Finale 2010 fail

February 9, 2010

I either must really, really not be the target audience, or Finale 2010 for Mac is underwhelming to the point of sucking. Last week was my first time using Finale since 2003 in music class, and my install lasted about 10 minutes before going straight to the trash.
It feels like a Microsoft product of the [...]

Minimalism and the site

February 5, 2010

Certain things that once seemed cool when the blogging world was nascent I now consider trite unnecessary clutter.
Therefore, as of today:
Blogroll: gone.
Tag cloud: gone.
Post calendar: gone.
When you’ve got search, who uses a tag cloud? Or when you’ve got archives, who cares about a post calendar? And a blogroll seems spammy. Better replaced by posts linking [...]

iPad announcement sidenotes

January 27, 2010

Despite buying Placebase in October 2009 the iPad still uses Google Maps. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to wait until June to see what that brings to the table.
Similarly to the original iPhone’s ugly chin, 3G connectivity requires an ugly plastic window that even wraps around to the front. Look for the 3G picture [...]

MIDI keyboard in a pinch

January 15, 2010

While typically people work in a studio to accomplish most kinds of creative production, inspiration can certainly arrive at less than opportune times. In the case of music making, my two favorite DAWs (Logic and Ableton Live) both offer onscreen keyboards that simulate a real MIDI keyboard. Obviously you sacrifice velocity sensitivity, but this can [...]

Breathing fiberglass, round two

December 15, 2009

Four years ago I installed some Cat5e cable throughout the house (that’s Ethernet cable for you non-network types). Last time it was for three upstairs rooms, and it went pretty well despite the sweltering heat in the attic.
Last week I finished installing another outlet in the den. This one was harder since the cable ran [...]

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