Why not review the Cortex HDC500 Digital Music Controller now?

Support for various hard drive & flash-based music players such as Apple iPod^TM and External CD/DVD Rom Drives
Take a client's request from his iPod or USB memory flash drive, plug it in, and play it right away without having to reboot the unit. With two USB ports (and support for up to 4 devices when using a USB hub), the HDC unit allows users to connect and recognize multiple storage devices to access a variety of separate music databases simultaneously. No need to abandon the CD collection, the HDC-500 is able to play audio CDs with any compatible USB CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. Play back user-created CD-Rs or DVD-Rs loaded with MP3 or WAV music files using a compatible USB CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

Intelligent Music Database Management
The HDC-500 uses a database management system that allows the user to search through a massive library of music within seconds, by artist, title, genre, album or even by string.

Multiple search options including file explorer and BPM search
The cataloging system gives you several browsing options, including Search by Artist, Song, Title, Album, BPM and Genre. This system allows users to search the same way they would using an iPod^TM or similar portable music player. Users can search by a certain word or phrase to find tracks on their storage device, even if they're unsure of the name. When the user inputs a keyword, it will search all Artists, Titles, Albums, and Genres, and show all matches to that keyword. For instance, searching for the word 'LOVE' might bring up (3) artists. It might also find (60) titles, (10) albums and (1) genre. The user can then select the artists, titles, albums, or genres from that list.

Playlist creation with iTunes Playlist Compatibility
Easily make Playlists and sort songs based on Artist, Genre, etc., via your computer for use on your HDC-500 unit with new Database Software. Also when using an iPod^TM the iPod^TM playlist will become available in the search field.

4 line 80-charcter LCD display for playback information, parameter adjustments & Waveform display
The brightly illuminated LCD main playback screen displays info on any track in the catalog, showing everything from the essentials such as artist, track title, pitch, time elapsed/remaining to detailed information including file format (MP3 or WAV), genre, and track length and Waveform Display.

Front and Rear USB ports for easy access
As well as having a high speed USB connection in the back the HDC-500 includes one right in the front of the machine for easy access when the unit is rack mounted. Both USB connections allow you to connect any kind of media as well as an optional USB keyboard.

USB Keyboard connection for search and navigation
Quickly find that hot new track in a massive library of music with just a few taps of a USB-compatible keyboard. Also control all the basic functions of the HDC-500 via the keyboard like Play, Pause and Navigation.

Jog Wheel with Jog Mode Select
The HDC-500's multifunction Jog Wheel let you change modes on the fly, in the default mode the wheel acts as a pitch controller and in Jog Mode the wheel allows you to use it for fast forwarding and rewinding, as well when in any of the other modes of the HDC-500 like Search, Edit and/or CUEING the Jog wheel can be used as a navigation tool.

Scratch Effect Mode
Imagine manipulating your Mp3 files like you would Vinyl, well in scratch effect mode on the HDC-500 you can. With the touch of a button the HDC-500 allows you to use its super sensitive Jog wheel like you would a record and emulate scratching.

Seamless Loop
The HDC-500 now allows you to create seamless loops during playback. Once the Seamless Loop feature is engaged The HDC-500 can loop any part of a track, loop features include IN, OUT and RELOOP.

Savable User-configurable setup menu
All the settings of the HDC-500 can be adjusted and saved and will be recalled every time you use that particular media device. As well The HDC's internal software can be upgraded simply by downloading new software from the Cortex website.

One Touch Song and ID3 tag info button
When either side of the HDC-500 has a song loaded into it by pressing the INFO button for that corresponding side the HDC-500's display will show you the ID3 tag information for that particular song.

Free Cortex Database Software
Although this software is not needed to operate the Cortex it allows you to use the processing power of your computer to create waveforms and help manage all your music files at the click of a mouse button. Databases can be created via the HDC unit or the PC application, allowing users to create and manage database files at a gig, or on a home computer (Mac or PC) with lightning fast speed. The free software can easily be downloaded off our website.

Single/Continuous play modes
Just as in most CD players the HDC-500 lets you choose between playing on song at a time (Single Mode) and continuing on to the next song on the playlist (Continuous Mode).

Shuffle Mode for unattended playback
Once you have created a playlist with the Cortex software or even if you just have a group of songs on a media storage device in no particular order, Shuffle Mode will randomly play all the music on that particular device and automatically fade from one song to another unattended.

Auto-fade mode
Every DJ knows not every song ends just right, In Auto-Fade mode the HDC-500 will look for the actual musical ending of a song and fade it in to the next song, Fully Adjustable between 1- 12 sec and whether in Shuffle mode or continuous mode the HDC-500 will eliminate the gap's of air between songs for smooth continuous playback.

Two time display modes
The HDC-500 will let you see time displayed in two modes, time remaining represents how much time is left on a track/song or Time Elapsed which will display how far into a track you are.

Frame accurate search
Accuracy is the most important feature in any digital player, The HDC-500 has frame accurate searching which translates to pin-point accurate searching, cueing and of course playback.

Pitch Control Fader and Bend Button with range of +/- 24%
Pitch adjust on the HDC-500 comes via three ways the (1) The Pitch fader which glides up and down to adjust pitch smoothly or (2) The Pitch bend button which Allows you to bend the pitch up or down in bursts for mix fine tuning or, (3) the jog wheel which works sort of like a record player by gently nudging the pitch faster or slower, all of these ways can be set to three different percentages of pitch 8%, 16% and 24% giving you a wide range Pitch adjustment.

Performance protection
Every Cortex HDC unit features exclusive protection from accidental shutdown while playing, securing your precious digital files from sudden corruption and preserving your performance. To turn the unit off, simply press and hold the power button for more than 2 seconds.

Rugged 1U Slim Designed Steel frame Construction
The normal DJ environment is not a gentle one! Knowing this we at Cortex made sure that the HDC-500 was built from the finest steel and ABS plastics providing you with a solid feeling machine that will handle any application you can put it through, while still maintaining the slimmest profile in its class. The Buttons the faders and especially the jog wheels are all of the finest quality with a Tough Rugged design.

German, Spanish and French Language support
As well as English the HDC-500 allows you to choose three other languages for it's display with more to come! Currently there is support for German, Spanish and French.