<< Comments

2004 > January

End-to-end audio regions in Logic >>

Monday, 19 January 2004

NAMM 2004 ::

I’ve been going to winter NAMM shows since 1987, and haven’t missed more than maybe 3 or 5 since. It’s impossible to see everything, and the excitement of seeing brand new stuff isn’t what it was when I (and the digital music thing) were younger. So I just followed my curiosity and personal gear lust. Here are a few of the things I checked out:

Chicken Systems Translator

I have a medium-sized collection of Roland S-760 sample CD’s, thanks to a programming gig I did for a company a few years back. I want to be able to use these in Emagic’s EXS-24 and MOTU’s Mach Five samplers in Logic, so I bought Translator.

Access Virus KC

I played the Virus KC for maybe 20 minutes. Large immediate gratification effect, juicy factory sounds which are very easily tweaked on the fly from the front panel.

M Audio

I heard Earth Wind & Fire play “September” and “Shining Star” in their booth. I got chills.

Digidesign

Pro Tools was running on Windows XP in their main demo. Blue.

Apple (including Emagic)

The Apple booth had G5's with see-through side panels on a small pedestal at each end, attracting some admiration. Showed Garage Band, Soundtrack, and Logic. Some of the booth workers wore their mini iPods on their sleeves.

weighted controllers

I recently realized that my keyboard technique just isn’t going to get much better playing only plastic controllers. I did some shopping for a fully weighted, MIDI master keyboard controller that has great piano sounds.

This turned out to be an elusive combination. I played the offerings from a couple of well-known companies and was very disappointed at the discrepencies in velocity responses on adjacent keys, particularly on adjacent white/black notes. And often there are marked tonal differences on those adjacent keys; the sample boundaries are far too obvious. This seems par for the course in the sub-$1000 price range.

A StudioLogic controller felt great—but no built-in sounds.

A number of manufacturers (Roland, Korg, Yamaha, others) have products with great keyboard actions and piano sounds. But they are full-blown workstations, twice as many features as I would use, at probably twice the price.

I had a Roland RD-700 highly recommended by Ben, who collects “real” electric pianos; but there wasn’t one to try in the Roland booth, maybe because it’s not “new.” It occurs to me that compared to the price of an actual piano, spending $1800 on something like this is not excessive. I don’t care how good XYZ’s piano sample library is, it all starts with the controller, and it seems highly likely that one will get the best keyboard/velocity response in a single unit.

Ohm Force Melohman

Didn’t get to actually play it, but I heard a rich sounding synth with impressive realtime control.

Muse Research Receptor

If I remember what I was told correctly, they provide software that modifies Windows-targeted VST effects and instruments, and downloads them to their 2u rack box, which is actually a little computer running Linux. You can edit from the front panel, connect a mouse and monitor, or connect it to a Mac or PC via Ethernet and control it there (I believe you can ship audio and MIDI back and forth to integrate it with an audio/MIDI sequencer). I was skeptical of the idea at first, but I really like the idea of using plug-ins built for Windows without a Windows PC. They had an impressive list of plug-in developers signed up to support their platform.

Gator Cases

I was looking for a lightweight, padded rack for carrying gear on a plane. In addition to a standard 4u rack, they also have one the same size with a 2u rack, an extra-padded slot for a laptop, and space for cables and other miscellanea.

Case Technology

I have an Anvil case for my DX7 (from about 1985), which weighs about as much as the keyboard, probably 35-40 lbs. each. I was thinking about what I’d do for a case if I found a weighted controller I liked. A very impressively lightweight and yet rugged case.

References:
Piano (21 February 2004)

<< Comments

2004 > January

End-to-end audio regions in Logic >>

---