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.

NAMM had plenty of new goodies, but what do we actually want to buy? Here’s Liz’s top pick (high on my list, as well). -PK

No, it’s not an advertising campaign for Ableton Live if that’s what you’re wondering. The Live-like logos that pop up onto your screen when you start using the Novation Nocturn controller actually represent the Nocturn’s various knobs, automatically mapped to whatever software you’re using at the time. It’s a heads-up, intuitive display that extends both the mouse and the controller itself. You can see the knob settings on screen, then use the mouse to navigate between the controller’s touch-sensitive knobs. If the Automap feature isn’t doing it for you, you can reassign any parameter or create a new MIDI map from scratch. Ed.: Novation says this functionality will soon be available on other Novation Automap gear, too, like my beloved ReMOTE SL keyboard. -PK

In terms of blinky appeal, each of the knobs are surrounded by LEDs that make it easier to see the knob’s position in a dark club.

What will it cost? A mere $100. On my wishlist, for sure.

Nocturn – The world’s first compact intelligent plug-in controller [Novation Music News -- and by "first", I think they mean the first of theirs, of course, or "intelligent" defined as their particular Automap feature]

Stay tuned for hands-on video with the Nocturn. And yes, the crossfader feels fantastic, especially for the price.

I’d like to thank the Academy . . . Yes, it’s that time of year when the entire global music press put their heads together to pick their favorite products. It’s a bit like an Editor’s Choice, only with all the editors. The results sometimes lack nuance, and I wouldn’t take them as product advice, but they’re always interesting. See the complete results, but here are some of the categories we care about:

Pricey keys: All-stops-pulled beats out economy-sized in the keyboard and synth category. The Clavia Nord Stage, packed with synth capabilities (see Keyboard’s review), beat out the Roland RD-700SX and Kawai MP8. That makes some sense, as the Clavia has the longest feature list, but unless you’re a diehard Nord lover I think the Roland and Kawai are more likely what you’d take onstage with you, with an arguably better feel at a fraction of the price.

As for the Korg OASYS, well, that’s a ten-ton gorilla that deserves to win. Kong might have lost at the Oscars, but the OASYS is rightfully a synth for the ages.

Year of the emulated soft synth? Here’s the one that’s a bit more confusing: both the G-force Minimonsta and the Arturia Prophet V were nominated in the soft synth category, and the Arturia beat out one of the most impressive soft synths ever, Native’s Reaktor 5. “Too hip for the room” is the phrase that comes to mind: Reaktor’s new low-level Core modular sound engine and ground-breaking new synths are a category all their own, but maybe they’re a little too deep . . . Arturia’s melding of old and new in the Prophet V is at least interesting.

Digital beats vintage: Vintage emulation might have been winning out, but real analog and analog-style synthesis, in the form of the Dave Smith Poly Evolver and the Korg Radias, respectively, couldn’t outshine the software integration of the Access Virus TI. Hang on, I lost my train of thought, because I’d love to have a studio with all three. (The Moog would have won handily had it not been introduced at Messe; it’s a sure win next year.)

Digidesign sweep: Digi won recording software (Pro Tools 7), mixing desk (ICON), and via M-Audio, recording hardware (Project mix I/O). Recording software is basically a popularity contest, since the market is split between Digi and Everybody Else (Logic and Nuendo were nominated in this case). But the ICON is an impressive win, beating out the SSL and Neve. I think the purists got their vote split.

Ableton forever: Hint to anyone hoping to win a DJ software award: forget it. Ableton Live manages to sweep every award, in every outlet, in this category, period. Too bad there’s not a “laptop performance” category, but then, that wouldn’t have much suspense, either.

Predictable winners: Gigastudio, Vienna Symphonic Library, Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2, Genelec 8050A nearfield monitors . . . yeah, not so surprising, as these are all top-class competitors in their fields. (Though I think Kontakt is by far the more innovative sampler than Gigastudio in that category, even if that gets me in trouble with the Tascam lovers.)

A few surprises: What’s that? The Korg KAOSS Pad Entrancer VJ effects unit in the DJ category? Go, VJ superstars! (Maybe we’re onto something on CDM.) And is that the affordable Rode NT-2A ($400 for a great condenser) in the mic category?

An old favorite, reborn: Mackie mixers have long been beloved as the Everyman’s mixer. Now, they’re finally computer-savvy, with the Onyx. So it was nice to see this line win as the project studio mixing desk.

The impulse buy: Roland’s Handsonic, mystifying even the folks at Roland, I think, is a cult hit. These bongo-like digital controllers are loved by serious drummers, practicing drummers, and non-drummers alike: quality, fun hardware. And they’re a fun way of triggering software, too. The updated model has a bunch of extras; I might have to pick one up myself.

—

Music with Heart

In a year of trouble for many parts of the world, there are tracks in here that let us share solace.

Music for Sudan: ASAP: The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project, has already raised US$125,000 for an Oxfam-affiliated local charity in Darfur. Not only does it benefit people in the birthplace of Afrobeat, but each track is a treasure of rich music by artists like Antibalas, Kokolo, Akoya, and Tony Allen (featuring Fela Kuti). It’s the Live8 antidote, entirely assembled by African musicians. The spirit-lifting grooves cost only US$10. Read more on CDM, check out the official site, or buy it from iTunes and other music stores.

Music for New Orleans: For a reminder of why music is vital in times of hardship, cue up any of the tracks on Our New Orleans, a new benefit release from Nonesuch. This isn’t just another benefit album: these are New Orleans musicians, singing and playing their souls out. That’s a lot of soul: artists like Eddie Bo, Beausoleil, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dr. John . . . I could go on. Read the album cover, and you’ll know this is a must-have. Sounds like home. Buy it from iTunes and other music stores.

Indie Music Online: Our friends at Fake Science are rewriting the rules of online music purchasing: no DRM, low prices ($2 for a whole EP, $5 for an LP), and 60% of your cost goes directly to the artist or small label. If that sounds like music to the ears of someone on your list, the FS folks remind us that gift certificates are available in various denominations. How else will you hear Spycloud (below)? Gift certificates available on the right-hand side dropdown on the FS page.

Good Reading:

These books, all printed this year, seem tailor-made for the CDM audience (well, one by your editor-in-chief), so I can’t resist listing them here, especially as it’s nice sometimes to take a break from the pixels and look at paper.

One of my favorite reads this year was The Art of Digital Music by David Battino and Kelli Richards. (Backbeat Books) David, editor of the O’Reilly Digital Media site, and Kelli, an industry insider and business and technology guru, talked to 56 artists and industry figures about digital music production, ranging from Ableton visionary and electronica artist Robert Henke (Monolake) to Thomas Dolby, Roland founder Ikutaro Kakhashi, and Herbie Hancock. It’s a really unique glimpse into the creative life behind digital music, and it’s one of those books you can just open to any page. Order the book/DVD set on Amazon or go check out details on the official site.

We’ve taken a look inside your studios and other studios on CDM (try a search for studios for a rough idea). So it’s only appropriate that not one but two books for studio voyeurs would debut this year. First, there are the bedroom studios — see previous coverage on CDM of the new Bedroom Rockers book. For more serious studios, see Behind the Beat, a hardcover book plus CD that looks inside the creative spaces of hip hop producers from DJ Shadow to Young Einstein. (That’s the hip-hop version, not Yahoo Serious.) $30 buys you 320 color images, to inspire creativity and gear lust, plus musical tracks from the featured studio.

Lastly, while I’m heavily biased and hate to shamelessly plug my own work, I have to share this one: my book, Real World Digital Audio should be shipping by Christmas, and I couldn’t be more proud of it. It’s a 600-page reference on making music with technology, plus a DVD of extra software and tutorial content. I just got my copies in the mail, and I’m thrilled with the work our team has done it, particularly Jim Aikin, who served as technical editor, and the staff at Peachpit on our production team who stuck with it and put out a book I’m excited to own. The other good news is, because I’m not writing it, I get more time to spend on CDM — and, better yet, music. Now, that’s a gift. More on the book once we know it’s hit shelves (hasn’t happened quite yet but should any day now).

Want to shamelessly plug your book or album? Or tell us about some music or reading we’ve missed that you want? Hit comments, or email me.

And to everyone, happy holidays! (And don’t worry, I’ll bring you lots of stuff to buy all year long.)

Previously:

Holiday Gift Guide: Best Digital Music Picks from Femalemusician.com
Holiday Gift Guide: Best Gift Guides on the Web

Theresa brings us some of her favorite picks for musicians, including a book/video on breathing technique for singers, music lessons in Long Island, an inexpensive mic duo, mutable guitar cables that prevent pops and squeals, and iTunes music.

The Art of Breathing, US$29.99 (Book, DVD, or VHS)
“Breathe, breathe in the air, don’t be afraid to care”, said the 1973 Pink Floyd lyric, when Dark Side of The Moon was THE vinyl to have beneath the turntable needle. Well, today it’s Nancy Zi who’s making a living on breathing and encouraging us all to join the deep breathing craze, in a new art form she calls CHI YI. As a professional opera singer, Nancy provides this book for peak vocal performance, stress reduction, and everyday well-being.

One Month of Music Lessons from Femalemusician.com, US$105-210
Encourage your girlfriend, spouse, or child’s desire to shine! Now through January 31, 2006, FM Digital Studio in Northport (Long Island), New York is offering one lesson free with the purchase of a music lesson gift package ($105.00 OR $210.00) Singing, piano, keyboards, and recording sessions/make a CD, available as gift package. Call: +1 631 754 0479, email fm@femalemusician.com, or order via the Female Musician Digital Studio Website.

(Shown: Christina Corso, Age 16, currently works on her sophomore CD at FM DIGITAL STUDIO.)

Audio-Technica Condenser Mic Two-Pack, Model AT2041SP, street US$150
Audio-Technica (AT2041SP) hits home with this unbelievably-priced combo pack containing two condenser mics. The AT2020 records lush vocals and handles a wide range of instruments; the AT2021 small-diaphragm condenser is designed for direct instrument recording including acoustic guitars, drum overheads, pianos, and group vocals. Together, the two mics can handle a wide variety of recording tasks. The package includes a pivoting stand mount and mic clip. A real sweet choice for compact digital studios, leaving ears and wallets just tingling all over!

Perfect Guitar Stocking Stuffer: Mute-switchable Cables, US$30-50 depending on length
The Planet Waves’ Circuit Breaker™ cables have a built-in mute switch to save equipment from loud pops and squeals, making on-stage or in studio guitar/bass changes a snap. Once the cable is shorted, remove the cable from the guitar being used and plug the cable into the next instrument. Press the button again to re-activate the cable signal. Try bizrate.com for best price.

iTunes Music Cards, Any Amount
If your friend or loved one has an iPod, the gift certificate, music card, or allowance options available at iTunes.com will feed the need for more tunes. Apple makes purchasing these cards easy by using emails and codes. Purchase at iTunes.com or a nearby Apple Store.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

Theresa Orlando is founder and editor of The Female Musician, and producer and host of the She Grooves Radio Hour, which can be heard on Long Island at 6pm Wednesdays on 88.9 FM WCVF-FM (SUNY Fredonia) or via podcast.

Music thing Gift Guide (pictured): Just in case your wallet escaped the first time, Tom is back to do more damage with goodies from the blogosphere. Some of my favorites are quite affordable: t-shirts, Dubstation plug-in, and a pipe organ you can make out of paper.

Make’s Mostly-Under-$100 Gift Guide Our favorite DIY magazine weighs in on (mostly) affordable gifts. Of course, a Make subscription is a great idea, but be sure to ask for their suggested soldering iron so you can start building your own synths!

Gawker’s Gizmodo / Kotaku Gift Guide: Wild gadgets and gaming goodness. And, of course, my suggestion that people go get a music keyboard.

Got a gift guide of your own? Post it on your blog, and then send me a link; if I like it, I’ll update this list!

MIDI is still a reality of life for connecting all kinds of
instruments. The most compact MIDI adapters act basically like a
MIDI-to-USB cable, but many of those are 1-in / 1-out only and look
ugly as hell.

Romio from Reflex
is different: 1-In, 2-Out (for 32, count `em, channels), and it's
simply gorgeous, at least in the product shots. Bus-powered, compact,
plug-and-play. Can't wait to try one out. US$40, available now.