Geoff Grace
01-19-2008, 12:20 PM
I don't have much to share from my brief trip to the show, but here goes.
I was able to sit down for a few minutes and play the Roland RD700GX. Unfortunately I had to keep the volume down low because a demo was starting a few feet away, but I enjoyed the action. There was enough resistance to provide a light piano feel, and it didn't bottom out too abruptly. My favorite action is still Kawai's "AWA Pro" wooden-key action, but the RD700GX was certainly better than most.
I was very impressed with the Elastic Audio Pro Tools 7.4 feature demoed at the Digidesign booth. Craig interviewed me about it for a Harmony central video, so if you want to know more, click here (http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM08/) and watch the "Day 1 Highlights" video. (My segment is about midway through.)
I caught most of the MOTU Digital Performer 6 demo. The new feature that impressed me most was its ability to manage plug-ins like Mac OS 9's extension manager. You can choose which plug-ins load when DP boots to save RAM and time. There's also the ability to turn takes into separate tracks and vice versa, new features aimed at composers who use external monitors for video, a virtual instrument that recreates a wide variety of classic keyboards, and much more.
I came in at the very end of the Spectrasonics Omnisphere demo, which is when they covered the envelope feature. The main window displays only an ADSR control of envelopes, but the envelopes themselves can be far more complex and they can be seen in full in their own dedicated window. You can tell Omnisphere to generate a single random envelope or generate a series of random envelopes in time; and if you like what it did, you can save it as a preset. Unfortunately, Omnisphere isn't expected to ship until September 15th.
I was able to try two of the Quantum Leap Pianos at the East West booth, and I was very impressed by the feel, features, and sound -- although it's tough to be sure about the sound one can hear above the cacophony of the convention hall. If I recall correctly, there are four pianos in the collection and each has about 60 GB of samples. They had a damper pedal and a soft pedal available and both felt natural in use.
High-end manufacturer Euphonix has released a pair of DAW controllers -- priced at $999.99 and $1,499.99 -- in their new Artist Series (http://www.euphonix.com/artist/news/releases/?release=r080117_artist). I didn't get to try them, but anything from Euphonix is worth at least a look.
Best,
Geoff
I was able to sit down for a few minutes and play the Roland RD700GX. Unfortunately I had to keep the volume down low because a demo was starting a few feet away, but I enjoyed the action. There was enough resistance to provide a light piano feel, and it didn't bottom out too abruptly. My favorite action is still Kawai's "AWA Pro" wooden-key action, but the RD700GX was certainly better than most.
I was very impressed with the Elastic Audio Pro Tools 7.4 feature demoed at the Digidesign booth. Craig interviewed me about it for a Harmony central video, so if you want to know more, click here (http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM08/) and watch the "Day 1 Highlights" video. (My segment is about midway through.)
I caught most of the MOTU Digital Performer 6 demo. The new feature that impressed me most was its ability to manage plug-ins like Mac OS 9's extension manager. You can choose which plug-ins load when DP boots to save RAM and time. There's also the ability to turn takes into separate tracks and vice versa, new features aimed at composers who use external monitors for video, a virtual instrument that recreates a wide variety of classic keyboards, and much more.
I came in at the very end of the Spectrasonics Omnisphere demo, which is when they covered the envelope feature. The main window displays only an ADSR control of envelopes, but the envelopes themselves can be far more complex and they can be seen in full in their own dedicated window. You can tell Omnisphere to generate a single random envelope or generate a series of random envelopes in time; and if you like what it did, you can save it as a preset. Unfortunately, Omnisphere isn't expected to ship until September 15th.
I was able to try two of the Quantum Leap Pianos at the East West booth, and I was very impressed by the feel, features, and sound -- although it's tough to be sure about the sound one can hear above the cacophony of the convention hall. If I recall correctly, there are four pianos in the collection and each has about 60 GB of samples. They had a damper pedal and a soft pedal available and both felt natural in use.
High-end manufacturer Euphonix has released a pair of DAW controllers -- priced at $999.99 and $1,499.99 -- in their new Artist Series (http://www.euphonix.com/artist/news/releases/?release=r080117_artist). I didn't get to try them, but anything from Euphonix is worth at least a look.
Best,
Geoff