Three BIG shows coming up. There will be a lot of overlap between them, and they’re close enough together time-wise ( less than a month ), it makes sense to talk about them together.
I am looking forward to full detail on the WoFI from Kiviak Instruments. Very little information on this so far and it has the potential to change the game.
[ thread ]
Also i am very interested to see more detail on the Anyma Omega under development by Aodyo. [ thread ].
Add to that i will be interested to see any new products using improved keyboards ( added dimensions like used with MPC, and more ). There isn’t a pure controller yet and i would love to see that, as well as new synths like the Anyma Omega and Osmose.
Plus anything new from Ashun Sound Machines has my attention too. There was loose speculation of something new from them recently. They’re very tight lipped about their development, but they’re also due with something new. They also have a great engineering and product development team.
Also Yamaha has a rumored product in development, the AN-X [ thread ] so it would be nice to see that this is for real. Yamaha is due.
I am interested in new Akai products. Rumoured “MPC live mini” could be tempting. But only if it bring new firmware / workflow (ideally mixed with Akai Force).
Also I am still waiting for “Korg Opsix 61” which has been seen on NAMM 2020 . This could be welcome surprise.
I expect Elektron to introduce some new Sound pack for your Digitones . And everyone will be happy.
I bought a MPC live 2 in december and I am slowly getting head round the machine and its software.
There are are very many good things but there are obviously very many limitations and gaps. Most are obviously artificial and unnecessary and built-in for capitalist reasons and not hardware limitations (even though these exist -again for capitalist reasons-4GB ram costs peanuts over 2GB in a £1000 machine).
The endless slight improvement of upgrade by all manufacturers must surely be coming to its end-build the best machine possible and we will support you with a big chunk of our paychecks-play us for fools and we will be investing in companies that give us the best without the BS.
I am looking forward to MPC 3.0 software-hopefully the limitations will be moved. Akai will realise they have a market dominating machine that could/should be a sound creation giant and focus less on drip feeding slight improvements to a stunted sampler that they could have long since exceeded.
Interested to see where Korg goes with their product lines. They’ve indicated they’ve been facing some parts shortages, so there could be spare manufacturing capacity for other product configurations from them.
ADDED : KORG is at all three shows this year !
Arturia has so much excellent engineering capability, they definitely could create a surprise this spring.
How about Roland ? I haven’t kept up, but aren’t there signs of something else to go with the SH-4d ? ADDED : Roland is at NAMM but it is only by private arranged meeting.
There was that prototype-looking thing, yeah. I think I saw someone say that it was most likely an engineering student’s thesis project or an intern’s project or something similar. I’m super curious about it though.
I’d like Polyend to bust out some improvements to the Play. I think they’ve gone as far as they can with the Tracker (love that machine) but the Play is in dire need of some improvements (trying to love it but it’s tough). Maybe a new Red Panda pedal. Would love for TE to get this op-1 field working with more audio interfaces maybe.
They just did a hardware improvement to the MODX , the MODX+. They’re not out of the HW business, though it’s not like the old days.
ADDED : ( March '23 ) Yamaha has just unveiled their CK line of keyboards, with a combination of the CP and YC features. This also might make a nice form factor for an AN-X product.
ADDED : Yamaha will be at Superbooth, NAMM, and SFF. A triple play !
I am hoping to see something from Moog. It has been around 9 years since the Sub 37 (now Subsequent 37) was introduced, so I wonder when we will see a successor there.
I also think they should do something in between the Subs/Matriarch and the Moog One. There is such a gap in the market price there for them. They should do a 4-5 voice poly synth that is priced a little more affordably than the One. Paired down with only one filter and less FX. Smaller, and easier to travel with. Similar to Sub line in usability, but a poly version.
. This could be welcome surprise.