Here’s a novel solution to the need for portable recording: the new Gemini iKey lets you leave the computer at home for recording, but only provided you connect your own USB hard drive. (See Harmony Central; nothing posted at Gemini’s site as I write this.)
The good news: it only costs US$229 and lets you connect however much hard drive space you need. The bad news: you’ll have to lug two boxes to record, and this only includes RCA connectors — no XLR ins, so you can’t record from microphones (or a lot of other things from that matter).
Bottom line: who cares? Gemini claims “Never before has a portable device allowed you to do this without extra hardware and software.” By which I guess they mean, never has a “portable” device “allowed you” to need an extra hard drive just to record. And as for a hard drive that can record without a computer? Uh, wouldn’t that be virtually every MP3 player on the market? (Even the iPod can pull it off — just get iPodLinux and a power adapter, and you’re done.) And that solves the problem of how to fit your 4 hour gig onto an SD car– wait a minute, do you really want to record that whole thing anyway? On the upside: the mockup has giant LEDs.
Other blogger watch: MusicThing’s Tom agrees this doesn’t quite make sense, though he’s naturally impressed by the fact that it’s white.