Grab the Best of Summer NAMM 2010 by the Hand

June 29th, 2010 by Markkus Rovito

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It was a not-so-swollen summer this June 18-20 in Nashville for Summer NAMM 2010, where the collective slow down of the economic turn down resulted in fewer revelations for musical tech geeks.

However, appropriately enough for these lean times, small was the operative word for the handful of hits that did grace the show floor.

PLEASE HOLD… ROCKING OUT

Sonoma Wire Works' GuitarJack

Guitarists got new reasons to turn an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad into their porta-studio. Sonoma Wire Works showed off its new GuitarJack, an audio interface for Apple iOS 4 and iPhone OS 3 devices, meant to be used with iApps such as its popular FourTrack program.

GuitarJack includes a 1/4-inch instrument-level input with Lo-Z and Hi-Z modes, a stereo 1/8-inch mic/line with normal and boost modes, and an 1/8-inch output optimized for headphones. It records at the host hardware’s maximum resolution of 16-bit/44.1 kHz and will be available in Q3 2010 at a price of $199.

iPad junkies also got a look at Sonoma Wire Works’ impressive StudioTrack software, which allows eight tracks of recording to an iPad, including dynamics and effects processing, track bouncing and a gorgeous multi-touch mixer for $39.99.

Rather than recording parts to an iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, users of IK Multimedia‘s new Ampitube iRig package can employ their mobile device as a mini amp/effect rig. The hardware portion of the package, iRig, plugs into the 1/8-inch input of the mobile device and includes a 1/4-inch guitar input and 1/8-inch headphone output for monitoring.

IK Multimedia's new Ampitube iRig

iRig will ship in July for $39.99, which includes the AmpliTube Free app — a 6-model version of IK’s popular AmpliTube guitar and bass tone software made for the lower-powered processors of Apple’s mobile hardware.

Purchasing AmpliTube LE ($2.99) gives you two extra stomp box models, and AmpliTube Full ($19.99) includes all the available models: 11 stomp boxes, 5 amp/cabinets, and 2 microphones.

HANDY BARS

Zoom combined the popularity of handheld pro audio recorders with Flip video cameras to make the Q3 audio/video recorder ($199 street) late last year. A competitor has finally stepped up to challenge it: the Alesis VideoTrack, which debuted at Summer NAMM.

Like the Q3, the VideoTrack records video on top of high-quality audio captured from stereo condenser mics. However, the VideoTrack ups the ante on the Q3 in several ways: it has 32GB internal memory in addition to reading SD cards, whereas the Q3 has no internal memory; it takes still photos with a flash, while the Q3 does not; and it has an internal, replaceable, rechargeable battery; whereas the Q3 runs on two AA batteries.

Zoom H1 Handy Recorder

Finally, the VideoTrack is set to ship in September for a street price of $199, currently the same as the Q3. Alesis missed the opportunity however to include HD video, something the I faulted the Q3 for seven months ago. Instead the VideoTrack sticks with video and still image resolution of 640 x 480. These days even YouTube is HD-ready; it’s hard to see buying a video recorder without HD.

Let’s not leave Zoom entirely in the lurch. While its Q3 may have been bested, it still has one of the most popular lines of handheld pro audio recorders around, which it added to at Summer NAMM with the H1 Handy Recorder ($99; July availability).

The H1 includes stereo condenser mics in an X/Y configuration and uses the same mic capsules as the well-received H2. Weighing just more than 2 ounces, the H1 uses no menus; instead it has hardware controls on the side and back for input level, low cut, file format, transport functions, one-touch recording and more.

Saving to MicroSD cards of up to 32GB (2GB card included) the H1 records WAV up to 24-bit/96 kHz or MP3 from 48-320 kbps. It also includes a tripod mount, USB 2.0 port and a single AA battery (compatible with rechargeable AAs).

Markkus Rovito is a writer, musician, DJ and contributing editor at DJTechTools.com.