Welcome to Anaheim!
Everyone is busy getting set up for the opening of the show tomorrow. Today there was a limited press preview, with small tables set up and a few companies displaying things, but it's a fraction of what is to come.
Here's what you see as you walk up to the convention center.
The weather this year is warm (in the mid to upper 70s), but it's pretty overcast, with a 20% chance of rain daily for the rest of the week. Let's hope it stays warm and dry!
The first thing you need to do when you get here is sign in and get your badge. No ID, no badge. No badge, no entry to the show. They also check your badge - and often your ID too - whenever you go into one of the convention center halls. There are several places you can pick up your badge. This one is in the huge lobby of the Marriott hotel.
As you walk around, you'll notice lots of stages - both indoors and out. Here's an indoor stage in the Marriott lobby.
And here's an outdoor stage across the street in front of the Hilton.
I have to run for now - I have to get ready for the Electronic Musician Editor's Choice Awards. After that, I'll be back with more photos from the press preview, as well as some shots of the show floor as they're setting it up. See you soon!
Hard to believe, but MIDI is actually turning 30 this year. That's right - the first MIDI synths showed up at the Winter NAMM 1983 show. Time flies when you're having fun, huh? 
For me, since I'm old enough to remember what things were like before there was an easy way to get gear to communicate across brands, MIDI represents one of the most significant music technology advancements of my lifetime. The fact that a diverse range of innovative and competitive manufacturers were able to come together and create a industry-wide standard that, in spite of the huge technological advances since then, is still incredibly useful - heck, outright indespensible even today - that my friends, is amazing.
The MIDI Manufacturer's Association has a booth at NAMM and I was able to get some shots. If you're here - go by and check it out. Dave Smith, Ikutaru Kakehashi, and all the other early developers, supporters, and adopters of MIDI got it very, very right. It's a lesson in the value of cooperation for the sake of all that we today would do well to remember.
Here's two very early MIDI synths - one from Roland, one from Dave Smith's Sequential Circuits. Top: Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. Bottom: Roland Jupiter 6. These were some of the first MIDI synths ever released.
Sequencing exploded with the advent of MIDI. Here's an early Yamaha TX-7 hardware sequencer, and an early Atari ST/f computer, which was the first computer to feature a built-in MIDI interface.
Here's a Commodore 64 computer running an early sequencing program. This was state of the art circa 1983-4. How far we've come in 30 years!
Here's some historical documents relating to MIDI.
Craig Anderton, Harmony Central's editor in chief and legendary music technology guru will be participating on the MIDI Creators and Innovators panel on Saturday from 11:30 - 1:30 in room 204b along with Dave Smith, George Duke, Tom Oberheim, Alan Parsons, and Jordan Rudess. Again, if you're lucky enough to be here at the show, be sure to check it out!
This year, they moved the location of the press preview from a corner of Hall E into the press area itself - a somewhat smaller and more constrained spot outside of Hall E near the bottom of the stairs and below the escallator.
When I walked in, I wasn't really ready to take a snapshot, so I apologize for it being a bit blurry (he moved) but - hey! That's Grover Jackson - founder of Jackson Guitars. Gotta get that...
And to my right, Dean Guitars had this doubleneck on display.
And on my left was a couple of instruments from Loog Guitars.
Moving along...
Peavey
Peavey bass
Fargen Amplifiers had their new John Lennon models on display.
Hohner was showing Lanikai Ukes with built-in USB interfaces. Plug straight into your computer and record.
Yamaha had one of their new MX series synths on display - the MX49. It has a ton of features; it has 128 note polyphony, and it's16 part multitimbral, with 1,000 MOTIF series sounds onboard. Yes, it has effects too, as well as a audio / MIDI USB interface, and DAW control capabilities including extensive tie-ins with Cubase (it comes bundled with a copy of Cubase AI). It's also surprisingly lightweight, and is expected to "street" for about $600.
IK Multimedia was also there.
They have a new HD version of the popular iRig iOS interface - the iRig HD.
The iLoud (love the name! 
) is a 40W portable speaker. There's also the somewhat smaller 15W iLoud mini.
They also had the iRig HD and the and the Blueboard. The Blueboard is a wireless bluetooth pedalboard for iOS and Mac. Yes, it's compatible with their AmpliTube software, and much more.
The next table was TC Electronic.
Yes, that's what you think it is - the new Toneprint editor. It will be available as a free download.
They also had a new looper pedal on display - the smallest I've ever seen actually. Called Ditto, it's extremely small.
Here it is with a standard sized TC pedal for comparison.
The Ditto has five minutes of looping, can overdub and do a lot more... and is designed to be simple and easy to use.
I thought this was kind of interesting - I'm not the only person at the show who is using an iPad mini as one of my cameras. Here one is being used along with an Apogee MiC, which coincidentally, I am currently reviewing for an upcoming EM article. I've been getting lots of questions about the iPad rig, and lots of people seem to like it.
Neumark and Akai were in the next booth...
It's early, but I still predict this will be one of the "talk of the show" items - the Numark Orbit. It's a wireless DJ controller, and it feels like an extremely ergonomic game controller. You can plug it in via USB, and it will recharge. It has a built-in two-axis accelerometer, and four banks of 16 pads - the center wheel can also serve different functions in each bank. Fully and easily assignable pads, strap points for hanging it around your neck, or strapping it to your wrist... this thing is going to set DJ's free.
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