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eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method Review

When I first reviewed eMedia's Piano and Keyboard Method a few years ago I was impressed, but not overly so. The program was useful but it had a few features that I had thought at the time needed to be improved upon. Fast forward to now and the new version seems to have addressed many of those drawbacks, resulting in a more robust and useful product that fills its role well.

My Violin by eMedia

eMedia's My Violin software builds on the successes of the company's growing My Music line of instructional software.

Making Music With Laser Beamz!

The Beamz Electronic Musical Instrument When you really think about it there have not been many advances in musical instruments in the last hundred years or so other than in electronic instruments.Â The most recent acoustic instrument to become a standard part of the band is the saxophone (someone correct me if I am wrong on that one), but as we move forward with the digital revolution one has to wonder when a truely uniqueÂ electronic musical instrument (other than those based on piano keyboards) will come to be accepted by the mass market.Â It is to early to tell if the new Beamz Electronic Musical Instrument will become readily accepted by the upper levels of classical literature, but it is already being accepted as a legitimate musical instrument by some popular musicians and improvisational DJ's.Â What exactly is the Beamz Electronic Musical Instrument though?Â And can it be used in a contemporary music education situation?

Mikey Digital Microphone Review

Mikey Digital Microphone for iPhone and iPad 2 It's taken a long time to go from announcement to release, but Blue Microphones is now selling its newest, most advanced version of the popular Mikey series, the Mikey Digital. Was it worth the wait? Read on to find out.

Boss BR-80 Multi Track Digital Recorder

Boss BR-80 Digital Audio Recorder Image The Boss BR-80 Digital Recorder fills a very useful niche in the portable digital audio recorder market. Unlike most of the other recorders on the market that fall into its price range the BR-80 offers true 8 track recording and throws in dozens of background rhythms and special audio effects in as icing on the cake. Users can make use of the two built in microphones or they can plug in their guitar or other unbalanced audio source to record from.

Roland CD-2i Digital Audio Recorder

Roland's line of CD based digital audio recorders has a long history of solid quality and many useful features. The new Roland CD-2i digital audio recorder shares a very similar visual design to it's predecessor, the CD-2e but replaces the old slot loading CD drive with a tray based drive and a greatly improved navigation system including larger, illuminated buttons. Still, the CD-2i remains a mostly practice and rehearsal oriented recording and playback device due to some missing features that are describe lower in this review. Selling for around $600 at retail, the Roland CD-2i has a mid-range price tag for this type of table top digital audio recording device but is it worth the money?

Superscope PSD450 Audio CD Burner and Recorder Review

Smaller is not always better, especially when it comes to being able to provide a large set of features and capabilities to the user. In the arena of portable audio recorders, it is often the hand held units that get the most press, but larger audio CD recorders like the Superscope PSD450 can do far more than any handheld unit can. I took the Superscope PSD450 on a test drive through a week of classes and rehearsals and discovered that this classic workhorse of a recording system has been fully updated for the digital age. Is it worth the high price tag though? Read on to find out.

Olympus LS-11 Digital Voice Recorder Review

Up until now I have stayed away from audio recorders that bill themselves firstly as voice recorders and I have always focused on those intended for use in a music recording environment. Well, having received more than a few requests and questions about the Olympus line of digital voice recorders I finally gave in and asked the company to send me their highest quality recorder to do a review on. What they sent me was the Olympus LS-11, a stereo recorder with tons of storage space and decent sounding features. So what did I find when I opened the box and took a look? Read on to find out!

TASCAM PT-7 Chromatic Tuner/Recorder Review

A lot of portable digital audio recorders these days carry built in chromatic tuners and metronomes but in almost every case they are thrown in as an afterthought. They tend to be hard to read and difficult to customize, but not so with the Tascam PT-7. In the PT-7 the emphasis seems to have been placed squarely on the practice tools but unfortunately that also means that the audio recording quality seems almost to have been an afterthought.

Yamaha PockeTrak W24 Review

When talking about electronic devices those that have some form of wireless capability are almost always better, right? When speaking of the Yamaha PockeTrak W24 the answer is yes... and no.

Yamaha PocketTrak C24 Review

Several years ago when Yamaha first introduced the PockeTrak series of digital audio recorders I was both impressed and dissapointed.Â The PockeTrak 2G was a very innovative product with lots of great features but at the same time it seemed rather cheaply made.Â Fast forward to 2010 and Yamaha has learned well from their mistakes of models past.Â The new Yamaha PockeTrak C24 is a grown up sibling to the 2G that fixes most of the complaints and adds new features to make it even more appealing to musicians and educators alike while still remaining an ultra-portable hand held digital audio recorder that is easy to use.