Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts

Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts

Behringer U Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface Review

Behringer U Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This thing is great. I needed to bypass my crappy soundcard on my PC in order to record high quality stereo audio onto my computer for a podcast. I had just shelled out $80 for the Inport Deluxe package from Xitel, which is basically a little analog-audio-to-USB adapter box similar to this, with a long audio cable and some bad software thrown in to justify the steep pricetag. Luckily I saved the receipt on the Inport and was able to take it back after discovering this item, which you can find for about $30 all over the internet.
The UCA202 has a headphone jack with a volume control so you can monitor what's being recorded to your computer, as you record it. Just be aware that you won't be able to listen to the playback from your audio recording software through your computer's monitor speakers unless you unplug this device from your USB port first, and there is no warning about this in the manual, which is why the 4 star review instead of 5. On some review sites there seemed to be confusion about what drivers were required to work with this device, but the first page of the manual states clearly that you don't need any drivers. I am running Windows XP and was able to just plug and play, no drivers needed, audio is loud and clear. By the way this is not a paid endorsement or anything, I just wanted to spare someone else a lot of the research time that I spent by saying, go ahead and get it.
Oh and of course you do need a good audio recording software like ProTools, Sound Forge, or Cubase to do a decent job of recording audio on your computer and letting you edit it and manipulate it with professional sounding results. If you are recording audio from a turntable (digitizing your LP collection) don't forget that you need some sort of preamp or tuner amp between the phonograph and this device. The output straight out of your turntable is too weak a signal to drive this device.
A grateful shout-out and mad props for this device go the Germans at Behringer, who designed it.

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Stanton STR8150 High Torque Direct Drive DJ Turntable Review

Stanton STR8150 High Torque Direct Drive DJ Turntable

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Stanton is promoting this turntable to the mixing/scratching set. However, if you're an old coot like me who just wants a good quality turntable that will play your LP's, 45's and 78's, this is the one to get.
The STR8-150 is solidly built; the entire thing weighs about 36 pounds. The platter is a little lighter than some other turntables I've seen, but there's just no rumble at all. There are both analogue and digital outputs that allow you to hook up the turntable to practically any stereo, home theater system or computer (no special phono-level inputs required).
A bonus feature of this turntable is the variable speed control that allows you to actually play records as low as 16 rpm (used for some special use records) or up to 90 rpm (used on many early acoustic "78's").
A good quality Stanton cartridge comes with the turntable and a 78 stylus is available for it.
The only thing missing is a dust cover or an option to buy one as an accessory.

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The ultimate night-club, party, or compilation tool, Stanton's rugged and graceful STR8-150, with its skip-proof straight tone arm, offers everything professional DJs need--and nothing they don't. In creating the STR8-150, Stanton went back to basics and re-engineered everything, using quality as its prime consideration. The 'table uses durable steel construction designed to minimize feedback, an ultra-stable platter and tone arm, and an industry-leading high-torque motor producing more than 4.5 Kgf-cm.Key features include key correction, reverse playback, up to +/-50 percent pitch adjustment, 3-speed playback (33-1/3, 45, and 78), and even an S/PDIF coaxial digital-audio output so you can plug the turntable directly into a CD recorder, digital surround receiver, or PC/Macintosh sound card. Adjustable start and break speeds let you tailor the quartz-lock 'table's action to your mixing style.When key correction is on, the pitch slider will only affect the speed of the platter. The key, or tone, will remain at 0 percent. This is ideal for bringing song B up to the tempo of song A for a seamless mix, without altering the tonal makeup of song B.The STR8-150 also includes adjustable feet, a slipmat, "L"-shaped cables, and the Stanton 680HP cartridge mounted on headshell.What's in the Box Platter, tone arm, cartridge and headshell, counterweight, slipmat, L-shaped cables, a 45 rpm adapter, a user's manual, an AC power cord, a target light, and warranty information.

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Gemini DJ vhf-2001m-s26 Handheld Wireless Microphone Review

Gemini DJ vhf-2001m-s26 Handheld Wireless Microphone

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this as a gift for my husband. I was very pleased with the product and the price. It was extremely easy to set up; and although we haven't actually used it, except to make sure it worked, we were very pleased with the initial test of the unit. The quality was very good.

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GLI PRO 10,000 WATT POWER AMPLIFIER DJ STEREO RACK AMP Review

GLI PRO 10,000 WATT POWER AMPLIFIER DJ STEREO RACK AMP

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've owned two of these for 3 years driving some dual 18 subs, monitors, and everything in between. I finally got some honest specs from one of the retailers - Rated Power Output: 2x500W RMS @ 4 ohms Stereo Mode / 1x900W RMS @ 4 ohms. 10,000 watts would melt this into a blob of molten metal! Let's get realistic! Really, I think someone with double vision in China added an extra Zero to the model number. It should be an XA1000! But, to give this amp some credit, the 500W at 4 ohms may be a bit conservative. It is actually pretty robust - and nice and clean sounding. It's always worked - where other amps have bit the dust - and the meters are very nice to be able to tell just how much you're pushing them. I wouldn't drive it at 2 ohms at all - just don't think it's made THAT well. But the title of this review says - it's a very good value for the money.Just consider you're buying a 1000 watt amp (bridged mono) and a 2X500 watt amp at 4 ohms - perhaps 2 X 300 Watt amp at 8 ohms.

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Native Instruments Kontakt 3 Software Sampler Review

Native Instruments Kontakt 3 Software Sampler

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)as other people said here and as most people know, Kontakt is an amazing instrument. With bad customer support. I especially like version 3, it has a neater interface and the sounds and possibilities are so many. However, customer support is very bad, I was installing the libraries by directly coping them on the HD, and I could not get Kontakt to load the sounds even though it located all the libraries. Customer support blowed me off by simply saying that they don't offer support unless I install with the installer. Which basically meant I had wasted many hours away and I had to install everything from scratch. What they said would make sense, were it not for the fact that with a 33 gb library, they should do a better job and allow for the libraries to be copied directly onto the HD without all this dumb installer business. What's the problem with that? None, the customer would save a lot of time and be able to install the libraries a bit at a time and however he think fit. Eastwest libraries allow the user to do just that,and it's a far easier and simple process.
Writing many times to Native Instruments customer support was just useless, the only time they care to save is theirs, not yours.

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HDE Optical Toslink 3 Way Switch Review

HDE Optical Toslink 3 Way Switch

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Don't waste your money on this piece of junk!!!!!!!! This thing didn't work at all when i recieved it. I took it apart and did what i could do to get it to work some of the time. it's easier to just switch the fiber optic cables rather that try to get this piece of junk to work when you turn the switch. very sorry i wasted my $5 plus shipping on this very cheap piece of junk.

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Behringer HPX2500 High-definition DJ Headphones Review

Behringer HPX2500 High-definition DJ Headphones

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have never heard of the Berhringer brand until seeing its headphones in an Amazon Lightning Deal yesterday. In picture, the HPX2500 looked pretty good for a pair of twenty-something-dollar headphones. Seeing the actual product and using it for sometime, I deem it an excellent headphone for the money. I'll rate its quality at 8.5 out of 10. The headphone jack and cord use a lot heavier gauge materials then the competition. Berhringer is a maker of studio musical equipment. If you would like to know more about it, just Google it. There is a pretty informative article on it in Wikipedia. There is even YouTube videos about its huge factories in China.
You should be aware that because the HPX2500 is NOT a closed-type headphone, there is little to no sound isolation. In other words, if there is some sound in the environment, you will hear it. Conversely, others will be able to hear what you are listening, albeit at much reduced volume. This is called an open-type headphone. IMO, open-type headphones seem to offer better clarity. On the other hand, closed-type may offer more bass. What you listen to most should be the deciding factor in selecting open or closed headphone design.

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Behringer DDM4000 - DJ Mixer Review

Behringer DDM4000 - DJ Mixer

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This mixer weighs about 2 pounds regardless of what the actual weight says on the box. My DDM 4000 was broke when I opened the box. I could hear parts rattling around when I picked it up. The DDM4000 is a cheap knock off of the pioneer DJM800 because of the midi connection and the similar features. The quality is absolutely horrible and I would not recumbent this mixer to anyone weather an beginner or pro dj. This is by far the worst dj product that I have ever bought. This product is straight weak and we should ship all of these mixers back to Germany and cut their products off until they can create a product with at least the quality of a numark product. Do not buy this mixer. Own 7 mixers from all different brands and I love them all. I know features and I know quality. It is very rare that a company will create a product that has both and this mixer is a perfect example of that. Get a Rane, pioneer, or high end Numark. Save your money with this crap.

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Monster Cable M DJ-CMX-4M Monster DJ Cables 4 meter pair XLR Male to TRS Review

Monster Cable M DJ-CMX-4M Monster DJ Cables 4 meter pair XLR Male to TRS

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Well, it Does what it Does. Seems well made. Doesn't smell funny. What more could you ask for?

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Put the Monster in Your Mixes! Introducing Monster DJ Cable.

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Pyle PADH1569 1000W Heavy Duty Speaker MDF Construction with Reinforced Corners Review

Pyle PADH1569 1000W Heavy Duty Speaker MDF Construction with Reinforced Corners

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I love these speakers. A lot of bang for the buck. It has wonderful sound, note that it plays high on the tweeters. You must have an EQ to make the adjustments. The bass is just right, not too much. If you want more, I would add a sub. I am a karaoke jockey and my customers agree with me. I only gave it 4 stars because I only had this over a month, It should last me a while,...... I hope. lol

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Seismic Audio - 16 Channel XLR SNAKE CABLE 100' long - 16 XLR sends and 8 XLR returns - Color Coded, Numerically well labeled - Heavy Duty 100 feet long Review

Seismic Audio - 16 Channel XLR SNAKE CABLE 100' long - 16 XLR sends and 8 XLR returns - Color Coded, Numerically well labeled - Heavy Duty 100 feet long

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)For the price, this snake is well worth it versus its over expensive counter-brand. The color coding does help a lot for quick fix solutions and the versatility of the inputs/outputs gives an overall 24 channels to work with. The construction is very well put together, I'm not afraid that I may damage it with regular use, its very sturdy. Every channel works perfectly and I am confident that any sound problems coming from on the stage is not from the snake. Very satisfied with this product and am very glad I bought this and I will be using much more Seismic Audio Products.

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PreSonus FaderPort USB Automation Controller Review

PreSonus FaderPort USB Automation Controller

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you're looking to get away from mixing with your mouse and are looking to spend as little as possible... there are two big choices. PreSonus Faderport ($150) and Frontier Design Alphatrack ($200).
Faderport - PROS: PreSonus put most of their money into the fader... it's an alps fader used in many higher end consoles.
Nothing fancy. It is intuitive and to the point, but still has what I want and need... a good fader and transport control.
Easy to install.
Small.
CONS: Wall-wart. It is bus powered, but you need the AC adapter for fader automation.
You can only automate volume and pan. (protools user's! If you have a track selected with the faderport with pan automation, protools will lock to the pan control of the faderport and will not play back the written automation until you switch to another track. This is a known issue that PreSonus says they are working on for an upcoming firmware update.)
Alphatrack - PROS: Controls; volume, pan, EQ, plugins, and automation.
3 encoders instead of 1.
Jog and shuttle strip... (this is really cool.)
Bus powered.
LED screen with track/eq/plugin info.
CONS: NOT Intuitive... It took the guy at G***Center over 30 minutes just to get it to do anything. And after another 30 minutes could only get the fader, pan and transport controls to work. (I never did get to automate any plugins with it.)
The fader was sluggish and when it played back the automation in kinda shook and was loud. (check out youtube.com "faderport vs alphatrack" and see a side by side comparison.)
The LED screen was hard to navigate through and the user programmable controls (which only work with native software, not HUI emulation) are labeled F1- F8 which may take a while to remember.
Slightly bigger then faderport.
OVERALL: I went with the faderport. While there are a few quirky things I've had to deal with (in protools, so far it has worked great with sonar) it's still straight forward, serves its purpose and does what I need it to do. It gives me the ability to feel and touch a mix. The transport controls alone make it a great asset, not having to reach for the mouse every time I want to arm, mute, solo or record a track. As for the alphatrack, the fader on it alone was enough for me to steer clear. But, the fact that it was a fight to get it to work at all (and never saw it fully functioning) put me over the edge... I fight with enough stuff to keep everything running.

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The FaderPort puts the feel, vibe, and efficiency back into music recording and production. No more clicking through menus and drawing automation edits with a mouse. The easy-to-use FaderPort delivers complete transport control for fast and efficient recording along with ultra high quality, touch sensitive motorized fader for writing fades and automation.The touch-sensitive, long throw motorized fader on the FaderPort has the feel needed for recording perfect fades and writing volume, mute and pan automation in real-time. Solo and record enable can also be easily controlled with the FaderPort along with window selection, play, stop, record, and managing markers (locate points) for fast and easy recording. A foot switch jack is also included on the FaderPort for hands free punch-in/out recording. The FaderPort works with all Mac or Windows-based recording software including Pro Tools, Cubase, Nuendo, Logic and more.

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Red Sound Micro BPM -BPM Counter / Headphone Amp Review

Red Sound Micro BPM -BPM Counter / Headphone Amp

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I use this to find tempo's of my beat idea's. It is fantastic. Takes a second or 2 to capture the bpm, but almost 100% accurate. A great piece of gear for any dj or beat-writer.

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Echo Indigo IOx Audio I/O ExpressCard for Notebook Computers Review

Echo Indigo IOx Audio I/O ExpressCard for Notebook Computers

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As of February 2, 2011, you can disregard the two bad reviews about the Indigo IOx not functioning on Windows 7 64-bit. If you have this version of Windows, make sure it is completely up to date, and it will work. Windows 7 Service Pack 1, due to be released to the public any day now, may contain further updates that even further improve the performance of this card. Follow the instructions that come with the card to install it correctly:
1. Download the most recent driver online for Win 7 x64. Execute the setup file.
2. Shut down your computer.
3. Connect the Indigo
4. Turn on your computer, and wait for Windows to automatically set up the drivers.
5. Make sure the Indigo is the default sound device in Control Panel.
6. Listen to amazing sound.
The clarity and quality of this card FARRRR exceed onboard laptop sound. With quality headphones, highs are CRYSTAL clear, imaging is perfect, and lows are smooth and warm. There is no hiss at all (unless the source is the files you're using), and the sound feels truly authentic.
From what I've read, Echo is a very well-respected company despite lack of notoriety. The now-discontinued Indigo IO, from what I've read, noticeably exceeds Sound Blaster PCMCIA cards in quality. I'm willing to bet this express card is better than Sound Blaster's, too.
Only major con is that the card sits rather loosely in the express port, so if you're not careful plugging in and unplugging devices, it will wiggle and and come loose, requiring you to restart your computer before it will work again. Also, it takes up a decent load of computer resources. No problem for high-end computers.

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Numark HF125 DJ Headphones Review

Numark HF125 DJ Headphones

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been DJ'ing for almost three years, two of which I've been using these headphones (same pair). I like this pair because they don't go over the ear entirely, this way I can put them on and take them off easily. These headphones will reverse on one axis and don't swivel around. In my experience the swivel becomes a nuisance and is an overrated feature. Overall, No complaints, no desire to upgrade.
Pros
- Price point allows you to buy an extra pair as your spare
- Simple design (not cumbersome like most DJ headphones)
- Convenient/Functional
- Light
- Durable
- No Swivel (personal preference)
- Does not go over ear (personal preference)
Cons
- Not comfortable enough to wear for leisure, but that may be because I have a large head.
- 1/4 jack. If you want to use this with an iPod, you'll need to purchase an adapter, which becomes awkward.
As a tip for aspiring DJ's, if you insist on fancier headphones, focus on the functionality and not the sound quality. On the job, you will neither notice a difference nor care if there even is one.

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Numark 5000FX 5-Channel DJ Tabletop Mixer with Sampling FX Review

Numark 5000FX 5-Channel DJ Tabletop Mixer with Sampling FX

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a great mixer for anyone. I would recomend highly for beginners. It seems to have clipping protection which is awsome.

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PCDJ Red DJ Software Review

PCDJ Red DJ Software

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)NEVER right reviews, but if you are reading this please be advised to stay away from Visionsonic PCDJ. this program is TERRIBLE and totally unreliable! Everything was going well in the honeymoon stage of the program, but a few months into using this live at gigs, I've had several drop-outs in audio and software crashes and freezes. TRUST ME, i've heard nothing bad reviews about this program after the fact and now I know why. I did everything I needed to ensure this program ran efficiently (music on separate hardrive, no other running programs during use, ect) and yet PCDJ crashes IN THE MIDDLE OF LIVE GIGS. As a DJ both mobile and the radio, there's no worse feeling then dead-air. STAY AWAY FROM PCDJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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