BoomChik? A new drum machine from Dave Smith Instruments? Partnering once again with Roger Linn? I like the name, but it isn’t written in stone, and the product might be as much as a year away, according to Dave Smith. Stay tuned!

Peter Janis from Radial Engineering has released a new product line aimed at the high-end studio and/or live engineer. Forest Audio’s first outing is the Q6, a passive EQ with an active front end that has some interesting features for the guitar and bass player. The six-band unit uses passive coils that eliminate phase problems inherent in active EQs. The $2k, single rackspace box also offers +4 or -10dB connections, Drag control to simulate the relationship between an guitar and amp and a separate 5 Mega Ohm input buffer for live use. Its also footswitch controllable to help with quick instrument stages. This should be an interesting box for a multitude of uses, par for the course with Radial.

One of my favorite product categories is outboard reverb. I’m an ADR 68k and SP2016 owner and I’ve been waiting patiently for the relase of the Bricasti M7, a high end verb that promises to offer buttery goodness. I talked to Eric Pappas at Summit Audio, who distributes the box, and he assures me it will be relased soon and I will get a review unit. Can’t Wait!!

Arturia’s first hardware synth, Origin, is quite impressive. The tabletop/rackmount design holds two DSP processors that host several of Arturia’s vintage synth emulations, such as the MiniMoog, the CS-80 and Arp 2600. These synths are based on the engines of Arturia’s existing software instruments, but because Origin has its own DSP and is not reliant on a host computer’s CPU, Arturia has done even more with these models. For one thing, you can program your own patches that use elements of each available instrument. So, you could have oscillators from the MiniMoog, filters from the 2600 and so on. Origin also has three independent onboard step sequencers and a built-in color screen with a very logical editing system from its surrounding controls. With a USB 2.0 connection, Origin can be edited from a larger interface on a computer screen. But perhaps more importanly, the audio is sent over USB, and you can use the Origin instances as VST or Audio Units plug-ins from a DAW. Origin should be available sometime this summer at an approximate price of $2,900. Check out the preview at Arturia’s site.

Sensaphonics has moved on up to the big leagues! After several successful years in Hall E, our patience was finally rewarded with a booth in Hall A…

Our big attraction this year is the live demo of the 3D Active Ambient IEM system, an in-ear system that lets performers hear ambient sound and communicate on stage — without removing their ears. Tiny microphones embedded in the earpieces give a totally natural sound, including precise binaural directionality. That sound is then mixed with your IEM feed, giving artists the best of both worlds. The 3D Active Ambient system has already been adopted by Steven Tyler, Prince, and Paul Reed Smith among others.

We’re also continuing our tradition of providing free ear impressions for folks buying Musicians Earplugs, sleeves for their Shure earphones, and of course our 2X-S and 3D models. Stop on by and and say hi to company founder Mike Santucci and the gang.

In a short couple of hours this morning, I saw some very interesting mics at the show. Blue was showing their new wooden-body ribbon mic called the Woodpecker while Sennheiser had the 602II, an update on the original which is better optimized for kick drum. Sister company Neumann showed their digital KM184 D that features switchable capsules and makes the A to D jump right after the capsule. SE Electronics had a new smaller version of their Reflexion Filter and some great mics they wouldn’t let me talk about. However, I can say that you’ve never seen anything like it.

We have the pleasure of welcoming Michelle Moog-Koussa, daughter of the legendary Bob Moog. Since her father’s passing, she and her family have established the Bob Moog Memorial Foundation for Electronic Music. She tells us that her dad never really let the family in on what he was up to, but that when she hit the NAMM floor with him in 1990, it was completely surreal, with at least one man bowing down before him. Quite an eye-opener. Well, she’s back and letting the world know about the foundation and the plans for a museum in his beloved home of Asheville, N.C. Plans include endowed scholarships, an electronic music outreach program for disadvantaged youth and a series of concerts and competitions. The outpouring from the floor has been overwhelming, she says. Now let’s the rest of us pitch in and honor the man who did as much for the sounds of today as any man who walked these floors. The foundation is starting from the ground up, unfunded and reliant on donations from people whose life Bob touched, either through his instruments or his humble and giving spirit. After all, his legacy lives on. Let’s all be a part of it. Visit the website, www.moogfoundation.org, to make a contruibution. Any amount is appreciated.

Drum hits that is. In a collaboration with Dave Kerzner and Sonic Reality, the famed producer/engineer and owner of Ocean Way Studios has taken some of the world’s greatest drummers and put them in his legendary Studio B (home to hits from Green Day, Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and the like), with his world-class collection of mics. Then he and producer Steven Miller captured the best snares, kicks, toms, hats and cymbals using a multimic technique in a big room. The result, at least what we heard on the show floor, is icredibly deep and spatial. Ocean Way Drums, the product, is available with individual presets or submixes, all at 24-bit/96 or 24/48. But wait! There’s more! Allen is also making his unique monitoring mains, developed over the last 30 years, available for purchase through GC Pro. We’ve heard them in his rooms; nothing else like it. And the price? Well, if you have to ask…

What do you get when you add one obscure restaurant address, 6 intrepid culinary adventurers and a cab driver who is willing to deliver said adventurers into the jaws of Garden Grove? You get a FANTASTIC meal! Friday night after the show, a bunch of Mix-ers endeavored to get away from the standard Disney-fied fare and found a gem. The BO7 Mon Thien An Vietnamese Restaurant’s (714-530-4955) 7 Courses of Beef offered veggies, sauces, platters of thinly sliced meats plus 6 other savory offerings on the hoof not to mention other unidentifiable goodies. We were certainly strangers in a strange land and drew stares from the other diners, but the help couldn’t have been more friendly. They tutored us in the proper sequence and assembly of the food which came on no less than 20 plates. It could be described as nothing short of a feast and the shocker was that dinner for six with drinks was under $90.

The whole experience was a mind blower and stretched our taste bud’s paradigms. We knew we had gone where no other NAMM-er had gone before when we saw the business next door was named the Mother & Kid Nutrition, Fresh Water, Western Union and Shooting Range! Ok maybe not the shooting range part, but the rest is true.