Olympus Camedia C-4000 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom  Pros Easy-to-use, excellent quality digital camera. Cons 3X zoom is limiting. The Bottom Line Versatile, digital camera with all of the features a point-and-click photog could want. |
| Full Review This is my first digital camera. I've had it for about four years and I'm still crazy about it. I use it for everything from taking quick snapshots for eBay to taking pictures for printing and framing. When I bought it, 4.1 megapixel was as high as you could get. Now, of course, higher resolution cameras are the norm. But the output is great up to 8 1/2 by 11 inches. (I haven't printed any larger than that.) I've had Shutterfly print some and I've sent some to my Canon i960. Both look terrific The Setup The unit plugs into a USB port on your computer. You plug your guitar or bass into the Tomeport and the signal is routed to the software that Line6 ships with the unit. There are a couple of stereo line ins and line outs so you can monitor an external sound source or send your guitar to an external source (like a PA). There is also a mic input with a built in preamp, but I haven't used it. The Software Line 6 ships a good software package (Gearbox) with this unit. It contains a bunch of very usable amp models, speaker cabinets, preamps and effects. I play a combination of rock and jazz and I can usually create a tone that meets my needs. You can tweak any and all settings for the canned sample sounds and save them as user sounds. I used to use my own custom sounds exclusively, but the latest version of Gearbox has a really cool Tone Library button which links you to a whole bunch of on-line tones that emulate sounds from people like BB King and other well-known player to staff members from Berklee. These tones are awesome! They really expand the usefulness of the software. Speaking of which, the latest version also includes a cool little metronome which was sorely missing from the last version. You can use it to provide a simple click-track or use one the provided drum grooves. It even does 5/4 time. Very nice. The effects are standard issue - Reverb, Delay, EQ, Chorus, Flange, Fuzz, etc. They are all serviceable and virtually noise-free. The Sound This thing sounds great for the price! The modelled amps are quite authentic. The only sound I haven't been able to reproduce is a Marshall Stack, but I think if I spent the time, I would be able to get just what I was looking for. I was afraid before I got it that it might track poorly or there might be a latency issue, but the thing is spot-on. I can bend, hammer, tap, pull, pop, mute, chicken-pick, etc and it doesn't miss a beat. Another fear I had was that the character of my guitar would be lost in all of that electronic processing, what with the modelling and all, but that is not the case. I'm happy to report that my semi-hollow-body retains its clear harmonics and subtle, round tones while the Strat chunks and crunches away. Keep in-mind, however, that this isn't a studio-level piece of equipment. It's great for getting a guitar or bass signal into your computer. And the Gearbox software is terrific for a consumer-level signal processing, amp modelling tool. But don't expect pristine, high-end output. It's good, but keep the price in-mind when you form your expectations. Some Drawbacks There are a couple of minor drawbacks. First, you can't really use the thing on-stage because it has no foot-pedal. That means that you have to use your computer's mouse every time you want to select a different sound or change a setting. Second, I wish there were more options available for it. For instance, if people could write plugins for it, a whole world of effects or amp sounds might blossom. As it is, we're stuck with the options that the vendor puts out. |
Go to Modal Music Theory for some cool stuff.
