Jul31

Written by:Bill Park
Monday, July 31, 2000 6:00 PM

Show day. The grind begins.

This years NAMM show seemed to be about percussion. Lots and lots of percussion. All sorts of drums, cymbals, and other hitty-things filled booths and displays on all floors. There were also a goodly number of folk instruments...dobros, fiddles, digeridos, mandolins, etc. This was kind of fun.... it didn't have much to do with computers or pro recording, but as a performer I found the resurgance of 'acoustic' instruments to be refreshing.

On our trip through the booths we met Lucinda Ellison, of Lucinda Ellison Musical Instruments, who makes mbiras (thumb pianos) and other interesting acoustic instruments, and Bob McNally, the designer of Martin's Backpacker guitar and creator of his own line of stringed instruments, including the Strumstick. Thier booths were side by side, and right next to the Heartwoode booth. Heartwoode makes a neat guitar strap, constructed from small pieces of various hardwoods. You might have noticed the interesting strap that Carlos Santana uses... that's a Heartwoode. This is not a new product, but it is worth a mention. I bought one of these for my Santa Cruz.

We stopped in at the Santa Cruz booth, too. I wanted a quick look at their new Vintage Jumbo. This cool sloped-shouldered shaded-finished guitar reprises the look of the old Gibson flat-tops of the 1940s through 1960s, notably the J-160 style made famous by the Beatles.

Computers in general were at a minumum at this show. Most of the software vendors were relegated to a corner of the show floor that was sponsored by Thinkware, with several rows of computers side by side, and a different vendor at each one. Not a horrible idea....each vendor had to maximise their space and time, so each one was skipping the crap and hitting you with the goods full-on.

Peter Robinson from PlayPro demoed their interactive guitar and bass teaching softwares for us. This is a growing market segment, and there were a number of entries being shown at NAMM. Peter is an Ozzie, a gentleman, and a big fan of ProRec. We saw the new Guitar Tracks software from Cakewalk, and even managed to run into Greg Hendershott on the floor. It's always a pleasure to chat with Greg. Our friends from Steinberg impressed us with the newest version of Cubase VST 5...32 bit throughout, lot's of new features, and many of them included in the purchase price instead of being expensive plug ins. I looked at the Roland U-8 USB box, a neat little 8x2 mixer/computer interface, as well as the UA-100G and UA-30 computer interfaces.

Garry and I spent an extended period at the Paris booth at the edge of computer row. Ed Fritz and Stephen St Croix kept us occupied for some time. Garry copped the premo seat, and I was just behind, so eventually the crush around the booth got so loud that I could not hear the conversation anymore. I wandered off and let Garry talk code with them, which is all Greek to me, anyway.

I really enjoyed our time in the Digitech room. Guitarist Jennifer Batten, who has accompanied both Micheal Jackson and Jeff Beck, was rocking hard while demoing the Johnson J-Station and the Digitech Whammy. I was thinking about perhaps offering to have her babies and be her life-slave, so long as I could just watch her play. I settled for going back to see her play a few more times. Wow.

I had seen the Roland U-8 USB box at the Roland computer setup, but we ran into the BR-8 demo in the hallway outside of the Roland rooms. Garry and I both found the Roland BR-8 to be a significant product for the average songwriter. It is simpler than a multitrack cassette recorder and has a winning 'Cool Factor'. Nearly as cool as the lime green sox that Boss was giving away. We also checked out the VS series recorders, which have become a staple in the Roland line, and the new VG-88 guitar synth. I was a big fan of the VG-8, and I am happy that they are continuing to build on this product line.

Congratulations are due our old friend, journalist Mike Rivers, who was in attendance wearing his new cap as a Mackie employee. We ran into him at the Mackie booth, showing the D-8B and the new Mackie HDR 24/96 hard disk recorder.

The Gear

I went to the show specifically looking for USB interfaces for audio. I just picked up a powerful, ultra-light notebook computer with lots of memory and hard disk space. I have visions of using it as a remote recording platform, running my favorite software. But most of the same manufacturers also make compact stand-alone recorders that use various media for storage that don't require a computer. From the number of these recorders that I saw, it would be easy to make the case that I wasted my money on the computer.

There were quite a few options in this category, with many features and capabilities, and most of them were not expensive. USB still has a lot to offer, and I am fond of using my own software, so I will probably still build my setup around a USB device. But most people will probably buy a stand-alone box. It's a better deal. Tascam's 788, Roland's UB-8, Yamaha's much larger AW4416, and the Fostex VF-16 all do the job, and each has it's own good and bad points. At first glance the Fostex seems to be the standout box, but only time will tell for sure. One of the demo units that we tried was locked up, and the booth rep could not clear it. Hmmmm.... Still, the various USB devices seemed primitive in comparision, and required custom versions of software to access all features.

Besides the U-428 USB interface and the 788 stand alone recorder, Tascam was showing the TM-D4000 along with an MX-2424, and their PCI-822 TDIF/SPDIF/MIDI interface card. They were also plugging their new web site. I have found the old Tascam web site to be very useful, but not easy to get around in. The new version promises ease of use and even more functionality. Gotta love that!

For the tweekheads, we checked out the Millennia booth and we demoed the new Sony DMX-R100 digital mixer... way cool. NAMM is not traditionally a venue for the higher end pro audio with no mid-priced product line, but some vendors do show there. Earthworks, Apogee, HHB, and some others were in evidence.

Guitar string manufacurer D'Addario has bought Planet Waves. This is a cool company with some great ideas, and some new twists on some old products. For example, they have both bass and guitar peg winders. Nothing new here, right? Well, they have added clippers to the winders so that you can trim the ends of the strings, and on the guitar model they have also added a string stretcher. Pretty neat! Their new guitar straps have a locking ratchetting clamp on each end that closes down on the strap button for a very secure grip. These are made of a non-marring non-scratching plastic that will not damage the finish of your instrument.

Another new inovation they have introduced is a T/S or T/R/S cable that has a quarter inch plug with banana-plug type flanges on the shield, for extra solid connection and a better lock into the guitar and amp. The cable comes with four different colored O rings that you can slip into a groove on the connector...that way you know your cable has the red ring, while the bass player's cable has the blue ring, etc., and the connector has a lifetime warranty. It is available in one to thirty foot lengths, and is not expensive. I am of two minds about this product. The good.... besides the obviously cool semi-locking connector, the cable itself is double-shielded, with a layer of shielding 'tape', backed up by a braided shield tradtitionally found in better cables. The cable is a bit softer and more flexible than what I am used to, and may turn out to be very good. The bad points.... the connector is molded onto the cable, so if you damage the cable, you can throw it away, or you can cut off the damaged area and solder a traditional connector on what is left, but you cannot recover the original connector. Though the connector is warranteed for life, the cable isn't, and let's face it, it is pretty easy to damage any cable in the rough and tumble world of stage and studio. The ugly.... their literature claims that 'Red color plug with speaker icon must be plugged into amplifier' and 'Purple color plug with guitar icon must be plugged into instrument'. The electrical necessity of this escapes me dear reader, as I'm sure that it does you.

Another cool addition to the world of quarter inch connectors is the stretch plug, which is a half inch longer than traditional plugs. This may seem a trivial thing, unless you own a Stratocaster, which has a recessed jack. THEN, you understand just how cool this plug is. From George L's Musical Products.

Garry and I disagreed about the new SC-5000 II 12 wheel strobe tuner from Peterson. I thought that it was cool to have all twelve notes available at a glance, and was unwilling to discount the Bo Diddley Factor, while Garry thought that it was wretched excess and laziness. But twelve spining strobe wheels and a big LCD display is going to look cool just sitting there in idle, it doesn't even REALLY have to do anything... it's even better that it actually is a tuner and contains the ability to create and store custom 'stretch' files for pianos, harps, and other extended-range instruments, and has 8 factory presets covering common instruments. I guess it really IS wretched excess.

Gibson had a private setup covering the entire floor above the Gibson Cafe, where they were showing a complete line of all black "Goth" guitars, and some interesting pre-aged and signature models, along with the expected models. There is a Pete Townsend model SG, from the glory years of 'The Who', pre-distressed and beat up, just waiting for you to finish the job by thrashing it into toothpicks on the stage of your choice. Another model that appealed to me was the Aged 1957 Goldtop Reissue. The guitar has an aged finish, oxidized hardware, chipped headstock, and the odd nick, bang, and ding that 30+ years of wear would inflict on a guitar. This guitar comes with a vintage-styled 15 watt Gibson Class A tube amp and a vintage case.

Garry says that if he wants a beat-up guitar, he'll either buy an original vintage instrument or he'll beat one up himself. I tend to agree, but I am drawn to old Les Pauls. I used to own a 1957 gold top, and I wish that I still did. On the practical side for those who always wanted an original 1950s Gold Top but never managed to get one, here is a chance to get a new one that looks like the original, made by Gibson, and you know that it hasn't been modified or otherwise messed with. Even though my original '57 had P-90s and the reissues have aged humbuckers, I've placed my order. Most of my guitar collection is old Gibsons and Fenders, and I was impressed by the authentic look and feel of this guitar.

Other new models included Signature Peter Frampton, Zakk Wylde, Tony Iommi, Pat Martino, and Paul Jackson Jr axes. The Paul Jackson model reprises the 336 model style... a combination solid/hollow electric guitar that appealed to me in the prototypes that I saw, but fell flat when offered to the public. I think that the standard Gibson finish options did not appeal to the average guitar player. The prototypes that I saw had brightly colored stained finishes that put me to mind of Paul Reed Smith finishes, and were very impressive. I'm glad to see this body style still available. The 446s and Pat Martino models are variations on this theme. There is a big resergence of expensive arch-top F-hole acoustic guitars, and Gibson's high end entry to this field is the LeGrande. It's quite an instrument. Gibson appears to be doing everything right as far as I am concerned... going back to their roots and building instruments at draw on their wonderful history, rather than trying to compete with the Ibanez / Washburn / Charvel crowd. It's about time.

On our return from AES last year I was dissapointed in a Gibson GMICS display...... five Les Pauls with ethernet jacks where the 1/4" jack normally is located, three booth workers who did not have a clue as to why I should retrofit an ethernet connector into my guitar, and no literature to give out. Well, things have progressed. The GMICS specification is open, their documents exist, and are even downloadable from the Gibson web site. This is a product that may do for guitarists what the MIDI spec did for keyboard players, if it is adopted and supported. I hope that other manufacturers will at least give this a look.

Another locking strap device for guitars and basses is available from BoloPick. These devices are pick holders, too.

Dave King asked us how he could get Magnum Guitars mentioned in ProRec. These axes are solid metal, and interesting, if not appealing to my personal taste. I can see a good market for them. The bodies are less than an inch thick, and have several silouettes. There was usually a small crowd around this booth.

John Hourilane, Product Manager for Spirit/Soundcraft, spent quite a bit of time discussing console features and the requirements of smaller consoles with us. We found the same willingness to discuss the needs of our market segment at other hardware vendors. This marks a new attitude with hardware vendors. Software manufacturers long ago discovered that if you giver the customer what they are asking for you will sell more product. I see one problem with this attitude.... most of us want what we want in spite of how much sense it makes or how good an idea it is. Look for some manufacturer or other introducing 'Console On a Rope' for when you just have to get that mix done in the shower, and similar harebrained products appearing soon.

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