IROGZ SPECTRA WITH AVEC MIC (2014/NEW MODEL) IFA-SPK-BLK-S

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Got these as a b-day gift on vacation. they looked cool so I thought I wold give them a shot, First thing I did was pull the ear pads over my suitcase while holding onto it as my dad pulled the case and dropped it. I knew they were broke...but no. Even checked length and they were the same. The the grip in the ear buds was great, the wetter I got them they would get a nice grip on them without the sound being affected. Never has that happened, usually goes to #@&!.

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Casio LK280 Lighted Key Premium Keyboard Pack with Headphones, Power Supply, and Stand

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List Price: $399.95
Sale Price: $186.74
Today's Bonus: 53% Off

• Number of the key :61Keys
• Keyboard size: Piano type standard size with key lighting system
• Touch Response:2 sensitivity levels, Off
• Sound Source:AHL
• Maximum Polyphony:48 notes

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We got this in December and have had a good time learning how to play. There is an adapter that came with the headphones, so there is no problem with using them. They also have a volume control on the cord, very helpful because I use them with my laptop too. The only problem I seem to have is getting to the higher numbered built-in songs, but that could be more user function than electronics. Overall, it's fun.

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The way I look at it, the light-up key feature is a sales gimmick, but sure is fun to watch when hooked up to Synthesia. :)

Look videos up on youtube. There are quite a few.

Pros-

Plays midi files.

Keys can put on fun shows.

SD card slot.

Stand is sorta cheap, but still gets the job done.

Cons-

Headphones were junk, I gave them to my younger brother.

There is no back light on the screen/panel.

7.5/10.

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I was a bit skeptical before receiving this product but now I can only explain it as purely addicting, I can NOT stop playing. This keyboard far exceeds my expectations. I've had several Casio Keyboards dating back to the 80's and they always provided some entertainment but this is so much more than that, its a great learning tool as well. I really didn't know much about the lighted key system until I started researching keyboards a couple months back. What the light system does is lights up the key or keys of a song or lesson as its played. When you play a song in the built in lesson feature you play through it by playing the lighted key or keys and it will not advance tell you hit the right key/notes. You can set the lesson features to play either one, two, three or four measures at a time or the entire song. You can also use the lesson features to listen to a single phrase first then play it using the light and once you have mastered that you play it with out from memory and or using the music provided. I am really impressed with how fast my piano skills have progressed there was tipping point I had before and now I seem to be getting past that with ease. It has about 150 songs built in along with the actual sheet music for the songs, a SD card slot and a USB Midi port. Ive been able to use Sibelius 6 to save any score as a Midi file and then drop it on a SD card and plug it into this machine which means I have a endless library of songs to learn from and can print out the scores as well to play along with so that I can keep my sight reading and general music reading skills sharp to.

The overall sound of the piano is great, I also bought a foot pedal for sustaining notes and its really got a amazing sound to it, sounds like a concert grand piano. There are a ton of various sounds to use. It has a large rhythm bank with a bunch of accompaniment features and cords. It also offers built in recording features with the ability to plug in external devices like a Mic and record with that to. There is a USB slot for use in conjunction with your computer and Midi software. You can use it to score music, and I was able to do this perfectly with Sibelius 6. I haven't tried it with free scoring software like MuseScore but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I have a guitar score program called tabit and I used midi from that and it worked fine to.

The keyboard its self is real nice, touch sensitive keys that feel like a real piano the only complaint I would even have would be that the LCD screen has no back light that I'm aware of. Other that that its got a nice layout. Stereo speakers that can get very very loud, so loud that you might get yelled at for waking people up, and I'm speaking from experience here. I got the deal that came with the keyboard stand and headphones it was actually a dollar cheaper from Amazon. The stand is really nice, had one before that I bought locally for over 50 bucks, so quite a deal and the headphones work fine and have the right adapter even know some people said it didn't. This might come as know surprise but you will have to read the manual to figure some stuff out that your going to want to use this baby is loaded with features.

Some of the features that I really liked:

SD card slot and yes you are able to use your own midi files and they will display on the light up keys

USB Midi cable, thank god its not the old one

Light up key system I really can't say enough about this, every keyboard should now have this feature.

150 build in songs and the ability to change parts. You can play bottom or top hand or both.

solid feeling keyboard with great sound

Mic input for karaoke and recording

A ton of more feature that I will keep you updated on

Update 11/15/2012

You can use a SD card on the Casio LK-280 to transfer midi songs from a laptop and play it on the keyboard using the Key lighting system feature for learning a song.

There is a bit involved to get the parts in the right order to playback correctly on the LK-280

I recommended using Anvil studio to change the channels, the free version is very easy to use and will give you the function to change the midi channel and instrumentation

To create the proper lay out you will need to create or move the piano parts of the score to the following:

Channel 1 bottom (left) hand sound only

Channel 2 top (right) hand sound only

Channel 3 bottom (left) hand sound and lighted keyboard display

Channel 4 top (right) hand sound and lighted keyboard display

Note If your midi file only has 2 piano parts like most do you can clone the right and left hands and then change the channels to 3 and 4 as well as the instrumentation. this will enable the score to function right for lessons setting and playback on your LK-280

Update 3/3/2013

The LK280 and its lighted Keyboard functions are also supported by the program Synthesia. Amazon does not let you post links so you will have to do a web search to find out more out this software.

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Good price for a beginners keyboard, plently of options and preloaded songs in the bank. A little disappointed that some of the songs installed were only partial which left me feeling that the teachings were incomplete on several of the longer ones like Fur Elise. There should be a way to put your own songs into the memory but I read that it will not do the teachings where it highlights the keys to play with those custom songs =( Though I suppose that if you're getting this its to ignite that creative spark which should lead to reading sheet music so you'll no longer require the lighted keys, but I'm lazy and don't have time for that talent thing.

Purchased for my daughter's beginning piano lessons. This has lots of nice extras like the light-up keys and "lessons" in which it teaches you to play various pre-programmed songs in small increments. The keys on the first one I received from Amazon did not light up. A poorly-designed instruction manual and an hour-long phone call to the very un-helpful Casio customer service center left me still wondering if maybe I was doing something wrong. That call ended with a promise that another "expert" would call me within 24 hours--it's been over a month now, and still nothing. After 48 hrs, I decided that I couldn't be that terribly inept, so contacted Amazon and they sent a replacement right away. The keys lit up immediately on turning it on.

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Peavey KB3 60 Watt 1x12” Keyboard Amp

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List Price: $399.99
Sale Price: $299.99
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

• 60 watts of clean Peavey powerExtension cab capability extends power rating out to 80 watts12 inch speaker with tweet
• Extension cab capability extends power rating out to 80 watts
• 3 separate channels - Channel 1 has mic input, 2-band EQ per channel, Channel 4 monitor input, Headphone out with level control, Balanced XLR main out
• 12 inch speaker with tweeter
• FX send/return

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I have to say it doesn't look the same as this new model... back when it was called KB/60.

BUT MAN has this thing paid it's dues.

13 years of use... countless rehearsals... I had a DTX 2 I got with it... now it's on a TD9.

I've loaned it to DJ friends... musician friends for MONTHS on end... it's been in storage... through a gazillion blackouts in the caribbean plus weather... and it is still going... all functions, all knobs, it HASN'T been cleaned in any way... this thing is damn nearly indistructible... if the new model is like this one, get ready for 20 years of service.

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It's not a Leslie but it will work for a bedroom. A bit heavy for this old man but has a good sound. I don't know where the distortion point is as I can't turn it up loud enough and still have eardrums to tell. I keep it around 2. Compliments my Korg and UltraNova very well. I am only a closet player and 25 of my closest neighbors that hear the sound through the walls. I can make the windows rattle around 3. Haven't used channel 2 or the PA yet. Wanted a 12" speaker instead of the KB2.

Good amp for the price if you don't mind the weight.

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After I purchased a digital drumset, I realized that I also had to purchase a monitor speaker to hook my drums up to. When I checked this item out at the nearest music store, I was amazed at how clear both the high and low end frequencies were!. It may have been heavy at first, but nothing that the addition of wheels to the bottom of it couldn't fix.

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Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP Firewire Audio Interface

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Sale Price: $349.95
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• Onboard DSP chip powers the Virtual Reference Monitoring feature
• 24 channels of I/O (16 In, 8 Out)
• 2 award winning Focusrite mic-pres, 8 ADAT in, 6 analog out, SPDIF/Stereo in/out, MIDI in/out
• 2 unique loop-back virtual channels for routing between software applications
• Bundle: Xcite + Software Bundle, Ableton Live 7 Lite, and Focusrite Comp/Reverb/EQ/Gate VST/AU plugin

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I bought the Focusrite Saffire Pro24 DSP after months of meticulous research. I honestly believe this unit is not only perfect for my studio, but for everyone. I can't say anymore that hasn't already been said about Focusrite. Its top of the line professional quality. Period.

Its got no more latency than the best Firewire device out threre. Pre-amps are fantastic, headphone reference is great and setup is clean and easy. The software is very flexible and gives you complete control. The DSP effects are not the best I've heard, but I didn't buy this unit for the built in effects. I mainly bought the DSP for the second headphone jack (important if you have a recording room). The VRM is pretty nice. Its great for referencing certain frequencies that you other wise couldn't if you didn't have it. Again, not perfect, but definitely nice.

I would buy more than one of these units. Since I received it, my workflow hasn't hit a bump yet. I replaced my M-Audio Firewire 410, and I definitely notice the difference BIG time. The Saffire Pro 24 DSP rules the planet.

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Bought DSP version recently, and despite some reviews talking about rather high latency on this interface, my latency measurement result with CE_Latency program was about 8.5um round trip latency with 128 buffer size (11.5um round-trip latency with 256 buffer), which is which is usable for my purpose of simple recording w/o VST. FYI, CE_Latency program actually sends a pulse to the interface, then measures time it takes to receive return signal.

It uses Mix Control program (ver 2.2 now) to control Input mix, VRM, Reverb, Compressor, and works well with Windows7 64bit OS. It also worked fine on 2yr old Core2Duo laptop (windows XP, Cubase LE) with 256 buffer size. Curiously, on the laptop it drops recording (stops recording after a few minutes) if buffers larger than 256 were used. This is a little puzzling to me (sort of counter-intuitive since generally increasing buffer size is supposed to stabilize data flow..), but since it does work well with 256 buffer size, I am keeping it.

MixControl SW looked confusing at first with rather large set of functions (InputFX, VRM, routing, other DSP options), but with video instruction online (on their website) it was not hard to learn to use it.

Overall, it appears to be more advanced and more flexible than simpler interfaces (I have used Yamaha GO46 and Tascam 1641) and DSP Reverb/compressor is indeed quite useful with Zero-latency monitoring.

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I just received my Saffire DSP a couple days ago and have had a little time to put it through its paces. I haven't had a chance to record anything with it yet, but that will come soon, and I may update this review when I get to it.

So far, I used the Saffire as my audio interface in Cubase 5 to mix a 24/96 project with several heavy VSTi instruments and a vocal track, each one of them with a full compliment of VST effects. The audio interface that I had been using before, the Echo Gina 3G (a PCI card with a breakout box), was starting to choke heavily on all my tracks to the point that it would peg my CPU meter and refuse to play back, even with big sample buffer settings (2056+ samples). My Saffire DSP, on the other hand, handles the same project with ease with lower sample buffer settings, playing back without the audio even skipping. This made it a breeze to complete this project without having to wrestle with my hardware or down-sample to 24/48.

I am not sure if this is because of the actual hardware or just because the Focusrite drivers are so much better, but either way I am more than pleased. The VST effects that come with the Saffire are great for recording and laying down a vocal track. The Focusrite mixer seems to be extremely powerful with tons of options, though it will probably take me a while figure out exactly how everything works (signal routing, etc).

I couldn't be more pleased with this little box. I was between the Saffire and the MOTU Ultralite. I am very glad I went with the Saffire.

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I bought this about a year ago for use Ableton on my older iMac. It worked flawlessly although I don't really do much with it besides plug in a couple monitors and occasionally plug a bass into it.

A few months later I upgraded to a new computer and this time went the PC route. The box barely worked with my motherboard's firewire jacks which used the VIA chipset. After buying a separate SIIG card with the TI chipset (around $40) and changing to legacy firewire drivers on Windows 7 it worked fine -most of the time. However once or twice a day the audio driver would completely crash. Not a huge deal -I just open Control Panel and toggle my audio interface on and off which restarts the driver. I usually have to restart most music programs as well (Spotify, for example, pops up "There is a problem with your sound card" and won't work until you quit and re-launch). Ableton seems to work as soon as the driver is restarted. Sort of a hassle.

I installed windows 8 a few months ago and the drivers more or less imploded. The driver crashed every 20 seconds or so which basically meant it was impossible to use any audio program. In addition, they would completely freeze my computer every hour or so. WOW.

Focusrite just released updated drivers which have brought me back to where I was with Windows 7 -only crashes a few times a day. YAY!

UPDATE:

Version 3.0 of the drivers came out a few months ago which resolved most of the issues. The sound would occasionally start getting very distorted and glitchy so I would just have to restart the computer every day or so to fix it. At least I could run use my $500 studio monitors again!

I updated to version 3.1 of the drivers which were supposed to add Windows 8 compatibility. Instead, they added Windows 8 non-functionality. My computer seems to think there are no problems with the interface, but no sound comes out whatsoever. To make matters worse, rolling back to the previous driver didn't solve the issue. I've been without sound on my computer for a week now and have yet to figure out how to solve these issues. Oh well, at least I have headphones and an iPod.

UPDATE:

So... for some stupid reason I finally got sound working again by going to File > Load From Hardware in MixControl. Not sure why that did it but glad to have it back.

Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP Firewire Audio Interface : is a great unit works perfect in my system ( I use OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard} ; the mixer it come with is very nice , but a little tricky , ones it's set up works fine .

I hope Focusrite make drivers for OS X 10.7 soon .

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Beats by Dr. Dre Pro High-Performance Studio Headphones (Black) BUNDLE with Custom Designed Zorro S

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These headphones do NOT contain noise suppression their best application is for listening in a quiet place.

I just happen to have a studio/office/man cave which is silent: no phone, no TV, no internet, no outside noise just me and my music, now heard through these outstanding headphones.

I feel like these headphones are a high-quality product, delivering high-quality sound reproduction for my very particular ears.

Thank you Dr. Dre.

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