Wham, Bam, Thank You NAMM!

Summer NAMM ‘98 was everything you’d expect from this annual music industry trade show: a lot of cool gear, expensive hot dogs and humid temperatures. Many people were heard commenting on the seemingly lighter than normal foot traffic, although attendance probably hovered around the 20,000 mark for the four day event. And certainly the amount of new equipment being showcased by the 500 manufacturers in attendance was also at a very impressive level.

So what kinds of things were on display in Nashville? Well, for starters, I was quite impressed with TASCAM’s newest entry into the affordable digital console arena, the TM-D1000. With a retail price under $2,000, the full-featured console sports a long list of great features and is extremely cost-effective. On the more unusual side, is the Stump Preacher Guitar, a totally unique guitar in style and substance. Made from an indestructible carbon-fiber product (the same stuff as surfboards), the Stump Preacher offers the guitarist a light-weight, but heavy-toned, alternative to the classic guitars normally strapped around their shoulders. This looks like a real interesting company with a good product and we’ll keep our eye on them and their progress.

BOSS, a division of the Roland Corporation, introduced the AD-3 Acoustic Instrument Processor, a gig-friendly compact pedal designed for today’s acoustic-electric guitarists. Incorporating the same groundbreaking acoustic processing technology of BOSS’ popular AD-5 Acoustic Instrument Processor, the compact new AD-3 solves the acoustic-electric guitarist’s age-old problem of thin, “sterile” tone and annoying feedback by offering advanced tonal controls, a bi-stereo chorus effect, high-quality reverb and anti-feedback processing. Roland was also busy showcasing a variety of other products for almost every style of musician including the new DR-202 Dr. Groove Programmable Drum Machine. This compact rhythm composer features 256 drum, percussion and bass sounds exclusively developed for groove music production-hip-hop, jungle, drum `n’ bass, trip hop, house, latin and more. An intuitive onboard sequencer and realtime sound-shaping controls let groove musicians, remixers and DJs create unique sounds and rhythms quickly and easily, while 400 preset rhythm patterns gives them the grooves they need to get started. And DJs will be excited about the newest club mixing system from Roland, the new DJ-2000. The DJ-2000 gives club DJs what they’re looking for: 4-channel mixing with 3-band EQ per channel; intelligent mixer layout with convenient, DJ-friendly features like an automated BPM counter, MIDI output, built-in isolator and proprietary Roland Digital Signal Processing effects. These capabilities make the DJ-2000 the perfect DJ mixer not only for traditional club DJs, but for DJs and remixers who want to incorporate MIDI instruments and sophisticated effects processing into their live sets. ◼