A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
Dear Readers:
I’m having MAJOR problems with the blog and with the hosting company, Accuweb Hosting. The latest is an apparent virus attack on the blog. I have the Akismet plugin which is supposed to block spam comments. However, something keeps disabling that plugin. Therefore, until further notice all commenting on posts has been disabled. I’m hoping to get that fixed soon because I enjoy the feedback from these posts.
Some time back I posted a wish list for audio file sharing. I was looking for something analogous to YouTube, but for audio only. I found two services, Audioboo and SoundCloud, that seem to work well, and I’ve been using those. However, a third one has come onto the scene. Chirbit is about audio hosting system, and it seems to meet most of my wish list items.
Chirbit as many of the same features as Audioboo and Soundcloud. It appears to be set up more on the Audioboo model, which allows user an unlimited number of files, but restricts the length of of those files. Accounts are free, but there is an upgrade to a paid version which allows longer files. Here’s an example using my traditional test file, my reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee…
As with the other services, you can upload various audio files, or you can record directly into the service from your computer’s microphone. Chirbit offers two other options. First, you can strip the audio from YouTube videos to upload to the service. You input the URL for the video, and it uploads that to Chirbit.
While we were on our photo trek to McCormick Houston and I were scouting paddling locations. We both liked the Clark Hill area, and we were intrigued by the Little River branch, especially where it starts at Calhoun Mill. One of the comments on that post was from Kirk Smith, who pointed me in the … Read More “Little River Blueway” »
While we were on our McCormick County Photo Trek we had trouble locating the old town of New Bordeaux. I had it on my list as a potential ghost town target, but finding the actual town was elusive. Since we’ve returned from the trip I’ve been able to find out a bit more information, but … Read More “More on New Bordeaux” »
When I saw the campaign sign above my first thought was, who is Saint Rum and why is he/she running for president? With a name like that, this might be someone I could really support! Seriously, though, this points out the problem with typography. These candidates, regardless of party or office sought, are limited to … Read More “Saint Rum” »
Houston and I had a day off in common, so it was time for one of our mid-winter photo treks. I really like exploring the area south of Abbeville, McCormick, and Edgefield. That part of the state is rather remote and rich in history, including our family history. Even though we’ve been down that way several times, I never seem to cover all of it, so it was ripe as another target.
Our exploration group was larger than usual. In addition to the two of us, Houston’s wife, Lynda, was coming along, as was our sister Glynda. The plan was to meet Houston and Lynda Sunday morning in the parking lot of Calhoun Falls Pentecostal Holiness Church. From there we would head south and see what we would find. Our route would take us past paddling venues, ghost towns, fire towers, and several important genealogy spots. It had the makings of a perfect day.
Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was! —David Byrne, Once in a Lifetime I finally finished reading Walter Edgar’s tome, South Carolina: … Read More “Same As It Ever Was” »
OK, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a synthesizer geek. In high school my favorite bands were synth-heavy bands like Yes, Kansas and Styx, and my hero was Rick Wakeman with his banks of keyboards and flowing robes. I was even privileged to meet and interview Dr. Robert Moog when I was in college, and I tried to learn all I could about music synthesis.
Back in the 1970’s I would drop by Pecknel Music and drool over the Minimoogs and ARP 2600s they occasionally had on display there. And drool was all I could do, for at prices ranging from $2000-$3000, these were far beyond my reach. When I finally got a teaching job and could purchase my own synthesizers, we were well into the Digital FM Synthesis days of the 1980’s. Musicians were already reminiscing about the fat analog sounds of the old monophonic synths of the 1970’s, something they still do.
…And that nostalgia seems to be paying off. Many of the old synths, or at least the concepts behind them, have been recreated as VSTis, and now these are being ported over to the iPad and iPhone. Technology that used to cost thousands of dollars is now available as a $4.99 app. But there’s a trap…with the cheap price you may find yourself wanting ALL of the available synths, and still wind up sinking a ton of money for apps you’ll use a couple of times and forget…still cheaper than a vintage synth, but pricey all the same.
Saturday we had a Chorale Chamber Ensemble “retreat,” basically an all-afternoon rehearsal when I would have preferred being out on my kayak. This group is fairly tech-savvy, and there is always a good contingent of smart phones, e-readers, and iPads somewhere in the hall. Usually these are pulled out before rehearsal or during break (or surreptitiously used to take blurry photos, as I did in this post.) However, at this particular rehearsal I glanced over at one of our tenors and saw that he was holding his iPad throughout rehearsal rather than his music. Perry had scanned all of his music into PDF files and was reading from the iPad.
This caused quite the stir during break, and several of us pulled out iPads to compare scoring apps. Perry was kind enough to share his scanned PDF files (not illegal in this case since we have legitimate copies in our possession.) The following Monday evening I had the music on my iPad, as did soprano Amy.
…Which leads to this post in my series on iPad music. What apps are available for both reading and creating musical scores? Quite a few, as you might imagine.
I figured that before I dive into the musical capabilities of the iPad, it might not hurt to define some of these terms and acronyms that I’m tossing around. As with any field, electronic music has its own jargon that can be quite confusing. These are roughly in order of how frequently I’ll be using the terms over the next several posts. I don’t pretend to be an expert, and will probably get some of this wrong, but here goes…
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) – MIDI was developed as a communications protocol in the late 1970’s, early 1980’s. It allows musical keyboards to control other keyboards and devices such as computers, etc.
Even though it was developed thirty years ago, MIDI is still very much in use. Back in the day when computers didn’t have much memory, MIDI was also a very efficient way to create complex compositions. A computer or external sequencer only had to record key-on/key-off, pitch, and duration data. The actual sounds were produced by the external keyboards or sound modules. Other capabilities were added to the protocol, such as the ability to detect velocity, or how hard a key is pressed, and the ability to control various settings on instruments such as sustain, and to trigger events such as changing lighting, changing settings, etc. You could also play multiple keyboards from one controller keyboard, creating thick sounds and tonalities from multiple instruments.
MIDI has 16 different channels, and different instruments can be assigned to various channels. On most keyboards you will find a MIDI in, out, and through port. On many modern keyboards the MIDI signal is now transmitted through a USB port.