skip to main |
skip to sidebar
H780 Link
Ahhhhh the Superbowl.
The Superbowl has arrived in my town and the volume of people is growing. I live about 10 minutes north of the Tampa International Airport, the same area that is the middle of the a huge construction project. The construction project alone adds around 25-45 extra minutes to my commute to and fro work and now I get to sit around and stare at the back of people cars for even longer due to the "extras" that are flying in. I have seen a lot more of expensive cars the past couple days, which is nice. I have seen a Lamborghini, a few Ferrari's, decked out Range Rovers..
In this morning's episode of "slow go"; the woman in front of me, really not paying attention to driving, which is really nothing new for this area, is using her "speaker phone" while she drives. She is holding her cell in her hand, yelling at her phone's microphone then holding the speaking to her ear. If you are using the speaker phone, why are you holding it? And why are you holding it like an 1/2 an inch from your mouth? Why not just hold it up to your ear like a normal phone call, instead of this crazy yelling, and staring at the speaker on the phone like its a person. Better yet, get a bluetooth, they are cheap and great.
I love my bluetooth. My original bluetooth was this huge over the ear kind that was great at one time, about a year ago, but now is bulky with this crappy sound issue where everyone heard themselves speak. It finally broke so I went looking for a replacement. I ended up at bestbuy, I know that the ntrwebs has better deals and such, but I am so a instant satisfaction type of person that I will pay extra because when I do decide that I am going to get something, I want it now!
Ok, where was I, so I picked up a Motorola H780, pretty much based on the fact that it was $60, that was my limit, it was small, and other motorola's models got decent reviews. This thing works great; sound is crystal clear, on both ends. I drive in the car for about 3+ hours a day and everyone I talk to has said that it's great. It has this great feature that it can be synced to two phones at the same time; I carry a AT&T phone for personal use and a Verizon phone for work. The H780 is conntected to both phones at the same time so I can get calls on ether phone and answer with one bluetooth, schweet d00d! Battery life is great, everytime I go to plug it in, the light is green and I use this thing alot. The only downside I have run into the range of use. After traveling around 10 feet or so away from your phone you will have some static, this is not really a problem for me since I use this in my car.
So.. I started with bitching about traffic, that sparked a thought about my bluetooth headset, and ended in a review of stuff I own and use..
-njoy
http://www.rane.com/ttm57sl.html
In the beginning of the digital Dj mixing era with cdplayers, I told myself, and others, that I would never switch over the digital side of dj'ing. I did own a CDJ unit to be able to test and try out my own attempts of music production or to play an out a out of print track that was recorded and burned.
Don't get me wrong, mixing with cd's is not easier that mixing vinyl, IMO, it's harder because you can not see the structure (breaksdowns, etc), or how much of the track is left at a glance. What I didn't like about cd-mixers was losing the tactile feeling of the vinyl, how you release the record, how you bump, push or pull the track to get it aligned for a mix.
What I learned to dislike about vinyl is the weight for one, anyone who has Dj'ed knows how luggin just one crate of vinyl will break your back. I also didn't like the fact that you can scratch and destroy the playability of the track by making a simple mistake, most records have a limited press run and hardly ever get re-pressed. The last downer about vinyl is the cost, when a kick ass track get made and pressed for distribution they usually pair it with a not so hot B side track. You are basically paying $9-$12 for one track, sometimes even more if you have to pay for shipping, especially if it is bought and shipped from over the pond.
When digital tracks got paired with time coded vinyl is when I started seriously changing my feelers about the digital Dj'ing . "You mean I can control an mp3 with a real vinyl record"? At first I was didn't believe that it could be as accurate as needed, like a real vinyl record, to my surprise it was. It released the same, stopped the same, when you push/pulled to correct the record it was perfect, I could even scratch with accuracy.
This is in no means a complete review of this product, just a few features that I liked when deciding if I wanted to purchase:
Features:
The Rane 57SL Mixer integrates Serato Scratch Live with Rane hardware. I can control the Scratch Live software interface from the mixer without touching my laptop. The mixer lets you navigate through your library, load tracks, and control effects. What I really like is the integration with the Itunes library and playlists. I just import and create standard playlists, smart playlists (I create em for genres and also bpm range settings). The library in Scratch Live reflects everthing that is in your Itunes library.
The software that runs in the mixer is upgradable and is updated often with general features improvements and added FX. The faders are top notch and magnetic; the most accurate and longest-lasting. Recording with the 57SL is a breeze, you just click record in the interface and off you go. The mixer supports both analog and digital sources, at the same time, you can mix your old vinyl that you have not ripped to mp3 with your digital files. The mixer can also operate in a standalone mode as a standard analog mixer.
As you can see, I am sold on digital dj'ing using the Rane 57SL. Anyone who had doubts about making the switch, feel assured that making the choice to the 57SL is a good one. The price might seem a bit steep at first, but when you realize that your digtal tracks cost you about $.99-$1.50 each compared to the $12 for a single slab of vinyl, the price doesn't seem so bad.
-mixwell
Posts
