Gemini CDMP-1400 Professional CD and USB Mass Storage Device Player

Comments about Gemini CDMP-1400 Professional CD and USB Mass Storage Device Player:

I installed the CDMP-1400 in the rack of my public radio station's on-air control room, plugged in the XLR cables (no labeling of L-R output on XLR, but the right channel seems to be closest to the outer edge) and started using the player right away.

The unit also has (labeled) RCA outputs, and a hybrid 1/4 inch jack/XLR mic input for club mixing.

The documentation is not user friendly or complete, having each section in multiple languages rather than a full user's guide in each language, but after some experience with the unit, I was able to write up instructions for the show hosts.

The unit is not quite as forgiving of marginal quality CDs as some pro-machines might be, but the CDMP-1400 does indeed play MP3 CD-R's and most audio CDs, as well as USB thumb drives and audio from a USB hard drive that I tried out.

For USB files, I wouldn't recommend trying to access a directory of more than 50 titles, since the directory is navigated one song at a time with the selector knob (rotating the knob repeatedly will gradually move through the file listings, but you can't jump forward, say, to the middle or end of the directory. For large music databases you really need a computer. This unit would excel with a playlist of content prepared for one or two air shifts, rather than allowing you to bring in thousands of songs on your hard drive in order to accommodate requests...again, you'll need a computer for that.

I had to turn the volume control knob all the way up to get the best output level to the mixer, but the audio level was fine at that level. There is also a mic input level control.

I placed a note reminding folks not to attempt feeding paper-labelled CDs or credit-card CDs into the slot. We have a couple of old Sony CD-RW/burner units with trays for that sort of thing.

I'm not using the remote in the control room, though it does have some interesting features that would be useful for analysis, such as support for calculating the beats per minute on any song.

I don't anticipate a use for the looping feature, and am not sure yet how to cancel an inadvertant cue point in a song without powering down the player, but in most cases this isn't an issue.

The pitch controls are straightforward, and I do like the common controls for navigating CD tracks and USB-accessed audio files.

Once a CD (or USB device) loads, the selector switch is used to line up the track or file that you want, and then you press in on the selector knob to lock the track or load the file (if you don't do this on CDs, they will eventually jump back to the first track.

I don't know yet how well the unit will wear, but it seems well worth the asking price.