Macworld Creative pro Expo NY

Macworld Creative Pro Expo NY-
A Post Mortem

BY BILL CHACHKES

9.2003
Issue No.12

To say that this past Macworld NY was disappointing is understating the case. The expo floor was one-fourth the size of past shows. The focus has shifted away from general Mac products and towards the creative endeavors including Digital Music, Digital Photography, and Graphic and Web design. The skill that some of the artists displayed in their work continues to astound me (see photo). This year’s digital art gallery was packed with high quality work as always.

Going over to some product sightings, one item that caught my eye was the Mustek DV Cam. Not much larger then the size of a DV tape, the camera captures 640 by 480 video. Perfect for spies (see Photo), the Mustek won’t get you that grant from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for HBO’s project Greenlight, but it will record your video and let you get it into your computer through its Firewire port. The list is $299, but it won’t be available until after Labor Day. Speaking of cameras, I plan to jump to a pro Digital SLR sometime next year. One of the models I am considering is the Nikon D100. I got to go hands on with the D-100 at the show’s Nikon booth. WOW! Talk about a camera with high quality resolution! The D-100 sports a 6.23 Mega Pixel gross (6.04mp effective) image chip. Not for those short on income, the D-100 lists at $1,699 without lenses.

Once again, Guitar Center had a booth, and were showing off several Midi Software packages as well as Keyboard controllers. Edirol had a larger model (5 octaves-61 keys) of the keyboard I saw at the opening of the Apple store in Huntington (see express June issue). This one I got to play, and was able to simulate a lead guitar sound patch (hear sound demo). I would have played an entire song, but there was a line behind me to try out the instrument. Midi software maker Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) was showing off a new OSX compliant version of REASON. Reason is basically what programs like Band in a Box used to be. You can record single tracks and tie them together, or multitrack an entire album from just a few notes of music. Reason may not have the guts of those old analog synths of the 1970’s, like the Moog, the Oberhiem, or the Prophet series, but the tonal range is quite wide. I was reminded of the Moody Blues’ Patrick Moraz and Emerson, Lake & Palmers’ Keith Emerson.

Apple managed to save the show with it’s display of the new PowerMac G5 tower, and it’s many hands-on working models. I went hands-on with one of the G5’s running Explorer, and was impressed by the speed that pages would load. I also liked the display model showing the new machines’ guts (see Photos), as well as its sleek faceplate.

I got to spend some time working our group’s booth, and spoke to many people about the benefits of membership. My thanks to Michelle Dollinger and Ann Popescu for their time as well. I also got some photos of staff at the booth, including a visit from our Webmaster Marc Silverman, and our President Chris Bastian (who more than just visited!)

Once again I have to rant about the Central Park Internet Café. It was horrendously slow access again. IDG fails to see what is plainly in front of our faces. If you produce a weak show, you get weak results, from poor attendance to fewer vendor booths. We can only hope IDG reverses itself and makes a few changes. I guess if we have to settle for a CREATIVE PRO show, we could get some good service out of our free Internet Café, right?