If Edirol's new P-10 Visual Presenter is badass, it's only because the unit stands on the shoulders of giants. Based on the venerable audio samplers produced by Roland / Boss -- for decades the cornerstones of hip hop and other sample-based music -- the P-10 is a video sampler tailored towards instant sampling and playback, perfect for live performances.

The unit's housing and control layout is basically the same as a SP-303, with the addition of a video playback screen for monitoring without the need for any additional hardware. Samples are accessed by tapping the twelve rubberized pads on the P-10's face.

The P-10 supports both NTSC and PAL video playback, and samples video in Motion JPEG for VJ-style scratching. The unit can also sample still images in JPEG format, and even supports WAV files for old time's sake. You can convert clips into JPEG and drop them onto the unit, or sample directly to the P-10's 16gb SD Card drive.

The onboard video effects [each with a dedicated control knob for real-time adjustment] include auto looping, auto-reverse, strobe, color adjustment and output fade.

The intuitive interface on the P-10 makes it perfect for triggering video during live performances. Just try and remember which clip is where; you don't want to be shredding and have that clip of Splinter appear on screen. How would THAT make any sense?