Musical Instruments at a Crossroads: NAMM 2023 Innovation Report

The musical instrument mecca known as NAMM is at a crossroads. Here I give you the lay of the land, a review of highlights I stumbled onto, and at the end a summary link list for you to dig in more.

TLDR; scroll to the bottom and click on cool shiznit.

A NAMM Quick Refresher

NAMM is where instrument manufacturers gather within the largest exhibition center on the West Coast in a cacophony of executive meetings with distributors and retailers alongside throngs of music freaks (and houses of worship) looking to see the latest gear. One walk through the drum hall can knock down your hearing ability as much as attending metal shows for 20 years. Guitars and pedals are a major component as are pro audio, pro lighting, and smoke machines. The exhibit hall is the soul of the trade show, where products launch and get tested for the first time. The demo-filled exhibits are accompanied by panel programming, awards ceremonies, showcases, and a overly-stacked stage just outside, surrounded by palm trees, concrete, and glass.

Where's the Innovation?

If you are looking for innovation at NAMM, it's hard to find. Not because it is not there, but because it's spread out across the 53-acre property, and your senses are overwhelmed by the loud hum, cymbal crashes, and the crowds trying to figure out if that is the real Bono or waiting outside the men's restroom for Stevie Wonder to come back out, peppered with TikTok influencers you know from their Ozzy Osbourne mashups and freaks from four generations.

Post-pandemic NAMM is trying to find its footing again.

There were plenty of exhibits and humans present, though veterans commented on the famous innovation basement floor missing in 2023. That meant innovators were on main floors. The other thing missing were several brands that typically had large activations, either only displaying a banner as Avid did, only posting a closed off meeting room as Korg did, or having a very modest booth as Fender did, highlighting a bassy, pairable bluetooth speaker. There were fewer exhibitors and fewer attendees than the pre-pandemic days. Meanwhile, Pioneer DJ maintained a stunning pavilion and spacious demo floor, while guitar plugin star Neural DSP had a notably larger presence than before with mini-stage.

I'll try to give you a sense of the innovation hot spots and some cool things I discovered along the way.

But first...

I believe NAMM is at a crossroads. There are still plenty of guitars and pedals, drums and cymbals, keyboards and violins, and more. But what was once a place for instrument manufacturers to meet with retailers took a turn when so many purchases moved online, and online purchases got consolidated to fewer outlets. Manufacturers came to meet with distributors. But are we at a new place where manufacturers will work with two or three major e-commerce one stops and go direct to consumers? What is NAMM without a strong retail component?

What is NAMM as we move towards more software and apps, new form factors, and more casual creators? How will the NAMM Show serve such different constituents with different needs? Help me think of ways to allow the new generation of instruments, form factors, and software to build a community at NAMM.

Innovation Hot Spots

Now to the good stuff. Besides the many pockets throughout the trade hall, I was aware of five hotspots (in no particular order):

1. Triple G's and Music Tectonics' #InnovateAtNAMM Booth

Triple G's Gregg Stein curated eclectic musical startups including impressive AI audio enhancement platform insoundz , led by Emil Winebrand . Listen for an upcoming episode of the Music Tectonics podcast where we test their ability to remove all the trade hall background and replace my own voice with an AI replica of exactly what I said in an interview. Lots of brilliant use cases for this one including recording songs on your phone and quickly cloud-processing them into studio-sounding recordings.

Also on display was music-making app Ekwe, whose 150 instrument samples are stunning and whose mobile interface is delightful; represented by Michael Cain and Jeffrey Sugerman .

If you missed the tidal wave of buzz about Artiphon 's new sample-happy, loopy fun Orba 2, you would have been greeted by the witty and thoughtful Adam McHeffey and jubilant Emma Supica who could get you up and running on these colorful playful handhelds in seconds; the fastest way to get musically joyful at NAMM.

The true magnet of what I heard one exec call "Innovation Row" was the eye-catching, full-sized arcade Beat Machine by Endlesss , the collaborative music-making app turned hardware portal. The Pac-Man-like box is decked out with flashy video headers and colorful buttons that make the Galaga aliens fly away with fear. But in this case players are called to gamify cloud-connected beat-making in an in-person social setting, perfect for music venues to extend the music experience or for everyday bars to get cooler with interactive music. Rumor has it they are close to selling out on their first run of machines, so act fast.

Gregg packed in innovators so tightly here that we actually pulled out our studio to roam the floors with mics in hand, so make sure to check out all the companies here.

(Full disclosure my Music Tectonics Conference and Podcast was a co-sponsor of this activation and my music tech PR firm Rock Paper Scissors represents Artiphon and Endlesss.)

2. GPU Audio Innovation Lounge

Jonathan Rowden and Bill Collins of GPU Audio built an innovation lounge behind a soundproof closed door and robust 360 spatial audio stage for panels and demos. The activation was a respite of calm when crowd surfing was too much. GPU presents a seismic shift by allowing audio innovators to unlock processing power for audio purposes from your graphics card, liberating new music inventions.

My highlight of the lounge was gaming composer Brian D'Oliveira 's Mntra.io 's animistic virtual instruments. The visual music interface could only come from a mind that has gotten list in far-off gaming worlds and returned to give new creators a space-age gestural experience with prehistoric psychedelic visuals you want to touch.

H/T to the everpresent Splice for supporting the GPU endeavor and to Stability AI 's Humanai team Zach Evans and CJ Carr for giving us a taste of what's to come with text-prompted music making.

3. MIDI Association Takeover

In terms of size and impact, if you are looking for innovation at NAMM, you can't go wrong hanging out in the The MIDI Association 's takeover of a big chunk of trade floor space. They built a mini-museum along one wall and attracted some of the best new instruments to demo alongside including many standouts I'll highlight below. MIDI president Athan Billias is a community-builder, generous cheerleader, and visionary connecting the dots between technology and culture, as expressive himself as MIDI 2.0. With celebrations for MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 and a slew of panels and networking events, MIDI at NAMM is where it's at. Next time, I'll start there!

4. A3E Sessions

For the first time after four NAMMs, I finally attended a panel. Three in fact! Hats off to Paul Sitar for an incredible line-up of topics and presenters during A3E. This is definitely another innovation hotspot at NAMM. H/T to presenters I caught including:

• Dani Deahl , Maya Ackerman, PhD. , Jessica Powell , Akiva Bamberger , and Ben Goertzel discussing Generative AI.
• Brian D'Oliveira , Jonathan Rowden , Chase Bethea , and Jonathan Wyner pushing the boundaries of music in interactive media, a.k.a. Gaming.
• Mike Butera , Daniel Rowland , Kevin Doucette , Jamie Gale , and Paul Sitar on What Will a Musical Instrument Be in Ten years? ...in which they did not talk about musical instruments, which was one of the most telling things of the conference. They did talk about AI, ambient technology, gesture control, and augmented reality, cyborgs, and neural sensors that allowed for expanded hearing and perception.

5. Electronic Sonic Madness Afterparty.

Stumbling onto Modbap Modular on the trade floor (see below), I was handed a pink postcard for this offsite, afterparty featuring two dozen performers and a dozen synth companies. Apparently put on by the SoCal Synth Society, this should have been at the top of the list for a quick deep dive into innovative modular and analog synths hovering around NAMM. So I ask this: why aren't any of the bigger controller, plugin, or DJ manufacturers doing club nights every night?! Let's support this group in 2024!

Innovators You Must Check Out

OK, now what you have been waiting for. After four days of pavement roaming by Eleanor Rust , Travis Feaster , and me, a synopsis of what we found! If we had been able to curate a bigger Innovator's Row, these would have been included.

Artiphon's Orba 2. The latest handheld looping synth from Artiphon expands sound packs and allows users to load their own samples. Most Orba buyers never bought another instrument before they got one of these.

Audio Modeling. This is one you have to hear to believe. They call it "expressive virtual instruments" with "live performance software." But I say this is the first time I have seen a real trumpet sound controlled by a keyboard. Along with other solo brass, strings, and woodwinds. Sign me up.

Beat Machine by Endlesss. One of the standouts from NAMM 2023. Finally a life-size arcade machine for beat-making and musical collaboration. Robust enough to withstand a bar or club. Cool enough to take off. Jam with friends across the planet. I want one in my neighborhood.

Beatsurfing 2. A Texan in Belgium stopped by our Innovator's Meetup Saturday morning and showed off Beatsurfing 2. The iPad app has a beautiful interface where you can tap and drop trigger pads and then play by tapping or swiping, creating a dynamic playing style with now wrong notes or beats. An app to watch!

Ekwe. With a great mobile interface, and rich global samples of 150 instruments, we are going to hear more about Ekwe. This fits somewhere between the casual creator and the pro, from 5 to adult, with MIDI built in. A mobile DAW with a global aesthetic.

Embodme's Erae Touch. Watch someone play this 18-inch silicon LED panel and you see a future where digital performance is fun to watch. It's expressive, visual, colorful, and customizable. One of the first spotlight MIDI 2.0 controllers.

GPU Audio. This one is hard to see. All you have to know is that audio complexity is slowed by computer power. GPU Audio turns your graphics card into a powerful tool to unlock processing power and leave your CPU alone. With GPU Audio's technology and philosophy, I expect to see major developments in audio innovation.

InstaChord. This one is straightforward: play chords (or beats!) with one button on a small guitar-shaped device. Start learning music theory without being slowed down with playing technique. Plus since it has MIDI, turn it into any sounds.

Insoundz. This AI powered audio enhancement allows you to turn any recorded voice into a studio-sounding recording. Remove all background noise and optimize the voice. How? It creates and AI version of what you said or sang.

JackTrip Labs. JackTrip made a big splash at NAMM 2022, demonstrating how a full choir could perform in real time remotely. This low latency audio collaboration platform is now available for free within a web browser, including mobile browser. No more Zoom delays.

Melodics. Gone are the days of binge practicing 20 minutes before your weekly music lesson. Melodics really does make learning fun. Having become the number one way to learn finger drumming, Melodics has moved on to keyboard and now electronic drums. The number one interactive way to play songs you love and stay motivated.

MNTRA.io. Founded by a video game composer, MNTRA's virtual musical instruments let creators design soundscapes using animistic future-scapes. Next up is gestural control of music using simple motion capture in three dimensions and more finite gestures.

Modbap Modular. These elegant small modular synths were built with a different mindset: beat-making. Out of the hip hop scene, founder Corry Banks (MPM, ITIL) went from hip hop artist to blogger to electrical engineer to inventor. The end result is dynamic, irresitible, and fun to play.

Pioneer DJ. Pioneer DJ had a slew of announcements at NAMM. But I am going to make you follow the Music Tectonics podcast to hear us interview Matt Play (DJ) about cool new models and new features of Rekordbox.

Polyend. Polyend won NAMM. I mean they literally won the NAMM 2023 Best in Show for the new Tracker Mini. This is a smaller and more feature packed version of their popular Tracker. Both are standalone workstations robust enough to create a full album on the go. The Mini adds a mic and is a similar width to a game controller.

SoundFlow. DAWs are awesome because you can do anything with them. But it can take a lot of mouse clicks to get there. SoundFlow allows you to use and create common macro automations that help you complete tedious tasks efficiently and with less clicking. It works with touch tablets and Stream Decks. Andrew Scheps was on hand to endorse and demo.

What innovative new products did I miss? Comment on my profile page.

As my friend Bruce Houghton says, "I'm a student of the industry." Help me learn! Thank you!