Musical Instruments

As with any NAMM, there are artist endorsements and demonstrations galore. Just look for a crowd around a booth and there’s probably somebody you know sitting there talking or playing an instrument. Saturday (today) is usually when they come out in force, but yesterday proved to be fruitful.

Today was busy! Even the exhibitors on the floor thought it was busy. The weather was fantastic (although I only caught a glimpse of it on the walk to the Annaheim Convention Centre), there were some artists spotted and some cool new gear discovered by yours truly.    

Even though I’ve been here before, NAMM is exciting, overwhelming, thrilling and exhausting. The first day was a hit-the-ground-running experience even though my brain and gear-geek self were asking my body and schedule to slow down. My francophone co-hort (Marc-Andre) and I caught up on each others’ past year, took a spin through the exhibit floor, saw a lot of new and familiar faces and, most importantly, took lots of photos, videos and notes on lots of interesting things!      

Boss pedals and electric guitars go together like vanilla ice cream and hot apple pie … well, at least it seems that way to me.   Boss has released one new bass pedal and three interesting takes on classic guitar pedals they’re naming “Waza Craft” editions.

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.

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.

A decade ago, I probably wouldn’t have recommended digital pianos to anyone looking to purchase one for learning the instrument. These days, given the advances in technology and relative prices, I’d say they’re something that one needs to seriously consider. They’re a great option for the modern family who want to start learning and enjoying the instrument.    

We dropped by the Fender booth to visit some familiar faces, listen to some guitars and amps and learn about some new products and promotions they’re planning for the coming year.

Of all the products that Casio has announced this year, I’ve seen much-a-buzz about the new “Millennium Falcon” controller – aka the XW-PD1. And with good reason! There is a lot packed into this little package.

I’m excited and grateful to Best Buy and Casio for asking me to cover NAMM for the second time!   I’ve been keeping tabs on all the rumours and sneak-peaks that have been popping up and it looks as though there are going to be a lot of interesting things to see and experience this year.   Stick around for the ride – it looks like it’ll be fun!