Just in time for Christmas:

REAPER Latest Version

REAPER v2.54 – December 22, 2008
Changes:

* Dynamic split detection improvements
* Action: restore previous scroll position
* ReaVerb/ReaSamplomatic user/gdi object leak fixes
* Docked midi editor / fx window / mixer user object leak fixes
* Fixed looped-resampled-item glitches
* ReaSynDr, ReaSynth, ReaSamplomatic, ReaTune: smoother automation
* JS: fixed some issues with small increases in PDC
* Better wav/wv project filename setting when autosaving to .wav.rpp
* MIDI bank/program tracking fixes, duplicate note removal
* OS X performance updates
* Display rendering updates
* Faster meter rendering
* Left/right edge adjustment snapping now respects X track-distances like moving
* Massive memory use reduction when using large numbers of MIDI files
* Fixed bugs removing automated parameters from ReaPitch/ReaDelay/etc
* Fixed end/start of item sample rounding for items with no fades
* OGG decoder: fixed subsample seeking accuracy
* Clipping fix for fully buffered peaks drawing mode

Both of these products can create great stub or placeholder tracks. Great tools for n brainstorming a new tune.

Here’s a blurb from their site including links to video and audio. Check it out:

Watch the Videos!

There are Video Demos here:
– BB 2009 Features video: http://64.40.109.185/pgmusic/wmv/BB2009_new_features_1mbps.wmv (or download http://nn.pgmusic.com/pgfiles/video/RealTracksDec2009_1mbps.zip )

– RealTracks demo: http://64.40.109.185/pgmusic/wmv/RealTracksDec2009_1mbps.wmv (or download http://nn.pgmusic.com/pgfiles/jazzu/Tobin/temp/exp090401/BB2009_new_features_1mbps.zip )

Listen to the audio demos below!

Audio Demos for All 101 new RealTracks

(note: many of these demos are demoing the RealTracks instrument only, and have MIDI tracks as well to accompany them. We will be replacing those MIDI instruments with “Real-only” demos.)

Inspiration , where does it come from?

1. Internal
2. External

Internal inspiration is what comes to me when I walk my dog or at other unexpected times. Since it’s unexpected it is best to be prepared. My pda cellphone has an audio recorder which I use to capture these gifts .

Then there is the forced type of inspiration which one forces to different degrees. For example:

1. Record yourself Jamming to somebody else’s music.
2. Record yourself doodling on your instrument.
3. Jam to your fav. synth patch
4. Jam to some drum loops
5. Grab a midi file from the web, strip out the melody and drop some riffs.
6. Grab a lead sheet, copy chord changes into Band in a Box or Jammer then drop some riffs.
7. if you can, do all of the above on a guitar, bass, keyboard end vocals. you will get different results

Word of advice make recording easy. I have set up things so that pressing the low E in my Keyboard controller will trigger recording.

After this initial important step produces the seed for your new tune, its important to commit. commitment is essential. Without it one can get stuck, in “doodling” land for a very long time. Been there , done that. and it is hell.

Rev: 1.1

I finally took the plunge and bought Trilogy the last in the trinity of Spectrasonic’s instruments:

• Omnisphere
• Stylus RMX
• Trilogy

This now gives me a go to bass module and its really all there. It truly sounds great and now I’ll be eligible to the upgrade to Trilogy’s STEAM engine integration.

A methodology is:

A set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a given discipline, as in the arts or sciences.

It’s a way of thinking about a subject matter, in other words a way to skin a cat. This is my personal method. Developing from thoughts I gather as I try to compose music to my satisfaction. Ideas that can turn into a process which I hope will make me more fluid and ultimately more productive. A lot of these ideas come from my software development experience but most from my struggles with composition.

So lets start by brainstorming some concepts:

1. Inspiration
2. Commitment
3. Vision
4. Big Picture
5. Go with the Flow
6. Development
7. Stamina
8. Energy
9. Space
10. Gravity
11. Direction
12. Focus
13. Contrast
14. Speed
15. Incremental and cyclical
16. PlaceHolders

Enough for now. Next I will try to define these terms.

Coming Soon.

hello there

I would love to be able to freely drop notes over the wave form track area of my DAW. I’m using Reaper. Basically this amounts to Stickys , little memos one leaves behind to remind oneself of issues, action items etc. In the case of a DAW these notes would be associated with a specific position on a timeline and for a specific track. Global markers can already be left in Reaper but they just amount to a label on the timeline. There is not much room to leave much of a note at all. Pretty powerful way of getting the big picture , whether the project is still an evolving tune or whether everything has been tracked and is ready for mixing. Some other Reaperites feel the same way. See here. Hopefully it will catch on.

If the reader knows of any DAW that already does something like this please drop me a post. thanks.

About a year ago it occurred to me to research if somebody had built some sort of mechanism to handle recording vocals in very hostile spaces i.e. my home studio. I could viably DI everything else but vocals were a problem. At the time I found the SE Reflection Filter. Yesterday on the Reaper forum, I bumped into the Real Traps Portable Vocal Booth. Its for one much larger and just in that sense it seems more effective. Also because of its size it has more applications e.g. it is viable to use it to isolate a guitar amp. It goes for the same amount of cash which is just under $300.00. Check them out.