Gear
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Gear
Buy your musical instruments at Best Buy? What?
When I first started hearing rumors of being able to buy musical instruments at big box retailer Best Buy, I totally dismissed it. It would never be professional products there, I thought. It would probably be toys and pro-sumer junk.
I was wrong.
The new Musical Instruments selection at Best Buy.com has a good selection of quality stuff. There’s pro-synths, interfaces, recording gear, guitars and more. It’s not a full selection, but they do have Sonar 7 Producer. Or the Korg M3 61-key synthesizer. In fact, their keys selection scales all the way up to Roland’s flagship board, the Fantom G8. And it says “in store only” for that listing!
Speaking of, here’s the stores that carry music gear.
Call me crazy, but I just can’t see myself going into Best Buy, picking up a new DVD, video game, oh… and a new guitar and amp. I wonder what prompted them to start selling big name instruments. I’m sure they’re hoping poor musos come in and apply for their 20% interest credit card.
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Gear
No, really: an ugly-ass guitar with a built-in sword
If you ask me, electric guitars are ugly in the first place. They’re pointy, asymetrical, phallic, and just plain weird-looking. Sorry, guitarists.
This one takes the cake, though. The ESP Samurai Kyomoto Special is green, white, blue, and purple in color. It features wrinkles, tassels, gems, and eyeballs on its face. Oh, and it actually holds a full-blown samurai sword inside of it (it’s that blue thing). What the hell?
This beast is a custom build for Japanese actor and musician Masaki Kyomoto. I’d talk more shit about it and him, but he’d probably cut me with his guitar-sword!
Be sure to check out the gallery here for more pictures, including the custom case and strap.
[Via Monmon’s Gadgets]
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Gear
The Matrix is an ‘affordable’ SSL desk. Right.
In today’s modern studios, especially the smaller project studios, things aren’t as visually impressive as they used to be. Do you know why? There’s the absence of “big iron.” The digital age has brought about gear that that’s compact and multifunctional, and the days of needing a massive mixing board are gone. But that does not mean that project studio owners aren’t wanting one.
THE name in mixing consoles is SSL. Solid State Logic makes the finest, but when prices of their consoles start looking like home prices, that tends to scare the project studio owner away. Their answer is the SSL Matrix.
This Matrix is priced closer to a car (about $26,000) rather than a home. Hell, the Toyota Matrix (car) is cheaper than the SSL Matrix. Yeah, that’s up there. But it’s not impossible for the serious studio owner to buy one. It’s a 16-channel, 40 input mixer that also does 16 channels of DAW control. Oh, and it’s absolutely gorgeous!
Yes, this would bring the bling to your project studio. This site offers “payments as low as $780 a month.”
SSL, how about a half-sized version? I think they would laugh at that question. Hit the jump to see a routing example.
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Gear
Roland’s Juno-Stage is a synth… for the stage
At the Summer NAMM, Roland surprise-launched this new synth, the Juno-Stage. It looks a lot like the currently availble Juno-G, which I always thought would make a great live board.
What makes this Juno-Stage better? The focus on features for the gigging musician. There’s a 76-key semi-weighted keyboard with elongated keys for your elongated solos. There’s also knobs that can tweak parameters live, like EQ and reverb. And this thing has plenty of ports to plug stuff into: USB sticks, MP3 players (1/8″ jack), and even a microphone port. You could plug everything you’d need as a one-man band in this board and perform!
The Music Player Network has a video straight from the NAMM floor showing off all the features.
I don’t play live much, but I kinda want one anyway!
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Gear
Aww! Fisher Price My First Genelecs
Okay, so they’re not Fisher Price. These are Genelecs, coming from the respected studio monitor maker. But the series name First Step reminds me of something like My First Dollhouse.
They’re not that bad. But they are a step down from the shapely black ones you’d see a recording studio. The new 6010A Genelecs are intended to be sold at consumer level. At less than $400, they’re quite a bit cheaper than their professional brothers, and their coloring looks about as serious as the previously mentioned dollhouse. What next, pink? Genelec even lists iPod connectivity as a selling point. Meh.
There’s also a 5040A subwoofer to compliment these Bathroom Tile White semi-montiors. I like Genelec, but I’d say save your money for the big ones.
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Gear
Cute! Itsy-bitsy little tiny keyboard and controllers
I’m a sucker for miniaturized things. It’s too bad that the computer music industry has not caught on. Musicians on the go want small controllers and keyboards to throw in their laptop bag, but even the 37-key devices (like M-audio’s Oxygen) are bigger than a laptop.
Korg jumps on the mini train with three new devices: nanoKEY, nanoKONTROL, nanoPAD. The nanoKey has 25 little keys, each transmitting little tiny MIDI signals to your devices. Oh, and it’s velocity sensitive, too! The nanoPAD has 12 little pads for drumming, and there’s even a nifty X/Y touch pad onboard. Finally, the nanoKONTROL gives you 9 faders, 9 knobs, 18 switches, and even transport controls in this diminutive package. Gimme!
All we know now is that they’re USB bus-powered and gearlust-worthy. No prices have been anounced yet. Here’s to hoping that the price is tiny, too.
[Via CreateDigitalMusic]
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Gear
Have you played a Roland Fantom G yet?
Luxury. Class. Style. Power. No, I’m not talking about the newest BMW. I’m lusting over a synthesizer here!
Not since the Yamaha launch of the Motif series have I been so hot for a synth. I’ve always admired Roland’s Fantom series, but there were never a must-have item until the G came out. I recently had a chance to tinker with one, and I’m totally sold on this $3,700 workstation (88 key version).
What won me over? Maybe it’s the lovely new “Ivory Feel” keys. Maybe it’s the new built-in audio and midi sequencer. Bah, who am I kidding? It’s that big-assed screen and the ability to plug in a USB mouse to control it!
For the first time on a synth, you can mouse click your way through soundbanks and parameters, which is much easier than fiddling with little knobs and buttons. A simple right click on the patch name brings up a list of like instruments. Brilliant!
Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that it sounds amazing. The new piano patches are a dream to play.
Hit the jump to see one lucky bastard’s unboxing. (more…)
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