So I have had my eye on a few MIDI controllers on eBay for the past week or so, since M-Audio has been EXTREMELY slow with any sort of Leopard-friendly drivers. This morning I happened to glance at a few options on the Guitar Center (a.k.a. “Satan”) website at my options for MIDI controllers. One controller in particular was the Korg K61 USB MIDI controller, but it was priced at $179.99 — a bit much for what I can afford to pay for. I did have about $120 that I saved up for in my budget, so I was prepared to get the smaller 49-key version at $99.

Well, when I arrived at Guitar Center (a.k.a. “the music store that drives out any healthy competition”), I noticed that their K61 was on sale… we’re talking big time on sale…

…for $99.00…

So I bought the controller and will get a chance to mess with it over this long, holiday weekend. I’ll be sure to post my thoughts about how well it responds and interacts with GarageBand.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Korg keyboards. I know that I just can’t go wrong with them, and am almost certain I won’t have any compatibility problems with the latest operating system from Apple.

Filed under: All Things Apple, Gear, Music
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Tomorrow, it will have been three weeks since Apple released their new operating system Leopard to the public — OS X 10.5 — and it was no small event. Apple had been shouting from the hilltops of Apple.com since June, that they were nearly finished with Leopard. That means that software and hardware developers should have had access to the operating system guts to begin working on driver updates for the new operating system.

Now five months after Apple made that announcement, “pro” audio hardware manufacturer M-Audio continues to drive their reputation further into the ground with a blanket statement (*cough* lazy excuses *cough*) for why they have yet to release updated drivers for their products for the new Mac operating system. This statement released by M-Audio said:

Due to the nature of software and driver development, we are not able to provide exact dates for when specific drivers will become available—but please rest assured that supporting Leopard is a top priority for us. As soon as Leopard drivers or updates for any product become available, our Web site will be immediately updated to reflect this.

In other words, they have no clue as to when we can expect our audio devices to function.

Frankly, I’m tired of going back to M-Audio’s website and checking for updates — after three weeks of checking for updates and seeing nothing new (at all), I’m beginning to think that M-Audio would rather keep its customers in the dark than thoroughly informed. If it was really going to take this long to get some simple updates to their drivers, they should have set up an e-mail listserv or subscription to be notified when said drivers are available.

I don’t know about the rest of their products, but even the simple MIDISPORT 1×1 MIDI controller is not functioning in Leopard. I honestly can’t imagine what has changed with how Apple handles USB and MIDI interfacing — not a whole lot by my guestimation. When I look through all of the 300+ new OSX features, I don’t see anything that indicates a change in how USB or MIDI is handled.

So I hope M-Audio pulls up its bootstraps and gets a release out soon or I’m going to have to leave behind my M-Audio days in favor of a pro audio company that stays current on operating systems updates and doesn’t rely on telling the end user what to do…

…If you choose to install Leopard on your system before your M-Audio product has been qualified for use with the new OS, please be aware that your M-Audio device may not function properly…

Let’s get it in gear M-Audio.

Filed under: All Things Apple, Gear, Music
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So I could have sworn that I blogged about how our band (”Crash Effect“) has basically come together…but now that I look back I realize that I didn’t. Anyway…quick recap.

The other evening after a rehearsal with my friends Paul and Jamison [we're rehearsing a couple songs that we're playing at Jamison's church on an upcoming Sunday], and I happened to ask Paul if he’d be interested in starting up a band with me. He was seemed pretty enthusiastic about the idea…but we had only one problem…he had no drum set. He sold his a while back.

Well, my instantaneous answer (without even thinking) was, “well, I’ll just have to pray that God provides you a drum set, then”—not really thinking that God would actually GIVE me a drum set. No way. So I got home that night, crawled into bed and began to ask God for a drum set for Paul. It was like someone knocked me up side the head with a fish and God basically said, “uh, you’ve ALREADY GOT a drum set…remember? The one sitting in your attic collecting dust?”

He was right. I’ve an old 1968 Apollo drumset—essentially a vintage Slingerland knock-off—that basically needed some serious cleaning, new heads, cymbals, kick pedal, hi-hat, stands and a little TLC. That was this evening’s project: clean up the set and put new heads on.

Though I couldn’t fulfill Paul’s entire list of heads, I ended up with the following:

• 14″ snare (top) - Remo pinstripe
• 14″ snare (bottom) - Remo Emporer transparent head
• 13″ Tom (top) - Remo pinstripe clear head
• 13″ Tom (bottom) - Evans hydraulic glass head [not real glass]
• 16″ Tom (top) - same as 13″
• 16″ Tom (bottom) - same as 13″
• 20″ kick (attack side) - Remo powerstroke III ebony head
• 20″ kick (front) - Evans EMAD resonate head

Basically now I’ve got about everything. We just need to get a few cymbals and stands, as well as an arm for the 13″ tom. The mounting bracket on top the kick is REALLY lame. It uses regular nuts for adjusting the positioning. THAT’S GOTTA GO.

I mounted and tuned the heads the way Paul likes them and the kit sounds AMAZING…especially for having been neglected for over a decade now. Check out some of the photos from this evening’s restoration of my vintage 1968 Apollo drumset.

The apollo drumset before restoration

(more…)

Filed under: Gear, Music
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Well, I made the plunge and purchased the Canon Digital Rebel XT and have to say that I’m EXTREMELY pleased with its performance. EXTREMELY. I especially love the manual features with the built in light meter, which helps you adjust the aperture settings for the given light conditions. It sure makes doing manual SLR camera work a heck of a lot easier for the amateur. You simply set the appropriate ISO setting to control shutter speed, adjust your aperature according to the light meter on the display and you’re good to go.

I played with it around the house, taking close-ups, getting cool pattern shots and of course took some pictures of the boys — Frankie and Charlie. Of course these are seriously reduced in size (800 x 533). I’ve got it set at high and the dimensions are about 3456 x 2304.

This camera’s going to be so much fun.

I am a bit disappointed that my Tamron AF zoom lense won’t fit. But according to the Tamron website, they do have adapters for Canon FD’s…but I’m not sure what an FD is. I will probably stop by there on Saturday or Sunday to try and find an adapter — I don’t want to just let a $170 lens go to waste.

The one other disappointment with the Canon Digital Rebel XT is that it uses Compact Flash for its storage — and my HP Pavilion dv1000 doesn’t have a CF card slot. It has everything else — SD, MS/Pro, MMC, SM, XD. But fortunately Windows XP does a REAL GOOD JOB of connecting to my camera with the provided USB cable. It auto-installed the drivers and ran an easy-to-use wizard that grabbed the photos and gave me the option to remove them off the card, too. Quite easy to use.

So if you’re thinking about getting the Canon Digital Rebel XT, don’t bother with all the software they give you. If you’re running XP, it should connect to your camera just fine without the unnecessary, harddrive-clogging software.

It’s a great camera — well worth the money invested.

Filed under: Gear, General
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My friend Isaac turned me onto a guy’s blog (Joel on Software) He’s got a great article there, called “Hitting The High Notes“, which he presents some great ideas on what really makes a software company successful—hiring the best designers or programmers. No brainer, right? Well it seems that while most companies are down-sizing and trying to get the most with least expenditure, they’re missing the boat altogether.

He cites successful examples, gives some good raw data and statistics, and and gives a few good illustrations, too. Heck, he makes me wanna work for him—just in his criticism of Wal*Mart alone sold me.

In a related topic of excellence verses just getting crap out as fast as you can without serious overhead—I’ve got this newer Curtis portable CD player for my desk that I bought at Target. I didn’t wanna buy anything super expensive, but for $70 you’d think it’d last a while, right? There’s something seriously screwed up with the LED display. On the track number display, the furthest left | line doesn’t show up anymore. And today? My clock is displaying in what appears to be 24-hour format… even if I didn’t change it to that display. I can’t figure it out. I didn’t do anything to it and it’s showing 24-hour formatted time. Cheap POS.

It just underscores why it pays off to build good stuff, period.

Filed under: Development, Gear, Websites
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It does exist afterall….

http://www.drgadget.co.uk/product.php?xProd=759&xSec=1

Update:Now there’s a vendor in the US that sells an in-dash player that has USB support. SWEEEEEET.

The Pyle AM/FM-MPX CD/MP3 Player w/USB Input [model PLCDUSB78MP3] has a huge array of features:

• AM/FM-MPX Tuner CD/MP3 Player
• PLL Synthesizer Tuning
• Motorized Slide Down Detachable Face
• White LED Multi-Color LCD Display
• DSP Control: Pop, Rock, Classic, Flat
• Auto Best Station Memory/Preset Scan
• CD-R/CD-RW for MP3 Playback
• ID3 Tag Information Display of MP3 File Name
• Electronic Anti-Shock for CD/MP3
• Pause/Intro Scan/Repeat/Random
• Track Skip-Forward Reverse
• Preset EQ & Power Meter
• Mode Button: Radio, CD/MP3, CDC, AUX, USB
• 30 Station Memory: 18FM/12AM
• Encoder Electronic Audio Control: Volume/ Balance/Bass/Treble/ Fader
• 1 Bit D/A Converter
• 3 Beam Laser Tracking
• 8x Oversampling
• Anti-Shock Mechanism
• Auto Power Loading
• Local/Distance, Mono/Stereo Button
• Loudness, Mute, Clock Button
• RCA Preamp Output
• Full Illumination & Carrying Case
• US/European Frequency Compatible
• ISO/DIN Chassis & Remote Control
• USB Input For MP3
• CD Changer Control
• Aux Input for Video
• 200 Watts Maximum Total Output

Looks like I’ll be modifying my car stereo a bit soon. Being that I spend about five to six hours on the road each week (just for the morning commute), it seems like a worthwhile investment. The only thing that’d be better is a portable FM broadcaster that’d play mp3’s from a USB and Memory Stick. Then I could just take the broadcaster with me in whatever car I’m in or at work.

Filed under: Gear
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My cubemate just picked up a cool little device for his iPod that allows him to broadcast his songs to an FM frequency, so he can play it on his car stereo or pretty much wherever he’s got an FM radio available nearby. Sweet, huh?

Well, it got me curious as to wondering… can this be done with an iPAQ? Apparently it can.

I’m sure this is old news by now and I’m years behind, but this is certainly on my must-buy list. Apparently it takes the signal from the headphones jack and then broadcasts it with the device to an open FM channel, which you specify on the device.

Now if someone would just invent the ability/capacity to either play USB jumpdrives in your car stereo or somehow connect them to an iPAQ type device. I know that USB works on a Master/Slave relationship and the slave (USB device) requires power—an iPAQ is a slave device. But if they could somehow make an attachement to alter that relationship and provide power through an adapter… think of the cool capabilities you’d have. 2 GIG storage for your iPAQ. Man, that’s just something that needs to be created. Or even a USB hub/adapter for your iPAQ that could act as a master controlling all your devices and allowing your iPAQ to access them all.

‘Course at that point, I guess I might as well just get a laptop, eh? Now if I only had 2 grand to blow.

Filed under: Gear
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