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| The first picture I took as I approached the Anaheim Convention Center this year |
As a press agent and a musician, the most abundant feeling I had throughout the event was one of togetherness. There was this amazing sense of connection with the other people present. Time was flying by, the halls were noisy, and tons of stuff was going on at any given moment, but beneath all that there was a genuine sense of being together. It seemed everyone had a smile on their face, an invitation to give out to an after party, or an offer of business partnership that was more than just a mere business card exchange. What a wonderful, positive, and collaborative event NAMM and The Lippin Group put together again this winter.
There is much to write about now that the show is over, but let's start by covering three of the biggest categories: Best of Show (previously "Most Interesting New Gear"), Most Impressive Vendor Booth, and Most Unexpected Innovation.
1) Best of Show: ORANGE OPC PERSONAL COMPUTER HYBRID MK3
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| The Orange OPC Computer/Amplifier is super rad. |
The Orange OPC isn't new, but I was surprised how few people knew about it until recently. Let's fix that, because it's really rad.
I had the opportunity to ask Charlie Cooper about the Orange OPC, which was really convenient considering he designed and engineered the whole thing. Bottom line, you are getting a full-blown computer (yes, computer) and a guitar amplifier with a recording interface to boot. And we really can't emphasize the computer part enough -- it's a fully loaded system with everything you need to do your normal computing activities like word processing, internet surfing, and more. For the modern guitarist, this can literally replace your home computer. We're talking options including Intel Core i7 processors, up to 16 GB of DDR3 RAM, 250 GB solid state drives, two dedicated audio cards, included top-of-the-line recording software, and more. Wow. Here's the entire software bundle for consideration:
- Windows 8
- Mixcraft
- Amplitube 3
- Amplitube Orange
- EZ Drummer
- LickLibrary Tuition Center
- Studio One: Orange Edition
With options starting at just over $1,000 USD, the Orange OPC is sure to be a hit among home studio guys, beginning guitarists, and even advanced guitarists looking for self-recording options.
2) Most Impressive Vendor Booth: FENDER
Fender had an incredibly large room upstairs with all of their related brands in one neat spot. The size of the room was incredible, and while I would normally be more inclined to give this award to a smaller fish (to show support for the underdog), the sheer insanity that went into the Fender 'booth' was too much to ignore. It was literally a trade show within a trade show. Great job, Fender. Here are just a few of the photos I took of the booth, which show the variety of brands and even a live concert in the middle of their area.
3) Most Unexpected Innovation: SLATE DIGITAL VIRTUAL MIC SYSTEM
This was something I had to hear with my own two ears to believe it. There was quite a conversation brewing on gearslutz.com before/during the event, so I made it a priority to visit the Slate Digital booth and get the full scoop on the new microphone modeling system. Bottom line, I thought the modeling software did a pretty darn good job.
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| Testing the Slate system vs. a Neumann U47 |
There is an ongoing debate in the audio community regarding Analog vs. Digital gear and equipment. Essentially, the question posed is always, "Is Analog recording gear better (sounding) than Digital plugins and emulation?" Most folks tend to think that analog stuff is better, because it's authentic and includes real, physical parts made and assembled by human beings. In the other camp, there are plenty of software engineers and plugin designers that will tell you their software gets all the way there, and sometimes even farther (than analog gear) and at a fraction of the price.
The actual results tend to vary depending on specific products and plugins in question. We all know there are some really decent digital plugins out there, whereas on the other hand certain analog pieces will continue to be studio cornerstones for decades to come. One particularly difficult thing to model in the digital world, though, is the unique combination of characteristics that come from matching different types of high-end microphones with high-end preamps. They tend to impart certain colors onto the sound, affect phase in specific ways, and alter the EQ as the signal passes through the equipment.
In the digital world, a software engineer must figure out how to replicate the final sound product after "listening" to it with algorithmic software designed to reverse engineer the sound. In the case of Slate Digital, they have gone to painstaking lengths to test and model a huge variety of microphones and preamps such that anyone can have an entire mic locker for a couple thousand bucks. While there are still skeptics out there, I took the following two videos from just a few feet away during an A/B demonstration and couldn't tell the difference between the real Neumann U47/Neve preamp combo and the Slate Digital modeled version. You can skip to the second video around 1:00 if you are only interested in hearing the A/B itself, since in the first video he mostly just talks about how it works.
Again, I couldn't tell a difference between the two signal paths and my ear is decently trained to hear that sort of thing out. The hall was a bit noisy and the speakers weren't necessarily setup in the optimal manner for monitoring this type of test, but all the same I think Slate Digital did a good job with this software. If nothing else, the value is certainly there since you can get six figures worth of microphones for just a couple thousand bucks!
Don't forget to check out my YouTube channel for more coverage of the show!
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