Logic X

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on Logic X

Apple has finally released Logic Pro X. Rumors of its demise were not true. So what has changed?

First, there is no “upgrade price”. It’s $199 for this version of Logic regardless if you had the previous version or not. Now, even though it’s was just announced this morning, I have already read several blog posts (because everyone on the internet is an expert) complaining about this. I’d refer them to ProTools 11. New, it is $699, and the “upgrade price” is $599. SUCH A DEAL……not. $199 is reasonable for new version that has lots of new features.

Second, it’s fully 64bit. Logic 9 was 64bit, and that was released several years ago (3 or 4 I think?). It also requires the latest Mac OS X (10.8.4) and 4 gigs of ram. I don’t find these big deals at all. In the ProTools world, going to ProTools 11 is a huge deal as it breaks RTAS plugins. So in ProTools 11, ALL YOUR PLUGINS NEED TO BE UPDATED. In Logic X most all plugins have been updated to be 64bit. Logic drops support for 32bit plugins.

Third, Flex Pitch. That seems to be something that is now standard on all DAWs. Pseudo Melodyne like pitch editing. Something Digital Performer has had for years (I think it was first in version 6 or maybe 5….which ran on OS 9). It is a great tool to maybe fix a few little glitches in a recording, or even use it to do harmony parts.

Fourth, iPad Remote. Sadly, I can’t use the iPad remote because I still have an iPad 1 (original iPad) which can’t get iOS 6 or above. But the benefits of having it would be huge. So you can redesign your home studio (or studio), and not really be tethered to where the computer and recording hardware are. How cool is that?

There are also a lot of other interesting things, like a intelligent drummer thing that supposedly can groove to a tune you make. And more synths and guitar pedal/effects. Not really interested too much in those. I guess the mixer might have changed a little, it looks more ProTools like to me now.

In all, if you want to record, and have a Mac, get Logic. Period. I moved away from ProTools a few years ago, and I haven’t missed it at all. $199. Go. Download. Enjoy.

Oh, I found this little command line thing to figure out what plugins are 32bit or 64bit.
Here is the command to see the 64 bit plugins
/usr/bin/file /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/*/Contents/MacOS/* ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/*/Contents/MacOS/* | grep “bundle x86_64”
Here is the command to see 32bit ones
/usr/bin/file /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/*/Contents/MacOS/* ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/*/Contents/MacOS/* | grep “bundle i386”
And if you want to see REALLY OLD ONES
/usr/bin/file /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/*/Contents/MacOS/* ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/*/Contents/MacOS/* | grep “bundle ppc”

All the plugins I have are 64bit. Probably cause Logic started supporting 64bit like 4 years ago.

Articles

Music Education Is In Crisis – Steve Wilson

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on Music Education Is In Crisis – Steve Wilson

From AllAboutJazz.com:

“We are getting many students who are technically proficient— in many instances are amazingly proficient— and some of them with prodigious talent,” he explained. “But many of the students don’t have an understanding of why the rest of the world digs American music—because [audiences] connect with this central thing that is uniquely American, blues and swing. It is the DNA of our music. That lack of connection, lack of awareness, I say, is a real crisis.”

I agree. I think a lot of people are just playing a billion notes and crap. Way too many people are doing that.

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Artiphon

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on Artiphon

We live in an awesome age. We have little 4 inch devices that are more powerful than computers that were made less than 8 years ago. Now, there is this very interesting instrument, an Artiphon.
Artiphon

CNN had an article on it:

Is it a guitar? Is it a piano? Nope, it is a crazy iPhone-powered combination of both. Plus it has a built in bass, violin and drum machine to boot. The Artiphon Instrument 1 looks something like a medieval lute, but with a smart phone jammed into its belly.

In 2008 the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition was established to showcase and recognize the invention of new musical instruments. Commenting on the Artiphon Instrument 1, Gil Weinberg, organizer of the competition and director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, said: “In general, I’m a big believer in using the capabilities of smart phones to power novel hardware. The ‘brain’ of such devices is already in your pocket, so why not use it?

Which got me to thinking….is it possible to take what I think is a severally crippled Akai USB EWI, and use an iPhone as the synth/controller? Hmmm…..

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1 Million Pandora plays = $16.89

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on 1 Million Pandora plays = $16.89

From David Lowery:

As a songwriter Pandora paid me $16.89* for 1,159,000 play of “Low” last quarter. Less than I make from a single T-shirt sale. Okay that’s a slight exaggeration. That’s only the premium multi-color long sleeve shirts and that’s only at venues that don’t take commission. But still.

This is complete BULLSHIT. “Services” like Pandora need to die. Wonder how much money Pandora made for those ONE MILLION plays. I guarantee it’s way more than $16.89.

And, Pandora, instead of using it’s money to give more to the artists, is hiring a PR firm.

Pandora hires Qorvis consultant (as in Lobbying firm for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) for “Grassroots” campaign.

Good Job Pandora. I am deleting the iOS apps and removing you from my Roku.

Articles

Sheet Of The Week – Get Lucky (Daft Punk)

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One by Daft Punk.

  Get Lucky by Daft Punk for Eb Instruments (116.7 KiB, 246 hits)
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  Get Lucky by Daft Punk for Bb Instruments (117.6 KiB, 145 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – Thrift Shop (Macklemore)

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Generally, these sorta songs don’t work. And well……it sorta does…..and doesn’t. I dunno. All the kids like this song…..

  Thrift Shop by Macklemore for Eb Instruments (76.2 KiB, 180 hits)
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  Thrift Shop by Macklemore for Bb Instruments (80.0 KiB, 81 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – It’s Time (Imagine Dragons)

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Another by Imagine Dragons….

  It's Time by Imagine Dragons for Eb Instruments (91.6 KiB, 90 hits)
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  It's Time by Imagine Dragons for Bb Instruments (91.8 KiB, 46 hits)
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Clamping Site Down

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on Clamping Site Down

Recently, this site has become unstable. It is due to a TON of spammers trying to login in as admin, or flooding user registrations with fake ids in the hopes to be able to post spam ads as comments or activity stream items. As a result, the MySQL database keeps crashing due to too many Apache2 processes.
So, I’m instituting a very draconian new security thing. IP Blocking. If you screw up the login too many times, or continue to try to log in as admin or some other account in which you don’t have the password, your IP address is going to be block. Forever. Period. Unless you send an email to me explaining that you are some sort of Noob, drunk off your ass and couldn’t remember your password, or something plausible in your defense.
Unless someone wants to donate or fund a beefier server, that is the way it is. Hopefully the site won’t crash and things will be faster. (for example, I installed the new security plugin and it’s already blocked one person from China. It’s been like 4 minutes since installing it…..amazing).
UPDATE: I also removed the BuddyPress and BBForums stuff. No one was really using either, and they were sucking resources away from the site. I’ve always wanted a lively discussion forum happening here, but that seems not to be. Oh well.
It’s also interesting that most of the flood of IP addresses is out of pretty much ONE area of China…..go figure….

News

Sheet Of The Week – Daylight (Maroon 5)

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Another by Maroon 5.

  Daylight by Maroon 5 for Eb Instruments (94.5 KiB, 79 hits)
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  Daylight by Maroon 5 for Bb Instruments (93.6 KiB, 47 hits)
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