It‘s been just over two weeks since the third and final day of Summer NAMM, and it‘s about time I wrapped up my show blog, don‘t you think? I ended up spending an extra night in Texas after American Airlines canceled my flight, ostensibly because of a storm that struck and was gone within an hour. Once upon a time, airlines would have comped my hotel room under such circumstances, but those days are probably gone forever.

Alesis showed me some previously announced products that just began shipping, a couple announced products that still aren‘t shipping, and a couple new products that won‘t ship for a while yet. In the first category, the DM5 Pro Kit is an electronic drum set complete with sound module, and it streets for about $599. You can read about it here. The i|o Control is a compact FireWire audio interface and control surface, and the MasterControl is its bigger sibling; they were both announced in January, but neither is close to shipping. Probably the coolest new hardware from Alesis was the Performance Pad, a variation on the ControlPad that has a built-in drum machine with 233 sounds and connections for a hi-hat pedal and a kick-drum pedal. It should be out by the end of the year.

Next door at Akai, the MPK49 isn‘t shipping yet either. First unveiled at Musik Messe, the MPK49 is a USB MIDI keyboard with drum pads, some impressive performance features, and assignable controls that include extra-large sliders. It should finally ship by the end of October.

I was so excited about DigiTech‘s GSP1101 that I forgot to mention the Vocalist Live 4. It‘s a vocal effects and harmony processor that can simulate voices singing in 4-part harmony with only a single voice and a guitar as input. Like the TC-Helicon HarmonyControl, it actually analyzes your guitar chords to find the correct harmonies. It also features reverb, compression, EQ, and more.

There‘s more to come, so stay tuned.