Author Archives: mathan

It’s too soon for any of us

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I wrote this a few days ago, posted on Facebook but wanted to keep this in my blog,

I’ve been sitting back listening to some music from my high school days, which often gets me reminiscing about those days. Believe it or not, high school for me, despite all the awkwardness that happens had lots of good times. Definitely better than the previous three years prior.

I never felt like I belonged in any particular one group and I seemed to be quite transient between a group of friends my age and older into technology, programming, science and music; a group into technology and sports (later when I started playing Rugby); and another group of friends my age and younger who very much eclectic and at one level a bunch of misfits, again with a unifying interest in music, but more diverse between technology and arts.

This is where I met Chris I have to admit, we weren’t as close as some in the group but there was always a mutual respect, as there was between everyone who was part. In the group that included Chris, Chris, Chad, John, John, Catriona, Laura, Clayton and others; we all had such diverse backgrounds, tastes in music, we all enjoyed either gaming and computers and then whatever else we brought with us all complemented each other.

As some have alluded, Chris knew how to reinvent himself like Madonna – and that’s not a bad thing. The pranks, late night drives, the first time going to the Bovine Sex Club – THE goth/industrial club in Toronto, and being exposed to harder edged music which has inspired me today.

I always enjoyed Chris’ witty attitude and humour. I liked that he was into cars. I like cars, but he took it to a much deeper level.  

Talking tonight at the visitation, all of us are saying, “It’s too soon for any of us”.

—

The following lyrics from Duran Duran’s song, Beautiful Colours really come to mind for me.

(LeBon/Rhodes/Taylor/Taylor/Taylor)

Today, riding the slow train along the way
Going to who knows where and who knows when
Not knowing where you’re rolling – it’s the learning of this journey

I feel all you good people gather and believe
Being of flesh and breathing is enough
Promise to carry on from each moment to the next one

These beautiful colours, infinite patterns so hard I see
And though we’re all of the same stuff
There’s not one of you who is the same as me

Whoa, the beautiful colours, in different patterns for you to see
Sometimes the beauty of it all seems unbearable ’til the colours bleed (keep breathing…)

Design – everyone’s their own universe
Besides – life isn’t a standard issue it’s customized
Ashes to supernova is the nature of existence

These beautiful colours, infinite patterns so hard I see
And though we’re all of the same stuff
There’s not one of you who is the same as me

Whoa, the beautiful colours, in different patterns for you to see
Sometimes the beauty of it all seems unbearable ’til the colours bleed (keep breathing…)

Keep breathing
Keep loving

These beautiful colours, infinite patterns so hard I see
And though we’re all of the same stuff
There’s not one of you who is the same as me

Whoa, the beautiful colours, in different patterns for you to see
Sometimes the beauty of it all seems unbearable ’til the colours bleed (keep breathing…)

Experiments with the Roland TR-8

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After a week of sitting in my make-shift studio, I finally got some time to play around with the Roland TR-8 I picked up.  Wow, what a machine.  It totally to me to my late-80s/early-90s techno roots.  What a phat beat pumpin’ beast.

Forget the basic Roland TR-808/TR-909 sounds it emulates, add the scatter functionality and you’ve got a beast that doesn’t just drum for you.  If you’re not a strong beats guy like me, and you get stumped, the scatter functionality can help create breakbeats and fills to way more than satisfy my beat needs.  Tie in, not just the audio over USB, but throw in the midi data and you can create some out of the world beats with your DAW drum set (Reason, Logic, etc…)

Check this sample out.

Roland Aira TR-8, TR-3, Propellerheads Reason 7.1 and OSX Mavericks

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There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there about how to setup instruments that can connect to a DAW such as Propellerheads Reason over USB, with MacOS X Mavericks.  Most tutorials start having completed the setup process already.

Here is a tutorial about how to setup a Roland TR-8, Roland TR-3 with MacOS X Mavericks (10.9) and Propellerheads Reason.

I am currently using the following equipment:

  • Roland TR-8 Rhythm Performer
  • Roland TR-3 Touch Bassline
  • MacBook Air

I am also using a Korg Microkey25 and a Kaossilator Pro which were setup quite quickly.

The high level steps for this are:

  1. Download the drivers.
  2. Setup your audio devices
  3. Setup Reason’s preferences
  4. Setup the audio tracks

Download Drivers

The first thing you have to do is to download the drivers for your TR-8 and TR-3.  If you gave the drivers installed, then you can setup your audio devices to talk to CoreAudio, Apple’s technology for interfacing everything audio on your Mac.

Setup your audio devices

Do this via Go > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup and you should see your TB-3 and TR-8 setup on the left side.

Audio Setup

 

What I noticed in Reason was that I could select one of the TR-8 or the TR-3, but I could not play and record both at the same time, which is not really all that helpful. I also noticed the same in Logic.

You need to setup an Aggregate Device:

  1. Click the ‘+’ button and select “Create Aggregate Device”
  2. Select the Built-in Output, TB-3 and TR-8
  3. Select the Clock Source as “Built-in Output”
  4. Let the sample rate be 96 kHz.  The TR-8 and TB-3 both are high resolution audio devices, though some may argue that one doesn’t need to sample that high.  Your call.
  5. Rename the Aggregate Device – I set mine to TB-3&TR-8 (yes, I mistyped it in the image above).
  6. Right click on the new device and select “Use this device for sound input”.
  7. Ensure your actual Built-in Output  is setup for sound output.  If not, right click and select “Use this device for sound output”.  You can also select, “Play alerts and sound effects through this device”.
  8. You’re done with this part!  Take note of the output channels for the Mac’s own Built-in Output, you’ll need this for the next step. In my example, above, here is how to read the inputs and outputs:
    • TB-3 has the first two input and output channels
    • TR-8 has inputs 3 through 16 and outputs 3 through 6
    • The Mac has only outputs 7 and 8

You want to add the Built-in Output in the Aggregate Device so that you can select it as the outbound device within Reason.  You’ll see this in the next step.

Setup Reason’s preferences

Load up Reason and do this via Reason > Preferences > Audio.

 

  1. Select the Audio Device as the device you created in the previous section.  This is what stumped me, I was looking for separate audio in and out and out fields.
  2. Click the Channels… button next to Active Input Channels, select all of the Inputs.
  3. Click the Channels… button next to Active Output Channels, and select only the output channels
  4. You’re done with this part!

Setup the audio tracks

Now you want to go ahead and create the audio tracks.  Everything should be virtually wired up and ready.

  1. Go to Create > Utilities > Audio Track and an audio track is added.
  2. Expand the device on the rack and under Audio Input select the input for your device.
  3. If you want, rename the Audio Track to be more representative of the device you are adding.
  4. You’re done.

Hit the Start/Stop button on your device and you should hear everything come out of your Mac’s speaker.

Pain Points and Tips

There are definitely some pain points to this setup.  What I have found is:

  • After turning off your devices and existing Reason, it may be possible the devices get forgotten by MacOS X, or it may be the way the devices boot up.
  • Reason might forget which devices belong with which channel or that channels should be enabled.  You may have to go to Reason > Preferences > Audio to set this up.
  • Be sure to save a default file with the audio tracks setup.  This will save you time, and name the devices after the device and sound.
  • The TR-8 will send out a stereo signal on the first two channels, one for left and one for right.  The remaining channels are for the individual sounds if you want to capture the individual audio tracks separately.
  • The TB-3 will send out a stereo signal, as well, on the first two channels.  One for left and one for right.
  • This one is a big frustration point for me.  The USB plug into the TB-3 and TR-8 are FRAGILE and they can be tough to plug in.  Specifically, I actually broke the plastic post on the USB port of my TB-3.  Thankfully it still works, but I need to get some glue to fix it.  I’m not pleased with how cheap the ports are.

And there you go.  Hopefully I’ve taken away some of the pain that I had setting up my equipment.

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PDX Food Recommendations

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I’ve been visiting Portland OR and Vancouver WA for the past 3 years – at least 1 trip per quarter.  As a result, I’ve had a chance to visit some very nice restaurants here.  Here are my recommendations

Tommy O’s – Hawaiian-esque cuisine, great sushi and Ahi Tuna.  Desserts are tasty!  I’ve been downtown and at a location in Vancouver (Washington, not British Columbia).

Elephant’s Deli – And don’t forget their PDX airport location, Flying Elephants.  Great lunch – I highly recommend the Kale salad, any of the sandwiches, Mac & Cheese (best I’ve ever had), the chocolate mousse and anything from the bakery.  The staff are friendly, and you’ll see a lot of great Pacific NW beards here.

Red Onion – Great place for quick Thai at lunch.

Toast & Pho – A quick hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, family owned.

Mother’s Bistro – We stumbled on this when we went for walk around the city.  You can get half sized portions of their main entrees so you can try multiple dishes.  Admittedly, despite being half the size of their portions, it’s still quite a bit of food.  Still, if you’re diet conscious, go for a half portion and you’re set.  Try the spiced plum tea – it’s awesome.

Beaches Restraurant – The only restaurant I’m mentioning that’s located in Vancouver WA.  You can get a beautiful river view table.  The fish and desserts are awesome, and the staff are friendly.

 

So I bought an XBone

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Goodness – it’s been a few months since I wrote anything in this blog.  I’ve been travelling between Portland, Dallas and Ann Arbor for the past 6 out of 7 weeks with 3 more weeks of travel coming up.  A 2 week break and then 1 more week of travel.

True to form, some may say, “Some may doth protest to much”, and that’s pretty true of the XBox One.

I bought one.

I like it.

Possibly more than my PS4.

So what was it that turned me around?

  • Firstly, I’m a race car fan and given Sony Computer Entertainment has delayed Drive Club from being a launch game to being indefinitely delayed.  Forza is pretty drool worthy, and one has to admit the Drivertar functionality is pretty cool.
  • The lack of games on the PS4 during the launch window and even until today has been pretty lacking.  I can only think of a handful of games, that I’m not really interested in, that have been released.
  • The first game I’m really interested in beyond the launch window launches this weekend – Infamous Second Son.
  • The games available for the XBone are trumping those I was interested in for the PS4.  Forza, Peggle 2, Max: Curse of the Brotherhood, Killer Instinct, and Crimson Dragon.  I’ve been playing all of them.
  • A lot of the independent games Sony has been hawking on PSN+ have not been great.
  • Rehashing games from the Vita or the PS3 is not a good strategy for those of us looking for new content to play.  I wanna see the limits of the PS4 pushed.
  • It feels like that with the launch titles, the PS4 was going after the XBox360 demographic with a lot of first person shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield.  There’s more to a game console than FPS.

I’m feeling a bit burned by my PS4 purchase, honestly.

Now that said, I know it will get better.  The PS3 started out slow and became such an amazing game machine.  Or at least, I hope the PS4 will get better.

So what about the stink I made when the XBone was announced?

  • Most of the arrogant folks who were responsible for the botched announcements have left.  This clears the perceived integrity issues to a degree.
  • Checking out an XBone, they seem to have gotten rid of a lot of the advertising that seemed to plague the Xbox 360.  It’s still there but it seems to have toned down considerably.  Maybe, just maybe, Microsoft is listening to the complaints about all the advertising.

What else turned me around?

  • Playing around with an XBone at EB Games somewhat turned me around.
  • I liked the operating system.  It’s similar enough to Windows 8/8.1 but unique enough that it is it’s own thing.
  • Kinect actually works in my man cave, surprisingly.  The original Kinect for the 360 really sucked.
  • Voice commands, despite the fact I really hate voice commands outside my car, actually seem to work and have some value.

I still think the XBox 360 is one of the lamest, modern, game consoles available.  I think Microsoft has somewhat redeemed itself.

I still think the amount of advertising they spent on the XBone shows how desperate the company has been to address the asinine way Mattrick and others first announced the XBone.

The XBone may be worth looking at relative to the PS4.

Back from our honeymoon!

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Scott and I are back from our honeymoon hitting Walt Disney World and our Cruise to the Western Caribbean visiting Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas; and Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos.

Check out out wedding blog for more details.  Meanwhile, some pictures:

Making pasta

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Scott and I have talked about me learning to cook in the kitchen.  It’s not that I can’t cook in the kitchen.  I can cook basic things like eggs and bacon, I can bake, I can follow directions on a box, I can make a basic spaghetti sauce, I’ve roasted turkeys and chicken.

But I’ve not done it enough in certain circumstances for it to be second nature (turkeys, chicken come to mind).  I don’t know what things I could substitute.  I feel I should know how to do a basic white sauce so that I can then kick it up with something tasty.

Along with redoing the kitchen, with the graciousness of some of the wedding gifts we’ve received, and with an amazing deal we got on pots and plans that we bought before the renovation was completed – we’ve upgraded some of the tools we have in the kitchen as well.

I’m intimidated by the kitchen!  I tried frying an egg in a new frying pan and almost burned breakfast!  ARGH!

We’ve been talking for a long time about me learning how to cook things how to do things in the kitchen, and we started tonight.

We picked up a pasta maker yesterday, and set out today to pick up supplies to make fresh pasta.  This was Scott’s first time making pasta as well.

The vision – stringy cheese macaroni and cheese with 4 kinds of cheese (Gruyere, Fontina, Mozzarella and Old Cheddar).

What really turned out was more a pasta bake (which we’ve always done) with turkey and red pepper.

It turned out amazingly!

It was also our first night eating with our new china and the Ralph Lauren Highball glasses.