Volume Knob of the Gods...and Other NAMM Oddities

Related link: http://www.otheroom.com/namm/

It never fails. Minutes after I get to a trade show, someone lurches up and asks, “So, what’s the coolest thing you’ve seen so far?” I’ve started taking a twisted joy out of naming products that are just weird or extreme.

At the recent NAMM show, which the organizers say is “like the land of Oz for musicians,” finding offbeat stuff is easy: I just head down to Hall E, where ambitious new companies and crackpot inventors alike unveil their brainstorms. It’s like Ozzfest for mad scientists.

This year, the first booth that caught my eye was apparently designed to look like a musty living room. There was a throw rug on the floor, a framed painting on the wall, a side table with a thrift-store lamp, and in the middle of it all, a pedestal. On top of the pedestal was a heavy black box with one enormous knob. The price: about $4,000. As I stared, the inventor explained that it was a super high-quality volume control for surround sound.

Just today, I learned that a musician named Barry Wood has created annotated photo tours of NAMM’s wackiest music gizmos for the last eight years. Check it out. The World’s Most Dangerous Volume Knob made an appearance this year.

—David Battino

So, what’s the coolest thing you’ve seen so far?