What to expect at The NAMM Show 2026

Another January, another NAMM Show. This week, NAMM 2026 takes over the Anaheim Convention Center in California to showcase music gear from over 3,500 brands to over 75,000 attendees.

NAMM 2026 comes with the usual promise: an insane amount of new music gear, plenty of noise in the main hall, artist performances across the convention centre, and myriad panels on the future of the music gear industry. You’ll find gems from boutique gear brands to high-profile drops from music technology’s biggest companies.

MusicTech will be on the show floor, covering as much as possible when the show floor opens on 21 January, to when doors close on 24 January. Until then, here’s what to expect at NAMM 2026.
Fender Studio’s debut
Fender is exhibiting at NAMM once again, but this time as Fender Studio. For the first time ever, the legendary guitar brand will be showing off its new range of studio gear which, of course, is courtesy of the recent rebrand from PreSonus to Fender Studio, five years after Fender acquired PreSonus.

It’s not surprising that Fender is choosing to debut its updated range of products at NAMM 2026, from Fender Studio Pro to the new Quantum LT audio interfaces. What is surprising, however, is that Fender’s booth will seemingly be omitting the brand’s coveted guitar collection. We’ll be heading over to the Fender Studio booth early on to see what else might be in store.

New Behringer gear?
Uli Behringer’s Music Tribe group is at NAMM for the second year running, after a decade-long break before 2025. Admittedly, the group seems to have a more subtle presence at the show in 2026, with its large booth now in the upper level of the Pro Audio area rather than the main hall.

However, we’re sure that Behringer, TC Electronic, Aston Microphones, Midas, and the other brands in Music Tribe will have some surprises to share at NAMM 2026. Last year, Behringer silently revealed a prototype of the BX1, an FM synth inspired by Yamaha’s DX-1 and CS-80 synths, and of the Pro-16 and JT-16 synths. These are all yet to be released — we’ll see what updates Music Tribe has for synth fans.

AI, AI and more AI
Artificial Intelligence is firmly in the music production zeitgeist in 2026. There’s a plethora of workshops and sessions to attend at NAMM 2026, from ‘Mastering AI Prompting With ChatGPT and Other AI Tools’ to ‘AI For Music Town Hall: Shaping the Future Together’. Speakers for the various AI-focused panels include producer Peter Malick, Benn Jordan, representatives from Splice, Orange Amps, Berklee College of Music, AutoTune, Voice-Swap and more.
An emphasis on immersive audio
Sony, Avid, L-Acoustics, Dolby, and more are all hosting immersive audio workshops and demonstrations again at this year’s NAMM. These brands naturally have a stake in the format, given their product offering, but the continued presence of such sessions suggests that consumer interest in immersive audio is continuing to grow apace.

Notably, there will also be a handful of sessions on game audio with an acute focus on immersive formats and mixed-reality.

When and where will the NAMM Show 2026 take place?
The NAMM Show 2026 is being held at its usual stomping ground, the Anaheim Convention Center in California. This sprawling complex is the ideal home for the myriad global brands showcasing pro audio gear, synthesizers, guitars, drums, software and everything in between.

The convention officially takes place from Tuesday 20 January to Saturday 24 January, with Tuesday and Wednesday reserved for early access members and media. The show will be open to the public from Thursday 22 January.
Who will be at the NAMM Show 2026?
The NAMM Show 2026 is hosting over 3,500 music brands, over 75,000 attendees, and over 150 live performing bands, all from over 125 countries. It’s a pretty significant event for the music gear industry, to say the least.

Key brands in the music technology space at NAMM will include Korg, InMusic, Fender Studio, Avid, Music Tribe, Yamaha, Audient, AKG, JBL, Sony, Shure, and literally thousands more. The show’s media preview day happens on 21 January, where many major brands will give us a sneak peek at new products.

You can also expect over 200 sessions dedicated to education, from keynote panels to intimate workshops. Speaking about the show, NAMM President and CEO John Mlynczak says: “Each and every year, The NAMM Show delivers the most relevant and game-changing programming to help build a strong future for our music industry.”

You can learn more about the NAMM Show 2026 at namm.org. The MusicTech team will be on the ground in Anaheim next week, bringing you all the latest action from the show floor.

Sam is the Commissioning Editor at MusicTech, where he’s helped shape the publication’s editorial voice since 2019. With nearly two decades of music-making and a degree in music technology behind him, his focus is on the stories behind studio gear and the artists who use it. He’s spent way too much time sampling disco records.