Recording Gear and Controllers at NAMM
NAMM probably has the largest collection of recording equipment, controllers, and instruments in North America. The AES show has an interesting and large collection of gear, but the NAMM show in Anaheim dwarfed the last AES show I saw in NYC.
The highlights from the recording and controller side of the industry were the new desktop and iPhone/iPod mics from Blue and the new Ableton Live controller from Akai (APC40). The new Akai controller boasts a grid of buttons that directly control the Ableton clip grid as well as a set of sliders, knobs and a crossfader to easily and visually operate the features of Live. This is a piece of gear I am anxious to get my hands on and use in the studio and on stage.
Some honorable mentions are the Korg nano series controllers now in black, a firmware and software update to the Lemur, and some updated PreSonus digital recording interfaces and mixers.
