Every year, we visit as many of the booths of Winter NAMM as possible in search of all of the most interesting new releases, so that you don’t have to.
As always, there was a great deal of evolutionary change and clever ideas to be found among the aisles, and nonstop reconnections with all of the talented engineers and artists that make NAMM so special. Amidst the nonstop action of the Anaheim Convention Center, here’s what we found for 2019!
Microphones
Warm Audio unveils its new re-creation of the classic Telefunken 251 style microphone, the WA-251.
Seen here pictured with the rest of Warm’s latest affordable classic clones.
Antelope reveals a new iteration of its Edge modeling mic that features a USB output and on-board processing.
Telefunken reveals its new affordable TF mic line.
Pictured here is the latest iteration of the acclaimed copperhead.
Royer’s R-10 is their most affordable ribbon, released recently and still fresh.
Lauten Audio had three new mics on display. From left to right, their first handheld, a broadcast-style mic, and a novel design that incorporates a second condenser element in the rear for 270 degrees of incredible rejection.
Chandler shows off a new EMI TG mic with onboard EQ coloration.
Blue’s most affordable mic, the new Ember, is priced at just $99 and sports a slim profile to stay out of the way in video performance applications.
Roswell Pro Audio introduced its Delphos premium studio condenser microphone
Audio-Technica showed off a new instrument mic clip for its 350 series..
They also had a guitar-friendly version, the 350GL, that allows the instrument to resonate fully by clamping to the very edge of the soundboard.
Apogee’s new HypeMiC has on board compression aimed at making life easier for podcasters, livestreamers, and electronc musicians who value simplicity.
On a similar theme, the new Beyerdynamic Creator Pro bundle combines its FOX USB microphone DT 770 PRO headphones plus a Cubase LE 9.5 license for an affordable price.
Shure had a new MS-capable stereo mic and app on display.
Speakers, Headphones and Monitoring
Dyanaudio’s new Core 7 and Core 59 each feature the high-performing Hexis system in their soft dome tweeters.
Kali Audio’s monitor line got an upgrade with a new size: The LP-8.
PSI Audio introduced their new highly precise A23 M active three way studio monitor (right.)
Reftone launched their LD 2H In Ear Reference Speakers bringing increased mobility to mixers.
Neumann’s new NMH 20 closed back studio headphone felt and sounded luxurious.
The top of Focal’s Trio line, the new Trio11, goes louder than ever.
Focal released a new high end set of headphones, the Eligia, a with a remarkably full bodied sound.
A set of custom Shape monitors from Focal in white.
Avantone teased a new powered version of their CLA-10 speakers, and officially started shipping the amp for their passive models.
A look at the back of the new CLA-10 active prototype.
KRK’s affordable RockIt line got a 4th generation upgrade.
One of the newest features on the RockIt line is the onboard room correction EQ, seen here.
PMC made an impression with a massive acoustically isolated listening booth.
A new furniture line from Zaor, called “Vision” comes in at a more affordable pricepoint.
Glenn Kuras of GIK acoustics pictured here with his new “Turbo Traps”.
Auralex expanded its reach with their useful new app: RLX Room Layout Express.
JBL’s new series 104 portable monitors.
The Audio Technica ATH M50xBT brings wireless Bluetooth to their popular headphone line.
Hardware, Interfaces and Effects
Possibly the most unexpected item at this year’s NAMM show was an analog hardware effects box from plugin makers, McDSP. The APB-16 offers 16 channels of programmable analog compression, controlled by software GUI.
The AXR is the latest flagship interface from Steinberg and Rupert Neve, bringing DSP EQ, compression and a silk circuit to a studio’s front end.
A new Neve-inspired bus compressor from Heritage Audio borrows some favorite features from the SSL line.
The SPL Hermes promises to make saving routing paths much simpler and less compromising in the mastering studio.
Antelope issued an update to its Orion line of premium interfaces.
A new line of USB interfaces from PreSonus.
PreSonus also released a Thunderbolt Quantum interfaces with a simple 48 channels of straight A/D conversion.
Useful Arts unveiled its SFP-30 vacuum tube preamp a, one-channel version of their well-received SFP-60.
Tierra Audio from Spain were newcomers who turned heads with the innovative Lava preamp featuring 100% analog signal with complete digital recall and control, two sound modes and a lot more.
Tierra Audio’s Boreal FET Compressor also features 100% analog signal with complete digital recall and control, plus self diagnosis tools for zero downtime.
Burl Audio showed their new B4 4 channel MIC_LINE input daughter card for the B80 and B16 MOTHERSHIPs.
The new Burl BDA4M is a mastering grade DAC for mixing and mastering with stepped attenuators and switchable output transformers.
The new Audient Sono interface is designed with guitarists specifically in mind.
The mighty ESI Planet 22x audio interface provides up to 64 channels of I/O via Dante.
Royer’s new dBooster gives clean gain to low output ribbons and dynamic mics.
Italian manufacturer Teknosign showed off their analog know how with a full line of new problem-solver boxes for studio and stage.
Arturia displayed two new AudioFuse interfaces and their new MicroFreak digital synth.
TK Audio had updates to two of thier most popular units, pictured here.
A new pre from BAE’s UK Sound line.
Mixers
The latest version of The Box console from API adds additional mic inputs for a total of 8, and provides 8 blank 500 series slots.
SSL’s new series of live consoles include a 550 and 350 model.
New stage boxes from SSL.
There were plenty of impressive functionality upgrades in the 3.0 update for Soundcraft’s Ui24R digital mixer system.
The Roland VR 1HD AV Streaming Mixer is perfect for podcasters who need easy control of their livestream video.
A new version of the Slate Raven was touched by many, many hands.
The Universal Audio Custom Shop made its presence known.
Instruments and Other Fun Stuff
Hands off…but listening is OK At the Moogseum.
Addictively awesome: The Roland VT 4 Voice Transformer is an extremely versatile vocal effects processor for singers DJs electronic music and more.
NAMM was filled with muy divertido for the hands and feet.
A closer look at the BOSS Pedal Wall.
The Novation booth was all about serious fun complete with a Launchpad dancefloor.
Arturia debuted Pigments, its new wavetable and virtual analog soft synth.
Arturia debuted Pigments its new wavetable and virtual analog soft synth.
MIND Music Labs showed how its ELK ultra low latency Music Operating System is combining with Reason creator Propellerhead to enable Rack Extensions for hardware.
A better alternative to WeTransfer? Soundmarker is certainly worth a try.
Options abounded for getting hands on with Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere.
A new inexpensive pad controller from PreSonus comes with a full version of Studio Libe.
We’re not sure what this does or how it sounds. But we approve!
Photography by Justin Colletti, Jon Lurie, and David Weiss
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