If you have visited this site before you will have noticed that I have recently changed the design to The Morning After, which after a lot of research I found to be, together with Arthemia, one of the best free Wordpress themes around.

The only thing I wasn’t very happy about The Morning After is that unlike Arthemia, the automatic thumbnail generation in The Morning After wasn’t complete. Therefore, since I had some experience setting up other blogs here and here I decided to create a customized version using a script called TimThumb which works very well for automatically resizing images to create thumbnails in Wordpress. The advantage is that now all thumbnails are created automatically, including the ones for the featured and latest post.

Just download the zip file with the modified theme from here. The folder named “scripts” is where the TimThumbs script is stored. Once you’ve copied the files to your Wordpress installation you must make this folder and its subfolders writable, some people recommend using 777 ftp file permissions but I find my installation works fine with 755. In order to make the thumbnails work you have to create a custom field named “thumb” and give it a value of the full path to the image you have uploaded.

Finally, a little tip for the correct visualization of the Thumbnails. If you go to the wp-content/uploads folder in your wordpress installation you’ll notice that when you upload a file it is stored in the original size and 3 more sizes, each one is easily recognized by the size information appended to the file name, like “…/mypicture-300×200.jpg”. I usually copy the path from the link from the wordpress writing window but if you use one of the resized pictures Timthumb will stretch it to make the latest post thumbnail and it will look bad. To make sure this doesn’t happen just remove the “thumb” custom field size information from the picture path to “…/mypicture.jpg” this will ensure that TimThumb will use the original image as the source for the thumbnail generation.

The start window has some buttons from where we can load kits, save a project and export. If we click on the upper left corner button a little popup window comes out. The first one is used to navigate between the different sections of the program, the one on the lower left corner are the song controls, with play, stop and tempo buttons.

First thing we do is in the Home window press the Load button. That takes us to a screen where we select a sound kits, there’s plenty to choose from ranging all sorts of styles, from Hip Hop, Drum’n Bass, Funky, Jazz, etc. There are also artists’ kits and with the help of a software called BeatPack that we can download from the company’s website for free we can import our own kits. Each kit is limited to 16 sounds what somewhat limits the possibilities of the application.

The Pad matrix is very intuitive to use

The main windows from where we are going to work are called Pads and Sequencer. The first one shows a nice matrix of 16 buttons with a graphical style that imitates an Akai beatbox and makes it very intuitive. You press and it sounds, easy. The responsiveness is good and if you press play and record we’ll hear the metronome and we can start creating loops immediately.

The pattern sequencer

Once we are satisfied with our first loop we stop and head to the Sequencer window. This Sequencer has two levels of resolution, a pattern and a note one. The one we see first is the pattern sequencer. Initially it will contain our only pattern and we can change the loop settings to control the length of the song. For each bar just pressing on the same row as a pattern will switch it on or off to copy it across the song. By clicking on the first box of a pattern row we’ll zoom in to the note sequencer and from there we’ll be able to edit the 16 tracks in that pattern, sound by sound and to delete or add new notes according to the quantize level. Now, if we want to have slightly different versions of the same pattern we only have to click on the bottom popup button bar select “pattern edit” and “duplicate pattern”. That’ll create a new pattern track that from the main sequencer window we’ll now be able to see and edit.

Let’s go back to the Pads window. Now that our song is taking shape now we’ll want to do a bit of mixing and FX. On the left side there’s a number of control buttons. From here the first thing to do is choose the pattern we want to edit by pressing the “pattern” button and locating the one we’re interested in. Then on the “mixer” button we can select any of the sounds and adjust the volume and pan and very importantly, the output bus, by default all tracks are sent to the FX 1 bus. There are only 3 buses to choose from the main out, FX 1 and FX 2, so this is somewhat limited.

Pressing on the upper left button the popup menu appears and we head to the FX screen, which is divided in two identical halves. The left side is for FX 1 and the right one is for FX 2. By clicking on the bypass button we’ll activate the effect. We have no way of changing the order but the available effects sound good and are fun to use. There’s a delay, an EQ, bitcrusher and a filter.

From the pitch editor we can create simple melodies

Melodies, let’s say we have an amazing rythm track and want to add a little melody. Just create the base pattern on the sequencer or with the pads and then go to the sequencer window, click on the pattern editor and on the lower popup control choose “step editors” and click on “pitch” in the following choice of buttons. Now we’ll be able to control the semitones from the root note we want each note to sound like. We won’t be writing a symphonic orchestra arrangement this way but for electronic music bass lines and simple melodies it should be fine.

Export, now from the upper popup menu let’s select “home” and there first “save project” and then “export”. That’ll give us the option to export as a .wav or a Midi song and save it locally in the iPod/iPhone. Next with the help of the Beatpack tool we’ll be able to retrieve it to our computer.

Conclusion, I think this is to date the most powerful tool to make serious music in the iPod/iPhone. Its interface takes full advantage of the touchscreen. The kits are good and for the price it would be worth to buy this just for the sounds. If we add a sequencer and pad controls then it is a clear choice.

However, there’s loads of room for improvement. I would be delighted to have it include some simple synth to make bass lines and melodies with and a few more FX sends and even insert effects with more effects to choose from like compression, reverb and distorsion. The biggest inconvenience to stop me from using it more is the choice to only export to a stereo .wav file or a .mid file. I’d love to have the possibility to do a multitrack export to quickly add it to our favourite sequencer. The only option we have is to download the drum kits to our computer and use the MIDI export, takes a bit more work but is more flexible.

All in all a highly recommended music tool.

Below I’ve posted an audio example song just a few bars long that I created as I was learning to use this tool.

Download audio file (20091029 – any given day.mp3)

Long before I had an iPod I read this article on Wired.com and found it not only cute but also convenient. So when I bought my iPod I decided to do the same and try to fit my iPod into a Moleskine. I went to my local OfficeMax shop and found all the required ingredients:

1. a steel ruler
2. an exacto knife (or box cutter)
3. glue (white glue, the one used in schools) and some UHU glue
4. a little brush
5. a Moleskine (preferably a sketchbook one)

Instead of the Moleskine all I could find was a clone from a brand called Danpex and unfortunaltely there wasn’t anything like the sketchbook, which would have made it easier since there are less pages.

I started by making the hole in all the pages with the box cutter and the ruler, usually making the cutting lines before with a pen, sometimes cutting more than one simultaneously since the cutter would go deep into the notebook. I left 5 pages in the beginning and 5 pages in the end without holes. This process took maybe a couple of hours. Then I removed the little pouch attached to the inside of the back cover. Finally, I started gluing the pages together with the white glue. You can use an empty tuna tin or similar to pour a generous amount of white glue into it so that we can dip the brush in it. Then spread the white glue with the brush in every single page and carefully glue each page into the rest of the pages. This process took a little longer than an hour. Finally the last 5 pages that didn’t have a hole were glued together to the rest and the backcover using UHU glue. When it was done I put a pile of books on top of it and left it to dry overnight. The next day the whole thing was hard as a brick.

I’d make a recommendation though. If possible use the sketchbook instead of a normal notebook since there are less pages and these are thicker making the whole process a lot easier and a better quality result.

You can see the final result in the picture, it looks good, it is very discreet and I can take it everywhere without people noticing that I’m actually reading on an iPod. It also protects the iPod very well, better than most commercial protective cases.

I love reading books in the iPod touch. It had always been quite annoying to try to read books in the laptop so I mostly used it to read nonfiction books such as technical books that not necessarily have to be read from start to finish. One of the first things I did with my iPod was investigate into which was the best software to read pdf’s and ebooks.

I installed two:

First, Stanza, a free app that comes with a great online library and is linked to the Project Gutenberg and therefore we can downloads thousands of classic books for free straightaway. It is also linked to other online bookstores where we can buy loads of books.

The second one was a PDF reader, GoodReader, which was for a limited time offer of $0.99 was an irresistible temptation and works like a charm. It even gives you the possibility, if the pdf formatting allows it, to extract the text from the current PDF page into text so that GoodReader makes the text formatting perfectly fit the iPod screen, The navigation is easy with the touch screen.

RealTraps are very professional and within a few days I had my PVB at home and ready for some testing. The packaging was excellent. The PVB came in a solid cardboard box with protective styrofoam in the corners to easily withstand the trip from the factory.

The PVB comes with a metallic piece that can be effortlessly attached to any standard mic stand, as shown in the picture. I recommend that you get yourself a solic mic stand cos the PVB is relatively heavy and my mic stand tilts slightly by the weight of the PVB when it is at full height for vocal recording, although it shouldn’t really be a problem in any case. The construction of the PVB is good, it looks solid and that will probably last many years of use.

Let’s go into the sound aspects. Even before mounting it I unfolded it and spoke into it and could already hear the damping. I’ve been trying it with my Rode NT1A microphone directly into the Focusrite Saffire and so far recorded vocals and spanish guitar and the results are excellent, the sound is instantly dryer and better than I imagined I could get in that room without any complicated and expensive treatment.

So that you can judge by yourself I have uploaded some examples below.

Guitar Sample Without Portable Vocal Booth
Download audio file (20091019 – Guitar Sample Without Portable Vocal Booth.mp3)

Guitar Sample With Portable Vocal Booth
Download audio file (20091019 – Guitar Sample With Portable Vocal Booth.mp3)

Last friday I went to the coach station in Puebla to take a coach to Acapulco for the weekend. Yes, nice . I made the reservation on the phone and they gave me a code to get the tickets once at the station. Usually I would have used my mobile phone for this but this time I had my iPod and was eager to use the Evernote application. Evernote is an very good application for storing all sorts of notes and I recommend to everyone.

So I created a new note with the iPod app and saved it as one of my favorites by pressing the little star to the left of the title. I made sure that the note was listed in the favorites, which according to Evernote documentation that forces the note to be saved also locally and therefore accessible without a connection. Once at the queue just before it was our turn I pulled out the iPod to check the code, went to the favorites and instead of the code all I could see was the typical “loading” sign of a turning circle just like the one you get in your browser while a website is loading. Thanks to the people from the coach company they let us board just using my id without a problem but what if that information had been more important? I’ll have to find a reliable application instead of evernote, don’t want to be left without my notes everytime I’m offline. Just beware of using Evernote offline for important information.

I already wrote a post about gapingvoid. I just love the cartoons and I also love the “How to be creative” book that Hugh McLeod wrote made freely available to download here in pdf format. Now he has released a “dead tree” and kindle format book named Ignore Everybody and 39 other keys to creativity. I’d have prefered that he had also a pdf version too since he has always been an internet artist and I don’t like buying non novel books in paper format anymore since I know that they’ll end up using space and collecting dust in a shelf. However, I made an exception this time since I’m a big fan of him.

The book gives us the insight of how the cretive process starts and how the motivation to do it has to come from ourselves and that nobody knows how good an idea is if it’s really new and maybe even people who are close to us will resist it since it might change the balance in our relationships but that should not stop us. I think this can be useful not only for the more classic creative people “musicians, painters, cartoonists, etc.” but for everyone. How to pursue your goals and achieve your targets in life. The book is obviously full of his lovely cartoons drawn at the back of cards. Absolutely recommended.

I’m writing this post from my new iPod touch using the wordpress application. Lately I’ve been reading a few reviews of cool apps to make music with and with all the other stuff it comes with it seems to me a bargain for the price now that it’s only around $200 for the 8GB version. I don’t really want it for the music since my creative zen still does a great job, especially now that spotify isn’t working anymore for being away from home and while I find some kind soul to setup a VPN for me it’s still gonna be much needed.

Starting with a quick review. The first thing I realized was how cool, light and well designed it is and once I started playing with it I couldn’t stop.

So far I’ve downloaded a bunch of free apps from the store and a few of them to make music. There’s a piano and a simple substractive synth and they sound great. Also a multitrack recorder and a guitar tuner. However, I’ll only be able to use these ones when I get myself a mic but i’m looking forward to it since it can be very handy as a quick draft tool for writing songs.

The screen is very sensitive and it’s very easy to play melodies and chords. There’s also a free version of Groovemaker, which although I’ve only been able to play with for a few minutes looks and sounds very promising. And this is only the start. I guess that the Ipod had the potential to become an extremely powerful tool for making music.

Quite predictably, as soft synths became popular and computers more powerful there’ve been many attempts to emulate the sound of the Minimoog. Some better than others. The ones I had used before are the Arturia Minimoog V and the GForce Minimonsta. Both are excellent and sound great but what just I discovered is that the MinimogueVA is my favourite and it is free. Yes, completely free. I’ve never used a hardware Minimoog so I can’t really compare it to the original but since I have a soft spot for vintage synth emulations and I’ve played a lot with my hardware Korg MS-10 all I can say is that I love the MinimogueVA. It is lightweight in terms of space, requirements and processing power but is a monster in terms of sound. It even comes with 128 excellent preset sounds. I also want to thank its creators Richard Brooks, Glen Stegner and Gunnar Ekornås for their excellent work.

Note, if you feel like creating your own sounds or editing the existing presets the FAQ section of the MinimogueVA website is where the controls are explained. However, if you’re interested in learning about the original Minimoog you can download the original Minimoog manual and some sound charts from here.