For the lover of musical instruments and technology, southern California’s NAMM show is a giant toy shop. It’s work for many of its attendees, of course, but we know many of our readers dream of the objects that will make their next creations. And sure, inspiring lust is not our aim; on the contrary, there is some love that goes into these things. In the ideal, that’s the relationship of creator and consumer. These are things not to be bought and discarded, but kept and really used.

So, we have a different look at the NAMM show, through the lens of CDM contributor Marsha Vdovin, who has been at this show more times than she might like to count. I’ve added some comments about what these devices are and why they’re important. And the next time we see them, these inventions pictured in silence here, we expect them to be working hard on music far from the din and flourescent glare of the trade show floor.

As always, click for larger images. Photos by Marsha Vdovin; words by Peter Kirn:

Roland’s V-Guitar marks a surprising collaboration, bringing the famed American guitar maker Fender together with the Japanese electronic maker to make an “electronic guitar,” merging the two company’s tech on a digitally-augmented Stratocaster. More on this soon – but the extended playing techniques won over many guitarists.

The Danish design aesthetes of AIAIAI have improved upon their TMA-1 headphones with a studio model. Same drivers, same basic design, but a “flatter” response to sound (rather than beefed-up, DJ-ready bass) and closed ear design. It’s impossible to hear anything at NAMM, but I can attest that the new design is far, far more comfy to wear. Actually, if I could have kept these on the whole show to drown out the sound, it would have been great.

An easy place to spot a talented celebrity was at the Dave Smith Instruments booth, at which artists clustered around Dave and Roger Linn. They were on-hand with plenty of tweaks to their stellar Tempest drum machine.

Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 grew up, with new features (drum sounds! MIDI sync – at last), and grew out, with a companion product for connecting sensors and USB host mode that could be a boutique item for music DIYers. We’ll go hands-on with each this year, and while readers were disappointed on a lack of some details (will the OpLab be open source?), we expect to get more details from the Teenagers when the product is ready in the coming months.

Readers of tech blogs (ahem) may miss out on the fact that the vast majority of NAMM is really for guitarists, drummers, and traditional instrumentalists. And yes, that includes glittery, pink products from Daisy Rock Guitars. We’ve concluded this model will be perfect for Sparkle Pony. (And really, if you’re not watching Portlandia to get that reference, get on it. Also, Jenny Conlee is crazy awesome.)

Thin, responsive, and expressive, the QuNeo from Keith McMillen – funded on Kickstarter – proves it’s really happening. With continuous pressure response on its touch controls and bi-directional control, it could be the most anyone will ever have gotten from a US$200 controller. Yes, we’ll be watching.

Pioneer wasn’t showing anything new at this show — they timed those launches over the fall with new controllers like the Ergo. But they did have a glossly all-white lacquer set of limited-edition devices that looked absurdly gorgeous. Now if I want to do my flat over in the style of a Stanley Kubrick set, I know what DJ gear I’ll be buying. (If you don’t know what I mean, watch the end of 2001 again – or the living room in Tron: Legacy, which is more or less a copy.) White is the new generic-dull-charcoal.

Akai’s MPC Renaissance is unlike any other mass-market controller we’ve seen. It’s actually substantial, something that feels like a vintage MPC even though it’s designed to work with software (pictured). The audio circuitry is straight out of the modern MPC, but there’s a switch for “vintage” modes – think 12-bit output when the MPC60 is enabled, for instance. Akai told CDM they built the software in-house, but we also learned at NAMM that they licensed time-stretch tech from iZotope, giving their upcoming MPC software generous audio-manipulation abilities.

The Renaissance will cost you, with a street expected well over a grand, but that makes it even more welcome that the same superb pads and response curves are also on the maker’s MAX49 keyboard and cheaper MPC Model.

Just expect to wait: these were prototypes, and there were still some bugs to work out.

The Renaissance is for the MPC die-hard; the MPC Studio is the model that will directly take on Native Instruments and Maschine. It’s slim, sleek, and still has great-feeling controls. And while that makes it compelling competition for Maschine, I’m gratified to see this whole market expanding, new workflows for performance and production, and a push to better quality in the controllers. The days when computer gear meant “cheap and plastic-y” are mercifully at an end. Speaking of which –

Akai’s MAX49 keyboard could be a new model to beat. The keyboard action is satisfyingly springy, with a new keybed not seen in previous models. The pads are identical to those on the Renaissance, and feel more the way proper MPC pads should. Not everyone will love the light-up, touch-sensitive resistive faders, but I found with a bit of pressure, they worked well – and that means never having to worry about a fader catching up with the value in software. You also get serious features: Control Voltage, a full complement of MIDI ports, and aftertouch. Did I mention Control Voltage? It’s nice to see a controller keyboard with a slightly premium price, build, and features.

The last surprise from Akai was this MPC DJ. The company says it’s a prototype only, and had little more to say about it, but it’s fascinating to see the MPC and turntable controls converge.

Moog’s Minitaur was my favorite synth of the show. It just sounds consistently brilliant, no matter which way you turn it or play it – and I accordingly noticed it was the synth the most people were actually playing on the show floor.

This is what a 24-karet KORG MonoTribe looks like, alongside a silver-plated model. There’s little more one can say. It is, of course, one of a kind — and already spoken for.

The other thing of beauty at the KORG booth: a limited-edition reverse-key SV-1 keyboard.

iOS accessories were numerous, but a few were genuinely useful. IK Multimedia’s iRig Mic “Cast,” for instance, is coupled with handy software for podcasters, as a quick tool for interviewing or podcast recording.

It’s not a new product, but one of the reviews to which I’m most looking forward is this Eers product. It promises custom in-ears you make yourself, rather than the enormous cost of getting them custom-made. Stay tuned on this one – protecting your hearing and making on-stage gigs go well is perhaps as essential as gear can get.

The just-intonation Hymnatron from the Dewanatron crew was one of the most compositionally-compelling instruments at the show, with a unique sound, tuning, and key layout. And it looks mighty handsome in this one-off wooden case.

LiveWire’s modular was among the many dreamy modular rigs at Big City Music and Analog Haven, two Los Angeles hotspots for analog modulars. Did we mention space was more plentiful and inexpensive, and gigs more generous, in LA than in NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco? Funny coincidence, that.

Many modules graced this show, but the most intriguing was not analog, but digital – think digital algorithms in an analog, patch-cord-modular hardware workflow. Tom Erbe, maker of long-beloved SoundHack (the app, and then more recently the plug-ins) put some of his sonic wizardry into a module, collaborating with one of our favorite modular builders, MakeNoise. The result: the MakeNoise Echofon. As such, it’s a perfect emblem of our Create Digital Music, Create Analog Music philosophy. Dear Berlin friends: let’s plug this into your monster modulars, okay?

Big City Music is a wonderful place. The other candidate for best new module: brilliant creations by Metasonix, as previewed here. We’ll be watching for these to be patch-able, too.

Casio had its classic CZ-1000 synth on-hand at its booth. The Casio XW isn’t quite a successor to the CZ, though it does include some of those waveforms and phase distortion sounds. What it does appear to be is a very affordable, do-just-about-everything workstation at a fraction of the price of any of its rivals. For someone who wants a jack-of-all-trades gigging keyboard, this could very much be a contender.

Our friends at Beatport are evidently getting into the hardware business. The most interesting launch wasn’t a set of TMA headphones with Slimer-green cords (I’ll take the Studio model, thanks, or just a non-Danish set of studio cans). Instead, I was intrigued by the eminently-practical line of gigging cords Beatport is working on with Hosa. They include features live digital musicians and DJs badly need, like color-coded cords you can find easily at a show, and hinged USB cords you can cram into tight spaces. More on those soon.

Thanks, all. Lastly, I want to thank everyone I got to spend time with at the NAMM show, and particularly Marsha Vdovin, who is responsible for these photos and keeping our schedule together. NAMM is always too crowded and too short, but it can lay groundwork for a whole year. And I’m excited for this Year of the Dragon. Be seeing you.

For the rest of our NAMM coverage:
http://createdigitalmusic.com/tag/namm/

Photos by Marsha Vdovin / Words by Peter Kirn.

It’s small, but I think it’ll be pretty huge. We’ve seen plenty of guitar audio interface adapters out there. Here’s the dirty little secret: they’re pretty awful. Because they connect to the audio jack of the iPhone or iPad, there are issues with impedance matching and noise / signal-to-noise. (Read: they don’t sound great. I’ve tried them, and since they all use the same in/out jack, they all sound more or less the same.)

The Mobile In from Line 6 has three things going for it. First, it works with Line 6′s POD effects and guitar amp modeling, which is already popular with guitarists. Second, the app that it works with the audio interface is free. No paid app, no add-on fee for presets – you buy the hardware and get all of the software for free.

Third, and most importantly, the Mobile In connects to the proprietary Apple 30-pin connector, so you get digital audio I/O rather than relying on the jack. That means the quality of the Mobile In is, well, the quality of the Mobile In. Without a test unit, it’s impossible to say for sure, but Line 6 at least claims a 110 dB dynamic range on the guitar input and a 98 dB range on the stereo line input. There’s up to 24-bit/48 kHz support, but I’m happy just to get a portable device with line and guitar ins. They’ve even tossed in a 6-foot guitar cable. Total price: US$79.

The Mobile POD app, while free, is no slouch, either: you get 10,000 presets, a built-in tuner, 64 amps and effects and more, even with a neat iTunes play-along mode. And it’s free for everyone, whether or not you have the hardware. And if you want to use a different mobile app, of course, you can do that, too, if you do use the hardware.

With specs like that, this looks like a must-have for the iPhone and iPad, even if you use them exclusively for practicing guitar. Now, I just wish the beautiful New Signal Process accessories, which turn iOS gadgets into stompboxes, had a MIDI-only version. Maybe there’s a MIDI-compatible controller that could eventually be compatible with these. (Line 6, you listening?)

There’s only one catch. Stereo line in. Guitar in. There’s something missing here – output. That means that the Camera Connection Kit with a USB audio interface could be a better option if you have an iPad. You’re still limited by the headphone output jack here – no other output is available. That makes this fine for practice, but people wanting more flexible ins and outs (well, outs period, beyond the headphone connection) will want to consider a USB audio interface. (Of course, the free app is still cool.)

My other wish? It’d be nice to see the Android platform compete with, well, any of this. Theoretically, there may be a way to do digital audio I/O on that platform, too; sounds like a research question. We’ll see if, Android or otherwise, another tablet/mobile platform starts to evolve these sort of features.

Any mobile guitarists who want to test this out for CDM, and share your music in the process? Let us know.

http://line6.com/mobilein/

I remember seeing Roland’s guitar-to-computer connectivity for the first time. It seemed almost magical. Guitarists could pick up their main instrument and enter lines into notation software, or replace the sound of an instrument with a synthesized one, or track into a sequencer. It didn’t distract from their musicianship, because it showcased that skill. It was remarkable partly because it was so intuitive: why shouldn’t a guitarist benefit from the same flexibility I’d enjoyed as a keyboardist?

The GR-55 is now Roland’s tenth-generation guitar synth. There’s a particular reason to pay attention to this iteration: it’s both a synth and an amp model. And it’s a product category that’s naturally iterative and evolutionary: Roland tells us they’ve greatly improved tracking, the speed at which your playing is translated into MIDI events, and that it’s also a lot easier to use than previous generations. (That’s also true, claims Roland, of their revised Loop Station, so I’ll be interested to learn more.)

It’s funny, because people do complain about trekking to yearly trade shows just to see a revised version of the last model. But if it’s something like a guitar synth, gradual maturity may be just what you need. That’s assuming, of course, Roland is delivering in practice what they’re promising in paper; since this is just a preview, here’s what’s in the specs.

As with previous synths, the GR-55 is both a synth and a MIDI controller for other instruments or input to the computer. What’s new is improved performance and usability combined with a new processing architecture that allows you to more easily add amp simulation and effects to the sound of your guitar. (After all, you really probably don’t want to exclusively treat your guitar like a keyboard even if you are in the market for this box.)

• COSM, Roland’s analog-modeling tech, applied to guitar effects.
• Use four sound sources at once: two PCM synths, a COSM guitar model, and guitar input.
• 900 Roland PCM sounds, so you get access to Roland-sounding presets.
• Multi-effects engines, global reverb, chorus, delay effects, onboard looping.
• Use the GR-55 as a MIDI controller.
• USB audio player with foot control, so you can queue up backing tracks.
• MIDI and audio data connection via a USB port, too (that’s separate from the port that plays audio.
• Optional GK-3 divided pickup for use with your instrument.

The combination really can be expressive in ways a keyboard can’t. At the same time, reading through the architecture of the GR-55, I get a strong sense of deja vu – this is a Roland synth architecture, make no mistake.

I find these kinds of solutions generally do appeal to a subset of guitarists, not everyone, so I’m curious to hear who out there is interested and what else you’d want to know as this gets out into the world.

Photos courtesy Roland.

GR-55 product page [Roland]

Dirty and minimal – that’s how I’d describe first impressions of Amp, the just-announced Ableton amp modeling add-on for Live, available a la carte or free with Live Suite. It appears at first glance to be just what you’d expect: it’s a radically simplified user interface for modeling amplifiers (“Amp”) and cabinets (“Cabinet”). (Hey, shouldn’t that have been Amp and Cab, or does that make people think of wine and taxis?)

Or, as Ableton’s press release puts it, the aim is to “get good dirt, fast.” What you get in the add-on:

• Live-styled, minimal UIs, emphasizing essential parameters
• Inserts you can use to dirty up guitar tracks, clips, drums, synths – anything.
• 7 amp models, covering “Clean,” “Boost” (think tremolo British), “Blues,” “Rock,” “Lead,” “Heavy,” and “Bass.” Names have been changed to protect the innocent… trademarks.
• Cabinet, which instead of offering lots of mic positioning choices and the lot chooses the “optimized” positions for you you’re most likely to use.
• A Live Lesson to get you started.
• Integrated goodness, with Instrument Racks, Effect Racks, Live Clips, and 400 presets.

As with previous recent add-ons, Ableton chose a collaborator to bring in expertise. The developers are Swedish outfit Softube, who have done development work for the likes of Abbey Road Studios, TC Electronic, and even work on Marshall’s new JMD:1 hardware/software guitar amp. Their specialty is modeling vintage analog circuitry.

I asked Ableton’s Daniel Büttner, Sound Product Manager for Amp, to explain why we should care. “It’s fully integrated in Live,” he responds, “it’s extremely simple to use and you can get results quickly, and (a subjective observation – ) it sounds wonderful.”

And, says Daniel, Amp is built to be part of the Suite. “Amp greatly enhances the existing Suite instruments. Check out the preset “Bass-Mosh Pit Bass” for example – it is a rather thin sounding Tension preset run through Amp. The result is amazing.”

What Amp isn’t, it seems, is direct competition for guitar packages like IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube and NI’s Guitar Rig. Instead of tons and tons of tweaking and different models, it focuses on the basics. As such, I can certainly see it appealing to people who are deep into the Ableton way of doing things. And with clips and racks and such, while guitarists may insist upon more extensive toolsets in dedicated packages, this appears to be a more producer-friendly option for those who find the big guitar suites overwhelming.

US$129 as the add-on, but it seems more likely as a way of sweetening Suite; once you have Suite, it’s a free download. That means, Suite users, you can go grab it right now with 8.2.

http://www.ableton.com/amp

With previews and teasers, it’s sometimes easy to miss when useful new tools actually become available to you. Two tools this week became available, each potentially high on the utility end of the spectrum.

There’s no shortage of variety in iOS music creation apps, but when people really want to get down to music making, many of them want to focus on one tool, not twenty. (That’s not universal – ask Richard Devine‘s screaming VST plug-in folder – but you ought to at least be able to make such a choice.) It’s therefore little surprise that there’s been a lot of buzz around NanoStudio.

NanoStudio incorporates a range of tools in one app. There’s a virtual analog synth, a 4×4 pad for sampling and sample playback, a sequencer for notes and control, a mixer and rack of mastering effects. The emphasis is clearly on completing entire productions. In more lightweight form, it reflects some of the appeal of tools like Reason and FL Studio (particularly recalling, say, the simpler early releases of Fruity Loops). That’s not a totally new idea on iOS – Intua’s Beatmaker was an early entry for those wanting an integrated studio – but it’s an especially nice take here.

In control and sampling, NanoStudio looks really flexible. The virtual analog synth has extensive envelope and LFO controls, and input from X/Y controllers, pitch bend, and your iPhone accelerometer. You can even insert up for four independent synths. The sampler will work with the built in mic, it’ll bring in samples from your PC or Mac, and – best of all – you can resample from NanoStudio.

All in all, it looks like NanoStudio could be the more comprehensive production studio on iOS yet, without sacrificing simplicity and large, readable interfaces. You can buy it now on the App store for GBP8.99, and there’s a free trial of a development version for Windows and Mac (minus the touch features) so you can see if you like it first.

Full details at the developer site: http://www.blipinteractive.co.uk/index.php, or follow on Twitter

In other news, IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube package of virtual guitar amp/effects/tools is now available for iPad. In a basic version, it’s actually free, with three stompboxes, one amp/cabinet, and two mics. The idea is to get you hooked, and either collect additional tools via a la carte downloads, or get the full collection for US$19.99. Without external hardware, AmpliTube isn’t much use, but you can buy interfaces from IK and other vendors. (You can also use an existing class-compliant USB audio interface with the iPad.) Consensus from readers is that these mobile guitar tools would be best as on-the-go practice tools. As opposed to the iPhone, the iPad gets a big, gorgeous, readable interface. It’s still not a stage tool – not until Apple finds a way to perfect iPad input with your feet. (Hey, that may not stop someone from stripping their socks off, putting their iPod on the floor, and using this with their toes.) But as a practice tool, it’s another option.

iRig for iPad Information [IK Multimedia]

It’s still not shipping, but one of IK’s rivals has fleshed out their website since I covered them last; see AmpKit. And you will, incidentally, be able to mix and match apps and interfaces, meaning even IK fans may want to keep an eye out.

Previously: Virtual Reality: Guitar Notation, Amps, and Effects Appear on Apple Mobiles

Ah, amplifiers and stompboxes. We hardly knew ye. Once exclusively the stuff of tubes, wires, cabinets, aluminum, and electronics, guitar amps and pedals have for years been available in growingly-sophisticated software models. Once the electronics of sound become software, there’s nothing stopping them from running on any computer – which now includes computers disguised as mobile phones, like the iPhone. (In fact, I expect that trend will accelerate; mobile processors are providing expanded access to native DSP functions.)

Before anyone gets to ask whether a phone is the ideal device for such a task, in the spirit of technological advancement, you’ll see simulated guitar processing from various parties.

In the past 24 hours, not one but two developers made official announcements. Agile Partners, makers of iOS’ Star6 music making software, TabToolkit tab notation tool (also on iPad), and GuitarToolkit tuner + metronome + chords and scales, partners with Peavey. IK Multimedia, makers of the industry-standby AmpliTube guitar emulation software, offer their own iPhone-specific release of AmpliTube.

AmpKit LiNK hardware [Peavey, with pre-order info]

http://ampkitapp.com [Official site]

AmpliTube iRig [IK Multimedia]

Dueling Banjos: Two Upcoming Simulations, Close Feature Sets

Here’s a quick comparison of IK’s AmpliTube and Agile/Peavey’s AmpKIT.

Hardware: Onboard audio hardware clearly won’t cut it, so both AmpliTube and AmpKIT offer specialized hardware connections. AmpKit LiNK promises to “raise the audio fidelity bar” and includes built-in cross-talk elimination for reducing feedback. iRig has its own electrical impedance adaption for line- and guitar-level input. Both cost $39.99, both have audio inputs and outputs, and most importantly, since they appear simply as audio devices, both work with any iPhone audio app. So, if IK’s software turns out to be better and Peavey’s hardware, or visa versa, you’ll be able to mix and match. Only Peavey has a skinny dude with no shirt on.

The models: AmpliTube includes 3 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 mics in a free app, two addition stompboxes in the US$2.99 LE, or a full 11 stompboxes, 5 amps + cabinets, and 2 mics for US$19.99. There are also a la carte models for $2.99-$4.99 each.

What’s included? IK says it will offer, in the full version: “5 amp models (clean, crunch, lead, metal, bass) with full tone and drive controls, 11 stompbox effects (delay, flanger, phaser, overdrive, distortion, filter, wah, fuzz, octaver, chorus, noise filter), 5 speaker cabinets (1×12”, 2×12”, 4×12” A & B”, 1×15) and 2 microphones (dynamic and condenser).”

AmpKit has 10 amps, 12 cabinets, 12 pedals, and 6 mics, and will also offer add-ons. Software pricing and details are currently unavailable; I’ve requested more details and will update the story when I get them.

So, both are pretty cheap; it’ll just be a matter of which software works better, and which models sound better.

Extras: AmpliTube also includes importable song playback for backing tracks (complete with real-time effects), 36 presets, and an onboard tuner and metronome, apparently in all editions – even the free one.

AmpKit also has backing tracks, custom setups with up to 12 pedals each, unlimited presets (instead of just 36), a tuner, and metronome.

Compatibility: Both work on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad.

Bottom line: These are nearly-identical products with nearly-identical feature sets. So, may the best one win.

Will people actually want it? To me, the key feature here is as a practice tool. With the iPod touch well under $200 (especially with refurbs), and no contract, guitarists get an interface that’s cheap, portable, and allows them to practice and jam anywhere. As a replacement for full-blown amp rigs, it’s probably still too limited, but that isn’t the point. If you’re recording a track or playing a live gig, it’s likely worth the extra effort to use a computer. The competition for these devices isn’t that, or even real amps; it’s the little handheld devices we’ve seen in the past for practicing, and this shouldn’t have a hard time blowing those things out of the water on price, performance, and ease of use.

Of course, the one thing you don’t get is an actual speaker. And neither of these tools has a solution for actually controlling the stomp boxes – since those would defeat the portability factor. As long as humans have ears, amps and portable amps will remain a big hit. But as practice tools, they’re likely to be big hits.

Guitar tab on iPad

Pocketable practice amps are fun, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point to TabToolkit. It’s the only music software to be awarded an Apple Design Award this year at the World Wide Developer Conference. The feature set is pretty extraordinary, especially on the iPad: it’s the first really usable-looking, full-featured notation software on iOS. US$9.99 buys you the ability to import notation from a variety of formats — Guitar Pro, Power Tab, PDF and text tab. With the amount of text tab online, that’s a pretty big deal. It then provides tablature and standard notation views. Sure, you could just, you know, print this stuff out, and for that reason, it’s probably not going to be enough on its own to justify an iPad purchase. Likewise, you lose something in the translation from paper: it’s not quite as easy to just pick up a pencil and make a quick fingering note while you’re learning a score. But it’s nonetheless a pretty impressive way to manage access to a variety of scores, a sort of virtual fakebook of sorts, it assists people learning to play guitar with interactive fret display, and it looks like a powerful tool for play and practice.

Also, good choice of song:

Virtual backlash?

It was interesting as always to read comments last week as I reflected that phones aren’t everything in music and subsequently composed a set of haikus to try to restore perspective.

Here’s my short prediction: iPhones, iPods, and iPads are tools, and they do demonstrate how powerful mobile processors can be. At the same time, just as with computer software, musicians may find that they get a certain amount of virtual fatigue, and long for actual hardware. I think part of what will keep all of this in balance is that, for every polished and controlled device like the iPhone, there will be greater interest in DIY and music-dedicated software and devices, for everything shiny, consumer gadget with virtual software, a renewed interest in raunchy, physical hardware. And that’s a good thing.

Understood this way, a practice tool you can put in your pocket is pretty amazing. It’s not a replacement for a trusted, beloved amp. In fact, it might make you see the latter in new ways.

Analysis elsewhere:
iPhone amp modelling arms race escalates! [MusicRadar]

That seems going a bit far. I’d say this is more like when those two asteroid movies came out at the exact same time.

What do you really want from a recording tool on a computer? The Digital Audio Workstation answer to that question has for years been on giving you a generalized set of tools that try to anticipate every possible need. The “workstation” approach puts a whole bunch of functionality in one place, in particular adding features like plug-in hosting for supporting third-party effects and instruments, video editing and scoring, and music notation.

Record is a different animal: it’s a specialized tool focused on making music with audio, instead of a generalized tool. Reason has focused on synths, with a distinctive set of hardware-styled modules in a virtual rack. Record focuses on sound, with a distinctive set of hardware-styled modules in a virtual rack. Get it?

What’s left out is important. There’s no plug-in support, but by limiting use to the internal sound modules, Record is entirely agnostic about things like sample rate and can be far more flexible with modular audio routing and fluid tempo changes. (There’s also no MIDI out support, but if you’re looking to sequence external hardware, I might look elsewhere, anyway – especially with gems like Numerology out there.) Record also supports ReWire and has various export features, so the assumption is that – as with Reason – when you really want plug-ins, you can use your existing environment of choice.

Maybe you can call the results a DAW, if you really want to. But the one thing that isn’t debatable: Record is Reason for sound.

CDM was first with the official story from Propellerhead over the weekend, talking about the philosophy behind Record. Now we can talk about the specifics inside – and I have a test version here I’ve been working with while on the road.

Basically, Record combines comp-based recording with Reason-style racks and a whole load of goodies for processing and mixing your sound, including Line 6 guitar effects and an emulated SSL mixing desk. Why am I excited to begin working with it? Basically, it’s what happens when you flip the Record interface around. The most important screenshot (see any of these shots bigger by clicking on them):

Here’s what you get:

• All about “Record”ing – with comps: As the name implies, the real soul of Record is recording. Comping is built in from the beginning so that you get a take you want, and each track even includes an integrated tuner by default. This is really a tool that assumes you’re actually one person plugging in an instrument and playing.
• Music and tempo-based sound: “Tempo-independent” audio is almost the reverse of what this is. When you record sound, the idea is that you always have some musical information in mind – beats and bars. Record lets you then change the tempo of that audio fluidly, without ever having to think about warping or slicing or markers or loops or anything like that. Propellerhead says they’re especially proud of the audio quality of the stretching algorithm working behind the scenes to make these changes sound good, which is what we’re already hearing (unofficially, of course) from beta testers in comments and elsewhere.
• Tempo changes: Unlike other tools that have focused on DJ-style or electronica-style master tempo, Record assumes fluid changes in tempo from version 1.0. There’s always a “conductor” track, a main tempo lane, which can have subtle, curved tempo changes (accel./rit.). When you export your audio, that information is exported as MIDI, so this musical information travels with you to other tools.
• An integrated recording/mixing/arrangement environment: This is the one DAW-like part of Record, though it still feels more like Reason than anything else. Each track gets three things: a channel routed into the mixer, an individual device module you can insert into the rack (as in Reason), and a sequencing lane for MIDI and audio.
• Sequencing: This is the most traditional part of Record – you do get conventional sequencer lanes. Clips can arbitrarily contain audio, MIDI, and automation data. The important thing to note is that, because Record doesn’t support plug-ins, you can count on consistent integration of automation – if there’s a knob in a module, you can automate it in the sequencer, just as in Reason.
• Hardware-style mixing: No software-style mixer here: the mixer inside Record is a direct simulation of hardware, not a loosely-inspired emulation. The Record mixer is modeled after an SSL 9000k analog mixing desk, so that it intends to look, work, and sound like the real thing. (SSL was not officially involved, so you’ll just have to count the Propellerheads as SSL fans.)
• Reason-style effects: In addition to the mixer, you get Reason-style modules for EQ, dynamics, and other effects.
• Line 6 guitar effects: Line 6’s virtual POD is built in, so you get their guitar amps and cabinets built in. I’m guessing those should be quite nice with keyboards, too.

Arrangement: Looking at the birds-eye view, Record does admittedly look like a DAW. But dig in a little bit to how these modules work, and there’s more Reason DNA than anything else. It’ll be interesting to work with these modules over the coming months. Also, most important to recognize is that when you see audio in Record, it will always obey tempo changes you make, including gradual speed increases and decreases – no warping or slicing required. When you do want to slice up audio, you could, say, drop Record as a ReWire client into an Ableton Live set, or even export your audio with tempo changes from Record as one track and put your sliced audio in a different rack.

The mixing desk:

The thing is, it’s not so much what Record does as what it does in a Reason-style way. So while this is a preview, not a review, here’s what makes Record more like Reason:

For Reason users, this one image pretty much sums everything up. The workflow is still essentially a Reason workflow – if you love that, you’re likely already salivating. If not, it’ll likely take more convincing from the other aspects of the tool.

• Every track is a rack: Each time you create a track, you get a modular rack, which translates to the inserts you see in the mixer. For advanced users, this means you can do anything with routing you want. You get a full-blown rack on each track, with all the usual goodies for routing. For beginners, it means you can call up easy presets for whatever you’re doing, and the parameters show up as plain-English knobs in the mixer. You don’t have to think about routing or what everything represents; you just focus on sound. For beginners and advanced users, the ability to “see” all of this routing with virtual cables and such means sophisticated mixing and routing setups aren’t quite so abstract.
• It’s a Reason interface: Everything looks and feels like Reason, even with a much more involved UI. All the new views continue on the theme of adjustable navigation panes. These views either get combined into a single-window interface, or can be detached if you’d prefer. But there are almost no dialog boxes, with one notable exception:
• You get Reason patches and patch browsing, for audio: Reason users will feel right at home, as Record extends the patch browsing metaphor from Reason. And because track effects inserts use what are essentially Combinators, those inserts just feel like Reason devices inside a mixer.
• Reason + Record: If you have Reason, you have access to all your Reason modules. And since Record has a big Reason rack – well, you get the idea. Instead of recording inside Reason, what Reason users get is Reason inside a bigger version of Reason that understands not only recording, but mixing and audio arrangement, and treats audio like music, with tempo.
• ReWire: Record is a ReWire client (slave), not a host (master). That should be your first clue Propellerhead aren’t trying to replace Pro Tools, Live, and Logic. But it does mean you could easily use, say, Record for recording purposes on your own, then drop it into a Pro Tools session in the studio, or Record to do some song-writing that you then bring into an Ableton live PA or remix set.
• Reason-style automation and control. Most notably, this is the first audio production tool I’ve seen that was set up from the beginning to be used with keyboards, as Reason was. It’s funny: right now, M-Audio are pitching using a keyboard to control Pro Tools with their Axiom Pro / HyperControl product. This essentially goes the other way: like Reason, Record uses the “Remote” protocol, which was effectively the first to “automap” your keyboard controller and control surface to the software. That means you can comfortably produce an entire work from your keyboard, while adding guitar or vocals as an audio recording.
• Oh yeah, it’ll be fun even if you only use synths: In case you haven’t guessed already, for Reason users, this means mixing and processing and arrangement tools that weren’t available before, so even if you never hook up a mic to Record, I imagine you could use almost all of these tools. (Only the tuner and audio comps become redundant.)

It’s really the relationship of the device rack to the mixer and tracks in Record that make it unique, and will be fun to explore over the coming months. When you create devices and Combinators, you can easily see them in the mixer and track sections. Sends are named as the actual sound parameter, too. Because it doesn’t support plug-ins, that also means you never have to worry about the way parameter names are handled in formats like VST, though you can always return to your favorite host when you do want plug-ins since Record is also a ReWire client.

Line6 guitar and bass amps are available out of the box as insertable modules. This is all you need for the interface: it’s aggressively simple.

The patch window will look familiar to Reason users. But if you’re new to this, what it means is that you can easily surf through, say, Line 6 guitar presets and hear immediately what they sound like.

So, what does the music sound like? Josh Mobley via Twitter tells us about his official demo song, “Push Me Down,” made in Record for Propellerhead. All the songs in the embedded player below were made in Record, with the exception of “Narrow Escape,” the demo for Reason 4.

About that Dongle

The other bit of news – and the one item that’s likely to be most divisive – is that Propellerhead is changing the authorization scheme in Record, as explained here:

Ignition Key

The good news: “demo” mode / non-authorized mode is actually only “open”-disabled. You can even save files in the demo; you just can’t open existing files. The Ignition Key comes free with the tool rather than being a separate purchase as with some iLok products, and if you lose or break it, a replacement is available for a nominal fee. (Some manufacturers actually have the gall to charge for the full purchase price of the product or close to it, which is utterly ridiculous.) Also, if you don’t want to use the key, there is an Internet authorization.

The bad news: it is still a dongle. Internet authorization requires a consistent connection while you’re working; the moment that’s dropped, the software reverts to demo mode. I would personally much rather have seen one-time Internet authorization as is available from Ableton and Native Instruments, among others, especially as Record would be fun to use on a bus or train without plugging in a dongle. Propellerhead say they’ve put some thought into this and wanted to do copy protection right, but I expect they’ll hear about it anyway.

The one upside I do see is for people who use a lot of machines (like myself, for one). You can use just the dongle without any other authorization, and you can use it on as many machines as you want. So that means you can move from a studio to a Mac laptop to a PC laptop to a netbook just by moving your dongle around, and never have to fill out a registration form or worry about if you’ve run out of authorizations.

Also, I’d suggest that people use this as an opportunity to freely try the demo without any annoying limitations and decide if you like the tool before you buy it.

Availability / pricing

Beta testing is starting now, today – sign-up at the site below.

September 9, 2009 is the official release date.

Suggested retail: US$299, EUR299. No word yet on what bundles will be available for existing or new Reason users, but Propellerhead says that it will have special bundle pricing of some kind.

Videos and more info at:

www.record-you.com

It’s been a long, long wait for side-by-side Reason and audio racks and recording in Reason, but there’s no question that this is a big announcement.

Since many of you will be beta-testing this alongside me, I look forward to hearing your opinions of the tool and any tips or techniques you discover.

Today is set to be an orgy of computer music-y, Abletronic, drum machine-loaded, Max-patching news, so let’s throw one out to the guitarists. IK Multimedia has two new announcements today that are actually quite cool. The StealthPedal is a Wah pedal that’s actually an audio interface, sort of like a James Bond pen that’s also a gun. And IK also landed the only official Fender-endorsed software amp emulation.

Here’s a quick look at the specs. By the way, I’ve consulted everyone I know (especially as I’m not a guitarist), and basically what we’ve come up with is that a whole bunch of the guitar emulations out there (Apple, IK, NI, and Waves) are pretty damned good. Apple recently upgraded their own guitar emulations, meaning even what you get in GarageBand ‘09 is a big leap forward (and I have it on good authority that they sound terrific). NI has a guitar announcement coming later today, too. I’d choose based on taste, basically; each has a unique personality.

AmpliTube Fender

• 12 Fender guitar amps (Twin Reverb, ‘59 Bassman LTD, Super-Sonic, Metalhead)
• 12 matching cabinets
• 9 microphones
• 6 stomp effects, 6 rack effects (tape echo, Fender reverb, fuzz/wah, triangle flanger, wah, the works)
• Digital tuner, stomp pedal board, amp head, cabinet plus mic, rack effects. (Here’s one point of differentiation: NI, for instance, has more toys here; IK plays it a little more conventionally; that’s a matter of taste.)
• SpeedTrainer, RiffWorks T4 recording included
• “Certified” by Fender
• US$229.99 for the full set, or get the LE (4 amps, 5 cabinets, 2 stomp, 2 mic, 2 rack FX) with the StealthPlug USB audio interface for US$139.99
• Available late February

It’s a pretty stunning deal if you’re a Fender fan.

http://www.amplitube.com/fender

Stealth Pedal

• Looks like a wah pedal – same form factor
• Works as a controller (it’s basically an assignable expression pedal)
• Comes with a double foot switch, and you can optionally add a second expression pedal via a foot input
• Also a USB audio interface (24-bit, 44.1/48)
• “Low-noise” input stage
• Headphone out, volume control, LEDs for use as a tuner or level indicator
• ASIO PC, Core Audio Mac drivers
• Software bundle
• US$269.99
• Available late April

This looks just incredibly functional for someone wanting something compact. There have been controller/audio interface bundles before from IK, NI, and others, but this you can throw easily in your case.

http://www.stealthpedal.com

Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Hero video contest winners were unveiled today. At the top of the charts, players not surprisingly demonstrated fine craft, sharp execution, great playing, and so on. But let’s skip straight to the oddities in the bunch. Like the girl with the violin on a pogo stick. And there is an appearance by the NS/Stick, which earns stringed-geek cred the more-predictable entries lack.

Now, normally I’m not so interested in the online contests various developers produce. But these entries stand out enough to have a good look here. Word of warning: you may be less inclined to buy a boxed copy of Guitar Rig as to buy yourself a nice, new pogo stick. (I could use the exercise… hmmm… Santa?)

The Pogo. Yes, the self-dubbed “Pogo Girl” is a very young girl playing violin and Guitar Rig in her living room. For some reason, the embittered YouTube world has savaged her in comments and given her a 2.5-star rating. I think she deserves far better. You know what I was doing at her age? Playing the piano. Sitting down. Now, granted, today I’d probably make a much more entertaining YouTube video on a pogo stick, but that’s because it’d include extended slow-motion footage of me falling off said pogo stick. And that’s even before I try to play an instrument at the same time. So, Pogo Girl, we salute you.

By the way, novelty of this aside, guitar amp emulators can sound fantastic with instruments like violin or even sitars. I’m sorry to see more alternative instruments didn’t make their way into the NI contest results. And to Pogo Girl, I have two words for you: contact mics. Feed the sound of pogo stick through Guitar Rig, too, and you’ll have a real hit on your hands.

The Preset Cliche Man. This brilliant entry had the brainstorm of dressing up as the stereotypical players most associated with each of the presets. Lesson learned: don’t use presets. (Well, that’s the lesson I take away, anyway.) Now, on some level, this is actually a parody of Guitar Rig. I think. It’s actually possible these presets are so powerful, they will transform you into these dudes when you play them. Since I’m about as good with frets as I am performing open heart surgery, I can’t tell you – I leave that to you to find out.

Just be careful. I’ve seen Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Once you transform, you may not change back.

The NS/Stick. The most interesting entry musically to me was this extended composition on the eight-string NS/stick [wikipedia], as performed by “eccentric master” Sekiguchi Takao. Yep, leave it to the Japanese dude to do something musically inventive. (Tokyo readers, and you know who you are, I’m totally ready to come tour to your fine town. Just say the word.)

The instrument itself here is as interesting as the software: it’s a tapping instrument designed by Emmett Chapman (of Chapman Stick fame) and Ned Steinberger (of Steinberger instruments and Spector bass fame). The NS/Stick is a cross-breed between the two. It combines two awesome things into a perfect fusion, kind of like waffles and fried chicken. In fact, I’d wager that musically speaking you don’t get much closer to waffles and fried chicken than the NS/Stick itself.

So, did any CDM readers get into the top ten list?

I’m genuinely a big fan of Guitar Rig; it’s my personal favorite of the amp simulators and I’ve used it in a number of my own pieces. But I imagine this contest may prompt someone to say “ha! I’ll go use the 14-stringed microtonal instrument to record a composition with Pd and SuperCollider.” If that’s you, do send us the results. (Did any CDMers ultimately enter the NI contest, out of curiosity?)

NI Guitar Rig Contest Winners

We’re doing things a little differently: picking out entirely random stuff that managed to reach for the sublime — including the sublimely absurd. Bad is better than boring. We’ve seen strange things that simply failed, or at least substantially creeped us out.

Now, those moments of victory, of supreme revelation, of –

Yeah, that’s Roger Linn, the LM-1 and former MPC designer without whom drum machines as we know them today wouldn’t exist, holding the “Drum Machines Have No Soul” bumper sticker he acquired. That’s why we were in Anaheim.

We’re still waiting on Barry Wood’s legendary NAMM Oddities, so we’ll focus on our own sense of the exceptional.

Other standout moments and products for reflection:

Vox DA5 Portable Digital Amp as Mobile Show Floor Boombox @ Korg: Why have booth babes wander your booth when you can have entire amps doing the same? The Korg Kaossilator, all-in-one synth + effects box (and capable of producing entire albums), plus this portable amp, costs $340 street. Neither product is new — yet they still overshadow some other news from the show, so much show that they started showing up in “new products” roundups. WIN.

Side note: I want the pink one, so I can then play the raunchiest, glitchiest sounds through it I can muster.

The Least Marketing Hype Award: CME, the brilliant Chinese music manufacturer, had set up this display for an upgrade board for their UF keyboard line. Topping that, it was difficult for anyone to tell us in English any of the details of the board. And yet, with show booths with giant BOSS pedals you can walk into (hello, Roland) and other gimmicks, we couldn’t be more pleased. WIN.

Access Going Glitch: German synth maker Access is known for pristine, virtual-analog sound and brilliant synths. But then something magical happened: granular oscillators. Richard Devine set up shop in the Access booth for the whole show and wowed crowds with the music pouring out of the minimal white boxes. Access told us the Virus Ti’s new grungy sounds were so popular, some visitors apparently missed the fact that it’s just a small part of the Virus. Glitch is in, and you have an all-white, THX-1138-style booth? That counts as a Triple WIN. 

Thankfully, unlike last year’s NAMM show for Richard, this one was completely without brushes with death — seriously. More on that in our upcoming interview. I was a little nervous when we went to a particularly sketchy Anaheim IHOP with him that NAMM might again prove mortally dangerous for one of us, but we escaped unscathed. Everyone we care about, living through NAMM: WIN.

“Live. Play. Play.” Cordoba Guitars reminds us with this booth campaign and slogan that you probably don’t want to be playing post-coital keytar. We FAIL. They WIN. Darned guitarists.

Side note: if you find a significant other who wants to listen to the granular oscillators on your new Virus | TI Snow in bed, keep him/her.

Hanukkah: Proof positive you can exhibit anything in a NAMM booth. As the NAMM slogan goes, “Believe in Music.” And believe in Hannukah. In … January. With a dove of peace bringing a dreidel to the world. WIN.

Booth Mounties: Okay, just one , um, soldier of some kind (see comments for evidence about why I shouldn’t be running a blog on military uniform, though it’s cool whether I know what it is or not). And we’re not totally sure what it has to do with BeatHive.com, a community for musicians to buy and sell loops. But it easily out-cools the various trashy girl-with-miniskirt look in all the guitar booths. WIN.

The LinnDrum II, in the flesh — sorta: Finally, we got our hands on the LinnDrum II, the drum machine / synth from Dave Smith and Roger Linn we’re dreaming about every night (formerly known as BoomChik). We could touch it, feel it … smell it. The one thing we couldn’t do was hear it, because a fully-functioning prototype isn’t ready yet. But the lights work.

Here’s the funny part: the LinnDrum II came up again and again as one of the top picks of the show from everyone we talked to, even if it couldn’t make sound. Never mind that Akai had a fully-functioning MPC5000 with hard disk recording. It gets handily beaten by a LinnDrum before the latter even makes a noise. That counts as FAIL for Akai, I’m afraid — and gives Dave Smith Instruments an indisputable WIN.

Best Non-Functional Prototype of the Show Award: Despite the LinnDrum II’s success, Yamaha easily beats it. I mean, have a look at this. It’s incredibly thin. Steve Jobs, MacBook AIR — eat your heart out. And it goes on a keychain. WIN.

Wait, what’s that? Oh, okay, Yamaha did actually bring a working unit to Anaheim, and Sonic State filmed a detailed demo. But that’s what separates CDM from other media outlets. We take the time to take photos of, uh, cardboard keychains.

Guitar + Sitar = Crazy Delicious. Okay, maybe it’s an invitation to make terribly cheesy world music, but the instrument from Mid-East Manufacturing sounds great, if not wholly sitarful. And so long as instruments continue to cross-breed, the future is bright. You know, via evolution. WIN.

Most underrated item at the show: Moog Music’s Minimoog Voyager Old School got all the love — and attracted all the haters along with it. But sitting next to the new Moog synth was the first real dedicated controller device in Moog’s history, the MP-201 Multi-Pedal. It’s really beautiful, and sends not only MIDI (over both standard MIDI and USB) but control voltage, too. It even has tap tempo and internal oscillators. It could be the best device for your feet ever. WIN.

Best Swag of the Show Award: Our friend Amanda Whiting scored one of these from the Ableton booth. They were apparently hidden, like in a secret bonus cavern or something. Sure, some anti-Ableton DJs might take the “evil” message literally — but no matter. We want one. And, darnit, Amanda beat us to it. WIN.

Silver Surfer + guitars: Okay, yes, I should have observed that this isn’t just any silver surfing man, it’s the surfer from Joe Satriani’s “Surfing With The Alien”. And, believe it or not, but if I didn’t sit behind my computer blogging and making digital music all day, this would be what my physique would look like. I think that means, for me, FAIL. For the Ibanez Silver Surfer: WIN.

Roland’s Digital Harpsichord: For the record, I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time (let’s say, more than the average person) playing real harpsichords. And this sounds and feels like the real thing — even the action is right, though it’s far more forgiving than the original. But it’s the fact that Roland kept going, that they staged a fake Baroque setting for their instrument in the midst of an otherwise generic NAMM booth, complete with real curtains, added faux stained glass to the sides, provide optional, interchangeable decoration… it’s just so beautiful. There are multiple tunings, including 415 Hz and 392 Hz (though fully-adjustable tunings would have been nice), and there are five types of temperaments.

And then, when they were done, they gave it a name. You or I might call it the Harpsitron or the Digichord. Roland called it the C-30. WIN. (Tom at Music Thing thinks so, too.)

I want a C-30 and a new church gig.

And Roland, by boldly employ 21st Century digital technology to produce an 18th-Century sound in a case that looks unmistakably like a 17th-Century virginal, then giving it a product identifier that sounds like a 20th-Century military cargo plane, you win the Greatest Anomaly of NAMM 2008 Award.

Thanks to my colleague Quantazelle for her editorial and research assistance, and photographizing.