included. Movement of source and microphones synced to song position. This allows 100% reproducible effects.
* Grain Freeze – A granular audio freezer effect. Creates lush textures out of everything!
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Big City Music and filmmaker Dianna Dilworth will be presenting a showing of Mellodrama, The Mellotron Movie at the 2010 NAMM Show, being held in Anaheim, California, January 14-17, 2010.
The showing will be held Friday January 15th, 6-8 pm at the Hilton Anaheim, Avila Room (4th floor).
In addition to Mellodrama, The Making of Bolero Electronica will be showing, along with a Q&A with Amin Bhatia and Michelle MOog-Koussa.
From a California garage to Royal Albert Hall, Mellodrama is a documentary film that explores how the haunting sound of an ingenious contraption called the Mellotron changed the production and texture of popular music, from the Beatles to Kanye West.
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David Byrne writes one of the most interesting musician’s blogs around, and his latest post is a keeper.
In the post, he talks about The LA Opera production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, above, is budgeted at $32 million, and at how $14 million of that is coming from the City:
“It’s time to rethink all this museum, opera and symphony funding — and I refer mainly to state funding. A bunch of LA museums just got a bailout from LA real estate king Eli Broad, and that’s great, but I suspect there will be county money involved there somewhere too. I think maybe it’s time to stop, or more reasonably, curtail somewhat, state investment in the past — in a bunch of dead guys (and they are mostly guys, and mostly dead, when we look at opera halls) — and invest in our future. Take that money, that $14 million from the city, for example, let some of those palaces, ring cycles and temples close — forgo some of those $32M operas — and fund music and art in our schools”.
Funding future creativity is a real investment — there’s a chance these kids will build, write, draw or play something that will fill theaters, clubs, stadiums, web pages, whatever. The dead guys won’t write more symphonies.
Ideally, we wouldn’t have to choose between supporting performances of the classic and supporting future classics.
But if we do have to choose, Byrne’s right. The dead guys won’t write more symphonies.
