Tag Archives: Winter NAMM 2019

Winter NAMM 2019: Random Youtube videos

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I’m going to post a random selection of Youtube videos here as I stumble into them.

First up are a couple of Yamaha Sonogenic SHS-500. The first video featuring Gabriel Aldort from Yamaha is funny, but shows the essence of the Sonogenic — a fun instrument to play along with tunes. One tidbit — Android support is coming down the line. Does this mean a version of Chord Tracker for Android? Chord Tracker is an important ecosystem cornerstone for several Yamaha digital instruments.

The second Sonogenic video is in Polish. The demonstrator is clearly having fun and there are a few snippets of the instrument sounds. Gratefully, they ducked the vocal and ambient noise during the snippets so you can hear how the SHS-500 really sounds. The drums and eleectric piano aren’t bad.

Everybody’s main man Katsunori UJIIE gives us the run down on the Yamaha MODX synthesizer. Also, check out this blast from the past: UJIIE’s Reface CP demo. Man, that guy is creative! Can’t wait for his demo of the new Yamaha CP73/CP88 digital pianos. It’s no wonder that the street price on the CP and YC have remained firm while the DX and CS are heavily discounted from their initial price. The Reface CP is still a quick and cheap way to get SCM electric pianos (Spectral Component Modeling).

BTW, UJIIE has really mastered those Reface mini keys. I still use the Reface YC at rehearsals. So easy to schlep! I can set up and be ready to go in 60 seconds. Just give me a music stand with the Reface YC across my lap.

On February 12, Frank Ventresca at AudioworksCT hosted a Yamaha Genos™ demonstration and workshop featuring Yamaha Product Specialist Heratch Touresian. (Heratch was assisted by Maio Obregón, Yamaha District Manager.) Frank has posted the video on Youtube. It’s almost three hours long! Thank you Heratch and Frank.

Full disclosure: I purchased an PSR-S950 and Genos from Frank. A great experience both times.

Overall, you get a terrific overview of Genos and current owners will learn new tricks. The last half-hour or so shows off Genos as a songwriting tool. Today’s arrangers — especially Genos — are not your grandfather’s boom-chukka.

If you’re new to Genos, check out my Genos quick start. Also, click on the Genos tag to find all the other Genos-related content on my site.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Yamaha SHS-500 follow-up

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The Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic keytar won a Winter NAMM 2019 Best In Show “Gotta Stock It” award. Congrats!

The for-real (PDF) Yamaha SHS-500 Owner’s Manual and Reference Manual are available on Yamaha’s Web site. Yamaha just published text manuals at launch. Now that I can see pictures (!), there’s a few things worth mentioning.

The SHS-500 does not have a 5-pin DIN MIDI connector. It has a multi-pin MIDI terminal to which you connect a MIDI breakout cable — just like Reface. So, the SHS-500 supports both 5-pin MIDI IN and MIDI OUT.

Side comment: I hope the MIDI manufacturers do not butcher MIDI 2.0 with ridiculous complexity. I like 5-pin MIDI because of its simplicity, both messages and electrical signaling. MIDI over USB, to me as a hardware/software developer, is a nightmare.

The SHS-500 has both headphone out and LINE out. The LINE out is 1/4″ mono. Plugging into the LINE out does not silence the internal speaker. The volume knob does not change the LINE out level.

In the nerd humor department. The Reference Manual recommends “Use audio cables and adapter plugs having no (zero) resistance.” Get out your superconductors.

The display format is clear and simple once you see an explanation of the icons (shown below). [Click images to enlarge.]

The keytar neck puts numerous controls under the hand:

  • OCTAVE buttons INC and DEC
  • TRANSPOSE buttons INC and DEC
  • SONG CONTROL: Fast reverse, Play/pause, Fast forward
  • JAM button (enables JAM function)
  • SUSTAIN button
  • PITCH BEND wheel
  • MODULATION wheel
  • FUNCTION button

I don’t see any lefties playing the SHS-500 like Hendrix, i.e., left-handed and upside-down. If you’re a Yamaha PSR person, you know that the FUNCTION button is your gateway to MIDI settings, etc. Some of the other things you can change are the tuning, EQ type, pitch bend range, portamento (ON/OFF and time), DSP type, MIDI port (Bluetooth, USB, wired), MIDI channel, local control ON/FF, audio loop back, battery type and auto OFF.

Although there is an EFFECT CONTROL knob for adjusting the currently selected DSP effect, effect control can be assigned to the MODULATION wheel. Just one of those things that you can change using the FUNCTION button. EFFECT CONTROL aside, the MODULATION wheel is assigned to Vibrato Depth. No other options.

The MIDI connection diagram shows that Yamaha is thinking ahead to Android support.

The specifications describe the keyboard as “37 HQ (High Quality) Mini Keys.” They must be using the Reface key bed.

The SHS-500 can send audio over USB to a receiving computer/device. Funny, the $5,000+ Genos still cannot do this.

There is no voice editing per se other than effect control. You can control the filter (cutoff and resonance) and keyboard dynamics (touch sensitivity). The SHS-500 appears to have a three stage effects chain: Reverb, chorus and DSP. You can control only the reverb and chorus depth, not type.

There are nine DSP effect types: Distortion 1, Distortion 2, DSP chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, Rotary speaker, Low pass filter and high pass filter. Each effect type has one type-specific parameter under user control.

I can make a practical case of the Sonogenic even if I never prance and jeté with it. The SHS-500 is like a polyphonic, sample-playback Reface. I play a Yamaha Reface YC at rehearsals and often wish for other voices like flute or strings. The Sonogenic would be excellent as a very light-weight rehearsal instrument — something that’s easy to throw into the car.

Interested? Then check out these postsl about the Sonogenic:

The Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic is based on the Yamaha VKB-100 Vocaloid™ keyboard:

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic (pre-review)

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[I had a chance to think about yesterday’s SHS-500 Sonogenic announcement. Please think of this blog post as a pre-review.]

The Yamaha SHS-500 Sonogenic is a fun instrument for people without musical training. It could very well be fun for musical amateurs and pros, too!

The SHS-500 is an interesting alternative to arranger keyboards. With an arranger keyboard, one typically uses the left hand to play chords which drive auto accompaniment. The right hand carries the melody or some kind of sweetener. Even though some pros like to denigrate arranger keyboards, truly entertaining and creative use of an arranger keyboard takes serious skill as well as knowledge of chords and harmony. [Click images to enlarge.]

Let’s face it — most ordinary folks just want to play along with popular hits. [A “popular hit” depends upon your musical era!] With auto accompaniment, you need to play the harmony either by ear or following a lead sheet. Sure, you can also play along with an MP3 or WAV file, but neither the MP3 or WAV file is analyzed for chords, nor are derived chords displayed such that you can follow along as you play.

The SHS-500 has a different approach. [I’m going to refer to it as “SHS” for brevity and easy of typing.] The SHS communicates with Yamaha’s Chord Tracker app. Chord Tracker not only plays digital audio files, Chord Tracker analyzes the song within and displays its chords. With an SHS attached to your smart device, Chord Tracker sends the chord information to the SHS where it is displayed. Even cooler, the chord information determines the (musically allowable) scale tones to be generated by the SHS.

Bottom line: An untrained user can plays along with their favorite hit. They can flog away at the keyboard and the SHS figures out the correct notes to “play” given the current chord in the song. Cool! You can also record audio data to Chord Tracker.

This is the SHS “Jam mode.” There are five jam modes: 1 Finger, Melody A, Melody B, Melody C, Backing.

Three buttons on the neck control song playback in the app: [Fast Reverse], [Play/pause] and [Fast Forward]. Pitch bend and modulation wheels are also on the neck.

One can connect the SHS to Chord Tracker through USB or wireless Bluetooth. I suspect that Bluetooth will be the dominant option as who wants to dance and play while tangled up in a cable? Same for battery power over AC adapter.

Yamaha priced this product right. Although the MSRP is $499, the street price will be $300 USD. Yamaha initially priced the Reface series models too high and eventually the price was lowered depending upon depend for specific models. (You can tell which models move well and which don’t.) Reface pricing settled around $300. The SHS is targeted for the youth market and a high price would be a turn-off or out of the financial reach of most teens.

Yamaha can sell at a lower cost because they repurposed hardware from the VKB-100 Vocaloid keytar. The VKB-100 is sold mainly to the Japanese market since the player “sings” in Japanese. Yamaha made a smart decision here by repurposing the VKB-100 for the world-wide youth market. Essentially, it’s the SHS’s software which is brand new.

I’m sure there will be people who scoff at the SHS-500. I, for one, love any product or instrument that encourages the love of music. Music education in the USA has taken a big hit due to testing mania and back-to-basics. I’d really like to see more young people take up musical instruments and the SHS-500 Sonogenic might be the ticket. [Plus, I’d really like to have one. :-)]

SHS-500 effect types

    Dist.1     Distortion
    Dist.2     Distortion
    DSP Chrs   Chorus
    Flanger    Flanger
    Phaser     Phaser
    Tremolo    Tremolo
    RotarySp   Rotary Speaker
    LPF        Low Pass Filter (cutoff adjustable)
    HPF        High Pass Filter (cutoff adjustable)

There is also a filter function with adjustable cutoff frequency and resonance.

SHS-500 voice list

The Yamaha SHS-500 has thirty voices. Here is a table from the reference manual.

    No.  Voice              Display   MSB  LSB  PC1  
    ---  -----------------  --------  ---  ---  ---
    001  Saw Lead 1         SawLead1  104   20   91  [Gemini]
    002  Saw Lead 2         SawLead2    0  104   82  [RS SawLead1]
    003  Quack Lead         QuackLd     0  112   85  [Portatone]
    004  Bright Decay       BriteDcy  104   21   85  
    005  Square Lead        SquareLd    0  112   81  [Square Lead]
    006  Under Heim         UndrHeim  104   51   88  
    007  Analogon           Analogon  104   52   82  
    008  Synth Brass        SynBrass    0  113   64  [Ober Brass]
    009  Electric Piano     E.Piano   104   28    5  
    010  DX Electric Piano  DXPiano     0  112    6  [DX Modern]
    011  Electric Guitar    E.Guitar  104    3   31  
    012  Jazz Guitar        J.Guitar  104    0   27  
    013  Acoustic Guitar    A.Guitar    0  117   26  [Steel Guitar]
    014  Electric Bass      E.Bass    104    6   34  
    015  Slap Bass          SlapBass    0  112   37  [Slap Bass]
    016  Synth Bass         SynBass     0  112   39  [Resonance Bass]
    017  DX Bass            DXBass      0  118   40  [DX100 Bass]
    018  Piano              Piano       0  112    2  [Bright Piano] 
    019  Piano & Strings    Pno&Strs  104   39    1  
    020  Piano & Pad        Pno&Pad   104   40    1  
    021  Air Choir          AirChoir    0  112   55  [Air Choir]
    022  Strings            Strings     0  116   49  [Bow Strings]
    023  Brass              Brass       0  117   63  [Pop Brass]
    024  Trumpet            Trumpet     0  115   57  [Trumpet Sweet!]
    025  Flute              Flute       0  115   74  [Flute Sweet!]
    026  Alto Sax           AltoSax   104    2   66  
    027  Tenor Sax          TenorSax  104    3   67  
    028  Harmonica          Harmnica    0  112   23  [Harmonica Sweet!]
    029  House Kit          HouseKit  127    0   65  
    030  Power Kit          PowerKit  127    0   88  [Power Kit 1]

Voices number 029 and 030 are drum kits. Bank select and program change values which match PSR (Tyros, Genos) are noted.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Winter NAMM 2019: Yamaha Sonogenic

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Drop what you’re doing right now and take a look at the Yamaha Sonogenic SHS-500.

[Update: Yamaha SHS-500 Pre-review]

“Sonogenic SHS-500 is a new type of instrument from Yamaha that is perfect for music lovers who want to participate in making music, but maybe haven’t learned how. This Keytar (“Key”board + Gui”tar”) gives you the freedom to dance, jump and move around while you play!” [Click images to enlarge.]

“Jam Mode – Play with your favorite music on the spot. Thanks to Jam Mode you can instantly enjoy playing along with your favorite songs. Simply connect the instrument with the free app Chord Tracker, and play along with songs stored on your smart device. No matter which keys you press, the notes automatically match the song, so you don’t have to worry about hitting the wrong notes, fingering technique or even knowing the proper scales and chords.”

The tutorial video is interesting because it implies (shows?) Chord Tracker sending scale information back to SHS-500 as the happy teen whacks away at the keyboard as if it’s a Guitar Hero controller. At least the player is human and not the dog in the overview video! Poor Yamaha is going to take a thwacking for that video…

Here are some brief specifications including USA pricing:

  • 37 keys
  • Pitch bend, modulation, control knobs
  • USB audio interface: 44.1kHz, 16-bit, stereo
  • AWM2 tone generation, 48 note polyphony
  • 30 voices
  • 9 DSP effects plus 4 Master EQ presets
  • 5-pin MIDI OUT in addition to USB-B
  • Wireless Bluetooth (including MIDI)
  • Battery power (six AA cells) or adpater (PA-130)
  • 3.3 pounds (1.5kg)
  • MSRP: $499, Street: $299.99

Oh, yes, it bears repeating: 5-pin DIN MIDI OUT.

If you lusted for the Vocaloid VKB-100 keytar simply because, the Sonogenic SHS-500 is (maybe) your axe. Yamaha alluded to an electronic instrument in a new category. This is it.

The VKB-100 included 13 non-vocal instrument sounds as I describe in my overview article on the VKB-100. Sound quality is like an entry-level Yamaha PSR arranger. In fact, I’m sure that a few of the voices (if not all) were taken from the PSR-E4xx series. The SHS-500 is like the VKB-100, except Yamaha threw away Vocaloid and added more musical instruments. I guess Yamaha have given up on selling non-Japanese Vocaloid products.

Yamaha basically creating a fun keytar for the non-Japanese speaking world. For that, they are smart cookies!

In case you aren’t fast enough to read the video frames as they flash by, here are the SHS-500 voices and drum kits:

    001 SawLead1    011 E.Guitar    021 AirChoir
    002 SawLead2    012 J.Guitar    022 Strings
    003 QuackLd     013 A.Guitar    023 Brass
    004 BriteDcy    014 E.Bass      024 Trumpet
    005 SquareLd    015 SlapBass    025 Flute
    006 UnderHeim   016 SynBass     026 AltoSax
    007 Analogon    017 DXBass      027 TenorSax
    008 SynBrass    018 Piano       028 Harmnica
    009 E. Piano    019 Pno&Strs    029 HouseKit
    010 DX Piano    020 Pno&Pad     030 PowerKit

So far, this is very similar to the non-vocal instruments in the VKB-100.

Other announcements

Elsewhere in Yamaha key-related news, Yamaha announced the Pianica, PSR-E360, a slew of YDP digital pianos for the home, and the N1X AvantGrand for mucho dollaro (MSRP: $10,999). The Pianica is a breath-blown reed instrument so you can get your Jon Batiste on. The PSR-E360 is an entry-level arranger keyboard with faux wood grain. And naturally, the previously announced Yamaha CP73/CP88 stage pianos are featured at NAMM.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski (except quoted excerpts).

Winter NAMM 2019: You Komplete me

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Native Instruments are trolling the low end and that ain’t bad.

I haven’t jumped into the deep end of the NI pool. Over the holidays, I downloaded the free player versions of Guitar Rig 5, Kontakt and Reaktor 6. I believe in the low end theory which says that you can make good music without dropping a lot of change.

Native Instruments have announced KOMPLETE START, “a new collection of sounds, instruments, and effects that’s 100% free; and new software integration that puts millions of loops and samples from Sounds.com at your fingertips.” The latter part of that message steals a page from Loopmasters’ Loopcloud. This builds on the success of NI’s Sounds.com site.

The KOMPLETE START page promises:

  • Produce and perform with over 2,000 studio-quality sounds — for free
  • 15 pro-grade synths and sampled instruments, plus effects, loops, and samples
  • Browse, preview, and play it all in your recording software with KOMPLETE KONTROL

KOMPLETE START includes over 6GB of instruments, effects, loops and samples. Synths are: TRK-01 Bass, Mikro Prism, Lazerbass, Carbon 2, Space Drone and Newscool. Sampled instruments include World, Band, Synth, Vintage, Urban Beats, Kinetic Treats and the Play Series Selection. Guitar Rig 5 Player is included (17 cabinet emulations and 13 effects) plus the Supercharger tube compressor.

Now, a lot of this sounds like the old free bundle and you would be right. There’s a few new freebies here and there. If the first taste is good, you can upgrade to Komplete 12 Select for $99 USD.

NI have new low-end hardware, too. The Komplete Kontrol M32 is a keyboard controller (32 mini keys)with OLED display, touch strips, knobs and NKS integration. Street price is $129 USD. Ableton Live 10 Lite is bundled in, just in case the ten copies that you have aren’t enough.

Komplete Kontrol M32 features are:

  • Play Smarter: Chord progressions and arpeggios
  • Eight touch sensitive knobs premapped for presets
  • Buttons for DAW control
  • Octave transpose buttons
  • Two touch strips
  • A four-direction push encoder for navigation
  • 10GB of content including the Scarbee Mark I
  • USB MIDI (USB bus powered)
  • TRS pedal input (assignable to sustain)

This sounds like an inexpensive way to get familiar with NKS integration. Not bad. I like these kinds of introductory packages because I can try the software and donate the microcontroller if I don’t like it. There is always some deserving youngster…

NI also announced the Komplete Audio 1 (one channel) and Komplete Audio 2 (two channel) audio interfaces. Street price is $109. Specs for the Komplete Audio 2 are:

  • 2 inputs: 2x combi-XLR/jack inputs with 48V phantom power and individual gain control
  • Outputs: Stereo jack out
  • VU-meter for adjusting levels
  • Direct monitoring for blending audio playback while recording
  • Big volume knob
  • Headphone out with high power output and volume control
  • USB 2.0 bus powered
  • Audio quality: Premium quality at 192 kHz and 24 bit
  • Included software: Ableton Live 10 Lite, MASCHINE Essentials, MONARK, REPLIKA, PHASIS, SOLID BUS COMP, and KOMPLETE START

Per Internet tradition, let’s gripe before we’ve even seen product. I wish it had 5-pin MIDI IN and OUT. The new Mackie and PreSonus interfaces one-up the new NI interfaces in this regard.

The Komplete Kontrol M32, Komplete Audio 1 and 2 are pre-order items. NI are projecting March 6, 2019 availability for the M32.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Winter NAMM 2019: Super fly

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In the portable amps category, Blackstar are launching the Super Fly mini amp: two 3 inch speakers, 12 Watts, Bluetooth, battery power (eight AA cells), tilt back stand, optional rechargeable battery pack. [Click image to enlarge.]

Mini amps are usually designed for electric guitar. So, if you’re a keyboard player looking to put your synth or digital piano through one, don’t expect a clean sound. I was super excited by the original Blackstar Fly until I ran a synth into it. Of course, if you’re looking for grunge, that’s fine.

What gives me hope about the Super Fly: The Super Fly has two channels: an XLR/jack combi input for microphones and line level instruments and the usual instrument input for guitars, including overdrive. Potentially, Blackstar have paid attention to the clean sound and not simply “clean” in the sense of clean guitar (still colored!) There are separate, per channel EQ and reverb controls. As I said yesterday, when it comes to mini amps, definitely try-before-buy.

Musicradar has the UK price at 199£. We should expect a USA price at about $259 USD.

IK Multimedia have pumped steroids into the successful iLoud Micro Monitor and will be shipping the iLoud MTM: 100W RMS, 103dB SPL, 40Hz to 24kHz frequency range, $349.99USD. They will be available during the second quarter of 2019. Each monitor unit has a pair of 3.5 inch woofers and a 1 inch tweeter. The “MTM” means a midrange-tweeter-midrange symmetrical design. The iLoud MTM performs built-in acoustic self-calibration using its built-in ARC™ reference microphone.

The original iLoud Micro Monitor sounds damned fine and I’m looking forward to hearing the iLoud MTM when it’s available.

Looking for an 88-key controller? Test the Akai MPK Road 88: 88 keys (duh!), fully weighted hammer action, aftertouch, pitch bend and mod wheels, class-compliant USB, 5-pin MIDI IN and OUT, 2 expression pedal inputs, 1 sustain pedal input, 4-output USB soundcard, 67 pounds (shipping weight). Street price: $899.

The board is fairly slim although 67 pounds is scary if you don’t have your personal road crew. Best yet for touring — it has a detachable hinged cover. At least you won’t have to put this beast into a road case!

BTW, I think we should expect more from Yamaha at Winter NAMM 2019. Their NAMM preview press release hints at portable keyboards, hybrid pianos, combo instruments and band instruments.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Winter NAMM 2019: Today’s catch

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Given all of the on-line resources and forums, I don’t really try to cover the music tech universe. Sites like MusicRadar, etc. have staff for that. I prefer to take note of products that I will visit again in the future. Shucks, my memory ain’t so good anymore.

One product worth another look is the McDSP APB-16 Analog Processing Box.

McDSP have a solid record as plug-in providers. Now it looks like they are venturing into the hardware realm. Digital DSP is no biggy, but McDSP are promising programmable analog processing — sixteen analog channels controlled by a Pro Tools plug-in. Other specs from the press release are:

  • Premium analog components
  • Multiple analog saturation options
  • APB-ready software plug-in bundle
  • Sample accurate automation
  • AKM 32-bit DAC and ADC
  • Thunderbolt 2 and 3 compatible

The press release is an announcement, so details and technical information are scant. The APB-16 is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2019. No price, of course.

I’m always a sucker for small, cute, practice amps. The IK Multimedia iRig Micro Amp grabbed my attention: 4 inch speaker, 15W RMS (adapter), 7.5W (battery), iOS/USB interface (24-bit up to 96kHz), battery-powered (6 AA cells), 3 band EQ, 2.8 pounds (1.26kg). Of course, it integrates with AmpliTube. $149.99USD.

It’s definitely try-before-buy with these tiny amps, especially when putting a keyboard through them. I’d like to run Reface YC into it. It would definitely be cool to add AmpliTube Leslie into the signal chain. IK Multimedia have a winner in the iLoud Micro Monitor, so I’m hopeful. The price is right, too.

IK Multimedia are hawking their NAMM sale (40% off popular software titles). That’s a good reminder to watch for NAMM specials. I snagged Toontrack EZKeys on a holiday special and I’m looking to expand. Oh, gosh, I should really write up a mini review! I really had to try EZKeys to “get it.”

Loopmasters are pre-announcing version 4 of their Loopcloud sample management tool. Version 4 will be available during the first quarter of 2019.

The Loopcloud Version 4 loop editor will “slice, edit, bounce and save”, apparently allowing definition of patterns that can be applied again and again to other samples.

I’ve been warming up to the Loopcloud concept and workflow having purchased a library or two during holiday sales. Although I still like having big local libraries, there is simply too much material to sort through. And, we’ve all had the experience of buying a library and then using 0.0001% of it. Much better to buy incrementally unless you really, really love an entire library.

Loopcloud is quite generous with new sounds for trial, too. The trial sounds are the same as the Loopmasters’ Taster Packs, but it’s possible to try sounds in a musical context of your own making.

Here’s a few more very quick hits:

Wow, it’s like Winter NAMM 2019 has already happened — and the show still hasn’t opened!

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Winter NAMM 2019: Make it redder

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Just in case the world isn’t red enough for you, Nord have introduced the Nord Piano Monitor by Audio Pro. [Click image to enlarge.]


The monitors mount directly on the Nord Piano 4 using (optional) mounting brackets. The brackets also allow attachment to mic stands.

Specs are (courtesy of Nord):

  • Dual inputs for keyboard and aux
  • Weight 5,5 kg / pair
  • Tweeter size 3/4″
  • Woofer size 4 1/2″
  • 2 x 80 Watt

I guess that real specs (e.g., frequency response, etc.) and USA pricing will come later.

Audio Pro AB of Sweden make a raft of high-quality consumer speaker systems, including Drumfire which they call “The loudest playing multiroom speaker ($699 USD).

Southside Johnny used a Fender guitar amp with his turntable. He was quoted, “I don’t want good. I want loud.” Loud never goes out of style.

The obligatory video for non-readers. 🙂

Winter NAMM 2019: Short bits

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The Effigy Labs MIDI foot controller is a pedal that frees your left hand from MOD wheel and pitch bend duties. The pedal sends MIDI on both USB-B and DIN-5 outputs. The pedal takes power from either USB, internal 9V battery or external AC adapter. Although the pedal is programmed at the factory to send modulation and pitch bend, it can be configured to send other MIDI messages including System Exclusive (SysEx) messages. Their site mentions open source software, but I couldn’t easily find a link to code.

The Effigy Labs foot controller pedal is $299 USD. Folks are either gonna love the industrial look or they’re gonna hate on it.

Here’s the demo video.

Teenage go modular

By now, you’re heard about the new modular synth gear from Teenage Engineering. The range include:

  • 170: An analog monophonic synth with built-in programmable sequence (complete kit: $349 USD).
  • 400:: 3 oscillators, noise, random generator, 2 envelopes, 2 VCA, LFO, mixer, speaker, power pack and 1-16 step sequencer (complete kit: $499).
  • 16: Stand-along keyboard and programmable step sequencer (complete kit: $149).

Teenage Engineering have the assembly and usage manual on-line.

Keeping with the Pocket Operator theme, the new modules are skeletal and good-taste industrial. The sheet metal parts come flat so this is a fold-your-own synth. Looks like the 400 is already out of stock.

Ace up their sleeve

ATV Corporation are reviving the Ace Tone brand. Ace Tone is noted for many vintage classics like Rhythm Ace (FR-1, FR-2, FR-6 and so on), the EC-10 echo chamber, various pedals/amplifiers, and of course, those luscious combo organs (Top-1, Top-3, Top-5, and so on). This will start much speculation about the future products which will bear the Ace Tone name. ATV currently produce a line of percussion and drum instruments.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Winter NAMM 2019: Korg get spiffed

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spiff, verb, make someone or some thing attractive, tidy or stylish

By now, you’ve heard and seen the Korg Kronos SE (Special Edition) with the new love it or hate it paint job. I hope it looks better in person than its pictures! The Kronos SE adds the Italian piano which first appeared in the Korg Grandstage.

It also adds a sound library from Kurt Ader (KApro). The KAPro library includes orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds and choir. That’s a boost for the Kronos; I felt that Kronos orchestral instruments were somethat flat, lacking the expressiveness of Yamaha’s high-end offerings.

Korg also spiffed up the Krome. The Krome EX workstation increases PCM storage to 4GBytes. New samples include a refreshed piano, so-called “ethnic instruments,” and EDM synths and drum kits. [I guess a sound is “ethnic” only if it comes from someone else’s musical culture. Country western music is ethnic. 🙂 ]

Expected USA prices for Korg EX are: $1,049.99 (61 key), $1,249.99 (73 key) and $1,649.99 (88 key). Current models (non-EX) are heavily discounted to clear room for the EX. If you dig vanilla Krome, you can get a good deal right now.

As other punters have noted, Korg needs to get its groove on to compete with the new Yamaha MODX. The EX spiff buys time while Korg prepare a more substantial response.

Even the baby of the Korg family has gotten a new paint job: the Korg Kross Special Edition. There are four color choices: grey-orange, grey-blue, grey-red and grey-green. [Click image to enlarge.]

Now, this is color! These colors convey fun! I especially like the grey-blue. Damn, that looks nice. Also, be on the lookout for the Korg KROSS 2-61 pure white limited edition.

BTW, the term “spiff” in retail-speak is slang for a sales bonus. Often, manufacturers (or employer) directly pay a bonus to a salesperson for selling a specific product. Beware pushy salespeople!

Take a tour of the Krome and Kronos architecture.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski