Jan 12
All Posts, Apple, Audio/Music, Awards, Cameras, Computers, DJ, Design, Features, Hardware, Lightroom, Photography, Photoshop, Plugins, Software, VJ, Video, Web, Writing
At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s the start of a new decade and this, in conjunction with the Technofile celebrating its 5th birthday (albeit slightly belatedly) seems like the perfect opportunity to give out some awards. Unlike everyone else’s awards though, the Technies are not for the best of 2009, or even for the best of the noughties. They are for, what, in the opinion of The Technofile, is the best software and hardware currently available to creative professionals. Whether it was released yesterday or 5 years ago is immaterial, the only stipulation is that you can go out and buy it…or sit at home and download it (legally, of course) now. So, without further ado: Continue reading »
Tagged with: 2010 • Ableton Live 8 • Ableton Suite 8 • Access Virus • Act! by Sage 2010 • Adobe After Effects CS4 • Adobe Creative Suite CS4 Master Collection • Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 • Adobe Illustrator CS4 • Adobe InDesign CS4 • Adobe Lightroom 2 • Adobe Photoshop CS4 • Akai Professional APC40 • anti virus • anti-spyware • APC40 • Apple • Apple Final Cut Studio • Apple iPhone • Apple Logic Studio • Apple Mac Book Pro • Apple Motion 4 • Apple OS X • Arturia • Arturia Analog Factory 2 • Arturia ARP2600 V • Arturia Brass • Arturia CS-80V • Arturia Jupiter-8V • Arturia Minimoog V • Arturia Moog Modular V • Arturia Prophet V Arturia Prophet VS • Audio Ease Altiverb 6 • Audio Ease Speakerphone 2 • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9 • Awards • BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer • Best Control Surface • Best DAW • best gadget • Best Hardware Synthesizer • Best Reverb • Best soft synth • Bob Moog • Camel Audio Alchemy • Camel Audio CamelSpace • camera • Canon 5D MkII • cell phone • compact digital camera • computer • computing • contact management • Convergent Design Nano Flash • DAW • distortion • DJ • DJ deck • DJ mixer • DJing • DSLR • DTP • E-MU Systems Emulator X3 • Edirol V4 • Final Draft 8 • firewall • Gadget • GPS • Graphics Tablet • HDR • HDRsoft Photomatix Pro 3 • Holga 120 GN • Illustration • iZotope Trash • Laptop • Lightroom plug-in • Line 6 Bas Pod • Line 6 Guitar Pod • Litepanels • Microsoft Windows 7 • Microsoft Windows XP • mobile phone • motion graphics • music tech • Music Technology • Nik Color Efex Pro 3 • Nik Dfine 2.0 • Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 • Nik Silver Efex Pro • Nik Viveza 2 • Nikon D3s • Norton Internet Security 2010 • Novation SL MkII • onOne Focal Point 2 • onOne Genuine Fractals 6 Professional • onOne Mask Pro 4 • onOne Photo Frame 4.5 • onOne Photo Tools 2.5 • onOne PhotoTune 3 • Operating System • OS • Panasonic Lumix DMC GF-1 • phone • Photography • Photoshop plug-in • Pioneer CDJ 2000 • Pioneer DJM-800 • Pioneer DVJ-1000 • Pioneer SVM-1000 • Portrait Professional Studio 9 • Predator • Propellerhead Reason • Propellerhead Record • Propellerhead Rewire • Proteus 2000 • Quark Express 8 • Resolume Avenue 3 • reverb • Ricoh GXR • Rob Pappen • Scriptwriting software • Sekonic Dualmaster L-758 Cine • Sennheiser • Serrato Scratch Live • Snow Leopard • Sony PMW EX1 • Sony PMW EX3 • Sony Vegas Pro 9 • SSL 9000k • Sub Boom Bass • Technics SL-1210M5GEB • The 10 Year Suite • The Technofile • TomTom Go 950 Live • Video • Video Editing • VJ • VJ deck • VJ mixer • VJ software • VJing • Wacom Intuos 4 L • web design • Write Brothers’ Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 • X-Rite ColorChecker Passport • Xtreme Lead
Sep 17
I remember a time when no DJ worth his salt took CD players seriously (I say his, because they were all blokes back then). The objections were longer than a 12” (remember those?). “CDs are all very well, but what are you going to do when one starts jumping in the middle of a set?”…“It’s not like you can scratch with them is it?” “CDs? What next, female DJs?” Enter Pioneer (DJ booth left), with their now legendary CDJ-1000s, which, combined rock solid performance, optimal ergonomics, industrial build quality and the ability to emulate the entire cannon of vinyl tricks…and then some. The CDJs revolutionised the industry to such an extent that it’s almost impossible to find a club that doesn’t have a pair. But with a whole new generation getting their tunes direct from the net (some even, legally…) and the ever growing popularity of laptop DJing with Live, Traktor and Serrato, it seems that the graffiti’s on the wall for CDs. So what next? Continue reading »
Tagged with: DJ • Hardware • Music • Previews
Jun 30
When I reviewed SanDisk’s 2 GB Extreme III card, a couple of years ago, I reached the conclusion that (with a 12bit 10MP DSLR) it was blazingly fast, if a little small storage wise. Technology moves on and although Extreme III media copes admirably well with most things you can throw at it, with today’s DSLRs and Medium format backs offering ever higher Mega Pixel counts, bit depths and shooting rates, if you really want to take things to the max, SanDisk’s Extreme IV cards may be your best option. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Hardware • Photography • Storage
Apr 27
A few years ago, if a girl had asked me “Is that a 16GB hard drive in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me,” I would have taken it as a compliment. Nowadays I’d take it as an insult. That’s progress for you, or miniaturisation at any rate, as elegantly demonstrated by the SanDisk Cruzer Contour 16Gb, which has been in my pocket for the past few months. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Hardware • Storage
Jul 31
When it comes to still photography, digital has all but won the argument. It’s more convenient, almost instantaneous and, if you exclude the cost of needing to update your equipment every two and a half minutes, far cheaper than silver. In fact, it really only has one problem, it simply doesn’t look like film. Or at least it didn’t until a year or so ago, when Nikon released their much lauded D3, which, to my eyes (with or without the sunglasses) was the first small format digital camera to produce results that genuinely looked as if they could have been shot on film. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Hardware • Nikon • Photography • Previews
May 20
Just over a year ago, Sony announced the camera formerly known as the XDCAM EX (which is now known as the EX1). Sony’s first solid state HD camera, with a ‘proper’ lens, at an affordable price, it was nothing short of revolutionary and I predicted that it would do for filmmaking, what DV did for TV. Naturally I was right. However, great though the PMW-EX1 was, it did have some limitations. But now the good news is that most of these limitations have been addressed by the PMW-EX3, which is not a replacement, but a higher spec, higher priced model, that will be sold alongside the existing PMW-EX1. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Hardware • Previews • Sony • Video • Video Cameras
Mar 11
In case you hadn’t heard (and practically no one I speak to has) for the last few years there has been a ongoing war between ‘HD-DVD’ and ‘Blu-ray’…two broadly similar yet incompatible formats competing to become the next generation successor to DVD. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Hardware • Rebbetorials • Storage
Feb 09
Desktop audio and video editing is a great thing…using a mouse to navigate a timeline is not…enter Contour Design’s Shuttle Pro, a mini control surface that’s pre-configured to work out of the box with many of today’s top A/V applications. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Animation • Control Surfaces • Hardware • Reviews • Video
Nov 18
In the UK, there’s no shortage of music industry trade shows, but until recently if you wanted to check out the latest DJing kit, you were faced with a choice between PLASA (the main focus of which is sound and lighting for concert tours and large installations, making it 95% irrelevant to the average DJ) and a handful of shows targeted at musicians and producers. Last weekend though, the landscape changed, as DJs took control at BPM, a brand new show organised by Marked Events. Continue reading »
Tagged with: DJ • Hardware • Shows • VJ
Oct 11
Back in 2004, Pioneer released the groundbreaking ‘DVJ-X’, which allowed DJs and VJs to scratch, loop and mash up DVDs in almost exactly the same way they had previously done with CDs, using the company’s ‘CDJ’ decks.
Quickly taking pride of place in clubs the world over and on numerous technical riders, the DVJ-X1 and its younger bro, the ‘DVJ-1000′, have not only found favour with both DJs wanting an easy route into visuals and VJs wanting something a bit more tactile and reactive than a laptop, but have also spawned a whole ‘DVJ’ sub culture. However, lack of an integrated AV mixer has meant that VJs and DVJs have been left to their own devices…literally…having to mix and mash all sorts of video and audio hardware in order to create a variety of novel, Heath Robinson meets Frankenstein’s monster type solutions for mixing video with audio. But now, the answer that everyone has been crying out for is finally at hand, in the shape of Pioneer’s brand new Pioneer SVM-1000. Continue reading »
Tagged with: DJ • Hardware • Previews • VJ
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