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ABCs

Posted by km_f5 On 2008-04-30 2 comments

New to me, and maybe you too? The Gashlycrumb Tinies
Buying the book now...

Bat-erific!

Posted by Unknown On 2008-04-25 1 comments

And we thought Kurt Vonnegut wrote fiction...

Posted by km_f5 On 2008-04-21 3 comments

Powerthirst!

Posted by Clockwork On 2 comments




Definitely worth a watch! Probably not for the office because you really need to turn up the sound to get right into it. An altered state will add to the enjoyment as well.




If you like the first one check out Powerthirst 2: Re-Domination as well.




The Whitest Kids You Know also have some funny stuff on youtube. Check out Opposite Day - it's a classic. Slow Jerk is another good one but it may test your limits!

The Starlost

Posted by Unknown On 2008-04-18 4 comments




Yeah, I dunno what to tell you about this one.
I saw this show on First Choice / Superchannel in the early 80's, and at that time it must have been a re-hash/re-run already. Eerie to watch this sort of low budget stuff that is dripping out of my memory after 27 years.

Does anybody else as old as me remember this one?

(yikes)

On the plus side, you gotta love 50cm of snow predicted this late in April.
Wheeee!

Cyanide & Happiness

Posted by Unknown On 2008-04-11 3 comments


I Don't Want To Blow You Up...

Posted by Unknown On 2008-04-10 5 comments

This is no joke.
This is actually a coloring book promoting tolerance and understanding. It is designed for parents and educators to use.

To see some more of the book, which is strangely fascinating and slightly disturbing go here.

I'm all for understanding and tolerance so this is probably a good thing; yet whenever I read the title it makes me think of some clients that I do want to blow up. But that's a personal issue with corporate greed and bureaucratic stupidity, not race or religion, and they don't have a coloring book for that - yet...

UPDATE: This book brought to you by the same fine folks that produced It's Just A Plant: a children's story of marijuana.

EA Boycott

Posted by Clockwork On 2008-04-08 5 comments


Gimp: Open Source Image Manipulation

Posted by Clockwork On 2008-04-07 2 comments


Picasa is great but if you need something with just a little more gusto, try Gimp (its free).


The Plan (Same as the old, but more neato)

Posted by Unknown On 2008-04-06 3 comments

Found this on Mish's blog, fell out of my chair.


As DJ Punk-Roc would say...
"ever get the feeling we been cheated"

Let's see... hmmm....

1 Massive Investment Bank... check
2 Small Airlines... check
1 Jewerly Store... check
1 Bailout for Home Builders (instead of Home Owners)... check

Yep, all the pieces are falling into place. March was one doozey of a month, no doubt. Who would have thought a time would come were I would fancy the idea of sitting at home watching the economic melt-down of North American civilization on CNN while scarfing down microwave popcorn (and I do mean scarf, for those of you who haven't seen me eat popcorn recently, I just can't get the stuff in fast enough).

Really snarky replies will get edited/removed, this is the advance warning ;)

Silent Rave? Is that you?

Posted by Rippin Kittin On 2008-04-04 3 comments

"Dance in the streets, not in your room."

Silent Disco
Mobile Clubbing

Go Firewire Mobile

Posted by Unknown On 2008-04-01 0 comments

It's a sad day for me, sorta... I've been using a sweet Tascam digital mixer (the TM-D1000) for at least 5 years now and it has served me well. So well, that I had no need to upgrade it... until... (wait for it)... well, now.

You see, the whole setup in my PC is based around these two M-Audio PCI cards. One of which connects to the digital mixer to provide 8in/8out. The second card is the dedicated hi power master outs (24bit/96khz for the geeks out there). I was able to piece the setup together for less than a grand (which made the wife super happy), and I got my 5 years out of it for sure.

But now I'm faced with this need to "go mobile" and my current hardware, PCI cards, big mixing desk, etc... just won't do the trick. So, I'm forced to sell, and switch over to dedicated external firewire hardware. This means the M-Audio/Tascam rig is up for sale.




Tascam TM-D1000 Digital Mixer
and PCI Interfaces package

includes:

M-Audio 24/96 PCI Card (including breakout cable)(worth $80 to $100 alone)

M-Audio TDIF interface PCI Card (including breakout cable) (worth $80)

TM-D1000 Mixer (valued at $350 used)

  • mixer has the FX-1000 Effects Board already installed providing 2 extra FX channels (adding another $100 value)
  • all manuals still in good readable condition
  • training Video included and quick reference card

Extra Stuff
  • TDIF Link Cable (25') PCI card to Mixer
  • MIDI Extension Cable (12') for external MIDI devices
  • USB Device Cable (3') for keyboard or other USB recording peripheral
  • burned CD with all the newest WinXP and Mac OS X drivers
  • all the manuals and documentation,
  • plus a training video on how to use the mixer
Awesome digital mixing package for someone looking to get into digital mixing on a PC or MAC and has a few PCI slots to spare. This setup can totally replace your current onboard sound or budget/Creative sound card setup.

This setup has been used for mixing with NI Traktor 2/3, integrated with a DM2MIDI dm2 hardware interface and an external DJ mixer for DJ'ing (works awesome). It's been used for recording electronic music, guitar (both unprocessed and processed) and vocals. It's performed admirably every time.

I've setup this mixer to interface with Cubase (3 and up), Nuendo (2 and 3), Ableton Live (versions 5 and 6), Reason (2, 2.5 and 3) and Mackie Tracktion (2 and 3) all with no problems via the unified M-Audio ASIO drivers and the TDIF PCI connector board. The 8 channels in the digital mixer show up as 8 selectable channels in the software environment configs (see the screen caps).

Using Nuendo 2 (my favorite
"heavy duty" setup - see screen caps), you can record and playback on a number of tracks simultaneously with minimal setup effort. Integration with NI Guitar Rig 2 was fantastic. Rewire performance was excellent (I would routinely run a 12+ track Nuendo project with another 6 to 8 tracks re-wired in from Reason).

It's a pain in the ass to let this setup go, but the need to 'go-mobile' for live setups has forced me into the MacBook/Firewire interface world. I've played around with a lot of different setups and software, and would be happy to answer any software questions you have before bidding. This is an excellent and complete entry point into digital mixing and recording on your computer that won't cost you $1000+ dollars.




So, there you go.

I gotta let the rig go, to make room for the more agile stuff (less gear for the buck). If I can find somebody I know that wants the stuff, I'm willing to let it all go for $380, otherwise, it's off to eBay/kijiji with it.

If anybody knows of anybody that has a 1GHz computer or faster and wants to get into recording, this is the maximum possible gain for the least amount of pain.

Screen Caps:

tascam_maudio_configs

April Fools

Posted by Unknown On 4 comments

Anybody come across anything noteworthy on April Fools Day?
Did you pull any fast ones that you want to report on? Do tell...