I saw Bootsy Collins at NAMM (the blurb on the blurry picture) and that got me thinking: do you guys know about the funk?

Oh, you mean you were looking to actually learn something of value from this website? How about learning about making funk. Below are two pdf’s that will get you at least half-way.

Shitty is pretty 1
Shitty is pretty 2

There’s always some crazy shit being shown at trade shows. Here are a few of the ones I saw at NAMM.
Read more →

Softube and Marshall.

My trip to the US has been pretty cool. I’ve met a drunk bartender who wanted us to go party with Tenacious D, hung out with some great engineers and producers, heard studio anecdotes about Alice Cooper and Lemmy, talked to Mikkey Dee without knowing it was him, seen some cool stuff, met some cool people and got a little too drunk way too many times.
Read more →

I always try to report from the Avid/Digidesign booth at when I cover trade shows that I attend but this year I don’t have much to say. I’ve already told you about the updated instruments, aside from that there wasn’t much new from Avid at NAMM.

Their booth was pretty much just benches set up for meetings, the current product lines behind glass, as well as an Eleven Rack for visitors to play with.

I noticed one funny thing: while M-Audio and Sibelius logo’s were on the Avid banner, Digidesign wasn’t. Instead it said Pro Tools and Venue. What does it mean? Nothing we don’t already know. Just a funny observation.

Here’s a video of Steven Slate from Slate Digital demonstrating FG-X, a mastering package that promises to wipe the floor with ordinary peak limiters. You probably won’t be able to tell much of a difference from the camera mic in this video (it’s hard enough on a noisy trade show floor!) but let me tell you, there is a difference. I found that it was especially noticeable in the chorus. As usual though I’ll hold off the final verdict until I try the product in a controlled environment.

Slate Digital

When I first heard about the SSL X-Patch I thought it sounded like a pretty cool thing. You know, kind of an analog patchbay with the advantages of digital – what’s not to like? Anyway, it wasn’t until NAMM I began to realize a lot of its potential.

Have a look at the always awesome Jim from SSL talk us through it. When you’re done, start contemplating it’s potentials in a guitar rig and in automation. I mean MIDI controlled – that’s just sick. There supposedly won’t be any noticeable lag, clicks or pops when you switch between presets either.

SSL

Here’s Steven Slate from Slate Digital talking about an upcoming product, the mastering EQ FG-Q. He also gives us a glimpse of a dedicated hardware controller for it! The controller wasn’t finished yet but I did get the chance to fiddle with the knobs a little bit. It’s no plastic crap and doesn’t look anything like an ordinary MIDI controller – it feels real analog hardware. Very cool.

Slate Digital

As promised, here’s the video of Steven Slate from Slate Digital showing the upcoming Virtual Console Collection. For more opinions about it, check out my previous post.

Slate Digital

A video of Steven Slate from Slate Digital showing Trigger, a new drum replacement tool. I never use this kind of stuff, but if you do, let us know what you think about it.

I met up with Colin McDowell from McDSP at NAMM and had him show me the new Ultimate Compressor (previous post) and the new interfaces for FilterBank and CompressorBank.
Read more →