Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2022 Edition

 Packrat Barry

Techno Geek Toys

The Knob Dance

Because it would be impractical to wish for 36 hands, the Nina synthesizer from Melbourne Industries uses nifty motorized knobs, which makes for some interesting morphing possibilities when recalling patches.

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For Those About to Cut

Anyone sending audio out for vinyl cutting should have the Perfect Groove software. It models what the cutting lathe is going to do and flags issues before you touch lacquer. Plus the results look like a DNA sequence, which provides a serious and scientific air to impress clients.

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perfectgroove

Atari VCS Inspired Mic Preamp

You can hot swap the core circuitry in this unique mic preamp system. They currently have one tube cartridge and five different solid state carts fashioned (and obliquely named) after consoles you have most certainly heard of. Blowing into the preamp cartridge, however nostalgic, is not advised.

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gc-audio

The Loop Sequencer for Visual Learners

If you want to keep track of your groove with your eyes as well as your ears, look no further (literally). The Orbita gives you a visual and tactile interface with no ambiguities.

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Books, Covers, Judging

This unassuming little device has far more going on under its machined aluminum hood than you might think. It's a multi-input mixer with built-in effects that will output 2-, 4-, or 8-channel sound and can be battery or USB powered. Oh, it's also got a short-range FM transmitter built in.

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audioinstruments

Do You Believe in LFOs?

I do, as many as possible, and I love the idea of being able to set up and route them to multiple devices.

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3degreesaudio

Touchscreen Keytar

I like the MPE implementation on this instrument, but I suspect it would take a substantial amount of practice to be able to perform live without hitting lots of wrong notes. Moreso if you're prone to sweating.

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Two Birds With One Stone

At least where the birds are MIDI CC values and the stone is your foot. This pedal is capable of generating sustain and expression CC MIDI data. I could see this being quite useful for the orchestral mockup crowd.

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black-bt

Chord Morphing

The Fluid Chords software lets you program multiple chords and then trigger them. Using an MPE virtual instrument, the notes will pitch bend from one to another independently.

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The Littlest Controller

This diminutive critter is a Bluetooth MIDI Controller. It's got twelve buttons, a slider and a CC knob. That's a fair amount of power in something you could conceivably lose between couch cushions.

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thisisnoiseinc

Faders With Memory

Each fader on this Eurorack module has memory so you can program moves and have it one-shot or loop, sending control voltages to where you have them patched.

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madronemusic

Enner If You Dare

The Enner lies in the intersection between art piece and musical instrument. It's a five voice synthesizer that you "patch" by making physical contact between the metallic pads. I wish I could have heard it better but… NAMM.

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Tower of Power

This big spring reverb sounded lovely. It also has the advantage of fitting nicely into a corner of the room. Another plus? It's kind of a plinth, and how many studios can boast a plinth?

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screwedcircuitz1

MIDI Nerve Center

If you've got a mix of computers, controllers, sequencers, synthesizers, or any other MIDI-equipped doodad, this device will allow you to route, filter, and synchronize to your heart's content.

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conductivelabs

Much More Than a Light Organ

This proof-of-concept product analyzes the content of audio, and using various parameters, re-encodes the audio to include inaudible control signals that can utilized later. The advantage here during a performance you're just playing audio and their software detects the signals for routing to control lighting or whatever else. Anyone who has had to do timecode synchronization will appreciate this simplicity.

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Arbitrary Deployment

This clever bit of kit lets you string up the lights however you like and then use the camera on your phone to map each light's physical position. You can then display patterns and graphics across the whole rig.

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twinkly

Photon-Triggered Chaos

Kassia's Liquidrone Red Edition is a three-oscillator drone machine controlled by photoresistors. "Control" might be a bit of an overstatement as it has a tendency to do what it wants.

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screwedcircuitz2

Cylinder of Silence

This video accurately reflects how impressively well the Acoustiblock material works in person. The only problem would be resisting the urge to carry it with me constantly and drop it over certain annoying people.

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Prison-ears

It looks to me as if the binaural ears in the Auras USB microphone are flight risks.

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melodytechinc

Visual Sidechain Filtering

The Sidechain.One is really just a high quality compressor with a sidechain filter, but the cool twist is using faders instead of knobs for setting the high and low frequencies.

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rockruepel

PPG-again

The 3rd Wave by Groove Synthesis might look like a PPG Wave clone, but it's really what the Wave might have been had development continued.

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groovesynthesis

Sketchy

Much like automation lanes for MIDI tracks in a DAW, the Whirled app lets you add MIDI notes and controller data. While you can do this with a mouse or knobs, the touch screen makes it much faster and more intuitive. Personally I'm interested in using it synced and routed to my DAW so I can use any virtual instrument that I like.

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whirlednotes

Pseudo Organic

Imagine, acoustic panels and diffusers that look like real building materials, not like you just got creative with a staple gun and the packing material from your last Amazon delivery.

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audimute
Next Up: You Figure It Out

©2022 Barry Wood