I have to write this down before I forget...

Reason:: I've sorta finished the reconstruction the worlds first Reason Track, Archer. It's quite a bit different than the old "Realizer" version. I've been able to go in an fix a few problems, but for the most part it's the same. An MP3 version has been uploaded and should be available soon, but a RPS version will also be posted in the near future on the subscribers reason archive page.

The new version has some new recycle'd loops arranged into the mix. One from the Spectrosonics Retrofunk Sample Library and one from Norman Cook's (Fat Boy Slim) Skip to my loops Sample Library. Yes - you can easily extract these loops from the RPS file...so if East West and Spectrasonics have a problem with this...let me know :-)

MP3:: The New Version of Archer is now available for download from MP3.com

Archer - MP3 Made with Reason v1.0

A New Site Update E-mail will go out this week with the Download URL for the Reason Song File of this track. It "Should" even work with the Demo Version of Reason. The file is approximately 6Mb and uses about 40% CPU resources on a G3/300 (no ASIO). So it should work on just about any system compatable with reason.

Subscribe for the Next Newsletter with the Archer.rps file

More NAMM 2001:: jesuspark (Thomas) and Frizz (Wolfgang) Merkle Brothers...Enjoying some California sunshine :-) For anyone who doesn't know, these are the graphic design masters behind Reason's User Interface. Visit their site, Bitplant.com
Rodney Orpheus, Technology Evangelist for Steinberg, was busy presenting Reason. Other times he was busy getting pictures taken with um...that chick in the short latex skirt. Let's just say that she's more famous for having her clothes off :-) Rodney is also quite the tour guide. Thanks for showing us around Downtown Disney!
John Paul and the Bitheadz crew were there as well. He stopped his unity demo to show us Reason on his powerbook while the boss wasn't looking. JohnPaul: I will send you guys those images soon. I just need to finish sorting through all of them.
Midiman's Surface one controller looked pretty cool. I didn't really have a chance to try it out though Tactex Controls Inc., the company that developed the technology in the surface one controller had their OEM interface technology on display. It's pretty cool for a controller since it's not only a Single X-Y location, but it's pressure sensitive as well. Using their fiber optic "Smart Fabric"
Tactex had two MTC Express surfaces connected up to a G3 running MSP/MAX patch which generated sounds, triggered samples, tweaked paramters, and drove visual effects on a screen. The cool part was that the surface responds to multiple inputs. Unlike a trackpad, the MTC Express will receive X-Y and Pressure Data from several simultaneous points. This is definitely going to be something we see more of in the future. :-)
Doepfer - Masters of the Modern Modular Analog Synthesizer. This set up was "sick" (american slang for amazing). I finally got up close and personal with the Schaltwerk Analog pattern sequencer. All i know is that I think i need one of these units :-)

TXT:: I've been working on a new version of Archer. I started converting the old Reason Alpha version from the base MIDI files and samples into the Reason Release Version. None of the original "Realizer" (before it was renamed to Reason) files are compatable, but the transition is going fairly smoothly. The hard part is recreating the subtractor patches.

The new version of eyes inside is on hold until i get reinspired - that's just the way it goes.

More NAMM 2001:: I've just been putting up various images over the past few days. I have a lot of pictures from NAMM 2001, but I just haven't had the time to sort through them. Propellerhead Software's Peter Jubel showing off outside the Keyboard Magazine Party. Juggling these cool lighted balls.
Jorgen Hedberg, the creator of PCDJ or DJPC or something like that, has been picked up by Numark. He was demonstrating his MP3 Mixing Software and Numark's Proprietary Hardware interface for his Software. It's a pretty cool concept - put your entire set into MP3 for and set up cue points and tempos so that beat matching and mixing are a breeze. The hardware interface imitates the software interface which makes navigation very easy. Jorgen says that a MacOS version is being developed and possbily a ReWire/VST version of this application.
Korg's new Kaoss DJ Mixer is a very cool idea. The real time tweakability of Kaoss combined with Sampling and phono mixing is ideal for those Creative DJs. I didn't get the name of the guy in the image, but he was throwing down some cool blue note vinyls and sampling and mixing things up. Really fantastic demonstration of the unit's capabilities.
Alesis's new airSynth and airFX are really pretty cool too. More Real time interfaces where you pass your hand around and over these sensors to tweak the effects or synth parameters. No MIDI, just Audio in/outs. It's like the Kaoss in concept, but with a 3d interface, not just an XY Pad.

Subscription Drawing:: Congratulations to Justin W. of Lewisburg Pennsylvania--a fellow propellerheads products user. He finally decided to e-mail me back to confirm the prize, and he has won the Rio 500 MP3 player. Barring disaster from the shipping company, he should be receiving the box quite soon.

Thank you to over 400 people who participated in the subscription campaign. All of the entries will be kept in the database and if and when the drawing makes it past the next milestone, I will hold another drawing of a similar device. Since technology changes every day, I will wait to select the prize until the time nears when a winner will be selected.

Anyone who wants to participate during the next time around, please add yourself to my list.

More NAMM 2001:: Mr. Craig Anderton was using Reason during a live performance at the Keyboard Magazine Party. He was using a Peavey PC1600 controller via midi through his pismo to control various reason parameters live.
EveAnna Manley showing off her new cast with the new Manley eq/comp system. I've done business with her in the past when Dave Manley was liquidating his Mastering Studio, but this was the first time we've ever met face to face :) Hopefully her operation went well. I wish her all the best in a quick recovery!

Reason:: I've added some new effects configuration to my Reason Archive. These were little tangents which developed from a project i've been contracted to do for (ironically if you read some of the earlier journal entries) Computer Music Magazine. Anyhoo, the REXFilterbank, and PingPongXDigiplex effects are in RPS format and I will be sending out a new subscriber URL with the RNS format files so users can copy and paste the configurations into their reason songs. The TR-909 samples are a new set of samples i recently made from my 909.

TXT:: nothing really new except my ISP has been crapping out a lot recently. So I've been having a lot of trouble with site updates and what not...It's more discouraging than anything else when you can't even log in.

Music: went to Yoshi's again. This place is great! and watched a performance from the Legendary McCoy Tyner. The brought in a beautiful Steinway Concert Grand for him to play. Unfortunately the acoustics of the room were a bit bad and the engineers didn't properly mic the piano :-(. It was a trio with Bassist Stanley Jordan - who is just friggen unbeleivable! Jordan's solos were baaaad ass.

More NAMM 2001:: Les at Cycling 74, sat me down and gave me the thorough MAX2/MSP4 demonstration. My friend Casey has been pushing me to get into this, and after seeing it in action, I can see why. It's seriously hardcore stuff, but not quite as difficult as Csound. The processing configurations you can build with this application seem rather limitless!
Bob Moog...need i say more? Big Briar didn't have anything new, but Mr. Moog was dressed here for a wedding on Sunday Morning at the NAMM show. He gave away the Bride during the wedding ceremony.

Footnote:: to remember about this day from a little conversation with my friend: M. says, "My Father loves me, but he doesn't accept my lifestyle." K. replies, "If you were accepted by your parents, then you wouldn't be yourself."

NAMM 2001:: The one piece of software which made me go "Wow, that's F~ing Amazing" was Melodyne from Celemony Software. This application is a pitch shifting and format shifting application which allows you to do some amazing pitch tweaking. The demo involved pitch shifting vocal lines over an octave - which normally causes that munchkinization effect, however Melodyne's formant shifting process kept the timbral articulation intact so the pitch shift sounded perfectly natural...yeah unbeleivable!

One of the Highlights of NAMM 2001 was definitely Dan's Space Invader T-Shirt. Reason was not exactly a surprise this year since a lot of people saw it last year. I'm guessing that the propellerheads had a successful show since a lot of people seemed very interested in it -- naturally ;-)

NAMM 2001:: Back from Disneyland and I'm pretty exhausted. It was really nice to see all the pheads and Sandra, Nina, Wolfgang and Thomas. And a few surprise visits from fellow ReBirth Users from SoCal. There were a few very cool new things that made their debut, and I'll have more images coming online in the near future. Some interesting developments occurred at NAMM which means I'll be busy for the next week, so the next update may take awhile.

Subscription Drawing:: Thanks to everyone who participated in my mail list campaign! The $1,000 royalty payback threshold was broken today and a winner has been chosen. I'm waiting for his reply e-mail to verify that he wants to receive the Rio 500 MP3 player. Thanks for everyone who participated, and remember that you are still eligible for the next round. This may take a year or so, but if and when it happens, your name will still be recorded in the drawing.