ESI UGM96 Review

Portable audio interface is a new trend in the industry. The beauty of running a system and only powered via USB is something unimaginable during the 80′s. Products from manufacturer such as Digidesign, M-Audio, Apogee, Echo Digital Audio and ESI are few that competing in the market. Imagine doing a recording or jamming from your guitar just with a laptop and a headphone….now you don’t have a reason for not practicing your riffs…hehehe.

Anyway, today I would like to write a review on one of ESI product called UGM96.  Seriously, this thing is so small you can even put it in your pocket. Checkout photo below: -

It comes with 2 analog input and 2 analog output using 1/4″ connector. One of the analog input dedicate for instruments input such as guitar and another one for microphone input. It have a high impedance switch if you connect it with electric guitar, ESI labelled it as Hi-Z switch. At the back panel there’re 2 analog output using 1/4″ connector for you to connect it to your amplifier or active monitor. Since it meant for mobile, you can also use it to connect your headphones. Connection between UGM96 to your Mac/ PC is via USB and it located at the center of the back panel.

Front Panel*

Back Panel*

Installation for UGM96 is very straightforward. If you using a Mac just plug the supplied USB cable and your Mac will read it as a sound card, for windows you need to install the driver from the supplied CD. System requirement also not that CPU crazy. For Mac, minimum it need to run on PowerMac G4 with 512MB RAM and OS X 10.4 and for Windows it needs Pentium III 600MHz CPU with 512MB RAM. Sorry, no love for linux user here. It also allow you to work with 16-bit or 24-bit audio data transfer.

This is where the killer start…UGM96 comes with Steinberg Cubase LE 4 and Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp from Gallo Engineering. Cubase LE 4 is small brother to Cubase 4 which allow you to record your audio into your computer. With Cubase LE 4 you can record up to 48 audio tracks which I believe is enough for any UGM96 owner….Unless you want more I bet you not going to buy UGM96 you better settle for something like ESI ESU1808. Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp is a VST, Audio Unit and RTAS plugin which you should know that it not just work with Cubase LE 4 but any applications such as Nuendo, Cubase, Sonar, Logic and also Digidesign Pro Tools…Sweeeet. Seriously having both application in your laptop combine with UGM96 really enough to make you a mobile recording musician.

Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp

Oh yeah…before I forget, there’s an additional love to Mac user. Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp can work directly with GarageBand and you can use UGM96 as your audio input and output device…coool

The chance I had to explore UGM96 is really great and personally I love it. Still, it’s not really a perfect product but worth considering and also value for money. Few things I feel it’s lacking against it’s competitor there is no XLR mic input, phantom power and preamp knob. If the target group is actually guitar player, a knob is something I feel musician likes to feel when they want to increase their gain. Preamp sound also very subjective because other virtual guitar modeling such as Native Instruments Guitar Rig have more popularity among musician and can be consider industry standard. But for me competition is a good news for others to produce better products.

Pros: -

- Small and easy to carry

- USB powered (no adapter)

- 1/4″ output in balanced TRS

- Value for money with bundle application

Cons: -

- No XLR microphone input

- No preamp knob for signal gain

Notes: If you interested to test UGM96 feel free to contact Mr Dennis Toh from MIDI Specialist at +6012-286 1909 or you can visit his online store. Also you can contact his dealer Mr. Eddie at +6012-322 5730 or visit his online store

It’s official now…Nikon announces D300s and D3000

After rumors been circulated around the net for few months now it is confirm that Nikon have officially release their new product in their digital SLR product line, the D300s and D3000. You can check at link below for more details of both cameras. The other thing, both link will bring you straight to their microsite which I find it great for users and potential buyer. It make them feel exclusive to own a product if there’s a special website for the one they own.

D3000

Nikon D3000

The new Nikon D3000 is a DX format camera with 10.2 million effective pixels. It have ISO sensitivity of 100 to 1600 and can take SD or SDHC card as a storage media. Using an EN-EL9a battery which compatible with Nikon D5000.

D300S

Nikon D300s

Wow!!! this camera really looks gorgeous. This really a new flagship in Nikon DX format camera. I bet I going to miss out some of the features but some of the noticeable features D300s offers are, it uses SD, SDHD and CF card as a storage media, and the best thing you can program one card as a primary card and the other one as a backup or additional storage. You can also copy one image from one card to the other. Great features actually if you shoot for events or weddings. Imagine the advantage of shooting some crucial moment where suddenly your primary card out of capacity, or if your assistance need to go but you need to copy images he captures to your storage instead of carrying all those big image transfer device now you can just carry some additional CF or SD card.

Now no more mistake of accidently pressing the wrong center button…I bet after lots of complains now there’s an actual center button and also a live view button. I bet this really help because most of you sure have come across a situation where after you captured using live view and the moment you want to capture another important shot when you press your shutter button it gave you a live view mode…why? because you forgot to turn the dial back to normal shot and you missed that one important moment.

Effective pixel is 12.3 million and frame rate is 7 fps without a battery pack…hmmmm. ISO sensitivity is 200 to 3200 in steps of 1/3, 1/2 or 1EV. Another thing I notice is the Active D-Lighting function which now offer another extra step called ‘extra high’. I don’t know what is the difference but I bet someone will come out with the comparison.

Nikon D300s also will allow you to record video at HD quality (1,280 x 720 pixels) at 24 fps. not just movie it also have a built in microphone for you to record audio. If the built in microphone not sensitive enough, you can also attach an external microphone which you can mount it on your hot shoe and it also record stereo.

D300s Stereo Recording

Apart from that… while on the way back to load your movie into your editing suite you can also use the built in video editing function inside the camera. This is really good for any one who want to save time and quick rough cut. Video only allowed be recorded maximum 5 min for 1,280 x 720 pixels (16:9), and 20 min for 640 x 424 (3:2) or 320 x 216 (3:2).

Should I upgrade from my D300?

No…currently I don’t think there’s anything I envy about the new D300s. Yeah, the video features sounds really good with the ability to capture movie using wide variety of lenses but with no major difference in ISO sensitivity I believe I should invest more towards lenses, speedlight or going for full frame body. But if you upgrading from body such as D80 and D100 or buying your first DSLR, this is worth to go for.

Polar FT40 Review

I really have to admit that Biggest Loser really influence my life. Since last year I made a promise to myself to have a healthier lifestyle. I managed to stop smoking since last year and this year I plan to be a runner and hope to enter any of the local marathon event. One day I watched Biggest Loser and I saw this guy with a heart rate  monitor wrist watch and I told myself “boy… I really need that”.. why? I’m a gadget freak so everything have to involve with technology in my life …hahaha ..actually, since I seriously started to jog for the past one month I don’t know wether I push my body to hard or I can push it further…so the options are: -

1. Join a gym club and I can use their machine with a heart rate monitor

- Naaa… I’m to lazy to go to gym, I hate to pay for the parking and the monthly commitment. Also I’m an outdoor person

2. Buy my own gym equipment with a built in heart rate monitor

-Wah!!! to expensive… I can buy one Nikkor 17-55mm with that money…Hahaha

3. Just buy one pair of good jogging shoes and a wrist watch with heart rate monitor…

-Aha!!! this sounds good and really cheap… no monthly commitment and I can also enjoy the outdoor workout

With all the researched I did finally I decided to go for the Polar brand. My first impression about Polar product was really confusing because they have bunch of models which suited your needs and the worst thing, nobody from my local fitness retailers can give me a good product explanation. Finally I bought mine at Johnson (The Curve, Damansara) and the sales guy really helpful to answered all my questions. His product knowledge not 100% accurate but his very helpful and polite entertaining my question.. (not like Fitness Concept in Pavilion, where the guy explain to me very rude as if I’m wasting his time)   

I love the packaging… small, nice and simple

Before I decided which model to get I did my own research from the web and also from some of the fitness shops around Kuala Lumpur. I almost buy the latest model which is FA40 but only realized it doesn’t  have a heart rate monitor. With some great explanations from the sales guy (or I should called them ‘Fitness Consultant’) I decided to go for the FT40 model…. It’s the latest model, have just the features that I need and the most important thing still within my budget.

Polar FT40

Opening the box you can see another essential tools in the Polar heart rate monitoring system the ‘WearLink’. You need to wear this WearLink to your body so the Polar can read you body data. The WearLink consist of two parts, the strap and the connector. The strap have an electrode which read your body data and another part is the connector which function as a transmitter to transmit your body data to your Polar wrist watch.

The WearLink.. The strap and transmitter

As you can see the WearLink strap have button for you to attached the transmitter. You need to wear it around your chest with the transmitter facing in front (Something like the UltraMan light button la…hahaha). Once you wear it you need to wait for the FT40 to read your heart rate and my advice is do your normal warm-up before you start your workout…why? Because the WearLink can’t read your heart rate if it’s dry. Someone suggested to me apply small amount of water with normal water n the WearLink but I think this is not necessary because normal warm-up will definitely make your body sweat.

Oh!!! before I forget, you need to key in your data such as weight, height, birth date, sex, maximum heart rate (220- your age) and your type of exercise (Low 0-1 hours/ week, Moderate 1-3 hours/ week, High 3-5 hours/ week and Top more than 5 hours/ week).  Once you key in all your data you can start using it. Actually it’s fairly easy and user friendly to use it. Just press the centre button on the right side of FT40 and straightaway you can do your workout. Once you finish it gives you all the necessary reading such as your calories and fat burn, heart rate average and maximum and your fitness level.  Apart from that like any normal watch it tells you time (2 zone time programable), date and day also a nice amber green backlight for you to view in the dark.

Another cool features, once you register your Polar products in their website you will have your own user account where you can create your own workout challenge. All can be done at their Polar Personal Trainer site. Also you can make your challenge public for other Polar users to view it or accept it. 

Pro: -

- Easy to use

- WearLink easy to maintain

- Great website for additional support and training

Cons: -

- For a sport watch, no stopwatch feature

- No additional protective element.. it’s not a really cheap watch

notes: Few days after I bought my FT40 I realize there was a problem with the display… kudos to Hivelocity (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Polar Malaysia distributor) for their fast response.. I got my unit back within a day.

Nikon Introduced D300 Microsite

Wohooo!!! as D300 user I’m really glad that Nikon have a microsite for us. If you an advance user of D300 this site is nothing special but one thing for sure it gives you that grand feeling of owning a D300 and at the same time it shows Nikon really serious about their products.You can find all informations regarding D300 from basic to advance and the way Nikon design it, the site looks really clean and easy to navigate. Go visit it and tell me what you think about it

Welcome ‘Nikon D5000′

I know lately I wrote lots of stuff about photography but what can I do… I really miss it and totally excited about it. Anyway, good news to all Nikonian’s. Nikon officially announced it new family members in their DX format digital SLR, called D5000. You can read the press release here. 

What so great about it?… from the image above enough to make you really want to play with it. The new vari-angle monitor is something people will talk about. But not let that make us forget about other great features about this camera which I’m going to put it in point form for us to have better understanding.

Key Features: -

• New Vari-angle monitor
• Nikon DX-format 12.3-megapixel CMOS image sensor
• Specially designed EXPEED image processing system
• Live View shooting
• Movie clips with D-Movie
• 19 Scene Modes
• Scene Recognition System with Face Detection System
• Active D-Lighting
• 11-point AF system with Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus module
• Picture Control System
• Photo editing
• Nikon Integrated Dust Reduction System

From the key features above you can tell this camera have some great features. the screen is 2.7″ LCD using low-temperature polysilicon TFT  with 230,000-dot. It using SD (SDHC compliant) storage media. ISO sensitivity is at 200 to 3,200 in steps of 1/3 EV, plus HI-0.3, HI-0.7, HI-1 (ISO 6400); LO-0.3, LO-0.7 and LO-1 (ISO 100). This camera will allow you to capture format such as JPEG, AVI (movie with mono sound) and also RAW (NEF).

This really going to increase competition with other camera makers but at the end it’s good for us, the consumer. This camera comes with package of  AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens or can be purchase separately as a body. Nikon estimate it to be available late April 2009. For more information and image of products you can refer to Nikon Malaysia website.