Notes_Norton

Kenfucius, I thought the entire reason for the jumbo guitar was to hide the beer belly.

I like them both, but I must confess, I like the monochrome better. While the color adds interest to the picture, the monochrome brings out the composition more to my eyes. Either way -- nice work! Notes

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Very interesting, thanks! Notes

Yes, and unfortunately it didn't work. The newer buggy version works, so it's Ctrl+S every minute or two. But it's orphaned with no support so it's way past it's 'use by' date. But I have everything saved in both MTPro and MIDI type 1 format so as long as MIDI files are standard, I won't lose anything. Insights and incites by Notes

I've got to respectfully disagree with your first statement. Capitalism is all about the corporation. It's about making profits so the non-participant stockholders can increase their share value. Now they partially do this by focusing on the customer, because customers are necessary. But the focus is on profits and nothing else. But then, isn't that the reason to be in business? The difference is in a small business, the company doesn't have to grow perpetually to stay in business. But I do agree that we can live without Facebook, Twitter (I do), Google (that too), Smartphone (minimize my apps and permissions because I need the phone for business), and value the money that I'm not slaving for (I'm a professional musician - I make a living by enjoying myself). Capitalism has it's flaws, but so far it's better than the alternatives the world has tried. By pointing out the flaws we can minimize their impact on us, and perhaps someday someone will be able to improve it. Insights and incites by Notes

I started out with Master Tracks Pro, a MIDI sequencer on the Atari/ST computer. Then I followed it to Motorola Macs (Classic II), and finally Windows (I hated DOS and was happy to see Windows). Microsoft bought Passport Designs (the parent company to MTPro) to use the patented technology in Power Point and abandoned the program. This was before Windows 95 because I still have the last Passport copy with 8.3 file names. GVox bought Passport mostly for the Encore notation app and they scooped up MTPro in the process. They introduced a number of bugs, most, but not all have been fixed, and they sold it to a company renamed Passport who was underfunded, went belly-up so now MTPro is orphaned. The non-buggy 8.3 version does not load in Win10 but the slightly buggy one does. IMHO MTPro is the best stand-alone MIDI sequencer in the biz. Great interface, great editing tools, everything available in a mouse click or two (no sub-menus or sub-sub-menus), and the 8.3 version never-ever crashed. Sadly the new version occasional does. Why am I saying all this historic stuff? If Bandlab decides to abandon Cakewalk, it's possible we will be able to use it for many years - until Microsoft changes it's OS making it no longer compatible (like the 8.3 version of MTPro). Sure there will be no new features in orphaned software, but there will be no more bloatware either. Insights and incites by Notes

As far as short sighted managers are concerned, it is their job to make corporate profits, every quarter. They are looking to keep their job by keeping expenses low, profits high, and a constant turnover with their user base. It's the down side of Capitalism/"Corporationalism" (not that Communism is any better, it has an opposite set of and IMO worse problems) When a product is new, if it is good, it grows by attracting new customers, the stock prices go up, the stockholders are happy, and the upper management make huge bonuses and salary increases. Then it reaches a saturation point, just about everybody who wants that product has it. New sales keep trickling in, but the huge growth period is over. OK the increase in stock prices isn't as good as it once was, it's not losing money, but there are bigger growth opportunities for stock buyers elsewhere. What to do? The managers need their bonus. New features, frequent updates, or subscription models will keep the revenue flowing. Stockholders are happy again. But those new features introduce new bloat and new bugs so eventually the people stop buying the upgrades, and the subscription people hate paying for something they feel they should own so there go the stock prices. This is what is happening to Apple. the iPhone was their big money maker. It was a great invention and well adopted. Then it improved with new feature after new feature. Every new model had a line at the Apple Store around the block waiting for it to open. Stock prices went up. Managers got bonuses. Then the new features started to be bloatware (all the good ideas got used up). The sales dropped. They started jacking up the price to sustain stock prices. The most faithful kept buying new phones, and they became a trillion dollar company. But nothing can grow perpetually, and eventually the faithful started to think that their old iPhone was good enough, and paying a thousand dollars for what used to cost only a couple of hundred was a cause to wait until their present iPhone no longer works. And now Apple stock has dropped 33% because without that perpetual growth, stockholders are looking for growth stocks and jumping ship. Another approach is "Chiclets" items. Chew them up, spit them out, and buy again. It worked for Kodak for years, chew up a roll of film and you need another. For Gillette you dull the razor blade and you need to buy another. Canon copier out of toner? Buy some more. Buy water or a soft drink in a disposable bottle and the bottle company makes a sale. With disposable products, you don't need constant upgrades. All you need is a growing population. Perpetual growth is the big problem with corporations. Now a small business only needs to make enough money to feed the owners and employees. Without stockholders who do not physically work at the company, but only want profits, they don't need perpetual growth. Just steady as it goes. It can grow, and that's good, but has no stockholders demanding growth every quarter or they bail. Capitalism/"Corporationalism" is the economic system we are stuck with, like any system it has good and bad points, but any system that depends on perpetual growth is foolish. That's a big factor in why some former big businesses are no longer here or floundering, Sears, RCA, Atari, Gibson, K Mart, Kodak, Montgomery Wards, Chrysler, Woolworth's, and so many others. Some day Amazon will go under for the same reason. Having a free product that attracts people to your store might just work as long as your store remains profitable. Let's hope that this is the BandLab strategy. Having a free product that uses you as the customer and sells your information to corporations hungry for growth is another answer. Apple, Microsoft, have gone this way, Google, Facebook, Twitter and so many others paved the way, and it has become a profitable business model. How long with this last until that market is saturated? Depends on how may others get in the game. There should be a better system than Capitalism, but while I can see the flaws in the current system, I'm not smart enough to see the cure. OK, that's probably more than enough rambling musings and the world according to me. Insights and incites by Notes

I'm predominately a sax player who doubles on flute, drums, bass, guitar, wind synthesizer, keyboard, and vocals. On stage in my current setup I'm playing sax, flute, wind synth, guitar, vocals and a small percussion controller that I use when singing something too difficult to play while singing (I'm not a natural singer and have to work at it). My duo partner is a fantastic singer and also plays guitar and Buchla Thunder Tactile MIDI controller. I make my own backing tracks. This Morph is not nothing I need, but something I'm interested in. -- It could be an aid in making my own backing tracks, -- and on stage I might be able to not only use the drum controller, but slap the keyboard skin on and play a few keyboard synth lines, as the wind synthesizer does not do harmony well (two note drone or parallel harmony, not very versatile options). My partner's Thunder and my Wind Synthesizer do things that a keyboard synth will not do (and vice versa). Having a drum controller I can hit with sticks instead of my fingers without buying an e-drum set could be a plus. Having different ways to do things is never a big problem. Having more toys (oops! tools in case the IRS is monitoring) is always a good thing. This device looks interesting. Can it do the same things as the Thunder and other things as well? Is it a cool fun toy? Most of all I'd like to know how it's made, and if it's worth trying or not. If someone has one, let me know how rugged it seems. Is it full MIDI complaint so that a USB to MIDI interface will transfer to a 5 pin DIN MIDI sound module. It gets good reviews on Amazon, but I know those can be padded, I'd rather hear from others. It's not that expensive, if it's well built and fully MIDI compliant, I just might give it a try. (I have sound modules.) If I spring for it, I'll publish a report here. Insights and incites by Notes

I see an advantage of freeware and selling add-ons or luring into the great wide world of Bandlab. In order for a profit product to remain successful, it must sell itself again and again every year. Feature after feature is added and when there is nothing left for the users to upgrade the next year (to keep the cash flowing) the company has to add things people don't really need, perhaps don't want, and affecting the stability of the program. Corporations are funny things. They depend on perpetual growth and we know perpetual growth of anything on Earth is impossible. If it doesn't keep growing, the stock prices will decline, and the stockholders will sell their stock and move on, and as the stock becomes worth less and less the company goes into deeper and deeper debt. Having the app as a loss leader or for selling add-ons might be a good idea in that the product doesn't need to bloat every year to sell the yearly upgrade. I don't know if this pertains to CbB or not, I'm just musing on the subject. Insights and incites by Notes

I got wind of this from the Buchla Thunder users group https://sensel.com/ An overview: https://sensel.com/pages/video It's an alternative MIDI controller / music production controller / Ableton Live controller / etc. / etc. I'm thinking about trying one out, but I wonder if anyone here has purchased one before I spring for it. If so, is it as advertised? Pros? Cons? Thanks, Notes I have no affiliation with this company and am asking out of curiosity - in other words - this ain't spam

I miss Eudora ;) but it doesn't have the safety requirements that modern clients have. Thunderbird and Agent are good alternatives. Insights and incites by Notes

I think Quantizing and Auto-tune are the two things that take the soul out of the music. Over-compressing is a close third IMHO.

Generally if something on the Internet is free, you are not the customer - you are the product. I don't know if that applies here or not - it could very well be a loss-leader. Notes

I can access my e-mails with my web host's web based app, and leave it there for download to my e-mail client later. This works fine when I'm not at my desk. Insights and incites by Notes

IMO if it sounds bad, quantizing won't help. Practice usually will. But perhaps I'm just too old-fashioned. Insights and incites by Notes

Gotta admit, I don't get the Tinder reference. But I have heard the name. IMO the reason why MIDI hasn't evolved sooner is that the original specs were very well thought out with room to grow, including some continuous controllers to be used for specific synths and/or manufacturers. There is a lot of musical expression available with the MIDI 1 specs, that is if the synthesizer can utilize them. Two way communication with the synth seems to be the logical step forward, although I don't know what it will be used for. But thats the limits of my own imagination. I'm curious to see what applications will use two way communications. A new world of expression might open up. Insights and incites by Notes

I still use a client. I want to keep a copy of many of my e-mails, especially customers in both my band and band-in-a-box businesses, and I want them accessible off-line. I also don't want google or yahoo reading them and adding to my dossier :O Insights and incites by Notes

I think they chose the 5 pin DIN because it was a common off-the-shelf connector. I'm glad it hasn't changed though, I have many different ended USB cables and adapters and all I need is one MIDI type cable. Like a guitar cable and unlike XLR I'm glad it doesn't matter which way it plugs in - it's reversible - so they did a lot of things right. I just wish they wouldn't occasionally fall out when moving gear. For me they don't fall out often enough to be a major PITA, but infrequently enough to be a nit. I do one-nighters for a living. Whenever I have to open the back of the rack, I habitually push all the MIDI cables in whether they need it or not. My WX5 Wind MIDI controller has a small dedicated MIDI plus power cable that locks, which is a good thing because it hangs off the WX5 and could easily get unplugged in the middle of a solo, which would be embarrassing. I don't need my gear to make mistakes for me, I can do that by myself :) Insights and incites by Notes

Hair today, gone tomorrow. Or in my case, gone years ago. If we put our heads together we could make an ..... (never mind, the censors might not like it). Better idea, Dolly Parton. You might notice the rock and roll toupee in my avatar :D Notes

And the only mistake they made was that 5 pin DIN connector. Obviously they were in-house people and not used to rolling a rack to one-nighter gigs, where the non-locking DIN connectors have a habit of falling out of their sockets. A locking connector with a mechanism like a XLR latch would have been better. But I'm a big fan of MIDI and the cables don't unplug themselves that often. On the other hand, they decide to be loose when there is no room to take the back off the rack ? I run with 4 sound modules in my rack. Two Yamaha VL70m's, One Roland XV-5050 and one Roland Sound Canvas. I am truly thankful for being able to fit a few thousand sounds into 3 rack spaces (actually 2.5). Insights and incites by Notes

I do this on the guitar and hate it when the microphones do it :D

Since I tend to record MIDI, what I end up fixing mostly is erasing slop notes - the kind where I went for that D and brushed the C# on the way. Since I sequence all the parts and practice each one first, on a new song, I'm still prone to that occasional wrong note. if the feel and the timing is right and the rest of the track is good, in MIDI that's a simple fix. When playing/entering the most attention is on timing. In my situation wrong notes can be fixed (as long as they are uncommon - if there are a bunch, get back Notes and practice some more before recording again). Insights and incites by notes

I guess I'm old school. Practice until I get the timing right, and play it live in real time. IMO there are no short cuts to practice until right. But then, I'm only recording myself, and unlike Bill BRainbow, I don't have clients to accommodate. I have my personal pride to satisfy. Instead I make backing tracks to play behind my duo, and I want the backing tracks to sound as close to a real band as possible. If it's difficult, it might take me a few days to work up the backing track, to get the timing right, to get the notes right, to get the groove right and to get it as good as my current skills allow. But if I'm lucky, I'll get to play that song thousands of times in front of an appreciative audience and I'll be inspired to sing or play my best on top of the track. If I knew I could do it better, it would haunt me every time I play the song. But like I always say, there is more than one right way to make music. Insights and incites by Notes