Rio Karma Review, Addendum: Underground Lair of the Karma

March 28, 2004

Talked to one of the Rio engineers and got a few corrections and additions to the technical data.
- The CPU is the 5003, not the 5002. The 5003 has a better cache architecture and some other improvements (and an ethernet …

Rio Karma Review, Pt IV: Secret Order of the Karma

March 24, 2004

Rio hasn't published any detailed specs for the Karma beyond the usual product-sheet stuff, so I've gathered what backend information I could find about its inner workings. A big thanks to Dave Marsh and everyone over at Riovolution …

Rio Karma Review, Pt III: Night of the Living Karma

March 16, 2004

As far as navigation, this thing is in a class of its own. All files transferred to the Karma need to have tidy ID3 tags, because that's how everything's organized. The onboard database allows for browsing and selection by Artist, …

Rio Karma Review, Pt. II: Son of Karma

March 15, 2004

The menu and database systems are excellent, and as I'd later learn, they're a product of engineers who really seem to be proud of their work. It shows. Unlike the iRiver, the Karma doesn't show up as an MSC device. …

iRiver is dead, long live the Karma

March 14, 2004

When my old NJB3 died, I realized just what a gap I had in my life without one of these little gizmos. If you've read anything on this site, you know what a geek I am for music. …

Possible IE CSS fix

March 12, 2004

Well, Internet Explorer went live within the last few days. Apparently, the biggest new feature is pop-up blocking (like Mozilla had two years ago). From what I've gathered, CSS is still broken to some extent, though.

Sigh.

These standards came …

Reniform Puls

March 11, 2004

The closing track almost justifies the initial comments I heard comparing this record to Amber. Despite the chattering percussion, things open with a soft palette, and there's an easily discernable and almost trite (for Autechre) descending minor-key chord progression. …

V-Proc

March 10, 2004

In contrast, this track is more conservative. It opens with a vocal sustained vocal patch that gets swallowed by cavernous reverb while a metallic chord (think "Squeller") shudders at the periphery. There's a sense of subdued drama and …

Ae interviews

March 8, 2004

Alex Reynolds has a couple of interviews archived on his site. Quite good, especially the one from 092801, in which Sean Booth lays the generative-music rumors to rest.

iRiver updates

March 1, 2004

It's been almost three months without a firmware update, with no new one in sight. The only update since January has been a Korean firmware update (1.40 K), which doesn't add anything useful, though some users claim a slight improvement …