After the dust has settled and the necessary back and foot massages have been administered, it’s time to sit back and sift through all of the new products you’re considering for your store. Some are exciting products from familiar faces, and some are new companies trying to make an impression on you. While this story is in no way comprehensive, here are some of those companies and products that made you take a second look.
One of the biggest trends the industry’s been buzzing about is music making, video-game style. Certainly “Guitar Hero,” “Rock Band,” and their contemporaries could be seen all over the show floor. NAMM had a “Guitar Hero” setup on the second floor, and those who got hooked could see the Peavey AG RiffMaster Guitar Controllers. They’re wooden controllers for Guitar Hero modeled after Peavey guitars. Not to be left out, companies like Roland, Vater, and Ludwig offered “Rock Band” demos at their booths.
Capitalizing on this trend, SoundTech Professional Audio and Allegro Multimedia unveiled their new collaboration. The SoundTech Ediface Digital Guitar Interface, combined with Guitar Wizard software, features a pickup and converter that attaches to the player’s guitar and turns it into a controller for Guitar Wizard’s video game lessons.
Also new on the software front was IK Multimedia’s ARC, or Advanced Room Correction, System. It’s designed for any DAW-based studio to help eliminate the sound problems that come with home studios and their room acoustics by correcting for both frequency and phase response.
Peavey also debuted new ReValver software on the heels of its acquisition of Alien Connections. ReValver Mk III lets users alter the components of 15 amps, including Peavey’s 6505, JSX, ValveKing, and Triple XXX amps. Users can drag and drop individual components and devices, like preamps, power amps, stomp boxes, and effects to create what the company describes as essentially a custom amp.
QSC made a splash with its new amps. The GX Series celebrates the company’s 40th anniversary. Its two models utilize linear toroidal power supplies similar to those used in RMX amps, and they feature dynamic processing that the company says “guarantees full, peak power without harmful levels of distortion.”
Making its NAMM debut in the pro audio market was JZ Microphones. The company is based in Latvia and was literally formed months before the NAMM show. But they were there in full force to show off the Black Hole, a microphone with two independent opposite-placed large capsules inside its head, plus three switchable polar patterns—omni, cardioid, and figure 8.
Kenny G brought star power to the B&O market with the U.S. debut of his new line of saxophones, which had previously only been seen at Music China. The company unveiled its G-Series soprano sax, which features an advanced harmonic key design and adjustable thumb rest, and the E-Series educational soprano sax, which ranges up to high G for students to have an easier time reaching difficult notes.
Another new product you may have seen at another show was the N-Tune onboard chromatic tuner. It had been buzzed about at last year’s Summer NAMM and finally made its debut at this year’s show. Available in Fender- and Gibson-style designs, the tuner is installed discretely on the guitar and lets the user tune the guitar just by pulling on the volume knob.
The Facelift, on the other hand, is anything but discrete. These custom-cut removable and re-usable vinyl overlays come from British-based Rockano Productions Limited and let Telecaster and Stratocaster players customize their guitars with nine different colors and designs.
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