NAMM 2021: Universal Audio teases a new product. What could it be?

20 Jan 2021 by Lasse Eilers |

5,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Universal Audio teases a new product · Source: Universal Audio

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Instead of presenting a new product during NAMM Believe in Music Week, Universal Audio has announced… an announcement. The company is teasing us with a short clip and a mysterious picture, saying that they’ll reveal a “special product” on January 27th, at 10am PST, that’s 6pm UK time. But what are they working on?

UA Product announcement on January 27th, 10am PST (6pm UK)

So far, UA has revealed a picture that seems to show some sort of desktop box. We also know that it’s about “60 Years of Analog Tone”, but then which UA product isn’t? And there’s a short, looping video clip of a knob.

It could be anything, really. Rumors have been floating around for a while that Universal Audio could be working on some sort of guitar amp and pedal modeling device. Are we seeing a controller for a hybrid guitar recording system, possibly with an integrated audio interface? But how does this relate to UA’s “60 years of analog tone”?

Another theory that keeps popping up is that LUNA may be coming to the Windows platform. I’m not sure how the desktop box would fit in with this. Is UA about to release a dedicated LUNA controller with a hybrid concept similar to Softube’s Console 1? Or a controller for LUNA’s instruments like the Minimoog emulation and Shape? Are they going to dive deeper into emulations of analog synthesizers?

The “analog tone” bit is what boggles my mind the most. If what we’re seeing isn’t a controller, but a piece of analog hardware, what could it be? A programmable analog processing box along the lines of McDSP’s APB, possibly paired with an audio interface? Not very likely, but we love surprises.

Like any good teaser, UA’s announcement of an announcement has left us scratching our heads. I guess we’ll just have to wait until January 27th to find out. You can RSVP on the company’s website to watch the announcement on January 27th and 28th.

What do you think? What kind of product is Universal Audio about to release? What are you hoping for? Let us know in the comments!