Berklee College of Music

When Berklee College of Music in Boston was planning to upgrade some audio stations in some of its classrooms and practice rooms, the school tested the Superscope PAC770 All-in-One Sound System and Superscope PSD230 Portable CD Player to gauge the benefits of the audio equipment’s innovative music practice controls. 

Subsequently, Berklee installed a PAC770 system in 37 classrooms and made more than 15 PSD230 CD players available to teachers for one-on-one instruction with students in various music practice rooms throughout the college. 

The following year, Berklee added another two dozen of the sound systems. The PAC770 sound system combines a 110W stereo amplifier, 10 channel mixer, cassette recorder, and CD player in one integrated rackmount design. 

PAC’s appeal to Berklee stemmed from both its capabilities and its ease of use. The Superscope PAC770 can dramatically slow the tempo of any CD without affecting the music’s key, change the key +/- one octave in half step intervals, select A-B practice loops, and reduce lead vocals (depending on the recording) on any CD. These CD features are also available on the PSD230 CD player (with the PSD220 model providing tempo control and A-B looping only.) 

“The chairman and faculty evaluated the technology and liked what they heard,” says Sandro Scoccia, Performance Division Technology Coordinator for Berklee. “A lot of teachers said, ‘I want one too.’” 

In a typical classroom at Berklee, a teacher will instruct 10 to 12 students. “The teacher may use overhead transparencies to discuss instrument solo transcriptions. He or she will then play a CD of the solo using the Superscope PAC sound system, slowing down the tempo and looping the phrase on CD,” says Scoccia. Vocal classes use Key Control to instantly change a song’s key without affecting the tempo. They may use PAC770’s lead vocal reduction feature so that students can replace the lead vocal track with their own live accompaniment. 

In music practice rooms, teachers use the PSD230 or PAC770 systems with a pair of speakers for the same tempo control and A-B practice looping capabilities. “A student might bring in a Charlie Parker or Wes Montgomery CD and say, ‘let’s work on this,’” says Scoccia. Teachers then slow down the recordings so that students can practice guitar licks or a difficult horn solos at a level the students can play. He suggests that music schools should consider installing the PAC750 preamp-only version to use with quality, but modestly powered speakers in practice rooms or govern the volume level of the PAC770. “That way, there’s less chance of the volume getting too loud and disrupting practice in a neighboring room,” he says. 

Another big advantage of the Superscope PAC sound system is that anyone can quickly master it, says Scoccia. “While other, more expensive equipment or software can do key transposition, A-B looping, and tempo change, Superscope’s equipment does it all and is simple for the teachers and students to operate.” 

The mixer level controls are clearly labeled, with recessed individual mic/line EQ and pan controls located on the back to “set once and forget.” The CD player’s music practice controls are easy and quick to operate. He also considers the Superscope integrated sound system a good value, compared to buying and installing separate components. “It’s compact, so you don’t have to rack up and wire together a lot of units,” he says. 

“The quality is top notch. We’re very happy with these products and plan on putting them in more of our classrooms and practice rooms as we replace older audio equipment.” Because the risk of a component failing in an integrated system was a concern, Berklee kept a PAC770 in storage as a backup, but hasn’t had to use it yet. Also, Superscope’s commitment to fast turnaround in the event a unit would need factory-certified servicing within or outside of warranty has alleviated that concern.