It's 2007... why are so many MP3 players pale imitations of the iPod, when there are so many different potential approaches to take? We've seen our share of portable recorders, but overall, specialty MP3 players with features that appeal to niche groups have been scarcer than they should be, considering that MP3 players have been in mass production for over eight years.
Tascam bills its MP-GT1 as "the first MP3 player designed for musicians." It's about time... but what does an MP3 player for musicians do? This one is geared towards helping you play along with your favorite albums (would-be bassists -- the Stone Roses' "I Wanna Be Adored" is a great place to start). To this end, you get a DSP that can slow down playback without changing the pitch, loop sections in order to learn them, and pitch the song up or down in 1% increments to match your instrument's tuning. A selection of effects is also included, including overdrive, distortion, flange, reverb, and delay.
The Tascam MP-GT1 is oriented towards guitarists and bassists. Plugyour axe (or any other electrified instrument) into the device's standard 1/4-inch high-impedance instrument input, and youcan play along with whatever's playing, using headphones or your stereospeakers. For learning songs, there's even an EQ-based feature thatremoves guitar frequencies from the song playing back, so that onlyyour dulcet tones shine through -- sort of like karaoke for guitar.
Extras include a metronome, tuner, and oscillator, and judging from the picture, an input gain control. Tascam says the MP-GT1
holds 240 songs (128 Kbps, 4 minutes per song), meaning that it has a1GB capacity, which is more than enough. If you're practicing morethan 240 different songs at the same time, it's probably time to try toplay a show anyway.
(via electronista)*
