Winter NAMM Music/DJ Products By Korg, Ableton, Akai and Denon

Plenty of awesome looking product introductions in the music production / DJ realm coming out of Anaheim the last couple days….We picked a few to profile here, from Korg, Akai, Ableton and Denon. For a more complete list of DJ products, check out DJ Tech Tools’ show report. For a much more comprehensive list of new musical instrument / tech products and show videos and reports, follow MusicRadar’s coverage HERE.

Korg Wavedrum

Korg is bringing back the WaveDrum, a “sonically richer,” programmable, second generation of the Wavedrum synthesizer Korg first introduced in 1994. Wavedrum responds to any and all playing styles — tapping and stroking to “aggressive, rhythmic assaults.”

Compact and built to travel, the Wavedrum allows you to play tabla, conga, and other such acoustic percussion instruments in the studio or in a live concert performance. Moving beyond traditional drum and percussion sounds, Wavedrum also provides totally new and unique sounds, and offers new ways of playing to achieve new levels of musical expression.

Wavedrum can process and respond to traditional hand-drum techniques, such as adding pitch and tonal changes to a strike by pressing the head, and other “intimate performance gestures.” For example, Wavedrum can produce sitar and tambura sounds at the same time. You can produce tambura sounds alone by hitting the head, adding the sitar sounds by applying pressure to the head before hitting it. Applying further pressure can change the pitch of the sitar within the selected scale.

The Wavedrum contains 36 DSP algorithms to conjure an abundance of synthesis methods; analog, additive, non-linear, physical modeling, etc. Using these building blocks, you can create various instrument sounds, natural sounds, or purely synthetic sounds – in addition to WaveDrum’s own unique voice. Go to http://www.korg.com/wavedrum for more information.

Korg's Kaossilator Pro

Korg’s also introduced the newest addition to its Kaoss product line, with the Kaossilator Pro. A touchpad-based synthesizer, the Kaossilator Pro offers built-in sounds suitable for an expansive range of musical genres (techno, house, hip hop, R&B, reggae and electro, etc.) Additional sounds simulate acoustic instruments such as piano, trumpet and guitar.

According to Korg, high-quality PCM samples have been added to the DSP engine to provide realistic drum sounds, yielding 20 individual drum hits and 25 preset drum patterns. In all, there are 200 programs available – including 15 vocoder programs that can process an external audio signal. Eight memory keys allow instant recall of favorite programs.

The Kaossilator Pro adds another dimension by allowing the creation of up to four-bar looped phrases. External audio signals — from an MP3 player, other instrument or a microphone running through the internal vocoder — can also be recorded as part of a looped phrase. There are four individual Loop Recorder Banks, offering realtime looping, layering and DJ-Style remixing. Loops data can be saved to SD storage cards and transferred via USB to a computer for further use in a DAW.

The Korg Kaossilator Pro (MSRP: $460) will be available May 2010. Check out a complete list of features and functionality here: http://www.korg.com/Product.aspx?pd=564

Akai's APC 20 was co-developed with Ableton

Meanwhile, Akai and Ableton are announcing the new APC20, a hardware-software musical system for creative composition and performance, following in the footsteps of the APC40.

The APC20 features the APC40’s multicolor 8×5 button Session View Matrix, eight high-quality faders and two-way communication with Ableton Live, and features three modes of operation, built-in customization features and a number of “smart new tricks.”

The APC20 is a slightly smaller version of the APC40, with the same 40-button grid for direct access to the clips in Ableton Live’s Session View. APC40 owners can hook up an APC20 and automatically access 16 tracks and an enormous 80-button grid, thanks to the new “Combination Mode.” It’s also possible to run up to six APC20s together.

The APC20 will be available at music stores worldwide in the second quarter of 2010. For more information, visit:  http://www.ableton.com/apc20 or http://www.akaipro.com/apc20.

Serato ScratchLive Screenshot

And, Ableton and Serato have announced The Bridge, which links Ableton Live and Serato Scratch Live/ITCH. Fusing these DJ and production tools opens up a world of opportunities for DJing, remixing and live performance. Look at all the folks who are excited about it!

The Bridge works in both directions: Ableton to Serato and Serato to Ableton. So, the Bridge provides Ableton Transport Control (ATC), giving DJs turntable-style control of their own multitrack productions. DJs can drag an Ableton Live Set onto one of the decks in Scratch Live or ITCH and use their turntables, CDJ or ITCH controller to control the transport.

And the Bridge works as a mixtape creation tool. DJs can perform mixes in Serato Scratch Live or ITCH and save them as an Ableton Live Set. This way, the DJ can still perform the mix, but also has detailed editing options.

The Bridge will be free for anyone who owns registered versions of both Serato Scratch Live/ITCH hardware and Ableton Live 8 or Suite 8. No release date has been set yet; anyone interested can follow the progress of the project by subscribing to the Ableton newsletter: http://www.ableton.com/newsletter

Denon DN-X1600

And in hardware DJ mixers, Denon has unveiled its DN-X1600, a four-channel digital mixer with a variety of features for DJs and electronic musicians.

The DN-X1600 allows DJs to work with vinyl, CD, digital files, DJ software apps via laptops and USB storage devices, and provides an exclusive MIDI control UI area for ease-of-use in the the PC DJ market.

Uniquely, the DN-X1600 is equipped with V-LINK, a function developed by Roland that allows DJ performers to simultaneously integrate audio and video via the mixer’s MIDI terminals.

Check out DJmag‘sfirst look video HERE; the DN-X1600 will be available in February 2010 with pricing TBA.

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