What is the Elektron OctaTrak…?
| Posted in Music Technology, Writer's Block
As most readers and regular visitors to the DV247 Blog may have already noticed today, the 2010 Musikmesse exhibition has begun… Or not. In fact the Frankfurt exhibition – arguably the biggest in the world – doesn’t officially start until Wednesday of next week. But as has become tradition in the brave and bold world of online reporting, the entire internet appears to be determined to break every big product story from the show before the doors even open.
Here at DV247 Blog we’re delighted to confirm that we’re doing precisely the same thing – as soon as news is announced, you’ll find all of the facts right here coupled with expert opinion from our regular writers. Today alone we’ve had news of studio monitors from Dynaudio and Tannoy, plus a new patchbay for DJs from Allen & Heath, while yesterday saw the announcement of the DTX550K electronic drum kit from Yamaha. These kinds of stories are set to explode over the next seven days, but we promise that no matter how busy we get, we’ll never resort to either presenting old news as new, or just copying and pasting press releases…
However, just because we’ve already broken some of the big stories that will surface in Frankfurt, that doesn’t mean that we’re able to tell you everything that we know straight away. A lot of the major Musikmesse stories are currently embargoed from being published until the morning of the 24th, when the show finally opens. Others are mere whispered rumours circulating through the industry. We’ve brought you some of these rumours already in the shape of our News and Rumour round-ups, but I thought that in the spirit of raising even more excitement about the show, I’d share one more with you to close this busy week. So here’s a rather enticing example of how a new product, due to debut on the show floor, can in fact become the subject of a whirl of online speculation.
I write, of course, of the discovery online of a video of some promotional buttons being made for the show. If that doesn’t sound particularly earth-shattering, then consider what the buttons have printed on them. One proudly bears the name Elektron OctaTrak – not a name currently attributed to any existing product. Mix this up with the fact that Elektron has been proudly trumpeting its presence at Musikmesse 2010 on its website with a big banner proclaiming that “The New Dawn” is coming, and what do you get? Not surprisingly, you find yourself reading an awful lot of internet chatter asking what the product might be.
Sadly, we can’t yet tell you the answer to that question. What we can tell you however is that a wealth of new guitars, amps, music technology, DJ equipment and anything else you can imagine – most of which you haven’t heard about yet – is about to appear on this blog. I can guarantee that the coming seven days are going to be among the busiest that DV247 Blog has ever experienced. If you want to make sure you’re getting all of the real facts, then stick around.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: Elektron OctaTrak, Musikmesse 2010, Musikmesse 2010 news