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The best of NAMM 2012: guitar, tech and drum highlights

By The MusicRadar team
published 23 January 2012

This is how it was

This is how it was

NAMM 2012: The 2012 Winter NAMM show has now closed its doors, but not before spitting out four days’ worth of hot new music making gear.

The industry did a fine job of defying the economic gloom, giving us new twists on existing classics and a fair smattering of releases that could genuinely be described as innovative.

We've collated some of our most popular NAMM stories from the past few days into this handy catch-up gallery, but if you want the full story, go to MusicRadar.com's dedicated NAMM 2012 hub for more info and other highlights from the show.

FIRST: Arturia Minibrute

Page 1 of 14
Page 1 of 14
Arturia Minibrute
Not such a soft touch

Arturia Minibrute

We weren’t expecting a real analogue synth from Arturia, but now that the Minibrute is here, everyone seems very taken with the idea.

VIDEO: Arturia Minibrute demo

Arturia Minibrute analogue synth announced

Page 2 of 14
Page 2 of 14
Fender guitars and amps

Fender guitars and amps

Electric guitars and amps: you always know what you’re going to get from Fender at a trade show, but that doesn’t make its haul any less impressive when it arrives.

VIDEO: Fender Pawn Shop Special Greta amp demo

Fender electric guitars and amps in pictures

Page 3 of 14
Page 3 of 14
Wave Machine Labs Auria
A new DAWn

Wave Machine Labs Auria

A 48-track iPad audio DAW with VST plug-in support certainly sounds impressive on paper. Now we need to find out how well it works and decide if it’s an appropriate fit for the tablet platform.

VIDEO: Wave Machine Labs Auria

New iPad DAW with 48 tracks and VST plug-in support

Page 4 of 14
Page 4 of 14
Clavia Nord Drum
A big hit

Clavia Nord Drum

Not just a drum machine, but an electronic percussion module that can be triggered by acoustic and electronic kits.

VIDEO: Nord Drum demoed

Nord Drum photos and info released

Page 5 of 14
Page 5 of 14
Behringer Xenyx iX mixers
iPad-compatible

Behringer Xenyx iX mixers

We’ve seen a lot of interest in these: three new small format mixers, each of which contains a slot for the iPad.

Behringer unveils iPad mixers iX3242USB, iX2442USB and iX1642USB

Page 6 of 14
Page 6 of 14
New Ibanez guitars
28 of them

New Ibanez guitars

With a mixture of brand new models and redesigned guitars with updated specifications, Ibanez had NAMM 2012 in its pocket.

Ibanez unveils 28 new electric guitars

Page 7 of 14
Page 7 of 14
Waldorf Pulse 2
It lives on

Waldorf Pulse 2

Another new analogue synth that no-one was expecting, the Pulse 2 is an updated version of Waldorf’s ‘90s classic.

Waldorf Pulse 2 analogue synth

Page 8 of 14
Page 8 of 14
Peavey AT-200
Pitched perfectly

Peavey AT-200

Antares’ Auto-Tune for Guitar technology has come to fruition in a couple of new instruments this NAMM, and Peavey’s AT-200 is one of them.

VIDEO: Peavey AT-200 Auto-Tune guitar

Peavey announces AT-200 Auto-Tune guitar

Page 9 of 14
Page 9 of 14
Casio synths
Not one, but two

Casio synths

Pre-show leaks ensured that one of Casio’s synth announcements wasn’t a great surprise, but it still managed to catch us off guard with the launch of a second model.

VIDEO: Casio Synths revealed

Casio XW-P1 and XW-G1 synths announced

Page 10 of 14
Page 10 of 14
PRS artist guitars
What's in a name?

PRS artist guitars

What do Dave Navarro, Orianthi, Nick Catanese, Chris Henderson, Neal Schon, and Cody Kilby have in common? They all had artist guitars on the NAMM PRS stand, and very nice they were too.

VIDEO: PRS Guitars P22 and Dave Navarro SE signature model

New and improved PRS Artist guitars

Page 11 of 14
Page 11 of 14
Akai MPC Fly
Getting some air time

Akai MPC Fly

It’s interesting that Akai’s iPad-powered MPC Fly seems to have outshone the new Renaissance and Studio MPCs in the publicity stakes. Could this be the start of something big in tablet beat making?

VIDEO: Akai MPC Fly on camera

Akai MPC Fly for iPad 2 has lift-off

Page 12 of 14
Page 12 of 14
Teenage Engineering Oplab
A lot to take on board

Teenage Engineering Oplab

The OP-1 manufacturer’s latest project is hard to explain a couple of sentences, but we reckon a lot of people are going to have a lot of fun working out what you can do with it.

VIDEO: Teenage Engineering explain themselves

Teenage Engineering Oplab Musical Experimental Board

Page 13 of 14
Page 13 of 14
Universal Audio Apollo
I/O and DSP

Universal Audio Apollo

A high-spec audio interface with UAD DSP and powered plug-ins? We like the sound of that, and suspect that a lot of other people will as well.

VIDEO: Universal Audio Apollo

Universal Audio Apollo - audio interface with UAD DSP

Page 14 of 14
Page 14 of 14
The MusicRadar team
The MusicRadar team
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