#technology | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#technology’

“Not Now”

Posted: June 1, 2020 in My Tunes, Poetry, projects
Tags: #midimike, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #tech, #technology, #writing #poem, lyrics, Michael S Kennedy, MIDI Mike, original music, poem, songwriting

I have been working with a few friends to set up on-line jamming from separate locations. I will go into this a bit later for anyone interested. I did spend some time on-line with a program for live sessions. During my testing I had a bit of a wait time so I noodled around on my guitar. While waiting I used a record feature in the program and captured a few segments of my noodling that I liked. It required a name in order to save and in the mood I was in I called it Not Now.

As you know I am not good with names – of any kind – and my song titles usually show that weakness. So now that I had a name for the music pieces, I had to write lyrics sooner or later and was stuck with Not Now as the title!

I finished the basic music tracks in a couple days. Listening to the arrangement I got out my writing tools and came up with the following lyrics. I will smooth out the music and post sooner or later. Here is “Not Now”:

I really can’t wait
For you and this weekend.
Seems like forever
Since we had a minute alone.
No more than a boy
Paralyzed in an ice cream store.
Or that time I cried…..
Until we had to leave the zoo.

Not Now.
I’ve heard it all my life.
Not Now.
Don’t want to hear it again.
Not Now.
It can’t be now, it won’t be then
Not Now.

So many situations
I can’t come close to understand.
More and more people
Have nothing else to say to me.

Not Now.
I’ve heard it all my life.
Not Now.
Don’t want to hear it again.
Not Now.
It can’t be now, it won’t be then
Not Now.

Still
I don’t complain.
Everything I have
I can give away.
Hello
Tell me your name.
You make me smile
Hope I can do the same.
Ask
I do it all day.
It really doesn’t matter
Or what time of day. Still
I don’t complain.
Everything I have
I can give away.

The Mighty Plan Part 2

Posted: May 23, 2020 in Opinions and Observations, technology
Tags: #astronomy, #faith, #geocentric, #god, #mathematics, #opinion, #religion, #science, #teachings, #technology, #universe, faith, Geocentric, god, religion

From my Roman Catholic upbringing I think about religion a lot. I went to Catholic schools and attended church every Sunday, school days and holidays. I was an altar boy for years when we used Latin in our responses. I do not say we spoke it…. and dreamed of being a brother or priest. My favorite saint was Saint Francis of Assisi. He was considered to be somewhat of an outsider, but that was fine by me!

I couldn’t help myself. Looking around things just didn’t add up.

God is all knowing. God is kind and honest and good.
God sees all. God created the heavens and earth.
God knows what has been and what will be.
God is kind and gentle and loving.
WE are made in his image. WE shall rule the earth.
WE are the center of the universe
The earth fixed on its pillars does not move.
The sun and stars race across the sky for our entertainment.

The bible is presented as ‘the word of God’. Why would an
All-knowing being reference geocentric views that will be
disproven in a few short millennia? Is this God’s Mighty plan?

You might deflect by saying that god works in mysterious ways. Maybe.
It could be argued that these references are simplified stories to tell his children.
Sure.
But this is more than a point of view. Humans with little science and mathematics could not possibly know this to be true.

God would know if he made it. This would be one more in a long line of seemingly unbelievable tenants of faith. And when humanity achieved the technology sufficient to the task we would be affirmed in our beliefs. Instead, we see time after time the references in the bible and other teachings directly contradicting science. This is but one of many errors religious teachings present as fact.

The bible and counterparts were clearly not written by god or from his hand.

Was this the Mighty Plan?
Does't this seem a little odd?
Let me help you understand
There never was a god.

The Drones Are Coming!

Posted: January 27, 2016 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #drone, #drones, #helicopter, #Hubsan, #personal, #product, #product review, #productreview, #quadcopter, #review, #technology

HubsanH107dFPV

I have often been approached with questions about which product to buy and what is the best way to spend money. I have been in sales for decades, so it is a natural connection. I have a lot of experience in quickly consuming owners manuals and comparing products and pricing. Almost any product; even if I have never heard of it. So there are things to look into and I do a crash course on the subject and condense information and separate hype. I want to share some product reviews with you. Short – fun – and informative, but on stuff I actually own and use. I am also open to requests or suggested topics. We’ll see how and where it goes through the new year.

Recently, I received a cool gift for Christmas and it’s something I knew very little about. In short, it is a mini quadcopter or tiny drone. Specifically, the Hubsan H107D. This thing is small and mighty. Ready to go after charging and placing the battery in the quadcopter, I was flying it in no time. As I have not had a remote control unit before I took it very slow and safe. Indoors for the first few days and with the protective shield, I learned how to keep it fairly stable and maneuver from room to room without breaking anything. It is fairly easy to ‘trim’ or stabilize for flight. Once outside use the Expert Mode so you can fight the gusts of wind that can really grab this little guy. The manual is not extremely detailed but you can find the info easily.

This thing is tiny as I mentioned but it also has a built in camera. You get a real-time feed to the flight controller display. If I ever get good at it, it is possible to literally fly the H107D by using the camera feed as a front pilot view (FPV). An SD card enables you to record the flight. Simple. Easy. I did have a difficult time playing back the card through my PC, but that might be another issue with Windows 10 as mentioned in an impromptu product review a while back!

The battery life is short and the charge time is king, so plan on buying additional batteries and a multi-charger is a good bet as well. Once you start flying this thing and see how high it goes (and how fast), you will be doing a lot more flying. Spare parts and other accessories are easy to find on-line and you can repair the unit yourself with the modular components. Pretty slick and there is a fairly big following of people using and getting very intense with this machine.

Less than $200.00 with additional accessories I mentioned and you can have lots of fly time. Take it easy but if you drop it or hit something hard you can replace almost anything easily with the exception of internal guts (main board, camera etc.)

See their site and this link for a quick flight video. I may post some of mine soon!

http://www.hubsan.com/ShowVideo_72.html

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – Stay Focused on # 1

Posted: December 17, 2015 in live Sound Reinforcement, Live Sound Reinforcement Series
Tags: #audio, #band, #mixingboard, #music, #musician, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #technology

Through the beginning to the end of the last chapter, we have concentrated on the hub or the central nervous system of a Live Sound Reinforcement assignment.  I have been focusing a bit on live performance in a typical band or musical event.  We now understand how most equipment for the House PA, the stage monitors, effects, and even lighting systems use the mixing board as the central hub.  The mixing board’s usefulness does not end there!  Once equipment is set up, connected, turned on and confirmed functional, most of the adjustments made for the rest of the evening will happen because of changes to the mixing board.  It also becomes the Master Device, and all other connected devices are ultimately controlled by the mixer.  The sound engineer is the ONLY person that should touch the mixing board.

The next logical step would be to describe the components of the House PA system and how much power (or how much money do I need to spend….).  After all, this is what most people hear, right?

Obviously, I set up as a trap question.  The answer seems obvious.

If I said, “I sound like a broken record”, most young readers will not know what that means! But I will repeat myself on certain themes and I feel one a’ comin’!  The next important thing is not the House PA and the number of speakers and amplifiers you need.  Most small venue mixing engineers go straight for the house and main systems, completely ignoring the most important ingredient guaranteeing a great performance.  We will avoid that trap now and focus on the stage and more importantly – the musicians on the stage.

When bands practice, they ultimately find a good use of space and volume so each member can achieve the two primary goals;

1) Hear myself (usually louder than any one else.  This is not ego and we will get into that later)

2) Hear the other performers (usually not as loud as the performer wants to hear him/her self!!)

Once they settle in and can accomplish the above – practice is comfortable and productive.  Each member can hear themselves and can also hear enough of the other members to blend with them.  If you saw a live symphony orchestra and all you could hear were the trombones, it would seem like an awful performance.  If you were a musician in the orchestra and all you could hear were the trombones……………

Now we can go back to the band members standing on a stage or venue they have never seen or played in……   and now understand that this is a very real challenge, and the smaller the venue… the smaller the budget.  Lack of Resources can be difficult challenge to overcome.

In larger venues it was quite normal to have a smaller mixing board off to the one side of the stage.  All the instruments and monitors would connect to this mixer, and it would ‘split’ all channels and send them equally to the House mixing board out in the audience area.  (it can also be used to send signals to a recording van parked outside).  The sound engineer on stage makes the band members happy by concentrating on the performers but does not affect the signal going to the House board.  That way the House Engineer has full control of the unaffected incoming channels from the stage board.

Good enough for now and in the next few sections I will focus on the stage sound and mix.

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – The Musicians on the Stage

Posted: November 10, 2015 in live Sound Reinforcement
Tags: # mixer, #audio, #band, #effects, #guitar, #microphone, #mixingboard, #monitors, #music, #musician, #sound, #Soundengineer, #speakers, #stage, #technology, #venue, #writing

The next logical step would be to describe the components of the House PA system and how much power (or how much money do I need to spend….).  After all, this is what most people hear, right?

Obviously, I set up as a trap question.  The answer seems obvious.

When bands practice, they ultimately find a good use of space and volume so each member can achieve the two primary goals;

1) Hear myself (usually louder than any one else.  This is not ego and we will get into that later)

2) Hear the other performers (usually not as loud as the performer wants to hear him/her self!!)

Good enough for now and in the next few sections I will focus on the stage sound and mix.

March of 1990 – Pushing Forward

Posted: November 5, 2015 in Uncategorized
Tags: # mixer, #atari, #audio, #band, #create, #digital, #keyboard, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #retro, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #studio, #synthesizer, #tech, #technology, #writer, #writing, #Yamaha

I guess I never really came up with a name for this tune. Sometimes I will write lyrics and give it a working title. I do the same thing with musical pieces I am working on before there are dedicated lyrics assigned to the tune. As I continue to work on a piece, the name often changes when chords are matched with a set of lyrics. On rare occasion it happens at the same time, and that process is a little different – and easier! This is one of those weird situations where I never got to either, and this has always been referred to by the date….. March of 1990.

March in this case also has a double meaning. It is the pull away from the Winter season where I live. The steady movement of new life. The pace of growth that cannot be stopped. The instrumental tries to match that drive and frantic pace of the season. Driving rhythms, collage of melodies, bouncing themes – and then to dynamics and a reflection of what is now past. Then back to driving growth. That is what I think about as I listen to this tune. Even now, heading to Winter, I feel that March pushing forward.

Back to the Atari 1040 ST, I am sequencing all parts for this tune. I believe I added a new tone module from EMU called the Proteus 1. This was an amazing machine and I have not found anything as good and simple to use as the Proteus series. It was really cool for two major reasons in my opinion. 1) the sounds were just awesome for the time and there were lots of sounds on board. 2) the operating software used was just made for MIDI geeks like me. It was very simple and allowed the Proteus 1 to create splits, layers and zones, but it easily allowed you to access all 16 MIDI channels at the same time. I could write a few articles on this alone, but for now it meant you could assign a different sound to any or all of the 16 channels independently. As described in the MIDI series, this was great because you could use channel 1 for piano, channel 2 for organ sounds, channel 3 for strings, channel 4 for brass or orchestra sounds, 5 for flutes, 6 for sound effects, 7 for guitar sounds, 8 for solo instruments, 9 for the bass guitar sound, 10 for the standard drum channel and still have channels left over. Playing out in bands and in the studio with this was just a dream.

Windows 10 – My Frustrating Journey

Posted: November 2, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #audio, #computer, #frustration, #music, #musician, #personal, #story, #technology, #updates, #Windows10, #writing

I have been a bit distracted lately. I have a computer at home that I use to record music and to create the sounds I use with the MIDI controllers. That is all I use it for. I update the recording software and the plug-ins that I use, but other than that I have not done any updates since I got everything working reasonably well. I subscribe to; don’t fix it if it ain’t broke……..

My office computer is another story. I keep it up to date – within reason – and I try to get all the current drivers, etc. I use it for everything you use a computer for including playing my audio mixes and working on videos. So I recently upgraded to Windows 10.

Immediately I could not play audio files or video clips with attached audio. Nothing changed on the sound card and it shows everything working properly. Try to play an audio or video file though and the music player crashes. I gave Windows some feedback. I am dead in the water. Almost a month ago I got another update (I am checking daily if not more often for an update that will fix this bug) and it worked. No problem playing audio or videos.

Two days later no audio again. I sent more feedback and no helpful response in return. Not unexpected. I work for a company that uses software updates for our products and I understand how a few can be affected but almost everyone else does not have an issue or problem. Things are very complex these days and even though devices and programs are GENERALLY easier to use, they are dependent on so many other factors and variables. I go through the trouble to Reset Windows 10 and install all my programs again. Still no audio. A few days ago there is an update and I can again play audio. Last weekend I was playing music all the time in celebration (yeah, I was in a kind of ‘cold turkey’ for you more senior readers….).

Today I log in and no audio again! ARRRGHH! I try to be patient but I think I am ready to trade my Windows 10 in for my old Windows 7! Sometimes it’s all a numbers game.

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 19 – To Dream the Impossible Dream

Posted: August 10, 2015 in Live Sound Reinforcement Series
Tags: # mixer, #audio, #band, #bass, #digital, #dreams, #drummer, #drums, #guitar, #keyboard, #livesoundreinforement, #microphone, #mixingboard, #monitors, #music, #musician, #performance, #performer, #runningsound, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #speakers, #stage, #stereo, #synthesizer, #tech, #technology, #volume

Think of the stage as a speaker sitting in front of the audience….. sometimes the club or venue actually looks like a box where the performers are positioned. You have the low-end Bass Guitar, Kick Drum and Floor Tom and maybe keyboard sounds or textures. You have the Guitar and Vocals in a mid-rangy area and at the upper end you have symbols and higher range Guitar and Keyboard sounds. All inside the same box just a blasting away at different levels and pointed in all directions.

Now you have a better understanding of the challenge of making these various chunks into a tasty audio stew!

For the best way to present music to the savvy listeners of today, we do what has been done for decades. In the stereo image, you want to create a “room” or “place” for the listener. We have become comfortable with the very low end sounds coming from both speakers at about the same volume. This places the sound to the center of the listener’s field.

We like the vocals or in most cases the melody line to be in both sides equally, again placing the singer in the middle of the left-right field. We are fine if other instruments or singers are more to the left or right as long as the main sounds are where we expect them. We usually place big speakers on either side of the stage facing the audience…… usually in front of the stage and performers…. But as mentioned above this is not a finely tuned speaker cabinet by any means. The components are not necessarily proportionally balanced in volume or location. Setting up the Stage and PA system with this in mind can help reinforce the natural stereo image out in the audience.

Now that I have made a connection that is awkward if not confusing, even though the PA system in all likely hood is a Mono mix coming from both sides or columns of speakers, the listener still hears this as a stereo field. They want the low-end sounds or tones from the center of the stage. Typically the drum – the Kick Drum to be specific for this example – is the most used and most amplified instrument in band situations or where you have audio media. The Bass Guitar player is usually next to the drummer. This helps them keep tighter timing and solid beat, but also supports the stereo image of the listener.

Guitar and other amplified instruments on stage can be heard more from their side of the stage than from the other as an easy example, even if the volume through each side of the Main is sent the same level signal. If keyboards are on the opposite side of the stage from the guitar and also uses a monitor or amp, standing closer to them in front row can make it seem like the keyboards are too loud and those on the other side of the stage think the guitars are somewhat overbearing. It won’t stop them from standing there though! As you get further away from the front of the stage or if the venue is very large, this stereo effect has less and less meaning to the listener. Still, as a rule, most sound systems do not place low-end PA cabinets (or dumps) on one side of the stage and the mid or hi-end cabinets on the other side. It can be however, advantageous to place the low-end dumps in the center of the stage or along the front-center stage area. To make this more inclusive, it is also more comfortable to hear low-end tones coming from an elevation point lower (on the floor, for example) and the higher tones or frequencies coming from higher points (mounted above the stage or on tall poles).

If the volume on stage becomes to strong a level it will negatively affect all the above and more. To reinforce another post of mine, musicians just need to worry about performing great – we sound geeks will make them sound good and loud! I keep dreaming.

Appreciation and Perspective From “The Touch”

Posted: June 5, 2015 in projects, Video
Tags: # mixer, #atari, #audio, #band, #bass, #Cassette, #creative, #demo, #digital, #drummer, #drums, #effects, #guitar, #keyboard, #livesoundreinforement, #microphone, #Midi, #midimike, #mixingboard, #monitors, #music, #musicequiptment, #musician, #performance, #performer, #personal, #perspective, #piano, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #runningsound, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #studio, #studioengineer, #synthesizer, #tech, #technology, #vcr, #video, #videographer, #vocalist, #vocals, #Yamaha

I want to give you an idea of perspective on some of the articles I have posted and will continue to post going forward. This is the first video I have posted and while it is rather BORING, it is so informative at the same time. I guess I have recorded original tunes since the very late 1960’s. I recorded everything. I deleted a lot! But I recorded everything I could. I experimented and adjusted and re-did and failed a few more times than I succeeded in the early days to be sure! I also got into photography and then into video recording. I practiced the mundane over and over until I got the exposure right, then with video until I could zoom and focus manually. I joined the photography club in high school and learned to develop and enlarge my own pictures – something I thought was close to magic back in the day!

I shared earlier that I used (and still own!!!) what I think was the first personal computer to come out with built in MIDI ports – The Atari ST! I used a software program back then to record the MIDI tracks and I could generate SMPTE time code and send a signal from the Atari to sync it up with recording machines (I had the Yamaha 4 track CASSETTE recorder during most of this). When I talk about old technologies and how we used to record songs (or develop pictures…) It is hard for some to understand the challenges we had and the lo-fi quality of the final mix or product.

I want to use this video as an example of many things I refer to in this blog. In this video, you will see what I saw when looking at the Atari computer monitor when I was playing or recording tracks. Keep in mind this is all MIDI equipment available years ago. The song I posted earlier will now be stripped of all guitars, vocals, effects and additional live sounds you heard on the full mix. As you watch the video you will hear the sequences being played back live into the VCR input. I took the monitor video out and connected to video in of the video recorder so this is a straight feed for both. In the recording software, each “instrument” has a separate track. Drums are all on one track with additional percussion sounds on different tracks, and as a reminder, each note (as triggered from my DX7 keyboard) represented a different drum/percussion sound coming from a drum machine. You can hear the metronome from the Atari ticking away in the back ground as it is set to record. As each track plays you can see the musical notes light up depending on the intensity of the track information. You can also see the tempo of the song, the names of the tracks and the measures and beats as they click by.

The main piano sound is probably familiar to many of you even if you are quite young. It is the classic Piano Tine sound from the Yamaha DX7 synthesizers. This video should also give you a sense of quality and resolution available at the time. It might be difficult to hear the difference in song recording quality today, but we are all familiar with video resolution and HD cameras and large screen TV and computer standards available now. Just think how this applied to the audio quality back then and then play some really old songs you grew up listening to. It gives a better appreciation and perspective for some of the classic songs that seem to live forever.

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#technology’

“Not Now”

The Mighty Plan Part 2

The Drones Are Coming!

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – Stay Focused on # 1

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – The Musicians on the Stage

March of 1990 – Pushing Forward

Windows 10 – My Frustrating Journey

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 19 – To Dream the Impossible Dream

Appreciation and Perspective From “The Touch”

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#technology’

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