As we get more processing power, the digital music industry is getting more capable of providing incredibly feature rich tools. They’re really so great that we would like to see Ludwig van Beethoven trying these. Imagine what he could do…

…with more than 160 instruments played by virtuosos at his command at all times!

We searched for the best instrument soundbank. There are some powerful competitors but the one which appears to be the most complete package is EastWest Quantum Leap COLOSSUS. The VST (Virtual Studio Technology) sound archive has 32GB of 24-bit recordings of real instruments. Every note and practically all possible actions are recorded.

The sound archive is used with the KONTAKT 2 sampler. Colossus’ instruments are organised into 19 basic types containing sounds that cover all musical genres. So many intruments to choose from including Guitars, Pianos, Strings, Drums, Plucked & Strummed, Organs, Keyboards & Mallets, Orchestra & Choir, Pop Brass, Ethnic & New Age Ensembles, Synth Basses, Leads & Pads and more.

This is crazy!

When it comes to controlling all that instrumental insanity, you will need a nice MIDI controller. USB MIDI keyboards have built-in MIDI interface so you don’t need additional equipment for connection. Just plug & play-for real! A sound card with 24-bit support and low latency is clearly required. That’s no problem these days, just don’t get the cheapest one.

This is M-Audio Keystation 88es. M-Audio is a very well known brand in the digital music equipment market, recently acquired by Avid.

Anyway, Keystation 88es is an 88 key, semi-weighted USB MIDI controller and it’s about 135 cm long! Almost as wide as a Grand Piano. There are even 25 key controllers but hey, we’re talking about commanding a symphonic orchestra! As the name tells, 88es is a controller, so don’t expect any direct sound from it. It does one thing and does it good; sending velocity-sensitive MIDI signals to your PC. Then, the signals are processed by a VST host program such as Kompakt which comes with Colossus or Steinberg Cubase SX which is the ultimate composer’s tool around.

The keystation 88es is about $200 and one of the best value-for-money MIDI keyboards. The EastWest Colossus pack is about $500 after discount.  The total cost of this set up is only equal to a cheap guitar.

VST instruments are amazing and great fun to play with. A must for the serious composer and capable of turning anyone with some talent into a composer as well. If you’re into making music, try it!

Here is a stylish home-theatre-in-a-box from Philips. The real beauty of Philips HTS9800W home theatre system is it’s unique DVD unit. The box has three 125 Watt front speakers, three wireless rear speakers (two 85 Watt and one 105 Watt) and a 150 Watt subwoofer. The ultra slim flat panel speakers offer natural and crystal clear sound quality with Omni-directional Neodymium Ribbon Tweeters.

The nifty system offers HDMI (High-Definition Multi-media Interface) port and Video Upscaling up to 1080i to increase the resolution of Standard Definition video signals and is fully backward compatible with DVI.

One of the few 6.1-channel home cinema systems offering Dolby Digital EX decoding.

With a price tag of $349, Bose QC3 isn’t cheap but the sound quality, 20 hours of operational battery life and excellent noise cancelling features make it one of the best headphones available.

Bose Quiet-Comfort 3 is considerably smaller than the previous model, QC2. QC 3 is an “on-ear” headphone while Quiet Comfort 2 is an “around-ear” design. So, the main difference of QC3 is it’s small size. No compromises in sound quality.

Samsung did it again. Everything you ask for in a trendy compact body. What differs Samsung Yepp K5 from other MP3 players is its sliding speakers hidden underneath the unit.

Magnesium coated case resists scratches. The same coating used in Samsung’s top of the line Ultra Series cellphones.

Up to 30 hours of battery life, bright color screen, FM receiver and ergonomic touch sensitive controls. This is a serious alternative to iPods; if you hate their looks and eventually want to be a bit more unique!

Marantz SA7001 reads Compact Discs and Super Audio CDs with two-channel layer. With a decoupled chassis, drive mechanism is isolated against vibrations. This Marantz pro-audio player is capable of actively producing warm and smooth high and midband frequency sounds which makes your music more realistic with a deepened sense of enjoyment.

Samsung Z5 4GB

Battery Life: 37 Hours
WMA-DRM: Yes
FM: No
Video: No

Sony NW-E005 2GB

Battery Life: 30 Hours
WMA-DRM: Yes
FM: No
Video: No

I-River U10 1GB

Battery Life: 28 Hours
WMA-DRM: Yes
FM: Yes
Video: Yes

Sandisk Sansa e200 6GB

Battery Life: 19 Hours
WMA-DRM: Yes
FM: No
Video: Yes

Apple iPod Nano 4GB

Battery Life: 11 Hours
WMA-DRM: No
FM: No
Video: No

Line-6 Variax can be simply defined as an entire guitar collection in a single instrument. Technically, it’s called a “modelling guitar” which reproduce 25 of the best sounding instruments in the guitar history which were carefully researched and their souls are captured in a single guitar body. Nice, isn’t it?

The legend guitar sounds include:

• 1959 Fender Stratocaster 
• 1960 Fender Telecaster Custom
• 1968 Fender Telecaster
• 1968 Fender Telecaster Thinline
• 1952 Gibson Les Paul “Goldtop” 
• 1953 Gibson Super 400 
• 1955 Gibson Les Paul Special 
• 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior 
• 1957 Gibson ES-175 
• 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard
• 1961 Gibson ES-335 
• 1961 Gibson Les Paul Custom (3 PU)
• 1976 Gibson Firebird V
• 1995 Gibson J-200
• 1956 Gretsch Silver Jet 
• 1959 Gretsch 6120
• 1966 Rickenbacker 360-12 
• 1968 Rickenbacker 360
• 1967 Epiphone Casino
• 1959 Martin D-28
• 1967 Martin O-18 
• 1970 Martin D 12-28
• 1966 Guild F212
• 1935 Dobro Alumilite
• Danelectro 3021
• Coral/Dano Electric Sitar
• Gibson Mastertone Banjo
• 1928 National Style 2 “Tricone”

It’s not over! You can even build your very custom guitar with the Variax Workbench software. Select different types of guitar bodies, choose pickups and their placement then tweak more to design unique guitar models. What feels great is being able to physically hold and play the virtual guitar you’ve just created on your computer.

Normally, you can’t expect a real acoustic guitar sound from an electric guitar but this thing just does it like magic. It has even a 12 string model sound built-in.

If you’re into guitars, you must certainly check this one out. The price is only a fraction of the cost of even only one of the guitars it simulates, but so much more fun awaits!

Philips’ wireless headphone SBC HC8545 will give you the freedom of listening to your favorite songs cablelessly, within a 100m. radius in your home. It comes handy whenever there’s a reason that makes you keep your 1000 Watt Hi-Fi silent.

Being free of cables is great but the device has that disturbing Auto-ON function. The FM transmitter starts sending signal when it detects a sound signal. The problem is that it delays like more than a second. The other problem is again an Auto “mis”function. Like the Auto-ON function, after a minute or so when it senses there’s no signal input, it switches OFF automatically and when it does this, the headphone speakers make a disturbing shut-off noise. We believe that these issues must be solved before calling these the ultimate wireless headphone solution.

The PLV-Z4 is one the most feature rich home theater projector in its price class. Latest generation high contrast 1280×720 LCD panels and dual iris system with wide range of lumen output provide a great viewing experience.

If you think that the more it costs the better it must be, don’t miss the opportunity to test the Sanyo PLV-Z4. With a price tag of about $2000, it’s capable of competing with higher end home theater projectors and can save you quite some money!

Aesthetics are important in a home theatre system, and Samsung took the chance to get things right. That’s a gorgeous home theatre system. The tower speakers, sub-bass and cleanly designed DVD player / receiver are encased in a black metal chassis.

Samsung’s total RMS power rating is 800 watts, split up into 130 watts for each of the five satellite speakers and 150 watts for the subwoofer.

DVD player supports all major formats including DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, VCD, DivX, SACD, MP3-CD, WMA-CD, CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs. The unit has also an USB host which lets you connect your mp3 player or flash memory directly so, eliminating the need to burn another CD.

The Samsung HT-P1200 is awarded The Best Home Theatre System by EISA.