Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2024 Edition

 Packrat Barry

Techno Geek Toys

Spring in the Air

You can pair the footpedal with one of three different springs. The smallest one is shown in the photo here and the largest one is more than twice that size.

anasounds

On Beyond Vocaloid

First drum machines came for the drummers, then synthesizers came for the strings, and finally samplers came for most everything else but singers thought they were safe. All hyperbole aside, this is a pretty impressive tool where you have them train a custom model based on your vocals and then you can program your DAW to sing with your voice. That would allow for a fair amount of arranging work to be done without having to actually sing, but I do wonder how many times demoitis will win out and this will be the final track.

Modular Button Mash

Think of the Per4mer as a video game/music production cross training device. It's got multiple effects that can be triggered and controlled with the video game buttons.

modbap

MPC For The Budget Minded

If you want to be an old school beat maker and not use a computer, but don't have the scratch for an MPC, this may be one of your only options.

stylophone2

Titans of Industry

When this reaches market I suspect it will reside in the same rarified air as Moog One, Oberheim OB-X8, and the Prophet-10. The Relic is a tour de force of digitally controlled analog circuitry.

shearelectronics

Far Too Polite

I've never seen a red wine spill as well-behaved as this one. In my experience (I'm looking at you Geoff) they are much more elaborate. I suppose it still gets the point across.

decksaver

Party Foul Still Life

Now that's a more accurate representation of an catastrophic party foul. In this case it's not promoting a prophylactic approach, but an insurance angle: the AlphaTheta Care extended warranty.

pioneerdj

The Kaiju of Ribbon Mics

If size matters, than this is the king of ribbon mics. The first thing that it will decimate is your bank account. With a price tag far north of $6000 this is not for the faint of wallet.

hum-audio

Sub Sucker

The AVAA (active velocity acoustic absorber) is more of a bass hunter than a bass trap, actively rather than passively sucking in problem frequencies.

psiaudio

Mic Targeting System

Through the magic of geometry, you can note the position of the three laser pointer dots, come back weeks later, and you'll be able to accurately reposition the mic. Let's hope you noted the amp settings just as diligently.

atkinsonaudio

New Box, Same Great Taste

This appears to be the evolution of the matrix mixer I saw last year.

daysofyoreaudio

Searing Preamps

With graphics like that, you just know that these Heider preamps will set your sound alight.

wolffaudio

Breaking With Tradition

One thing that I like about Blue Cat is that their products are not slaves to the past. For example, their Leslie simulator has three rotating speakers instead of just two. Why Not? Of course if made me immediately think of this clip.

bluecataudio

In the Style of the Italian Masters

Here is an echo unit cut from the same cloth as the Binson Echorec and others made famous by the likes of Pink Floyd. The "magic eye" input level meter is unique and useful in knowing that you're feeding the optimal level signal to the device.

cicognani

Sonic Halo

The Klang system literally adds another dimension to in-ear monitor mixes. When I demoed it I was pretty impressed with the separation.

klang

Powerful Enough to Kill a Mau5

This is some sort of collaboration between Telegrapher and Joel Zimmerman (know as Deadmau5). It's unclear if this is just a custom paint job or if Joel has had them tweak the components to his specifications.

telegrapherloudspeakers

Mic Locker Augmentation

If you need more ribbon mics in your life (and who but Alan Sides or John McBride don't?) you should check out the offerings from Samar. Pictured are the low end and high end of their range. The AL95 is a $400 ribbon, and their MF656A active stereo ribbon (price TBA) is likely in the $4k range.

samaraudiodesign

Between the Keys

With Infinitone you can explore the vast world of alternate tunings. There's no need to stick with equal temperament where everything is a little out of tune, that is unless you need to also use standard physical instruments that have frets or keys.

infinitone

Digital Nuts and Bolts

The Multiverse is another entry into the one-pedal-to-rule-them-all category. They have an open development platform so there are a lot of community-submitted effects as well as commercial ones, if you're not into DSP coding yourself.

aviateaudio

Never Enough

It's always nice to be able to assign knobs and faders to various devices and bits of software and these products do just that. Have your reading glasses or a magnifying glass handy because the text on the LEDs is some of the smallest I've attempted to read.

deersync

At the Tips of Your Toes

If you run shows using Ableton Live and would like the ability to pick and choose which tunes you want to play, this is the device for you. You can step forward and back through the playlist and start and stop the sequences.

oaktone

Word Wedges

If you're using in-ears the stage can seem kind of empty. If you also have trouble remembering lyrics you can utilize that space with the MOGX Hobby teleprompters. The crowd will never know that you're hung over or are suffering from early onset Alzheimers.

lyricsprompter

All Growed Up

I'm used to all of the Stylophone offerings being of the more compact, feature-light ilk. This drone machine defies those expectations.

stylophone3

No Groove To Stay In

It's only the lack of a stylus that allows Hercules to put trigger pads on a turntable rig.

hercules

Make It Yours

I applaud Hercules for providing files to 3D print knobs, fader caps, and other goodies for their products.

printables

If You Really Have To

Personally I'm not a fan of solo artists using backing tracks but if you do, the B.Beat is a huge step up from playing the tracks off your phone. It's also way more than that. It will output video, multi-track audio, and has a built-in metronome. They also have a companion prompter app for lyrics and sheet music.

m-live

Next Level Unlocked

The B.Beat PRO16 is the big brother that's targeted at the larger shows that are typically done with redundant computer systems run by the playback engineer. It's got more outputs (audio and video), more memory, and the ability to record up to 12 channels live.

m-live2

They're Looking at Their Phones Anyway

You may as well try to leverage the fact that people at live shows tend to look at their phones more than the stage. Cicada has tools that provide you with QR code or Bluetooth NFC so they can order merch, submit song requests and dedications (paid or not), and even just leave a tip.

cicadamusic

Don't Be Fooled by the Knobs

The knobs might say "Moog" but the circuits say "Oberheim". I'm guess they're using Vanilla as a nod to the traditional color of the Oberheim cabinets.

musonics

If You're Brave Enough

In a live setting, even if I am using an iPad to mix, I still feel better if I've got a fader I can grab should technology fail me. This kind of splits the difference providing virtual faders on the unit.

allen-heath

Look Mum, No Computer

I borrowed the title from the maddest of mad geniuses (if you don't know his stuff, click now and come back here later) but it was suitable here. If you've fallen in love with all the VST plug-ins you've used on the album and want to get that same sound live without the worrying about temperamental computers, you can host them in this more bullet-proof system.

octavetech

Robust Plug-In Host

In another attempt to remove temperamental computers from fault-intolerant environments, Fourier waz showing their DANTE-equipped device that can run VST plug-ins. They must be on to something because live sound heavyweight DiGiCo acquired Fourier in 2023.

fourieraudio

Face Value

Having spent time in the studio with a flashlight trying to verify which patterns and filters were engaged via traditional minuscule DIP switches, I can really appreciate the utility that this mic provides. This would be especially useful for the artist that records themselves.

aimaudio

The Visible Mic

I know that this was just a display for their mic elements that would be used with a wireless body but it did make me look.

austrian
Next Up: You Figure It Out

©2024 Barry Wood