Reviews of Things I Have

The Boss DR-5 is essentially a drum machine for guitar players. It features a wealth of famous Roland drum sounds, including the essential TR-808. In addition to the large assortment of drum sounds, the DR-5 also contains various pianos, strings, synths and other instruments.

The pad layout should be comforting to any guitarist, due to the pads being arranged like a fretboard. Basically, there are six strings and six frets, and you can use arrow keys to move up and down the fretboard. This is especially useful for those of us that have specific fretboard patterns we are comfortable with, and the translation from guitar is really quite intuitive.

The DR-5 also features a guitar tuner and amp simulation, both of which work quite well. A rather interesting and quirky bonus is the ability to control the synth banks with any electric guitar. The tracking isn’t phenomenal, but if you have high output pickups and only play single, staccato notes – it’s actually quite usable, and a great feature for those of us who’d like to use synth sounds with our guitars but don’t want to pony up for the Roland guitar synth.

In addition to the guitar-oriented aspects, you can also do multi-track arrangement on the DR-5, and save songs for later use. I haven’t delved too far into this, as it requires extensive manual reading and I don’t really plan to use this feature. From what I can tell, this unit can be used as a 4-track audio recorder, as well.

MIDI is present, so you may use an external midi controller to operate the DR-5, or use the DR-5 as a MIDI out. I plan to use it as the latter, for recording purposes.

With the Turbo Start guide from Roland’s website, I was able to quickly perform all of the functions it described, without any issues. However, I imagine that to truly delve into the total functionality of this unit would be quite a chore – it’s one of the least user friendly pieces of gear I’ve ever owned.

The Boss DR-5 – cool, weird and kinda hard to use.

I had myself an Angry Whopper from Burger King for lunch the other day, and, let me tell you, it may have been the angriest sandwich I have ever purchased.

The whole thing was sort of a mess, and it left me feeling confused, bloated, and on the verge of implosion.

For those who are unaware, the Angry Whopper is a BK Whopper hamburger with the traditional fixings, plus pepperjack cheese, jalapeños, “Angry Sauce,” and “Angry Onions.” (The last two items are what give the sandwich its upset personality, and, as far as I can tell, are on no other items in the Burger King Menu.) I think mine may have had bacon on it too. I don’t recall; my memory is blurry.

The jalapeños were spicy but not too spicy. The sauce was pretty hot as well but equalized a bit by the mayonnaise. The “Angry Onions” were comparably somewhat spicy and may or may not have been mostly/entirely synthetic like maraschino cherries… I didn’t question it.

Like many fast food items, the first bite of the Angry Whopper was ravenous. The second, slower but still determined. The third, cautious and modest. And so on and so on, until the last bite was taken as if it were the desperate, final lashing of a cruel and merciless torturing.

In conclusion, I give the Angry Whopper from Burger King 1 “Oh, my God, what did I just eat?” and 2 “Uhhhgggg, why do I do this to myself?”s.

Also, the fries were a little too greasy.

The Korg CA-30 is a chromatic tuner for guitar, bass, and other instruments. Since it is chromatic (not confined to any one scale or set of notes), it is especially good for ukuleles, violins, mandolins, or any other instrument outside the traditional E-A-D-G-B-E monotony.

It features a built-in microphone for acoustic guitar, along with the obligatory input jack for electric instruments. The large LCD screen displays a precise, not-too-jittery needle for accurate sharp and flat adjustments, aided by three LEDs above the screen. The left red LED means you’re too flat, the right says you’re too sharp, and the green one in the middle says you’re right on the money.

Tuning can be changed to different Hz variations for musical non-conformants and the unit has a detection range of C1, freakishly low, to C8, crazily high. Those are scientific terms, I think.

The Korg CA-30 Chromatic Tuner is a solid investment and depending on where you get it from, prices range from the low teens to almost 20.

The X-Acto 12″ Heavy Duty Paper Trimmer (Model Number 26312) has a wooden, gridded board with heavy duty plastic feet, arm, ruler, and guide. The blade is made of steel and a “safety guard” bar protects clumsy fingertips from getting into trouble (though they should still be cautious). According to the package, the product can cut up to 12 sheets of paper at a time.

I bought mine from Staples awhile ago for around $50. I brought it home, unpackaged it, and got myself ready for some intense paper cutting sessions.

Within minutes of use, the “hardened steel blade” got a kink in it and rendered itself close to useless, and I’m sure I was trying to cut less than the recommended 12 sheets at the time. Subsequent attempts to work around this shortcoming by making shorter cuts or repositioning the paper after each one only put more kinks in the apparently low-quality metal blade.

I’ve been too busy to call customer service and ask for a new blade, as the included warranty says I can do, but will post the results of that when I do it.

My ruling on the X-Acto 12″ Heavy Duty Paper Trimmer: Save your receipt!

I got a pocket sketchbook from Moleskine for Christmas from my brother and like it pretty well so far. It’s a 3.5″ by 5.5″ signature-bound, hardcover notebook great for sticking in a pocket (as the name suggests) or purse.

Moleskine notebooks are currently pretty popular among the GTD, lifehacker, and savvy hipster crowds. I must admit, I can see the appeal. There’s something about a beautifully-bound stack of paper that calls out to you in ways a spiral notebook never can.

Despite the implications of the brand’s name, their products are not made of cotton moleskin, but of a vinyl, leather-like oilcloth. The sketchbook has a hard, cardboard cover. Other Moleskines, like the ruled notebook, have soft covers.

Inside are 80 pages of pretty thick, smooth, acid-free, slightly yellowed paper, perfect for thick ink, pencil, tempera, and maybe even some pastel or crayon.

The first page has an “In case of loss” form for contact information and a reward for return. The back inside cover has a pocket for notes or the included Moleskine history and catalog.

The oilcloth cover would emboss wonderfully, and the back has the brandname on it. As I currently don’t have an embossing machine, mine has a sticker on it, because, you know, I’m cool like that.

The back cover secures an elastic band meant to wrap around the book to keep it closed when not in use. There’s also a bookmark tassel worked into the top of the spine for marking your current page.

According to the included information, Moleskine books are manufactured in China and designed/assembled in Italy. According the the website, the sketchbook’s paper is Italian.

The included pamphlet has contact information for customer service, who are, from what I understand, ready and willing to send you a replacement should you find any defect in your book.

http://www.moleskineus.com/sketchpocket.html