Monthly Archives: December 2025

Ho, ho, ho, NAMM 2026

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Time for a pre-holiday ramble. NAMM 2026 — also known as “Christmas in January” — is now one month away, January 20-24, 2026. Certainly, November and December product releases will be featured at NAMM 2026. So, dropping into stream of consciousness mode…

Behringer is great at stocking stuffers. The latest stuffer is the two DCO Behringer UB-1 Micro with replicas of the 3396 and 3397 chips once found in the Oberheim Matrix 6/1000. USA pre-order for about $71 USD. Shucks, might as well pony up another $40 and buy the three VCO Behringer UB-Xa Mini Analog Synthesizer at $109. After upgrade, the Mini is 5 voice and it has a 5-pin DIN MIDI input instead of a 3.5mm MIDI jack.

I also have a fondness for Sequential Circuits. The Behringer Pro VS Mini Hybrid Vector Synthesizer is a 4-voice hybrid vector synth, joystick built in for $119. All of these small format modules are much smaller and cheaper than the real deal and don’t take up as much space in a studio. Gosh, they aren’t more expensive than a good plug-in, too.

Sonicware continue to roll out new toys. The ELZ_1 play (now V2) is a small wavetable synth featuring the original Waldorf wavetables. The LIVEN series groove boxes cover a wide range of contemporary music styles. As to my own taste, I’m liking the LIVEN Ambient 0, LIVEN Evoke and LIVEN Lofi-12. Sonicware products are available in the USA through Amazon.

If you crave actual Waldorf tables and sound, check out the nicely-styled Waldorf Protein. The Protein has eight voice polyphony and is 4-part multitimbral. Even though it’s a new model, it just got its first update adding a 12dB filter option, more memory slots and 20 free patches by Kateryna Zavoloka. The USA price is $399 USD — quite reasonable. Eight voice poly is enough to be dangerous and I wish other developers would take note. Three or four voice polyphony ain’t enough for two-fisted pads.

Which brings me to the subject of tariffs. Yes, USA people, you are paying the tariffs. You are also waiting longer for product to arrive on these shores. Check Behringer pricing and you will see lower prices in Europe. Sonicware LIVEN used to be $199; they are now $259. Sonicware moved sales to Amazon because they got tired of chasing shifting tariff rules, especially cancellation of the de minimus exception.

In software-land, Steinberg are shipping new iOS plug-ins and apps. Cubasis gets a boost. iOS versions of the Verve and Etude character pianos join Iconica Sketch on iPad/iPhone. Verve is the Steinberg felt piano which lets you layer in atmospheric elements. Etude is a C3X which — to my ears — sounds more “played in” than the usual pristine Yamaha CFX samples.

Verve, Etude and Iconica Sketch can run standalone as well as AUv3 plug-ins. The new Verve and Etude are described as “designed for iPhone/iPad”. The introductory price is $15.99 (each). What’s the catch? The Verve download size is 19.8MBytes and the Etude download size is 18.8MByte. These are the sizes for the core apps — the full download will be much larger. I’m running Etude on a Mac Mini under HALion and that was an 18 Gigabyte download. (The Iconica Sketch core app is 20.4MB and the full download is 1.6 GBytes.)

Be sure to pick up Steinberg’s free HALion Sonic 7, Guitar Harmonics Essential, LoFi Piano, Novel Piano, Taped Vibes, etc. You can make a lot of music with Steinberg free stuff!

Audio Modeling always have new, innovative products (and holiday sales). SWAM instruments can get price-y, even on iOS. Thus, Audio Modeling have created the Discovery Series (“Explore. Invent. Discover.”) SWAM VariFlute is the first virtual instrument in the Discovery Series. VariFlute is an introduction to physical modeling letting you horse around with pipe length, diameter and material. If you’re missing Yamaha VL, VariFlute is for you. The introductory price is $9.99 and it’s only for iOS.

Too big for a stocking, but now more portable, there’s Arturia’s AstroLab 37. AstroLab is, essentially, AnalogLab in a box. The 37-key model is super light and alleviates my main concern about the 61-key model, that is, its weight. The trade-off, of course, is accepting mini-keys. The 37 is only $700 USD.

Speaking of mini-keys, I still find the Korg Microkey Air to have the most playable mini-keys. I’ve paired (literally!) the Microkey Air 49 with the 1010Music Tangerine via CME WIDI. CME has won me over for Bluetooth MIDI.

As to NAMM 2026 rumors and thoughts, I expect Korg to show up and show out. After dropping KRONOS 3 and miniKORG 700Sm, they haven’t brought much to the stage. Products like Kross need an update. Plus, Triton-based instruments like EK-50 and i3 need to move into the modern age. Can anyone tell me why i3 is more expensive than EK-50?

Yamaha USA Shop has a NAMM 2026 new gear page. The “Synthesizers and Keyboards” section has three new product slots. The first slot is MODX M. The other two slots say “Check back on on January 22, 2026” or some such. Yamaha punters will finally see the PSR-E483. The E483 will have a fraternal twin, too.

Pictures of an Akai MPC XL have leaked. Things looks massive and the rumored price is massive, too: $2,899 USD.

Yamaha STAGEPAS 100BTR mkII

Yamaha have updated the STAGEPAS 100 BTR. The mkII adds two USB Type-C ports: one port for your table/phone (USB 2.0 compatible) and a USB “power delivery” port. The mkII supports USB audio I/O and Bluetooth audio gets a bump to A2DP/HEP. The power delivery port replaces the 24V charging jack in the mkI models. Battery life, size/weight, and audio specs remain the same. MAP for the mkII is $400 USD.

I’m a committed STAGEPAS 100 (mkI) user. I have one at home (no battery) and take a battery-powered 100BTR to my church gig. The sound is clean and is loud enough for practice and personal monitor. The 24V power jack always seemed a little weird because it requires an external laptop-style brick. The mkII changes should make life easier for buskers.

Rather stingy, the instruction manual claims “This product does not come with a USB power adaptor or USB Type-C cable.” C’mon, man, these little STAGEPAS aren’t cheap. STAGEPAS 100 mkI models are on sale right now.

Copyright © 2025 Paul J. Drongowski

Roland Go:Keys mini-review

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Maybe it’s the visual aesthetic which keeps drawing me back to the Roland GO:KEYS 3 and 5. Yes, it’s a box. The simple lines, however, are clean. The chassis colors are well-chosen and the turquoise is lovely. The pastel white keys are a good match.

With time on my hands, I dropped by Kennelly Keys in Everett, WA to give the sounds a try. With so many on-line demos, I decided to focus on playability and voice quality. The styles and chord patterns are hipper than Casio, Yamaha and Medeli. Roland are catering to younger players and contemporary genres. I could have a lot of fun jamming along to chill, downtempo, neo-soul, etc. with GO:KEYS.

Roland Go:keys 3

Today, however, it’s the Advent season church music for the week. Why not kill two birds with one stone and get today’s practice out of the way, too? The instruments are light-weight (max 5.5kg or 12.3 pounds). I could see taking one to church rehearsal (maybe a church gig) since they run on battery power and have built-in speakers.

The keys are piano-ish and are not synth-style keys. They are great for the more than decent acoustic pianos, electric pianos, pads, strings and orchestral instruments. If you have a chance to play a GO:KEYS (gen 2), take it. The keys compare favorably with the Casio CT-S500 and CT-S1000V.

Sonically, pianos are definitely a strength. Strings are good and you get a healthy selection of tones and articulations. (It ain’t VSL. 🙂 ) The pads surprised me. I found more usable simple pads than MODX. I don’t need or want tricked up pads. I didn’t have to look too hard to find them.

The orchestral instruments (e.g., oboe, clarinet) are passable. French horn ain’t bad. If this is your thing, too, I would look to the Roland Cloud and download the EXZ007 “EXZ Orchestra” expansion. The Orchestra expansion contains voices from the SR-JV Orchestral 1 and 2 boards, the Vocal Collection and more. I bought these boards back in the day for $200 USD a pop. Amazing.

Organ-wise, I got on with so-called pipe organ reasonably well. The quieter pipe organ voices are pleasing. The piano keys don’t get in the way if you are playing at a slow tempo and legato touch. Faster tempos may require adjustment. EXZ007 adds a few pipe organs, too, along with a raft of choirs from the old Vocal Collection. (Thank you, Eric Pershing.)

Hate to say it, but Hammond B-3 organs are a disappointment. None of the basic tones/registrations clicked with me (no pun intended). Further, who in the hell makes organ voices velocity sensitive? Yes, there are a few of those abominations.

Better drawbar organs are available in the EXZ008 “EXZ Vintage Keys” expansion. The EXZ008 contains the SR-JV Keyboards of the 60s and 70s (pianos, clav, B-3, combo organ) and a slew of vintage synths. The in-built “VK Rotary” effect is an improvement on the bog standard rotary effect which is really a chorus in cheap disguise.

Playing B is where the box piano keys got in the way. This could be a deal-breaker for organ-oriented players. Playing at a fast tempo felt wrong and I couldn’t adjust to the key response. Major yellow flag for me here. Bummer, everything was going so good.

Roland cannot be faulted for the keys. My Novation Launchkey 49 Mk4 has box piano keys and I have similar issues playing organ with them. I bought the Mk4 for playing AP/EP on a light, swappable MIDI controller in my studio. Think over your requirements and choose.

I spent most of my time playing the GO:KEYS 3 through its internal speakers. The 3 exhibits a lot of boxy-ness. Yes, I’m sure it sounds better through an external amp. The 5 is less boxy. Overall, not a big deal because I usually play through battery powered Yamaha Stagepas 100 or Headrush FRFR GO.

So, 3 or 5? The 5 has much better connectivity. It may seem a trivial matter, but the 5 front panel legends are easier to read than the turquoise. I flat out could not read the button labels on the turquoise and kept refering back to the white 5 nearby. Advantage 5.

Now for the big decider. The 5 can load EXZ expansions which include waveforms. The 3 can only load patches (voice meta-data) and styles. I would almost certainly acquire EXZ007 and/or EXZ008. Both expansions include waveforms, so GO:KEYS 5 it is.

I’m still sorting out Roland Cloud subscriptions and lifetime keys. I would likely get lifetime keys for EXZ007 and EXZ008. That’s an extra cost. Wait, there is another extra cost — downloading requires the Roland Cloud Connect wireless adapter. $124 USD Ka-ching. The adapter includes a 12 month Pro Membership, but still…

Overall, I’m favorable impressed by the current Roland GO:KEYS. If there was a model 5 with a synth-action keybed, I would buy one.

Right now, we are in the looming shadow of NAMM 2026 (January 20-24, 2026). Yamaha will almost certainly announce the next E-series 400 model sometime in the next few months. Plus, it’s time for Korg to update the i3, EK-50 and Kross. Logically, it’s better to hold off for NAMM and see what comes our way.

Copyright © 2025 Paul J. Drongowski

Medeli profile

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Medeli Electronics Co. Ltd. is one of the largest developers and manufacturers of electronic musical instruments, but you might not know much about them.

I investigated a few of Medeli’s low-cost arranger instruments while searching for inexpensive gear to mod. For example, Medeli offers the new entry-level Nebula series instruments: MK37, MK49 and MK61. Medeli had a large booth at NAMM 2025 and is trying to establish the Medeli brand in the USA.

Medeli chose a tough time to enter the USA market. The headwinds are strong thanks to the (illegal) tariffs. Free the markets.

Medeli already have one foot in the door: ASM (Ashun Sound Machines). You know the ASM Hydrasynth. ASM is a subsidiary of the parent Medeli and is the portal through which more Medeli-branded gear will flow.

Medeli manufactures components and OEM keyboards which are sold under independent brands. You might have seen products from POGOLAB, LEKATO, VISIONKEY and STARTONE and noted their similarities. Medeli components have appeared in products from M-Audio.

I decided to get a little smarter about Medeli and drew up this profile:

Company founded in 1983
Hong Kong manufacturer of digital musical instruments
Over 1,000 employees across Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Zhuhai
Team of over 80 engineers in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Zhuhai
    2009 Medeli Zhuhai established
    2006 Moved mfg from Shenzhen to industrial park Zhuhai
Plastic injection, metal shop, paint and silkscreen printing, wood 
    processing, PCB assembly, and final assembly
In-house SMT line, automatic insertion line, and bonding equipment
Annual production capacity of 1.5 million units
Expertise: IC design, DSP Algorithms, Sound Generation, 
           Drum Pad Design and Keybed Design
Proprietary multi-core digital audio processors
    32 to 256 tone polyphony
    Special purpose instruction set (AMP, LOOP, FIR)
A5 integrated circuit (2013)
    256 polyphony
    11 cores
    1500 MIPS
    ARM9 CPU (32-bit RISC)
    Products: ASM Hydrasynth, AKX10, M-Audio Accent
Synthesis engine
    FM, PCM, ubtractive synthesis
    Adjustable hardware-level multiple filters for each voice
    Anti-aliasing filter
    Physical modeling (drums and pianos)

Clearly, Medeli is a major player in electronic instruments. Zhuhai, by the way, is a major industrial center across from Hong Kong. It will be the new “Shenzhen” for electronics.

Please note the range of Medeli’s industrial expertise and equipment. Manufacturing is capital-intensive and electronic musical instruments are not free as many people might think or wish.

Medeli AKX10 main board

Like Yamaha, Korg and Roland, Medeli have developed their own line of synthesis and audio processors. The latest processor, A5, is a multi-core integrated circuit appearing in the ASM Hydrasynth, the AKX10 arranger, Medeli digital pianos, and the M-Audio Accent piano module. Usually, the A5 is paired with a separate ARM host processor (e.g., STM32F103VE) to handle operating system duties, user interface and so forth.

Here is a Medeli timeline taken from their corporate web site:

Timeline
    1983      Company founded
    1993      MEDELI brand established
    2003      First integrated circuit IC0105 enters mass production
    2003      MD2032 (32 polyphony)
              A2 (64 polyphony)
    2007      MD2032 enters mass production
    2008      A2 enters mass production
    2010      MD2032A (32 polyphony) enters mass production
    2013      A5 (256 polyphony)
    2015      A2S (128 polyphony) enters mass production
              A5 enters mass production
    2019      Founded the ASM brand

As to on-line demos, the MK37 ($75 USD) sounds decent for the price. It goes head to head with the now discontinued Yamaha PSS and Dream SAM 2000 series components. The MK49 ($100 USD) has touch response and sounds even better. The MK49 acoustic piano tone is quite decent. The MK61 ($140) adds more voices and supports two-voice splits and layers.

Medeli MK49 Nebula series keyboard

You don’t see very many 49 key instruments like the MK49. Sure, it has mini-keys, but you can almost stuff it into a backpack. Medeli sound design is getting better. I would say that the electric pianos and organs are probably the weakest bread and butter voices. The EPs don’t sound like a Rhodes — more like a sampled EP synthesizer patch. Some of the styles remind me of the now-dated Yamaha QY70. If the MK49 had better EPs and organs and did split/layer, it would absolutely kill at $100.

Copyright © 2025 Paul J. Drongowski