Cakewalk has revealed several new products at NAMM, most notably the A-Pro series of MIDI keyboards. The collection is USB-based, and includes the A-300 Pro, A-500 Pro and A-800 Pro, which have 32, 49 and 61 keys, respectively. Each sports a number of secondary controls such as knobs, sliders and buttons.
Roland has released V-Synth GT 2.0, an update to the operating system used for the Elastic Audio Synthesizer keyboard. The upgrade adds 22 new multi-effects and five new reverbs, as well as a new chromatic-scale pitch bender function. The software provides more USB storage functionality and an improved user interface. Roland believes the upgrade is better at importing sound features such as patches, tones, waves, and samples than its predecessor.
Roland has announced the VP-770 Vocal & Ensemble Keyboard, a successor to the VP-550 that features new vocal designer effects, and ensemble sounds based on the company’s SuperNATURAL technology. The 770 is designed for musicians who perform in small or large groups, and/or those who need real-time background chorus. Included in its effects is vocoder modeling, which can be used to generate signature vocal effects for dance, pop and hip-hop.
