Tech Talk: Look Ma, No Clicks!

Sorry for keeping the loyal Tech Talk fans waiting last week, but I didn’t forget about you.  I found a couple gadgets I thought were pretty cool, so let me know what you think.   This might be known by a lot of you, but I wanted to show you frequently traveling producers and you […]

Sorry

for keeping the loyal Tech Talk fans waiting last week, but I didn’t forget about you.  I found a couple gadgets I thought were

pretty cool, so let me know what you think.

 

This

might be known by a lot of you, but I wanted to show you frequently traveling

producers and you guys without a lot of space a tool that lets you bring your

work with you. The MPC 500 ($599) is their ultra-compact machine. 

 

I

had my friend, producer and current MPC user Vaughn Andrew, try it out.  When asked what he like the most, he had this

to say:

 

“I

enjoyed the convenience of how small and space saving the MPC 500 was. I used

it for more of a controller then a sample unit. I currently have an MPC 200. I

would not trade mine in for the MPC 500 but I do believe it is a step up from

my out dated equipment.”

 

 

Features:

• Battery powered (6 AA’s) or AC

powered (with included power adaptor)

• Pattern-based 48-track sequencer with

16 MIDI channels

• 32-voice drum/phrase sampler with up

to 128MB RAM

• Velocity and pressure sensitive pads

for responsive, accurate programming

• 12 Levels function: one sound on all

pads with varied level or tuning per pad

• Built-in Compact Flash drive and USB

port (Mass Storage Class)

• Support for standard WAV files and

MIDI sequences

• Built-in Analog I/O, headphone

output, and MIDI In/Out

• Internal sounds in Flash

• 4-way sample layering and velocity

switching per pad

• 1 low pass filter with resonance per

voice

• On-board effects: 2 stereo effects

and a Master effect

 

 

As

our lives become busier and increasingly more digital, this device can come in

real handy.  We know we should always

have back ups of everything, but when do you have the time or ever feel like

it? Exactly! Never! 

 

That’s

where the HD700 from ClickFree ($169) steps in. It’s a USB hard drive that

backs up your computer automatically, just by being plugged in.

 Features:

Hard

Drive 2.5 inch SATA Capacity

120GBRPM

5400 Cache

Buffer 8MB Interface

USB 2.0 and 1.1 compliant Dimensions

Device:

4.52″ x 0.67″ x 2.99″ in (115 mm x 17 mm x 76 mm)

Weight: 6.35 oz (180 g) PC

Requirements Computer running Microsoft Windows Vista (Home Basic, Home

Premium, Ultimate or Business), Windows XP (Home, Professional or Media

Center Edition) or Windows 2000 (with Service Pack 4))

Available USB port (1.1 or 2.0)

 

If you’re looking for

an alternative to the typical mp3/video player, the Cowon A3 PMP is worth a

look.  It can play 720 p HD video and

plays all the major video and audio formats. 

 

Words don’t do it

justice, so check out the video.

 

Features:

File Format: AVI, WMV, ASF,MP4,

MATROSKA(MKV), OGM, MPG/MPEG, VOB, DAT,MTV Video Codec: DivX 3.11/4/5/6,

XviD, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, WMV 9/8/7, H.264 MP, M-JPEG, MPEG 1/2 Video Resolution: Video Codec

Max 1280×720,30 fps (*1)File format : MP3/2/1, WMA,ASF,

FLAC, OGG, M4A, MATROSKA(MKA), AC3,TTA, APE, MPC, WV, WAVAudio codec: MPEG1 Layer 1/2/3,

WMA, FLAC, OGG Vorbis, OGG FLAC, APPLELossless, AAC/AAC+, AC3, True Audio,

Monkey Audio, MusePack, WavPack, G.726, PCMAudio Res:  Max 96KHz,1.4Mbps (*5)Troy Gayle is the Founder of Gadget-T.com