New Music Gear Monday: Winter NAMM Show 2024 Overview

Another Winter NAMM show is in the books, and although there were no big surprises, there were a few new gear releases worth checking out. You can listen to my full overview on my podcast on Tuesday, but for now here are the highlights.

Just about every manufacturer and developer had new updates or versions of previously successful gear, so we won’t cover that – only what’s truly new.

Monitor Speakers/Headphones

Barefoot Audio is known for excellent but very high-priced monitors. Their new Footprint 03 3-way speakers are only $1,995 a pair.

Kali Audio showed their new LP-UNF desktop monitors, which we featured here recently.

I’m a big fan of Amphion monitors and have been using a pair of One18‘s as my main monitors for a few years now. The company showed a brand new 3-way powered monitor called the One25A at the show that I can’t wait to hear.

Solodome is an immersive mix chair. It’s amazing how loud it can sound while you sit inside it, while not hearing much just a few feet away.

Sony showed their MV1 open-back headphones, which are meant for immersive audio playback but feature a frequency response that goes from 5Hz to 80kHz!

Monitor Controllers

If you’re into immersive audio then you know that how essential a proper immersive monitor controller is. Audient’s Oria looks to be very well thought out and able to accommodate multiple configurations.

Heritage Audio came out with its i73 series of controller/interfaces built around a Neve 1073-style preamp.

Radial Engineering makes some of the best high-quality accessories, and it’s new Nuance Select controller is no exception. It’s not an interface, but it doesn’t have all the features that you need for controlling multiple monitors and headphones.

Audio Gear

A big hit of the show was Paul Wolff’s new Wolff Audio immersive console. It can be configured in a variety of custom ways, and also features a number of built-in 500 series bays for all those modules you’ve collected over the years.

SSL debuted their 360 Link, a plugin that automatically maps both Waves and UAD plugins to their controllers, but can also easily map any VST plugin.

Warm Audio showed it’s WA-MPX tube preamp, their take on the preamps that used to be included on the old Ampex 350 tape machines.

It was surprising just how few Ai products were at the show, but Steven Slate’s Groove Ai allows you to drag a guitar riff or bass line and have it play along the perfect drum groove.

And finally, another big hit of the show was the Yamaha SEQTRACK “idea workstation,” a keyboard-like instrument that combines a drum machine, sequencer, sampler and DX-style synth in one package for only $399.

I’m sure that there was plenty that I missed at this year’s NAMM show, but some of the products mentioned above were very cool indeed.

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