Bitflipper's 2010 NAMM Thread

Mod Bod

  Was that spelled "Oh, no!" by any chance? 

Ha!  But event the premise that Yoko endorses a pitch corrector is funny on more than one level.

dburns

Was that picture BitFlipper or Philip Seymour Hoffman?

That's a great question.  It could explain the entourage. 
 
And one more thing.  Just to set the record straight, all of my comments regarding Ms Ono and pitch correction were fabricated by my dry sense of humor.   However, I do claim all rights to the "Ono" a.k.a. "OhNo!" remote button for live sound.

I don't know why you think it's not quite as good. It's exactly the same algorythms but wihout the non-reverb FX you get in the actual unit.

I'm quoting the salesman, who said compromises had to be made because the hardware unit is a dedicated processor and if you treated every user's DAW as a dedicated reverb processor there wouldn't be much steam left over for everything else. It's entirely possible that the coder was able to come up with optimizations the second time around that allow comparable quality with a lower CPU hit.

At the end of the day, it's still an awful lot of money for a plugin, even if it's very good. There are just too many less-expensive alternatives that are also very good.

Altiverb, at $600, for one. They were showing Altiverb 7 at the show (not a released product yet, though). Granted, it's not exactly like Lexicon products in that it's not intended to be a do-all special effect, but rather a model of real spaces. You don't pull up a "plate", you pull up St. Mark's Cathedral.  And optionally redesign said cathedral's dimensions if you think its ceiling is too low. The new version has a very snappy and slicker user interface, with a searchable database of acoustical models, e.g. "wood floors", or "similar to...".

Maybe I'm not enough of a reverb junkie, but for me Perfect Space works just fine for most things and it's free with SONAR. I think stepping up to Pristine Space might be worthwhile - to get true stereo - and that's only $120. With so many inexpensive reverb options, $1500 just seems like way to much to pay.

Good morning, all! Sorry for abandoning the thread over the weekend, but I had some connectivity issues at the hotel - unusably slow download times. There was just too much to see and do to warrant hours watching an hourglass.

However, I did write some entries offline on Saturday and will add them today. And, of course, pictures. Now where the heck did I put that camera cable...

Bitflipper...Your service to humanity does not go unnoticed...thanks for the wonderful updates.

it reminds me of the 70's when NAMM was in Chicago and I'd sneak in.  This was before midi was invented.  I'd be there to check out Hammond, Rhodes, Arp, Moog and the multi track machines I could never, ever afford.  Multi track recording at home was a thing for the Jetsons....

Thanks again 

I showed up at the Cake booth yesterday and gave Bit a ring and left a voicemail, but no answer.

In that chaos it was challenging even to locate people if you knew what they looked like! Turns out I was standing about 10 feet away from you, talking with Murray (MurMan). I never heard the phone ring, but I looked at it and was surprised that I had several unheard voicemails. But it was way too noisy to listen to them, so I had to go outside to check messages. One of them was "This is Dave Escobar. I'm at the Cakewalk booth. Where are you?".  I was at the CW booth, too. I am truly sorry I missed you.

MurMan and Middleman managed to pick me out of the crowd and we chatted for a bit. I was able to find Les O'Connor (TheStringMaster) because he's an exhibitor and therefore chained to a fixed location at the Dunlop booth. It's a kick meeting people who, despite having just met them, you could happily yak with for hours.


On Friday night, I had been at the Marriott enjoying free music and overpriced sodas but decided it was getting too crowded. Way too crowded. Crowded like sardines. Deciding to leave was one thing, actually making it to the door 50 feet away turned out to be a grueling 30-minute journey of uncomfortable intimicy with strangers. (Well, they weren't all uncomfortable, some close encounters were rather pleasant. But I apologized to every one of those young ladies.)

When at last freedom was in sight, perhaps 10 feet from the door, I was suddenly accosted by a couple of extremely ah, exuberant, metalheads, one of whom claimed to know me. With my escape so close, I really didn't want to have to stand there screaming "sorry, I just look like Philip Seymour Hoffman". But the metalhead was persistent, and was able to present credible evidence of a prior relationship by screaming at close proximity to my ear (we were directly in front of the stage during a performance).

Sure enough, it turns out I did know him. We'd met at the 2009 show. But at that time, he wasn't decked out like Ozzy Osbourne -- and he was sober. It took a moment for recognition to sink in, but it was (name withheld to protect the inebriated), a fellow SONAR forumite.

Out on the sidewalk we proceeded to have one of those bizarre conversations that only make sense under the influence of large quantities of alcohol. Unfortunately, I don't drink and was therefore unable to follow closely as he enthusiastically enumerated a list of things that ROCK. We gave him something to calm him down.

So to (name withheld), if you have no recollection of this conversation, your buddy took a photo of us on his iPhone. I'm the one with hair.

Bit you ROCK! If you ever decide you want to start writing you will win a Pulitzer.  Good stuff.

I have to tell you about a presentation I attended on Friday night. It was, by NAMM standards, sparsely attended with perhaps 100 people in an upstairs meeting room at the Hilton. If any single experience qualifies as THE highlight of my trip this year, this was it.

There were actually two presentations. One involved a recording project that paid tribute to synthesizers past and present, a recording of Ravel's Bolero featuring almost every major benchmark synth from the 60's to the present. The other was a screening of a documentary about Harry Chamberlin and the Mellotron, with Q&A afterward with the makers of the documentary and a leading authority on Mellotrons (who was also exhibiting authentic reproductions - at $6500 a pop - at the show).

The Bolero project was done by a fellow named Amin Bhatia. He's a well-known film and TV composer.

You might recall a Roland advertisement from a few years ago that featured a montage of every Roland synth made to date. I remember being fascinated by that ad. So was Amin Bhatia, who hatched the idea of actually recording every one of them in one song. Bolero was a good choice, they way it builds by adding instruments. It took him 4 years to complete, and it is absolutely killer. Not just Roland synths, though - it features every major synth from a 50-year period, including some rarities.

Fortunately, there are people who not only collect these instruments but also keep them in working condition. The project could not have been done without the enthusiastic cooperation of collectors and museum curators.

The release of Bolero Electronica coincided with the birthday of Bob Moog. Moog's daughter Michelle was there to talk about the Bob Moog Foundation and the museum they're putting together. I met Michelle again on Saturday and took a snapshot of her in front of a vintage Minimoog. (She said when she and her brother were kids, their mom called them the "mini-Moogs").

It was fascinating hearing the story of this recording, a truly monumental undertaking. The epic end result is well worth a purchase, and I intend to do so. Proceeds benefit the foundation.

That was followed by a screening of "Mellodrama", a documentary about the history of the Chamberlin and Mellotron instruments. Extremely well-researched. Many of the film's interviewees were in the audience that night. There may not have ever been a bigger concentration of Mellotron experts than that night. Great anecdotes from both the filmmakers and the audience.

The only disappointment: because it was a low-budget film they were unable to license most of the most-significant Mellotron music. It would have been so cool to launch into "In the Court of the Crimson King" over the credits!

More info on the film here. I believe it can be purchased via that link. A must-have for fans of classic keyboards, especially if you happen to own a Mellotron or Chamberlin yourself. Or wish you did.

I'm quoting the salesman, who said compromises had to be made because the hardware unit is a dedicated processor and if you treated every user's DAW as a dedicated reverb processor there wouldn't be much steam left over for everything else. It's entirely possible that the coder was able to come up with optimizations the second time around that allow comparable quality with a lower CPU hit.

The salesman was wrong. (shocking, I know!) Lexicon's almost in my backyard and I know some people there. The plugin has one extra reverb algorithm (vintage plate) that the box doesn't have, but all the other reverb algorithms are exactly the same in the plugin and the box--except for bug fixes. And the bugfixes are intended to be rolled into the box at some future date. 

Also, the horsepower issue is wrong. You can run a bunch of instances of the plugin on a decent modern computer, but you only get one box.

biyflip keep it coming, id be whereing a shirt that said
"if you dont run 64 i not interested"
and stand in front of m audio and tascam booths
bitflip should be spoks person for sonar im calling cakwalk.., lol

The salesman was wrong.

Perhaps he's putting a spin on it in an attempt to preempt the obvious question: if the $1500 software is as good as the $4000 hardware, why on earth would anybody buy a PCM96?

bitflip should be spoks person for sonar

Well, I did my bit by wearing my new Cakewalk t-shirt on Friday, at one point being mistaken for a CW employee. I'm afraid I wouldn't be a very good spokesman, though, as I'd have to tell them the truth about V-Vocal.

The Bolero project was done by a fellow named Amin Bhatia. He's a well-known film and TV composer.

Cheers Bit

Snippets of the Bolero Project are available on Amin Bhatia's my space site.  Worth a listen to get an idea where the final mix will go! http://www.myspace.com/aminbhatia

Andy

Your NAMM badge dictates how much respect you get. Bottom of the hierarchy is a "V". But this year I was an "N", which may be even lower. I think it stands for "Nobody". But if you have a "B" on your badge, you are treated like royalty. I think next year I will photoshop a "B" onto my badge. Everybody has a badge, even rock stars have their "A" (Artist) badges. But then there's Quincy Jones, who don' need no steenking badge at all.

One Two pictures?
One Two pictures? 

Well, it IS Q, ol pal.

bitflipper

Maybe I'm not enough of a reverb junkie, but for me Perfect Space works just fine for most things and it's free with SONAR. I think stepping up to Pristine Space might be worthwhile - to get true stereo - and that's only $120. With so many inexpensive reverb options, $1500 just seems like way to much to pay.

If you want to explore "true stereo" reverb without popping for Pristine Space you can try it this way, if you have Jim Roseberry's IR Tools, e.g. ... Create two stereo buses, call 'em something like 'Room Reverb Left' and 'Room Reverb Right'... in RRL bus instantiate Perfect Space with 'Real Room_01' IR and in RRR bus instantiate Perfect Space with 'Real Room_02' IR (this is just an example there are other true stereo impulses in his collection of course).  Direct the output of each bus to the master, panned center.
 
Now in a desired mono audio track, insert sends to each bus and pan the sends appropriately 100% left and 100% right.  If it is a stereo source, use the 'follow track pan' setting on the sends' pans.
 
To my ears, and visually following the meters in buses, etc. this achieves something very close to using the Pristine Space in true stereo mode.

Seth giving the standard Session Drummer / Step Sequencer demo. No matter how many times I see these demos, I always manage to learn something new. Seth showed a nifty trick of using the step sequencer to build multiple drum parts and lay them out as track layers. All I ever do with the step sequencer is quick 'n dirty click tracks, which doesn't really do the tool proper justice. It's capable of so much more.

bitflipper

The salesman was wrong.

Perhaps he's putting a spin on it in an attempt to preempt the obvious question: if the $1500 software is as good as the $4000 hardware, why on earth would anybody buy a PCM96?

Presumably the hardware is future-proofed and no further "upgrade costs" can be expected when operating systems change, etc.

Willy shows off the new keyboard everybody's yawning over. OK, so a new MIDI keyboard isn't exactly earth-shaking news. But this one has this button:

Now yer cookin' Bit.

Keep 'em coming.

if the $1500 software is as good as the $4000 hardware, why on earth would anybody buy a PCM96?

Yes, indeed. Why on earth did I buy a PCM96

Well, I didn't pay $4000 for it--not even close-- and I don't have to run an iLok to use it. Plus I've gotten good mileage out of the non-reverb FX.   Really, if not for the iLok, I'd have sold the box and gone native.  But enough of me hijacking your great report!

And you still haven't answered: What color are the Cakewalk T-Shirts? I can't wear black since the studio cat fuzz shows up too well on black.

Jackson Browne - note that he has a NAMM badge. And of course, the ubiquitous water bottle which is now a requirement to enter the state of California. You're an obvious tourist if you carry only one. Or perhaps a rock star, in which case you have people to carry your other water bottles for you.

Yoko explaining something to one of her henchmen. Note the geeky dude on the right seems particularly uninterested, with a look on his face like a host who's waiting for a tiresome guest to depart.

The next one SHOULD have been a great shot, what with the palm trees and crazed fans reflected in the limo's windows. But at the last moment the alpha goon stepped between me and Yoko.

the ubiquitous water bottle which is now a requirement to enter the state of California

The natives are now issued one at birth. Micro-chip implant is optional (on the water bottle).

bitflipper

Your NAMM badge dictates how much respect you get. Bottom of the hierarchy is a "V". But this year I was an "N", which may be even lower. I think it stands for "Nobody". But if you have a "B" on your badge, you are treated like royalty. I think next year I will photoshop a "B" onto my badge. Everybody has a badge, even rock stars have their "A" (Artist) badges. But then there's Quincy Jones, who don' need no steenking badge at all.
 

Bit, don't know if you noticed, but I had a "C" badge this year.  Pretty sure it stands for "Chump".

What color are the Cakewalk T-Shirts?

Still black. Just like every other t-shirt being handed out elsewhere at the show. Just like 95% of the attendees. Apparently, red shoes are acceptable, and blue jeans. Aside from that, black appears to be the preferred hip fashion. Dye your hair black. Black eyeliner was common - on chicks, too.

Bit, don't know if you noticed, but I had a "C" badge this year. Pretty sure it stands for "Chump".

What exactly does the "C" stand for, anyway? "Cool Dude", perhaps.

great stuff Bit. Thanks

bitflipper

Bit, don't know if you noticed, but I had a "C" badge this year. Pretty sure it stands for "Chump".

What exactly does the "C" stand for, anyway? "Cool Dude", perhaps.

Only in my pathetic dreams ...

Nice pics, bitflipper. Thanks for sharing. I especially like the one of Quincy.:)

bitflipper

I'm quoting the salesman, who said compromises had to be made because the hardware unit is a dedicated processor and if you treated every user's DAW as a dedicated reverb processor there wouldn't be much steam left over for everything else. It's entirely possible that the coder was able to come up with optimizations the second time around that allow comparable quality with a lower CPU hit.
 

The salesman's talking complete bollocks. As you know there are far more gigaflops in an i7 chip that some little Sharc chip on a DSP unit. The coder himself ("Nobody Special" in that gearslutz thread that I linked) quite clearly states that there are no compromises.
 
I'm not trying to devalue your veracity. I just think the salesman would still like to keep that "OTB is better" myth going for his own reasons. The big advantage with the plugin is that you're not limited to one instance, like you are with the box. And while the plugin is only x32 at the moment (but runs nicely in Bitbridge) it's on the way to coming out as x64, which will more or less future-proof it for a few years.
 
If you want a true stereo x64 impulse reverb, may I recommend Reverberate, which can be combined with the free Acoustica Bricasti impulses and its modulation capabilities to knock Altiverb for six.
Sorry to hijack your thread. Keep up the good work.
 
 
(edit: pesky formatting!)

Thank you Sir BitFlipper !  Great write-ups; had me in fits.

bitflipper



Willy shows off the new keyboard everybody's yawning over. OK, so a new MIDI keyboard isn't exactly earth-shaking news. But this one has this button:

Is it me or does Willy seems a little scary with those red eyes?
I'm a photog myself so I know how they happen, it's just that..........

All in all, thanks for the pics Bit.

Sax Porn

Looking at those pics, does anyone else get the horn? 

WTF are those drums stick (woodies?) doing the SAX Porn shot?

bitflipper


Sax Porn

What's this one ^^^^
                   Doing to that one      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

?????


De-flowering it?

I missed the meeting time at the CW booth at 2:00 as I was stuck doing demos. 

Bit, did you get a chance to drop by the Garritan booth?  Don't remember seeing you.

Jim

I swung by Garritan but it was very busy, so I elected to come back when it wasn't so. Unfortunately, it never wasn't so. So I missed you. Not the only stop I never made it to, either. That's what happens when you decide to slow down and smell the pitches.

eh eh, Bit said smell the pitches...

I went to many NAMM shows.  Some were great and some were not.  I sure have eaten a lot of $12 hamburgers off the top of the trash cans.  I hope they have added some tables and chairs to give you somewhere to talk business by now. 

Seeing the demos is the best part.  Walking all day with bags of literature is the worst part.

January always makes me think about NAMM.  Enjoy.

Ok, I've got some decent NAMM pics.  Not sure what is the best way to upload them.  Bit, what are you using?

use something like photobucket to host the pics and use the [image] [/image] code to link em, dave...

dude quincy jones! Wohoo!!! nice man! I saw Joe Jackson at MAgic in Vegas a year ago. I sure wish I had gotten a shot!

Hey Bit,

Thoroughly enjoyed reading the NAMM reports. Although I do think that the Cakewalk/Roland Midi Keyboard/controllers are a good thing. One will be on my next purchase list.

Ok, I've got some decent NAMM pics. Not sure what is the best way to upload them. Bit, what are you using?

I'm not sure, but I thought this forum now allows you to upload attachments. Is that correct?

I don't know because I have my own server where I stash them, so that I can link to them from elsewhere, too.

Note: I also pull them all up in PhotoShop first and reduce them from the 2MB original size to 50-80kb. That's why it's taking so long to post them. I'll probably still be adding pictures to this thread next weekend.

Thanks guys.  I'll add mine later tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC68tUUbrTI

Mesa Boogie Transatlantic. Great for hearing what a tube amp should sound like. It show you The Fender sound, The Marshall Bluesbreaker sound and it shows you the Clean VOX sound. Great for exploring those tones....

And this all well shown off by The Tone King...

Brings back a lot of memories when i was given a pass a few years back.  Only time I have been, not sure I need to go back....but it was cool.

I can still smell all the blocks of wood downstairs where all the luthiers hang out!

JR

Not many of the luthiers were back this year. I miss that part of the show. A whole different class of showgoers are to be found hanging around down on level E. Real acoustic instrument aficionados.

A couple shots of the bottom level, which last year was full of booths:

Miscellany


At the Hofner booth, Sir Paul was a little confused. Note it's a right-handed guitar upside-down.

This one's for forum member Tom Deering (deeringamps), who I thought should know that they're using his name to sell banjos.



No drummer jokes, please


Free kazoo lessons. And after I wasted all that money on lessons at the local music store!


Good luck getting this mic stand through airport security!

Free kazoo lessons? Thats gonna put me out of business. Nuts!

A Magazine Review

I want to tell you about a nice discovery I made at the show, a new magazine called "M", subtitled "Music & Musicians". I think folks here would find it a worthwhile read.

It's a large-format, glossy publication and I almost passed it by because of that. Looks too much like Entertainment Tonight. But it was free so I tossed it into the bag to peruse later.

Half the mags I scarfed that day ended up in the hotel wastebasket, not worthy of the extra weight in my carry-on. Luckily, this one went in the bag - and I admit it was because it had a photo of Alicia Keys on the cover and I was hoping there might be a full-body shot inside.

I started reading it on the plane, and to my surprise it's a great magazine. Mostly interviews with music industry people and record reviews, but the articles were well-written and interesting. And the interviewees were interesting people like Al Schmitt and John Fogerty, not the latest autotuned cutie of the week.

Just thought I'd pass that along.

bitflipper




No drummer jokes, please 

Playskool had a booth at NAMM?

Free Kazoo lessons - that consists of blowing it once and learning how to run away from a lynch mob.

Girlie Stuff
Apparently, girls are the next target demographic in retail music sales.
This wasn't the only manufacturer showing pink (see the cute little Studio Projects
mic at the bottom)
All you moms and dads and grandpas, take note. Somebody thinks little girls dig guitars,
and I really hope that's true. I will run this concept by my 4-year-old granddaughter and
see what she thinks.

Hey Bit - Didja get by Steven Slate's booth by chance? He has a whole brand new line of digital products there - dying to know what they're like.

bitflipper

This one's for forum member Tom Deering (deeringamps), who I thought should know that they're using his name to sell banjos.

Dave,
Thanks for the heads up. People coming by at the Vintage Show told me I should be at NAMM.
Must have been why. I'll have to contact my attorneys!

Love the thread, looking forward to the next Seattle meeting.

Tom

Well, since they already have a booth, maybe you could just park a couple amps there and save the 20 grand or whatever it costs to rent a booth at NAMM. It might take them a couple of days to figure out how they got there, and in the meantime you could just hang around like you're really into banjos or something. Just like that, you're a NAMM exhibitor on the cheap!

BTW, what is this Vintage Show you speak of? Is that something local?