User manual

The Cortex HDC-3000 has been designed & engineered to provide dig-
ital music playback and manipulation features demanded by profession-
al users. The HDC-3000 is designed to liberate DJs from the issues asso-
ciated with PC-based solutions, by eliminating the need for a computer
during performance. The HDC-3000 also offers superior portability and
flexibility over that of a typical PC.
The Jog Wheels on the HDC-3000 provide highly precise control for a
variety of functions. With the Jog Wheel, the User can search, pitch
bend or even scratch just as if it were a vinyl turntable! As well, this
can provide an extremely powerful navigation tool for searching
menus, changing parameters and selecting music on your hard drive.
High precision 60mm slide potentiometer for accurate adjustment of
speed.
• 0.05% pitch precision
In order to provide more precise pitch adjustment, the unit is able to
advance in increments of 0.05%. This aids in beatmatching between two
musical programs, with much finer pitch resolution than can be found on
most conventional professional CD players.
• Multiple pitch ranges
With pitch ranges of 4, 8, 12, and 24%, the pitch control’s minimum and
maximum values can be altered to augment or reduce the amount of
pitch adjustment to a musical program.
• Pitch ON/OFF
By pressing the PITCH + and PITCH - buttons simultaneously, this toggles
whether or not the unit will respond to changes via the PITCH CONTROL
slide. The Pitch ON/OFF feature also functions as a pitch reset, when it
is used to turn the pitch OFF.
The backlit 192x128 graphical LCD screen shows a variety of informa-
tion, including track titles, times, pitch, setup options, waveforms, hot
starts, loops and search parameters. This display allows more extensive
visualization of parameters than a conventional CD player.
The HDC-3000 provides a wealth of effect choices for whatever style of
DJ you are. Under the hood, the HDC3000 provides two effects groups,
each having a wide variety of creative uses. Group one consists of cre-
ative remix effects such as filter, echo, flange, pan and a sampler.
Group two consists of reverse, scratch, master tempo and key adjust. Any
effect can from group one can be combined with goup two to provide a
wealth of remix options for the creative DJ.
The HDC3000 allows you to set up to 4 different Hot Cue CUE
POINTS using buttons 1-4, as well as setting a traditional cue point with
the CUE button. As your music is playing, if you would like it to jump to
one of your set CUE POINTS, simply press that individual CUE button and
the music will jump instantly. This allows the DJ to either stutter cue or
even re-sequence the program material in a creative fashion.
For further creative options, the HDC-3000 provides for seamless loops
for the DJ to use at any time. Loop In and Out points can be edited on
the fly, with no limit in time, length or position. Up to four loop can be
used per song.
The HDC-3000 offers an unparalled level of connectivity with all driver-
less USB devices. The Cortex line of products are the first to offer the
ability to manipulate music stored on USB devices such as hard drives,
flash memory, optical drives, and personal music players, regardless of
platform. Through this innovation, DJs are able to consolidate the
amount of equipment and music needed during a performance. Even
more USB devices can be connected with the use of a compatible USB
hub.
Despite the fact that a vast majority of people have access to USB stor-
age devices or portable music players, the Cortex HDC-3000 supports
the playback of CD Audio discs through a compatible USB external CD-
ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, or DVD-RW drive. This is particularly useful
for DJs making a gradual migration, or for playing CDs provided by
clients. Note that both sides can share one optical drive, but only one
track can be played at a time. For dual-deck CD functionality, simply
connect two USB optical drives.
The entire line of Cortex Digital Music Players allows for the manage-
ment of music collections via a database-driven system. Using this
method, the database can be queried based on a number of different
criteria. This allows DJs to search by artist, title, genre, album, or search
string. Using this method allows the DJ to find a specific music selection
within seconds. The database is saved to the storage device the music is
being drawn from, so that it can be used with any Cortex unit, whether
it’s in your personal rig or at a club!Cue Points that have been memo-
rized using the HDC-3000 are also stored along with the database
information on the active storage device. Once a Cue Point has been
stored, DJs have the ability to recall it each time that track is loaded.
The HDC-3000 supports iPod Playlists, which can be created using Apple
iTunes®. When there are iPod Playlists available to be loaded, a menu
option will appear in the main Search Options menu
Quick Start Guide
Features
4
Jog Wheels
Seamless Looping
Pitch Control
Backlit LCD Display
Cross-Platform USB Connectivity
DSP Effects Processor
Cue Points/Hot Cue Storage
CD Audio support
Database-Driven Music Management
iPod Playlist Support