NAMM 2022 wasn’t the strongest year for electronic musicians. As the venerable music industry event ramped back up to speed after the pandemic, many of the new gear announcements had been made previously, taking some of the juice out of the event. Worse, the passing of Dave Smith, cast a long shadow over the event with almost everyone commenting on his death at some point. That said, it was a nice to see old friends and make some new ones in California this year after a two-year hiatus.

Heritage Audio built on their recent Herchild Model 660 and Model 670 Tube-Based Compressors – which were recently announced – with the Súper 8, a 2U-rack-mountable, Eight Channel transformer coupled Class-A microphone preamp with built-in 24bit/192k audio digital conversion. The new Súper 8 simplifies matters by allowing eight individual signals to be recorded into a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) with an ADAT Lightpipe cable.

Heritage Audio Súper 8

Meris LVX

Meris showed off their new LVX delay pedal. The LVX is a major flex from the minds of Terry Burton and Angelo Mazzocco and sets the tone for things to come from the California concern.

Meris describes the LVX as a Modular Delay System with unbridled flexibility thanks to an intuitive user interface that promotes creative freedom to design the custom delay of your dreams. The pedal features discrete processing elements and control signal modifiers packed in a metal chassis with a classy and modern aesthetic. LVX is scheduled to begin shipping in the United States in late Summer 2022 and worldwide thereafter.

UA’s Dream 65, Ruby 63 & Woodrow 55

Universal Audio added to their lineup of pricey guitar pedals, with three new preamp modelers, the Woodrow ’55, the Dream ’65 and the Ruby ’63.

The most obvious observation was “why didn’t they just gang all three emulations in to single pedal with the ability to add more amp models?” However, at $400 a pop, you can you can see how lucrative this new lineup would be to UA’s bottom line.

UA’s goal was to provide the visceral tones of the 50’s and 60’s tube amps and deliver them in the stompbox format with some modern tricks. A three-way switch can change the speakers or activate the famed modifications. A 4-cable mode allows you to bypass your amplifier’s preamp entirely and chain all three pedals together.

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Ultimate Patches – Roland JX-08

Ultimate Patches has released a new set for the Roland JX-08. The three volume set includes 300 high quality patches, featuring inspirational sounds for chords, leads, pads, acoustic pianos, organs, guitars, basses, percussion, special effects and more.

Targeting the genres of Synthwave, Cnematic, Orchestral, Latin, Pop, Classic Rock, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Glitch, Trap, Chiptune, Dubstep, House, Trance, Reggae and even Country, there’s something for everyone.

Focusrite

Focusrite jumped into the podcasting game bigtime with not one, but two new offerings, the Vocaster One and Vocaster Two. The Two provides a second XLR input for an additional microphone, but both offer a lot of versatility to make podcasting easier than ever.

The idea behind the Vocaster series was simplicity. Both products come with a software suite, which includes Hindenburg LITE, aCast, SquadCast, and Amplify Studio. Bluetooth connectivity is also provided for call in guests.

Neve

While we were secretly hoping that Neve would come out with a small format analog mixer like the Big Six, they debuted the 88M, a USB interface.

The Neve 88M audio interface features a ten input and output design that shares the same analog DNA as Neve’s 88RS large-format console’s transformer-balanced technology and adds Neve’s proprietary Marinair transformers, premium analog and digital components, and quality AD/DA conversion.

Cre8audio

The new kid on the electronic music block Cre8audio, followed up their new NiftyKEYZ and East Beast with the West Pest, a semi-modular analog synthesizer. We’re not sure where Cre8audio comes up with their product names, but if their brainstorming sessions take place in the Emerald Triangle, it wouldn’t surprise anyone.

Cre8audio’s website appears to be more concerned with kicking Richard Nicol in the nuts rather than hard core data, but here’s what you should know about what the West Pest is packing: A “West Coast” style monophonic synthesizer with additive elements, developed in partnership with Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizers. The synth is controllable via MIDI or CV and has a built-in 32 step sequencer with 13 storable patterns. It contains Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizers’ wave folder/shaper circuit, which “folds” inputted waves back onto themselves to increase harmonic content. It provides a ton of clocking options either via MIDI or internal/external sync. It’s also got a Behringer-friendly price point.

Pioneer

Pioneer unleashed the DJM-S5, a scratch-style, 2-channel DJ mixer to create the perfect Zombie Apocalypse mixtape.

The DJM-S5 has lots of cool features gear specifically for scratching. The Magvel Fader Pro crossfader, featuring Feeling Adjust allows you to modify the “weight” and get the level of resistance you like best. Use the two large Effect Levers to control up to 57 effects in Serato DJ Pro. Using the four Performance Pads on each channel, you can trigger samples and find all kinds of new ways to remix your selections on the fly.

What the Sync Button did for beat matching, Pioneer has done with the Scratch Cutter. When using DVS control, simply choose one of the six cutting patterns, switch on the Scratch Cutter function with the effects lever, and then move the control vinyl or jog wheel forward and backward on the deck and the DJM-S5 will handle the crossfading. The mixer applies a cutting effect to the music in perfect time, emulating the transformer scratch technique without you ever having to move the crossfader.

Moog

Moog debuted the Mavis, a You-Build-It-Yourself! monophonic, semi-modular analog synth with patchable modular utilities. You have the ability to easily remove the innards from its case to become a 24-point CV controllable Eurorack module (44hp). In a first for the famed synth manufacturer, the Mavis features a diode wavefolder.

Groove Synthesis

Groove Synthesis premiered their new 3rd Wave, which they’ve been teasing for quite some time. So long, that many thought the wavetable synth was vaporware. However, the team trotted out the 3rd Wave at NAMM for all to see…and play.

The 3rd Wave is a 24-voice, four-part multitimbral wavetable synth with three oscillators per voice, a Dave Rossum-designed 2140 analog low-pass filter, a state-variable, SEM-style filter, six-stage wave envelopes per oscillator, and a Wavemaker tool. The Wavemaker allows users to create custom wavetables simply with its Sample-To-Wave technology. Users can import their own wavetables via USB or record directly into the 3rd Wave via the audio input.

In addition to its factory wavetables (32 classic PPG-lineage waves plus 48 high-resolution custom waves), users can create custom wavetables of their own using the built-in Wavemaker tool and fill any of the 64 available high-resolution slots. The Wavemaker tool’s sample-to-wavetable capability allows users to connect an audio source to the synthesizer’s rear-panel audio input and generate a 64-wave wavetable at the touch of a button. Alternatively, users can import a 96kHZ wav file into the synth using USB.

With 24-voices, the 3rd Wave can handle note-intensive performances as well as layer up to four parts or create four independent split zones — each with a completely different sound, sequence, and dual effect. Each part has independent panning, volume, effects, and a dedicated stereo physical output. Each of its 3 wavetable oscillators per part/voice has its own 6-stage, loopable wave envelope, which can create evolving soundscapes of extreme complexity.

Its pattern-based sequencer can sequence notes, songs, and parameters. Because the synth is multi-timbral, each of its four parts/layers has its own sequencer track. Sequences can be up to 24 patterns of up to 32 measures in length. Users can perform in real-time on the keyboard while a sequence or song plays. Users can also perform looped overdubbing of notes or parameter changes to build complex patterns interactively.

The rest of the 3rd Wave’s sound-shaping tools include two digital effects per part, four ADSR envelopes (filter, amp, and two auxiliary) per part, four LFOs per part, and a 28-slot mod matrix per part. The synth is housed in a robust, all-metal chassis with a premium 5-octave, semi-weighted Fatar keyboard. It will be available at the end of the summer.