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January 12, 2009
../ NAMM 2009: The Latest Rumors
Nothing tells us it's January, like the flood of new gear rumors that hits the airwaves
right after the New Year. For electronic musicians, there are many interesting tidbits of gossip that could deplete their bank accounts this year.
First off, will NAMM be the forum to announce the fruit of the Serato/Ableton "creative"
collaboration? One can only hope. But what exactly will the partnership bare? Infusion of Serato's Pitch 'n' Time technology into Ableton's Live 8?
Incorporating Serato's new Itch DJ Mixing software into Live? An entirely new product?
Native Instruments, never one to be left out of the spotlight, has pre-announced three
new products, which they labeled as small, medium and large announcements. Our Reaktor 6 prediction for Summer NAMM from a previously solid source,
turned out to be false, but maybe NI needed a little extra time to get it right. A new guitar product doesn't seem out of the question either, since
several other manufacturers have entered the Digital Guitar Effects arena. Native's Guitar Rig 3 is best-in-class. However, NI needs to put a little
distance between them and the competition and the guitar-oriented NAMM show seems like the perfect venue. For NI, it appears that they'll be dropping
advanced hardware on a new product category.
Focusrite has been heavily discounting their Liquid Channel hardware as of late, which
could mean a new upgraded version. The Saffire 26 is has also gone missing from retailers, so there could be a new version announced at the shoe. In
addition, in keeping consistent with their product paths, we'll definitely see some new plug-in suites.
"One of the world's most influential sounds is coming to your desktop" is how IK
Multimedia is pimping their latest virtual instrument or effects release. The new product will reportedly fall into the hardware category, but there's
not much more to divulge. IK employs Mussolini Era scare tactics on their minions.
Roland has been quite mum of late as well, but there's talk out of Japan of a couple
of new retro products that will appeal to electronic musicians.
The worst kept secret is Steinberg's Cubase 5, which we previously told you about in
December.
We'll continue to update this story as new rumors emerge...
