I have been keeping a fairly close eye on new stories coming from the NAMM event and I have to be honest I think 90% of the products if not more are a joke. Let me just go through some examples of why I think this and then a couple of cool things as well.

Korg Kaossilator Pro
Something new that Korg is pushing. It’s a complete joke. I use to own the KP3 and it was really cool at first but after sometime you’ll feel like its more of gimmicky thing. Lets quickly look at the two units.

Everything is the same but for a few things. It’s green instead of red. Instead of hold function they give you Gate Arp. And some minor software changes thats it. They should have just marketed this as ‘Old hardware Special Edition KP3 because we are too lazy to come up with the KP4′. I don’t know.

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“Cakewalk launched the FA-66 FireWire Audio Interface for Mac and PC at NAMM. The FA-66 will be available in late April, 2010. Pricing is TBA.” Oh do you mean the Edirol FA-66 that’s available right now? At least Korg changed the color of their product.

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Akai MPD26
Yay another useless Trigger Finger! Oh wait isn’t there another Akai product similar to this? of course.. the MPD 24. Lets look

Okay Akai must have had some inside info from Korg that new colors help. This has two less knobs and three extra buttons. For 199.00 I think I’ll pass and get Korg nanoPad and nanoControl for a total of 100.00.

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Okay.. onto some kinda cool things from NAMM.

Moldover’s Mojo
Maybe this isn’t the greatest controller out there but I dig Moldover’s love for it and presentation. It’s being marketed as a DJ controller. But way too expensive to have it become successful. It’s like near 2000.00 at that price I’d much rather get a Jazzmutant Lemur. Here’s a run down of the features. And you’ll have to check out the video I include after.

Works with all MIDI compatible music software
Includes new Moldover template for Ableton Live
10 ultra-responsive touch strips
24 competition-grade arcade buttons
Rubberized knobs, rugged faders and burly toggle switches
Assembled in San Francisco CA by Andy from Pance Party
Sexy mahogany body by Livid Instruments
Scratch-resistant anodized aluminum faceplate
Environmentally sealed twist-lock USB cable included
USB bus powered electronics by Hale Micro
Class-compliant USB device (no driver to install)
Free copy of Moldover’s self-titled album included
Dimensions: 11.5″ x 18″ x 4″, 7.5lbs
“Will totally get you laid” (<-Awesome! lol)

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Ableton/Serato’s The Bridge
They finally showed what they were going to bring DJing world to the next level. I don’t know it’s kinda whatever. Session view in Serato. I guess thats awesome if you refuse to leave Serato. But I’m pretty sure you need to own Ableton Live too. See the catch? I have turntables but I’m not the type of guy that needs to use vinyl to perform live. Just check out this video this guy explains it.

OR

If you have Ableton Live and Max for Live AND Ms. Pinky you could use this patch.

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There is a lot of little things I could continue to post on like the return of the Moog Taurus III, Teenage Engineering OP-1, Arturia Origin Keyboard, The Eigenharp Tau and more. And there are a billion more things I could complain about with the useless midi keyboards, dj controllers and lame same old instruments (with new colors yay! ). I am no expert in this but I think I have a good understanding what’s up. Let me know what you think in the comments.