I thought several days before drafting this reportage on the last (… and maybe it really is. Ed) Fair of musical instruments held in Bologna as part of the Music Italy Show. A fair organized like never before: lots of guests, several seminars, exhibitors with the latest industry news, etc. What was missing? Maybe a little more audience, but that's not all!
I have been attending national fairs for more than two decades. I started in88 when the then Hi-Fi SIM I was so enthusiastic about Milan that I was conditioned by it for the following years throughout my professional career. It was the period in which new and important processes in professional electronics were opening up, such as the national presentation of the Korg M1 that would start what we know today as the keyboard workstation industry: Korg Kronos, Yamaha Motif XF, Roland Fantom they are only the last, coeval, heirs of this instrumental typology. Digital Boy presented his DJ Session with a Emulator 3 anticipating what would later become the DJ sets so dear to today's producers with Ableton Live, NI machine, AKAI MPC Renaissance, etc.
The very young companies C-Lab e Steinberg presented some rudimentary, for today, MIDI sequencers: they were called respectively Notator e Cubase, while an equally pioneering Digidesign presented the Audio Tools systems (today Pro Tools) e sound designer.
SIM HiFi: two huge pavilions that took days to turn them all and, probably, still a novice, I missed something on the way.
It was the period when the network was not popular and the shopkeeper under the house, being able to afford only a few keyboards and guitars, was the first to carve out a seat in the front row to follow "futuristic" demos (I remember the hilarious one but from high technological level developed by a young man Michael Paciulli, two years later, with the system HDR to 8 tracks by Korg: a charming "cousin" of Jessica Rabbit conversing with Paciulli himself while the peculiarities of the system were shown).
I have always been around companies even when, with the first examples of communication via WEB, users arrived already prepared at the stands and the questions posed to the demonstrators were much more targeted: the same ones that, at times, having not had the opportunity to deepen for time the specific knowledge of the tool, they knew less than the user. These are symptoms that again this year marked the absence of many large distributors and that, as was the controversy Napster - The discography of a few years earlier had for some time already given us the foreboding that something had to change in the sector of territorial promulgation of musical instruments. Yet, with a few exceptions, the Fair's formula has remained virtually unchanged. While respecting the skills and mastery of the demonstrators, I have not noticed major differences compared to what the web can give me today.
So I ask myself: what am I going to do at the Fair?
They set up three large stages outside the pavilions, alternating school performances (... but the school had closed its doors a few days earlier: did you know when you organized the dates? Ed), with those of professional groups and artists in search of visibility. Under a scorching sun and some organizational distractions, the poor technicians had to satisfy an enormous number of requests and operational needs that I would not have wanted to find in their shoes.
Is it appropriate to point out certain personal issues? I think so. We have been complaining about things that are wrong for a long time. The greats who are at the head of the sector have on average white hair and I think the time has come for them too, in respect of their positions, to give space to younger mentality or at least to support certain views with some "whimsy" that could to reinvigorate and give new life to education and the dissemination of music in Italy. It is time that everyone, with their own priorities, does not be selfish, thinking that since business is good, the problem does not affect him in the least. I believe that cooperation of intent, the possibility of looking beyond one's nose, investing in the new generations (... and not only by the Government, I would add), making similar encounters more attractive and unique, is a condition that is worth the worth considering collectively, before the shadow of a situation such as the last concert that took place at the Greek ERT, may appear on our doorstep. New business ideas are needed. News needs to be transparent and not filtered by personal interests. It is necessary that the products, especially the national ones, can find professional dignity equal to those of large multinationals. Companies need to learn from past mistakes to start an effective future. The government needs to loosen the tax collector and give breath to those who still believe in this sector and carry on its design, construction and cultural-operational philosophy.
Let's move on to the products, referring to any further information (there is the network!), Those of your personal interest. Leaving aside a general overview of the others, I focus my attention on the products that in this period are enjoying wide acceptance.
Physics Plan: I believe it is the most innovative and ambitious project and product present at the Fair. It is all Italian both from the research point of view and in the development and implementation part. This is a digital piano based on Physical Models (therefore no sampling for the main sounds, but construction of the sound on physical elements reconstructed with mathematical algorithms that simulate the behavior of strings, hammers, felt, materials of the beats, of the sound box and so on). The categories based on these algorithms are those of Acoustic, Electric Piano and Mallets (intoned percussion). All the other resident instruments, which must be considered a necessary completion of the instrument, exploit multi-layer samples. The mechanics, customized, are also Italian (a variant of the Fatar TP40, it seems): the double escapement is missing in my opinion, but the decision not to implement it is filtered by the target the instrument is aimed at: modern recording studios and stage pianos, where this peculiarity is probably not in great demand. The cost is a bit high, but I believe that in the field of high-profile studios and stages, the Physis Piano can perform better than many sampling products that after a season, may already be obsolete.
KingKorg e MS20mini: two other very popular products of the last hour. According to the distributors, the waiting times are in the order of months to grab one. The reinterpretation of the Japanese company on the subtractive synthesis. The first is completely digital; purely analog, with a lot of rustle and background noise the second. Polyphonic and great sound thanks to the function Unison and Boost Drive out for the King, patchable and characterizing enough to make the Mini unique in its sonority. Regarding the latter, the keyboard and the relative fragility of the patch cords (1/8 Minijack) left me a little perplexed.
Yamaha Nuage system: I don't add anything. See the video, shot with the courtesy of Franco Fraccastoro and the good pleasure of Yamaha executives. Attention to the cost, to be found on the net: not really within everyone's reach, but in line for features and functions with the Icon systems of ProTools.
Also on display at the Proel stand are the Behringer X32 and Line6 M20D StageScape mixers. The former, in spite of the trademark, has received wide acclaim and international awards for the know-how underlying the instrument. I got my hands on it: coming from a good experience with both analog and digital, the operation was decent. Some things can still be optimized, in my opinion, but the learning curve remains very rapid in any case. On the sound I do not express myself, the mess of the fair did not allow to fully appreciate its phonic characteristics. For the second, we are faced with a completely new concept, with the possibility of self-configuring and full tactile control of the operating characteristics: you have to get your hands on it. Price to the public, in my opinion, a bit high considering a Pub Group target.
We also have to get around to it with the Mackie DL1608, more affordable but to which the cost of an iPad must be added (to be evaluated, however, also in the second-hand market! Ed.). He alone covered the needs of the “mini” concert of the Stadio at Casale Bauer. I think it is a product to be tested on the road, as well as due attention I think it is appropriate to relegate it to the new series of DPA D: Facto microphones. Even the latter, used by Gaetano Curreri during the performance, gave me a feeling of strong transparency and sensitivity.
Last but not least, Yamaha to which, on the other hand, the largest Stand award (half compared to that of 2010, I think I remember!) goes, with the display, however, of all the latest news in the electronic sector: from the new MGP series mixers, with interesting features audio that winks at the prosumer sector, at serial keyboards PSR and the new ones MX49 and 61, a cross between master keyboard and downgraded synth from the Motif series. For drumstick lovers, there was a way to try out both some acoustic-only setups and the DTX line.
Surely the products listed are filtered by my professional attitude and I apologize for the many sectors on display that would have deserved more attention, but this report was not directed to a list of more or less attractive products for which certainly a visit to the MIS it would have offered more opportunities for testing and would have benefited the whole sector and not just the organizers. For the rest, therefore, I add a few photos taken between the stands.
