u b k does namm... i am your eyes and ears

[u b k]

i'm gonna journal this whole she-bang, so enjoy the read and feel free to poke me in whatever direction you desire. i live to serve!

[u b k]

first of all, it's not warm in anaheim california. it is cool --- 65f in the day, 45f at night. the natives are wearing hoods and scarves, it is near record-breaking low temps for a people who typically enjoy 85f this time of year. but i like this, i like jacket weather; on the phone with my lady, she informs me it is 19 degrees in manhattan, and that friday is expecting snow.

maybe it's warm in anaheim after all.

this is my first namm. what do i notice first? it's huge. it's not big, it's not even gigantic... it's frighteningly enormous. if someone out there in the big bad world makes a musical instrument, or piece of recording equipment, or some software, or a $12 accessory, they're here. the floor is divided into several football-field sized sections, plus a basement (affectionately known as 'the dungeon') and god only knows how big that is, because i can't see far enough into it to determine.

i'm here courtesy of gil at wave distribution; i'm creating content for him and the products he carries. so i'm becoming intimate with the fatso and lil freq, i've fallen in love with the focal monitors, and today i met mr. paul wolff and watched him assemble this ridiculously gorgeous, compact console; it's a little brand you may have heard of called tonelux.

he's got a new compressor in there that has to be heard to be believed. maybe i can even convince him to show the folks at home what it does. stay tuned.

so now i'm out here to man a video camera, meet people, maybe film some interviews and some product demos, sneak a few pictures of things on the sly and seed them to my brethren and sistren in the audio community, eat a lot of raw fish, and share my exhausted and time-zone-warped thoughts with anyone who cares to read them.

so watch this space, i'll be updating it as time allows and as interesting things unfold.


gregoire
del
ubk
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[XHipHop]

I want every U47 and Neve clone documented! Jk.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Have fun!

[u b k]

day one, 10 am

the floor is quiet, a low murmur that’s more expectant than relaxed. a lot of people scuttling about, getting their first glimpse of what the next big thing might be, and who might have it. will there be new hardware from digidesign? a major upgrade to logic pro? who knows what?

i already got an interesting bit of buzz regarding the apple/apogee partnership. word has it they’ve developed a card for the new pcmia slot that connects to macbooks. this would be well beyond firewire in terms of bandwidth; major i/o is possible, no bogging or hiccupping the way even (relatively) modest track counts can create on firewire.

over at digidesign one of the sidestages they were tinkering with the new sampler for protools; it imports pretty much every file format out there, has 4 onboard fx, and a large host of features which makes it, afaict, just like the other plugin samplers out there. maybe it has something distinguishing, but other than the fact that it’s native to pt i didn’t see it. so for existing users, a good thing has happened, but for those thinking of jumping ship and swimming for digiland, this is probably not the pot at the end of the rainbow.

meanwhile, at tonelux, people are donning headphones and gleefully tweaking the sexy knobs. they seem torn between sweeping around that crazy smooth eq and munging the drums with the badass little compressor. here’s a photo, and at some point i’ll be videotaping paul wolff giving us a live rundown of the various sections of the tonelux console. i’m gonna lead off with the comp, since it’s new and has a feature or two that many of us wish every damn compressor had...

motu has surprised me, their symphonic instrument sounds really good, it may actually get me to start running dp concurrently with logic just so i can compose with those sounds. i can’t afford to get into the big vienna library (whose booth is right next to me as i type, it sounds amazing) but i will say that, subject to further and closer scrutiny, the motu plug has my eyebrows raised.

it’s now creeping up on noon, and here in hall A the energy is rising steadily; the flow is getting established, intros are being made, old friends and new faces. soon i will venture further out and see what’s doing in the outlaying areas of this vast playground for the music obsessed.

if anyone has anything in particular they want to me snap a picture of, or do a little recon on and give an impression of, just post your request here and i will will do everything i can to accomodate.

stay tuned!


gregoire
del
ubk
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[Lwilliam]

Yeah, I've made several in the past years, but not this year. It's like Guitar Center x 1000. I hope you didn't wear leather shoes. Get the softest-soled gum rubber shoes you can find...and try not to buy too many of the $7 hot dogs.

Is there anything still covered up at the Apple booth?

[edham]

ON your next swing past the motu booth - ask them if they have any news on an update that fixes DP/macbookpro issues.
If they don't give you an answer you can then ask them about Mach 5 version 2.

Apple booth?? Logic 8 rumors????

Thanks!

[Reptil]

great

[AlexLakis]

Originally Posted by u b k

over at digidesign one of the sidestages they were tinkering with the new sampler for protools; it imports pretty much every file format out there, has 4 onboard fx, and a large host of features which makes it, afaict, just like the other plugin samplers out there. maybe it has something distinguishing, but other than the fact that it’s native to pt i didn’t see it. so for existing users, a good thing has happened, but for those thinking of jumping ship and swimming for digiland, this is probably not the pot at the end of the rainbow.

Able to get an ear on those new Digi plugins?

[SteveE9C6]

Does Mackie have the 1200F with them?

[u b k]

apple is extremely tight lipped. they're demo'ing what looks like good 'ol 7; but that black wall is actually the back of a large, hermetically sealed bunker, so who knows what goodies therein lay?

[u b k]

a snippet of the new digi sampler. i'll get closer in with each one when the crowds thin a bit...

[treymonfauntre]

added to bookmarks

[u b k]

uh oh, big bad sm11's at the sony oxford booth. these guys know good sound. how do i know that? the guy giving the demo bypassed the transmod plug on guitar and said, 'see? wizzout zee tranzmawd shee eez VULGAR."

[Harley-OIART]

Keep up the Great work U B K




Many thanks man!!!

[mahasandi]

can u snap a pic of the tonelux comp?

thanx

[jdg]

new rhodes pic?!?

[goldphinga]

check the rhodes yahoo group in the photo section, or harmony-central/musicplayer forums for pics. the new rhodes looks like something out of a 60's scifi film!

[heyman]

Hows about finding out about IZ corp's seperate converters..

If so, get us a High Res Pic please..!!

[Jens]

Dear u b k,

Great thread / idea!

If you find time to drop by the McDSP stand could you please inquire when the
AU versions of their plugs will be available?

Many Thanks,
Jens

[AlexLakis]

Originally Posted by u b k

see? wizzout zee tranzmawd shee eez VULGAR."

LOL! That's gotta be in somebody's signature...

[u b k]

it had to happen. in all fairness, the sounds i heard were pretty damn sweet, very peppery and revolvery and quite authentic. unmistakeable when heard 50' away on a noisy tradeshow floor: blackbird acoustic guitar, lucy in the sky intro keyboard thingy. props to eastwest.

not ready for primetime, but they're looking at a first quarter release.

[u b k]

can you spot the feature everyone wants, whether they know it or not?

hint: it's the feature every compressor will begin featuring once other designers wake up.

[thenoiseflower]

ATT X5?

I cant read but what does the little word vertical near the link say/////
TAPE?


I'm exited, but uninformed

[djui5]

Originally Posted by u b k

can you spot the feature everyone wants, whether they know it or not?

Sidechain filter

[theother]

Type...if I can read correctly.

[Harley-OIART]

Originally Posted by u b k

can you spot the feature everyone wants, whether they know it or not?

hint: it's the feature every compressor will begin featuring once other designers wake up.

Is that an Input / Output mix knob? I.E. Parallel Processing?

[morebutter]

Originally Posted by Harley-OIART

Is that an Input / Output mix knob? I.E. Parallel Processing?

thats my guess too

[raal]

Originally Posted by u b k

can you spot the feature everyone wants, whether they know it or not?

hint: it's the feature every compressor will begin featuring once other designers wake up.

if it's a mix control, avalon L44 has had 'blend' since its inception many years ago... but i agree all comps should have that.

ubk,
if you get a chance could you find out when the telefunken V14 will be shipping and price? thank you.

[u b k]

mcdsp reports that au support is 3rd out of 7 projects, and they are doing the best they can given the size of the company --- it looks to be 4 people in size. 2006 was all about apple/intel, but they have the hardware and the developer's tools so progress is being made. but they are unable to give anything definite in terms of a timeframe.

i'll say this much: this small group of people prove that down-to-earth friendliness and good energy are completely compatible with world-class product and success in the marketplace. kudos to the little companies that have the love, they make our lives so much the better and our jobs so much the easier.

[Lwilliam]

Originally Posted by u b k

mcdsp reports that au support is 3rd out of 7 projects, and they are doing the best they can given the size of the company --- it looks to be 4 people in size. 2006 was all about apple/intel, but they have the hardware and the developer's tools so progress is being made. but they are unable to give anything definite in terms of a timeframe.

That's good to hear. Colin is a great ex-Digi programmer and I know he's been looking for AU developers. It looks like he's found some (or one).

Didn't Colin develop some of the original DigiRack plugins way back?