Friday, August 25, 2017

NUMARK MIXTRACK PRO 3




INTRODUCTION

Numark absolutely smashed the controller game out of the park with the original Mixtrack Pro. Sales were off the established scale, and literally (not metaphorically) sold twice as much as the nearest competitor to become as close to a standard entry level controller as you can get in a rapidly moving market.

We’ve seen the Mixtrack Pro II come and go but not get the same response as the first, leaving us with the followup. And it is generally accepted that the third in a trilogy is usually considered to be a poor imitation to the original — a rinse too far as it were. So let’s unbox the all new Mixtrack Pro 3 (not III) and see if it tries to be a better Mixtrack Pro, or strives to be something different from the rest of the increasingly cookie cutter pack.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Numark Mixtrack Pro 3 is a Serato DJ Intro fuelled two channel controller. It has all the necessary features considered to be entry level, and can deliver a solid performance straight out of the box. It is USB powered and only has RCA unbalanced ports on the back, but does offer just about everything a beginner needs to get going as a DJ.

For the record, I feel this is going to be a first time buy for most people, so I won’t be wasting time making comparisons to the old version. Well… maybe some, but with good reason.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Hmmm… there’s the initial burst of established Numark brand experience — from the packaging, to the contents and the very fist experience of the hardware, this is classic Numark. But the product is something else.

The design cues are clear. Much of this is taken from the Numark NV, and if it had a red base on it, it would happily sit in the evolving Akai Pro range too. The form factor is very interesting and refreshing — instead of trying to cram everything into a tiny space, the NUMARK MIXTRACK PRO 3 is shallow but wide (the same width as the NV it seems), giving a lot of space around controls.

For the price, the build is solid. I don’t think that anyone would expect a sea of metal for £169, but that doesn’t mean that all plastic means flimsy. Giving it a shake yields not a single rattle, and all the controls feel sturdy enough to take some reasonable punishment. And I do love the slab (or dare I say Slate) styling — less is more, and thankfully a lot of the garish Chrome has gone. Can we ditch the Chrome jogs too please in future?

The light show is good — bright enough that I could use it on my desk in the excessively bright Worxlab, and equally at home in a darker environment too. But with such an open layout, it’s hard to get confused anyway.

Overall, the Mixtrack Pro 3 is a good looking controller and punches above its weight for the money from an aesthetics and quality perspective. Now let’s get to the detail.


MIXER SECTION

The design of this section holds no surprises, as it has been done over and over in the last few years. You get 2 channels with three band EQ to kill with a dual hi/low pass filter, which is something you don’t always find. What you don’t get is a gain control. The previous one didn’t have it, and while the experienced DJ in me misses it, we’re in an age where software limiters keep things in check.

The simple browse controls work well, and are assisted by shift controls to allow navigation around your library. This is definitely a tried and tested method and honed over the last few years.

The faders are 45mm with the line faders being a tad stiffer to help with mixing control, and there’s also a software crossfader curve in the preferences. And despite appearances, you can’t swap out the crossfader — the key line is nothing more than a design detail.

The metering is sparse — three greens, an amber, and a single red LED, and for the master out only. The reality is that if you’re hitting red, turn stuff down, or just let the auto-limiter keep things in check. You can always learn about best audio practices when you upgrade to a more capable controller.

DECKS

The jog wheel is more or less the same as the NV — touch sensitive, free-spinning, and working as a pitch bend or shift-track scrubber when not being used for scratching. Speaking of which, this jog offers very good scratch performance for the money. You’ll definitely be able to pull off a few decent tricks, and with the sharp fader curve, crabs are very doable. Don’t expect brilliant juggling or accurate spin backs unless you stare at the screen as there’s no visual feedback on the Mixtrack Pro 3 itself.

Surprisingly for a compact and cost-effective unit, there are full-sized 100mm pitch faders. They’re stiff and should ideally help beginners grasp the finer points of pitch control without reaching for the sync button. But as great as this is, I find the lack of zero point detent combined with the lack of zero point LED to be a serious omission. This means that you always have to look at the screen, which is just as well because the screen readout does not match the hardware markings in any way. I imagine that this is a simple calibration issue though, but you can’t software upgrade a centre click or add a light.


EFFECTS

The Mixtrack Pro 3 lets you assign three Serato DJ Intro effects per deck, which for the beginner is more than enough. These are managed by the touch strip (some Intro controllers have no knobs, let alone a touch strip) , and controls the single parameter for each one at the same time with a separate beats control.

It’s nice that there are three different effects, but the touch strip isn’t the right way to control the effects. Without individual control knobs for each effect, you have to reach across to your laptop and awkwardly tweak each control. For me, this is a big step backwards — I understand why, and we’ll get to that later.

THE PADS

As seems to be the way with Serato DJ Intro focussed products, the full glory of the full 8 pad multi-function Serato DJ experience is distilled down into essentials. Firstly, they’re a lot smaller than they used to be, and while quite sturdy I was able to push them under the faceplate in one particularly vigorous pad bashing session. They do pop out easily though.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

MOULTRIE A-20



For hunters who take their shooting sessions seriously, a game camera is a game changer. It enhances the shooting experience and lessens vision work by capturing good images that can help you locate your subject faster and more conveniently. There are so many game cameras that you can look up. While you may already have prospective cameras in mind, this product review serves as a guide for the MOULTRIE A-20 Mini Game Camera so that you can arrive at the best decision for your game camera purchase. Keep reading this Moultrie A-20 Mini Game Camera Review to be guided thoroughly.

The Moultrie A-20 Mini Game Camera has infrared 36 LED flash with a 50-feet range. This is helpful in targeting subjects from afar. The weatherproof plastic case makes it sturdy use during rainy season. It also has Tripod mount plus strap slots. The Moultrie A-20 Mini Game Camera captures 12 MP still shots, or 480px videos. It is built with multi-shot and single-image modes. Its battery life captures up to 16,000 images. Lastly, you can connect the Moultrie A-20 with SD/SDHC Class 4 cards.

The Moultrie A-20 Mini Game Camera has an Infrared flash that provides both reliability and high concealing quality. The Moultrie A-20 Mini Game Camera is furnished with 36 infrared LEDs that allow you to capture game movement up to 50 feet even in the dark. You can shoot with 12 MPs still shots or 480px videos at two different resolution options of low or high during the day or night. The multi-shot and single-image modes offer the hunters to customize the mode of their game camera to maximize its features and have an excellent shooting experience.

The weatherproof plastic case comes with a standard 1/4″-20 tripod mount and back slots, which is compatible with a Python lock cable that you can buy separately. The Moultrie A-20 Mini Game Camera requires eight AA batteries to work. The game camera itself can capture up to 16,000 images. Finally, the Moultrie A-20 is compatible with SD/SDHC Class 4 cards or higher, and can store up to 32 GB of memory space.

Physically, the case design looks nice. It is a thin and tall camera that is easy to carry around. The plastic feels sturdy, thick, and durable. The latch seems a bit different than other models, but concerning usage, it works well. The battery tray ejects easily from the bottom of the camera. The battery consumption is efficient – it only consumes more at night. Its resting power when the game camera is on is at 1.49 mW, its daytime power consumption is at 1.4 Ws, and its nighttime power consumption is at 7.44 Ws.

Cons


With its image, users have observed that it has very poor picture quality. It produces inappropriate colors, sometimes too saturated while the pictures taken at night barely look distinct. The game camera also has slow video recovery. The programming could be better, which is neither intuitive nor easy to read. The screen could have been bigger and it would be better if it does not abbreviate all the settings. The trigger works well above average. On the other hand, the recovery is very slow. The detection range is slightly below average, which affects the overall quality of the game camera.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Business Optimization in a Digital Age – #SESSF Opening Keynote @Avinash Kaushik

Business Optimization in a Digital Age – #SESSF Opening Keynote @Avinash Kaushik

Focus on the Micro and the Macro!

When Avinash Kaushik (@avinash) is giving the opening keynote you know that you’re in for a treat. SES San Francisco was no exception. Even with a few minor technical issues, Avinash rolled with the punches and jumped right into what is wrong with online marketing today, and how it can be fixed.

As always Avinash’ presentation was a unique mixture of stand up comedy, and expert advice from one of the only people who can truly call themselves a guru in the online marketing industry.

3 Things I Find Interesting That I Want to Share

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Guest Post: Used Rolex Watches



In the midst of a tumultuous time for the watch industry, most companies are battening down the hatches and trying to ride out the storm with as few casualties as possible. Redundancies have been made at Franck Muller and Zenith, and sales are down across the board. Yet in the midst of this, Rolex has announced a massive expansion of their manufacturing facilities at Bienne.

A major commitment such as this speaks volumes for their confidence in the industry, especially since the project will take three years to complete. Once finished the site will contain all of Rolex's production facilities, but this won't be until 2012, long after even the most pessimistic estimate a recovery to be underway.

Planning for a project on this scale (the total volume for the site is a truly impressive 270,000m3) will have been in progress for a long time, and so it is not the concept of expansion that is raising eyebrows, but the decision to continue with the plans even after the full impacts of the credit crunch was felt.

Of course, Rolex was sheltered from the crisis in a way that few other companies can boast - Rolex are a privately owned company with all their shares in a charitable foundation; ensuring a sizeable portion of their profits go to various charitable institutions every year and also that no shares are traded on any stock markets. The chaotic rise and fall of share prices around the world passed Rolex by; a huge stabiliser for the brand's financial plans.

Coupled with this, Rolex have a product that remains in demand - sales have dropped, but pre owned Rolex watches for sale are still one of the most popular brands in the world, thanks to a reputation for luxury and quality, and their renown around the world. Not without reason did Jacques Séguéla claim that anyone without a Rolex by the time they reached 50 had 'failed' in life. While the sentiment behind the statement can be argued over, the choice of watch was arguably spot on.

Rolex watches are an art in themselves; an icon of the twentieth century that has no intention of stepping down now. Where other brands release new models almost every year, Rolex has simply to update its current range - models like the Submariner and Daytona have been popular for decades, and remain an aspiration for all Rolex fans.

Their long-term popularity means that with every modification made to the range, thousands of Rolex lovers upgrade to the latest version of their watch. Demand like this means that pre-owned Rolexes are in high demand too, for those who want a genuine pre owned Rolex watches for sale but don't necessarily want to pay for a new one. Their exceptional quality ensures that even vintage Rolexes work just as accurately as their modern counterparts.

Rolex has cultivated a reputation for quality and reliability, and that reputation is paying them dividends now. Global spending might be down, but the value for money in owning a Rolex still makes them a good choice for any watch fan, not least as an investment.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Growing Social Networks for Business: 3 Essential Lessons

Growing Social Networks for Business: 3 Essential Lessons


A lot of businesses, large and small, consumer and B2B focused, are grappling with how the social web will be a tool for their business. Research is actually showing asocial media CEOs are bad for business. I’ve even heard from executives at digital marketing agencies, “I really need to learn this stuff myself” about social media applications and networks. So they start.

The first phase seems to focus on getting to know social applications as a user and the “rules” both explicit and implicit within social communities. When to use @ and when to use RT for example. Or that you don’t mass follow/friend people you don’t know or make explicit sales pitches to people who you’ve not developed a connection with.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Content Marketing: Why to How with Business Innovation from SAP


Content Marketing: Why to How with Business Innovation from SAP


Building the case for content marketing is an ongoing battle and while a huge number of companies are not on board with “brand as publisher” yet, many are. They “get it” but are in search of more practical advice on the how.

That’s what Michael Brenner, Senior Director, Global Integrated Marketing and Content Strategy at SAP and co-founder of Business to Community provided at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum last week in his session: Content Marketing: Moving From the “Why” to the “How”.