NAMM 2017:

It was raining. California was finally getting water. Chris and I, who create music as The Mercury Seven, had arrived early, as Dave B. had generously given us some great parking passes so we wouldn't get drenched parking far away and walking over. After eating breakfast and hanging out in the Marriott for a while, we started by walking around in Hall E, where so much of the fun, inventive, and weird stuff often is. As well as a surprising amount of harps.

The Mercury Seven on Bandcamp
The Mercury Seven on Facebook

This is not meant to be comprehensive. It's not even close. It's just what I saw while NAMMbulatilng, and nothing more, with my iPhone in tow. Enjoy!

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Copper Sound Effects Pedals.

Telegraph Stutter

"If Samuel Morse built killswitches.

The Telegraph Stutter encompasses one of the most simple audio effects in the most unique looking package. When the key is in its traditional resting position (up), audio is passed through fully unaffected. When the key is pressed (down), the audio is fully cut and no sound will pass through. The POLARITY SWITCH allows you to reverse the orientation.

Rapidly tapping the key can result in a nice fully manual tremolo effect. Having full manual control over the rate of the cut means the effect can achieve unique sounds. The tremolo does not have to be set at a predetermined rate, nor does the pattern have to be of the traditional type. Knowing Morse code can yield fun, creative “patterns.” Being a hand controlled effect, there are more benefits than being foot controlled. A tremolo rate can be tapped while manually ramping the speed up or down. Placing the device on top of your amp directly before your amp input is a good place for it. When standing in front of your amp, you can get some fun feedback and chop that up with the Telegraph. It sounds even better with your favourite fuzz or OD!

The straight key has two adjustments on it. One is to adjust the tension of the spring that pushes against the key to bring it back to resting position. The other is to adjust the height between the contact points that cut the signal.

This is a HAND CONTROLLED effect pedal."

Party Bag.

This looked like a great idea, and I could see people who go to small outdoor events, parties, etc. really liking this.

ZVex pedal booth. Inventive and absolutely fascinating.

From the website (and they clearly care how you can save money from batteries over the course of 37 years, so pay attention):

"The Candela VibroPhase is the world's first candle-powered guitar effect. Designed for fans of the 1800s, guitar effects enthusiasts who have to have everything, and guitarists who want a wildly more adjustable take on the Univibe than has ever been created before. The sound sweeps from subtle vibrato to Leslie-like phasing with a speed range wider than anything ZVEX has ever produced. There are two gear ratios on the Stirling engine that cover about a 20:1 speed range when used with the eddy current brake, which is a 1" diameter neodymium sphere magnet. You can paint your own modulation patterns on the interchangeable optical control discs, which quickly pop in and out of the machine, so you can create your own LFO wave shape and rhythm. 

THE CANDLE 

There's a tea light candle that powers the Candela in three ways. Naturally it gets very hot, about 1400°C/2500°F, so don't start a fire and keep children and animals away. It burns for 4-5 hours for around 8.3 cents per unit. So over the course of 37 years, if you play for 10 hours a day, your Candela VibroPhase will pay for itself in battery savings alone."

ZVex pedal booth. I've had my eye on the Fuzz Factory pedal for a while, although now, this new version of the Fuzz Factory has some new features. This variation features a three position mini toggle switch. Setting 1 is a standard Fuzz Factory, settings 2 and 3 introduce “low” and “lower” frequencies to manipulate, oscillate, and mutate as you like. The Fat Fuzz Factory sounds fantastic on both guitar and bass! This is a fuzz pedal, sure, but it is not a polite one, as it is prone to cone-shredding sounds, strange mutations, and getting out of control.

Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator calculator. Fun and absurdly cheap for what they do.

Here's how Teenage Engineering describes them: "pocket operators are small, ultra portable music devices,with studio quality sound and the flexibility to make music on the go. affordable for everyone and compatible with all other music gear.
for an impossibly cheap price from $ 49." The one I messed around with, the PO-12,had really fat sounding drum machine sounds and was fun to play. The price is certainly right. They apparently can be used in conjunction with the truly amazing OP-1 keyboard/synthesizer/tape recorder emulation/processor/whatever thingy.

More info on the Pocket Operators here (there's several kinds): https://www.teenageengineering.com/products/po

Korg Arp Odyssey. Exactly what you think it is. We'll let Korg's marketing maestros take it from here:

"The ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer originally produced in 1972 by the American manufacturer ARP Instruments, Inc. that quickly garnered a faithful following among musicians. Well respected for its high value, ease to play and portability, the ARP Odyssey had undergone several improvements during its history and continued to be a long-seller until manufacturing stopped in 1981 due to economic hardships and the digital surge. Loved by a wide range of musicians as a historical classic, its sound can be heard on numerous classic songs. 

Now in 2015, KORG has brought back the ARP Odyssey for today. With the advisory assistance of David Friend, the co-founder of ARP Instruments, KORG has completely reproduced the original circuitry for artists looking to recreate classic sounds and explore new ones. Together the engineers at KORG and Arp were able to nail the sound and feel of the original. Every detail has been carefully considered to stay true to the quality of the original, down to the sophisticated semi-hard case." - See more at: http://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/arpodyssey/#sthash.ZtIyUs9p.dpuf

Anaheim Convention Center Friday night.

I went to hang out with my keyboard playing friends from the Keyboard Corner, who came in from all corners of the country and beyond. Always a pleasure.

21 January 2017 Saturday:

I can't think of this NAMM without thinking of what was going on simultaneously. on Friday, arriving early because it was raining quite a bit, my friend Chris and I hung out in the Marriott eating and talking while an impossible-to-ignore large screen TV played Trump's Inauguration, thankfully with the sound down. I sat facing away from it somewhat, so did pretty good at ignoring the swearing in of a small-minded, hateful, racist, misogynistic idiot, easily the least prepared incoming President in our history. I missed most of this garbage because I sat facing away.

However, two people stood up from the bar and began clapping after he took his oath, drawing attention back to this.

It was clearly on everyone's minds, as even people running booths told of their pride in getting Trump in office while referring to Obama as "Barack Hussein" when talking about the government raids to confiscate exotic woods from guitar manufacturers. People who run booths have typically avoided discussion of politics, but not this year.

The next day, Saturday, my girlfriend somehow managed to make her way down to the Women's March. She sent me this photo of the North Hollywood train station. As of this writing, it seems at least 750,000 people came out for the Women's March in Los Angeles alone.

Modal Synthesizers CraftSynth. $99. Fun. Fat. Small. This is Chris messing with the synth while listening. It's small open size also allows Modal to ship them flat, requiring the user about ten minutes to put it together. Initially, this was in a small metal enclosure, but Modal decided to make it this way, knocking over one hundred dollars off it, and making it look really cool and open, as well as the aforementioned shipping bonus.

Here's how Modal's marketing maestros describe it:

"Build Your Own Synth!

Taking minimalism to an extreme, the Modal CRAFTsynth comes as a kit you can quickly assemble into a fully operational digital monosynth — no soldering needed! There's a total of four oscillators onboard the CRAFTsynth (two per voice), and you can set each to sine, triangle, sawtooth, pulse-width-modulated square, noise, or frequency modulation modes. Unison/spread mode lets you separate all four oscillators for huge, fat sounds. Sweetwater synth nuts love the LFO, which offers six assignment destinations, including filter cutoff, VCA amplitude, and more.

Modal's CRAFTapp for iOS, Android, Mac OS, and Windows lets you connect to multiple CRAFTsynths and dive into advanced functions. In addition to accessing variable filter states, the CRAFTapp lets you define your envelopes, set waveforms, and control modulation. Modal is constantly expanding this app's capabilities, eventually offering note chaining between multiple CRFTsynths and class-compliant MIDI routing."

Valente electric piano, a reed piano.

A quick search and I can't find anything, but regardless, this Valente reed electric piano sounded great, felt great to play, and had hammers made of wood. It's also light, comparatively speaking, to something like a Rhodes electric piano, weighing about 50 pounds. They are looking into manufacturing, with the various members of the team now living in different areas, even as far as Brazil. They are working out the kinks in manufacturing, and hope to sell this for somewhere between $3000-$4000, depending on what manufacturing ultimately entails. I hope it goes well for them. This was a beautiful looking and sounding product.

This seems to be done by Key Magic. This is Key Magic's Facebook Page.

Valente electric piano.

A quick search and I can't find anything, but regardless, this Valente reed electric piano sounded great, felt great to play, and had hammers made of wood. It's also light, comparatively speaking, to something like a Rhodes electric piano, weighing about 50 pounds. They are looking into manufacturing, with the various members of the team now living in different areas, even as far as Brazil. They are working out the kinks in manufacturing, and hope to sell this for somewhere between $3000-$4000, depending on what manufacturing ultimately entails. I hope it goes well for them. This was a beautiful looking and sounding product.

This seems to be done by Key Magic. This is Key Magic's Facebook Page.

Valente electric piano.

A quick search and I can't find anything, but regardless, this Valente reed electric piano sounded great, felt great to play, and had hammers made of wood. It's also light, comparatively speaking, to something like a Rhodes electric piano, weighing about 50 pounds. They are looking into manufacturing, with the various members of the team now living in different areas, even as far as Brazil. They are working out the kinks in manufacturing, and hope to sell this for somewhere between $3000-$4000, depending on what manufacturing ultimately entails. I hope it goes well for them. This was a beautiful looking and sounding product.

This seems to be done by Key Magic. This is Key Magic's Facebook Page.

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