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 Korg USA 316 Service Road Melville, NY 11747 (516) 333-6737 www.korg.com |
Korg Legacy The Korg Legacy Collection consists of three softsynths: an MS-20, a Polysix, and a Wavestation. It also comes with a USB MIDI controller replica of an MS-20. The really cool thing is that you can use the controller to program the soft MS-20 and all the knobs and patchcords actually work. As you make connections with the real patchcords the screen updates to reflect the change. The little keys are velocity sensitive too. The software side has a nice mode where you can use multiple instruments together as a unit with effects and routing. Oh yeah, you can also route an audio signal through the MS-20. |
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Eowave Persephone Persephone is an instrument that looks old but isn't. It's a ribbon-controlled synthesizer capable of Theremin-like sounds. You press the button on the left to make it play and your finger on the ribbon determines the pitch. The trigger button can be velocity sensitive if you like. As you might expect there's a real live analog oscillator in there. This model will output CV and gate but a future version will add MIDI control. eowave |
French Connection Here is an instrument that looks old because it's based on an instrument from the 1920s, the Ondes Martenot. Like Persephone this has a CV/Gate output and a button (pressure sensitive this time) to trigger the sound. Instead of a ribbon this uses a wire with a ring in it that you can slide up and down the length of the keyboard. There are small bumps and indentations that provide tactile feedback as you play it. You can thank Johnny Greenwod of Radiohead for this, he commissioned Analogue Solutions to build these because he was wary of taking his Ondes Martenot on the road. Analogue Solutions |
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fxpansion BFD If you program MIDI drum parts and you want the drums to sound real then look no further. What they've done here is to mic up a drum kit with 17 mics. They then sampled each drum but instead of just sampling the sound on the mic for that particular drum they sampled all the mics. When it gets a MIDI note for that drum it will play back the sound through all the mics. This provides a very live sound. You can use this in a 2, 6, and 17 output mode so if you want to put all the individual mics to tracks and mix like you recorded the drums yourself you can. fxpansion |
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Melody Wave What we have here is a wireless MIDI version of handbells. Each baton is velocity sensitive and triggers a specific MIDI note. The range is something like 100 feet and a charge lasts for days. The picture on the lower left shows the flight case/charger. I could see Laurie Anderson or the Blue Man Group going to town with a set of these. Schulmerich Bells |
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Symptohm:Melohman I saw a lot of virtual instruments at the show and this is the only one that really impressed me, and it really impressed me. Start with a granular/wavetable sound generator and add a filter section that's essentially the insane Quad Fromage filter plug-in and you've got a very good start. Combine that with several hundred automatable/MIDI controllable parameters and individual LFOs for every knob and you've got a huge amount of sonic power. Now add Gigasampler-style dimension keys that let you morph between presets in real time and the possibilities are staggering. Ohmforce |
Muse Research Receptor Playing live and depending on a computer can be an iffy proposition. That's where the receptor comes in. You can load this up with all your PC VST plug-ins and play live with very little latency. You can run an audio input into it and use it as a virtual processing rack or you can load it up with VST instruments and use it a virtual keyboard rack. It sports an SVGA monitor output and PS-2 mouse and keyboard inputs so you can set everything up without having to rely on the front panel. Since this box doesn't have to boot a bloated operating system it powers up in seconds and remembers where you were when it was powered down last. Muse Research |
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Moogerfooger MuRF The latest addition to the Moogerfooger line is the MuRF. That's an acronym for Multiple Resonant Filter. The pattern knob is a 12 position switch that controls the order of the steps. The section that looks like a graphic EQ is where you control the relative gain of the different frequency bands as it advances through each step. Like all the other Moogerfooger pedals this unit has a number of CV inputs and outputs to provide for much fun interfacing with other moogerfoogers or analog synth gear. Moog Music, Inc. |
Sound Toys I have to admit that I'm beginning to get a little jaded when it comes to plug-ins. When I came across the Sound Toys booth I was ready to be underwhelmed, however that was not the case. These plug-ins not only sound great but they offer some unique synchronization and interface features. They've definitely got their own personality. Sound Toys |
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Mini Pro Speakers When was the last time you used a flat piece of cardboard as a speaker? OK, it's not just a hunk of cardboard, it's a high tech honeycombed material that acts as a diaphragm that's excited by the attached voice coils. They have essentially have a figure-8 dispersion pattern where the higher frequencies attenuate as you approach the sides. You can't hang these on a wall but in many situations they would make for excellent low profile sound reinforcement. HiWave |
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MIDITEMP Multistation This is truly the MIDI player from hell. Its got: 8 in/8 out MIDI, MTC, MIDI clock, USB, CD-ROM, floppy, internal hard drive, smart media reader/writer, Soundfont synth, digital audio recorder/player, video out for lyric display, and a remote with a large backlit LCD.
www.miditemp.com |
BB Tuner Tuners that run as software in a computer are nothing new. I just like the idea of using a plasma screen as the display for a tuner. That's one expensive tuner. Black Ball, Inc. |
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NAMM Oddities '04 Home | Guitars |
Other Goodies | Percussion |
| Don't be surprised if you find that the product or the company you see
on these pages has ceased to exist, particularly as the pages get older.
One function of the NAMM Oddities is that of a historical archive of
attempted products. These web pages are not associated with or sponsored by NAMM |
Send your suggestions, clarifications, rants or praise to oddinfo@otheroom.com
©2004 Barry Wood