I asked Stephen Kay, master synth programmer for Korg and inventor of KARMA, “What did you see at NAMM that impressed you the most?” Without missing a beat, he said, “Spectrasonics’ new Omnisphere.” So I strolled over to the Spectrasonics booth to have a look for myself. I had already missed a series of full-length demos given to large groups of NAMM attendees, so company founder and creative director Eric Persing graciously agreed to give me a brief personal demonstration. It was his final demo during NAMM, so I shot him. We’ll try to post a video clip on this site within the week.

Omnisphere is the forthcoming flagship soft synth from the makers of Stylus RMX, Trilogy, and Atmosphere. Containing many times the sample content of all those programs, it incorporates the new STEAM Engine, which will also be the basis of future Spectrasonics products. Omnisphere combines just about any synthesis architecture you’ve ever heard of (granular, FM, polyphonic ring mod, timbre shifting, and lots more) with some very unusual samples, complex modulation routing, and a new technique for morphing one instrument’s harmonics into another’s. And I was floored by its method for drawing and assigning finely detailed modulation envelopes and arpeggiation patterns in real time. Just about everything else I saw this week had a projected ship date around the end of February, but not this one. Look for Omnisphere on September 15 (they promise it won’t be late), selling for $499.

Today I had a semi-private demonstration of Kurzweil’s PC3X, the resurrected company’s first new keyboard in several years to incorporate VAST technology. The latest variation in the old K-Series’ synthesis architecture is called Dynamic VAST, apparently because you can specify as many components as you need to construct whatever sound you’re aiming for, and you can save your own algorithms as starting places for future sounds.

The factory-programmed voices I heard very accurately reproduced a tremendous variety of signature sounds from music made popular over the past few decades, from Led Zeppelin and David Bowie to the latest hip-hop hits, and it absolutely excels at orchestral and piano sounds. Judging by first impressions, I was simply blown away by the quality of every patch, without exception. Running off custom integrated circuits, the PC3X is a 128-note polyphonic instrument with an 88-note keyboard and an onboard multitrack sequencer. It’s expected to sell for around three grand and ship by the end of February. Or as they say around here, N.A.M.M. (Not Available, Maybe March)!

There’s something new at Universal Audio, crafted from hand-picked components, including new old stock (NOS) vintage vacuum tubes and custom-wound CineMag input and output transformers. It’s the LA-610 Signature Edition, a limited run version of UA’s respected LA-610 channel strip, comprising a mic preamp, DI, EQ, and opto compressor. Only 500 will be manufactured, and each will be signed by Bill Putnam, Jr. With a black faceplate and an electroluminescent front panel, the Signature Edition costs about $500 more than UA’s standard LA-610, and it’s destined to become a collector’s item.

At NAMM today the most exciting thing I saw and heard was a synthesizer called the Solaris. It’s a work-in-progress by veteran synth and sound designer John Bowen. What began as a soft-synth project outgrew the confines of John’s computer, so he brought it to life as a living, breathing (okay, not really) keyboard instrument with lots of knobs and big, bright displays. It uses a variety of synthesis algorithms, from sample playback to FM to wavetable and more, and it gives you eight envelopes, five LFOs, and more types of filters than you ever imagined you might need. And the sound! It’s a beautiful thing, and it will be April (or so) when John hopes to begin shipping the Solaris. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait! But don’t take my word for it; head on over to http://www.johnbowen.com/solaris.html and hear what I mean.

It’s another NAMM, and everyone is finally getting a peak at the results of many months (and years) of hard work by some very smart people. Some products are ready to ship, some is right around the corner, and some of it is a long way in the future, but NAMM attendees have seen enough to know that most of it is worth the wait. In the middle category (right around the corner) fall two products from Moog Music: the MP-201 Multi-Pedal and the Minimoog Voyager OS—the “OS” stands for Old School.

The MP-201 is much hipper than any other foot-operated device I’ve seen, siimply because you can do so much with it. Essentially, it’s a programmable controller with four MIDI outputs and four control-voltage (CV) outputs that allows you to control four MIDI or CV devices using a single optical pedal. You can specify the range and polarity of the pedal and program it to address any parameter in real time to control your Moogerfooger, soft synth, digital or analog effects device—just about anything with a MIDI or CV input. This description barely touches on what you can do with this thing, so we’ll get a video clip of it online real soon. Suffice it to say, it’s much cooler than it might sound.

And if you’re wondering whether to take your aging Minimoog to the shop or replace it with something new and more dependable, you have a new reason to put it out the pasture. The Minimoog Voyager OS (remember, that’s Old School, not operating system) is a real analog synth with no digital functionality–no program memory, no fancy arpeggiator, just the same classic sound and hands-on controllability you got with the Model D. It does everything the vintage Minimoog did in an all-new package. You also get the audio and CV connectivity found on the original Voyager, thanks to a bank of 1/4-inch jacks. At $2,595 retail, the OS is priced between the Voyager and the Litle Phatty and will be shipping soon.

I recently installed Windows Vista on my MacBook Pro. Now it‘s a Windows laptop, and unless I choose to restart in Mac OS X, it will remain a Windows laptop. I already have another laptop running Windows XP, but the Intel-based Apple hardware is far superior to my Dell Latitude D610.

The latest version of Apple‘s operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard) features the official release of Boot Camp. The version in Tiger was a public beta, and I wanted to wait until Boot Camp was finalized before installing it. Unlike with the beta, you no longer need to burn a disc containing Windows drivers for the Mac; they‘re all included on Apple‘s Leopard installer disc.

Once I‘d installed Vista, I began installing Vista-compatible audio software, including Cakewalk Sonar 7 and Adobe Audition 3. I‘m using an M-Audio Ozonic for my audio and MIDI interface, along with M-Audio‘s Vista-compatible beta driver. Everything works fine, so far, with no surprises. I‘ll let you know how things progress in the next few weeks as I actually begin recording projects. In the meantime, has anyone else been running Vista on a Mac?

A year after Bob Moog‘s death in 2005, several of his friends and family established the Bob Moog Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to honoring his contributions to music. In February, what began as a purely volunteer organization hired its namesake‘s daughter, Michelle Moog-Koussa, as its first full-time executive director. The Foundation‘s purpose is to encourage innovation through scholarships, outreach programs, and community events.

The fledgling Foundation‘s first goal, however, has been to raise awareness of its mission. A more long-term goal is to establish a Bob Moog Museum to house his personal archives, which include prototypes, recordings, and various other objects that represent his life‘s work. But because those archives are already threatened by the ravages of time and neglect, the most immediate need is to preserve them. To raise money to do that, tonight the Bob Moog Foundation staged an event called, “Enter the Mind of Moog.” It was held at the Orange Peel, the same music venue that hosted Bob‘s memorial service a couple of years ago. I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, to attend the event. I recorded some interviews with a few of the participants, and by Monday you should be able to view video clips of those interviews on EM’s video/events site.

Saturday night, the Ohio-based band Over the Rhine came to Charlotte‘s Visulite Theatre. It was their third performance in Charlotte and their first as headliners. The room was packed, and the moment that vocalist extraordinaire Karin Bergquist began singing, “I don‘t want to waste your time with music you don‘t need,” it was instantly apparent that the audience knew and loved OTR‘s 2007 tour-de-force, The Trumpet Child. The song is one of several from an album that marks just how far the band has come since its humble beginnings as a rock quartet in 1989.

After that opening number, the crowd was putty in OTR‘s collective hands. Along with almost every song from The Trumpet Child, the band skillfully delivered several older numbers and a few unfamiliar tunes, including an impressive instrumental (“Goodbye Charles”) from their just-released Christmas album, Snow Angels. Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Linford Detweiler led the band and played some dynamite piano, and Bergquist continued blowing away listeners with songs written by either or both of them. One particular standout was a song she penned called “I‘m on a Roll.” She really was on a roll, and you could feel it in her incredible voice.

At one point, Detweiler told a story of the time they landed in New Zealand and one of their songs was playing on the radio through the airport‘s sound system. Although OTR may be well known in other parts of the world, they have only a cult following in the U.S. The Trumpet Child could be the album that changes that, but only time will tell.

Two good reasons for Over the Rhine‘s recent artistic ascent are the newest members of the band, the amazing Mickey Grimm on drums and percussion and the very talented Brad Jones (who also produced and arranged both new albums, and has played with Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, and many others) on guitar and electric and upright bass. Both are consummate musicians and perfectly complement the talents of Bergquist and Detweiler. I certainly hope this band sticks together.

The show closed with a two-song encore. The first, “If a Song Could Be President,” is a country-tinged ode to present-day politics that was guaranteed to garner cheers from the crowd. The final song was “Don‘t Wait for Tom,” a surefire winner that takes advantage of Detweiler‘s unusual vocal stylings and shows off Grimm‘s percussive dexterity. All in all, the show was completely satisfying and not to be missed. If you do get a chance to see Over the Rhine, I urge you to take advantage of the opportunity.

As a preface, let me explain that the following is my personal opinion and in no way reflects the viewpoint of Electronic Musician or its publisher. I‘m simply illuminating an issue I perceive to be justice denied, and this blog gives me an opportunity to speak out. Whether you agree or disagree with my opinion, I‘d love to hear your point of view.

Nobody likes music piracy, but is the Recording Industry Association of America‘s cure worse than the disease? Representing the interests of big record companies under the guise of protecting artists’ rights, the RIAA recently scored a major victory in its pursuit of those who share music online using peer-to-peer software. The organization‘s usual tactic is to employ legally questionable investigative techniques to identify individual file sharers and demand exorbitant extortion fees (typically from $2,000 to $5,000 a pop) under threat of lawsuit. Annually, the RIAA goes after college students, sending thousands of “pre-litigation settlement letters” to universities across America, “on behalf of record companies.” Most accused file sharers (or their parents) simply pay up, but every year a handful decides to fight back. In the past four years, the RIAA has brought more than 20,000 lawsuits against those who are unable or unwilling to meet their demands.

After years of intimidation and legal arm-twisting, last week the RIAA finally brought a court case to completion. It won a lawsuit against Jammie Thomas, a single Minnesota mother accused of sharing 24 copyrighted songs. She was never accused of downloading any music herself, but of making those songs available on her computer for others to download. The only evidence against her was circumstantial, and the RIAA never tried to establish whether anyone had actually downloaded any songs from Ms. Thomas‘ computer.

After two days of testimony and five hours‘ deliberation, a Federal jury awarded the RIAA and the record companies it represents nearly a quarter of a million dollars–$220,000, to be exact, or $9,250 for each song. If the RIAA were to collect every penny that Ms. Thomas earns, it would take more than 60 years to collect its winnings.

No doubt, the association is emboldened by its victory and will use the jury‘s decision as justification for pursuing more and more lawbreakers until… until when? Until people finally wise up and stop peer-to-peer file sharing? Until a federal court finally decides the RIAA‘s methods are despicable and illegal or that having P2P software and MP3 files on your computer doesn‘t violate copyright laws? Or until technology finally presents a resolution to the problem, most likely when record companies embrace some kind of file-sharing revenue model?

This week, the immensely popular rock band Radiohead will release its long-awaited new album, In Rainbows, its first without the backing of a major company. Beginning Wednesday, you can go to www.inrainbows.com and download the 10-track album for whatever you think it‘s worth. If you‘re willing to pay $1, you‘ll get it for $1. You‘ll also need a pay a small fee for charging your purchase to a credit card, but the point is that Radiohead would rather trust the integrity of its fans than trust an international conglomerate and the RIAA to collect proceeds from the album.

Rather than try to find a technological solution that would mutually benefit record companies, artists, and consumers, the RIAA’s legal team has seemingly chosen to attempt to destroy the lives of anyone who dares to defy them. Their apparent arrogance is made possible by the combination of unrestrained power, a culture of greed, and out-of-date statutes governing copyright. Fortunately, Ms. Thomas is appealing the court‘s decision, and Congress is considering sorely needed revisions to the U.S. copyright law. Until record companies are willing to consider a solution that fuses good technology with good business, however, the problem of illegal file sharing will continue no matter how many lawsuits are filed or how the law adapts.

Years ago I realized that any artist needs to have lots of talent in order to gain widespread recognition (yes, even those whose music seems completely worthless). I also came to recognize that being immensely talented and working hard offers no assurance that he, she, or they will “make it big.”

Case in point: I‘ve been enjoying the music of Over the Rhine since a few months after the release of their second album in 1992. With the recent release of their eighteenth album, The Trumpet Child, and despite well over a decade full of glowing reviews praising vocalist Karin Bergquist as “the greatest unknown singer of our generation,” well-deserved stardom continues to elude the Cincinnati-based band. However, The Trumpet Child is such a musical tour de force that perhaps OTR‘s career is finally about to take off for the stratosphere. On the other hand, judging by their history, perhaps not. In a world of megacorporate-controlled radio airplay and music marketing, cream does not always rise to the top. Nonetheless, if only through word of mouth, this new album should give OTR a long-deserved shot at stardom.

Thanks in equal parts to the continuing expansion of Bergquist‘s vocal talents and her husband/multi-instrumentalist Linford Detweiler‘s songwriting and arranging proficiency, The Trumpet Child is OTR‘s best album ever. My wife Pam has it in constant rotation in our kitchen and bedroom, and at least half the songs are so catchy that I find them playing in my head at random moments. For both of us, it‘s currently the number-one pick on our iPods. The songwriting is amazingly strong and every arrangement is perfect for its song. The musicianship is top notch, and Bergquist‘s singing is equal parts polished and sexy, demonstrating a stunning degree of expressive control.

I must admit, I have mixed feelings about drawing attention to OTR. For the moment, fans like Pam and I are able to attend their performances in relatively small clubs, without paying through the nose for tickets to see a band so far from our seats we can‘t distinguish their faces. However, some musicians are so deserving of success that it would be unfair not to let the entire world know about them.

Over the Rhine is currently touring, and I recommend you catch their live act if you get the chance; I think you‘ll be impressed. The Trumpet Child is available as a CD or an LP from OTR‘s Web site, or as a download from the iTunes Store. You can listen to alternate takes from the entire album on OTR‘s Web site.