The rear panel has two USB ports of type A and B, meaning that you can add a USB memory stick or external hard disk and a USB MIDI controller. But that's as far as traditional niceties go there isn't even a main volume control! Adjusting the level involves pressing the 'Volumes' button, then using the encoders, which is far from ideal. The mic input (complete with phantom power) conceals a neatly integrated stereo line connection and even sports a physical level knob. Thus, with only a pair of balanced jacks, you'll either have to rely on the internal effects or process each sample in advance. Unusually, there are two headphone sockets with separate levels, ideal for impromptu collaboration on the bus or in the park, but there are no individual outputs, which is a significant omission. It's a squat 28 x 21 x 7cm and is surprisingly heavy, at almost 3kg, according to my kitchen scales. The left encoder moves the cursor and the other is for data entry.Ĭhunky is a word I can't avoid recycling, but few products earn it like this curvy box of black steel.
All navigation is via two encoders of the push-and-turn type, with a clicking action for every increment. Beneath the display, four buttons shift functionality as required, while a row of Function keys provide popular items such as Save, Exit, Undo and Delete.
Any surviving Knight Rider fans will probably relish the retro backlit grille, while everyone else sits back to admire the 3.5-inch colour TFT display and innovative side-mounted pitch and modulation wheels. Stepping from no blang right up to total retina burn-out, repeated presses of this button provide enough illumination options to satisfy boring old farts and loosely-trousered youths alike. Keen to tone this down, I fumbled around, eventually hitting the button marked Blang (what else?). Every rubber button (there's one for all the important functions) is backlit in a vivid, dazzling blue.
This was not merely an attempt to feel cool enough to beat the thang. Having waited patiently for it to boot, I lurched at once for my shades. My Beat Thang experience began with a shock. With portability bestowed by a Lithium Ion battery, it ships stocked with an assortment of production-level samples, not just drums. It is accompanied by Beat Thang Virtual, a purely software version that can act as a plug-in. Described as a portable production system, the Beat Thang could equally be viewed as a sampler in drum machine's clothes. This "portable production system” certainly looks the part, but does its performance measure up to its dramatic styling?īeat Kangz Electronics' first hardware product is blessed with an enthusiastically daft name, but this in no way indicates a lack of ambition.
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