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M-Audio KeyRig 49

Michael Ansaldo — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:06:59 -0500

A little too basic for super serious composers, but it should be just right for everyone else.

GarageBand brought low-cost home recording to the average household Mac, giving weekend rock stars the opportunity to create musical masterpieces. But pecking out notes with a mouse cursor on an onscreen keyboard is no way make music. To really harness the power of GarageBand, you need a MIDI keyboard controller.

M-Audio’s KeyRig 49 is just the kind of affordable, easy-to-use MIDI keyboard bedroom musicians need to unlock their digital audio workstation’s phalanx of virtual instruments. Small enough to fit unobtrusively on a computer desk, the KeyRig 49 installs hassle-free. Just plug the unit into an available USB port, switch it on, and you’re ready to start your recording session. You don’t need a Juilliard degree or even to have endured childhood piano lessons to get around this keyboard—each of the unit’s white keys is labeled with its musical note and octave number.

Purists may squawk at anything with fewer than 88 keys, but the KeyRig 49 also features two octave-shift buttons, which can transpose the keys up four octaves and down three, giving you the flexibility of a full-size keyboard. A pitch-bend wheel to the left of the keyboard lets you apply guitar-style note bending to any instrument, and a modulation wheel adds vibrato. Above these is the volume slider. With the exception of the pitch-bend wheel, each of these controllers can be assigned other functions such as pan, attack time, and reverb, but that requires a deeper understanding of MIDI than a guy throwing together a soundtrack for his home-movie DVD probably has time for.

Though the KeyRig 49 is a solid keyboard controller, hardcore home-recording artists would do better to seek out something more full-featured. But if you’re looking for a MIDI keyboard borne of the same egalitarian spirit as GarageBand, the KeyRig 49 is it.

The bottom line. The KeyRig 49 is ideal for the weekend warrior, or when space or money is at a premium.

COMPANY: M-Audio

CONTACT: www.m-audio.com

PRICE: $129.95

REQUIREMENTS: G3 or later, Mac OS 10.3.9 or later, 256MB RAM, USB

Hassle-free installation. Easy integration with GarageBand.

Features too basic for hardcore musicians

Portable 'Pod Performers

Roman Loyola — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:17:35 -0600

When you’re on the road, and you’ve finally arrived at your hotel room, unpacked your things, and clicked on the TV to see what’s on, it finally hits you—that feeling that you’re someplace unfamiliar, someplace strange. The best way to cure that feeling of displacement? Music. Bust out your iPod and some portable speakers, and fill your room with audible comfort. We’ve found a pair of portable speaker sets that are both quite capable of being your best buddy during your travels.

No battery option and no remote, but we like the iLuv i189 anyway for its warm, full sound.

iLuv i189. The i189’s design is a familiar one, where your iPod sits prominently in a cradle in front of a pair of 2.5-watt speakers. The device measures 8.5 by 3.5 by 5.5 inches and easily fits into carry-on luggage or a duffle bag. Make sure you leave a little bit of room for the power adapter, since the i189 doesn’t have any battery-power capabilities. And, bummer for us, the i189 doesn’t have a remote control.

The audio from the i189 is impressive for such a small device. Music sounds clear, and the bass has good presence. Midrange sounds are rich and warm. The only problem we had with the i189 is with high notes, which the device can’t seem to reach. We were able to turn the volume up all the way without any signs of distortion, though the volume is just adequate for a 300-square-foot hotel room.
The i189’s 3D sound option gives your music a bolder presence, but it doesn’t feel like surround sound. At least it doesn’t give your music an annoying echo feeling like the 3D effects on some other speakers, which shall remain nameless.

COMPANY: iLuv

CONTACT: www.i-luv.com

PRICE: $49.99

REQUIREMENTS: iDockable iPod

Easily fits into carry-on luggage. Good sound.

No remote control. No battery option. Weak high notes.

It’s a bit bulky, but the Pure-Fi Anywhere has a remote, and you can recharge the battery.

Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere. The 13.25-by-4-by-1.5-inch Pure-Fi Anywhere has a pair of 2-inch active drivers accompanied by a pair of 3-inch pressure drivers for bass response. Logitech includes a handsome storage case to protect the speakers, though it can take a considerable amount of room in a carry-on bag.
The device has a built-in, nonreplaceable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery that Logitech says lasts 10 hours. In our testing, the battery actually lasted 15 minutes beyond the stated life. To charge the battery, simply plug in the included power adapter, and an LED indicates when it’s charged.

The Pure-Fi Anywhere is capable of clearly producing a full range of sounds. There’s a bit of warmth missing, but the sound is quite enjoyable. However, when we turned the speaker to its highest volume, we ran into lots of distortion. Pure-Fi’s StereoXL feature gives your music a surround-sound effect that we didn’t find annoying—we liked it for some songs, while we turned it off for others.

The remote control has a disappointing range of about 12 feet, although that might be enough in a small room. Unfortunately, the remote feels cheap and the buttons are too stiff, but it does let you navigate through your iPod’s menus so you can get to your playlists and songs.

The bottom line. We like the i189’s small size for those times when we want to travel light. The Pure-Fi Anywhere has the better sound of the two, and its rechargeable battery is a great feature, but its size makes it a little more cumbersome for casual toting.

COMPANY: Logitech

CONTACT: www.logitech.com

PRICE: $149.99

REQUIREMENTS: Dockable iPod

Easily fits into checked luggage. Rechargeable battery. Good sound.

Might be a little big for your carry-on, especially if it’s already bulging. Remote feels cheap and has a short range. Distortion at highest volumes

iLuv i166 Dual Alarm Clock iPod Dock

Roberto Baldwin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:14:36 -0600

It’ll wake you up, all right—if the bright display lets you get to sleep.

The iLuv i166’s retro circular design is a nice break from the current set of shoebox-shaped alarm clock iPod docks glutting the market. But when the room lights go out, the problems of the device shine through. Even though you have the option of dimming the blue display, the choices seem to be bright and oh-my-God-my-eyes! bright. Covering the display negates the reason for having a clock in the first place, and moving the i166 across the room brings up a new issue: The display is unreadable at about 10 feet. You’ve basically traded your alarm clock for a bright blue night light.

The iPod functions work seamlessly, and you can also plug in any audio device with a 1/8-inch audio-out port. iLuv includes a remote and dock adapters for the 5G iPod and 2G nano. The i166 has video-out for watching video from a 5G iPod on a TV, but it doesn’t have an audio output beyond the subwoofer output, so your audio still plays out of the tiny alarm clock speakers instead of your TV. The sound is typical of a sub-$100 iPod alarm clock, with muted highs and lows, but overall, it can fill a medium-size room without distortion.

The bottom line. The crummy display may hamper the iLuv’s bedroom appeal. But it’s good for a spare room that needs tunes and
a clock.

COMPANY: iLuv

CONTACT: www.i-luv.com

PRICE: $69.99

REQUIREMENTS: 5G iPod (30GB, 60GB, 80GB), 2G nano, shuffle

Retro design, Wakes you up to your favorite iPod tune.

Display too bright and unreadable at night. Video output is hampered by missing audio output.

Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 Kontrol Edition

David Biedny — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:05:27 -0600

The Rig Kontrol 3 pedal requires a Mac host.

The Holy Grail of the electric guitar involves a single magical box that replaces racks of gear and puddles of pedals, with no compromise to quality, accuracy and flexibility. Guitar Rig 3 is a significant evolution in digital guitar hardware and software. It could easily serve as the cornerstone of a completely digital guitar setup.

The Guitar Rig 3 Kontrol Edition consists of the software, which is also available separately for $339 and can be used as an Audio Units effects plug-in, and the Rig Kontrol 3 pedal, which combines full switching and control of any and all of the software’s many modules and features with a complete analog-digital interface. The Rig Kontrol 3 sports high-quality, 24-bit, 192KHz in and out; two input channels with separate gain knobs; a headphone jack with volume control; a stereo pair of balanced quarter-inch jacks; and MIDI-in and -out ports. There is also a pair of external foot-pedal controller inputs, extending the live performance potential. The Kontrol gets its power from the USB 2.0 connection (USB 1.0 doesn’t fly), so you need a Mac host. It’s a cinch to program the eight switches to modify any aspect of the many controls of the amps and effects, and the pedal is sturdy enough for the rigors of the stage.

The brand new Modifiers let you change and modulate any amp or effect setting.

The software emulates four new amp models, bringing the total to a cool dozen. All the bases are covered, from clean Fenders to ultra-dirty Marshall and German boutique offerings, and the amps are eminently usable and fit well into an overall song mix. Purists may argue that the amp emulations are not spot-on to the real thing, but we found the range and quality of the individual amp models outstanding, with convincing overdrive breakup and air around the sound. When you select a specific amp, a matching speaker cabinet is automatically inserted into the chain, and you can mix and match different amps, speaker cabinets, and microphones to your heart’s content.

Guitar Rig 3 includes great new effects, including a cool re-creation of the venerable Roland Space Echo, a tape-based delay and echo unit legendary in the musical universe. There’s the Delay Man delay, a simulation of the funky Memory Man analog delay from Electro-Harmonix. Mix in the outstanding range of distortion and fuzz effects (11 in total), the luscious modulators, the perfect emulation of the Digitech Whammy pitch shifter, a variety of equalization and filter effects, and a decent Wah (finally!), and you have a one-stop shop of tonal tools ranging from bread-and-butter to bizarre, and you can control everything via the Kontrol hardware.

The bottom line. Guitar Rig 3 is a truly exciting turnkey solution for electric guitarists looking to replace the spaghetti nightmare of cables and foot pedals. While there are some pedals we’d still love to see emulated, you’d be hard-pressed to exhaust the vast array of possibilities to be found in Guitar Rig 3.

COMPANY: Native Instruments

CONTACT: www.native-instruments.com
PRICE: $599

REQUIREMENTS: 1.4GHz G4 or faster or 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo, Mac OS 10.4 or later, 512MB RAM

Excellent range of amps and effects. Kontrol Rig hardware does everything. Fantastic audio quality. Universal binary.

Nothing really.

Apple iPod Touch

Roman Loyola — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:28:12 -0500

The iPod touch is primarily a media player. Everything else is gravy.

In our first look at the iPod touch last month (Nov/07, p68), we said that it’s basically a phoneless iPhone. It turns out that the iPod touch is even less than a phoneless iPhone. But if you want a media player first and an Internet device a distant second, the touch offers a satisfying experience.

The only major difference in the multi-touch interface between the iPod touch and the iPhone is the Home screen. The touch doesn’t have as many apps as the iPhone (we’ll talk more about that in a minute), but the basic Home interface is the same. The onscreen keyboard remains unchanged, and newcomers to the touchscreen interface will need practice to master typing on it.

Soon after the iPod touch hit the market, reports of poor LCD image quality popped up all over the Internet. We tested the touch after the iPod touch 1.1.1 update was released. With the updates installed on both the iPhone and the iPod touch, we noticed that movie playback and photo quality looked a bit washed out on the touch compared to the same images on the iPhone. It’s not a dramatic difference, but a noticeable one - even the black background on the Home screen looks deeper on the iPhone than it does on the iPod touch.

When it came to audio quality, we couldn’t tell the difference between the iPod touch and the iPhone. The touch produced full midtones, nice highs, and good bass with the bundled earbuds. A volume control on the device itself (like a thumbwheel or a switch) is missing, which means you have to go into the touch interface to adjust the volume, and the process can take several steps.

We had no problems shopping at the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and our purchases downloaded at a snappy pace. Web access over Wi-Fi went without a hitch and feels just as fast as it does on the iPhone.

Apple says you should get about 5 hours of battery life when watching video and 22 hours when you’re just listening to music. Our test results were short of those specifications, but not disappointing. We got 4 hours and 2 minutes for video, and just over 21 hours for audio.

Now we’ll tell you why you’ll want to pass on the iPod touch if you’re still waffling: Several key iPhone features aren’t on the iPod touch. There’s no email client, and no Weather, Stocks, or Google Maps apps - sure, there are Web-based alternatives, but it’s the one-touch access we want. And you can’t edit your Calendar. To those folks who say that the touch isn’t an iPhone but rather an iPod, we hear you and agree. But the iPod touch is also a Wi-Fi Internet device (though mostly for buying songs from the iTunes Store), and so the fact that it doesn’t have these functions means the Internet experience is incomplete.

The bottom line. As a media player, the iPod touch won’t disappoint you, but when you hold one in your hands, it’s hard not to think that the device could’ve offered more. Perhaps Apple will add new features with software updates.

COMPANY: Apple
CONTACT: www.apple.com
PRICE: $299 (8GB), $399 (16GB)

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4.10 or later, iTunes 7.4 or later, USB
Nice screen. Innovative interface. Access to iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.
Can’t edit calendar. No volume control on device. No games. No email. Missing some apps found on the iPhone. Reports of display problems with early-shipping units.

Maximo iMetal iM-390

Roman Loyola — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:33:19 -0500

You get three pairs of ear fittings with the iMetal iM-390.

Maximo’s iMetal iM-390 earphones don’t say “iPod” like the iPod earbuds do, but they certainly say “shiny.” Like V-Moda’s Vibe (4 out of 5 stars), the iM-390 earphones have fashionable aluminum bodies that are more than decorative - they also produce impressive sound.

If you like bass, you’ll like the iM-390. Bass drops heavy, but not too heavy, and it’s a definite improvement over the iPod earbuds, with a thump that’s a tad heavier than the bass from the $100 V-Moda Vibe earphones. The high notes from the iM-390 sounded a little too strong, but again, better than the iPod earbuds. We liked the overall fullness of the Vibe’s sound slightly better than the iM-390’s, but the iM-390’s sound quality will make you very happy, especially when you consider the low price.

Maximo didn't design this as an iPhone-compatible headset, since there's no microphone. (The iM-390 fit into the headphone jack of our iPhone for listening to the iPod functions, but the company says that others have reported problems getting it to fit into their iPhones.) Maximo also includes a 2.5mm adapter, an airplane headphone adapter, and a two-foot extension cord.

The bottom line. For $39, the iM-390 is an excellent alternative to the iPod earbuds and to pricier earbuds like the V-Moda Vibe.

COMPANY: Maximo
CONTACT: www.maximoproducts.com
PRICE: $39.99

REQUIREMENTS: Headphone jack
Industrial-looking design. Good overall sound.

Not designed for the iPhone.

Griffin GarageBand Microphone Cable

Tom Lassiter — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:00:20 -0500

The GarageBand Microphone Cable is a lot cheaper than an XLR converter box.

If you’re a podcaster who wants good voice audio in your podcasts (and who doesn’t?), you need to use an XLR microphone. Macs don’t have XLR connectors, but you can use Griffin’s GarageBand Microphone Cable, which features an XLR jack for your mic and a stereo minijack so you can plug into a Mac’s standard audio line-in port.

The GarageBand Cable has a sturdy cast-metal XLR connector, not a cheap stamped-metal connector. After connecting the cable between the mic and the Mac, we adjusted the Mac’s Sound preferences to use the audio-in port for input. The GarageBand Cable brought in the XLR mic’s full, rich sound. Connected to a field mixer on a video shoot, the GarageBand Cable piped the audio directly into GarageBand on our MacBook Pro, eliminating the need to dub in the interviews later. Sweet.

The bottom line. Would you rather spend $15 on Griffin’s GarageBand Microphone Cable or $200 for an XLR converter box? We thought so.

COMPANY: Griffin Technology

CONTACT: www.griffintechnology.com

PRICE: $14.99

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.3 or later, audio-in jack

Very affordable. Works well with Griffin iTalk for recording with an iPod.

Only 10 feet long. Somewhat light-gauge cable.

Optek Music Systems Fretlight FG-431 Vintage Electric Guitar

Perry Mosdromos — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:13:21 -0500

Touch it, love it. The guitar gods compel you!

Sliding around the living room in your underwear with a hairbrush for a microphone might be cool…wait, wait, wait…that was never cool. If what you really want to do is learn how to play an instrument, it seems that starting with one that’s got a built-in cool factor is, well, cool.

Which is how we ended up with the Fretlight FG-431 Vintage Electric guitar. The FG-431, which you can connect via USB to your Mac, has a brand differentiator that’s as amusing as it is inviting: The fretboard lights up where your fingers are supposed to go. Kind of like painting by numbers (or the Guitar Hero videogame), the Fretlight, with a GarageBand plug-in, lets you learn how to play guitar easily. Something that we weren’t totally sure could be done - but we were game to try.

At first blush, the FG-431 seems a little heavier than a normal guitar, possibly because of the onboard electronics. But connecting to a PowerBook G4 was no problem - and that’s when the fun began. The fretboard (the portion of the guitar beneath the strings) lit up, as promised. Songs and exercises for learning how to play those songs appear on your Mac’s screen, allowing you to follow along in two places. The software walks you through tunes, bar chords, and the rudiments of making music (rather than noise).

Now, we don’t know much about teaching people how to play musical instruments, or if this is even the right way to do it, but it can’t get much easier than putting your fingers where the lights are. After an hour, we unplugged the guitar from the laptop and plugged into an amp, to see if the lessons stuck. Seemingly, yes. And outside of some occasional buzzy-ness from the frets, which could easily have been operator error (or reversed polarity), we highly enjoyed sliding around the living room in our underwear mangling the first few lines of “Smoke on the Water.” We probably didn’t look as cool as if we’d been rocking a Stratocaster, but unless the neighbors peeping in your open windows are pro guitarists, no one will know the difference. You learn on this one, and then move on. Your secret’s safe with us.

The bottom line. You can get plenty of other guitars for a lot cheaper than the Fretlight FG-431. But if you’re short on time and long on cash, it’s the perfect guitar for you.

COMPANY: Optek Music Systems

CONTACT: www.fretlight.com

PRICE: $549.95

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS X

Great guitar for beginners.

The lights, the lights…for a seasoned hand, were a tad distracting. And the price kind of hurt, too.