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	<title>Trnsfrmr</title>
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	<link>http://trnsfrmr.com</link>
	<description>only fools &#38; horses work.</description>
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		<title>I haz a korg iMS-20 for the iPad</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/11/10/i-haz-a-korg-ims-20-for-the-ipad/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/11/10/i-haz-a-korg-ims-20-for-the-ipad/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:04:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[korg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ms-20]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=201</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a truly amazing instrument much more so than the iElectribe. If I didn&#8217;t already own an iPad, this would be an app to make me seriously consider getting one. I own the Korg legacy collection and a rather new radias but this adds something. I can get a similar enough sound from a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is a truly amazing instrument much more so than the iElectribe. If I didn&#8217;t already own an iPad, this would be an app to make me seriously consider getting one.<br />
I own the Korg legacy collection and a rather new radias but this adds something. I can get a similar enough sound from a myriad synths but the iMS has a lot to offer in the performance department.<br />
The dual kaoss pads are magical <img src='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' />  I can&#8217;t writr a more comprehensive review right away because I&#8217;m too busy playing with the thing. I also bought propellerhead&#8217;s rebirth for the iPad today but I haven&#8217;t had the opportunity to mess with it yet. It does look quite promising though. </p>
<p>Take that fandroids. Stop throwing rocks at the throne <img src='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
This it what it sounds like after messing with it for a few minutes. I&#8217;m sure I can take it much much farther.</p>
<p><center>>>>><strong><a href='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/iPadms20.m4v'>iPadms20</a></strong><<<<</center></p>
<p>So whats next? Korg MonoPoly?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
<enclosure url="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/iPadms20.m4v" length="4758643" type="video/mp4" />
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I haz a Radias!</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/11/04/i-haz-a-radias/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/11/04/i-haz-a-radias/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:50:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Radias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I caved and picked up a radias. Here are my first impressions of it compared to my Ti Polar. I wish I bought the keyboard version. This baby sounds very bright to my ears. Is this because all I&#8217;ve played in the last 2 years is the Polar? I keep reaching for the hi [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I caved and picked up a radias. Here are my first impressions of it compared to my Ti Polar.</p>
<p>I wish I bought the keyboard version.</p>
<p>This baby sounds very bright to my ears. Is this because all I&#8217;ve played in the last 2 years is the Polar? I keep reaching for the hi eq knob and cranking it all the way to the left.</p>
<p>Nice variety of effects but not as cool as the triton&#8217;s or the m3&#8242;s</p>
<p>The interface is much more intuitive than the Virus&#8217; even though they seem very similar superficially</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t get the ring of lights around the knobs. I always assumed it worked like the encoder rings on the Nord lead 3</p>
<p>Has step and mod sequencers that the Virus lacks. Virus 4 added the arp to matrix feature but you have to fire up Virus Control for that</p>
<p>Vocoder sounds more musical to me then the Polar&#8217;s but maybe I need to spend more time with the Virus vocoder. Headband mic is a nice plus. Actually i won&#8217;t waste time trying out the Polar&#8217;s vocoder. I had it for 2 years and it wasn&#8217;t inviting enough for me to use until recently. I&#8217;m so satisfied with the vocoder that I might not have bothered getting my rocktron talkbox if I had heard it first.</p>
<p>The exposed rack ears are annoying and make the Radias look like a pos</p>
<p><a href="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/radias-e1288847595186.jpeg"><img src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/radias-e1288847660553.jpeg" alt="" title="radias end cap" width="698" height="998" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-200" /></a>
</p>
<p>Presets suck so i had no problem wiping out the first few banks. I don&#8217;t get this. Korg has some of the best programmers in the world so why the sucky presets? MS2000 patches I downloaded didn&#8217;t sound like I remembered them. The artist banks sucked as well to me</p>
<p>I love being able to switch between timbres so quickly and edit them in the context of the Combi as a whole. Again Virus&#8217; multi implementation isn&#8217;t as inviting albeit more flexible</p>
<p>Either I&#8217;m old and need glasses or the UI on the Radias editor software sucks biiig time. Virus control wins here</p>
<p>Filters sound brittle to my ears. Virus just sounds so smooth</p>
<p>Different enough from the Virus. I was able to recognize the Radias&#8217; sound on an album after the first day of playing with it. Something I have yet to do on a Virus.Other people claim the Virus sticks out like a sore thumb but I just never notice it.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Access Virus Ti2 KB Whiteout Edition</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/virus-ti-kb-whiteout-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/virus-ti-kb-whiteout-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:02:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Native Instruments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[korg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=194</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How utterly amazing!. Same virus Ti2 engine but they put the albino mojo on it. Wouldn&#8217;t it have been totally rad if they made the black keys a shade of grey? I&#8217;m still very happy with my Polar Ti. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve stayed in love this long with any single synth. It really did [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How utterly amazing!. Same virus Ti2 engine but they put the albino mojo on it. Wouldn&#8217;t it have been totally rad if they made the black keys a shade of grey?<br />
I&#8217;m still very happy with my Polar Ti. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve stayed in love this long with any single synth. It really did kill my gear lust. Even though I rarely get to make music these days, I always manage to sneak a in a moment of noodling on the Polar.</p>
<p>Then again there hasn&#8217;t been anything remarkable on the synth front. Micron SE seems to be just a color job, motif XF was a joke of an upgrade and I&#8217;m not even interested in looking at the DSI Mopho keyboard. Is it just me or do the Dave Smith synths have a bit of a basement workshop fit and finish? Sorry but its not just about the sound to me. A synth has to look the part. The blofeld keyboard is out of the question as well because as much as it rocks spec wise, my experience with waldorf synths hasn&#8217;t been great. I find them frustratingly buggy.</p>
<p>Reaktor 5.5 seems like a worthwhile upgrade but will I ever have the time to use it <img src='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif' alt=':-(' class='wp-smiley' /> . I get the sense that native instruments is tightening up the reliability of their line up. I&#8217;ll give battery another chance. Maybe 3.1 isn&#8217;t as crash prone as 3.0.x.</p>
<p>Looks like Korg dropped the price from $999 to $699 on the Radias-r. Should I bite? That is one fine synth and I&#8217;ve had my eyes on its knobs for a loooong time. Hmm maybe not. The time thing again. Maybe I&#8217;ll just get a Korg <a href="http://www.korg.com/mediaplayer.aspx?md=4303&#038;pd=571">monotron</a> instead and see if all of the noise about analog synths actually hold water. It can&#8217;t be bad for $60.  </p>
<p><a href="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/VirusTI2KWT.jpg"><img src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/VirusTI2KWT-300x245.jpg" alt="" title="White Is Right" width="300" height="245" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-195" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>macruby 0.6 is kinda slow :-(</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/macruby-0-6-is-kinda-slow/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/macruby-0-6-is-kinda-slow/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:18:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ruby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jruby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macruby]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=190</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I have this ruby script that reads in a bunch of csv files and creates objects of different classs using configuration info extracted from the first couple of lines in each csv file. My results showed ruby 1.9.1 to be 2.425 times faster than macruby. When I used Cocoa classes such as NSDate in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I have this ruby script that reads in a bunch of csv files and creates objects of different classs using configuration info extracted from the first couple of lines in each csv file.</p>
<p>My results showed ruby 1.9.1 to be 2.425 times faster than macruby. When I used Cocoa classes such as NSDate in place of ruby&#8217;s Parsedate, macruby improved a bit and I ended up with a ratio of 2.212. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of jruby though. Spinning up the JVM didn&#8217;t seem to have much of a negative impact.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll have to profile the script to determine where macruby is choking.</p>
<ol>
<li>ruby19 => <strong>47</strong> secs</li>
<li>jruby => <strong>50</strong> secs</li>
<li>ruby18 => <strong>80</strong> secs</li>
<li>macruby 0.6 w/ NS classes => <strong>104</strong> secs</li>
<li>macruby 0.6 => <strong>114</strong> secs</li>
</ol>
<div id="attachment_192" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 620px"><a href="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rubyshootout.png"><img src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rubyshootout.png" alt="" title="Ruby Platform Shootout" width="610" height="489" class="size-full wp-image-192" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Shorter is better.</p></div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ruby everywhere.</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/ruby-everywhere/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/ruby-everywhere/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:05:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ruby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[automator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bash]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OSX]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love Ruby so I want to use it everywhere! That means in my browser, mail, yojimbo, word and any application that will take text. So I built a very simple automator service that evaluates selected text as ruby and replaces the selection with the output from the ruby interpreter. Essentially, this service turns any [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love Ruby so I want to use it everywhere! That means in my browser, mail, yojimbo, word and any application that will take text. So I built a very simple automator service that evaluates selected text as ruby and replaces the selection with the output from the ruby interpreter.</p>
<p>Essentially, this service turns any text entry field into Irb and to make it fit into my workflow unobtrusively, I invoke it using the keyboard shortcut <strong>control-option-command R</strong>. Of course you may still perform the substitution using either the contextual or services menus.</p>
<p>I can now enter a timestamp in a document simply by typing <strong>Time.now.to_s</strong>, selecting it and hitting <strong>⌃⌥⌘R</strong> to get <strong>Mon Aug 23 15:52:46 -0400 2010</strong>.<br />
<i>&#8220;A96tATYEsqJ-9Ag5VZTdqkejjsqwAm3w8gEh-fGHGtXuYhsbgerENqIG&#8221;.upcase</i> will yield <i>&#8220;A96TATYESQJ-9AG5VZTDQKEJJSQWAM3W8GEH-FGHGTXUYHSBGERENQIG&#8221;</i>.</p>
<p> I did this for bash as well. The plan now, is to build a library of methods and scripts that I can use for frequent substitutions.</p>
<p><a href="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rubybashservices.png"><img src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rubybashservices.png" alt="" title="Ruby &amp; Bash Substitution Service" width="601" height="815" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-188" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/keyboardshortcuts.png"><img src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/keyboardshortcuts-300x271.png" alt="" title="Keyboard Shortcuts" width="300" height="271" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-185" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Automate db:pull from heroku</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/automate-dbpull-from-heroku/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/automate-dbpull-from-heroku/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:01:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heroku]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=181</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You need to use expect since &#8220;heroku db:pull&#8221; is interactive and requires user input. Alternatively, you can use expectj which as you may have already guessed, is the java implementation of expect. One advantage of using expectj is that your IDE will autocomplete the expect commands for you. #!/bin/sh expect -c " #Your timeout should [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You need to use expect since &#8220;heroku db:pull&#8221; is interactive and requires user input.<br />
Alternatively, you can use expectj which as you may have already guessed, is the java implementation of expect.<br />
One advantage of using expectj is that your IDE will autocomplete the expect commands for you.<br />
<code><br />
#!/bin/sh<br />
expect -c "<br />
#Your timeout should correspond to the number of seconds you expect pull to take.<br />
set timeout 600<br />
spawn heroku db:pull sqlite:///home/www/sites/xxx/db/xxxbackup.sqlite3 --app xxx<br />
expect \"Are you sure you wish to continue? (y/n)? \"<br />
send \"y\r\"<br />
set results $expect_out(buffer)<br />
expect eof"<br />
date >> /home/www/sites/xxx/db/backuplog.log<br />
echo "db pull done"<br />
</code></p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Rails decimal columns in Mysql</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/rails-decimal-columns-in-mysql/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/08/23/rails-decimal-columns-in-mysql/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:50:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rails]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=180</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To avoid getting weird decimal conversion issues when using Mysql, make sure you specify scale and precision options in your migrations. t.decimal :amount, :precision => 9, :scale => 2]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To avoid getting weird decimal conversion issues when using Mysql, make sure you specify scale and precision options in your migrations.<br />
<code>t.decimal :amount, :precision => 9, :scale => 2</code></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Maschine 1.5 is here :-)</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/04/20/maschine-1-5-is-here/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/04/20/maschine-1-5-is-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:15:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Native Instruments]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=178</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Maschine 1.5 is here. I&#8217;m trying to download it now but it seems the internet connect at my hotel is throttled so I may have to wait till I get home in the morning to give it another go. The update is also accompanied by a 1 gig library update as well. I&#8217;m not sure [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Maschine 1.5 is here. I&#8217;m trying to download it now but it seems the internet connect at my hotel is throttled so I may have to wait till I get home in the morning to give it another go.<br />
The update is also accompanied by a 1 gig library update as well. I&#8217;m not sure at this moment if these are all new sounds of if the library includes existing sounds reprogramed to take advantage of some of the new features.<br />
This baby may have finally tipped. NI has video blurbs by NO I.D, Needlez, Booka Shade &#038; DJ Nu-mark on their site as well as text blurbs by Flying Lotus, Ali Shaheed and Coldplay.</p>
<p>http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/maschine/?content=1194&#038;page=1420</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Adobe Flash vs Apple</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/04/10/adobe-flash-vs-apple/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/04/10/adobe-flash-vs-apple/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:32:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cocoa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=177</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In response to Apple&#8217;s decision to limit iPhone OS app development to C, C++, objective-c and JavaScript. The Flash Blog I think that by restricting Developers to a specific set of languages, Apple can somewhat ensure that developers target their platform specifically rather than have developers submit apps that are built for the lowest common [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In response to Apple&#8217;s decision to limit iPhone OS app development to C, C++, objective-c and JavaScript. <a href="http://theflashblog.com/?p=1888">The Flash Blog</a><br/></p>
<p>I think that by restricting Developers to a specific set of languages, Apple can somewhat ensure that developers target their platform specifically rather than have developers submit apps that are built for the lowest common denominator of mobile devices. I guess they don’t want to foster an environment that mirrors what’s on the web today. Most websites leave out a ton of features just because IE6 cannot support those features. I do believe that developers produce their best work when they target a specific platform and take advantage of the unique features that platform has to offer.</p>
<p>It is also good business for Apple to maintain a base of developers that are “married” to their platform. Imagine an environment where most iPhone developers migrate to Flash CS5. In such an environment, if Apple releases enhancements to their frameworks, developers would have to wait for Adobe to integrate those changes into Flash before the developers could take advantage of Apple’s improvements.</p>
<p>What if Google buys Adobe and decides CS6 will only come out on google chrome and Flash will only support Android? Apple and all developers that target iPhone OS get left in the dust!</p>
<p>Let’s face it, we always have a choice of mobile phones but when it comes to graphics applications, Adobe is a very strong monopoly. I’d be cautious siding with them on an issue such as this. It may not end well. How much is the web premium suite again? Do you think we would have to pay that much if Adobe and Macromedia never merged?</p>
<p>Adobe is a behemoth. IPhone devs may not be able to use Flash but I’ll bet my last dollar that 99.9999999876% of all graphic content you’ll see on Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Palm &#038; Android devices as well as the web will be created using Adobe’s tools. Isn’t that enough?</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t necessarily have an issue with Adobe&#8217;s goal of making flash an indispensable tool but I do think that a lot of comments in the blogosphere wrongly suggest that Adobe may have altruistic motives. Adobe&#8217;s goal isn&#8217;t to give developers choice; it is to maintain and extend the dominance Flash currently enjoys. Apple&#8217;s goal isn&#8217;t to limit developers choice but rather to ensure that their platform doesn&#8217;t become just another deployment target for Flash.</p>
<p>Consider the following: <br />
If a developer uses Flash, who becomes responsible for performance tuning? The developer or Flash? <br />
My guess is Flash.</p>
<p>If Flash achieves 65% penetration into the iPhone development market? Who becomes responsible for how efficient Flash generated byte code runs on iPhone?<br />
My guess is Apple because end users will not attribute sucky performance to Adobe but to Apple. </p>
<p>Both companies are right so there really is no need for Adobe evangelists to pretend this is a fight about open vs closed.</p>
<p>I bet the blogs on here will have a totally different tone if MS/Google/Apple release free tools that allow developers to deploy their apps as Flash files. We will not hear all the clamoring for choice on the developers behalf.</p>
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		<title>Maschine update adds Sp1200 &amp; MPC60 engine.</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/03/20/maschine-update-adds-sp1200-mpc60-engine/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/03/20/maschine-update-adds-sp1200-mpc60-engine/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:25:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=176</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been messing with beta version of the imminent maschine 1.5 update. One of the features the update adds is a vintage engine with E-mu SP-1200 and Akai MPC-60 modes. If you select the SP1200 mode, you get an option to choose from Lo, Lo-mid, Hi, Hi-mid filter times. I&#8217;ve never used an SP [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been messing with beta version of the imminent maschine 1.5 update. One of the features the update adds is a vintage engine with E-mu SP-1200 and Akai MPC-60 modes.</p>
<p>If you select the SP1200 mode, you get an option to choose from Lo, Lo-mid, Hi, Hi-mid filter times. I&#8217;ve never used an SP so I cannot really comment on how accurate the emulations are. They do sound crunchy in a good way to my ears.</p>
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		<title>Bytes, Nibbles &amp; Bits for CoreMidi</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/03/12/bytes-nibbles-bits-for-coremidi/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/03/12/bytes-nibbles-bits-for-coremidi/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:37:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cocoa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CoreMidi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MIDI]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=174</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I&#8217;m working on YAMP (yet another midi project and it took me a while to recollect all the binary arithmetic required to parse MIDI packets. Take a midi packet with 3 bytes in hexadecimal notation such as 99 3C 64. This stream encapsulates the following instructions: Play middle C on channel 10 at velocity [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I&#8217;m working on YAMP (yet another midi project <img src='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' />  and it took me a while to recollect all the binary arithmetic required to parse MIDI packets.</p>
<p>Take a midi packet with 3 bytes in hexadecimal notation such as <strong>99 3C 64</strong>. This stream encapsulates the following instructions:</p>
<p>Play middle C on channel 10 at velocity 100. Now lets strip it down to nibbles &amp; bits.</p>
<p>9 -&gt; Note on message. (Examples of other status messages are: 0xB for controller change, 0x C for program change &amp; 0xE for pitch-bend)</p>
<p>9 -&gt; Middle channel 10. (Range 0 -15)</p>
<p>3C -&gt;Middle C -&gt; Note 60</p>
<p>64 -&gt; 100 in decimal</p>
<p><strong>Determining if a stream begins with a status byte.</strong></p>
<p>A set high-bit on the first byte identifies the byte as a status message. This can be accomplished visually by converting <strong>99</strong> from hex to binary <strong>10011001</strong>,  and seeing if the first bit is 1. This can be tested mathematically with the following condtion:</p>
<p><strong>0&#215;99 &gt; 0x7F</strong></p>
<p>Once you have determined that the byte actually sets a status, you need to identify the actual status that is set. Some examples of status messages are: <strong>0xB</strong> for controller change, <strong>0xC</strong> for program change &amp; <strong>0xE</strong> for pitch-bend. To get the value of the left nibble, you can use the following expression.</p>
<p><strong>0&#215;99 &gt;&gt; 4</strong> (Shift the 4 places) or <strong>0&#215;99 / 0&#215;10</strong></p>
<p><strong>Determining the midi transmission channel.</strong></p>
<p>The second nibble (9<strong>9</strong>) of the first byte in the stream, represents the midi transmission channel. Channels are 0 indexed so they range from 0-F in hex or 0-15 in decimal. So we can tell quite easily that the transmission channel in our stream is 10 just by adding 1 to the second nibble. We can extract the 2nd nibble using the following expression:</p>
<p><strong>0&#215;99 % 0&#215;10</strong> (% = modulo)</p>
<p>and get the midi channel by adding 1 to the result</p>
<p><strong>(0&#215;99 % 0&#215;10) + 1</strong></p>
<p><strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>Determining the note number and velocity. </strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">These are pretty simple. Just convert the Hex values to a decimal values</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">0x3c = 60</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">0&#215;64 = 100</span></strong></p>
<p>I&#8217;ll post my parser here when I&#8217;m done with it this weekend.</p>
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		<title>Mac Pro Noise Culprit x1900Xt Dust.</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/02/13/mac-pro-noise-culprit-x1900xt-dust/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/02/13/mac-pro-noise-culprit-x1900xt-dust/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:06:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So it turns out all the fan noise that has been driving me nuts for the last couple of months was caused by dust clogging the vents on my ATI X1900XT.  It took more than a few squirts from the compressed air can to get the card sorted. I&#8217;m I cheap or is$6.99 a bit [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So it turns out all the fan noise that has been driving me nuts for the last couple of months was caused by dust clogging the vents on my ATI X1900XT.  It took more than a few squirts from the compressed air can to get the card sorted. I&#8217;m I cheap or is$6.99 a bit much for a can of air? I ended up spending $4.99 in target on a can that went tepid before i was even done dusting the graphics card.</p>
<p>Update:</p>
<p>It turns out these cans do not contain air but hydroflurocarbons which are heavily taxed ozone depleting gases.</p>
<p><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/95/Aliphatic_Fluorocarbon.jpg/325px-Aliphatic_Fluorocarbon.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>&#8220;In Europe 10 % of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air. This amounts to 80 <a title="Terawatt hour" href="/wiki/Terawatt_hour">terawatt hours</a> per year.<sup><a href="#cite_note-0">[1]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-1">[2]</a>&#8220;</sup></p>
<p><strong><br />
</strong></p>
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		<title>Virus TI OS4 Arp Matrix</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/30/virus-ti-os4-arp-matrix/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/30/virus-ti-os4-arp-matrix/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:11:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blofeld]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=166</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Finally something else worth talking about besides the iPad!!! The imminent  os 4 upgrade will offer a mod matrix feature on all Virus TIs. The feature allows you to use an arpeggiator pattern as a source in the modulation matrix. To those of you not familiar with a mod matrix, I would describe it as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Finally something else worth talking about besides the iPad!!!</p>
<p>The imminent  os 4 upgrade will offer a mod matrix feature on all Virus TIs. The feature allows you to use an arpeggiator pattern as a source in the modulation matrix. To those of you not familiar with a mod matrix, I would describe it as a non random, tempo synced, sample and hold LFO. In other words, its a sample and hold LFO that allows you to set the wave level at each individual step(up to 32 steps in the viruses case). A few enhancements have been made to the arp editor in Virus control to facilitate this feature. Firstly, The arp has gained an &#8220;Arp matrix mode&#8221;. In this new mode, the arpeggiator does not trigger new notes after the first step of the pattern while keys are held down. This allows you to play a sustained sound and have for instance, filter cutoff modulated cyclically by the matrix.</p>
<p>This new addition to the Virus Os has made it a bit easier to put of getting a Korg Radias. Now I can wait till I find a truly crack head deal. The virus&#8217; implementation has a long way to go to match the Radias&#8217; 3 independent sequencers and 16 physical knobs but it is a decent start.</p>
<p>In a future point upgrade, it would be cool to be able to set the modulation destination as an attribute on the arp itself, in addition to setting them in the mod matrix. The TI&#8217;s LFOs currently work like this so I don&#8217;t believe this will be difficult to implement. The reason this would be cool is that, it would make it possible to switch the range of modulation levels to one that makes sense for the destination being modulated. Take a scenario where you want to modulate the index of a wavetable oscillator with the matrix. If the selected wavetable only has 24 waves, does it really make sense to be able to set the modulation level to 127? All together class &#8220;NO&#8221;. The EXB-Radias expansion available for the Korg m3 workstations, work this way. The modulation step level settings are also presented in a bipolar fashion so it is clear to the user that they are modulating an attribute either up or down relative to the the attributes current value.</p>
<p>Other goodies slated for the release include comb and vowel filters which are available in the effects block rather than the filter block. 6 spice(curry, saffron, chilli, onion, pepper &amp; mint) themed stomp box overdrive effects are also on the menu. I suspect that the colors of the spices they have chosen to name the overdrives after, is a clue to the identities of the stomp boxes the access engineers based their models on.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m still happy I chose the Virus Polar even though I still have an outstanding mortgage on it <img src='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> . The new comb filter will fill a void left by by recently departed waldorf blofeld and the vowel filters will bring back to life, the one feature I missed dearly on my E-mu 6400 Ultra sampler.</p>
<p>Not a bad upgrade at all. Bravo chaps!!! The released demos sound good to these ears but have a listen for yourself at <a title="Virus OS4 Upgrade" href="http://virus.info/page/render/lang/en/p/128/do/The_Virus_TI___Totally_Integrated_Synthesizers.html">Virus OS4</a>.</p>
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		<title>Who needs flash?</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/29/who-needs-flash/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/29/who-needs-flash/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:36:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gizmo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=164</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who needs flash? If you read the engadget &#38; gizmodo forums, you would think flash is the oxygen of the interwebnet and the iPad&#8217;s lack of support was some sort of digital sacrilege. There are other voices in the blogosphere though and they chime a resounding NO to flash. Vimeo &#38; Youtube both offer their [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Who needs flash? If you read the engadget &amp; gizmodo forums, you would think flash is the oxygen of the interwebnet and the iPad&#8217;s lack of support was some sort of digital sacrilege. There are other voices in the blogosphere though and they chime a resounding NO to flash. Vimeo &amp; Youtube both offer their videos using HTLM5, hulu doesn&#8217;t but is turning into a paid service anyway so Horton doesn&#8217;t give a hoot.</p>
<p>Read the comments section for yourself. <a title="No To flash" href="http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/apples_ipad_--_a_broken_link.html">http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/apples_ipad_&#8211;_a_broken_link.html</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Who needs multitasking!</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/29/162/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/29/162/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:13:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gizmo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=162</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Enough clamoring for multitasking already! What most people care about is fast application switching. Most people can only handle iTunes plus another app simultaneously and the iPad delivers on that front. Guess what else doesn&#8217;t multitask? Nikon D9000KZX w/ 1.0 &#8211; 9000 VR zoom lens. Playstation 3. Steinway Piano. In car navigation system. Xbox 360 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Enough clamoring for multitasking already!</p>
<p>What most people care about is fast application switching. Most people can only handle iTunes plus another app simultaneously and the iPad delivers on that front.</p>
<p>Guess what else doesn&#8217;t multitask?</p>
<ol>
<li>Nikon D9000KZX w/ 1.0 &#8211; 9000 VR zoom lens.</li>
<li>Playstation 3.</li>
<li>Steinway Piano.</li>
<li>In car navigation system.</li>
<li>Xbox 360 elite.</li>
<li>Desk Lamps.</li>
<li>Nintento Wii/DS.</li>
<li>Movie Theatre. (Don&#8217;t count eating popcorn. We both know you aren&#8217;t kissing anyone nerdlinger).</li>
<li>TVs(If you count the lame widgets, I&#8217;ll count the iPad&#8217;s clock)</li>
<li>Even the Batmobile wasn&#8217;t a tank and a bike at the same time. The bat dude had to switch modes!!!</li>
</ol>
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		<title>iPad is a winner!!!</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/28/ipad-is-a-winner/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/28/ipad-is-a-winner/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:22:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gizmo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=160</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[All you whiners on gizmodo and engadget, please use your imagination people!!! The iPad isn’t here to help you do things the same old way. You need to use your imagination a tad bit to appreciate it. I think its greatest attribute is the fact that it makes computing a lot more casual. One also [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>All you whiners on gizmodo and engadget, please use your imagination people!!!</p>
<p>The iPad isn’t here to help you do things the same old way. You need to use your imagination a tad bit to appreciate it. I think its greatest attribute is the fact that it makes computing a lot more casual. One also has to understand that at the moment, it is a blank canvas but by the time it hits the shelves, there will be utterly brilliant software available for it.</p>
<p>Imagine reading to your 4 year old as s/he sits on your lap? Oh look thats a liger, lets click it to hear what sound it makes. Now dear, circle the the odd elephant out of these 3. Ok now lets play a game of tic tac toe and then watch yo gabba gabba. You cannot do any of that on a netbook.</p>
<p>I reckon anytime you need to read, surf, play a game, review a document or watch a movie without being tethered to a desk or one of those victorian pillow + miniature desk combos, the iPad will trounce a netbook.  So think train, plane, airport, bathroom, armchair, bed, coffee shop, exercise bike.</p>
<p>Also imagine the following:</p>
<p>A waiter coming up to you in a restaurant and showing you the specials on an iPad. Just wouldn’t be the same on a dell mini.  A presenter reading prepared speeches from an iPad rather than a netbook.</p>
<p>A car sales person checking availability, showing options and working out finance rates right away from the desk.  How about a real estate agent giving a tour of a house? She can dump all the paper in her car and walk in with just an iPad. Oh you want to me to verify the property taxes? Ok, I’ll make a note of that. Let me show you this new listing that has the kind of kitchen you are looking for right on Witherspoon.</p>
<p>The lack of multi-tasking isn’t a hindrance in any of these use cases. I’m getting one of these the day they are made available. I’ll hand it down to my kids when the 3rd generation comes out and get that as well.</p>
<div><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: #333333; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span></div>
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		<title>NI Maschine Review. First Impressions.</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/20/ni-maschine-first-impressions/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2010/01/20/ni-maschine-first-impressions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:28:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Native Instruments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[maschine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/?p=158</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love it!!! First, a bit of my background with beat machines/workstations. I&#8217;ve owned Akai mpc 1000/2000xl,  Yamaha Rm1x/RS7000/Motif Classic/ES/XS, e-mu MP7, Roland MV-8000, Korg Triton/M3. I liked the MV8000. Very easy to use, great elastic audio, greate effects but it was too big, preset management was a bit quirky as well and saving took [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Maschine.png"><img title="Maschine" src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Maschine.png" alt="" width="300" height="323" /></a></p>
<p>I love it!!!</p>
<p>First, a bit of my background with beat machines/workstations. I&#8217;ve owned Akai mpc 1000/2000xl,  Yamaha Rm1x/RS7000/Motif Classic/ES/XS, e-mu MP7, Roland MV-8000, Korg Triton/M3.</p>
<p>I liked the MV8000. Very easy to use, great elastic audio, greate effects but it was too big, preset management was a bit quirky as well and saving took too much time.</p>
<p>I could never really get into the MPC series except for the quick pitch, filter, level modes. The 1000 was slightly bearable but they aren&#8217;t deep as far as synthesis. I hated the fact that the pads weren&#8217;t laid out chromatically. Lame effects. I&#8217;ve never used a 3000 but I&#8217;ve been told its a different beast so no flaming please.</p>
<p>The korg work stations are great for programing but I hated the sequencer because there wasn&#8217;t a way to drop in and out of record on the fly. Sampling improved in the m3 but not enough to have me hold on.</p>
<p>RS7000 was great but I traded up to a motif so I could have it all in one.</p>
<p>Not long after i got the Maschine, I sold the Motif XS on eBay. I loved working on the motif but I never used it to sample because it was such a chore. Most of the music I did on it, stayed on it. I just don&#8217;t have enough hours in my life right now to solo a pair of tracks at a time and dump them to Logic. Now, If I start something on the Maschine and I decide to finish it, I just open up Logic, load up Maschine in there and just record my scene changes as MIDI notes in realtime. That ish is a truck load of fun.</p>
<p>Maschine is the easiest of the bunch to use. The hardware/software combo fits me like a glove. The Maschine was made for my workflow.</p>
<p>I was rather hesitant at first to check the beast out because I&#8217;ve owned Kore 2 for a while but I&#8217;ve never really gotten into it and i didn&#8217;t want to spend the money on another paper weight. Anyway, I decided to drop into my local guitar center on a slow day to give it a go. As usual, no one in the store had a clue about the unit nor knew where the manual was. I fire up the software, the unit lights up and in about 10 minutes, I cooked up some heat using sounds from thestock  5gb sound library. I must have spent less than 2 out of the 10 minutes with my eyes on the monitor. If I remember correctly, 10 minutes is less than the time it takes to located samples on you computer, transfer them to your MPC and load them up.</p>
<p>I have never been one to sample records as I&#8217;m in the middle of making a beat. I prefer to have sampling/programming sessions that can last for months at a time. I basically go thru records, cds, iTunes etc, sample stuff i find interesting and then build a library of programs in Kontakt, Battery &amp; Logic. I then rely on these sample forever <img src='http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' />  So Maschine&#8217;s tagging and browsing features are totally awesome for this way of working.</p>
<p>A Maschine project is laid out in the following hierachy</p>
<p><strong>Pad</strong> &#8211; This is the most basic unit in the project. A pad is analogous to a track in most other sequencers. A pad can have a sample, multi sampled &#8211; instrument or midi output assigned to it. You can toggle a pad&#8217;s mode that allows you to either just trigger the root note of a sample or play the sample/instrument chromatically using all 16 pads in the grid. You can transpose the by either an octave or semitone at a time using one of the soft knobs on the right lcd screen. By holding down a pad, you can change its volume and root pitch using the volume and tempo knobs respectively. By using the left and right arrows located at the top left of the Maschine, you can step thru 8 attributes of the selected pad at a time. These attributes are laid out on the 2 lcd screens and they each have a corresponding soft know assigned to them. The attributes available include but are not limited to the following: Volume, tune, filter type(LP, LP2, HP, BP, BR), filter cutoff &amp; resonance, LFO settings, Trigger mode(Oneshot, ADSR, AHD), Sample start &amp; end, bit depth, fx1 &amp; fx2. The Maschine does an amzing job of not overwhelming you with all these attributes. You just step thru with the arrow keys. You can also solo and mute individual pads on the fly</p>
<p><img title="maschineface" src="http://trnsfrmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/maschineface.png" alt="" width="300" height="223" /></p>
<p><strong>Group</strong> &#8211; Each of the 8 groups holds 16 pads and up to 64 patterns associated with those pads. You can actually save the entire group as a unit. Groups also have their own pair of insert effects and they can be routed to independent outs puts. Each project has 8 groups and you can think of them as kits. You can have drums in one groups, chopped up sample in another, vocal samples in yet another and synths in yet another. Just like the pads, groups can be muted and soloed on the fly. So not only can you mute you hi-hats, you can mute your entire drum kit with a touch. You select a group using one of the blue buttons labeled A-H above the transport controls. The button for the active group glows a little brighter so you always know where you are.</p>
<p><strong>Scenes</strong> &#8211; Allow you to layer group patterns. eg You could pick pattern-1 from group-1, pattern-5 from group-2 and pattern-2 from group-3. The scene inherits the length of its longest pattern and plays in an endless loop until you select another scene. While a scene is looping, you can switch the pattern for the the active group just by hitting the &#8220;Pattern&#8221; button and then simply tapping the pad that corresponds to the pattern you want to insert into the scene. Scenes may be switched on the fly as well and the switching may be quantized to the 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/2, bar, beat and scene length. A very cool option that can be set for scene switching is scene sync. This is how it works: If you switch scenes on the 2rd beat of the 3rd bar for example; and you have quantize set to a quarter note, you end up on the 3rd beat of the 3rd bar on the destination scene. Pretty sweeeet!!!.</p>
<p>Project - A project saves the entire memory of the maschine include a chain of scenes that make up a &#8220;song&#8221;.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m a bit sleepy now so I&#8217;ll fast forward to a list of the good, the bad &amp; the ugly.</p>
<p><strong>The Good</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Fun, fun, fun</li>
<li>Filtered browsing for samples and instruments within supplied library as well as user created library.</li>
<li>Simple well laid out controls.</li>
<li>Very legible screens.</li>
<li>Tiny footprint. This thing has a smaller footprint than a 12 inch record and is light as a feather.</li>
<li>Very simple and cohesive interface.</li>
<li>Ability to undo recordings one note at a time.</li>
<li>Ability to record automation even in playback mode.</li>
<li>Great feeling Pads, buttons and knobs.</li>
<li>Great collection of filters, effects and modulators per PAD!!!</li>
<li>Insanely easy song creation using scenes.</li>
<li>Pretty good bundled library.</li>
<li>Ability to drop in and out of record at anytime with a single button push.</li>
<li>Quantize/Undo Quantize on the fly.</li>
<li>Luminescent pads are extremely useful in a million different ways. Shows you which pads, patterns, steps are assigned or active.</li>
<li>Software can run in full screen mode on my OSX. Might do on windows as well.</li>
<li>Virtually mouse-less/screen-less  operation.</li>
<li>Very stable, no crash so far. Touch wood</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>The Bad</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>As of version 1.5, The sequencer does not record pitch bend nor midi CC from a midi controller but you can still automate pitch as well as other parameters using the Maschine&#8217;s knobs. This functionality is slated for an upcoming release I hear.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>The Ugly</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>I haven&#8217;t figured out how to move slice points after I auto chop a loop. So I either stick with the choices that the Maschine makes(which haven&#8217;t been bad) or export each slice to a different track.</li>
</ol>
<p>Good night. I&#8217;ll catch you in the morning.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>yamaha motif xs vs korg m3 in 60 seconds</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2009/04/20/yamah-motif-xs-vs-korg-m3-in-60-seconds/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2009/04/20/yamah-motif-xs-vs-korg-m3-in-60-seconds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:58:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/blog/?p=145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[mLan16e2 expansion on motif xs handles 16 channels out and 6 channels in at 44.1 khz korg exb-fw, only does 6 out and 2 in at 48khz. Motif wins. As a performance synth, the m3 wins. It has karma, drum pads, drum track, xy pad, chord memory. Motif has an arp. As a sequencer, Motif [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>mLan16e2</strong> expansion on motif xs handles 16 channels out and 6 channels in at<strong> 44.1 khz</strong><br />
korg <strong>exb-fw</strong>, only does 6 out and 2 in at <strong>48khz</strong>. Motif wins.</p>
<p>As a performance synth, the m3 wins. It has karma, drum pads, drum track, xy pad, chord memory.<br />
Motif has an arp.</p>
<p>As a sequencer, Motif wins. Motif has pattern based sequencing as well as a linear song mode. Each pattern has 16 different sections. Recorded phrases have independent lengths, and phrases can be reused on different tracks effortlessly. The first 8 tracks, sound exactly as they sound in program mode because all the efx are retained. Easy to solo and mute tracks. Seamless switching between patterns. The killer feature is being able to drop in and out of record and change active track as your pattern loops. Recording arps to the sequencer is also much simpler than on the m3. Only cool thing m3 has over motif is the ease with which you can bounce a sequence to an audio file and save it to a USB device.</p>
<p>As a sampler, M3 slaughters the motif xs. You have single click access to sampling from any mode so resampling a program, combi or sequence is a easy as pi 3.14. Creating a sample based program is easy on the m3 as well. Switching zones and making edits is pretty straight forward. Sampler has a bit of a tacked on feel on the XS and the interface suggests it can be only accessed from sequencer mode but you can actually get to it from program mode. Sampler nomenclature on the XS is confusing if you have ever used another sampler. Waveform maps to instrument, keybank is a sample with zone attributes as well. The M3 screen is brighter and has better contrast so sample waveform editing is easier on the eyes.</p>
<p>As a synth, m3 gives you a lot more options and wins in the fantasy sound creation arena. The motif has better samples in my opinion and excels in recreating acoustic instruments and layered sounds. The m3 can create great layers in combi mode but the main handicap of that mode is that you cannot create your layers in context. You have to create individual programs and them layer them in combi mode. If the source programs change, so do the combis. A standard motif xs program has 8 elements and each of these elements can be triggered in a variety of ways: key on, key up, delayed, cycled etc. Modulation routes tend to be fixed on the motif so for example you get dedicated envelopes and LFOs for pitch, filter and amp. There are only 6 realtime control routes on the motif. The realtime controllers available for use in the routes are mod wheel, pitch wheel, breath controller, 2 assignable knobs, 2 assignable switches, ribbon, footswitch and foot control.</p>
<p>The m3 has an xy touch screen, value slider, ribbon, 4 axis joystick, expression pedal, 8 pads, 2 switches, multiple banks of 8 sliders.<br />
An M3 program has access to 5 insert effects with presets, 2 master effects and a master effect. This is great in program mode but the same 5+2+1 effects have to be shared in combi and sequencer mode. Sucks big time. XS programs have 2 inserts, a chorus and a reverb. Not much compared to the m3 but in sequencer mode, the first 8 tracks retain their insert effects. Thats sweeeet!<br />
The m3 also has the radias expansion but the motif has logic control. A lot more on that later.<br />
Sorry i have to ran now. 2 B continued.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Motif XS, welcome to the family.</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2009/02/06/motif-xs-welcome-to-the-family/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2009/02/06/motif-xs-welcome-to-the-family/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:27:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[motif]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/blog/?p=134</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I just added a Motif XS6 to the setup. I know I was supposed to be done but I couldn&#8217;t help it. Nice looking baby, great sequencer, interesting layering capabilities not so wonderful screen. I&#8217;ll tell you more about it.  I have 32 hours of flying coming up so i guess thats a perfect [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I just added a Motif XS6 to the setup. I know I was supposed to be done but I couldn&#8217;t help it. Nice looking baby, great sequencer, interesting layering capabilities not so wonderful screen. I&#8217;ll tell you more about it. </p>
<p>I have 32 hours of flying coming up so i guess thats a perfect opportunity to catch on my posts. Write in the air, post on the ground or the Hudson.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Getting started with CoreMidi</title>
		<link>http://trnsfrmr.com/2009/01/12/getting-started-with-coremidi/</link>
		<comments>http://trnsfrmr.com/2009/01/12/getting-started-with-coremidi/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:35:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CoreFoundation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CoreMidi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MIDI]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://trnsfrmr.com/blog/?p=113</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I finally started on Octopussy. I&#8217;ve always found CoreMidi and procedural APIs in general a bit puzzling so I thought I would start with the simplest of tasks to help me demystify it all. My goal was simply to send a MIDI note on message from the Mac to the blofeld. After perusing MIDIService.h, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I finally started on <a href="/blog/octopussy">Octopussy</a>. I&#8217;ve always found CoreMidi and procedural APIs in general a bit puzzling so I thought I would start with the simplest of tasks to help me demystify it all. My goal was simply to send a MIDI note on message from the Mac to the blofeld.</p>
<p>After perusing MIDIService.h, I gathered that I had to ultimately use the MIDISend().</p>
<pre><span class="keyword">extern</span> <a class="type" href="file:///Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/documentation/Carbon/Reference/ErrorHandler/Reference/reference.html#//apple_ref/c/tdef/OSStatus" target="_top"><span class="type">OSStatus</span></a> <a class="function" href="file:///Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/documentation/MusicAudio/Reference/CACoreMIDIRef/MIDIServices/CompositePage.html#//apple_ref/c/func/MIDISend"><span class="function">MIDISend</span></a>(
    <a class="type" href="file:///Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/documentation/MusicAudio/Reference/CACoreMIDIRef/MIDIServices/CompositePage.html#//apple_ref/c/tdef/MIDIPortRef"><span class="type">MIDIPortRef</span></a> <span class="param">port</span>,
    <a class="type" href="file:///Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/documentation/MusicAudio/Reference/CACoreMIDIRef/MIDIServices/CompositePage.html#//apple_ref/c/tdef/MIDIEndpointRef"><span class="type">MIDIEndpointRef</span></a> <span class="param">dest</span>,
    <span class="keyword">const</span> <a class="type" href="file:///Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/documentation/MusicAudio/Reference/CACoreMIDIRef/MIDIServices/CompositePage.html#//apple_ref/c/tag/MIDIPacketList"><span class="type">MIDIPacketList</span></a> *<span class="param">pktlist</span>);</pre>
<p>When it was time to create a MIDIEndpointRef, I was presented with numerous paths. My initial instinct was to traverse some hierachy to get to the Blofeld MIDI Out but it turns out that each MIDIEntity can be reference using a unique id. I was hoping that this info would be available in the Audio MIDI Setup utility but it turns out you can only get at it via code. So I created a foundation tool with the following code.</p>
<pre><span>#import </span>&lt;Foundation/Foundation.h&gt;

<span>#import </span>&lt;CoreMIDI/CoreMIDI.h&gt;

<span>int</span> main (<span>int</span> argc, <span>const</span> <span>char</span> * argv[]) {

<span>    </span>NSAutoreleasePool<span> * pool = [[</span>NSAutoreleasePool<span> </span><span>alloc</span><span>] </span><span>init</span><span>];</span>

<span>	</span><span>MIDIDeviceRef</span> midiDevice;

<span><span>	</span></span><span>int</span><span> numOfDevices = </span>MIDIGetNumberOfDevices<span>();</span>

<span>	</span><span>int</span> numOfBlofeldEntities;

<span>	</span><span>for</span>(<span>int</span> i=<span>0</span>; i&lt; numOfDevices; i++ ){

<span>		</span>midiDevice = <span>MIDIGetDevice</span>(i);

<span>		</span><span>NSDictionary</span> *midiDeviceProperties;

<span>		</span><span>MIDIObjectGetProperties</span>(midiDevice, (<span>CFPropertyListRef</span> *)&amp;midiDeviceProperties, <span>YES</span>);

<span><span>		</span></span>NSLog(@"midiDeviceProperties:%@", midiDeviceProperties);

<span>	</span>}

    [pool <span>drain</span>];

    <span>return</span> <span>0</span>;

}</pre>
<p>After running the tool, I get the ff output. I need to run this on multiple Macs to verify that the uniqueID is actually the same regardless of which machine I run it on.</p>
<pre><strong>2009-01-11 23:24:31.273 MidiProperties[4198:10b] midiDeviceProperties-5:{</strong>

<strong>    SerialNumber = "8290071532-023547011532";</strong>

<strong>    USBLocationID = -46923776;</strong>

<strong>    USBVendorProduct = 317063187;</strong>

<strong>    "apple.midi.audiomidisetup.widget.xPosition" = 385;</strong>

<strong>    "apple.midi.audiomidisetup.widget.yPosition" = 203;</strong>

<strong>    driver = "com.apple.AppleMIDIUSBDriver";</strong>

<strong>    entities =     (</strong>

<strong>                {</strong>

<strong>            destinations =             (</strong>

<strong>                                {</strong>

<strong>                    name = "Blofeld MIDI out";</strong>

<strong>                    uniqueID = -934632258;</strong>

<strong>                }</strong>

<strong>            );</strong>

<strong>            embedded = 0;</strong>

<strong>            maxSysExSpeed = 3125;</strong>

<strong>            name = "Waldorf Blofeld";</strong>

<strong>            sources =             (</strong>

<strong>                                {</strong>

<strong>                    name = "Blofeld MIDI in";</strong>

<strong>                    uniqueID = 1439776402;</strong>

<strong>                }</strong>

<strong>            );</strong>

<strong>            uniqueID = -1524681845;</strong>

<strong>        }</strong>

<strong>    );</strong>

<strong>    image = "/Library/Audio/MIDI Devices/Access Music/Images/Virus TI Snow.tiff";</strong>

<strong>    manufacturer = "Waldorf Music GmbH";</strong>

<strong>    model = "Waldorf Blofeld";</strong>

<strong>    name = Blofeld;</strong>

<strong>    offline = 0;</strong>

<strong>    "receives MTC" = 0;</strong>

<strong>    "receives clock" = 0;</strong>

<strong>    "supports General MIDI" = 0;</strong>

<strong>    "supports MMC" = 0;</strong>

<strong>    "transmits MTC" = 0;</strong>

<strong>    "transmits clock" = 0;</strong>

<strong>    uniqueID = 1111148707;</strong>

<strong>}</strong></pre>
<p>Finally armed with the blofeld&#8217;s MIDI Out uniqueID, the rest was cake. Here is the code I used to send the note on message.</p>
<pre><span>#import </span>&lt;Foundation/Foundation.h&gt;

<span>#import </span>&lt;CoreMIDI/CoreMIDI.h&gt;

MIDIEndpointRef getEndpointWithUniqueID(<span>MIDIUniqueID</span> <span>id</span>){

<span><span>	</span></span>MIDIObjectRef<span> endPoint;</span>

<span><span>	</span></span>MIDIObjectType<span> foundObj;</span>

<span>	</span><span>MIDIObjectFindByUniqueID</span>(<span>id</span>, &amp;endPoint, &amp;foundObj);

<span><span>	</span></span><span>return</span><span> (</span>MIDIEndpointRef<span>) endPoint;</span>

}

MIDIClientRef getMidiClient(){

<span>	</span><span>MIDIClientRef</span> midiClient;

<span>	</span><span>NSString</span> *outPortName =<span>@"blofeldOut"</span>;

<span>	</span><span>MIDIClientCreate</span>((<span>CFStringRef</span>)outPortName, <span>NULL</span>, <span>NULL</span>, &amp;midiClient);

<span>	</span><span>return</span> midiClient;

}

MIDIPortRef getOutPutPort(){

<span><span>	</span></span>MIDIPortRef<span> outPort;</span>

<span>	</span><span>NSString</span> *outPortName =<span>@"blofeldOut"</span>;

<span>	</span><span>MIDIOutputPortCreate</span>(<span>getMidiClient</span>(), (<span>CFStringRef</span>)outPortName, &amp;outPort);

<span>	</span><span>return</span> outPort;

}

MIDIPacketList getMidiPacketList(){

<span><span>	</span></span>MIDIPacketList<span> packetList;</span>

<span>	</span>packetList.<span>numPackets</span> = <span>1</span>;

<span>	</span><span>MIDIPacket</span>* firstPacket = &amp;packetList.<span>packet</span>[<span>0</span>];

<span>	</span>firstPacket-&gt;<span>timeStamp</span> = <span>0</span>;<span>	</span><span>// send immediately</span>

<span>	</span>firstPacket-&gt;<span>length</span> = <span>3</span>;

<span>	</span>firstPacket-&gt;<span>data</span>[<span>0</span>] = <span>0x90</span>;

<span>	</span>firstPacket-&gt;<span>data</span>[<span>1</span>] = <span>60</span>;

<span>	</span>firstPacket-&gt;<span>data</span>[<span>2</span>] = <span>64</span>;

<span><span>	</span></span>// TODO: add end note sequence

<span>	</span><span>return</span> packetList;

}

<span>void</span> play_note(<span>void</span>) {

<span><span>	</span></span>NSAutoreleasePool<span> * pool = [[</span>NSAutoreleasePool<span> </span><span>alloc</span><span>] </span><span>init</span><span>]; </span>

<span><span>	</span></span><span>MIDIPacketList</span><span> packetList=</span>getMidiPacketList<span>();</span>

<span>	</span><span>MIDIUniqueID</span> blofeldEndpointID = -<span>934632258</span>;

<span>	</span><span>MIDIEndpointRef</span> blofeldEndpoint = <span>getEndpointWithUniqueID</span>(blofeldEndpointID);

<span>	</span><span>MIDISend</span>(<span>getOutPutPort</span>(), blofeldEndpoint, &amp;packetList);

<span>	</span><span>MIDIEndpointDispose</span>(blofeldEndpoint);

<span>	</span>[pool <span>drain</span>];

}

<span>int</span> main (<span>int</span> argc, <span>const</span> <span>char</span> * argv[]) {

<span>    </span>play_note<span>();</span>

    <span>return</span> <span>0</span>;

}</pre>
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