M-Audio Fast Track Pro - Great for working with audio on a budget

Advantages: cheap, reliable, portable, easy to use and intuitive
Disadvantages: limited ins and outs, not a lot of leeway for input levels

...The M-Audio Fast Track Pro is all round a fairly good piece of kit. I originally bought mine as my very first audio/usb interface to use with my Macbook and Logic Pro when I first started university, 2 years ago. I am now in my final year, and have progressed up to using Pro Tools (M-powered, as this is the only version supported by the Fast Track Pro.) I have to date used the fast track pro to create semi-professional projects. The sound quality is, I have to say, very good for a £120 interface, although I have had problems attempting to get a decent input signal strength, especially when using the built in phantom power. However, the integrated phantom power is effective, even when the unit is powered solely by USB, although the option for mains power is available, though the adapter is not included in the box. I got a universal...

mrt01983 24.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of M-Audio Fast Track Pro

Cheap + Cheerful (Fast Lane Double Loop Track Set)

Advantages: Low price, fits with Hot Wheels
Disadvantages: Cars aren't great but Ok for price.

...--- Fast Lane Double Loop Set.. --- This was an extra that we picked up in the last-minute-mad-christmas-shop when we went to get the Boys Hot Wheels crash thingy and a Scalextric Set. It cost £5.99 from Toys 'R' Us and at that price well why not ?! From the pictures on the box it seems a lot like the Hot Wheels sets what with the track and the ZOOOoom and the cars. But the recommended age is 3+ The main concern was whether it would fit with the Hot Wheels cars and track that Boy already has - I can happily report YES it does. All the cars that fit his Hot Wheels track will fit this one though the track is a TINY bit smaller and sides a bit lower it will still all fit and work together. HOORAY ! So what do you get ? 3 cars, LOTS of straight plastic neon yellow color track, two bases for the loops, a launcher with clamp...

The-ex-Raven 04.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Fast Lane Gravity Double Loop Track Set

Short and straight Brio track.

Advantages: Usefull pieces of rail
Disadvantages: None

...Brio Mini straight tracks . These small pieces of straight track are actually a very useful addition to a Brio track. Thee are 4 pieces in this pack http://www.thelittlehencompany.com are selling it for £3.95. There are many other online shops selling this for similar prices. Just search for the best deal. These mini straight rails are not all the same 2 of the pieces of rail have at opposite ends one male/lug and one female /hole joining part 1 of the other pieces has two female /holes joining parts , the remaining piece has both ends with a male /lug joining part. Each piece is small and measures 54 mm 2? These pieces are as I said incredibly useful. If you are constructing an elaborate railway circuit then you may well find you have left a very small space to fit a piece of track or you are stuck with two male /lug...

mumsymary 21.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Brio Mini Straight Tracks

Are you on the right track?

Advantages: nice story
Disadvantages: /

...When I was younger I always had my nose in a book. Being the huge animal lover I was, I often chose to read books about animals. The Animal Ark book series by Lucy Daniels was very popular with me, and one of the titles was Tiger on the Track. Although you should never judge a book by its cover, I always do, so it is important that it looks quite good! The cover of this particular book is quite cute. There is an image of a tiger, staring out at you. While tigers can be quite scary, it reminds me of the lion king (ironically), and holds some emotions for me. It definitely drew me in. The book itself is about Mandy Hope, whose parents are vets. Mandy and James discover that tigers are going missing, and they are worried as there are poachers going about. Can they track down the tigers and save them before the poachers find them? This is...

Amy69 31.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Tiger On The Track - Lucy Daniels

Fast and Furious

Advantages: Plenty of action, nice effects, Vin Diesel, no need to think too hard.
Disadvantages: Not really any, unless you're expecting something that it's not.

...Last week, me and a friend decided to meet up and go to the cinema. After looking at the listings, the only thing we could come up with was Fast and Furious. I have not seen the earlier films in the franchise, but knew enough about them to know what to expect. Plenty of action, car chases, mindless fun, Vin Diesel, and brains left in the lobby. I was not disappointed, in fact it was better than I expected. The film starts with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and others, including girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) in Mexico, carrying out a hijack on a tanker road train. Good effects, improbable driving, and it finishes with some spectacular pyrotechnics. I was also seriously impressed with the sound at the new Showcase Cinema at Highcross in Leicester, at some points the whole place seemed to be shaking. We later learn that Letty has...

C-J-C 24.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Fast And Furious (DVD)

A Grief Stricken Masterpiece - Blood On The Tracks

Advantages: Every Track Provides Layers Of Emotion And Feeling
Disadvantages: None

...the Jack of Hearts and Rosemary as Sara, but the song also seem to hint that Rosemary may also be Lily, providing her with a duel personality. The very complexity of it is to difficult to even begin examining, but in truth it is another look at the frailties of relationships and how fast time can change the surest things. 8. If You See Her Say Hello After the musically and lyrically complex previous song, this guitar and vocal performance is a nice change, with a much less confusing lyrical part that obviously expresses his sorrow at the break up and his desire to see her continue on without him. You may think that this goes against some of the other tracks, but when you look at the complexity of some of the pieces, the layers of emotion and different feelings suggested are all part of this. In the song they are separated by distance, but in...

Robin_Hod12 02.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan

The original international track and field on the DS

Advantages: Loads of events to master, great graphics and great fun
Disadvantages: Some of the games are a bit hard to master, possibility of ruining the touch screen

...I remember playing International Track and Field back in 1999 on the original Sony Playstation. Playing this in single player mode was boring it was a game to be played with mates and we used to enjoy nothing more than going head to head across the wide range of athletics events available from the 100m sprint to the hammer throw. I remember the abuse the control pads took whilst playing this game. Frantic button bashing was required for every single event, with the 100m, 400m and swimming events giving the control pad the most abuse. Through trial and error we learnt that rather than bash the buttons separately if you put a scarf or old t-shirt over your knuckles and scrapped it across the buttons you could get your character to run faster of throw further. June 2008 saw International Track and Field launched on the Nintendo DS...

yackers1 15.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of New International Track and Field (Nintendo DS)

Catalogue Your CDs

Advantages: An easy way to keep track of your music
Disadvantages: None

...) and cut and paste options. There's plain text and spreadsheet format and you can specify visible or all columns to copy. If the Cd is not on th CDDB you have the option to enter the data yourself and submit it to the CDDB. This is how the CDDB gets its data. One useful aspect , is if you're thinking of buying a CD for one particular track, you can search your database to ensure you don'yt already have it. It's saved me money twice like this. The product is free, but if your collection goes over 1000 tracks you start getting nag lines appearing in the display. It only costs 18$ and that includes free upgrades for life. The download is about 690K , so not a huge one. It also includes a facility to make and save playlists and, a CD player. I now have a list of all my Cds , just in case the unthinkable should happen. All the info...

mikeydred 27.02.2001 (02.07.2001) · Read review
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Review of FastTrack - Visitrax

CD Lists - Not Just For Control Freaks

Advantages: Huge time and trouble savings over the DIY approach
Disadvantages: Some recent CDs are not detectable in a PC

...Like MIKEYDRED, who has also written about this, we were burgled about seven years ago, the thieves having made off with a camcorder, a still camera and my entire CD collection of some 350 CDs. Unlike other belongings, it's not exactly like you can engrave CDs with your postcode - if you indent the disc in any way, you'll probably ruin it. Luckily, the control freak in me likes to keep lists, and this coupled with the fact that we had photos of our lounge pre-burglary showing several racks full of CDs made convincing the loss-adjuster that much easier. I also got exactly what I was claiming to within a tenner! So lists are a ?damned fine idea? in my book; the only problem is, a list of CDs complete with tracks and artist names is a very laborious thing to have to enter by typing, whatever means you have for storing the database...

BNibbles 14.10.2002 (18.10.2002) · Read review
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Review of FastTrack - Visitrax

Watch the pounds fall off with slim fast

Advantages: Cheap, delicious and convenient.
Disadvantages: You will have to buy new clothes to show off your new found figure

...I?m getting married on the 1st September and I would like to lose a bit of weight before our big day. I have previously tried weight watchers and slimming world lost quite a bit of weight but I am the type of person that will eat all my daily points in one go or get bored of eating the same thing. I have never tried slim fast before so I decided to give it ago. I am going to be on the diet for 3 months and hope to drop a dress size or two. I have been slim fast for one week and I have lost 6lbs!!!! I am very pleased so far. I had heard about the Cambridge diet and looked into starting it instead of slim fast but it is very expensive and hard to get hold of. In many ways it is very similar to slim fast but with slim fast there is a large variety of flavours and options. Slim fast appealed to me because it is very simple to follow...

superstar1212 04.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Slim Fast