This year we spotted Jack Pharaoh jamming on Monster Go-DJ Device:
Sunday, February 7, 2016
NAMM 2016: Harman Audio - AKG
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| Photo by Patrick Young |
Harman had a large isolated area just outside of the Arena. All of
their brand's new products were on display - new closed-back headphones
from AKG, PA and stage monitor speakers from JBL, rackmoutable preamps,
EQ's, and compressors from dbx, and a few new guitar pedals from
DigiTech.
AKG
AKG added several new headphones to their line-up this year. The
K52, K72, K92 closed-back studio headphone line is meant for
live/session recording. They are also advertised as a mixing headphone,
but at an entry level only. The AKG rep explained that most of the cost
went into a high quality driver and that construction and parts costs
were minimized. Don't expect these to be as rugged as more expensive
models. These closed back models will be a better alternative to the
traditional K240's if you are concerned with noise bleed getting picked
up in your mics.
AKG also released the K182
which are designed for live applications like electronic drums and
keyboard where more isolation may be necessary. Additionally, the K182
are designed to travel with a larger driver, more durable construction,
fold-able ear cups, and a detachable cable.
Owning
a pair of K702's and doing a significance amount of my sound design
with them, I wanted to do some critical listening (well, as much as can
be done in a noisy environment) of AKG's new, and existing headphone
models. Below is a summary of my listening notes:
K812 - Deep sound stage, with a well balanced sound and more
'mature' bass. The cans themselves were fairly heavy and less stable on
my head than I would have liked.
K712 - 2-3kHz bump, claps
played nice and crisp on these. Certainly more bass than K702, but not
necessarily in a desired punchy way.
K553 - Clean sound and tighter on the head, LOUD! with a defined low end
K182
- First impression was that the ear cups were too small for my head,
but I grew to like these (in just 10 minutes). Good instrument
separation, clean highs, but feels like it's pushing a little too hard.
These would be a great set of headphone to pump up with - gym/sports,
regardless of recording or performing.
K167DJ - good presence, low end and snug on the head. Exactly what you'd need if you were in a noisy club.
K92 - muddy and missing that high end sparkle
K72 - good presence, clean snares and claps, overall my clear favorite out of K52, K72, K92
K52 - fairly tinny, some high end and bass.
[NOTE:
please remember on the new K52, K72, K92 that I had just gotten done
listening through headphones many times more expensive] |
| Photo by Patrick Young |
Bio: Electrical Engineer and sole proprietor of Speaker Feature Studios, Patrick Young spends much of his free time designing software synthesizer patches and plugins for other artists and content creators.
Links:
NAMM 2016: Waves
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| Photo by Patrick Young |
The Waves booth at NAMM was busy as expected. Featured guests over
the weekend included Eddie Kramer, Tony Maserati, Andrew Scheps, Dave
Pensado, Manny Marroquin, and more. About half the floor space was
dedicated to DiGiGrid, but being almost entirely in the box, I was more
excited to learn what was new in the plug-in world.
Greg Wells MixCentric, VoiceCentric, PianoCentric
Waves has introduced Greg Wells' new Voice, Piano, and Mix Centric effects plugins. (http://www.waves.com/bundles/
Element 2
Since a lot of my time is spent designing sounds for software synthesizers, I wanted to focus on perhaps a less publicized "new" plugin - Element 2. At first glance, you won't notice much difference between Element 2 and it's predecessor Element except a change in GUI skin. Waves updated some of the control, with tweaks to Unison, LFO1/2 sync, pitchbend range, bitcrusher model, and added ARP/SEQ hold and retrigger. The Waves representative at NAMM also mentioned some minor tweaks were done to the filter, ADSR envelopes and effects, but the biggest difference - and the reason it's now a regular synthesizer in my arsenal - is the reworked wave forms. The basic waveform shapes didn't change, but Waves new Virtual Voltage technology has added a whole lot of high-end harmonic content that gives the sound more presence, bite, and overall fullness over Element. The below screenshot is a comparison of the Sawtooth waveform from Element 2 and Element (with HD on). You can see a huge difference in high end roll-off:
In doing a side by side Saw wave comparison with other popular softsynths - Element 2's
sawtooth has similar high end harmonics and presence as that of
Massive, Sylenth1, and Serum, but had a fuller low end; almost like it
had intentional sub added (even though Sub knob on Element 2 was off).
This additional bass if probably why I found it so pleasant (and quick!)
to make arpeggiated bass lines in Element 2.
Presets
Element 2 comes with a whole new set of Presets. Still categorized by sound type, Element 2 almost doubles the total number of presets offered in Element
(original presets are included). The presets come out pretty polished,
so you may need to dial the effects back when trying to get them to sit
correctly in your mix.
Unison
I wanted to talk about the new unison 2/4 Voices option (Element only
included a Unison button) since it's my only recommended improvement. I
use multiple voices in nearly any patch I make, but from a usability
and mixing standpoint I found that Unison of 2 (or even 4) was too wide
in the stereo field.This is especially true for bass sounds that you may
want to have more down the middle. The work around I have been using,
but isn't ideal since it's an additional purchase, is using Waves Center to mono out some of the lows. A width slider within Element 2 would be much more preferable.
Overall, Element 2 is a win. The new waveforms jump out at you compared to Element and speed at which you can program this synth keeps you focused on the song. It's only bundled with Mercury and Dave Aude EMP Toolbox, but at the (current) price of $71, it's very reasonable.
Bio: Electrical Engineer and sole proprietor of Speaker Feature Studios, Patrick Young spends much of his free time designing software synthesizer patches and plugins for other artists and content creators.
Links:
NAMM 2016: Nektar
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| Photo by Patrick Young |
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| Photo by Patrick Young |
Bio: Electrical Engineer and sole proprietor of Speaker Feature Studios, Patrick Young spends much of his free time designing software synthesizer patches and plugins for other artists and content creators.
Links:
NAMM 2016: MOOG Music
This year, Moog took us back in time to the 70's when they had the, "Island Of Electronicus" events created by David Van Koevering. Synthesizers were placed around the Island with cushion seats close to the ground for passerby's to sit and play. 
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