Passing clouds of inconsequential observations
Who does not love messing about building software synthesisers? I know I do and a basic component for these are oscillators.
Oscillators are used in all manner of things but it is the wobbly wobbly oscillations that can be used to produce a sound that are of most interest. Such things have been around since the late 1800s but today one can recreate their functions with computer software. Here is a simple example I made using the excellent Audulus app.
Who does not love the confluence of coding and music? I know I do and live coding adds a performance element to the process.
Live coding involves writing code that is producing music from scratch and editing and changing the code as the music develops.
As can be seen here once values are changed the revised code is passed to the computer for processing (when it flashes pink) and the revised music is played…
There are an increasing number of languages available for live coding. The above example is Sonic Pi which is probably the easiest to start with as it comes as a ready to go app and does not require any faffing around in the Terminal etc. Others include ChucK, Alda, Extempore which grew out of impromptu (Mac only) etc. There is some debate as to whether graphical languages count as coding but I say they do so that is the end of that debate.
Here is an excellent demonstration of the process by Andrew Sorensen using Extempore…
So that this A to Z thing does not become a catalogue of old records L is definitely not for the greatest record ever made…
Who does not love mangling some noise with some new Audio Units? I know I do and my Downloads folder is invariably over flowing with Wiggles, Moniques, Hats and the like.
The latest batch included Izotope’s Mobius Filter, PSP’s StompDelay and WavesFactory’s Phi.
The first adds a flanging, phasing, equalisation type effect within a simple and effective interface.
The second provides a plethora of settings for delays, echoes, loops and related effects.
The third utilises the universal Golden Ratio (hence the name Phi) and applies that to enhance even the most mundane recordings. There is probably no type of audio that would not be greatly improved with the use of this plugin.
Chuck them all together and you get Don’t Do Meths…
https://soundcloud.com/duncan-moran/dont-do-meths/s-R4Drh
Only one of the three was released on April 1st 2016.
If the Mac’s App Store has been insisting you constantly need to update the Pro Video Formats to version 2.0.1…
Try using the standalone installer which may convince the App Store that you do not need further updates…
One star reviews in the App Stores are a constant source of fascination and the release of OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) has provided rich pickings. Of course it is frustrating when things are not working properly but many reviewers seem to imagine that the problems they experience with their computers are universal and affecting everyone – there would be rioting in the streets if that were the case. Some even seem to suggest that positive reviews are some form of Apple inspired conspiracy…
The reviewers share their homilies so the rest of us can benefit from their wisdom and insights. One common theme is that Yosemite should never be installed on an older computer as it will be unbearably slow…
I write this on a 2007 iMac with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor which is the oldest Mac that is able to run Yosemite. It is used and abused on a daily basis. The update to Yosemite was going to be the excuse to clear it out, reformat the drive and have a fresh clean install but I chickened out as it would be too much hassle to set everything up again and so Yosemite was just slapped on top of everything else…
Over 40000 emails (I did not notice the palindromic number when I took the screen shot)…
Over 1000 apps in the Applications folder…
A couple of hundred bits and pieces installed with Homebrew and a menu bar full of stuff half of which I have forgotten what they do…
Not to mention half a dozen terabytes of external storage hanging off the back.
So how does Yosemite run on this aged, under powered, over loaded wreck? Splendidly…
A couple of minutes worth of Activity Monitor monitoring the activity (that is what it does best) recorded with Screen Flow – so they both occupy high ratings but nothing too taxing.
Thankfully some reviewers manage to figure out that their frustrations are fixable…
Whilst others plant their tongue firmly in their cheek…
