The International Trade Fair Musikmesse 2012

Musikmesse is one of the brightest events of the music world, accompanied by numerous spectacular demonstrations, concerts and masterclasses featuring musical idols. This year Musikmesse ran from 21 to 24 March in Frankfurt. Around 110 thousand visitors saw and tried out the creations of the most varied companies from all over the world: Akai, Pioneer, Roland, Yamaha, Waldorf, Korg and many others. We visited Frankfurt, looked at and tried out the new products, and now the time has come to share our impressions with you.

Musikmesse 2012

DJ equipment, as was to be expected, was augmented with all sorts of controllers — the Vestax VCI-380, the Stanton DJC.4 and the iDJ PRO iPad controller from Numark. The Englishmen Allen&Heath presented a new model of DJ headphones, the XD2-53s. These are professional monitoring headphones with high noise isolation, power and a sturdy build. Incidentally, they remain Pete Tong's favourite headphones as ever.

Pete Tong in headphones by Allen&Heath

An interesting product from the Italians at Studiologic this year was the yellow Sledge synthesizer, taking us back to the days of analogue. The synthesizer is based on the latest modelling technology from Waldorf, offering virtual analogue and wavetable synthesis derived from the PPG wave. Three oscillators, plus a noise generator, are fed into a multimode filter. The old-school interface makes the signal path and the adjustment of the synthesis and processing very intuitive. Two built-in effects banks let you add Chorus, Phaser and Flanger to the sound, as well as reverb or delay.

The Studiologic Sledge synthesizer

On the 10th anniversary of the first Electro, the Swedish company Clavia showed a new product — the nord Electro 4D SW 61. The nord Electro 4D sound module has a number of improvements: the organ section is equipped with a new «tonewheel» algorithm borrowed from the company's flagship organ model — the nord C2D. Timbre modelling has also been refined; in particular, there's a new emulator of that indispensable attribute of the electric organ — the rotating Leslie speakers. The model supports the constantly expanding nord sound libraries.

A major debut from Roland was the new Jupiter-50 synthesizer — the little brother of last year's Jupiter-80. In a more portable body and with SuperNATURAL technology, it astonishes with the power of both its vintage patches and its acoustic instruments. Synchronisation of the synthesizer with an iPad and special software has become available.

The Roland Jupiter-50 synthesizer

For lovers of mobile gadgets, the American company Alesis released the iO Mix 4. This is the first product that lets you record 4 channels simultaneously into a device running Garage Band or another compatible application. This new product is very interesting: in seconds it turns your iPad into a powerful portable studio. The Japanese, however, aren't falling behind: the company Korg has updated its line of micro-keyboards. They're now available in 25- and 61-key versions. Using the camera connection kit, we can easily connect the microKEY to an iPad and enjoy the emulators of analogue devices.

Alesis iO Mix 4

And finally, one should mention the RMX-1000 gadget from Pioneer, called the «Remix Station». Essentially, it's a device for DJs who make active use of effects and sampling. The RMX-1000 can be a good addition to a DJ setup and can be backed up by a VST plugin for synchronisation with a computer. The new product will arrive in June and will cost around $999.

Musikmesse 2012 through the eyes of the 44100.com editorial team:

Synthesizer Hardware
Nominees: Arturia MiniBrute, Moog Minitaur. Winner: Roland Jupiter-80

Stage Piano
Nominees: Kawai MP-10, Roland FP-7F. Winner: Clavia Nord Piano 2

Keyboard Workstation
Nominees: Kurzweil PC 3 K-Series, Yamaha MOX8. Winner: Korg Kronos

Controller Keyboard
Nominees: Nektar Panorama P4, Novation Impulse. Winner: Akai MAX49

Software Instruments
Nominees: Arturia Oberheim SEM V, U-he Diva. Winner: Native Instruments Komplete 8

Organ/Portable Keyboard
Nominees: Clavia Nord C2D, Korg Pa3X Pro. Winner: Hammond SK-Series

Live Perfomance Tool
Nominees: Apple iPad, Peavey Musebox. Winner: Native Instruments Maschine

Recording Software
Nominees: MOTU Digital Performer 8, Steinberg Cubase 6. Winner: Avid Protools 10

DAW Controller
Nominees: Avid Artist Control, Steinberg CMC Series. Winner: Akai MPC Studio

A typical mishmash stand at Musikmesse

The official Musikmesse site.

Friends, we also hasten to remind you of the celebration on our own street! More precisely, of the NAMM Musicmesse Russia fair, which will take place from 16 to 19 May 2012 at Moscow's Expocentre. See you there!