(Each summer, amid the heat and clamor of Chicago's convention center, McCormick Place, the National Association of Music Merchants [NAMM] holds its annual showing of wares. The convention is the opportunity for those companies who make musicial instrument products to show off the new lines of goodies and creations to the retail merchants, who in turn, will come home and fill up the shelves. Your local music store has probably already shown signs of progress, maybe a new OB-1 or Music Man Sabre. But there are still quite a number of items you haven't seen yet. The following article is a brief peek at some of the hot new stuff you can expect to be replacing the hot old stuff. Obviously, we're just scratching the surface of what's new, but keep tuned in to future issues for more on the latest and greatest in instruments and electronics for musicians. —Ed.)

INTERSOUND introduced a new preamp, the IVP—instrument voice preamplifier,—that should prove useful to guitarists and keyboard players as well. The IVP is a two-channel preamp with a variety of features designed to make the job of obtaining a lot of

different sounds in a "real time" situation a lot easier. The IVP has 4-band EQ with variable Frequency Controls, a Master Bass and Treble control, three separate Line Outputs, and a Master Volume. One of the things that make this unit unique is an exclusive "Tube Voice Circuit", which enables the user to switch from a clean solidstate sound to a "tube" sound with the touch of a footswitch. Also, there are two separate effects loops on the IVP, one Pte and one Post Voice. The IVP is unquestionably useful and long overdue on the market. (Available from INTERSOUND, P. O. Box 1864, Boulder, CO 80306.)

BOSE made their contribution to the array of new products at NAMM with the introduction of the BOSE 802, a tripod-mounted speaker system that weighs in at an easily portable 36 pounds and boasts a continuous power rating of 160 watts. The new recessed input panel features the standard phone jack or the more sophisticated XLR connecter and a 4-amp fuse which protects the speaker from overload.

TANGENT MUSICAL ENGINEERING expanded their line of highperformance mixing consoles to include a 24 and a 16-channel mixer in addition to their 12 and 8-channel units. Tangent has begun to build quite a reputation for itself on the strength of its many features and superlative specs at a surprisingly low price. Tangent also introduced their newest and biggest model, the Model 3216, at this year's NAMM show. Tangent's 3216, with 16 outputs, should be equally useful in the recording studio and the concert hall.

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NASTY CORDLESS wireless microphones premiered at NAMM, thereby joining the wireless guitar systems that many groups have been using in concert halls over the last couple of years. Nasty Cordless is the brainchild of John Nady, an electronics engineer from Berkeley who perfected the relatively low-cost guitar transmitting system after deciding that the existing systems were too expensive. That may or may not be the case, depending on who you are (big-name groups like Wings for example have been using the more expensive system develped by Ken Schaeffer for quite some time), but at any rate, the wireless age is upon us, and NASTY CORDLESS offers the first microphone. Also, the Nasty Cordless microphone has an unprecedented 100 dB dynamic range for accurate transmission of loud rock 'n' roll without clipping or unnatural sounding compression-limiting. (Available from NASTY CORDLESS, P.O. Box 2205, Berkeley, CA 94702.)

ALTAIR, makers of the Altair Power Attenuator, a handy device that limits the loudness of an amp without diminishing its distortion, had a new little product at NAMM that no road crew or sound technician should be without: the Model CT-3 Microphone Cable Tester. Slightly bigger than a ballpoint pen, it enables a sound technician to check for faulty mike cable and snakes by merely plugging it in to the cable being checked. On a threepin connector, all three conductors are tested simultaneously; small lights on the CT-3 indicate the status of the cable. Two lights come on if it's good, one if it's bad—lookout Paul Revere!! (ALTAIR is available from the Altajr Corp., Box 7034, Ann Arbor, MI 48107.)

UNI-SYNC, manufacturers of the popular TROUPER series mixing consoles, had a couple of surprises for everyone at NAMM. First of all, they have gone stereo as of this year with their mixing consoles; but more interesting than that is the TROUPER I MONITOR, a unique piece of sound reinforcement gear that enables the sound man to change monitor mixes between, or even during, a song without disturbing the overall level and EQ of the monitor mix. Four independent monitor mixes can be constructed for the artists on stage with the Trouper I Monitor; thus the vocalists do not have to worry about the horn section drowning them out in the monitor, yet the horns can hear themselves perfectly with no interference from the vocalists. (Available from UNI-SYNC, 742 Hampshire Road,'Westlake Village, CA 91361.)

360 SYSTEMS, makers of the SLAVEDRIVER synthesizer interface system for guitar, condensed the best features from six years in the guitar synthesizer business and came up with their second generation Guitar Synthesizer at the Chicago NAMM show. The new 360 comes in a Tolex-covered heavy duty road case that sits upright on any guitar amp, so it is easier to get to. The rotary pots are recessed, and the jacks are all on the front for easier access. The synthesizer itself has two Oscillators, tunable to any interval; a Four-Mode Filter; a Five-Octave Switch; two Envelope Generators for the filter and VCA; a Low Frequency Oscillator for vibrato, pulse-width modulations, and filter sweeps; Expansion Outputs connect to other synthesizer^ to make up larger systems; a Programmer Jack provides one-plug hookup to digital memory that recalls sounds in live preformance; Hex Fuzz gives fat chordal effects; Infinite Sustain footswitch holds a note "forever" even if the guitar string dies away completely; Level-Set LED radically simplifies initial front-end adjustments; String Selector Switches determine the strings the synthesizer responds to; and more pickup styles let the 360 work with almost any solid body electric guitar. (Available from 360 SYSTEMS, 2825 Haynes St., Los Angeles, CA 90026.)

OBERHEIM OB-1 PROGRAMMABLE SYNTHESIZER: The OB-1 Synthesizer is one of the most exciting things we found at NAMM, and probably one of the most exciting developments in musical electronics since the invention of the synthesizer itself; The OB-1, being completely programmable, allows the user to preprogram patches of his choice and store them in memory for recall at the touch of a button. There is storage capacity for 8 completely different patches, plus you can have a patch set up in the "Manual" position. This memory capability eliminates the necessity of reprogramming during live performance. Another amazing new feature from OBERHEIM is the Cassette Interface, which allows the user to store his favorite patches on a standard cassette tape using a standard cassette player/recorder. You can store as many patches as you want on tape, then reload them at will using the Cassette Interface. A truly incredible development from OBERHEIM, 1445 19th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404.

HELPINSTILL PORTABLE GRAND PIANO Model PG-21. Charlie Helpinstill has been making the best piano transducer on the market for a number of years. Dissatisfied with what he found available in portable grand pianos themselves, he decided to build his own. The PG-21 has detachable legs and keyboard; thus it is easily transportable by two people. The piano is a real acoustic piano, and can be played without amplification, or with the Helpinstill pickup in mono or full stereo. (Available from HELPINSTILL DESIGNS INC., 5808 S. Rice Ave., Houston TX 77081.)

KORG VC-10 VOCODER made big waves at NAMM. A Vocoder imparts speech patterns, talking or singing, to the tones of musical source (an electric piano or guitar, for example) . The Vocoder "codes" the speech signal and "mixes" it into the tones of the musical source thereby "vocalizing" the sound of the instrument. A musician can make a particular instrument appear to talk or sing. In addition to providing basic Vocoder functions, the easy operation of Korg's VC-10 lends itself to live performance. The VC-10 has a 32-note polyphonic keyboard, a built-in signal source, a pitch-bend wheel and a "chorus effect." Simply put, it is the ultimate Darth Vader voicing device. (Available from Unicord, 75 Frost Street, Westbury, NY 11590.)

MARSHALL had a surprise for everybody at NAMM. After years as the leading rock 'n' roll amp on the market, Marshall has departed from their traditional amp design with the introduction of "The Beauty," a small, reasonable little amplifier that has many features one would never expect to find on a Marshall of old. Reverb, for one thing, and speakers other than the traditional ones found in the Marshall stacks. The Beauty is covered in an attractive brown Tolex, and is the sort of amp that one person can put into the back seat of a VW with minimal hernia risk. But with 100 watts RMS, an Overdrive circuit and a Master Volume, this little package can still deliver the classic Marshall sound. The Beauty is available from Unicord.

. MUSIC MAN SABRE-a new electric guitar designed by the grandpappy of the solid-body electric himself, Leo Fender. The shape of it is like a Strat, but the similarities end there. The Sabre has a much more sophisticated electronic setup: an internal micro-powered pre-amp which provides a low impedance output, a separate bass and treble control for boost and cut, and a phase reversal switch which will throw either or both pickups out-of-phase. The Sabre also has two humbucking pickups with I2V4" magnets that are individually sized so that the magnets are placed directly under each string. The neck is solid maple, 25W*' scale with 22 frets, and the necks are available with a flat 12" radius fingerboard (Sabre I) or an oval IV2F radius fingerboard (Sabre II). The bridge is made of a heavy cast which provides excellent sustain without the aid of a heavy body; and the bridge saddles are individually adjustable horizontally and vertically. For more information, write to Music Man, Inc. P. O. Box 4589, Anaheim, CA 92803.

IBANEZ came on strong at NAMM '78 with a total of 19 new electric guitar designs in four separate series: Performer, Iceman, Concert, and Musician series, each with their own distinctive set of features, and each one attractive. The Performer Series is an extrapolation of the Les Paul body design. It has that basic shape, but the cutaways are deeper on both sides of the neck, the pickguard is more like an L-5 pickguard, and the headstock design resembles those found on the older Guild and Epiphone archtops. There are six different models of the Performer Series, including a "Frampton" model, an ebony triple-pickup axe with all gold hardware. The Iceman models, of which there are four, are those wild-looking rocket-shaped axes that you've seen Paul Stanley and/or Steve Miller with on their most recent tours. But despite their odd, offbalance look, the Iceman Series axes are surprisingly well balanced and easy to play. Features include a solid mahogany or ash body, a laminated rock maple neck with 22 jumbo frets, rosewood fingerboards, Ibanez Super 80 pickups, an adjustable lock-down bridge and a quick-change slotted tailpiece. The Concert Series are double cutaway solid body axes with carved maple tops and bolt-on necks. They are similar to the Artist series and come equipped with two humbucking Ibanez Super 80 pickups, Gibraltar bridge and tailpiece, and Ibanez Smooth Tuner II machine heads. I found the Musician Series most attractive of all the new Ibanez models. They resemble an Alembic in body arid neck construction: the body is laminated ash and mahogany, the neck is 5-piece laminated rock maple and black walnut -which runs the entire length of the instrument and has 24 jumbo frets. All these guitars, and a complete line of special effects devices that are also of surprisingly good quality for the price, are available from Ibanez, P. O. Box 469, Cornwell Heights, PA 19020s or 327 Broadway, Idaho Falls, ID 83401.