Month: January 2012

Malekko Heavy Industry at NAMM

This year, Malekko Heavy Industry had their own booth at NAMM. It was actually a bit of a challenge to find, all the way in the back of Hall C past the endless walls of guitars and celebrity-induced traffic jams. But I did find them, and was treated to a tour of a Malekko-only modular system:

In the above image (which admittedly isn’t the best quality), we see a simple patch that was focused on the Wiard Anti-Oscillator and Borg Filter, both of which I was particularly interested in. The Noisering was quite interesting as well and offered a lot of possibilities. The Wiard Jag (Joystic Axis Generator) was very pretty and intriguing, but I couldn’t immediately envision it’s use in a musical performance the way I could with the Noisering.

The system being shown is quite complete, with a host of VCOs, filters, modulators and utility elements. Indeed, one could build something just from their modules alone. But I do think it is most creative to mix and match with our manufacturers.

Trash Audio party at NAMM and Matrixsynth “Wine Bar”

Last night was the annual Trash Audio party that occurs during NAMM. It’s an opportunity to meet a lot of makers and enthusiasts of esoteric and DIY electronic instruments in a quintessentially southern Californian setting: a backyard pool party. It was great to meet some of the people I have gotten to know through writing this site.

Matrixsynth hosted a little wine bar of sorts, with his own Analog Reserve (red) and Digital Reserve (white). They were quite good, actually.

IK Multimedia iRig MIDI and iRig Cast (Good for OWS?)

IK Multimedia has introduced a few new items in their iRig line. These are appealing for those of us who use “i-Thingies” (i.e., iPhone and iPad).

The iRig Cast is a tiny microphone. You can see the scale compared to the kitty in the above picture. For those who have used the Square card reader for iOS, it’s about the same size and shape. IK Multimedia suggests that this would be a device well suited for voice recordings, podcasting, interviews and such. So I am thinking this would be a useful accessory for those who are doing live streams from Occupy Wall Street protests!

The microphone will join the already available iRig MIDI interface.

The iRig in some ways seems better than a dock for live performance, particularly if one wants to pick up the iPad and move it around (though that is not what was being done in the demos). It is bidirectional and thus will be useful both for use as a controller (the primary direction in the live performance situation) and as a synthesizer receiving control data from DAW (in a studio setting).

Teenage Engineering OP-1 and Oplab

Teenage Engineering is always fun. That goes for both playing the instruments and visiting their both at NAMM. We remember the OP-1 from the previous show:

Teenage Engineering introduced Oplab this time around. It’s a DIY system with a small versatile connectivity hub and variety of available sensors, including this shoe:

The heart of the system is the Oplab device itself, with CV inputs and outputs (in a format that connects easily to Eurorack format modules, the OP-1 and other devices), MIDI and USB. The USB can used to connect to an iPad to control synth apps or receive control data. Similarly, the analog CV and custom digital connections serve both directions. In addition to the shoe, they have several available sensors, including pressure, tap and rotation, though they strongly encourage users to bring their own.

The little eviscerated hard-drive on the right is an example of the DIY spirit of the system. It turns out one can spin the disk inside a hard drive and generate useful pulses for temporal control. I had never thought of using a hard drive as a controller before.

The Oplab and its related devices should be available later this spring. I’m definitely intrigued.

Lunar Experience modular, Noisebug (NAMM)

Here we see Gert Jalass of Lunar Experience tweaking a modular synth at the Noisebug booth at NAMM.

The modular had a deep sound that cut through even the hall noise. The Lunar Experience modules, however, were the controllers. Other modules (in the Synthesizers.com 5U format) were used for sound generation, but the demo should how it would be straightforward to use in a live situation.

Dr. Lonnie Smith, Hammond Sk2 (NAMM)

Dr. Lonnie Smith on a Hammond Sk2 organ at the Hammond-Suzuki booth at NAMM.

Once again, the sound quality isn’t that good given the noise in the hall (and the bonus commentary by others in the audience), but it gives a little taste of the performance. This is the “other pole” of my musical experience, with jazz and jam performance, and its always good to get back into it even for a moment.

Keith McMillen Instruments QuNeo (NAMM)

Yesterday at NAMM I had a chance to see the new Keith McMillen Instruments QuNeo. It was a prototype, so it was demo-only at the time. It was definitely designed with Ableton Live in mind, with a layout and style that would be familiar to users. I liked the use of lighting to provide feedback, and the controller had a comfortable touch. In all, it seemed more “graceful” than the other Ableton Live controllers that have proliferated in the last few years. And it is about the size of an iPad. Which of course opens up the question of how such a controller compares to using an iPad. Certainly, the tactile feedback is helpful.

I would be curious to see how it does with other software or in a custom environment.

Big City Music at NAMM

One of the perennial destinations at NAMM is the both of Big City Music. They have quite a collection of both vintage electronic musical instruments and contemporary analog electronics.

The highlight this year was a live performance with a Dewanatron by Leon Dewan:

It was hard to hear it well in the hall environment, unfortunately.

I also was looking closely at some of the analog modular offerings:

Above as a system primarily with Kilpatrick Audio modules for both sound and control. Below is a case full of Metasonix modules, distinctive with their protruding vacuum tubs and yellow color.

Big City announced a new metasonix module, the Thyratron VCO. I was able to listen to it and other modules (VCF, Waveshaper, etc.). Metasonix modules look a bit intense (and their description text can be a bit menacing), but the modules themselves had an unexpectedly subtle sound. That is, until you pick just the right modulation, then it gets more interesting. The wave shaper remains my favorite of theirs.

Arturia MiniBrute

One of the surprises at NAMM was the Arturia MiniBrute:

The MiniBrute features a pure analog signal path (a first for Arturia). It has an oscillator bank with the usual complement of waveforms (sawtooth, square, PWM) as well as a sub-octave oscillator. As such, it reminded me a lot of the Octave Kitten, and I was able to get some similar sounds out of it when I set the cutoff on the filter low (and the resonance high). I thing it would sound great with a proper amp with bass response. It didn’t have a chance to put it through the modulation paces to see of the LFO was also similar to the Octave synths.

Others had their own comparisons. The Roland SH-101 seems to be a common comparison in terms of the sound. I think many of us who were surprised to see this instrument and happy with its USD $549 starting price all wanted to project our own analog favorites onto it.