Pioneer DDJ-ERGO Review
Alas, Pioneer is finally playing well with others! Long considered to be the kings of the DJ market, even when the DVS systems and DJ controllers started to trickle in, Pioneer remained apart from the rest staying on course with their series of high-end mixers, CD players, and DJ accessories.
Earlier this year they introduced their very first DJ software controllers, the DDJ-S1 and the DDJ-T1, thus entering them into the new frontier of controllers. They’re recent follow-up is the illustrious Virtual DJ controller, the DDJ-ERGO. This controller is aesthetically unique in design to their cavalcade of other products and at first glance it might be considered to be more of a consumer product than a pro piece. We were lucky enough attain a demo unit before the official release and judge for ourselves. You can check out our first impressions in Zack Rocket’s ERGO… Read the rest
Pro Tools 10 Announced: First Look
So, in a surprise move, AVID have managed to jump ahead of other things in the queue and made themselves the subject of my first real post for the UniqueSquared blog. How did they do this? By dropping Pro Tools version 10, seemingly hot on the heels of last year’s release of version 9. From what I’m looking at, it appears November is AVID’s decided month of choice for dropping upgrades . I’m only looking at the release information we’ve been given, so I’ll tell you what I know so far.
Price
It appears the standalone purchase price of Pro Tools is going up to $699 from the current $599. Well, that’s the standard price, as opposed to our current price. That said, it looks as though you can save money on Pro Tools 10 by picking up a copy of Pro Tools 9. You’ll definitely… Read the rest
AVID Fast Track C400 Review
M-Audio has long been a leading manufacturer of pro audio recording equipment. One of their most popular interfaces, the Fast Track, was considered the industry standard for home recording since it’s introduction in 2004. It was a high quality USB interface that was very simple to use at home or on the road.
The Features
The Avid M-Audio Fast Track C400 is a compact and ergonomic USB audio interface with the capability to record up to 24bit/96kHz audio with up to 4 simultaneous channels at a time with the help of a digital S/PDIF input. When it comes to playback and mixing, the 6 outputs of the Fast Track C400 will come in handy to give you separate feeds for, say, a headphone amp or outboard gear.
The Look
The Fast Track C400 departs from the traditional look of a USB audio interface and comes in an ergonomic form ideal for the… Read the rest
NI Traktor Kontrol S2 Review
Oh, my what a difference a year makes for Native Instruments. Almost a year ago we were all introduced to arguably the most anticipated Traktor dj controller to date, the Kontrol S4. It combined Traktor Scratch, the X1, and dare I say Maschine (construction wise) into one complete package and made many djs, including myself, cheat on their turntables. I officially made the switch by Thanksgiving after reconciling with my turntables. Native Instruments will further tempt the purists by releasing it’s latest offering, the Kontrol S2. We dropped some quick Hors d’oeuvres on you last month about the S2, and now we are lucky enough to have received an advance unit sent to our studios for a test drive.
Set Up
The Kontrol S2 comes will… Read the rest
What’s the right DAW Software for me?
It is time for the masses to rise and say, “enough!” Are you like me? Are you sick of reading product reviews, spec sheets and talking to professionals about which interface may be right for you? If so, this is the article for you.
Who are the best people to ask?
First of all, if you are blessed with an uncle who never married, squeezes into his Kia, works part-time as a security guard at Walgreens and is secretly smarter than everyone else alive – consider yourself lucky. This is just the type of person that you need to approach with this quandary. Even if your personal expert never completed a song after using their favorite DAW for the past seven years, they know an awful lot. The person who has used Sonar for years and once used Cubase may still be an expert at Cubase. So, don’t discount… Read the rest
