Eventide is just one of those names you think of when you think of effects. So far, those effects have come for a fairly substantial price. However, at this show Eventide is debuting its first two stomboxes ever, the Timefactor delay box and the Modfactor modulation effect box. Each unit comes with 10 stereo or mono effects that have been developed on Eventide’s mighty Harmonizer platform. Timefactor can produce two independent, 3-second delays at once. They each weigh a solid 2.2 lbs. and feel rugged for heavy use. With three footswitches, 11 knobs and an LED display, the boxes are highly manipulable and can churn out some wild, wacky effects. A USB port on the back of each unit facilitates downloadable software updates from a computer. Timefactor is schedule for March, while Modfactor should ship in May, each for $499.

Just grabbed Mark Boyadjian from Neutrik off the aisles. Mark, you finding NAMM to be a good show for Neutrik?

Tom, thanks for letting me comment on this year’s NAMM Show and Anaheim. Arrived on Monday to weather that was colder than when I left New Jersey. I was expecting to wear a t-shirt and sandals and ended up in a jacket and jeans. I still love this part of California and its the perfect place to host the NAMM Show. You see it all at this show, from straight laced to alternative (really alternative) and everything in between.

Enjoyed a spectacular view of the sunset, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, and Newport from Orange Hill restaurant. Watched the sun go down and the city lights come up, just spectacular!

Neutrik is having a great time at the show. Hundreds of people visiting the booth and saying hello, asking to see Neutrik’s new Crimp XLR; that’s right, no solder needed, and no wire stripping. One squeeze of the crimp tool and the wire jacket is pierced and the wire is crimped in a gas tight connection. We are offering both a cable end version and a receptacle. We are giving demonstrations at our booth (#6320). Come on by and take a look, tell us about a new idea for other connector products or just say hello. For those of you unable to make the show, stay tuned and visit the Neutrik USA website for more details and features of the Crimp XLR and many other quality Neutrik products.

Enjoy the show!

We’re here with Yong-Joon and Lee-Ho of Joensori Books, a publisher based out of Korea. They’ve stopped by and expressed an interest in bringing Mix content to their audience in Southeast Asia. Joensori is a publisher of books on acoustic engineering. Yong?

We hopefully expect many subscribers from Korea. Engineers in South Korea need a good space for communication. Many of engineers showed us their need on this. So, Mix magazine will be the best way for satisfying their needs we believe. Come check out our site in a month to see our new version of Mix Korea

I wrote yesterday about the high end being well represented in the monitor field, but there’s also some very cool monitors in the more affordable arena. M-Audio has some new desktop powered speakers in the slick-looking Studiophile AV 20′s at $129 and the larger AV 40′s for $199. Bringing up the bottom, Event Electronics has a new 100 Watt, 8″ sub with an on off footswitch. I just talked to Nasvhille engineer Michael Wagener who has a product. It’s a DI/Reamper that will be on tonite’s Podcast.

We’re here with Doug Rogers of East West, who says the company is releasing six new virtual instruments at the show, and about to announce an arrangement with a very big manufacturer. Doug?

We are happy to be at NAMM showing some of our new products, including the first 64-bit sample engine. The show is full of people seeking out all the latest products and we have welcomed quite a few of them at our booth. One of the new products is called FAB FOUR, which I produced this past year with Beatles’ engineer Ken Scott. We faithfully recreated over 40 instruments and used the exact same signal chain and instruments as the Beatles used to create their music. These are all multisampled instruments that we hope will find their way into new music. Other products include Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock, a huge 18 gigabyte virtual instrument for the rockers out there, for film/TV/Game composers we have released Voices Of Passion, Gypsy, SD-2 (the sequel to Stormdrum), and Quantum Leap Pianos, a huge ultra detailed virtual instrument containing 4 of the world’s best pianos. Make sure you stop by our booth #6630 in Hall A.

Propellerheads did not show a new version of Reason, however, I did get a sneak peak at a new Reason synth that will come out in the next version. It’s called Thor, and it’s a semimodular soft synth that lets you combine virtual analog, FM and wavetable synthesis with infinite routing possibilities and a built-in step sequencer. Thor’s hammer of justice will crush you with booming bass! Seriously, it sounds very good. Bass patches can be some of the hardest things to get out of soft synths, but Thor had some seriously deep and funky bass thump. On the flip side, its billowing synth pads were also gorgeous and airy. A few other details include filters that are new to Reason, one based on the ’80s sound similar to the Roland Jupiter-8 and another based on a warmer, richer ’70s sound. Thor figures to add a huge amount to Reason.

Just got back from the Universal Audio booth and got a run through the highly anticipated UAD-Xpander, an ExpressCard DSP system intended for the mobile music producer/engineer who wants to carry along all their UA plugs, with project transfers to desktop systems. It will ship in March, we’re told, and will come in three versions, from the Xpress at $999 (with $500 plug-in voucher) to the Xpert at $1399 to the Xtreme at $2199. The latter comes with all UAD plugs up to version 4.5, which is worth the price alone. Key features? 44.1-192 DSP audio accelerator for laptops, 2.5 Gbps ExpressCard 34 interface, and optional Xtenda kit with PCIe desktop adapter. In other news, the DCS remote pre will be shipping in February, and we’re told it will come in at $999. That should do well at that price point. And finally, the UAD-1E Extreme Pak, inc luding 32 plugs and the PCI Express DSP accelerator, is shipping this month. Oh! One more thing. They hired Brent Elder, formerly of E-mu and Apogee, as VP of engineering. We’ll leave it up to you to guess what that might mean for future products…

The Native theme carried on today when I visited SoundToys in the E Hall. Their line of plug-ins is no longer exclusive to TDM and is available in AU format. I talked to Mitch Thomas about the future, and of course he wouldn’t spill about future “toys” but intimated that there’s some great stuff on the horizon. I also recorded an incredible blues player in a booth that had them stoppin’ in the aisles. Players at NAMM are like potato chips, but every once in while you find a diamond. You’ve got to hear this guy! Be sure to check it out in tonite’s Podcast.

Digidesign announced today that its Advanced Instrument Research Group (which recently developed Xpand, Hybrid, and Strike) is developing an RTAS-format sampler called Structure. The plug-in will read a number of sample formats including ESX24, Kontakt2, and SampleCell. It will also include sample content from EastWest, which has partnered up with Digi for this project. According to Digi, a public beta is in the offing. Check back at the Digi site for details.

At the end of the day Thursday, IK Multimedia announced Amplitube 2 Jimi Hendrix Edition. It’s a specialized version of IK’s guitar-amp modeling plug-in, designed to emulate the sound of Jimi Hendrix’s gear. It features models of 9 stompboxes (including wahs), 4 amps, 7 speaker cabinets, and 4 analog rack effects units–all based on the originals used by Hendrix used. It’s due out in April and will cost $249. You’ll also be able to get it bundled with IK’s Stealth Plug (guitar to USB cable) for $299.