I managed to sneak into the show early and start doing the rounds... so far nothing's exactly set the show alight, but there's plenty of good stuff here on all fronts.
Korg were showing off their latest, as reported in our Filter section in the issue that's just going on sale, so the mighty M3 workstation, although that's not shipping much before the summer, while the R3 should be with us in 6 weeks. The KP mini is ready to go, so although it doesn't have the same beguiling light display of its big brother we're still excited by it, and you can expect a review soon
And, of course, the awesome ZERO mixers - I'm trying to prize one of those out of Korg's hands before the show ends, so fingers crossed for next issue...
Arturia have a hardware synth in development - monikered 'Origin' - which looks to have all of their soft synths crammed inside that sleek looking exterior, plus a Jupiter 8, as previewed here at the show. They've taken a modular approach, so you'll be able to put the Jupiter's oscillators through the Minimoog's filters and other such shenaigans that will surely upset purists the world over. Bring it on, we say..! It looks like it's gonna be great, but we'll have to wait until Spetember to find out...
SPL launched a passsive EQ - finally someone to give Manley a run for their money? - with the sexy looking if not sexily named Passeq... it's billed to cost around $4,500, so not cheap, but if passive EQs are anything to go by then it's sure to sound great....
Roland have filled the gap left from the out-going V-Synth (keyboard version) with the V-Synth GT... we haven't heard it in action just yet, but anything with V-Synth in the product name gets our vote... and with that amazing touchscreen control we can't wait to get the new version in for review...
Violet launched a new mic - The Black Hole - that has an innovative new shockmount... it's gonna sound great, being a Violet, and that gap in the middle means you can hold it like a knuckle-duster... nice!
We've also been hearing rumours from the Propellerhead camp, and although nothing's finished yet we've had a preview of Thor, their new 'Polysonic' synth. It's got plenty under the hood, such as FM, wavetable and subtractive to name a few, and on first listen it sounds damn good - smooth, lush pads and atmospheres, full bass and complex leads... no timeframe for the next revision of Reason, but watch this space!
Dave Smith of Dave Smith Instruments has been busy, and although the BoomChik drum machine / synth won't be ready for 9-12 months, the fact that it's being developed in association with Roger Linn means should make it a winner - well, two industry heavyweights working on one box? We could probably mark this one 11 out of 10 right now...
On the DJ front all the big guns are here... so far I've bumped into Roc Raida, Jazzy Jay, Shortkut and DJ Babu... not bad for a first day...!
Plenty more happening, but the evening session awaits, so I'll try and file some more LA tales tomorrow... until then! Oz Owen
