Cortex will begin shipping the HDC-1000, a patent-pending USB host-controller digital music manipulation platform, to musical instrument retailers September 15, 2006.

“With the rise of portable media players and mass storage devices being a source for storing and playing music Cortex developed the HDC-1000 to utilize this technology and bring it to the DJ realm,” explains CEO Artie Cabasso. “The HDC-1000 will be the first unit in the world to manipulate music files from an external USB device and will make the DJ look differently about how they will transport their music collection.”

Using USB compatibility to give DJs the power to cue up, play, pitch, manipulate, scratch and search digital music files like never before, HDC-1000 users can access their music collections utilizing a wide array of storage devices including the iPod, external USB hard-drives and flash drives, CD-ROM, and even DVDROM drives. DJ’s can even connect and access multiple storage devices with the HDC’s device selection option.

Providing DJ’s with a higher platform of performance, the HDC-1000 offers an ‘intelligent music database management’ system by where databases of tracks are built and stored on each compatible storage device to allow the user to find any track lightning fast, regardless of the number of tracks on the device, displaying all the essentials on its bright LCD playback screen including artist, track title, time elapsed, and time remaining.

Its unique cataloging system gives you a number of browsing options when searching a database, including Search by Artist, Song Title and Genre. With the String Search function, users can even search by a certain word or phrase to find tracks, even if they’re not completely sure of the name. You can also get information on any track in the database showing everything from artist and track title to the file format, genre, or length of the track.

In addition, the unit is equipped with ultra-precise pitch resolution (up to +/-24), front and rear USB ports with device selection menu and multifunction navigation keys.

“With the HDC-1000 dual digital music controller, Cortex ushers in a new digital era of DJ technology by putting the art of performance back into the DJ booth and relegates the laptop back to being an internet porn surfing tool,” clarifies Alan Cabasso, President.

More information is available at the Cortex site.