devo digest

Many people today aspire to become great and professional music producers or beat makers, but there is usually just one thing that is holding them back – the inability or the lack of funds to be able to afford their own personal recording studio. Even renting a studio today can easily cost thousands, and this can prevent a lot of aspiring music producers to chase after their dreams.

Thanks to the advancement of technology though, there is another way to get around it today – and that is through the use of beat making software. But before you act rashly and just purchase any beat making software you see out there, there are a few things you ought to keep in mind when you are purchasing such a software:

1. The price of the software

Needless to mention, the price of the software is definitely a major concern or issue for most people. You definitely would not want to be spending over a few hundred dollars on a beat making software when you can use the same amount of money to purchase quality audio equipment to set up your own studio instead. How much should you be paying for such a software then? As a general guide or a general rule of thumb, you should not be paying more than fifty bucks today to get a great and quality beat making software.

2. The interface of the software

Apart from the price, another thing that one needs to take note of would definitely have to be how simple and easy the software is operated. Preferably, you would want to be starting to make your own beats and complete your first beat in less than just 30 minutes upon getting your hands on the software. Most beat making software today should also come with detailed and step by step video manuals to guide you along in case you get stuck, so you should also keep a lookout for all these too.

3. Does the software come with pre loaded quality sound kits?

Last of all, you should check whether the software comes bundled with pre loaded quality sound kits which you can start using immediately for any purpose. If you are a beginner to beat making, you would not realize the importance of these quality sound beats – but once you get a little bit more experienced you would realize that you can actually do a lot of things with these sound kits.

These are just 3 simple criteria that anyone should look out for when they are looking to purchase a beat making software. If you are currently still struggling to find a perfect program to make beats, then you might want to start by checking out this Cyber Sequencer Review first.

People who own a Garmin Nuvi GPS aren’t always aware that the maps that come pre-installed on the GPS can become out of date.  Even fewer people are aware that they can install free Garmin map updates on their Nuvi very easily as long as they take advantage of Garmin’s nuMaps Guarantee offer within 90 days of first registering the device.  If you have not upgraded your maps yet then follow these simple steps below to ensure that you have the most up to date and current routes and directions possible before you travel in your vehicle.

Checking for Free Garmin Maps

First thing you will need to do in order to install free Garmin maps is to visit the official Garmin website and sign-up for a myGarmin customer account.  Registering costs nothing and means that your GPS and serial number will then be uniquely tied to your customer account so you can take advantage of any map updates that become available.

The map update that will best suit you is the free maps option – also known as the nuMaps Guarantee.  It’s worth noting that this offer is only available to customers that register their device within the first 90 days of first using it so make sure you don’t delay before following this guide. 

Once you have registered the product you can then explore the different map options.  If you are based in the United States or Canada then the City Navigator NT for North America update will be the option you will need to take.  European or UK customers will require City Navigator NT for Europe.

Installing Free Garmin Maps

Installation of new map software to the Nuvi GPS should take no longer than three quarters of an hour and as long as you can connect via USB and have a reasonably standard Internet connection speed then you should be ready to go.

The install process will require that you download the Garmin Installer Application as this little app will lead you through each step of the way with easy to understand instructions.

Other Map Updates Options from Garmin

But what if you don’t qualify for free Garmin map updates?  If that is the case then you will need to pay a small fee which should be no more than fifty US dollars.  There are two choices; nuMaps Lifetime and nuMaps Onetime – which essentially do exactly as their titles describe.

To conclude, you should always ensure you have the latest maps on your GPS because roads do change from time to time – and as soon as they do the pre-installed mapping software will be out of date.

With 10 years behind the decks, I’ve found that the cliche “you get what you pay for” is dead on when it comes to acquiring the best DJ headphones . Here’s my advice…

1. Flexibility — make sure your headphones feel right physically. No one wants to be messing about with headphones in the middle of a set, so try various brands out to be sure they are truly comfortable with your specific posture.

2. Cost — as I said, you get what you pay for. There are a countless cheap models under $50 and my guess is most of them are bought by people who want to APPEAR to be a DJ, but really aren’t. If you want some phones that will pass the endurance test, save up your money and spend more.

3. Sound quality — I won’t bother with too many details about this since everyone’s opinions are different on what truly sounds good. Fact is, you’re always safe with the well-known brands, but always test them out if you’re a freak about specific frequency ranges and such.

4. Durability — yet another reason to spend more. As DJs we twist, turn and crunch our cans like a rugby player. So if you want some headphones that will last more than a couple of years, spend some bucks! In the end you’ll be glad you did.

My personal experience searching for the perfect DJ headphones is that I was truly naive when I bought my first pair, getting some cheap Sony’s. They still sound fine after all these years but I quickly realized they weren’t full-ear headphones, so I eventually splurged on the MDRs. Those lasted quite a while, but eventually the plastic posts cracked. Six years isn’t that bad if you consider how much abuse they got. Recently I felt like a change so I shopped online for some Allen & Heath’s Xone phones (without even listening to them first!) Of course, they weren’t cheap, but I know they’ll last!

If I’d want to close the question quickly, I’d say they are necessary, but that wouldn’t cover the whole story, and would leave a host of other questions wide open. I’m not comfortable with leaving loose threads, so this article will take you through the realm of flat-screen TVs with emphasis on the benefits LED technology brings to the table. If you consider yourself to be a non-savvy customer, read on and get familiar with these displays.

First, and of foremost importance when discussing LED vs. TFT (or LCD in some cases) is explaining what the abbreviations stand for. TFT screens are sometimes called LCD, but they’re no different from LED screens in the sense that they all use the same TFT-LCD based display technology. This is a masking method, which means there has to be a source of white light, which the Thin-Film Transistor – Liquid Cristal Display panel regulates on a per pixel level. In other words, the TFT is there to just block or allow the white light coming from behind. Samsung LED TVs use state of the art medium powered white light-emitting diodes to get the job done, TFT(LCD) models use cold cathode fluorescent lamp tubes

The most important benefit has to be the image quality. I recently purchased a new computer display, and I wasn’t sure if the LED version is worth 10% more. Then I looked at them, picked LED and never looked back. The reason for LED screens’ better image rendering lies in the way LEDs produce white light. In some cases these are composite elements, which means they’re put together using three different color diodes. These units emit a white spectrum that could not be a better approximation of the optimal. There are some spikes around the blue, which would be a problem in some other applications, but not in TVs and monitors.

Since engineers know exactly where to compensate, they can tune TFT panels more carefully, and to higher accuracy standards. The end result is a TV that shows better colors, has a better contrast ratio, and is more pleasing to look at.

The second most important benefit, if you really need to differentiate in degree of importance, is the question of power consumption. TVs account for a sizable part of the energy cost of the whole household, so cutting some of it is always a good plan. LED TVs use up to 40% less power than their non-LED counterparts. The monitor I bought uses 37% less power on peak performance, which is around 15W in this case. Bigger screens, like TVs save much more than that, and the saving they contribute to will show in the monthly bill. This feature alone cancels out the higher up-front cost of LED TV units, albeit over a longer period of time.

Which is not nearly as big of a problem for LEDs as you would probably think. A Samsung TV that’s built using LEDs is rated at 100,000 operating hours, which works out to be around 23 years if you have them on for 12 hours a day, ever day. It’s not something a fluorescent lamp could have achieved before, not even near. This five fold increase in longevity guarantees that your TV will last for at least as long as you don’t buy one with a technology not invented yet.

In other words, even under non-ideal circumstances such as high ambient temperature, a LED TV is likely to work for at least a good couple of years. Even after it’s started to fail, you have another couple of years before LEDs lose too much of their maximum brightness to be useless.

LED TVs are all that much better than ordinary CCFL based units, and you don’t have to go out of your way to find a few benefits. They’re right in front of you; the image quality improvement can’t possibly be missed, and you’ll notice the reduction in power use of your household almost immediately as well. Durability is not what you’d instantly spot out, but as long as you don’t think about it, the TV is doing its job perfectly.