You are lost in a maze of twisty house patches, all alike.
Akai's Miniak virtual analog synth is a blast, especially its combo of old-school vocoder, 37-key semi-weighted velocity-sensitive keyboard, and a goose-necked microphone. Capable and hefty, it could fit into a sports bag despite a full complement of features: 8 voices with three oscillators, hundreds of preset patches, and a (laborious) built-in sequencer and arpeggiator. I'll admit right now I fiddled with the editor for 10 minutes, broke down in frustration at the one-line display, then went to sit in a corner, sobbing and hugging Reason 4. Three 1/4" inputs slurp up external audio sources, to which the Miniak's filters and effects can also be applied.
It's made in partnership with Alesis, whose mic-less and cheaper Micron is similar stuff. Note that there's no USB, meaning you'll need to get busy with MIDI hardware (cheap, good) if you want to hook it up to a computer. At $500, it's also a bit pricey for those just wanting an occasional bang on the ivory. If you are a one-man digital band, however, the only conceivable improvement would be ... a keytar edition.
More info [Akai] — Product Page
Seagate's FreeAgent Theater+ is perfect for the media library you already own. Eschewing elaborate home theater features, baked-in storage or the need for a LAN, you just plug a hard drive or thumbdrive full of stuff into it and hit play. 1080p output over HDMI fixes the flaws of the last model, and an ethernet port's now included if you already have your media networked. Codecs supported include MPEG4 (Divx/xVid), WMV9 and raw DVD rips. It's $150, or $300 with a 500GB drive that slides into its dock.
Product Page [Seagate]
Casio's Exilim EX-FC100 puts fancy features from the high-end EX-F1 into a pocket-friendly format.
Able to record 1000 fps at 224x64, 420 fps at 224x168 and 210 fps at 480x360, it slows time at low resoltuion and with much noise in dim light. The 720p video is fantastic, however, and short 30fps bursts at even higher resolutions make it easy to capture the moment.
The best thing is pricing, now it's been out a few months: at $250, it's hard to find a better deal that covers so many bases. Cherry on top: 5x optical zoom.
Casio High-Speed Exilim EX-FC100
Ableplanet's Clear Harmony LINX audio headphones claim top-shelf noise reduction at an affordable price: $100. They worked great with the dull ambient hum of home, but not so much so out in the streets. Audio quality is decent, but if you're going to spend this much, why not get something even better?
Product Page [Ableplanet]
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About the Akai keyboard. I would never recommend an M-Audio USB-MIDI interface. That type does NOT come with the firmware built-in. So, you need a driver that will download the firmware to tell it that it is a MIDI interface. It can also be tricky to get working with Linux.
I use a Tapco Link.MIDI 4x4, and love it. No driver disk needed, true plug-n-play, and it works seamlessly on Linux. Emu MIDI interfaces are also supposed to be completely trouble-free. Which ever MIDI interface you get, be sure that you do NOT need to install drivers. Windows, Linux, and Mac all have simple USB MIDI driver built in, and the SHOULD be about as difficult to configure as a mouse or thumb drive.
A note on the Miniak:
The sound engine is exactly the same as the Alesis Micron. The Miniak reputedly has a bit more solid of a build quality, and replaced the upper-left sliders with wheels. Other than that and the inclusion of the mic, there is virtually no difference.
I picked up a used Micron in great condition on Ebay for $250 about a year and a half ago. Much more bang for the buck. It's awesome, BTW, and I can sling it over my shoulder and hit the road with it. Yeah, editing can be painful, but you get used to it. Massive sound, and a decent sequencer - good as a drum machine as well.
If you fancy the sound of the Miniak, consider looking into the Micron. I think they retail for ~$350.
Also, for midi they have these types of deals now:
http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=15188
Disagree on the m-audio uno, i bought one two years ago and "got" midi on my laptop like flipping a switch, never had a single problem with it through weekly gigging, album recordings, and daily practice. no idea why you would pay more.
For a great MIDI-to-USB box I'd recommend the Elektron TM-1, it's small, needs no drivers, absolutely rock solid and built like a tank. Also, it looks hot.
Wingo: The Micron does not have a microphone or vocoder. That little addition to the Miniak makes this more comparable to the Korg Mini. The Akai looks better too: no red side panels.
Do you use Linux? If not, then you don't know the hell we have to go through to get these things operational. I've got an Ozone and I once was able to use it under Linux, but my most recent attempt has failed. I blame the manufacturers and their lack of support. MIDI-to-USB drivers are there and functinal, but without the firmware the M-Audio equipment is worthless. Don't throw money at something that doesn't "just work."
@Harrkev; The micron does in fact have a vocoder but not a mic pre.
RE: M-Audio USB midi interfaces; some are class compliant and work without a second thought on any OS, some require firmware/drivers.
I have quite a bit of M-Audio gear and it's never given me a lick of trouble in Windows or OSX. I recommend it to anyone who isn't above using operating systems that aren't cobbled together by hobbyists.
"Doesn't work in Linux" is the norm, because, let's be honest here, Linux barely works in Linux.
Harrkev: aesthetic issues will never be settled, but the Micron does certainly have a vocoder - I know because I have one, but you can just Google 'micron vocoder' for a wealth of evidence. Perhaps it was an OS update at some point in the synth's life? Mine certainly had the functionality out of the box, however.
I'd also recommend a Micron over the Miniak, unless you absolutely must have a complementary mic.
I wonder how the Miniak stacks up against the Korg MicroKORG keyboards. They're also 37-key vocoder dealies. I've been using my MicroKORG for about a year now and I love it. It's excellent for making experimental progressive garage space core music.
I've had issues with most mic levels being too low with my vocoder, so for that reason, I think the built-in mic might have more value than is immediately apparent.
HarrKev, You are totally wrong.
The Micron does have a Vocoder and an input level attenuation for you to use your own microphones.
You might want to read the white paper that Dan Gill Wrote on how to use the Micron Vocoder. He wrote that paper when we were both working together at Alesis and Akai. I believe it is still on the website.
This should NOT be the case when there exists a standard for this type of interface. http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/midi10.pdf Failure to implement the standard is unacceptable.
actually, models like the Fast Track Pro (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html) are class compliant.
if you search around ubuntu forums you can find a people who confirm it (they like it, too).
@dancentury: I had a Microkorg (original version) and a Micron side-by-side for a while. Eventually I sold the Korg because for what I was doing the Micron was better - it had a built-in sequencer, better polyphony, effects and so on. It can be a good standalone piece of kit.
But I think the Microkorg had the better basic sound... you can do more with the sound on the Micron (the various filter emulations are great) but the Korg had a punchy quality the Micron couldn't seem to match, especially on leads and basses. The Micron's added muscle meant it was a better choice for pads, and it knocked the Korg for six when it came to rhythmic patches - program a beat into the sequencer and cross-assign the two sliders to assorted parameters on several drum sound patches and you have a very powerful, flexible and often surprising setup.
Nevertheless, the Korg still had an impact that the Micron struggled to match.But having to deal with the Korg's ridiculous genre-based dial-a-patch storage was a nightmare, and it needed too much support from outboard sequencers and effects, so for me at least it was too much hassle. The new Microkorg seems to address many of these issues (it has effects and a text display) and I'd like to try it.