Klarinet Archive - Posting 000366.txt from 2001/11

From: The Guy on the Couch <jnohe@-----.Edu>
Subj: [kl] Random bits
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 02:49:48 -0500

Okay, so I'm going to buy a minidisc recorder...(yes yes...I can hear it
now, "Check the archives!!!")...after hearing it in action several times
over the past few months (our department head has one), I've decided that
this really is a tool I can use for myself and my students.

So I went to Target today to get one...and the two models they have look
nothing like the model that my two profs have. I don't know the model
number, but I do know that what the docs have is a sony...it's silver, and
its about 1.5 times as wide as what I saw at Target. What I saw at Target
were two models that were barely larger than a minidisc, and barely
heavier. The models were letterslettersletters500 (it was metallic blue),
and letterslettersletters700 (metallic yellow). The difference between
the blue and yellow (other than about $70) was the yellow came with a
digital hookup for MP3 recording, while the blue came with a standard hook
up. What I was really looking for was a place to connect a microphone
(which, I'm well aware having read the conversations here before, that I
will probably spend more on than on the recorder itself), and while the
yellow one had a jack that was marked "MIC," the blue had a jack marked
"Line In (OPTICAL)". Now, maybe I'm retarded, but it seems to me that the
blue one (the cheaper one) is only designed to record directly from
MP3, in which case, boo for that. The fact is...I understand what "Line
In" means, but I don't understand why the "(OPTICAL)" tag was there, and
I'm wondering if this means that you DON'T hook a mic up there...you just
hook up the MP3 converter that comes with it. Anyone care to enlighten me
so I know whether I'm going to spend $180 or $250?

On a completely unrelated note, my new tuner came in. I ended up grabbing
one on Ebay I hadn't seen in catalogues before: a Korg OT-12. I'm very
impressed...not only did it come with batteries and a contact microphone,
it's got every frickin' function a tuner could have (perhaps I exaggerate)
sans having a built in 'nome (like the stolen Korg DTM-1 this is
replacing). I liked the Transposing feature of the Yamaha TD-1, which
will give tuning response in C, F, Eb, and Bb, but the Korg goes a step
further, transposing in all twelve keys, plus seven or eight alternate
tunings (Pythagorean tuning, Mean Tone Eb, Mean Tone D#,
Wikomfaodfndigermannameican'tremember, and more funky names I don't know).
It can be calibrated to A=349-499, which is the widest compass I've ever
seen on a tuner (and I'm not sure why anyone would even need to go that
far in either direction), has three levels of response time for the auto
tuning feature (I've only seen slow/fast on others), sounds C2-C7, and has
a really nifty feature called "Sound Back" that responds to the pitch you
play with the contact mic by automatically finding the pitch closest and
sounding it in response, giving you reference, which is a completely new
thing to me.

I have no clue what retail is on this sucker, but I paid just under $80
(including shipping) for a brand new one (and I was the only person to bid
on it, I think), and while I don't NEED all of that stuff (I really just
wanted a high quality tuner, and the fact that it came with a contact mic
and did transposition is why I bought it), it seems to have significantly
more bells and whistles than any other tuner I've seen or used...and I've
seen plenty of other Seikos and Korgs retail for well over $100 without
half of the bells and whistles this one has...

Of course, it may break in two days, and my whole praise here will be for
naught...anyone else have experience with the OT-12?

J. Shouryu Nohe
Grad Assistant, New Mexico State University
"I think we have a ghost in our house." - Kaycee Nicole
"I should probably be playing Buffet." - Steve Moore

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