GEAR : The Best Synths and Gadgets at NAMM 2020
The NAMM Show is a convention held every year in Anaheim, CA. It gathers pros of music tech, and it’s a good insight into what’s coming up in the crazy, crazy world of the music industry. But that’s not why you care about NAMM. You care about NAMM because it’s generally there that all the cool synths and grooveboxes are unveiled. The 2020 edition of the show is wrapping up today, so there might be some surprises left to be unveiled, but it’s fair to say there have been some pretty inspiring stuff launched this weekend. Here are some of the gear that will be populating my wildest dreams in the next few months…
System 100 | Behringer
Everyone laughed at me when I started using Behringer microphones, and everyone was unsurprisingly condescending when the affordable company announced its plans to recreate a bunch of classic synths. Who’s laughing now that Behringer is one of the most promising synth manufacturers out there? Me, that’s who. On top of it’s emulation of Roland’s TR-606, they have launched a bunch of recreation of Roland System 100 module’s, for all you Eurorack-heads.
Bassline DB-01 | Erika Synth
There has been a lot of excellent TB-303 clones in recent years, from Roland’s faithful recreation to some very cool boutique options. The Latvian company Erika Synth just came up with its own version, which should get your blood pumping if you’re into gritty, overdriven acid techno.
Pro 3 | Sequential Circuit
I’m a big Dave Smith nerd, and although I don’t use a lot of hardware synths when making music, I still hold hope that someday I’ll settle down and move in with a nice Prophet 6, Sequential Circuits’ riff on the Prophet 5. If you’re more a Pro-One kinda guy/girl/non-binary person, the Pro 3 looks sick. Alternately, I suggest you consider the underrated Toraiz AS-1.
CREDIT: MusicTech
MPC One | AKAI
AKAI has spent the 2010s reinventing its flagship sampler, the influential MPC. If you couldn’t quite afford the MPC Live or the MPC X, this One might be for you (pun intended). It has a lot of the capabilities of its more mature siblings, but it promises to fit in your backpack. A good alternative if you can’t shell out 7.5k$ for one of Dave Rossum’s restored SP-1200.
Subsequent 25 | Moog
In your synth collection, this new Moog will fit snugly between your Sub Phatty and your Sub 37, although it’s closer to the former than the latter. This is the no-nonsense synth that will help you add a little oomph to your tracks. There are plenty of alternatives out there, but none of them have a cool trailer featuring music by Flying Lotus. (Although I prefered the Sub Phatty trailer, tbh. See below.)
Aura | Nektar
A sort of cross hybrid between Arturia’s Beatstep and Ableton’s Push, this little devil get help you get outside of your box and into a creativity flow. Control your plugins, sequence MIDI or trigger hardware. My allegiance will always be to NI’s Maschine, just because it comes with an amazing software, but hey, I wouldn’t kick Aura out of bed. (Yep, in this scenario, I’m having sex with a MIDI controller…)