NAMM 2023: The Music Gear Announcements

From new guitars, synths, mods, and studio gear here’s some of the latest gear (in no particular order) on show at Namm 2023.

Black BT SusEx Pedal:

By detecting the position of your foot, the SusEx Pedal can automatically and fluidly switch between continuous control modes like expression and cutoff and footswitch modes like sustain and note trigger.

According to Black BT, the SusEx Pedal eliminates the requirement for several pedals to be used on stage during live performances and provides a natural way to “play” many pedal parameters without using switches or switching back and forth between numerous single-parameter pedals.

More info Here: BlackBT.com 

ESP Guitars

12 new Signature Series models from guitarists such as Bill Kelliher, Nergal, Stephen Carpenter and many more.

In addition to three new Kirk Hammett LTD KH-V models and a new Olympic White finish for the James Hetfield Vulture guitar, ESP has also debuted new models for Gary Holt (Exodus), Bill Kelliher (Mastodon),  Javier Reyes (Animals As Leaders), Lars Frederiksen (Rancid), Nergal (Behemoth) and Stephen Carpenter (Deftones).

More info via ESP Guitars Website

1V/Oct

1V/Oct is showing a semi-modular Eurorack that includes a polyphonic MIDI interface and stereo output module named The Centre.

The Centre hosts a software environment that’s running a polyphonic wavetable synthesizer which can then be controlled via the front panel knobs and accessed via the CV inputs.

The Centre currently supports the following modules in which most can work together at the same time and can be internally patched.

• Wavetable Oscillator with Unison/Detune/Modulations – and you can run multiple instances at once.
• Polyphony for Wavetable (multiple voice of polyphony)
• LFOs, VCOs – standard modular digital versions
• Shapes – shapes for LFO or envelope.
• Filters (Bi-Quad and Ladder)
• Drum Racks – MIDI powered drum sets playing sampled drums
• Clocks, MIDI clocks, gate dividers
• Some physical modelling
• Ring modulations
• Wave folding
• and many many more present or to be developed

More info here: 

Ibanez Guitars:

New models have now been revealed and include some new finishes and models for their top signature artists. Including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Lari Basilio and more.

Steve Vai’s latest signature model the PIA77 BON comes in a hydro-dipped swirl finish. The Brilliance of Now/BON model comes loaded with a pair of Vai’s signature DiMarzio UtoPIA pickups.

The new “ChromeBoy” Joe Satriani JS3CR  variation comes outfitted with a DiMarzio Satchur8 humbucker at the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck position.

More info on Ibanez Namm 2023 releases here: 

Endophin.es

The Golden Master and Ghost pedals are in a first foray into floor-based and desktop effects processing by Endophin.es.

Based on the Golden Master Eurorack module, the Golden Master Pedal is a multiband compressor with EQ, mid-side processing, and stereo enhancement. It has stereo in and out and an input for an expression pedal.

Ghost is a multi-dimensional effects chain processor designed alongside producer and YouTuber Andrew Huang.

More info via Endophin.es website:

From afar, it seems a little quiet at Namm this year, maybe it has something to do with the post-Covid hangover. We are sure there will be more to check out over the coming days and we will wrap up when all the dust has settled for another year.