Product: Roland CDX-1
Price Paid: dutch guilders (3475)
Submitted
08/04/2001
at
02:38pm
by
Tom Ladiges
Email: 29tommy29<at>dolfijn dot nl
Ease of Use
:
9
This machine is very easy to use. I didn't had any experience with multitrackrecording and sampling, but after half an hour it felt like I own this machine for quite a while. The manual is very good. It's easy reading and a good reference. Creating your own effect patches is also very easy.
Features
:
9
The sampler has a 4 sample polyphony, and a 4 track sequencer, both realtime and step. The sample capacity is expandable with a 128 MB dimm. The sampler is also euasy to use. Yous plug in a mic or put in an audio CD or CD-rom with WAV files and sample.
The insertion effects are good and you edit your own insertion effect patches.
The CDX-1 has a 8 track harddiscrecorder. It records directly to a CD-RW. This is a very strong point of the CDX-1 because it gives you unlimited and cheap record memory. Each disk can contain about 15 minutes and for less than $3 you have a new "harddisk". You can also backup your samples and samplesequences and even your own effectpatches on cd. It must be said that working with CD-rw is kind of slow. When you undo a record, format the disk or search for a specific point in your recordings, it takes a while before proceeding is finished. I hardly find this a disadvantage. The best of al is that after your record is completed you can mix it down to the internal memory and burn it to an CD and creste your own audio CD. You can even burn directly from an external input (CD, Vinyl, PC, whatever) to a CD.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
9
The effects sounds good and there is a lot you can change. The samples are also easy to edit. You can timestretch them with a good result. The phrasesampler makes the CDX-1 an excellent machine for dance and techno. I try to make synthesizermusic inspired by styles represnted by Jarre, Vangelis etc. and even then the sampler is a very handy tool wich I won't miss
Reliability
:
9
I ownit for a month now and never had any problems with it yet. I made some editing mistakes but with a factory reset that wasn't a problem either
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I never made use of it yet, although they will send me the manual in my own language (Dutch).
Overall Rating
:
9
Product: Roland CDX-1
Price Paid: US $1295
Submitted
08/02/2001
at
04:06pm
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
Reading the manual is all you have to do. Everything is explained in order to burn cdr or cdrw or load smaples or sequence.
Features
:
10
Tons of features..like I said this machine is a dream for live stage because you can load samples..tracks...etc...all from cd and live mix and sample live over that...
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
8
comes with a 32mb dimm PC100 ram chip...you can upgrade to a 128...I ask why it wasn't put in in the first place....pc100 128mb is cheap...oh well..you still get plenty of sample time
Reliability
:
10
this machine is awesome. all I can say it is a combo between the VS series and some of those grooveboxes....the best part is that you can burn cd's ...load samples from them...and go crazy
Customer Support
:
9
A lot of my equipment is Roland. They have been great to me, and their products never have failed on me. I update my VS-880ex still from the internet via SMF or midi...I believe that the cdx-1 will also use this to keep the OS fresh
Overall Rating
:
10
Right now I am a kid in a candy store..this machine does millions of things that help my stage show as a dj/mixer and I have put some of my other equipment aside..this is a truly well made machine for the electronic musician
