The newly announced Tempest digitally controlled analog drum machine from Dave Smith instruments looks amazing. I was fortunate enough to speak with Dave Smith himself at their namm both this year. Very nice guy … he even answered my question about how they still manage to acquire curtis chips for production. They apparently have them fabbed custom in batches to make it still possible to use in their new designs. Back to the tempest … it has 6 drum voices with 2 analog oscillators and 2 digital oscillators per voice. The OLED display looks beautiful as well. Watch the video below!
Strymon has posted some shots of their demo pedalboard from the 2010 NAMM show last week. Looks like there is a previously unannounced reverb and also a chorus on there. From the site: “Introducing the Strymon blueSky reverberator and the Ola dBucket chorus / vibrato. We are swamped trying to get these done but we promise we’ll have more details, pictures, videos in the days to come. Please stay tuned and check this section of the website often!”
Also,here is a closeup of their upcoming Orbit flanger which will feature thru zero flanging among other things.
Moog was showing off their newly unveiled update of the Taurus bass pedals. They looked great in person and it seems as if the design draws heavily from the Little Phatty line of synths. As an owner of the Little Phatty I can say that the bass sounds in the Taurus III are going to be astounding. Taurus II will be a limited quantity product with less than 1000 units produced.
From the moogmusic site: “Long requested by many of our very best customers and used by the likes of Rush, The Police, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins, Asia, Weezer, and many more. This is a one time opportunity to own a new set with a new warranty but one absolutely faithful to the original Taurus I sound.“
“… We liken the Strymon OB.1 to a studio-friendly Swiss Army Knife… something any player could turn to in a pinch to work his/her way out of a tonal rut. While we enjoyed some Compression setting more than others, the OB.1 offers up near endless possibilities for the ‘tweakheads’ among us that love to spread out on the floor and dial in the perfect tone … “
Damage Control is currently running a $79 special promotion on their Liquid Blues pedal. It’s a dual tube parallel path distortion pedal and I personally own, use and love one in front of my Marshall plexi. This thing usually runs for $199, grab one NOW while they are still in stock! All you have to do is become a fan of Damage Control via their facebook page here.
Strymon has just announced their new Orbit flanger in the news section of their site:
“We’ve already previewed the dBucket technology that is going to debut in our new delay pedal. Here’s another taste of things to come. Just as in the delay, an entire SHARC DSP is dedicated to doing only one thing … the ultimate flanger. We own and love our ADA flanger so naturally that was some of the first sonic territory we wanted to cover … “
Strymon has just announced a preview of a new delay pedal on their web site blog. It’s called the BBD and is a DSP based implementation of an analog delay with true bypass and tap tempo.
from the site: “BBD takes the compact aluminum chassis and form factor developed for the OB.1 and crams in a TON of DSP horsepower … more than has ever existed in such a compact pedal. We love analog delays but at the same time they pose some serious limitations. So, we decided to take a super powerful SHARC DSP and dedicate to doing one thing and one thing only … delivering the best analog bucket brigade delay sound ever.”
Very interesting and informative lecture by Brian Kehew and Larry Fast filmed and streamed live on the web. This was done on opening weekend of the new Bob Moog exhibit we posted on earlier. The exhibit is at the museum of making music in Carlsbad, CA.
Moog has combined the guitar and bass MuRF pedals and added a full midi implementation in the new MF-105M. At $479 it’s definitely not cheap but it is very cool sounding.
