The Annual NAMM predictions rumours thread 2024

[deathbyguitar]

If Winter NAMM 2024 doesn't bring considerably more vendors and higher attendance than 2023 and 2022, it may have to move to a smaller venue in the coming years. Musikmesse at its peak was far larger than NAMM's ever been, and once a few big vendors bailed, it went from the biggest music trade show in the world to completely dead within three years. Unfortunately, a lot of major MI companies have ditched NAMM and many others are on the fence. It's far cheaper, more intimate, and more fun to invite dealers, distributors, artists, influencers, and friends to Calabasas over a year's span than it is to wrangle cats for four days.

Also, unless a product is finally available for shipment in January or February, there's very little advantage to announcing it at NAMM. No point in delaying a market launch until NAMM because you miss out on holiday sales, and launching something that's more than a month or two out just cannibalizes your current products and/or forces two expensive market launches, as everyone will forget about it by the time it's in stores and you'll have to lift the circus tent again.



There will not be a successor to Helix this year. I can guarantee it.

Marketing has a negligible impact on what products we make or what features those products have. They (and Sales) provide input, sure, and sometimes a comment might inspire something, but our hardware, software, and sustaining road maps are all birthed by our Products and Design teams, with help from Engineering.

StageScape M20d (Jan 2012) had a touchscreen, wireless editing, and an SD card slot so none of that's alien to us. Also, AMPLIFi (Jan 2014) was the first guitar-centric product with mobile editing and cloud sharing of presets.

That particular SHARC+ with ARM is nice but it can't exactly pull off what we want to do. (Although again, what we want to do may not be guitar processors at all.) Also, Catalyst, DL4 MkII, and HX One are completely ARM-based. You're right in that any proper successor to Helix probably couldn't work without an AD or equivalent DSP.

I predict one of these days Cliff and I will finally grab a beer and share some juicy industry gossip. Maybe NAMM?

The funny thing about you guys is I love just about everything Yamaha makes but I'm a dyed in the wool Fractal fanboi. I've got a bunch of Yamaha floor monitors I use for "FRFR" cabs, 2 Yamaha eDrum products, the Ampeg software suite, a damn Yamaha sound bar in my living room. You guys were so close to completely owning my life.

By chance, do you have any insight on if any new eDrum products are being announced this year or is YGG/Line6 completely insulated from that sort of information?

(Fingers crossed)

 

[ragingplatypi]

I predict one of these days Cliff and I will finally grab a beer and share some juicy industry gossip. Maybe NAMM?

A round table discussion with you Cliff and Christoph would be really cool.

 

[ragingplatypi]

I predict a resurgence of Nammthrax that will call for CDC intervention.

 

[deathbyguitar]

A round table discussion with you Cliff and Christoph would be really cool.

That...would not end well.

 

[Orvillain]

A round table discussion with you Cliff and Christoph would be really cool.

 

[paisleywookiee]

A round table discussion with you Cliff and Christoph would be really cool.

I don’t see that happening.

 

[deathbyguitar]

I don’t see that happening.

Not unless there's a steel chair involved

 

[ian_dissonance]

Everything in the thread is anecdotal evidence. 100 people on the internet is still anecdotal.

Hahahaha I think the “I gigged it _____ times” should come with a note about how your band performs onstage, because there’s a difference between-



And

For me it’s right on the middle. I’m too old to jump off half stacks but I’m definitely not grabbing a stool.

 

[Digital Igloo]

By chance, do you have any insight on if any new eDrum products are being announced this year or is YGG/Line6 completely insulated from that sort of information?

(Fingers crossed)

Nope. A few years ago I had heard a vague rumor about Yamaha looking at Line 6 wireless IP for headphones. Then the YH-WL500s just magically showed up in the NAMM booth. I'm totally out of the loop, which is a bummer because I would kill to work on a Yamaha synth.

Designed the UI/layout for a Yamaha-branded product a couple of years ago but I have no idea if it's still being developed.

A round table discussion with you Cliff and Christoph would be really cool.

It wouldn't benefit either of our companies if it were made public.

 

[laxu]

A round table discussion with you Cliff and Christoph would be really cool.

Don't mind me over there in the corner:

"Bzz, hey...what about the UI?"

 

[Orvillain]

By chance, do you have any insight on if any new eDrum products are being announced this year

ehehehehehehehehehehehe.

 

[deathbyguitar]

ehehehehehehehehehehehe.

I can't tell if you are laughing at me or if you have inside information

 

[Orvillain]

I can't tell if you are laughing at me or if you have inside information

ehehehehehehehehehehehehehe heh!!!

 

[deathbyguitar]

ehehehehehehehehehehehehehe heh!!!

You sick bastard

 

[Sedaxel]

After reading all these posts, I'd maybe change my mind about a funny NAMM... Now I think it has the potential of being even more boring than 2023 edition!

 

[paisleywookiee]

Don't mind me over there in the corner:

"Bzz, hey...what about the UI?"

That fly has a MASSIVE ass for its size. Props to their significant other.

 

[Digital Igloo]

After reading all these posts, I'd maybe change my mind about a funny NAMM... Now I think it has the potential of being even more boring than 2023 edition!

This year will really determine the future of NAMM. It's finally back in January; the last January NAMM was 2020. So hopefully, this means a few absent companies might come back.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Musikmesse at its peak was far larger than NAMM's ever been, and once a few big vendors bailed, it went from the biggest music trade show in the world to completely dead within three years.

The main difference to NAMM being that you have all the big players in the music biz next to NAMM's doors. Which is actually why I wondered a lot about Frankfurt becoming so big at all in the first place, because the music scene is nowhere even remotely comparable.
But then, Frankfurt actually got big when digital and especially DAWs got popular and there's quite some big players over here, so they were always good for some really big booths and several surprises (the Steinberg booth has been huge for some years).

Anyhow, I totally agree with you, big trade shows very likely are almost dead, now that all information is available online the moment something gets released.
Too bad for me - we had the biggest computer trade show of the world in Hannover (CeBit) and for quite some years I was playing there every day, sometimes even 2 gigs a day. But CeBit is dead since quite some years as well.

 

[Digital Igloo]

The main difference to NAMM being that you have all the big players in the music biz next to NAMM's doors. Which is actually why I wondered a lot about Frankfurt becoming so big at all in the first place, because the music scene is nowhere even remotely comparable.

True, plus Musikmesse was so spread out, it took forever to get anywhere. My feet were DEAD after that show. Anaheim Convention Center is kinda perfect. Plus, employees sometimes bring their spouses and kids and send them to Disneyland across the street.

 

[DrewJD82]

Someone asked me recently if I was going to NAMM this year and I said I'm waiting to see how it figures itself out first. I was surprised to hear Friedman is bothering with a booth again after he was pretty happy to not do it the last 3 years, so I'm assuming there's still some incentive proved to be there after last year's. Either that or the convention center dropped their pricing in an effort to get people back. Or both.

I'd love to go back again if there's enough incentive to do so. For the most part, the things you really want to see, gear-wise can be banged out in a day if that's all you're doing is checking out gear. It's all the socializing and events surrounding NAMM that make it worth it.