Category: books

<updated below>

I recently acquired an iMic 2 to experiment with GarageBand (I bought the Monster iStudioLink with the same end in mind).

Some issues emerged, most if not all due to the anemic innards of mine. I realize GarageBand is a RAM hog, so these are artifacts of it not having enough memory to do even one thing at a time, let alone two.

• Playing multiple tracks while recording another doesn’t work reliably. The audio will just drop in the track being recorded. And the signal processing never shows up: you get unprocessed guitar (in my case) instead of whatever you asked for.
• There is often a delay between the sound you make and the sound you hear. This can be fixed by mucking around in the iTunes prefs and toggling back and forth between the buffer sizes.

• 

• There’s some magic there that flushes the buffer and resets the driver. You may find you need to do it, oh three, four, many times. You may also need to twiddle the settings in the Sound Preference Pane: I think I may not have needed to do that, but hadn’t yet isolated the issues with the buffer size.

So I think my bottom line is: more RAM. The little bugger only holds 1 Gb, so I hope that’s enough. I’m sure the resale value on these is dropping through the floor, with the new Dual Cores coming out. Possibly faster disk: if I have to crack it open to add RAM, I’ll do the disk at the same time.

<grumble>
An update. I did reinstall the OS on an outboard disk, a speedy 80 Gb drive connected via FireWire @ 400Mbits. It seems somewhat faster but I think GarageBand won’t be happy w/o a lot more RAM. I still get the same issues with the audio dropping out and I have to assume it’s a resource issue/

The Big Picture: Teens Save Classic Rock:

Old rock has become fashionable, too. The years-old couture and thrift-shop vogue for vintage rock T-shirts recently trickled down to mall retailers catering to teens, with Doors and Rolling Stones shirts selling fast at stores such as Hot Topic.

“It’s almost a cyclical thing — as music ages, it can become cool again,” says Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis, who covers the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care” on her new solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat. But Lewis also sees a simpler reason for the trend: “It’s called classic rock for a reason — it’s classic. It’s just really great music.”

I don’t know what that word is but loosely defined, it has to do with the notion that the originators of a medium — representational painting, the symphony, the novel, rock and roll — are often considered the greatest artists of that medium, no matter how much comes afterward. It’s not that no one has ever played more wildly or creatively than Jimi Hendrix, but that no one could be Jimi Hendrix, a original artist at a certain point in time. Likewise the other music acts mentioned.

There is something to be explored in terms of what core values or ideals make one work a classic and another uninspired filler.

Now playing: All I Have Are Memories (Instrumental) by The Byrds from the album “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo” | Get it

I tried to work with my iStudioLink cable and GarageBand on the new iMac. Hmm. It doesn’t fit in the %^&* plug.

paul:
I had an issue with the iStudioLink cable. I took it to my Apple Store and tested in several machines. Oddly enough, it fits in PowerBooks and PowerMacs.
paul:
It doesn’t fit in iMacs.
paul:
By “doesn’t fit” I mean it doesn’t go all the way in/seat properly.
Agent:
ok, What did the Apple store suggest you as an alternative ?
paul:
They didn’t have much to offer. Working with Monster was about it. But the fact it fits in one machine (or type of machine) and not in the others makes me think this isn’t Monster’s fault 😉
paul:
My guess is they don’t make the cables any differently now than they did, but the optical/line-in port differs between the classes of systems.
Agent:
ok,
Agent:
Paul, iwill put you to the product specialist, lets check if we have any better option, with this issue.

The upshot of it all is, Power good, i bad. iMacs can’t be used (there are some gripes about this on Apple’s page for the iStudioLink) but PowerBooks and PowerMacs are hunky dory.

Now I get to talk to AppleCare.

And if you decide to use the Apple Support Chat, make sure you are not using any kind of proxy: they mention Google Accelerator, but even my Rube Goldberg arrangement of ssh-tunnelled-through-squid was too complicated to work. I had to cut that out the route before it would work.

I suppose I need to work with Monster as well, in case they have a solution.
<grumble>

Rolling Out the Rubber Sheets:

In fact, my policy is to refer to the warbloggers in 2006 as “bedwetters.” There need be no shame in being a bedwetter. It’s a condition that can be treated. But for the neocon-converted, treatment first requires taking honest self-inventory. Having the courage to look in the mirror admit, “I’m a pompous warmongering bedwetting crybaby who loves to hear myself maunder.”

Favorite quotes (both referenced in the full-length post from which the above is excerpted):

Now I may not be as “emotionally or morally sophisticated” as Roger L Simon, but then I didn’t spend the afternoon of 9/11 flushing away my beliefs and convictions in a piddle-stained panic. So please spare me the “cojones” and “cowardice” locker room speech from the man who is one car backfire away from turning into a fedora floating in a puddle of pee.

All those fine words about the rule of law safeguarding our liberties, the arbitrary exercise of power and Bunker Hill, Lexington and Normandy went right out the window on 9/11. That was when Henry [Hyde] and the rest of his stalwart defenders of the rule of law promptly wet their pants and then let their president use the constitution to clean up the puddle.

Great minds think alike, indeed. As for Henry Hyde, I have found his posturing as some paragon of moral rectitude repulsive: I’m in agreement that a mature mind can hold two opposing ideas at the same time,

but for a congressman to steal another man’s wife, keep her as his mistress, and then comport himself as he did during the Clinton witch-hunt is another matter. Youthful indiscretion? At 41? I don’t think so.

Now playing: Expresso Love by Dire Straits from the album “Making Movies”

Continue reading “Twenty four”

Continue reading “vingt et un”

Ken Rockwell:

“Your equipment DOES NOT affect the quality of your image. The less time and effort you spend worrying about your equipment the more time and effort you can spend creating great images. The right equipment just makes it easier, faster or more convenient for you to get the results you need.”

[source]