Re: Another NAMM Report

[Kim Flint <kflint@annihilist.com>]

At 8:06 PM -0500 1/31/98, Dpcoffin@aol.com wrote:

>2. The Signature 284 All tube Class A Stereo Guitar Amplifier, optimized 
>for

didn't listen to this one, but a fellow on a guitar tone obsessed list I
follow described it as "a transistor radio with the batteries going dead."
Presumably that's a bad thing. Why Lexicon is trying to produce all tube
guitar amps is a bit baffling......


>When asked about looping, my contact claimed that theyâd been
>kicking>themselves over dropping the Jamman, since they started getting
>big orders>shortly thereafter, and would ãdefinitelyä be back in the
>looping game ãsoon.ä
I guess that's why they've done nothing with Bob Sellon's JamMan upgrades?



>Electro-Harmonix guy told me that the 16-sec delay was still in the works,
>and>would be ãexactly the same...ä
exactly the same, except "this time it won't break down ever."  Which of
course, means it won't be "exactly" the same. The vintage market will
undoubtedly find some way to prove that there is still a reason to pay
$1200 for the old one.



>tc electronicâs FireworX multifx looked extremely powerful, like a
>second-gen>G-Force that even includes a MIDI-addressable mono synth, has
>programmable>ãinsertä capabilities--like an fx loop using either the
>digital or analog i/o>that youâre not already using, as far as I can
>figure--programmable feedback>loops, modulatable modulators (including a
>kind of mini sequencer called>ãfreeformä), and you can divide up the dsp
>horsepower any way you want, using>multiple blocks of any algorithms that
>use less than 50% of the resources. The>front-panel block buttons include
>Dynamic, Filters, Formant, Distort, Vocode,>Synth, Pitch, Chorus, Delay,
>Reverb, Pan, and EQ...and there are ring mod,>noise, and reverse delay
>options, altho the delay times didnât appear to be>any longer than on the
>G-Force (well under 2 sec).
This thing is extremely cool! Pricey, but definitely a sound designer's
dream toy.


>Roland had some neat stuff (a 24-bit 8-in, 16-out version of the VS-880
>with a>bigger screen, a super phrase sampler that caches directly to a
>zip drive for>about 26 minutes of stereo sampling and used 2 simultaneous
>Dimension Beam>controllers to modulate fx or control audio....), but
>nothing new on the>guitar front. The VG-8 is still in the catalog, tho...
The roland SP-808 groovesampler is my vote for the coolest thing I saw at
the show. Oriented towards remixing, but full of cool sounding features.
However, roland has a knack for making stuff that is incredible at first
glance but problematic and disappointing in practical use. (MC-303, GR-30,
etc....)  So, I'll wait for the jury to come back on this one.


>Believe me, it was PAINful to have to leave the show before I saw more!

Believe me, it was PAINFUL to stay there long. The damn LA convention
center is very spread out and has too many different levels. After a few
days of walking for miles, my legs and feet were killing me!

kim



______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                   | Looper's Delight
kflint@annihilist.com       | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html
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