SWEDEN /Music Industry Newswire/ — The Sweden based music rights organization STIM presents WOI, a new portal for multi-territorial composition rights licensing of independent publishers rights. The WOI portal is a smart solution to collectively provide better negotiating leverage, higher influence over deal terms and [...]
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Risskov, Denmark /Music Industry Newswire/ — Long-time TC guitar effects user John Petrucci has joined forces with TC, taking their collaboration to a whole new level. John Petrucci was one of the first artists to join TC’s revolutionary TonePrint concept. In total, John created 5 personal TonePrints in early 2011 – two for Corona Chorus, two for Shaker Vibrato and one for the Vortex Flanger. John loved having access to all effect parameters so much that he instantly agreed to develop a signature pedal together with TC – one that was based on his own TonePrints. And so The Dreamscape was born.
John wanted to gather all of his TonePrints into a single pedal even though his original TonePrints are for three different pedals in the series. Therefore, his new signature pedal contains no less than three mind-blowing modulation effects that have been painstakingly tailored with an eye on even the tiniest detail by the master himself. To take this pedal over the top, John even created a brand new TonePrint for Vortex Flanger taking the total amount of custom-tweaked tones up to six – 2 x chorus, 2 x flanger and 2 x Vibrato.
Further, there is a TonePrint setting for uploading or beaming other TonePrints to the pedal. In short, for all John Petrucci and Dream Theater fans, this pedal is a must-have, and for anybody else, it is a clever way of getting three top-notch modulation effects in a compact pedal that will only take up a minimum of real estate on their pedal boards.
The Dreamscape has four knobs: Speed, Depth, FX Level and one that chooses between the six integrated signature tones and one additional TonePrint. Further, the pedal has a three-way switch for toggling between Bright, Normal and Dark, which is an overall tonal shaping feature chosen by Petrucci. Finally, The Dreamscape also contains all of the great features included in other TonePrint pedals such as true bypass, one-screw-battery-access and a sturdy design made for life on the road.
The Dreamscape Main Features
• Six Signature Tones Tailored by John Petrucci
• One Brand New Flanger TonePrint
• Three Mind-blowing Modulation Effects in One Pedal: Chorus, Flanger and Vibrato
• Corona Chorus TonePrints Are Available as The Dreamscape TonePrints
Price: USD 249 / EUR 249.
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Music Industry Newswire REVIEW: Yes, OK, it took him a long time to get them done, and some people still haven’t gotten theirs from the initial production run. I am pleased to advise, though, that it is well worth the wait. Ours arrived from Europe in good order with sturdy packaging, nothing to be worried about as far as shipment is concerned. I understand from John some people were concerned about shipping cost but hey, what do you expect? None of this stuff travels for free.
My initial impression on unpacking was that the cosmetics look great, no inconsistencies in panel coloration (ours is white) or stenciling, the wood sides were firmly applied, nothing rattling around loose inside (you’d be surprised at how often this disconcerting problem occurs). Power is an external in-line transformer, which works for me, I have made a specialty of trying to isolate power supplies from sensitive internal electronic components, it makes no sense to try and jumble two essentially incompatible functions inside of one box.
On power-up the LED displays were nice and bright, with a pleasing dark-grey on bluish-grey color scheme; the “main screen” in the center has a slightly different backdrop. Essentially a computer, the Solaris boots up quickly; much faster than the Hartmann Neuron, which always leaves me with the disquieting impression it will fail when turned on. No discernible fan noises, hums or other irregular sonic fluctuations emanated from the machine. Some of this might be due to our complex but extremely effective grounding/transformer-wiring scheme, but the noise floor was quite low even bypassing it, an outcome confirmed by using test equipment. The knobs and switches felt firm and determinate, a pleasing tactile sensation; hard as it is to believe, the controls of many synths actually wobble (unintentionally) between one’s fingers.
One of the most interesting features of the Solaris is that all of the sounds are stored on a compact flash card. The same one that you can stuff into a reader to communicate with your computer. Thus, in principle, sounds can be archived on disc. Or, if you feel like dropping by your friend’s house with some cool new ones, just take the compact flash card with you (assuming said friend has a Solaris, of course). The compact flash card supplied comes preloaded with 62 sounds in bank 0 labeled JB (which I assume stands for John Bowen); 127 in bank 1 labeled MP; 90 in bank 2 labeled CL; and 90 in bank 3 labeled SH (I apologize for not knowing the respective attributions behind these initials). These sound pretty good; I particularly was impressed with some of the Moog lead emulations in bank 0. The logical architecture of compact flash cards makes it possible to “glitch” the sounds, once loaded, between various notes. By this I mean that with fast technique one can force the synth to transition between notes at a speed exceeding its capacity to respond, which results in fragments of notes, partial notes and stuttery transitions between notes. When coupled with pressure-sensitivity (the Solaris has this feature), one can devise some extremely interesting sonic outcomes, which never could be created on the original instrument(s).
The Solaris’ real potential lies, though, in two additional domains. First, its versatility. Five separate smaller screens supply complete control and assignability over every imaginable parameter of oscillator, LFO, mixer/FX, filter/VCA and EG. The layout of these functions from left to right is particularly intuitive. I make a practice of never consulting a manual unless I have a specific question, and then much later after we have had the synth for a while, the better to discern whether its operation is instinctive or awkward. It was easy to figure out what to do and how to modify a sound and either save it to the compact flash card, or simply manipulate it in real time (such as with a filter or modulation source).
Second, the compact flash card beckons intriguingly. Speaking strictly for our organization, we have hundreds of sampling discs left over from the days of the Akai S1100, the EMU 4XT Ultra, the Kurzweil K2000RS/K2500RS/K2600RS, the Roland S-760, etc. From companies like Hollywood Edge, Sound Ideas, Voice Spectral, Best Service, East*West, Time+Space, ILIO, Zero-G, Pros?nus, MasterBits and Sonic Implants, reading off the spines of some CDs. Not forgetting the proprietary formats and libraries associated with each of the above-mentioned samplers, and TEAC’s bold but failed GigaSampler format. I still enjoy palpitating hardware samplers, because (among other reasons) they sound good and I’m reasonably facile at doing so (this due solely to rote practice since their release, not to any special abilities). Of course these samplers now are available on EB for a fraction of their initial price, but that’s progress for you. It takes a variety of disc drives, zip drives and hard drives to get sounds into these obsolete beasts. Now, though, what we have done is loaded a lot of the samples we like and use frequently into Logic (which, through EXS24, also can translate proprietary formats), whereupon one can slice and dice them to one’s heart’s content.
The point of this excursus is that it would be swell to be able to load some of these samples onto a compact flash card and then be able to play them on the Solaris. The Solaris itself is not a sampler. It is, however, able (in principle) to read files one has sampled and then loaded onto compact flash. When I talked with John about this, he said this was completely feasible. All that’s needed is a utility program to parse out the sample file into a mysterious hierarchal format that I don’t understand. I know a lot about how to use these devices, interconnect them, make music with them, and I’m reasonably good with a soldering iron. But I encounter nothing but a vast field of low-lying brain fog when I start to hear about hierarchal memory structures.
So, I hope somebody writes a simple, easily useable utility program to do this. One designed for ordinary stupid musicians, not computer whizzes. John told me that Bernard Wong and Ken Elhardt – both design geniuses as far as I am concerned (as is John, of course) – are busy working on this. Ken also is working on, or has completed, additional sounds for bank 4. Assuming this project comes to fruition, then my chimerical but strangely compelling vision of using Logic-edited samples of anything under the sun, loaded into Solaris via compact flash, takes a step towards practical, operationalized implementation.
Kind of like a more easily usable Mellotron, n’est-ce pas? Of course the new Memotron rack (a kind of Mellotron-in-a-box) from Manikin Electronic, which also uses compact flash, looks pretty darn good, too. And, a new Eurorack module made by ADDAC Systems uses control voltage to trigger .wav files stored on compact flash, which presents a host of mind-expanding possibilities.
It is with reluctance we have been deaccessioning some of our larger keyboard synths, or even smaller ones that duplicate functions found in rack-mountable ROMpler modules, simply due to lack of space. Recently we lost our lease on the large studio building where we had been tenants for many years; the owner said he was going to turn it into “lofts.” What is a loft, you might ask? Fact of the matter is that it’s a kind of yuppie condo without walls. That way the owner can sell them for just as much as a condo with walls, but save the expense of actually having any.
We will miss the old space, which we had maximized for ultimate creativity. We also will miss its collection of tools to realize sonic outcomes never before heard except possibly elsewhere in the multiverse space-time continuum of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Being in a smaller space, though, introduces a kind of aesthetic discipline, because it forces one to make choices. Like The Clash sang, “should I stay or should I go?” (in this case, applied to synths). We made the decision to offload almost all keyboard synths; about half of our supply of ROMplers; but retain and expand most of our modulars, mainly because they still intrigue and also because of the new population of Eurorack modules, which quickly are becoming the de facto standard. Many new ways to manipulate control voltage, many new filters and modulation sources – always a good thing.
From present vantage point, it looks like the only keyboards we’re retaining will be an Alesis Andromeda A6; a Hartmann Neuron; a Moog Voyager; and the Solaris. Plus of course keyboard-only controllers for our Moog system, the ARP 2500 and 2600, an Analogue Systems French Connection for the Euros, and a few others that presently escape my mind. Plus a variety of miniature or limited-function keyboards for the intriguing and powerful new generation of mini-synth modules such as the Dave Smith Evolver/Tetra/Mopho, the AdrenaLinn I/II/III, the Waldorf Blofeld, the new Moog Minotaur, and others. Plus some sequencers and such. Truthfully I can’t remember what’s here and what isn’t, but my point is that as far as large keyboards with sounds living inside of them are concerned, the Solaris is one I can see us using for many years to come.
I earnestly and sincerely congratulate John for sticking with this project, seeing it through to fruition (despite delays and daunting economics), and making a great and innovative instrument.
To learn more about the Solaris, please visit: http://johnbowen.com/ .
Article is Copr. © 2012 by David Kronemyer and originally published on MusicIndustryNewswire.com – all commercial rights reserved. Images by and © David Kronemyer, used by permission.
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NEW YORK, N.Y. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Jonas Music Services today announced its first “Worst Press Kit Contest” with one selected winner receiving a custom designed press kit package worth $700. Jonas Music Services’ Executive Director, Dr. Ann Lathan Kerzner, explains, “Press Kits are so essential in the marketing success of musicians and bands, but they are often poorly understood by the groups creating them. This competition is a fun way to draw attention to the making of a successful print press kit.”
The winner will be awarded a custom designed, tri-fold kit printed on glossy cardstock and coordinating CD face to accompany the kit (CD duplication not included). One round of unlimited revisions and 100 full color kits are included.
Musicians and bands interested in entering the competition should mail their most disastrous printed press kit to Jonas Music Services by February 29, 2012 along with the complete online application form available at: http://jonasmusicservices.com/worstkit.php .
About Jonas Music Services:
Jonas Music Services LLC is an entertainment and arts marketing agency located in NewYork. Founded in 2004, the company serves musicians, entertainers, bands, agents, publicists and entertainment companies world-wide. Marketing and promotion services include websites, electronic press kits, social media solutions, print work, advertising, email promotion, CD design and much more.
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ASHEVILLE, N.C. /Music Industry Newswire/ — The Bob Moog Foundation (BMF) proudly announces the launch of a pilot program of its hallmark educational project, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool (formerly known as MoogLab), at Asheville City Schools’ (ACS) 2nd grade classrooms.
Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool ignites the creative and innovative spirit by teaching children the science of sound through the magic of music. The experiential curriculum, which meets state and national standards, integrates intuitive, engaging electronic musical instruments to teach the physics of sound to young students. For the pilot phase of the program, the 2nd graders are using theremins, which were donated to the BMF by Moog Music, Inc. In addition to an introduction to the physics of sound, students are taught about scientific method using examples from Bob Moog’s science notebooks, as well as examples from other seminal inventors.
The SoundSchool curriculum was developed over the summer of 2011 by a team of music and science educators along with music technologists. Jonna Kwiatkowski, PhD, Assistant Professor at Mars Hill College, an experimental psychologist specializing in creativity, coordinated the curriculum team.
Following the development of the curriculum, the BMF collaborated with eight participating 2nd grade teachers from ACS, teaching them the necessary background knowledge regarding the concepts of sound in preparation for successful teaching of the SoundSchool curriculum. This professional development was conducted in the Fall of 2011.
The pilot program will run for 10 weeks during the winter and early spring of 2012, after which an assessment measuring science proficiency and creativity will be issued to participating students as well as to a control group who will use a state provided kit-based curriculum.
The curriculum development and teacher training have been guided by Donalyn Small, Instructional Coach for Science at ACS. “This unique opportunity has been an honor for our district. It gives our students a chance to learn the concepts of sound using lessons that have been designed using a constructivist approach. They are innovative, authentic and promote creativity as well as 21st century learning skills. This partnership was timely as the state has recently adopted New Essential Standards for Science. The SoundSchool curriculum reflects these new standards,” Small explains.
Following the assessment of Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, the BMF plans to seek grant funding to grow the program nationwide. Currently, the Foundation is conducting a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo.com in an effort to raise $50,000 for the program.
The last in a series of kickoff events will take place on Tuesday, January 31 at Vance Elementary School. BMF volunteers August Worley and Ben Hovey will explore ideas, invention, sound, and music with 2nd grade students as an introduction to the course work that will ensue over the next 10 weeks. www.moogfoundation.org .
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Music Industry Newswire NEWS: Italy-based Studiologic has announced a new virtual analog keyboard, combining their popular keyboard action (Fatar) with a virtual analog synth engine from Waldorf. While the engine spec sounds familiar to those who have used the Waldorf 3-oscillator type virtual analog structure (Blofeld, Q, Largo, etc.), what is most surprising about the new keyboard is the full knobby analog synth layout, which in some ways is a simpler version of the classic Waldorf “Q” control layout. Similarly, as classic Waldorf keyboards came in bright yellow, orange, and even red, the new Sledge also comes in a custom orange color, eschewing the black, grey or white of most other synths these days.
AND HERE IS THE PRESS INFO FROM THE COMPANY:
The Studiologic Sledge Synthesizer boosts the DSP heart of the latest Waldorf modelling technology, combined with an intuative user interface. Get right into your music instead of reading manuals and learning menu structures.
For many synthesizer enthusiasts, it is the particular interaction of the sound engine and user interface that makes a great instrument. A quick look at Sledge shows you the generous set of controls available to interact directly with the sound engine. When you touch the knobs and switches of the front panel, you will instantly be aware of the meticulous attention to detail our engineers have refined, during many decades building the best electronic keyboards.
You will experience the logical set-up of the synthesizer modules, mirroring the signal flow of a classic analogue synthesizer. But what really distinguishes any synthesizer is its sound. Fortunately, our friends at Waldorf Music have happily shared their experience and know-how on this crucial part of the Sledge Synthesizer.
So we implanted the DSP heart of the latest Waldorf modelling technology into Sledge. The result: enough power to put the foundations of your studio seriously at risk! And plenty of detail, to create the richest analogue pads you could ever want. Besides the classic analogue synthesizer waveforms, you will find a complete set of Wavetables, derived directly from the mother of all digital synthesizers, the PPG Wave.
The sum of three fat oscillators, plus a Noise generator, are fed into Sledge’s powerful multimode filter with selectable 24 / 12 dB slope. The highly recognizable Waldorf filter algorithms enable a wide variety of sounds, from smooth to harsh, from fat to distinct, from pure HiFi to badass brutal. Ultra-fast, accurate envelope generators deliver ballsy punch. Two LFOs plus 1 extra Wheel-LFO are on board to offer huge, yet easy to understand, modulation capabilities. And two built-in Effect units deliver sophisticated synthesizer effects, such as Chorus, Phaser and Flanger, as well as a rich Reverb or an analogue style Delay.
And the best part – if you are familiar with the operation of a classic analogue synthesizer, you won’t have to spend any of your precious time reading the manual. There are no double or multiple functions on any of the knobs or pushbuttons. All synthesizer parameters are clearly and ergonomically arranged in front of your eyes and directly accessible under your fingertips. This makes sound design a blast, and takes you back to the pure user experience which you’ll soon realise you’ve been missing.
Specifications:
• 32 Pots
• 3 chicken head rotary switches (7 positions)
• 1 rotary encoder with push function
• 2 x 16 digits backlit LCD
• High Quality Pitch and Mod Wheel
• up to 256 Sounds
• fast and efficient sound selection via numeric keypad
• 2 fast LFOs per voice, each with adjustable Speed and Depth
• 1 extra modulation routing for Mod Wheel, with adjustable Speed and Depth
- Shape: Sawtooth, Rectangular, Triangle, Sine, Sample & Hold, Ramp
- Destination: Osc 1, Osc2, Ocs3, PWM / Wave / FM, Volume, Filter Cutoff
• Monophonic mode with single or multiple trigger
• 3 Oscillators per voice
- Range from 64′ to 1′ each
- Shapes: Sawtooth, Square, Triangle, Sine, Pulse (with Pulse Width Modulation)
- Oscillator 1 with 66 Original PPG Wavetables
• Frequency Modulation of sine and triangle
• Oscillator Hardsync (Osc 2 to Osc 3)
• Noise Generator with selectable white and pink noise
• Mixer with Volume and On/Off switch for each Oscillator and Noise
• 1 Multi Mode Filter per voice
- 24 / 12dB
- Lowpass
- Highpass
- Bandpass
- Resonance up to Self-Oscillation and beyond
- Adjustable Keytrack and Drive
• 2 fast Envelopes per voice (filter / amplifier)
• Powerful Arpeggiator
- Latch mode
- syncable to MIDI Clock
- Direction Up, Down, Alternate
- Range up to 10 Octaves
• 2 simultaneuous Effects
– Effect 1: Chorus / Phaser / Flanger
- Effect 2: Reverb / Delay
• sturdy, lightweight enclosure (less than 10 KG)
• high quality, 5 octaves Fatar TP 9 keyboard
• Master Volume Control • Power Switch
• Stereo line output
• Headphone output
• Expression pedal input
• MIDI in and out
• USB connector for MIDI in / out
- uses standard USB MIDI driver provided by host computer OS
- Windows ME minimum, Windows XP or newer recommended
- Mac OS X 10.2 minimum, Mac OS X 10.3 or newer recommended
• Built in power supply.
More information: http://www.studiologic-music.com/sledge.html .
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Roland is pleased to announce the new PK-6 Dynamic Pedalboard, an impressive MIDI controller that puts the excitement and versatility of live bass performance with full MIDI control within reach of any musician.
The new PK-6 MIDI Pedal controller is the successor to the popular PK-5A, and preserves many of the same characteristics of its predecessor, while adding new features and functions that make its use more comfortable and intuitive for musicians. Virtually any MIDI function can be controlled in live performance using their feet, leaving hands free to play their favorite instrument, and the easily readable LED display enhances the player interface.
The PK-6 includes new features like MIDI merge, PK out, and an external pedal jack, along with proven PK-5A features like one-foot operation of four separate performance modes, 13-velocity sensitive pedal keys, and the ability to transpose over a nine-octave tonal range.
Connect the PK-6 to any MIDI-compatible keyboard or sound module, and instantly add bass lines, harmonies, drum/percussion sounds, and even sound effects to your performances.
The PK-6 will be available in April 2012.
VIDEO:
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Music Industry Newswire COLUMN: For immediate dispatch from the wild and wooly frontier south of Disneyland – after a decade of resisting the blandishments and imprecations of colleagues I finally re-attended this year’s NAMM convention (Jan. 19-22, 2012). NAMM of course stands for the National Association of Music Merchandisers. Its annual soiree is held at the Anaheim Convention Center, a gigantic monstrosity of a structure.
The basic concept is quaint. Imagine you are a mom-and-pop music store on Main St., USA. By this I do not necessarily mean a mother and father own your store, and your street could be named something else. My point is that you are a small music equipment retailer. You are in a quandary as to what items you should buy to stock as inventory. All of the major music equipment manufacturers have an exhibit booth at NAMM. So you go to the convention to see what you ought to buy to sell to your customers.
This template has been obsolete for at least a quarter of a century. Large mega-retailers like Guitar Center (and its mail-order counterpart, Musician’s Friend) dominate the music equipment market. They in turn are known for squeezing usurious margins out of manufacturers. In this cutthroat corporate environment, only the largest companies can succeed. Guitar Center does not want to expend the time, effort and energy required to deal with a bunch of small vendors. Essentially they are relegated to marginal boutique status, living a hard existence with high production costs, impaired distribution channels, niche markets and a host of other undesirable infirmities.
It is hard to see how some of these firms make financial sense. I mean, a business devoted solely to making guitar picks? What are the economies of scale? How many guitar picks do you have to sell even to afford a plane ticket to the convention (much less parking)? Another huge problem for manufacturers is the secondary market. Before they became commodified, companies like Fender and Gibson made products that were so durable, they survive to the present day. There must be hundreds of Fender amps and Gibson guitars available for repurchase on any given day of the week. Older instruments frequently are alleged to have more desirable qualities than newer ones. This secondary market for their own equipment is the manufacturer’s greatest enemy.
There used to be a sharp distinction between “pro” audio and “consumer” audio. The Audio Engineering Society (AES) represented the former and NAMM represented the latter. While AES still holds a convention, it is a shadow of its former self. The reason why is that the pro audio market – comprising primarily expensive recording studios – has collapsed. The democratization of technology began with the Mackie Mixer and the Alesis ADAT. Now it best is represented by digital audio workstations such as Logic and ProTools. It has brought machinery and equipment to the masses, which now assiduously records, promotes, markets and distributes their aesthetic output, free from the sphincter-like shackles of record production the way it was as recently as the 1990s. Instead of spending $250 thousand, or $100 thousand to record an album, now you can do it for $5 thousand, or even less. Of course the songs and performances still may be crap, but hey, that could be (and often is) equally true of projects that are far more costly.
Now, anybody with a garage and an urge to express themselves can hit the ground running. This has been a positive development for NAMM, because formerly “pro” equipment manufacturers have gravitated to it as a more plausible venue to hawk their wares. In a way, AES now is in a position analogous to that of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which now has been abandoned both by Apple and Microsoft – the two companies which should be their biggest exhibitors. As a parallel development, many of the NAMM attendees now are retail consumers of musical equipment – actual users – who view the convention as a kind of carnival to hang out and see what’s new on the scene.
So I spent the afternoon aimlessly wandering the gargantuan exhibit halls, every now and then running into friends and acquaintances. New product offerings were sparse. As an aficionado of analog synthesis, I was intrigued by some of the new modules on display at the Analogue Haven, Big City Music and Noisebug booths. It was nice to chat with Dave Smith and Don Buchla, both intrepid pioneers in the field who still run successful businesses. I was impressed with John Bowen’s new Solaris, and a monstrous synth designed and built by Stefan Schmidt, reported to cost $25 thousand euros. Oh well, all Greece and Italy have to do is default on their debt, which will bring the euro back into parity with the dollar, so the more affluent among us may view this as a viable purchase.
Moog Music was exhibiting a new bass synthesizer called the Minitaur (a play on words of their former pedal bass synth called the Taurus), a new effects device called the Cluster Flux (get it?) and an interesting new filter in the increasingly popular API 500 format. Jürgen Michaelis and Jomox have a new filter called the Moonwind, and if their former and existing product line is any indication, it should be amazing. As usual Zachary Vex and Zvex had the wackiest collection of effects pedals around. There were a few other pedals released this year of note, such as the Ravish Sitar from ElectroHarmonix and the Space from Eventide. The Ravish Sitar sounds nothing like a sitar, but it does do some really cool sh*t. And the Space has just about every weird reverb and modulation effect you’d ever want to hear. My apologies if I’m leaving anybody out to whom I said “hi.” There seemed to be a proliferation of ukuleles and tubas, the latter a fortunate development in view of the recently reported spate of tuba thefts in Los Angeles.
But the rest – several thousand exhibitors in all – remain a mystery. How many different varieties of drums, cymbals, amplifiers, violins, saxophones etc. really are capable of mounting an effective U.S. marketing campaign? I used to have 500 or so guitar effects pedals. I was you might say promiscuous, unable to settle on a sound that I liked. It was what the Danish proto-existentialist Søren Kierkegaard might have called the “despair of too much possibility.” A library of sounds, to which I could refer. Over the years, there came a time when I realized what I liked, and what I no longer required. So I got rid of the rest. I mean, how many overdrive or fuzz pedals does one really need? The same thing was true with amplifiers, guitars, synthesizers, literally every musical tool I ever had used. Now I feel as creative as ever, though with a much-reduced armamentarium. With the possible exception of some Lincoln-head pennies in elementary school, I never have been a “collector” of anything.
A collection implies regarding an object qua object; as Martin Heidegger might have characterized, as a thing that is present-at-hand, there to be regarded, observed and inspected. Like something in a museum. Rather, for me, musical instruments always have been tools to realize an aesthetic concept – a means to an end, ready-to-hand, not an end in and of themselves. This is how I conceptualize the predicament of the prolix product offerings at NAMM. Who needs it?
Then there is the strange situation of spatial location. How come the violin manufacturers are located immediately adjacent to the drum manufacturers? I felt sorry for the former, desperately trying to demonstrate their instruments over the raucous din created by aspiring percussionists, bass players and guitar players. I have to go on record as saying that the Stanley Clarke-style of bass playing, where one “pops” the strings with one’s fingers, is extraordinarily annoying.
Another puzzle is the phenomenon of endorsers. In an attempt to build rapport with their potential audience, manufacturers scurry about and try to sign influential musicians, or at least musicians perceived to be influential, to use their guitars/amplifiers/keyboards whatevers. It is with deep regret that I must report I did not know who any of these people were. Given the current state of pop music, it is difficult to see where, on margin, the reputation curve of the endorser intersects with the demand curve of the consumer. If the endorser is too big, then they won’t endorse the small boutique instrument. After all, they might be able to get more money from somebody who was bigger. Even after they endorse it, they don’t bother to use it, preferring instead to stick with what they find familiar. Conversely, if the endorser is too small, then the manufacturer has no use for the endorser. Where are the members of Blue Oyster Cult when I need them? At least back then matters were less ambiguous. Of course it must have been a shock for the BOC to go from playing arenas and stadiums (stadia?) to micro venues like the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, which is where I last saw them. Their endorsement value went from massive to zero.
The point of advertising is not to sell products. Products are sold by word-of-mouth among satisfied consumers. Rather, it is to reduce cognitive dissonance; to reassure people who already have bought the item that their purchase was a wise one. Over-the-hill endorsers won’t accomplish this objective. I lament the expectation cost of all of the bands who started out with such hope and promise, with a large retinue of agents, managers, lawyers, accountants, groupies, hangers-on, etc., only to vanish in thin air like a wisp of smoke. I particularly was disturbed by large posters of Taylor Swift, which seemed to be everywhere. Is it just I, or do her eyes seem too close together?
One thing that hasn’t changed is attendance by a coterie of audaciously attired wanna-be rock grrrls. This year’s fashion seems to be (from the bottom up) fringy boots, fishnet stockings, short skirt and spandex top. Come to think of it, that was the attire 10 years ago, too. Disconcertingly, they seemed not to have aged; that is, I keep getting older, which makes them keep getting younger. I was concerned for the fate of those (my contemporaries) who no longer were present; how shocking was it to see Pattie Boyd, ex of George Harrison and Eric Clapton, on the recent HBO special re: the former?
Where are the vixens of vinyl, the swingin’ chicks of the 60s, the drive-in dream girls, the femme fatales, minxes, sirens and foxes of yesteryear? Young girls are coming to the canyon, indeed. Evidently, all of them left. I was comforted to think, however, that most of the new crop really were molecular biologists in disguise. Strangely, many of the guys didn’t seem to have changed (albeit with less hair and larger torsos). We’ll see what condition their condition is in next year.
Article is Copr. © 2012 by David Kronemyer, and originally published on MusicIndustryNewswire.com – all commercial rights reserved.
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Music Industry Newswire COLUMN: For immediate dispatch from the wild and wooly frontier south of Disneyland – after a decade of resisting the blandishments and imprecations of colleagues I finally re-attended this year’s NAMM convention (Jan. 19-22, 2012). NAMM of course stands for the National Association of Music Merchandisers. Its annual soiree is held at the Anaheim Convention Center, a gigantic monstrosity of a structure.
The basic concept is quaint. Imagine you are a mom-and-pop music store on Main St., USA. By this I do not necessarily mean a mother and father own your store, and your street could be named something else. My point is that you are a small music equipment retailer. You are in a quandary as to what items you should buy to stock as inventory. All of the major music equipment manufacturers have an exhibit booth at NAMM. So you go to the convention to see what you ought to buy to sell to your customers.
This template has been obsolete for at least a quarter of a century. Large mega-retailers like Guitar Center (and its mail-order counterpart, Musician’s Friend) dominate the music equipment market. They in turn are known for squeezing usurious margins out of manufacturers. In this cutthroat corporate environment, only the largest companies can succeed. Guitar Center does not want to expend the time, effort and energy required to deal with a bunch of small vendors. Essentially they are relegated to marginal boutique status, living a hard existence with high production costs, impaired distribution channels, niche markets and a host of other undesirable infirmities.
It is hard to see how some of these firms make financial sense. I mean, a business devoted solely to making guitar picks? What are the economies of scale? How many guitar picks do you have to sell even to afford a plane ticket to the convention (much less parking)? Another huge problem for manufacturers is the secondary market. Before they became commodified, companies like Fender and Gibson made products that were so durable, they survive to the present day. There must be hundreds of Fender amps and Gibson guitars available for repurchase on any given day of the week. Older instruments frequently are alleged to have more desirable qualities than newer ones. This secondary market for their own equipment is the manufacturer’s greatest enemy.
There used to be a sharp distinction between “pro” audio and “consumer” audio. The Audio Engineering Society (AES) represented the former and NAMM represented the latter. While AES still holds a convention, it is a shadow of its former self. The reason why is that the pro audio market – comprising primarily expensive recording studios – has collapsed. The democratization of technology began with the Mackie Mixer and the Alesis ADAT. Now it best is represented by digital audio workstations such as Logic and ProTools. It has brought machinery and equipment to the masses, which now assiduously records, promotes, markets and distributes their aesthetic output, free from the sphincter-like shackles of record production the way it was as recently as the 1990s. Instead of spending $250 thousand, or $100 thousand to record an album, now you can do it for $5 thousand, or even less. Of course the songs and performances still may be crap, but hey, that could be (and often is) equally true of projects that are far more costly.
Now, anybody with a garage and an urge to express themselves can hit the ground running. This has been a positive development for NAMM, because formerly “pro” equipment manufacturers have gravitated to it as a more plausible venue to hawk their wares. In a way, AES now is in a position analogous to that of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which now has been abandoned both by Apple and Microsoft – the two companies which should be their biggest exhibitors. As a parallel development, many of the NAMM attendees now are retail consumers of musical equipment – actual users – who view the convention as a kind of carnival to hang out and see what’s new on the scene.
So I spent the afternoon aimlessly wandering the gargantuan exhibit halls, every now and then running into friends and acquaintances. New product offerings were sparse. As an aficionado of analog synthesis, I was intrigued by some of the new modules on display at the Analogue Haven, Big City Music and Noisebug booths. It was nice to chat with Dave Smith and Don Buchla, both intrepid pioneers in the field who still run successful businesses. I was impressed with John Bowen’s new Solaris, and a monstrous synth designed and built by Stefan Schmidt, reported to cost $25 thousand euros. Oh well, all Greece and Italy have to do is default on their debt, which will bring the euro back into parity with the dollar, so the more affluent among us may view this as a viable purchase.
Moog Music was exhibiting a new bass synthesizer called the Minitaur (a play on words of their former pedal bass synth called the Taurus), a new effects device called the Cluster Flux (get it?) and an interesting new filter in the increasingly popular API 500 format. Jürgen Michaelis and Jomox have a new filter called the Moonwind, and if their former and existing product line is any indication, it should be amazing. As usual Zachary Vex and Zvex had the wackiest collection of effects pedals around. There were a few other pedals released this year of note, such as the Ravish Sitar from ElectroHarmonix and the Space from Eventide. The Ravish Sitar sounds nothing like a sitar, but it does do some really cool sh*t. And the Space has just about every weird reverb and modulation effect you’d ever want to hear. My apologies if I’m leaving anybody out to whom I said “hi.” There seemed to be a proliferation of ukuleles and tubas, the latter a fortunate development in view of the recently reported spate of tuba thefts in Los Angeles.
But the rest – several thousand exhibitors in all – remain a mystery. How many different varieties of drums, cymbals, amplifiers, violins, saxophones etc. really are capable of mounting an effective U.S. marketing campaign? I used to have 500 or so guitar effects pedals. I was you might say promiscuous, unable to settle on a sound that I liked. It was what the Danish proto-existentialist Søren Kierkegaard might have called the “despair of too much possibility.” A library of sounds, to which I could refer. Over the years, there came a time when I realized what I liked, and what I no longer required. So I got rid of the rest. I mean, how many overdrive or fuzz pedals does one really need? The same thing was true with amplifiers, guitars, synthesizers, literally every musical tool I ever had used. Now I feel as creative as ever, though with a much-reduced armamentarium. With the possible exception of some Lincoln-head pennies in elementary school, I never have been a “collector” of anything.
A collection implies regarding an object qua object; as Martin Heidegger might have characterized, as a thing that is present-at-hand, there to be regarded, observed and inspected. Like something in a museum. Rather, for me, musical instruments always have been tools to realize an aesthetic concept – a means to an end, ready-to-hand, not an end in and of themselves. This is how I conceptualize the predicament of the prolix product offerings at NAMM. Who needs it?
Then there is the strange situation of spatial location. How come the violin manufacturers are located immediately adjacent to the drum manufacturers? I felt sorry for the former, desperately trying to demonstrate their instruments over the raucous din created by aspiring percussionists, bass players and guitar players. I have to go on record as saying that the Stanley Clarke-style of bass playing, where one “pops” the strings with one’s fingers, is extraordinarily annoying.
Another puzzle is the phenomenon of endorsers. In an attempt to build rapport with their potential audience, manufacturers scurry about and try to sign influential musicians, or at least musicians perceived to be influential, to use their guitars/amplifiers/keyboards whatevers. It is with deep regret that I must report I did not know who any of these people were. Given the current state of pop music, it is difficult to see where, on margin, the reputation curve of the endorser intersects with the demand curve of the consumer. If the endorser is too big, then they won’t endorse the small boutique instrument. After all, they might be able to get more money from somebody who was bigger. Even after they endorse it, they don’t bother to use it, preferring instead to stick with what they find familiar. Conversely, if the endorser is too small, then the manufacturer has no use for the endorser. Where are the members of Blue Oyster Cult when I need them? At least back then matters were less ambiguous. Of course it must have been a shock for the BOC to go from playing arenas and stadiums (stadia?) to micro venues like the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, which is where I last saw them. Their endorsement value went from massive to zero.
The point of advertising is not to sell products. Products are sold by word-of-mouth among satisfied consumers. Rather, it is to reduce cognitive dissonance; to reassure people who already have bought the item that their purchase was a wise one. Over-the-hill endorsers won’t accomplish this objective. I lament the expectation cost of all of the bands who started out with such hope and promise, with a large retinue of agents, managers, lawyers, accountants, groupies, hangers-on, etc., only to vanish in thin air like a wisp of smoke. I particularly was disturbed by large posters of Taylor Swift, which seemed to be everywhere. Is it just I, or do her eyes seem too close together?
One thing that hasn’t changed is attendance by a coterie of audaciously attired wanna-be rock grrrls. This year’s fashion seems to be (from the bottom up) fringy boots, fishnet stockings, short skirt and spandex top. Come to think of it, that was the attire 10 years ago, too. Disconcertingly, they seemed not to have aged; that is, I keep getting older, which makes them keep getting younger. I was concerned for the fate of those (my contemporaries) who no longer were present; how shocking was it to see Pattie Boyd, ex of George Harrison and Eric Clapton, on the recent HBO special re: the former?
Where are the vixens of vinyl, the swingin’ chicks of the 60s, the drive-in dream girls, the femme fatales, minxes, sirens and foxes of yesteryear? Young girls are coming to the canyon, indeed. Evidently, all of them left. I was comforted to think, however, that most of the new crop really were molecular biologists in disguise. Strangely, many of the guys didn’t seem to have changed (albeit with less hair and larger torsos). We’ll see what condition their condition is in next year.
Article is Copr. © 2012 by David Kronemyer, and originally published on MusicIndustryNewswire.com – all commercial rights reserved.
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BERLIN, Germany /Music Industry Newswire/ — To conincide with the Winter NAMM in Anaheim, German synth wizard Jürgen Michaelis, of JoMoX GmbH, has previewed his latest creation, the Moonwind Analog Filter Tracker.
According to Michaelis, “Moonwind is a true analog stereo filter with built-in step sequencer, a fantastic sounding digital FX chip, 2 LFOs and envelope modulation. Everything is storable and controllable via MIDI. And it sounds…awesome!”
Large image: http://www.jomox.de/upload/content_images/P1080546_PS1200.jpg .
More preliminary information: http://www.jomox.de/index.php?lang=2 .
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