As the NAMM festivities as still curled up in bed 8 hours behind my current time zone (or just going to sleep), I watched with slight, sweet envy all the things that are on the horizon for us this year.

I always keep a keen watch on Sonic State during NAMM-time for their wonderful, tech savvy videos. Nick Batt & Andy Macreeth have become great friends of ours over the past few years since the hatch of Analog Suicide 4 years ago. Synthtopia and of course Matrixsynth are also amongst my favorites sources.

Here are a few bits of beauty that have really excited me, the first being the dazzling Buchla Skylab.

I read via Synthtopia that Buchla has some very fresh reformatting to come in general:
“..His company, Buchla & Associates, has been acquired by a group of investors, who are creating a new company Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments. Buchla wil be the Chief Technology Officer of the new company…
..Buchla also introduced a new modular synthesizer, the Buchla Skylab. The Buchla Skylab is a compact and slightly more affordable configuration of the Buchla 200e modular line.”

Buchla Skylab, photo from Synthtopia

Rather delicious, the thought of having a Buchla on my lap during a long haul flight…

Onward, I am in the market for a new interface to replace my MOTU traveler. I have been a fan of Universal Audio since I first conjoured up the nerve to work a compressor on my own, and I’m quite taken by the new Apollo:

I am also charmed by the wonders of Izotope, and have indulged myself quite a bit in their software this year, namely Ozone and their wonderful Nectar vocal plug in. And on their horizon is a tasty update, Ozone 5 – I can’t wait to use it!

And of course, no NAMM update would be right in this world without Moog – so of course, here’s the Sonic State peek at the big, juicy, bass beast – the Minitaur…

Lastly, check out the latest gorgeousness from Teenage Engineering..I have long since been lusting after the OP-1, and they now have this. Oh my:

More in a bit. Still reeling from that Skylab, quite frankly. With that, let’s end with a conversation between two beautiful creatures – the OP-1 and our dear friend Benge’s Buchla: