Musical Instruments

I’m a gear geek. I’ll admit it.   When I was asked to cover NAMM for Best Buy Canada, I was on cloud nine. The show was busy and we had a lot of appointments with vendors with a focus to get a first look at the exciting gear that Best Buy will be offering you.   Along the way, I HAD to take a look at the gear that I’d love to take home to my studio. Here are some of the products I saw that had me checking my bank account.

I’m going to be showing my age here, but I was in high school when the CZ-101 was introduced in hardware form. It was one of those little synths that you could easily pass off as a toy, but packed a lot of punch and eventually proved to be one of the iconic “retro” synths that are in demand decades later.

Although NAMM wasn't in person this year, the Believe in Music Week was a success, and a lot of new products were revealed virtually. Here are some of the most notable ones.

The Mackie OnyxGO clip-on microphone is a lightweight, easy-to-use solution for capturing superior audio with your mobile device, especially when at a distance.

It’s only been one day at the NAMM show in Anaheim California, but I’ve been seeing a couple of themes recurring as I walk among the booths. Continued integration of or integration with touch-screen devices and miniaturization & portability seem to be features that a lot of vendors are including in their product lines this year. Day 2 will be a test to see if my hunches here are correct and to see if there are any other trends emerging.

Yamaha has evolved their near-field monitor line through the years—beginning with the “industry standard” NS10’s back in the 1980’s and arriving at the latest HS series today. The HS5’s are small, but they pack a lot of performance and value into their diminutive size. I had the chance to put them through their paces in my studio for a few days and found them to be a small dark horse that defied my expectations.

Guitarists are always on the lookout for additional pieces of gear or accessories. The holidays are the perfect occasion to bring the joy and happiness!

Smaller classical guitars are an excellent place to start for children that want to learn to play. The Jasmine JC-23 is such an instrument and features soft nylon strings for a comfortable playing experience.

The Roland booth was packed (as usual) and had lots of toys to talk about. The one thing I saw that seemed to be always used and sampled was the HS-5. It’s a session mixer where all of the band members can just bring their instruments, plug in and jam with headphones.

The gift of music keeps on giving. This Holiday Season, consider offering a memorable present such as a piano or guitar.