We’ve not tested it for ourselves yet but Crysonic’s new bass-enhancing VST ‘newB’ sounds pretty smart. It generates sub harmonics from your bass part, allowing you to hear lower frequencies than exists on the original track. Sadly its Windows only for the...

Steinberg have released a new mixing tutorial DVD-ROM series for Cubase and Nuendo in English, German, French and Spanish. Volume 1 (160 mins) includes tips for delivering the mix master to the mastering studio, better use of groups, preventing phase...

Most of the good stuff we netted yesterday, but plenty more action from day 2. The highlight? Surely seeing (and hearing) how Yamaha's Vocaloid 2 has been coming along. What's Vocaloid? A attempt to 'synthesise' the human voice by extensive sampling of phonemes which are then re-strung to produce pharses that can then be played back at the desired pitch, thus negating the need for a real live singer. That's the theory, but the reality is a little way off just yet. Perhaps Vocaloid 1.1 would have been a better name, although we're intrigued to hear more from latest vocal patch Big Al from PowerFX... truly mesmerising were our first impressions!

But on to more serious matters... Rhodes are back with a new range of electro-mechanical pianos, just like the old days! There's a beautiful ruby red one on their stand.



prices should be around the £1,500 mark, although given its desirable import status I wouldn't be surprised if it cost a bit morre...

Loads more digital DJ'ing packages, not least of all from Native Instruments, who show off Traktor Scratch. Feels rock-solid, and the timecode is twice the resolution of other packages. Fine looking interface as well, which will be sold separately for those interested.



Universal Audio finally unleash a laptop solution for their UAD-1 platform – it’s about time too...!



Oz Owen

Well, day 1 of NAMM '07 got off to the usual start with the marching band perambulating through the convention centre. I was still in a bit of a daze from the jet-lag, but there was no mistaking it - yes, that *is* the Rocky theme tune they're playing! Awesome...



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

It seems there have been a few faulty DVDs circulating without the sound for the excellent Abletonator controller.

So we've uploaded it to the blog and our MySpace page so you can hear the final video.

Abletonator

Here's a close up of the final track at the end of our Masterclass with Steve Evans.
Shot A
Shot B
Shot C
Shot D

There's a high track count in the final Pro Tools session, so it's been split into four screenshots from the top (A), to the Bottom (D).

It seems that Moog has something to show off at NAMM, but it's not the 'big phatty' we'd hoped for. Check FM184 where we take a closer look at the Stage Edition...
Anyone else got any NAMM predictions?

Have you been to see any amazing live shows recently? got any impressive photos that you want to share? Send through any great live shots of your favorite artists and we might publish them - and if we do, you'll recieve somekind of prize from the...

Cheese Kit

It's a drum kit made out of cheese, very strange.

We've just been sent one of these insane looking MusicPole MIDI Controllers.

More info in the mag once i've learnt how to play it... Now where's my guitar strap?