Music software/hardware reviews

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Yamaha MD4 4 track Minidisc recorder

OK, so hard disc recording is all the rage at the moment but hang on... have you got a 500000Mhz Pentium with a Zip drive, SCSI interface, Masses (and I mean masses) of hard drive space and the software to run. Then of course, things go wrong in schools like someone alters the software settings and unplugs a cable here or there or....well you can guess...

Enter the MD4 minidisc recorder. It looks and feels like a standard 4-track. It's got knobs and sliders to mess around with. The LED display tells you what's going on and it's a good solid bit of kit. The difference is that this thing records data on a small disc (provided with the MD4. Extra ones cost less than a tenner)NOT analogue sound like a tape does. The great advantange of this is that you can re-arrange your song after it has been recorded. For example if a pupil records a verse then a chorus, s/he can go back to it and tell the MD4 to repeat the chorus twice etc.

A mididisc can hold 37 minutes of recorded data. In practice, I've found that kids tend to record something and master it to tape almost straight away, so you can erase the song and free up the minidisc very quickly. By the way... there are no tape heads to clean!

Bouncing down (ping-ponging) functions are awesome. On a standard 4-track you need to keep one track free to bounce down to. Not on the MD4, where you can record on all four tracks and then bounce down to (say) track 4. You can, therefore, just keep bouncing down indefinitely. Unlike a standard 4-track, you don't lose quality when you bounce down... the sound quality remains at CD standard.

It's difficult to fault the MD4. I've had mine for two months and it's never been out of use. It can sync to a sequencer but I've not tried this yet. A useful function would be if it had an internal click but we can't all be perfect. Brilliant!

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

CB700 Glockenspiel kit

Glocks have been lying in bits in every music department in the world since Orff's days. They're not everybody's 'cup of tea' mainly due to the fact that you can get a keyboard for about half the cost of one. If you want a cost effective and hard wearing glock, then this is the one to have. It's a 2 and a half octave instrument supplied with a rugged stand, gig bag (!), two pairs of sticks, a table-top music stand and a drum pad. The sound quality isn't exactly orchestral quality, but it's pretty good. The best thing about it is the fact that it's indestructable.

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Earpower for Windows (Aural perception tests)

One thing that really hacks me off is the use of the term 'multimedia' when it just refers to the use of CD-ROM. Earpower is a real multimedia program which combines visual, aural and microphone input. It uses a tiny amount of memory and it all fits nicely onto a floppy.
I downloaded Earpower from the net at Harmony Central's site. You can use the full version provided seven times, after which you have to pay the subscription of $25. You'll soon find that it's more than worth it since it has features of programs which cost 5 times more. Tests on the 4 areas below are provided, and there are 7 levels of difficulty.
1. Melody - Using the mouse on a virtual keyboard, identify given pitches.
2. Rhythm - Using the space bar, reproduce a given rhythm
3. Intervals - All diatonic and chromatic intervals are covered. They can be played as melodic or harmonic intervals.
4. Chords - Identify given chords. These include major, minor, dominant ,major and minor seventh chords, augmented and diminished triads. This page also features a 'chord construction kit' where the user can invent his/her own chords.
The program works with any soundcard and via MIDI. Also, the Melody test part of the program works with a microphone. Simply replicate the given pitch using the voice into a microphone plugged into your soundcard. This single feature justifies the small registration fee. This is an amazing program and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Yamaha DD50 Digital drum bank

I have loads of pupils who compose great songs and record them well using guitars, vocals, bass, horns etc. The big let down was when they wanted to add a drum track. No matter how hard they tried, the drums always sounded like they were submerged down the toilet. The reason, of course is that successful drum recording has to be done in an acoustically dead environment with each component of the drum kit miked up to the hilt. Now, there may be some schools out there that can do this but most can't. Enter the DD50. This has 6 touch sensitive pads, two foot pads and a MIDI in and out. The recording problem is solved, because we can now use the DD50 to trigger the drum sounds on a General MIDI sound module. The pads are easily assignable to any of the General MIDI drum sounds. The foot pads look a little flimsy and I predict that they will need replacing before long. There is a handy click function which is very useful for putting click tracks on multitrack recordings or for using in the course of lessons to keep pupils in time. I was surprised that the DD50 isn't a drum sequencer and that the record functions are very limited. My percussion teacher is so impressed with it that she's thinking of buying 10 of them to teach percussion in large groups. A great bargain.

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

AKAI S2000 digital sampler

I've been just a little unlucky with this thing. The first one that I ordered took 2 months to arrive, which was a bad sign to start with. This one had a defective disc drive. A month later, the second one arrived. I spent hours with the woefully inadequate manual... one of those that tries to be funny at least once in a page ... SO annoying!
The operating system has to be loaded from a floppy disc every time you switch the unit on. Akai's excuse for this is that if the OS is updated, then all you have to do is insert an updated disc. Yeah, sure! Why oh why can't they have the OS on a ROM chip.   Come on Akai, we're  in the 21st century.
The unit comes bundled with only around 20 samples which are uninspiring to say the least. The demo midi file provided on disc is a joke compared with everything else on the market.
The quality of sampling is very good, it must be said. Editing the sample is quite another story. The tiny LED display which again the manual makes feeble excuses about is inadequate. Akai bundle some on screen editing software... for the Mac...(gee thanks a lot! ) I managed to crop the samples I made, but looping didn't work at all on my unit. The sampler really struggled to recognise a stereo sample I made and I was forced to edit it as two mono samples, left then right in the end, which took ages. Nowhere in the manual did it tell me how to use recorded samples in multi timbral set ups and I couldn't work it out for myself.
My unit was the base system with a 3.5" disc drive. It very soon dawned on me that some other storage device was essential, since samples take up an awful lot of memory. (A 750K disc couldn't accommodate my 3 second stereo sample)
In my opinion, the S2000 is not a viable option for schools. I sent mine straight back to the supplier.

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Koby Drum-Mate MkII

Often it's the simplest of ideas which are the most effective. The Koby Drum-Mate is one of these. It's very simple to put together, very rigid and robust, the pads are highly adjustable to different positions, it can be expanded very easily, it's very compact and you can carry it all in one hand.
All teachers are familiar with the problems associated with drum kits : cracked cymbals, bolts that 'walk', broken skins and the rest of it. Electronic drum kits have been a little too costly for most schools, perhaps apart from the Yamaha DD range (see review above). The Drum-Mate feels like a real kit and the kids can hit it as hard as they like without damaging it. The clamps and pad arms are immensely strong - just what's needed for schools. What's more, it is the cheapest electronic kit around and when teamed up with the Alesis DM5 drum module(also supplied by Koby) - it's the best.
Each pad is linked to the DM5 by a jack-jack lead, and here is the slight weakness in the design. At present there is no system of mounting the DM5 on the rack so if you have 8 pads, you have 8 individual jack leads trailing to the DM5-not good when kids are tripping over them. I say this is a slight problem, because it doesn't take much to tape the leads up and have the DM5 on a small table next to the drum-mate. Koby say they're working on a DM5 mounting to remedy this slight problem.
The Alesis DM5 contains 20 different programmable drum kits and has over 500 drum sounds so it is excellent value for money at 299 UKP.
This is one of the most exciting products to be released recently and it has huge school potential. I've not seen it in the shops. I came across it at an exhibition. It can be obtained from :
Koby Drums
13 -15 Roscoe Street
Liverpool
L1 2SX

Tel/Fax: 0151 709 8141
Mobile: 07 97 97 835 99
E-mail: contact@kobydrums.co.uk
Koby are on the web at www.koby.co.uk
 

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Korg NS5R MIDI sound module

The 127 sounds of general MIDI can get a little tiresome.  The Korg NS5R provides one or two more.   To be precise, around 1700 sounds, some of which are awesome.  The unit is standard half width and very easy to use.  I never understand the arrangement of sounds on modern sound modules.  Many are duplicated on different banks, so you have to search around on the many banks to find the sound you want.  The manual isn't exactly helpful on this score either.  The same is true of the Yamaha MU50.  There are many different functions and editing gizmos on the NS5R, but only 4 possible user memories.  I have found this to be a bit of a pain, especially since there are about 50 students using the unit with different tone setups.

My opinion is that the NS5R has some fantastic sounds which pupils have used to great effect in compositons.  The sounds themselves are very good stimuli for composition.  Unfortunately, Korg have thought too much about functions which are very specialised and will benefit the few and not enough about the simple things, like organising the sounds, creating an easy to find tone set, and increasing the number of user setups.

Finally, another good point.  Unlike the Yamaha MU50 that remembers changes made to the setup when it is switched off, the NS5R looks and sounds the same every time you switch it on.  A great time saver in the classroom!

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Philips CDR870/880 CD recorder
I bought the CDR870 the week it was released after rave reviews in the Hi Fi mags.  We were looking for a good way of mastering from our Yamaha Mididisc 4 track recorder (see review).  The choices were DAT or 2 track minidisc.  When the CDR 870 came out this was the obvious choice, since pupils can take the master home and play the CD in their domestic system.... perfect!
We then discovered that the CDR 870 only takes "music CDR's" which are 4 times the price of data CDRs.  Philips tell me that it's a special code that is imprinted on the CDR and that the money that is raised from the extra revenue is paid to PRS and other copyright holders.  Apparently this is a standard that has been set by the CDR manufacturers.  Strange, because you can still record CDs using a CD-R attached to a computer.  Smells like dual standards to me.  This said, it is a great unit to have around the school and definitely the most satisfatory mastering option.
Update : Music CDRs are now adequately priced if you shop around, so this is not so much of an issue now.












Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Yamaha PSR 280 Electronic keyboard
 
 

Yamaha have been producing excellent keyboards for education for decades now.  The culmination of their efforts was the superb PSR 270 in 1998 which included GM voices for a very affordable price.  Another great thing about the keyboard was the fact that it could be hooked up to a computer effortlessly by just switching off the local control.  As a result many schools bought the PSR 270 and its predecessor the PSR 225.
Yamaha have now stopped manufacturing the PSR 270 and have introduced its successor the PSR 280.  Local control cannot be switched off, so it has to be done on the software by selecting the echo off function.  The problem is, that many sequencers and scorewriters don't actually have this function.  The result is that the keyboard is useless when used in this scenario.  Another little gimmick that Yamaha have added is the DJ function.  This is essentially a button on the keyboard that converts each key into a short sampled sound.  Pupils find this a very attractive function, but its educational value is virtually nil.  We've all struggled with pupils endlessly playing the demos, but now there is an added headache.  A couple of the samples, by the way, sound suspiciously like a woman in mid orgasm, which personally I don't think is very sensible for a school instrument, but there we are.   I suppose the solution is to take the keyboard apart and disconnect the button.
I bought three PSR 280s which we intended to use with MIDI workstations, but are now in the keyboard lab with PSR270s and PSR 225s due to the fact that we don't have echo off facilities on the software we use.  We now have evidence that pupils who use the PSR 280s don't progress at the same rate as pupils of a similar ability placed at other keyboards.  We can probably attribute this to the fact that a larger percentage of lesson time is wasted using the DJ function.  A kind of solution to this would be to rotate pupils around the keyboards but surely we have enough to think about.
The bottom line is that the PSR 280 is an unmitigated disaster in the classroom.  I have of course contacted Yamaha about this and have given them the opportunity to respond to these comments, but they have failed to do so.  I can only infer from this that Yamaha have recently lost interest in the education market which is a great pity given the excellent instruments they have produced in the past.  On the bright side, they have recently appointed an Education Liaison Manager, so things could be looking up!  The alternative for schools is Casio, which have lagged behind Yamaha in the past.  Perhaps now the tide is turning?

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull

Roland VSS 840GX 8 track digital recorder
 

The unit stores songs in a built in Zip drive that takes 250 Mb zip discs.  The on-board effects are very handy and extensive.  An EZ routing function enables fairly simple setting up to do various common tasks such as recording, bouncing down, mixdown etc.
The digital outputs are very handy when mixing down to Minidisc or CD recorder.
The big down side of this is that it is not really an 8 track recorder, and the manual doesn't make this clear.  Channels 5 and 6 are linked and so are channels 7 and 8.  The Roland helpdesk confirm that these linked channels are 'stereo' channels so, for example if you record something on track 5 then later something on track 6, the data on track 6 will over-write track 5.  So, I think it is safe to say this is in reality a 6 track recorder, not an 8 track one.  I can't think of any scenario where you would want to record something in stereo, since if you want to preserve stereo output of say a sequencer, you just record it on 2 tracks anyway and pan hard left and right on mixdown... that's the standard way of doing it.
Another minus point is the fact that you very soon fill a 250MB zip disc and they are certainly not cheap.
Not nice!

Casio CTK 591 Keyboard

I bought 12 of these mainly due to the amazing price of £108.
While this is undoubtedly very good value for the excellent voices and features on these keyboards, there are a few reservations about using them in schools.  Firstly, this is primarily a Karaoke keyboard (inspired undoubtedly by Fame Academy, Pop Idol et al) with a mic input and 100  sing along songs preset into the keyboard.  When you switch the keyboard on, it defaults to this setting which as we all know, is bad news when there are 30 kids to control in the classroom and get on task as soon as possible.  Secondly, the rhythms are not among the best around.  Some are very difficult to play in time to and there is a very annoying 'huh' sound that keeps appearing in the dance styles.
I would say that buying a lot of these is a bad idea for the reasons I've given above, however if it is singing that you want to encourage, then it might just be worth getting a couple of these so that pupils can rehearse songs in small areas without carrying around PA systems or Karaoke equipment.  Also, they are fully MIDI implemented so they can be used as a very good GM sound controller keyboard with computer workstations.  Of my 12, I will probably keep 2 or 3 of them and sell the rest.
 

Reviewed by Rob Jones, St. Mary's College, Hull
 
 
 

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