Portable 24-bit/96kHz FireWire Recording System

The Samsung SyncMaster 205BW is one of these rare cases of a very good quality TFT monitor at a low price for its class and 20' viewing space.

Samsung has demonstrated great ability in manufacturing low cost but high performance flat panel displays in a highly competitive market. The SyncMaster 226BW active TFT matrix rarely ships with dead pixels and the quality leaves a lot to be desired by other brands.

The only serious shortfall for any buyer would be the 2ms response time. Most new 22" monitors sport 4-5ms response time.

The Evolution X-Session MIDI controller is a revolutionary DJ tool that enables you to scratch, cut loops and mix tracks using a classic 60mm cross-fader. It features 10 assignable buttons that allow you trigger audio loops and digital effects. You can also instantly mute and un-mute tracks. The 16 MIDI assignable knobs give you control over volume, panning, digital effects and other MIDI controlled synth parameters.

The Behringer UMX49 U-Control MIDI Keyboard packs a 49-Key USB/MIDI Controller with USB/Audio Interface, 50 Software Instruments and Ableton Live Lite 4 in one box. The capabilities of this synth are out of sync with the price which starts at just £80. The keyboards flexibility and plenty keys means that you get value for money.

It's not often that you find a large viewing space for under £150. If you are thinking about upgrading for that extra viewing space you can't go wrong with the Acer AL2216W 22" wide TFT screen. Surely it is not one of the best in the market but it does the job well for the budget studio or home PC.

The colors are great and the viewing angle is fine for this category. The contrast ratio is good at 700:1 and the 5ms response rate gives a flick free and relaxing eye experience.

The new FreeAgent Go, Seagate external portable hard drive has an array of good features. Apart from 160GB storage space, there is a bundled software named Ceedo that allows you to synchronise data between different computers. It brings your desktop environment in a mobile state without having to physically remove drives or carry a laptop.

The Seagate FreeAgent Go brands a very slick smooth design in complete pocket size for the fashion concious.

The EMU 1212M V2 PCI sound card is a bargain solution if you are not looking for a large number of inputs but want guaranteed quality in mic preamps and internal PCI processing.

The Mackie 1604 Vlz PRO studio mixer is an industry standard when looking for a reliable 16 channel solution. This is not top of the range but very affordable to the medium size studio owner.

Sony's MDR-V600 Studio Monitor Series Stereo Headphones are engineered to perform in high end audio applications.

The sound of the Sony MDR-V600 Studio Monitor stereo headphones is detailed as emulates the sound of a good pair of monitors. You still need to always double check your recordings after a headphone session on your normal sound system in order to get used to the differences and similarities in the sound.