MusicPlayerNetwork.com Forums Industry News Trade Shows Keyboard Corner Winter NAMM 2020 Reports

As most of you know, the 2020 Winter NAMM Show will begin Thursday, January 16th at the Anaheim Convention Center, and run through Sunday, the 19th. Like last year, there are three threads: 1) an advance thread for rumors, speculation, wish lists, and early product announcements, or "NAMMticipation" as I like to call it, 2) an advance thread for planning: how to get passes, when and where to meet up with other forum members, etc., and 3) the traditional NAMM Reports thread for product announcements, videos, and reports from members on what and who they saw at the Convention Center.

This, of course, is the traditional NAMM Reports thread.

Please post your Winter NAMM 2020 reports here, for forum members who are not fortunate enough to go to the show.

Feel free to discuss NAMM announced gear, events, and performances in this thread.

Best,

Geoff

A bit early for the actual reports, videos and pictures thread though... wouldn't you say?

Yes, I don't expect much activity in this thread until January.

Nonetheless, I wanted a link to this thread (and the planning thread) to appear in the opening post of the NAMMticipation thread; and since there's demand for that thread now and I won't be able to edit the opening post of it later, I created all three NAMM threads mentioned in the opening post at the same time. That way, they all link to each other for easy reference.

Best,

Geoff

Okay, one little tidbit, there will be an update to Camelot Pro that will support routing VST instruments into effects.

And to add to Scotts tidbit - and still on Camelot Pro, they are to add a music player module to the app. So a user can also load in a WAV (I think) or MP3 (certain) file within the project so that is also recalled when the project is recalled. Expected announcement will be at NAMM.

Korg looks like they're coming in hot this year. The SV-2, the Wavestate, and the 2600 clone?

Another from Korg... XE20

https://www.korg.com/us/products/digitalpianos/xe20/index.php

88 keys, 25 lbs, German and Italian pianos, lots of other sounds, probably above average speakers (18 w/ch), Line in and out, arranger/accompaniment functions, split/layer of up to 4 parts total (3 upper, 1 lower), dedicated transpose buttons, multitrack recorder. Shortcomings: No 5-pin MIDI connectors, only 1 pedal jack (so you get damper or expression, but not both), only 4 front panel patch select buttons (though apparently 10 customizable banks of what sounds those 4 buttons can call up). Hopefully it is flexible in what you can call up via MIDI Program Change.

ETA: apparently an 88-key version of the existing EK-50

A harmonica as a MIDI controller...

http://www.lekholminstruments.com/

The human voice as a MIDI controller...

https://www.vochlea.co.uk/

I think we are now only missing a MIDI controller for our very thoughts and dreams.

Nord Wave 2:

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-wave-2

Impressive!

I'm bumping this thread because Winter NAMM has begun. Looking forward to reading reports from the show!

Best,

Geoff

Haven't seen anything Kurzweil yet. Really was expecting a PC461. Weren't you?

No, that would have been a huge surprise. No-one knows if a PC4-61 and/or -76 is even planned.

I dug the Wavestate and RD-88. The Wavestate did give me some of that Wavestation vibe I like, just wish it had more keys.

The RD-88’s height is substantial, the photos didn’t really show that, but I like the way it plays; it definitely punches above its weight. I got some time with the Fantom 7 and instantly connected with it. It does still feel like it’s in beta, though. Roland also had some kind of designer digital grand with a big touch screen.

Most fun I had today was with the Waves Ovox plugin. Vocoder/talkbox stuff with imperceptible latency. I’ve been using the MDE talkbox, which isn’t bad but the latency makes it unusable at tempo. This is on my to-buy shortlist.

Oddest thing I saw was in the 88 lounge, an acoustic piano (Hailun) with smaller size keys for people with smaller hands. It was really weird to play.

Finally got to play the Novation Summit, and it’s about what I expected, pretty good. Surprise hit for me was the UDO synth I mentioned earlier.

Ran into Markyboard at Yamaha, where I briefly tried the new Electro rival. Couldn’t really hear it well, because there was some baritone sax madness going on right behind me, but I was reminded how much I like the CP88/73.

I didn't get to check Kurz and Nord, maybe Sunday.

As many here know, the Korg wavestate was released just before NAMM; but as it's also part of NAMM, here are a couple of videos:





Best,

Geoff

The Korg SV2 Stage Piano was released just before NAMM. Videos below:





Best,

Geoff

Last, but not least, is the Korg ARP2600 FS:



Best,

Geoff

Thanks, zephonic, for your report!

Best,

Geoff

WaveState Rack is a must.
Solaris Rack is a must.

I’ve been whining about clones here but must admit the 2600 is a fabulous clone.
It really has that old big sound.
This clone makes the originals, if they still function, unnecessary.

I can handle clones that sound like the old beasts.
Every other clone, even my HX-3 are OK but never have the same presence.

This Dog will hunt.

VI Labs have released Modern U, a deeply sampled studio upright piano:





Best,

Geoff

Here's the link:

Waves | OVox Vocal ReSynthesis





Best,

Geoff

Spitfire Audio released Albion Neo:







Best,

Geoff

Like Zephonic I was really impressed with the Wavestate. Although far from new I had a blast playing with Omnispehere, not least because they had a bunch of boards hooked up to it from an Andromeda through to a Prophet 12 etc.

WatchIng the Richard Devine live demo of the new ARP was a big highlight as well

It's great to see a NAMM report from you, David. I hope you're enjoying your visit to the US!

Best,

Geoff

By the way, if anyone is interested in the making of the scenic promo from Spitfire Audio above, I'm posting the video below. They risked life and limb to photograph the hazardous conditions.



Best,

Geoff

Folder tracks are finally coming to Pro Tools! Here's more:



Best,

Geoff

Thanks Geoff having an absolute ball ☺️

I sure do like JT Thomas's playing in that example. And on the web site, Ruslan Sirota's "A Lifetime Away" is frickin' beautiful!

Here’s a vid I took of the ARP demo 😊

I agree. I also really enjoyed your "Shuffle Boogie" from that webpage, Steve! Nice work.

Best,

Geoff