Uh oh. Is it finally time for me to break down and get an iPad?

SampleWiz — yes, from the same Jordan Rudess-helmed team that brought us MorphWiz — looks fast, highly playable and really, really fun:

http://www.promusicapps.com/samplewiz/

Do you have an iPad specifically for music creation?

After my first two weeks as a free woman — having quit my day job! — I posted a tally of sorts to take stock of what I’d accomplished. I thought I’d follow up with a new post covering how August went. There’s nothing like publishing what you’ve gotten done to keep yourself honest and focused.

I didn’t quite hit my goal — one new piece of music per working day — due to some unavoidable disruptions and obligations, but I came respectably close. I’ve also suffered a bit of insomnia. Sometimes that makes creative work easier, but sometimes harder. Generally, I’m hanging in there.

In terms of my spirits, I experienced a remarkable upswing once classes started for the fall at the University of New Mexico. I’ve taught one class per semester in the Music Dept. since ’08 and just started a second, brand-new class (this was additional motivation for leaving the day job). In short, I enjoy my students and what I’m teaching, and — at the risk of sounding über-practical — I also got a very real bump from the simple knowledge that the second class would happen despite meager enrollment, because it takes a little pressure off the financial side of this whole adventure. And besides, it’s a cool class (Introduction to Max for Musicians)!

So, in a tidy list, here’s what my calendar and email Outbox indicate that I got done — geez, I might have to start keeping a journal:

• composed/produced nine 15-second “intro themes” for a TV show (no guarantees, just opportunities)
• signed a contract with a new music library — yay! — and provided two existing pieces from my catalog, wrote another and will be writing more
• devoted a few days to some needed software installs in the computer-music lab I manage for UNM
• lost a half-day to getting the house partially re-roofed. Schedule? What schedule?
• replaced our washer and dryer. Um, yeah; so much for austerity measures. The dryer bit it on our anniversary.
• wrote new pieces for a handful of TAXI listings. If you’re an active musician or even if you have an older catalog that’s well-recorded, you owe it to yourself to at least look over TAXI’s business and offerings. Check out their excellent forum, which is open to non-members, at forums.taxi.com.
• met again with a small-business owner about some editing work
• moved a little further toward being able to work as a contractor for my former employer; the temp agency is still working on my background check. I’m apparently Crazypants McMystery Girl or something, they’re taking so long to vet me.
• did some enjoyable editing work for an exceptional, local green business — the one I met with in July. Lined up more of the same just this morning. Feel fantastic about this opportunity.
• did a bunch more editing assignments with that online editing service I mentioned in the first tally; I’m getting the hang of it in terms of choosing assignments that suit my skills and schedule. Good stuff.
• started the new semester at UNM. I’m blown away, to be honest, by how much I enjoy teaching. Great students + cool topics = tough to beat.

Did I Learn Anything?

Hmm. Well, frugality is fine, but you have to take care of your home and your family so that they can keep taking care of you. I came to the conclusion that after working hard for 25 years at jobs that weren’t always satisfying for the sake of (some) financial security, it is OK for us to buy — for example — a good-quality new washer and dryer rather than used. Maybe not the models we would have bought if I hadn’t just quit my job, but good ones. I mean, really: what was the point of all those years of work if I’m going to lapse right back into my old poverty mentality? Sure, if the money weren’t there, we wouldn’t; but it is, so we did. And we will be fine.

So there you have it — a full six weeks in. The anxiety about this life change comes and goes, but for the most part, I feel like I’m getting into a groove with my new life.

I like it.

First few hours with my M-Audio Axiom Pro 61

If you spend much time in your digital audio workstation (DAW), you've probably at least given some thought – if not some cash – to acquiring a decent physical controller or two for your setup. You can accomplish a ton with the QWERTY keyboard and mouse, it's true, and that approach has its own benefits (e.g. travel/laptop-only situations). But if you work a lot in a stationary studio, you'll eventually want something more tactile and comfortable.

The options improve all the time, and they range from relatively inexpensive (the Korg nanoKontrol, about $60) to utterly high-end (the Euphonix MC Pro, about $26,000). There are also some great choices in the middle ground, and that's where I decided to shop. 

I had been using my old Ensoniq ASR-10 and an Evolution UC-33e, and I learned how to use my DAW's Learn feature to assign controllers to just about anything. (I use Logic Pro, which gives lots of people fits when it comes to controller assignments, but I'd done OK. I also use the QWERTY keyboard rather than the mouse whenever possible.) Still, I knew there was another level of integration that would really speed up my work and further reduce mousing. 

My main priorities, based on my manual-mapping experiences, were:

• easier (or automatic) mapping to control plug-in effects and VIs
• a display, so that I would never be left guessing which slider corresponded to which track, regardless of my mixer view
• a better-feeling keyboard that still had aftertouch (like the ASR-10)
• a price that reflected some serious development effort but wouldn't make me hyperventilate.

After months of research and debate (do I need this or just want it?), I finally settled on the M-Audio Axiom Pro 61. I sold my ASR-10 and had enough to just about pay for the Axiom Pro. Sweet!

As I worked with it for the first few hours, I took these notes – simple, real-life first impressions.

• It's a good-looking piece of gear, IMO.

• It feels solid despite being reasonably lightweight.
• At first touch, I wasn't crazy about the feel of the keyboard, but after playing it for a short time I began to like it. (I think each key was slightly stiff just from sitting on a shelf. Playing fixed it.) There's a sponginess to the bed, likely associated with the keyboard's aftertouch capability, but when playing a piano part I didn't notice it once I was focused on the music. Given that I've been using an Ensoniq ASR-10 as my controller keyboard for a few years now, this is the closest I've had to real piano feel in my project studio, period. Those of you with high-end weighted controllers are probably cringing – sorry! But I've had the ASR-10 for specific reasons – it's amazing for live sampling, which is what I do in performance a lot – and now my needs point more toward a dedicated controller.
• It's tough to beat this kind of integration, especially when it's effortless:

My first 8 Logic tracks and the corresponding Axiom Pro screen display. The red stripe along the left indicates which tracks are under Axiom's control, and that's reflected on the Axiom's display too. The header StrLegto corresponds to the track selected in Logic.

• Yes, it automaps like a bandit! Wow! But be sure to load the patch corresponding to your DAW. (For Logic Pro, that's #14.) Although HyperControl takes care of much of the keyboard's interaction with the DAW, controls like the numeric keypad are patch-specific. M-Audio includes patches for the most popular DAWs, and they can be loaded without interfering with HyperControl's function. You can even load just the parts of the patch that you're interested in, among the patch's four components: numeric keypad, sliders, encoders, and pads. For example, I chose to load just the keypad component of patch #14. That gives me Logic-specific keypad controls for common operations like Save, Undo, Quantize, Prev/Next Marker, and more from the keypad. The Axiom Pro accomplishes this by sending ASCII equivalents of QWERTY keyboard commands.
• I'm put off a bit by their mapping of the Channel EQ plug-in, and that's an important one to master. But my difficulty stems from being accustomed to the very sweet mapping I'd set up on the UC-33e, where I had the luxury of 8 sliders plus 24 pots - exactly what you need to control the 8 bands of the EQ (on/off, gain, freq and Q per band). The Axiom has to distribute those 32 parameters across just 8 knobs using multiple pages. It's just a matter of using it every day, which I will.
• BOOM! I crashed Logic by attempting to use the Axiom's controls to load a third-party insert onto a channel. Did I crash because I turned the endless rotary too quickly in my excitement, or because it was a third-party insert, or because of this specific third-party insert? Testing time! 
• I reopened the project, used the Bank > button to get to the track in question, and again went for the same third-party insert. No issues. 
• There are lots of possible reasons that it could have crashed the first time, not the least of which is that I'm running a wad of pretty heavy VIs in this project and had just loaded several of them; another is that I spun that endless rotary pretty fast. The second time I was a little more gentle with it. 
• I'm satisfied that it's not an issue with third-party plug-ins nor with this specific plug-in (ToonTrack EZMix, which I love to use on individual drum tracks, in this case the kick).
• It's also a relief to open a VI with the press of a nice, cushy button rather than by double-clicking. Any of you with repetitive strain injuries know that generally speaking, the mouse is evil. I use a stylus rather than a mouse, but in all honesty its double-click button is a bit clumsy; pressing that button with your index finger invariably moves the mouse a little onscreen, meaning that the GUI might not "hear" your 2-click as a 2-click. So being able to switch quickly from Mixer mode to Instrument mode with one comfie button-press and then open the VI by pressing a second button is pretty nice. And dead accurate.

Well, I'd say I'm smitten. There are a ton of features, so I won't attempt to cover them all. 

Are there specific can/can'ts that you'd like me to check out? Just let me know!

I'm checking out ESET Cybersecurity for Mac. Will it mess with my music apps?

I'm gonna kick the tires on ESET Cybersecurity for Mac. Some of the freelance work I do requires that I have security software installed, to protect my clients from anything I might pick up and pass along. (Yep, there are innumerable posts elsewhere about whether this even matters on a Mac, so I'm not getting into that here. Besides, I choose to think of my clients first. :-)  )

Here's what I'll be checking out:

• Does it affect my DAW's performance? I use Logic Pro.
• Does it affect my live performance rig? I use a combination of LiSa (www.steim.nl), JunXion (also STEIM), Max (www.cycling74.com), and occasionally MainStage.
• Does it slow down performance in general? E.g. do applications launch or quit more slowly? are graphics sluggish? and so forth.

Here are some things that give me hope: 

• The install is only about 34MB. (It might be different for the full version.)
• ESET swears that it's fast and lightweight and works "quietly in the background."

We shall see.


Here's an update: This past Sunday, July 10, I had my monthly rehearsal with Out of Context. With that band, my MacBook gets put through some paces:

• I'm running a Max patch that I designed to reconfigure how my now-vintage v1 Oxygen8 works, because I'm not crazy about its hardware preset switches; this Max patch is fairly lightweight 
• I'm also running JunXion (I use the ancient version 1.x), which turns my joystick into a fierce MIDI controller, very fun for live performance
• I have mics on every other member of the band (upright bass, cello, viola, cornet, trombone, kit, and more), all coming into my MacBook via a v1 MOTU 828 interface, and into MainStage for basic compression on each input
• MainStage sends everything on discrete channels through Soundflower 16ch, and on to LiSa (another incredible STEIM product for live-sampling).

So at any given time, in performance, I'm doing some combination of the following:

• playing back multiple stereo samples and manipulating them real-time 
• for example, LiSa allows scrubbing through its audio buffer as well as pattern-based jumping around within the buffer, not just playing back static samples. My joystick, as a result, is set up so that moving side to side scrubs back and forth through the buffer; twisting increases or decreases the sample length; and forward/back controls pitch bend. 
• other controls I've mapped from my Oxy8's knobs include stutter-type playback, again real-time
• grabbing one or more new samples from the instrumentalists.

I'll probably run down my setup for Out of Context in more detail at some point. My point here is that the MacBook is busy. So what better test of security software running in the background?

The short version, and I suppose the only necessary version, is that I didn't so much as notice it. There was no perceptible difference in my MacBook's performance during a 3-hour rehearsal doing the things I just described, with ESET Security running in the background. I would think that's a reasonable endorsement.


Now, because I compose and self-produce on my own most of the time, it's quite rare for me to record multiple tracks simultaneously in a traditional studio setting. I'm curious if anyone out there has experiences with ESET along these lines.


I feel so secure now.

Do YouTube videos require a synch license like Film & TV uses of music?

Whether you're a composer/musician, a filmmaker, videographer or YouTube enthusiast, you should know about this: If you post a video on YouTube and put music behind it, do you need to obtain a sync (synchronization, or synch) license from the creator of that music?

This excellent synopsis appeared on LinkedIn, in the Music Publishing and Licensing discussion group:

[Author] David Herlihy • Although Fair Use principles MAY apply when a user synchs a song/recording in timed relation with visual images & posts on Youtube, strictly speaking, a synch license is required. Adding the phrase "No copyright infringement intended" doesn't alleviate potential liability, as intention is not necessary to establish liability for copyright infringement.

Youtube is protected by the DMCA for the allegedly infringing activities of its users, and moreover Youtube implements the Content ID system to identify user-uploaded content that may incorporate others' copyrighted content and gives those copyright owners options to remove, ignore, or financially benefit from such postings. Check out http://www.youtube.com/t/contentid

Youtube does have blanket licenses with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Soundexchange does not apply to this scenario, as their mandate is for certain transmissions of sound recordings, not sound recordings integrated into an audio visual work.

Great. Another blog.

I'll be using this blog to talk music technology, composing, licensing, publishing, and anything else that hits me as valuable to other modern composers. I welcome comments about posts and suggestions for new posts and topics. 

You have my word: I won't post just to post. I'll only post when I stumble upon something worth mentioning.