Rycote InVision Studio Kit

108
Mini Reviews
The latest musical bits and pieces racked and rated
Making Music With
GarageBand And
Mixcraft | £30
courseptr.com
Aimed at both self-learners and those
looking to teach, this comprehensive book
covers both GarageBand and Mixcraft
independently. For educators, this makes
the book flexible on both Mac and PC
platforms but for someone learning at
home, it could potentially render half the
book useless. With the book separated into
12 lessons, the included DVD adds bonus
tutorial videos and audio exercises. It’s
simple to follow and takes users through
their first steps to more complex tasks like
working with video and MIDI, but it’s
difficult to recommend unless you’re a
working educator.
Chris Barker
6/10
ProTools 101 Official
Courseware | £30
courseptr.com
If you’re looking to get aheads up on Pro
Tools before you head to Uni in
Septmeber,itmight be worth taking alook
at this Avid Training official curriculum.
There’s everything from the history of
the software and the differences between
the various incarnations of Pro Tools to
illustrated guides to every element of the
industry standard. For more experienced
Pro Tools users, it probably won’t teach
you anything particularly new or advanced.
But it’s a handy reference to have around
for troubleshooting, and for anyone looking
to get officially Pro Tools certified, you
should start here.
Chris Barker
9/10
Rycote InVision
Studio Kit
| £99
rycote.com
Allen & Heath Xone XD-20 | £59
allen-heath.com
T
his all-in-one solution
features a great little pop
filter teamed with one of
Rycote’sremarkable
Universal Studio Mount suspension
system. The pop filter frame fixes
securely to the Universal Studio
Mount and this in turn attaches
securely to your mic stand and the
four secure adjusters allow anything
from large diaphragm condensers to
pencil mics to sit happily.
Swapping mics out is just afew
twists away and while the whole
system is plastic it feels very
industrial. The main event here is
Rycote’suse of wishbone-like
suspension mounts that are much
more absorbent than the usual elastic
cage. The pop shield worked great in
our tests – stamping out any plosive
–and the mount did indeed remove
more low end thuds, making even a
£10 stand as good as one ten times
the price. Not cheap, but highly
recommended.
Daniel Griffiths
8/10
A
llen & Heath’s Xone series
is a staple in the DJ
world, with their mixers,
controllers and DJ
headphones popping up in booths
around the world. The XD-20s are
their first foray into the in-ear world
and our hopes were high that they
would live up to the reputation of the
Xone brand. The 20s are a fairly
unique design –despite looking a bit
chunky, once their lodged in their
new home, they’re quite modest and
don’t protrude as much as you might
first assume. Sound-wise, these
’phones are loud. The bass pushes
itself forward, almost over-bearing the
8-10k range, especially at loud
volumes. Alittle quieter and the
balance is almost restored –though
they could do with more air and
crispness. Despite sounding a tad
rounded-off, they suit Electronic
music well, which is no surprise
considering their branding. For an
all-round listening experience though,
they are slightly bass heavy for a lot of
other genres.
Declan McGlynn
7/10
FMU241.rev_mini 108 5/24/11 3:56:56PM