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Behringer F-CONTROL AUDIO FCA202 – Firewire audio interface with 2 inputs, 2 outputs and 96 kHz and 24 bits

Firewire audio interface Behringer F-CONTROL AUDIO FCA202

Company Behringer also have Firewire audio interfaces, for example, F-CONTROL AUDIO FCA202 – device with 2 inputs, 2 outputs and support of 96 kHz and 24 bits. On its frontal panel following is installed : TRS 1/4″ jack output for monitor headphones and Firewire connection and power indicators. On back panel : power adapter input, Kensington Lock slot, 2 Firewire ports ( device can be powered from them or from adapter ), 2 TRS 1/4″ jack outputs ( left and right ), which can work in balanced and unbalanced modes, and left and right TRS 1/4″ jack analogue inputs.

Firewire audio interface Behringer F-CONTROL AUDIO FCA202 ( rear panel )

Harmonic distortions of Behringer F-CONTROL AUDIO FCA202 equal to 0.01 %, channels isolation is 100 dB, signal to noise ratio is 100 dB, device draws maximum 200 mA of current. For it drivers are released for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 with support of WDM KS, ASIO 2.0 and MME interfaces; in Mac OS X it works without additional drivers with support of Core Audio interface; through which it interacts with modern DAWs : REAPER, Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar and others. With it DAW Tracktion and other programs are supplied. Audio interface’s sizes are 155 ( width ) x 115 ( depth ) x 28 ( height ) mm and mass is 0.7 kg.

Package with audio interface Behringer F-CONTROL AUDIO FCA202 contains : 2 Firewire cables, power adapter, CD-ROM disk with drivers and software, warranty card and user’s guide. Audio interface have good characteristics and connectors amount for entry level audio interface for small studio; however, there is need to note that USB interfaces of the same level are excellently do their job and it is much easier to find computer with such ports, than with Firewire connectors.

Congratulations to all women with 8th March!

I congratulate all women with 8th March!!! Blossom and smell, but do not forget about the spikes, so that rogues will not break petals and leafs and will not break the trunk.

Philips SHK2000 – kids’ 32 mm over ears headphones with 12 Hz – 22 kHz and neodymium magnets

Among Philips headphones there is a new device : SHK2000 – kids’ 32 mm over ears headphones with 12 Hz – 22 kHz reproducible frequencies and neodymium magnets. Their sensitivity is 99 dB, impedance is 32 Ohms, maximal input power is 40 mW and mass is 100 g. Cable connects to both cups, it has 1/8″ mini jack nickel-plated plug for connection to sound source. Headphones are made in bright blue and green colors, fitting kids; their maximal volume is limited by 85 dB for safe listening; they are built without screws for safety and their headband is adjustable. Package contains : Philips SHK2000 headphones themselves, warranty card and user’s guide. Headphones are of high quality, having wide frequencies range, neodymium magnets and safe for children characteristics; there is ability to anticipate, that Philips will not overprice them at the moment of appearance in the shops, so they can be surely recommended for purchase for the youth.

Alcatel OneTouch POP 10 – 9.6″ IPS Android 5.0 tablet PC with 5 MP camera, 4G and 4600 mAh battery

Company Alcatel presented new large Android 5.0 tablet PC OneTouch POP 10 with 9.6″ multitouch IPS screen with 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, 4G, 5 MP main camera and 4600 mAh battery. In it following are built in : 4-cores processor Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8916, working on 1.2 GHz frequency, graphical chip Adreno 306, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of on-board memory with ability to extend via Micro SDXC flash cards with size up to 32 GB ( probably, tablet PC supports larger ones ) and 1 slot for SIM cards. It can work in phone mode and supports 2G ( GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 ), 3G and 4G LTE networks; tablet has GPS+A-GPS satellite navigation and acceleration and gravitation sensor.

Tablet Alcatel OneTouch POP 10 has 2 good for tablet PCs cameras : 5 MP main one with autofocusing and Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels video recording and 2 MP frontal one. On external panels it has : Micro USB 2.0 port for battery charging, connection to computer and external devices plugging in via OTG cable; 1/8″ mini jack connector of headsets and headphones; microphone and speaker; as well as power and volume control buttons. It supports wireless Wi-Fi ( IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n ) and Bluetooth 4.0 for remote communications with other devices and data transfers and does not support NFC connections. Battery charge equals to 4600 mAh, which is good for tablet PCs; device’s body is made from plastic, its sizes are 244 ( width ) x 146 ( height ) x 8 ( depth ) mm and mass is 406 g.

Package with Alcatel OneTouch POP 10 tablet PC contains : USB cable, recharger, keyboard, warranty card and user’s guide. Tablet PC is functional : with large IPS screen, powerful system, 4G, capacitive battery and good cameras; its price is around 130 USD and not too high for its functions; however for 2 times smaller sum there is ability to buy 7″ IPS Android tablet PCs and 8″ IPS Windows tablet PCs, which are close to this one in some respects and weaker in others. So, if there is no need in specific functions of this tablet PC, then there is ability to look on others for much smaller price.

The King of a Golden Hall ( Rohan, The Lord of the Rings ) in DAW REAPER

Music from The Lord of the Rings inspires, lets continue creation of compositions from this film with soundtrack “The King of a Golden Hall ( Rohan )” in a DAW REAPER. MIDI notes I downloaded from Internet, thank you goes to their original author, this time in tracks and notes themselves there was almost no need to change anything : everything already worked. Only for main instruments I applied band compressor ( it compresses only part of frequencies, instead of a whole range ) and applied automation to it to switch it on only in needed parts, so that it will not touch areas, which play good without it. In composition there are only 4 tracks : wind instruments ( sampled synthesizer DSK Brass with preset French Horn, low-pass filter to remove high frequency noise and ringing and reverberation ), violin ( DSK Strings with preset Violin and reverberation ), low frequency string instruments ( DSK Overture with contrabass and cello + phaser + small reverberation ) and additional string instruments, playing only in key parts of composition for its strengthening ( DSK Strings with viola and harp ). Via this link completed composition in FLAC format and archive with project file and sounds can be downloaded : The King of a Golden Hall ( Rohan, The Lord of the Rings ) in DAW REAPER.

VST instrument DSK Overture and effects ESI Phaser, Reverberation and Chorus and ReaCompressor in DAW REAPER

For reverberation and phaser I used VST plugins, coming with ESI sound card, for band compressor built-in effect of REAPER and for low-pass filter scripted effect of this DAW. All in all creation of this composition is much easier, than other ones : tracks and MIDI notes are of high quality, there is ability to attach instruments and effects, make small adjustments and strokes and composition plays. I did not added drums to it, because it plays without them and they are excessive in it.

Hybrid VST synthesizer Funxion in DAW REAPER

Then small balancing of instruments’ volumes, so that they play together in composition and do not try to silence each other; in this sound track I did not moved instruments in stereo picture, because there are not much of them and their movement would cause emptiness in other channel. Then small amount of listens, render of the project into FLAC file and composition ready. Next time I’ll continue work in this direction and will create variation of other composition, see you in the broadcast.

Liopleurodon – orca-teeth plesiosaurus of Jurassic period of Mesozoic era

In Jurassic seas of Mesozoic era different animals lived : among them there were liopleurodons – reptiles belonging to plesiosaurs, which had teeth like of modern orcas. Their scientific name is translated from Ancient Greek as “having smooth sided teeth“, they grew up to 7 m in length, had mass around 1 – 1.7 tons and were one of the largest marine predators of their times. Modern studies show, that their mouth closing strength was not so big, as modern crocodiles have or replaced then in Cretaceous period mosasaurs had, but they compensated this with gigantic size and sharp teeth; they moved in water by flapping alternately ( for maneuverability ) or together ( for acceleration ) with both pairs of their flippers-like limbs and flew, like birds, in depths of Mesozoic waters. Such kind of propulsion is not the most energy-efficient, but provides high acceleration and maneuverability, which is needed for ambush predator.

Liopleurodons lived approximately 160 – 150 millions of years ago; their skull length reached 1/5th of their overall length and was 1.2 m maximum in absolute value; they had short neck, which is characteristic for pliosaurus family ( which belongs to plesiosaurus ), this differentiated them from long-necked members of this species and allowed them to hunt on larger preys. Up to current time not much fossils of liopleurodons were found : 1 almost complete skeleton and small amount of fragments, including teeth. Mainly they were found in Europe : in England and France, there are also findings in Russia. For the first time animals of this species were studied and described in 1873 year by Henri Émile Sauvage; later this marine reptiles species was examined again by other paleontologists, performed its reclassification.

Alesis V25 – compact USB MIDI keyboard with 8 drumpads

One of the MIDI keyboards of Alesis company is a compact V25, which has 8 velocity and pressure sensitive drumpads. It has 25 full-sized velocity-sensitive keys, 4 assignable knobs and 4 assignable buttons, octaves control buttons and modulation and pitch-bend wheels; all controls, except of keys, have backlight. It is powered only from USB connection, on its rear panel there is also TRS 1/4″ jack sustain pedal input; keyboard works in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 and Mac OS X 10.7 operating systems without additional drivers via Plug and Play technology, in which it tightly interacts with modern DAWs : Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER and others, and their VST instruments and effects.

USB MIDI keyboard Alesis V25 ( back panel )

With it following software is supplied : DAW Ableton Live Lite 9 and AIR Music Tech Xpand!2. Package with MIDI keyboard Alesis V25 contains : USB cable, warranty card and user’s guide. Keyboard is very compact and has full-sized keys, 8 drumpads, modulation control and pitch-bend wheels and other assignable controls; wherein it has one of the smallest prices among MIDI keyboards, so it can be viewed as entry-level very functional device in this direction.

Huawei GR5 – new 5.5″ IPS Android 5.1 smartphone with 8-cores processor and 13 MP camera

Company Huawei presented new Android 5.1 smartphone GR5 with 5.5″ IPS multitouch screen Full HD 1080p resolution, 8-cores processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 and 13 MP camera. In it following are also built-in : graphical chip Adreno 405, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of built-in memory with ability to extend via flash cards and 2 SIM cards slots. Smartphone supports 2G ( GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 ), 3G and 4G LTE networks; it has GLONASS and GPS+A-GPS satellite navigation and proximity, acceleration and lighting sensors, digital compass, magnetometr and fingerprints scanner.

In Huawei GR5 two good for smartphones cameras are placed : 13 MP main one with autofocusing and 5 MP frontal one with fixed focus; it supports wireless Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi ( 802.11 b/g/n ) connections for remote data transfers and communications with other devices, without NFC support. On its external panels there are : Micro USB port for external devices plugging, connection to computer and battery charging; 1/8″ mini jack headsets and headphones connector and microphone and speaker, as well as power and volume control buttons. Battery charge is 3000 mAh – this is a good value for smartphones; device sizes are 76.3 ( width ) x 151.3 ( height ) x 8.15 ( depth ) mm and mass is 158 g; it is supplied in gold, gray and silver color variants.

Package with Huawei GR5 contains : USB cable, charger, warranty card and user’s guide. Smartphone is very functional, with powerful system, large IPS screen and good cameras, its price is around 280 USD, which is adequate to its functions; but there is need to note, that there is ability to buy much cheaper good Windows or Android smartphones and tablet PC or quality photo camera with it. So, everybody decide on their own : whether he or she needs this smartphone and whether it is woth its money.

Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 – Firewire audio interface with 8 inputs, 6 outputs and 96 kHz and 24 bits

Firewire audio interface Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

One of the Firewire audio interfaces of Focusrite company is a Saffire Pro 14 – device with 8 inputs, 6 outputs, support of 96 kHz and 24 bits work mode and 2 Focusrite preamplifiers. On its frontal panel there are : 2 combined XLR/TRS 1/4″ jack microphone/linear/instrumental Hi-Z inputs; 2 their gain control knobs with signal and clip indicators; phantom power +48 V switch for both inputs with indicators of its activity and instrumental mode of both inputs; main outputs volume control knob; power, Firewire connection and device locking indicators; as well as TRS 1/4″ jack monitor headphones output. On back panel of device there are : coaxial digital SPDIF input and output; power adapter input; MIDI input and output; Firewire port for connection to computer and powering ( audio interface can work in mobile mode without power adapter ); 4 analogue linear TRS 1/4″ jack outputs; and 2 the same type inputs.

Firewire audio interface Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 ( back panel )

Part of parameters of work of Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 are controlled through Saffire MixControl Application; connectors of device have following parameters : microphone inputs ( THD+N 0.001 %, noise level -124 dB amd impedance 2 kOhms ); linear inputs ( THD+N 0.001 %, noise level -90 dB and impedance more than 10 kOhms ); instrumental inputs ( THD+N 0.004 % and noise level -87 dB ); analogue outputs ( THD+N 0.001 % ); channels isolation is a 100 dB. Dynamic range of analogue to digital conversions is a 109 dB, digital to analogue 106 dB. Audio interface works in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 and Mac OS X with support of ASIO 2.0 and Core Audio interfaces, accordingly, via which it works with modern DAWs : FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER, Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase and others. With it following software is supplied : Focusrite VST/RTAS/AU ( compressor, reverberation, Gating and equalizer ), DAW Ableton Live Lite 8, AU and VST versions of synthesizer Novation Bass Station and around 1 GB of free samples Loopmasters and Mike the Drummer. Device’s sizes are 215 ( width ) x 45 ( height ) x 220 ( depth ) mm and mass is 1.5 kg.

Package contains : Firewire audio interface Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 itself, power adapter, FireWire cable, disks with drivers and software, rubber pads for device, warranty card and user’s guide. Interface has high characteristics, wide connectors range and convenient controls, there is also need to note, that among USB audio interfaces of Steinberg, Behringer, Focusrite itself, Roland, ESI, M-Audio and other manufacturers production there are similar and even more functional devices.

Pioneer SE-CL712T – 10 mm in-ears headphones with 5 Hz – 22 kHz and microphone

Another one new device from Pioneer company is a 10 mm in-ears headphones SE-CL712T with 5 Hz – 22 kHz reproducible sounds frequencies range, microphone and closed-back architecture. Their sensitivity is 105 dB, maximal input power is 100 mW and impedance is 32 Ohms. To both cups 1.2 m cable is connected with microphone and smartphones control button, built in to volume control module, as well as 1/8″ mini jack connector with gold-plated contacts. Headphones mass is 4 g ( without cable accounting ); they are supplied in red, white, blue, black and pink color variants; package with Pioneer SE-CL712T headphones contains : 3 interchangeable eartips of different sizes ( large, medium and small ), warranty card and user’s guide. All in all headphones are good, with large membranes for in-ears headphones, wide reproducible frequencies range and microphone; their price is approximately 20 USD, from one side they are not overpriced, from the other : for such money there is ability to buy large monitor headphones and receive better sound, so here choice is between compactness and sound quality.

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