The 2025 NAMM Show has concluded. Every year, music gear manufacturers, ranging from iconic synth brands like Korg, to boutique guitar pedal makers like Walrus Audio, and even companies making fog machines and knobs, descend on Anaheim to showcase their latest products. It is chaos in all the ways that you’d expect a convention to be — miles-long lines for coffee, hordes of strangers jockeying for position around new products, food options that range from barely edible to instant heart attack. However, NAMM is also a unique beast. If you’ve ever wondered what eight out-of-sync drummers, two finger tapping guitar solos, an acoustic slide blues riff, and a simple ukulele ditty would all sound like simultaneously vying for your attention, well, this is the only place to experience that particular brand of chaos. But, now that my legs and, more importantly, my eardrums have finally started to recover, I’ve had a chance to reflect on some of the best things I saw on the show floor. Here are the 10 things that grabbed my attention the most.
Eternal Research Demon Box
SoundToys is one of the most prominent names in effect plugins, widely used by artists such as Jad Abumrad from Radiolab, Kenny Beats, and Trent Reznor. The company’s Decapitator saturation plugin is considered one of the best innovations for drums, while EchoBoy is a must-have delay plugin. However, SoundToys does not frequently introduce new effects, with the last addition being SuperPlate in mid-2023, and the previous addition being Little Plate in November 2017. The company takes its time to develop new plugins.
SpaceBlender is SoundToys’ take on an ambient granular reverb, which is different from traditional granular plugins that chop up audio and spit it back out in small bits. Instead, SpaceBlender combines multiple delays and smears them into an ethereal sound. It also features an interactive envelope designer that allows users to manipulate the shape of the reverb and even has potential as a live performance tool. Although SpaceBlender is not yet ready for release, the early sneak peek sounded phenomenal and seemed stable.
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