Day one in Frankfurt and already we've been flooded by exciting new gear. Before we'd ever made it through the doors of the show our appetites had been whet by a few choice pre-show announcements.
First we got our first glimpse at Fender's sexy-looking Pawn Shop Series guitars, Orange dropped news of the new high-gain Dark Terror amp head and then, just as we were ready to head for the hotel bar (for an orange juice and a light salad, honest) we caught wind of Novation's new Serato-focused, touchstrip DJ controller Twitch.
This morning we hit the Korg stand to grab in-depth videos of the monotribe and the Wavedrum Mini, before heading for a proper on-video look at one of Musikmesse's most intriguing launches - the Dark Matter Audio DMA1.
In other big news, legendary bass amp maker Ampeg has returned to the world of all-tube guitar amps, Roland has unveiled the Jupiter-80 synth and Yamaha has a new range of MOX synths to show-off. Bring on tomorrow!
Guitar and bass highlights
Ampeg launches GVT Series guitar amplification
Bass amp giant re-enters the world of all-tube guitar tone
Fender announces Pawn Shop Series
"Guitars that never were, but should have been"
Yamaha introduces new Pacifica guitars
Value for money with no compromises
Line 6 launches POD HD
New desktop modelling multi-FX unit and firmware update announced
Orange Amps Dark Terror unveiled
New black model is highest gain Terror yet
Vox unveils USA Custom Guitars
New handcrafted axes from Vox's G-Rok R&D facility
Tech and DJ highlights
Korg monotribe video demo
Get a first taste of this analogue synth and rhythm machine
Dark Matter Audio DMA1 video demo
The Smart Audio Hub up close
Novation unveils Twitch DJ controller
Touchstrip DJ hardware developed in collaboration with Serato
Yamaha MOX synthesizers unveiled
MOX 6 and MOX 8 workstations heading to Frankfurt
Roland Jupiter-80 synth unveiled
Pays homage to Jupiter-8
Nord Electro 3 HP has hammer-action keyboard
The first Electro to offer piano-like keys
Roland introduces FP-4F digital piano
SuperNATURAL piano sound comes to top-selling piano
Next page: Musikmesse day one drum highlights
Drum highlights
Korg Wavedrum Mini video demo
A first look at the tiny Wavedrum with built-in speaker and sensor clip
Yamaha announces five new DTX Electronic Drum models
Flagship features added to new affordable models
Yamaha announces limited-edition Recording Custom drums
Just 50 of the reissued kits to be made
Paiste launches Twenty Custom Collection cymbals
New CuSn20 bronze series hits Frankfurt
“An enhanced application that is nonetheless reassuringly familiar and reasonably priced”: Native Instruments Traktor Pro 4 review
"The last 5 or 10 per cent drove me crazy - at one point I had about 130 mixdowns... I’ve come to realise that the perfect mix doesn’t exist": Ben Böhmer on overcoming perfectionism in production
