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Hands-On Reviews and Product Spotlights

These in-depth reviews will help you make an informed choice by pinpointing the gear that best meets your needs. Our Hands-On Reviews are written by the Musician’s Friend staff and reflect many years of collective music-making experience. Product Spotlights are provided by our manufacturers and offer detailed insights and specifications about their gear.

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Hands-On Review: DigiTech RP1000 Guitar Multi-Effects Pedal

Amp, cab, and FX modeling with pro-level switching

With the exploding popularity of multi-effects units like those in DigiTech’s highly-respected RP Series, the technology and its sound quality have also made remarkable gains. So much so that in order to push the genre’s envelope, companies must go above and beyond just having plenty of good models onboard. DigiTech has done just that with the RP1000, introduced at the 2009 Winter NAMM show …

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Hands-On Review: M-Audio Axiom Pro with HyperControl Technology

Automatic, intelligent control of your DAW, plug-ins, and MIDI gear

TA keyboard and mouse are great tools for Googling, but when it comes to recording and mixing with a DAW, give me a control surface any day. As a musician and engineer I instinctively relate to faders and knobs for controlling virtual mixers and synths. Apparently M-Audio agrees because their latest line of USB MIDI keyboards combines a highly programmable controller keyboard with all the functionality you’d expect from a dedicated control surface …

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Product Spotlight: KRK’s ERGO

Fix your room, fix your mix

Sound is a very complex phenomenon. Nowhere is this more apparent than in our project and home recording studios. We struggle with getting the correct tonal balance in a musical passage, getting bass to sound tight, getting the vocal to sit properly in the mix. We spend lots of money on monitors, outboard gear, and software, all with the hope of eventually achieving that musical nirvana, the perfect mix …

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Product Spotlight: Line 6 POD Studio® — the Future of Recording

Legendary tones and solid interfaces in four dynamic designs

A dream collection of legendary guitar tones, perfect configurations of ins and outs, and the lowest noise for the cleanest, clearest guitar tracks are just a few of the advantages of recording with POD Studio. Consisting of rock-solid USB-powered hardware interfaces and POD Farm, POD Studio represents the future of guitar recording …

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Hands-On Review: Mackie PPM1008 Professional Powered Mixer

The first portable that really rivals many big pro racks

Mackie seems to have a knack for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. When I was asked to write a Hands-On Review of Mackie’s new PPM1008, my first reaction was ho-hum. The world is filled with powered box mixers and Mackie’s would be another, albeit one of the better ones. The unit I pulled out of the box proved to be more than just better. It was amazing …

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Product Spotlight: TASCAM DP-004 Pocketstudio

The 21st Century Portastudio

TASCAM makes recording simple and fun again with the new DP-004 Portable Digital Pocketstudio. Based on our groundbreaking cassette Portastudios, the 4-track DP-004 retains its creative interface while updating the sound quality with CD-quality digital recording. Smaller than a paperback book, it’s portable enough to take anywhere, and built-in microphones …

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