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MusicRadar

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MusicRadar Team

NAMM 2025 live report: rolling news from the world's biggest music-making gear show

NAMM Korg (Organization) Akai Behringer Bitwig BOSS Fender Gibson Native Instruments Roland

NAMM 2025: Doubters gonna doubt, but NAMM is getting back to full strength, year by year, and 2025 is a further step-up from 2024's tentative post-covid return to its traditional January slot.

Defying the LA wildfires, and with many big names returning - including twin guitar titans Fender and Gibson - the Anaheim show is now once again ready to set the music gear agenda each year, and we - as ever - have boots on the ground to bring you the biggest reveals and hottest gear, as well as a taste of the show's famous GAS-powered atmosphere.

Here's what we already know...

NAMM 2025: Confirmed product news

NAMM 2025: Key exhibitors and rumours

Fender

Having previously suggested that Fender would be unlikely to return to NAMM “in its current format”, CEO Andy Mooney U-turned last summer and confirmed that it’s returning to the show floor for the first time since 2020.

“We sadly missed actually having a physical presence at NAMM; that high-touch in-person long form interaction is vitally important for the industry,” he said. “Going forward, [Fender] will have more and exciting new products to intro at NAMM and then in the fall, we will revert back to our online dealer events… we’re thrilled to be back, we missed being there, and I’m excited to see everyone again back in Anaheim.”

Gibson

Yep, Gibson is back at NAMM, too, albeit in a slightly understated way. The company has hired a big meeting room space for appointment-only visits from dealers and the media - we’ll tell you as much as we’ve paid CEO Cesar Gueikian’s team a visit.

Ibanez

Ibanez never fails to push the boat out for NAMM, so we’re expecting a motherload of new stuff once again.

Roland

Another big hitter that’s been away for a while, Roland is coming back to Anaheim, too. This also means that its other brands will be present and correct: Boss, Drum Workshop (DW), PDP and Latin Percussion (LP).

For those not at the show, there’s the ‘All Access from the Roland Studio’, an online service that will keep you up to speed with everything being announced. You can sign up now to stay in the loop.

Behringer

As music technology brands go, Behringer has long been something of an outsider. For better or worse, the company tends not to follow industry norms, releasing products – often inspired by existing gear – that can be mindblowingly cheap but can also ruffle a few feathers along the way. That outsider approach follows through to the company’s promotional strategy; the company largely refuses to loan gear for reviews, rarely sends out press releases and tends to have little-to-no presence at trade shows, opting instead to communicate via the controlled safety of its own social media channels.

Given this, it’s a potentially exciting surprise to see Behringer booked into a substantially-sized booth at NAMM 2025 – the first time the company has attended the show in 10 years. Alongside gear released under the Behringer name, the booth will also showcase gear from other Music Tribe brands, including Aston Mics, TC Electronic and Midas. What we can expect from the brand’s NAMM showing remains to be seen, but in an announcement post the company promised “the chance to meet Uli and the team, and be among the first to experience our groundbreaking new products”.

Akai Pro

Trawl internet forums and you’ll find no end of NAMM ‘predictions’, although more often than not these tend to be user wishlists as much as real educated guesses. Of those we’ve seen this year, possibly the most plausible are those speculating on whether Akai may be preparing to announce a new MPC.

The fact that the current-gen MPC Live II and MPC One+ are currently out of stock at some retailers may just be coincidence. Given the general lifespan of Akai product generations though, and the fact the MPC software has just received a major update, it certainly seems plausible that 2025 might be the right time for some new hardware. Aside from special edition updates, the top-end MPC X hasn’t had a proper refresh since its launch back in 2017.

Korg

When it comes to synth brands at NAMM, Korg is usually fairly reliable for a few interesting announcements. NAMM 2024, for example, gave us our first glimpse of the microKorg 2 and King Korg Neo, amongst a glut of other announcements.

What’s more, alongside the proper launches, the Japanese brand has a habit of sneaking unannounced Easter eggs onto its booth. Back in 2020, for example, we caught our first glimpse of a prototype Opsix when it appeared unannounced on Korg’s NAMM stand. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for anything unexpected this year.

Studio gear over synths

While, as we’ve already alluded to, we hold out hope for some exciting new music tech instruments at NAMM, in general the show isn’t the synth-afficianado’s paradise it once was. Many synth brands have moved to showcasing new hardware online or shifted emphasis to Europe’s Superbooth trade show.

From a music technology point of view, many of the most interesting new releases at NAMM these days tend to come from studio gear and pro audio brands. We expect to see interesting developments in areas like monitors, mics, headphones and interfaces, and perhaps a few completely unexpected gadgets we didn’t even know we needed.

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(Image credit: Native Instruments/inMusic)

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“With hardware this tough, you have a companion for life”: Bitwig enters the hardware world with the Bitwig Connect 4/12

Speculated on for some time, and finally confirmed to us a few days ago, German DAW-maker Bitwig has today revealed its very first hardware product - Bitwig Connect 4/12. Ostensibly a 4-in and 12-out CV and MIDI-enabled audio interface, Bitwig states that its debut hardware product is 'far more than just an audio interface'…

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Look, ma, no wires: Roland teases its WT-10 wireless drum trigger and DH-10 receiver

Roland Corp, a long-term enabler of the hybrid acoustic/electronic drum set community, is showcasing the next generation of its highly-respected drum triggers at NAMM 2025, and look, ma, no wires.

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Martin at NAMM

It feels like only yesterday that Martin Guitars was honouring 2.5 million guitars made and now that number has risen to 3 million. Chris Martin took to the stage at his brand’s customary pre-show presser to unveil the D-3 Millionth model. The luxuriously finished instrument celebrates Martin’s past with a tree cross-section design and lots of diamond, gold and sycamore detailing. This priceless one-off was also joined on stage by a more “affordable” version, the D-300, with only 30 made and one entering into the Martin museum, you’re looking at around the $300k mark to own one.

Various new models were showcased at the event including the Grand J-28E DN, a new member of the Standard Series, which took several years to perfect. The 6/12-stringer will set you back a cool $7999. Also on show was the announcement of not one but two Billy Strings signature models, the D-28 and D-X2E, with the latter being the more affordable model, coming in at $899.

Perhaps saving the best till last, was a chat with newly inducted Hall of Famer, Peter Frampton. Despite his ill health, Peter revealed that he will be going back on the road this year for two 10-date tours and that he has been in the studio working on new material. He also spoke of how suffering from the rare condition, IBM (inclusion body myositis), has required him to adapt his playing style, but has in no way dampened his love of playing and performing.

The Young Ones - Yvette, Yamaha, Fender and more

There was a change of venue for this year’s Global Media Day event. The NAMM organisation decided to ramp-up the pre-show show, moving it to the 3rd floor ballroom for an hour and a half of presentations from key brands. First up was the return of Fender, unveiling the new Standard series, bridging the gap between the Player IIs and Squier range - much more on that soon. We were also treated to a performance from Yvette Young who was showcasing the latest Yamaha Transacoustic model.

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Beyerdynamic amps up the individuality with new in-ear monitor range and pro studio headphones

Beyerdynamic seem to have something for everyone at this year’s NAMM show. The popular studio brand is going all out with not only a duo of new studio headphones, but also an extensive line-up of four all-new in-ear headphone models, each designed to satisfy the needs of a different kind of user.

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“A more versatile and professional instrument for those looking for the unique rubber bridge sound”: Orangewood unveils Seymour Duncan-equipped Juniper II acoustic and baritone rubber bridge acoustics

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"The Alan Parsons Plugin Project" - PSP Audioware helps the legendary engineer to recreate the famous Wobbler effect that he used on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon

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Fender Custom Shop sweep

The Fender Custom Shop event sees dealers entering a raffle to buy unique guitars by submitting their business cards. A fair system but sometimes not great for photography here.

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Native Instruments' open border

In a move that might surprise some longtime users, Maschine creator Native Instruments has partnered up with the brand behind one of the beat-making platform’s closest competitors – MPC creator Akai – to bring NI’s NKS plugin formats to Akai hardware. We got our first look at NKS instruments running on MPC hardware at NAMM 2025, and have to admit it makes for a good pairing.

NI is also opening up NKS access to other brands including Korg and Novation. We spoke to both NI and Akai about the move - watch this space...

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“The approachable playability and inspiring tone that made Fender an icon of rock and roll” – Strats and Teles at $599? Fender's budget-friendly Standard series is its most affordable yet

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SSL launches its first rackmount interface

We kicked our day off at SSL's booth, as the venerated British brand makes its first foray into the world of rackmount audio interfaces. Unveiled today, SSL 18 is billed as introducing "a new era of SSL rackmount technology", distilling the world-class tech from the company's large-format consoles into a more approachable form factor for smaller studios.

SSL says that the number one request they've had from customers enamoured with their popular line of desktop audio interfaces has been to give them more I/O, more power and more flexibility in a rackmount unit. Their response is SSL 18: a 19" 1U 26-in/28-out USB audio interface equipped with 8 high-performance mic pres, 32-bit/192 kHz converters, smart workflow features and MIDI I/O, designed to be "the ultimate studio centrepiece" and priced at $1199.

Also on show was Alpha 8, an 8-in/8-out audio interface expander that can add some of the signature "SSL flavour" to your existing interface along with its additional I/O via ADAT or S/PDIF.

Making a Grand entrance

Over at Nord's booth, we got a little lost in the music playing the company's new Grand 2 digital piano. The headline here is the Grand's newly-developed hammer action keybed, cooked up in partnership with acoustic piano giant Kawai, and we can confirm that it delivers the highly responsive and authentic feel that we'd expect from an instrument at a $4k+ price point.

Featuring a stunning collection of grands, uprights and electrics that can be dual-layered, three keyboard touch settings, along with adjustable string resonance and pedal noise, the Grand 2 has everything a pianist could ask for - and much more, thanks to its sample synth section and comprehensive selection of effects.

Behringer is making Waves

Our early impressions are that both Wave and LM Drum sound on the money, and feel authentically vintage - for better and worse. Those looking for an authentic old school experience will likely be happy, but despite a few modern niceties, both designs feel decidedly old school.

Stylophone drops DF-8 stereo analogue filter

The name ‘Stylophone’ might be most commonly associated with stylus-controlled synths, but recent years have seen creator Dubreq broaden its horizons considerably. Following the launch of an excellent compact drone synth at last year’s NAMM, 2025 sees the company debuting a semi-modular dual analogue filter. This thing is right up our street; it’s cheap (with a promised price around $300), sounds fittingly gritty, and has some neat tricks up its sleeve, including stereo filtering, a built-in delay, controllable envelopes and a variety of triggering options.

Sheila E. and Patrice Rushen honoured at Roland's Lifetime Achievement Awards

NAMM 2025 sees Roland return to the show (along with its Boss and DW Drums brands), which also means the return of the company’s traditional lifetime achievement awards. This year sees hugely deserved recognition of jazz and R&B artist Patrice Rushen - honoured by Roland - and iconic Prince collaborator Sheila E., who picked up DW’s lifetime achievement award as well as being honoured with a new signature snare.

Hercules introduces completely wireless and cable-free DJ controller

A completely wireless and cable-free DJ controller, Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra lets you bring the party with you wherever you go. The battery-powered decks can link up your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth 4.0 to run Algoriddim Djay, which can stream from Apple Music, TIDAL and Beatport; pair this with some wireless speakers and you're ready to go. The concept is impressive, but we can't help but feel that the Mix Ultra looks like a bit more like a toy than a DJ controller. If you want an affordable solution for on-the-go mixing, though, it's certainly worth a look.

Rainbow warriors

If you're not matching your favourite Boss compact pedal with a matching colour-coded cable, are you even living right?

The company has unveiled a six-colour selection of 3 metre BC-10A instrument cables that mirror the hues of classic stompboxes including the DS-1 Distortion and RC-1 Loop Station.

Attack of the clones

We were expecting to see more than a few clones of classic instruments at Behringer's booth this year - in the past few weeks alone the brand has made recreations of both the PPG Wave and LinnDrum available to order after years of anticipation. What we weren't expecting, however, was this: a clone of the Yamaha DX1, an ultra-rare, bitimbral, frequency-modulating beast that's the crown of the DX series.

Like the DX1, Behringer's BX1 is a 32-voice FM synth with a formidably complex architecture, but the German manufacturer's remake departs from the original on a few significant points most notably its analogue filter, which is reportedly based on the filter section of another Yamaha classic, the CS-80.

All in all, the BX-1 certainly looks like a crowd-pleaser, and it'll likely be cheap enough to keep Behringer's fanbase on side when it's eventually released. But after the Wave and the LM Drum dropped just weeks ago, do we really need another vintage clone from Behringer? How about something new and innovative instead?

Honey, I shrunk the MiniKorg

As always, Korg has brought a smorgasbord (Korgasbord?) of new products to NAMM this year, including a semi-disappointing revival of the Kronos workstation synth and a module version of the recently released Multi/Poly. Our pick of the bunch, though, is the MiniKorg 700Sm, a miniaturized take on the peculiar analogue mono that was Korg's first ever synth.

Released all the way back in 1973, the MiniKorg 700 was swiftly followed up by the more capable 700S, an instrument that Korg then resurrected in 2022 as the 700FS, a limited-edition recreation with a few modern bells and whistles included. The 700Sm is pretty much the same instrument, but shrunk down to 86% of the size.

The beloved 'Traveler' filter, three types of ring modulation, and an analogue spring reverb set the 700Sm apart from other monosynths; it's a charmingly quirky instrument with an offbeat aesthetic that we're unquestionably here for. At $1299, we just wish it was half the price.

The Kronos returns

The Korg Kronos is a legendary workstation keyboard that made its debut all the way back in 2011, its ample sonic capabilities finding favour with a broad spectrum of music-makers that included Chick Corea, Vangelis and Mark Ronson. After Kronos 2 came out in 2014, though, Korg shifted its focus elsewhere - until now.

Korg has revived the Kronos this year in its third incarnation, but if you're expecting a dramatic reimagining of the instrument, you may be disappointed. 11 years on, Kronos 3 looks remarkably similar to Kronos 2. Available in 61, 73 and 88-key versions, it's equipped with the same synth engines as its younger brother, the OS has only received a minor update, and the keybed and interface are the same too, aside from a lick of paint.

So what is new? Korg has installed 256 fresh sounds, including a new Italian Grand Piano, a new vintage tine electric piano and expanded range of FM-based pianos, storage has been expanded to 62GB and startup time has been improved by 60%. The Kronos remains a hugely versatile and powerful instrument, but after more than a decade, we'd have liked to see a little more panache from the next generation. (Polyphonic aftertouch, anyone?)

Think outside the box

Described by its maker Eternal Devices as "a gateway to the unseen and unheard frequencies that surround us", Demon Box is one of the most unconventional noisemaking machines we've come across in a very long time.

Using an array of 33 inductors, this triangular oddity translates the electromagnetic fields produced by ordinary electronics - anything from a microwave to an iPhone to an electric toothbrush - into strange and spooky sonic landscapes. Not only that, but it also outputs MIDI and CV, so it’ll let you use your hairdryer to control your modular synth... if you're into that kind of thing.

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