Carmen stepped away and we’re here with producer/composer/musician Michael Boddicker, who tells us he’s about to break ground on a new studio (hooray for studios!) in Encino. Michael, what type of space are you building?

We’re building a mix theater, with an SSL AWS 900 and the Euphonix MC5 controller. I work in Pro Tools and I use Logic and Final Cut Pro too. I’m also putting in a Pro Tools edit bay, a composition room and a great espresso machine. Carl Yanchar did the acoustics. Jaime Pavez is the architect. Of course we’re just starting the build, but we have hopes to do good-sized film projects.

So what brings you here wtih the Intel folks?

Awesome processing, incredible stability, more power than I can grow out of in a decade, available to me now. Plus, they’re really nice people.

Thank you, Michael!

Okay, last night we had a smokin’ hot party at the House of Blues to relaunch the new EM, and the grooves all night, the pulse behind the rockin’ party, was Carmen Rizzo. And he’s here with us now…

Carmen, what are you working on these days?

I just finished up a track with k.d. lang. i added aome of my sound, some strings, and we had a good time. Ijust finished an HBO show, called The Song Story, a documentary-style show with a record producer, me, finding three young people through You Tube and MySpace, and I produced the tracks. They’re looking to franchise it.

What have you seen at the show?

I was really impressed with the Gator cases. I have a luggage fetish and nobody pays attention to bags. M Audio (I’m on the cover of their new catalog) have some cool new products out.

You’re standing here with Intel. Last year on the producer’s panel, you said the most important piece of gear in your studio was your Intel Mac?

Now that I’ve been on my Intel Mac for a year, I can’t imagine working without it. I’m spoiled by the speed. I work both sides of the fence, and it’s pulled my studio together.

Anything else?

My new solo album is about to come out. Two other projects, Niyaz and Lal Meri, both on Six Degrees Records. Check ‘em out.

This mic from JZ, a new company formed by mic designer Juris Zarins, takes a cue from the doughnut. It has a hole in the center that acts as a port for a springloaded shock mount. This model offers cardioid, figure 8 and omni patterns and sells for $1850

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.

After a quiet 2007, Stanton is looking to rock the DJ world this year with its new SC System, a two-piece MIDI controller setup that can work as a tandem or as seperate units. The SCS.1m Mix Controller takes on the familiar appearance of a combination DJ/console mixer, with four channel strips, precision metering, a full FireWire audio interface and much more. Meanwhile, the SCS.1d Deck is the size of a full-size professional DJ CD player, except that it is MIDI only. It’s 10-inch high-torque motorized platter gives you a real turntable feel, and it also includes 4 360-degree rotary encoders. The SC System is schedule to ship in May for a price to be announced.

Twelve years ago, Steinberg introduced the VST platform. And today we got a look at VST3, the most stable VST platform ever. New in VST3….CPU effeiciency: now, processing plug-ins only kick in when signal is present. VST plug-ins will no longer be limited to a fixed number of I/Os, and their I/O configuration can dynamically adapt to the channel configuration they’re inserted in. The interface can deactivate unused buses after loading and reactivate when needed. Other features include resizable edit windows (yay!), sample-accurate automation and a kabillion other cool things. The SDK will be available as a free technology, open for developers…

Swag from Hall E…

MOTU announced the upcoming release of Digital Performer 6, which promises to be a major upgrade to the company’s flagship digital audio sequencer. DP 6 features a redesigned user interface, which includes the ability to zoom in the Track window. Two new signal processing plug-ins are included: Pro Verb, a convolution reverb that MOTU says is very CPU efficient, and Masterworks Leveler, a dynamics processor that models the classic LA-2A. A new, and very flexible track comping feature is also included. It gives you plenty of control for comping takes, and it even lets you comp your comps. DP 6 will also include support for Broadcast WAV files, which means your sequence’s audio files no longer need to be in Sound Designer II format. Also included is support for Final Cut Pro XML files, allowing you easily edit your video’s audio track in DP. Another key addition is the ability to burn CDs directly from DP. DP 6 is scheduled for release sometime during the first quarter of this year., and its price will remain unchanged.

Just got back from the East West press conference, where the company showed numerous new products that are either now shipping or will be by the end of this month. Jumping into the 64-bit world, East West, which celebrates 20 years in the biz this year, continues to lead the sound library market. Take for example its Quantum Leap “Forbidden Planet” sample-based synth and Goliath, sounds inspired by The Beatles in its “Fab Four Virtual Instruments” and so much more. If you’re at the show, I suggest playing around with their sounds and libraries at booth #6630.

BBE Sound was showing their new Sonic Maximizer plug-in. It is compatible with all AU, RTAS and VST host apps and features programmable patch memory and on-line tech support. It works across Mac OS X, Wincows XP and Vista platforms and retails for $129