by Steve Cunningham
Every now and again a device comes along that makes you slap your forehead and exclaim “Why didn’t they think of this before?” Well, maybe not... but the little Tranzport wireless remote control for your computer audio editor certainly qualifies for a “dope slap” reaction.
The problem that Tranzport controller solves is a common one, especially for voiceover talent and production folks that record themselves solo. Instead of the hassle of running long keyboard and mouse cables into the recording booth, or even worse, having to hit the spacebar and then dash back in front of the microphone where you then try to settle down and read the copy, you could just carry the wireless Tranzport DAW controller into the booth with you, press the REC button, and read the copy.
The Tranzport comes to us from Frontier Design, a small company based in New Hampshire that has been building audio interfaces for the past ten years. More recently, Frontier Design has partnered with TASCAM, and has co-designed most of TASCAM’s USB and Firewire interface/control surface products, including the US-428 and FW-1884 products. These guys clearly know their stuff.
The TranzPort is a small, wireless workstation controller that works with Mac OSX (10.2.8 or higher) and Windows 2000 or XP (including Service Pack 2). It comes with a small USB transmitter and receiver, called the Bridge, which plugs into a USB port on your computer and lets the remote operate your editor from better than 30 feet away.
It’s bi-directional, which is to say that data flows both to and from your editor, allowing Tranzport to display track information on its backlit LCD screen.