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A lot of noise was made about the release of the iPhone 4 and what it might be capable of. Take Zero Productions decided to put the 720p iPhone video mode up against the Canon 7D’s highly praised video mode. The Canon 7D has literally changed the face of hip hop video production. So I was interested to see how the iPhone was going to stand up to the powerful DSLR.

Surprisingly the iPhone, upon first glance, seemed to keep up with the 7D. But after a couple views, I started noticing little things the iPhone was doing that totally kept the 7D in the top position. It was a given of course, but it was dope to kind of for see what will be capable in a couple years with just your phone. We’re in the future people, embrace it.

When it comes to gaming I prefer to stick with the consoles, most notably the Xbox 360, but if I was a PC gamer this would be my weapon of choice when dishing out headshots.  The new R.A.T 9 Mouse from Saitek, allows for punishment with precision by having a switch to adjust the DPI in a game for accuracy.  Ben at ArsTechnica dubbed it the ‘Sniper Button’ and I concur.

The basic model will run $49.99, but the R.A.T. 9 will cost a dizzying $129.99. That gets you all the bells and whistles, plus wireless capabilities, an extra battery with a charging station that also holds any of the weights you’re not using in the mouse, and a horizontal metal scroll wheel you can hit with your thumb. An allen wrench allows you to adjust nearly every aspect of the experience.

Look for the R.A.T 9 some time this Spring.

Since I’ve gotten my camera, I’ve been putting in work taking pictures of everything. Photography is very interesting because your dealing with capturing light in order to emulate some form of reality. What you see isn’t always what you get depending on the type of camera you have and the settings your using, making it possible for you to literally create your own reality photographically at the click of a button. Read more…

There are countless producers and artists that use Akai’s line of hardware from The Alchemist to The Goo Goo Dolls. Most prefer the MPC series which is a standalone sequencing workstation which features an internal hard drive in more recent version, but there are a lot of producers who prefer the flexibility of software which is where the MPD controllers come in to play.

The MPD 18 pictured above is for the entry-level producer and won’t break your pockets at $99 and definitely will get the job done. It features 3 banks which are loosely Octaves on a keyboard that you can trigger sounds from.

The MPD 32 shown below has all of the bells and whistles that you would ever want including 8 faders, 8 knobs and the tap tempo and note repeat buttons that the full MPC features. With all of these features comes the price tag which hits for $330 but well worth every penny spent.

Whether you make Hip Hop, Electro, Disco, Polka or all things in between – if you do it digitally, do yourself a favor and cop one of these joints from Akai. These drum pads will help you bang out your kicks, snares and percussion with the feel that doesn’t come easy when using a midi keyboard (or qwerty if you make beats on the low at work like me).

Rock Banders should be drooling now, just know the Roland TD-20SX is far from a game. If you can’t tell by looking and this fully digital drum kit the price tag will put your gear lust in check. At $7000 you can definitely expect there to be a lot of bang for your buck, and most of what you’re paying for is the heart of the kit, the new TD-20X Percussion Sound Module, which combines the features of a few of Roland’s premier expansion boards.

Out the gate you’ll have access to over 100 drum kits with 920 drum instruments, new sound layering and enhanced editing features, new compression settings and new ambience choices for a wide variety of live environments with the quality and sound you’d expect from Roland.