As part of our continuing effort to make Onstage even more informative and useful, we're adding some cool new features this issue. First, we're happy to announce that we are now including multimedia files (audio, video, and MIDI) — as well as supplementary text and graphics — on our Web site (www.onstagemag.com). We're calling them Online Extras, and we've put them on the site to support and expand upon the content in the printed edition of the magazine.
When you see one of these icons in the magazine — in a feature, a review, a department, or a column — it means that there's supporting content available on our site.
audio video text graphics MIDI
Whether it's audio examples from a cool piece of gear, an MP3 or video from an artist we're profiling, or an additional interview, all you have to do is go to our site and click on the Online Extras link.
We've also made some major changes in the product-review rating system. In the past we've given an overall rating of 1 to 5 to each product, with 5 being the highest possible score. Although that system worked fairly well, we felt we could improve it and make it more informative. Here's what we came up with:
Rather than giving a piece of gear an overall score, we have broken it down into four categories, each with a 1 to 5 rating (with a rating of 3 indicating a solid, if average, product). The first category, Features, is a measure of the entire feature set. To score 3 in this category, the item must contain all the necessary functionality for products of its type. A higher score indicates that there are lots of features, and to score really high a product must be truly innovative as well.
The second category, Sound Quality, is pretty straightforward. If a product sounds good — particularly in relation to others of its type — it will get a good rating. A very high score in this category indicates exceptional sound quality.
Next is Road Readiness, which is of special interest to performing musicians because it rates how well a product is designed to withstand the rigors of gigging. A particular piece of gear may be just fine in a studio, but when you take it out on a gig it must be held to a different standard. This rating takes into account factors such as overall durability, ease of use onstage (if you have to scroll through multiple screens to get to an important feature, for example, the product probably won't score well), and ease of setup.
The final category, Value, rates bang for the buck — whether the instrument or piece of gear represents a good value for the money, particularly in comparison to other products of its type.
We think that these new ratings will give you a better at-a-glance overview of the products we review. We hope that you'll take the time to read each review in its entirety, of course, but for those of you who like to cut to the chase, a quick look at the four ratings will give you a pretty good idea of what the reviewer thought of the product.
