TXT:: The traffic to this site has been pretty extraordinary since the downloads have come back online.

Power tools for Reason:: Now I remember why I didn't write the claim of "improved" audio quality in the book. Because it was wrong :)

Like I said earlier, there was something that bugged me and I figured out that i had the principle backwards. The panning to the side adds gain, and not the other way around. It's still an important issue because of the mixing benefits of using the dual mono configuration.

It's fixed and back online.

eesh a neverending struggle.

TXT:: After several months (more like seasons), I'm getting this site back together. I was hoping to ressurect the messageboard data, but I'm giving up and just starting back with a clean slate. It's too bad since there was a lot of cool information on the board. Unfortunately all accounts are gone as well.

Power tools for Reason:: I've also written another preview article that will appear on this site shortly. I've gotten the go-ahead from the marketing person. Rather than post an excerpt from the book, I've adapted several sections from the chapter on audio signal routing. It's a lot different when I can put all of my efforts into a 1,000 word page rather than spread it out over 60,000 words, so this page is probably better than the original manuscript. In retrospect, i should have put more emphasis on this particular section, so this promotional article is like the bonus director's cut edition of "Chapter 4 - Audio Signal Routing and Busses"

<pondering a bit>

Oh what the heck... if you're reading this, you might as well check it out now:

"Two Channels are Better than One"

I've spent a few days ReChecking the information. I'm worried that my claims are a bit too ambitious. One section states "improved audio quality," and this is arguable since I have no way of confirming with solid numbers, but my ears and a bit of common sense tell me that this wiring scheme does improve the audio quality in Reason.

There is an example RPS file that I spent hours tweaking. There are two mixes that are cabled differently, and I wanted them to sound exactly the same. This was impossible, but they sound very close. The differences are tough to hear unless you know what to listen for. When I focus on certain elements in the mixes like the hi-hats and rimshots, the default cabling scheme does sound "flat" by comparison to the improved cabled mix.

I used Hami's original files to create the new schematic. Sorry about the gridlines. These do not appear in the book, but i'm concerned with people hacking the images. This is just a measure to protect Hami's work. The article called "Filter Up!" that will appear on the Prop's pages will have a much more complex configuration. Hami's illustrations simply look fantastic. Having read a fair share of Roland Synth/Drum Machine Manuals, I wanted the book to have that look with the devices as line art. It was a lot of work, but it's much easier to follow the connections between the devices. We had to make a few shortcuts and some of the connections and devices are abbreviated, however the instructions describe each detail.

Power tools for Reason:: I thought i had finished with the book when I sent in the manuscript, but alas no. There were a few more things to deal with including proofreading the final layout. You would think that it's done with documents, but I had to do it the "old school" on paper with a red pen :) This was the first time i've seen the edits made my Jim, and overall i was suprised that more was not cut. However, there were a few cool tips that were removed in the final draft. I've rewritten one of the tips for the propellerheads website "Discovering Reason" pages. This should be posted in the near future.

The only part that i'm a little worried about is the synthesizer programming section. I had written a fairly detailed explaination of how the Malstrom "Shift" parameter works, but this was reduced to a few lines. All in all I'm rather pleased. Hami's illustrations look great, and the book is about 50% longer than i had previously expected - 240 pages! At the price marked on Amazon, it's a bargain.

Music:: The last couple of days I've been trying to fix things around the website. Now that MP3.com is gone, I've had to make a new music download page on this site. I'm rather concerned with bandwidth issues so I wont be posting everything up again. Just a few selected tracks in MP3 and AAC/MP4 format. I'm trying to figure out how to make the quicktime plugin respond to the .m4a files, but for some reason it just doesn't work. Right click/download the files and play them with QT or iTunes.

http://www.peff.com/music/

ReFill:: I've also posted an AAC/MP4 file of the demo reason song file included with the Stradivarius Violin ReFill. It's a little variation of the Beethovens "Ode to Joy" theme. The track uses only one NN-XT with several parts being played from different sequencer tracks. It's surprisingly "ok" for a sampled violin. Also posted is a mix from the recording session i tracked a few months back. You can hear the guys jamming over the drum loops programmed in Reason. These riffs appear in one of the "Live Session" refills.

For a long time, i've had my old website content lingering in the nostalgia directory on this site, but this is just wasting space, so i've replaced the nostalgia pages with a brief record about how this site has developed. Yes, i'm slowly changing my pack-rat tendencies and moving ahead with changing things.

Well, the new server is finally online. It's taken many weeks, but things are going to start taking shape. Once I get the directories organized and all of the content back online, I may think about a site redesign. In the meantime, the Reason downloads are all fixed with complete access to all of the ReFills.

TXT:: Last night I went to see Jimmy Smith, the legendary Hammond B-3 Jazz Legend who peformed with Joey DeFrancesco at Bimbo's 365 club in San Francisco. I showed up about 40 minutes early, and the cue was already stretching around the block. While standing outside in the rain, waiting for the first set to finish, the person behind me struck up a conversation about Jimmy Smith and Hammonds.

This fellow, Mark, also has a B-3 and plays in gospel church. Coincidentally, he worked for opcode, and on his last album, he used ReBirth and mods to create some elements--It's funny how that application gets around. Mark's friend, Jeff cut into the cue to duck under our umbrellas. Jeff works for Apple doing stuff with audio and the apple hardware. He let me in on a bit of information and basically said wait for the next generation of powerbooks - they will be outfitted with some handy digital audio stuff.

We finally made it inside and most of the tables in front of the stage were already occupied. Jeff spotted some seats up on the side stage that we managed to get. We had a fantastic vantage point where we could look down on the players and see the two B-3s about 5 and 10 meters away.

It was really fantastic to see these B-3 Masters performing. I could see them play, adjust the drawbars, control leslie speed and chorus/vibrato settings. Joey DeFrancesco is a wild player and was doing all sorts of crazy keyboard stunts like sliding his hand from the top keyboard down to the bottom keyboard. Jimmy Smith is just f%$king cool. His manager came onstage and announced to the audience that 2003 marks his 50th year peforming on the B-3. At 75, you could see the effects of age are catching up with him, but he's still the master with his blues voicings and amazing rhythm and swing. With an absolutely phenomal band backing Jimmy, it was a real treat to see him play live. The show ended with a dueling B-3 Blues jam where Jimmy and Joey went at it head-to-head. This was by far the best show i've ever seen during the SF Jazz Festival.

More TXT:: Now that I have some free time, i've been motivated to do some needed maintenance on my equipment. Four pickups on the Rhodes had died, and I managed to get some replacements. I spent a few hours tonight replacing them and I was surprised to find out that it sounded different. I guess the impedance changes from dead pickups makes some difference. So I may have to go back and redo the Rhodes Refill.

I'm still waiting for the DNS to get changed over to the new server where the ReFill downloads have been restored. Bulk Register has responded to my requests and i have to go through the long process of validating my identity and stuff. Had I known it would take this long, i would have worked on the new site design...

TXT:: Usually on Halloween, I go out with my cousins to take their little siblings trick-or-treating. My cousin Jasmine is the creative force behind several unique creations, and this year was no different. She dressed up her brother and little sister as a pair of mega earbuds and a iPod. We took the little ones over to the mall and dropped by the apple store to show off the costume. The staff got a big kick out of iPod outfit. They took some digital photos and put up the image on the projection screen, but they had no candy for the kids. :(

Power Tools for Reason 2.5:: I've just heard today that the tentative shipping date is early January, and there may even be copies available at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim. It's amazing how fast these things get done.

In the mad rush to finish things up, I've completely forgot to note the most exciting news: The best part of the book is actually the foreword written by Alex Swift of Massive Attack. Alex is a fellow ReBirth and Reason user whose credits includes the latest Massive Attack Release, "100th Window" as well as Peter Gabriel's "UP" Album, and his writing talent is impressive as his credentials. Ironically, the thing that reminded me of Alex's foreword was hearing the intro to "Future Proof" used on a Smirnoff TV ad. I'm really indebted to Su with the Lapjockeys for introducing me to Alex, and I'm really grateful to Alex for contributing his writing skills to this project.

TXT:: The site tranfer is almost complete. I've moved the files to the new server, and the Reason download links have been revised. Hopefully, next week, the DNS will be tranferred over to the new server, and I'll get the rest of the download links fixed... It's a never ending struggle.

TXT:: Kraziness in Kalifornia this week. I'm not too worried about it, but there's tons of hype about who will be our next governator. The lack of site updates has been getting on my nerves especially with the server having problems and the links dropping. I'm in the process of migrating the site over to the new computer controlled.net box, and in the next month or so, I should have things up and running back to normal. Most of the download links are dead, since they have been moved, and as soon as I get the main site updated, I can upload the site and have things running again.

I'm not sure when the messageboard will be fixed. I have it partially up and running, but i think i've lost all of the login accounts. This is a bit of a pisser since that took a lot of time to establish. I'm really disappointed with the way things have been going with this provider, so it's time for a change.

Power Tools for Reason 2.5:: The final manuscript has been submitted to the publisher for layout and stuff. I really have no idea what the final product will look like since about 25% of the copy has been slashed from the book. I really cut it down to the wire and probably had my editor and publisher pulling teeth. They have certain deadlines since the book has already been announced and people can even pre-order it through Amazon. On that page, You can see the old book cover that I had issues with. Fortunately, the publishers took my criticisms seriously and are revising the cover, but I still don't know what it will look like. I still don't know when the book will be released--probably early next year. Due to unforseen (actually i did predict this) delays, the illustrations were held up, and I spent the last week doing edits of the illustrations. Hami is a big freehand users, so in anticipation of this, i picked up a copy and spent a month learning how to use it. Fortunately, everything is done. On top of everything else, I've been getting the CD-Rom together for the book. I'm happy to say that it's finished and off to the publisher as well.

Live Session ReFills:: I went into the Ex'presion Center a few weeks ago to track several live musicians playing to some reason based drum loops. A couple of recent graduates and a student engineered the session which was tracked in the main "Studer" room of the facility. Pictured: Ben Hayes, Carson Day, and Varun Kejriwal sitting in the control room in front of the studer console. They managed to really nail the sound, and I learned a few new tricks as well :-)

I really have to thank my friend, Joe Lewis (pictured) for hooking me up with these guys. He has a producer credit for the new refills as well. Basically we tracked Joe on his upright bass, Rich Bologna on Rhodes, and Patrick Cress on Sax. I set up different loops at different tempos and preproduced these at home as protools sessions, then I took my firewire drive into the studio and we transferred the sessions over to the TDM system.

Joe had worked on some ideas before the session, and we tracked his bass loops. Rich and Patrick just came in and improvised over Joe's stuff. In the end i have about 200 minutes of of bass, rhodes licks, and sax phrases. Having little time to finish this up, i took samples from the 100BPM session and made a refill from different takes. I even managed to REX some of the bass loops in time. I also edited and rexed basslines from the 160BPM takes, which are naturally intended for DnB stuff. There's a lot of other information that I have not had a chance to sort through, so I will probably release a few more refills that contain samples from these session. I hope some people will find them useful.

I used the ReFill to put together a little demo track for the CD-ROM. It's not too impressive, but it demonstrates a technique I've been trying to perfect that emulates the sounds of a DJ scratching. There are also demo tracks from the CC Crew Paul, Ian and Franck, my editor, Jim Aikin, Steve "Slumbermonkey" W., Carson (above), and R a a p i e-I think raapie even has the mp3 up on his site already.

Reason Book:: Yesterday was my deadline, and naturally I'm delayed. The actual writing is done, but it falls short of complete. I didn't have enough time to write everything I wanted to. Chalk it up to poor time management and an unrealistic goal of trying to cover everything in Reason. The mansuscript was just over 78,000 words (approximately 300 pages), and it still wasn't enough. My editor will be shredding it up, so the final version should be pretty good :)

The illustrations are still not quite finished. I've picked up a license for freehand, and I'm going to dive in and give Hami a hand to get things polished up. here's a little sneak preview of the wiring diagrams.

It turns out that there will be a CD-Rom included with the book, so I have to spend the next several weeks polishing up the content. I think I'm going to put many of my large refills on the CD-rom, and several people are submitting some demo RPS tracks. I'm also going to be going into a studio at the Ex'pression center for New Media, in Emeryville, CA. One of the student engineers and a bass player have offered their time and services, and the school is donating studio time in one of their rooms to record samples for this project... Crazy, but it should be fun.

I've seen the preliminary cover of the book, and it sucks. It's not bad...but I personally don't think it reflects what Reason users would expect to see. I've already voiced my opinions to the publisher, but I'm pretty sure the crappy cover will not be changed. So, I'm basically going to invest in making jackets to covers with a nice design. I'm not sure how i'm going to distribute the covers, but the copies that i personally hand out will not look bad :)

ReFill:: I've also developed a new ReFill for the CD-rom. Many years ago, I recorded a session with my friend, Karen. Karen was performing on a beautiful Stradivarius Violin, and she played scales and arpeggios and stuff that I could use to sample. I finally dug up the archive and put together a solo violin refill based on these samples. There are two sets of samples. One set is the original set of notes, and the second set was meticulously looped. It would be shameful to multisample groups of notes when every note of the instrument was recorded, so every sample is included in the original and looped sets. I may post it up here before the book is released.

That's it for now...back to learning freehand :)