I just discovered a nice feature in the WordPress admin interface, it lists the number of posts I have made, and this one is number 400! I have been blogging since 2007 (says my first post) and it has been an on-again, off-again thing for the most part. I would say that I started to be more regular about posting in November-December 2018, and have had several strings of 20-30 posts in a row. In the world of people posting to other services like Facebook and Twitter, I have focused in on my weblog as the main place for my writing, and a series of websites from my domain name (need to list all of those sometime!). Here’s to the next 100 posts!
Getting started with MIDI controllers
I did buy an Alesis V49 MIDI controller, so the next step was to hook it up. However, the programs I tried (Reaper, LMMS) did not seem to work with the controller. I was able to see the controller as an option in the Preferences/Settings pages for these apps, and was able to select them. However, when I followed the EXACT instructions from web pages and videos from these companies, there was no sound when I would press a key on the keyboard, and no indication that the program was detecting the key presses. I downloaded the MIDI utility program MIDI-OX, which indicated that my Windows 7 laptop was receiving key-on and key-off data, so it seemed like everything was working – but it wasn’t!
I then went to the store (Guitar Center) and talked with the “Pro Tools” employee, who showed me what a working setup should look like (he was using a different controller than mine and a copy of Ableton Live for the Mac). He said it was likely a software problem (what! I AM a software engineer!), and that it took him several months to get the hang of using digital audio workstation (DAW) software.
Frustrated, I decided to download a copy of Ableton Live Lite (since my MIDI controller had a license code for a free copy), and … after a 20 minute download and a 20 minute installation, I was able to use my controller to play some notes in Ableton Live Lite – FINALLY!
Now, what did I want to do with this controller…..?
If you want to hurry, slow down
The title of this could have been “If you want to go faster, slow down”, but I liked this one better. The reason for this post is a set of events that happened to me recently, where multiple immediate actions fell in my lap. As I tried to take case of these actions, I made mistakes along the way, which slowed me down. As I was trying to solve one of these actions, other things changed which I did not know about until some time later. If I had known, I could have taken other steps to address the action. As it was, those people were hurrying as well.
What is the takeaway here? If someone presents you with a request for immediate action, slow down and think about it. Ask some clarifying questions. See if the deadline is really as dire as the person thinks it is. By taking these actions (slowing down), you have a better chance of finishing faster (the goal of hurrying). I will try to remember this when (not if) this happens to me again!
Some thoughts on first-run experience for software apps
In the past two days, I installed three digital audio workstation applications on my Windows laptop (Ardour, LMMC, Reaper). In each case, I just downloaded the latest version, did the install, then started the app. For Ardour and Reaper, both of them wanted me to select an audio input device (well, I didn’t have one!). I just clicked on something to get to the main app. For Ardour, I had to quit and try again, since the thing I clicked did not meet the app’s expectations. Only LMMC was able to start without some dialog popping up. For all three apps, I was then faced with a screen filled with various subwindows and a menu bar. What to do now?
Now, I will admit that these types of programs are complex, and require the user to know a little something about what they want to do, or how to use them. But when you compare this with many smartphone apps, there are usually some choices you can make from just looking at the screen to get started. Sure, each of the programs has some “getting started” resource (Ardour, LMMC, Reaper), but it might be nice for the app to have some built-in starter setup or task accessible from a menu (or something!). Just my two cents…
Dear Lazyweb: any recommendation for MIDI controllers? I am looking at this one, but open to input from others.
Kinetic launchers and crimes in space…
Two recent stories of note:
But there’s one company — named SpinLaunch — working on a different way, this time looking to send objects to space using a catapult, yes you read that right.
…SpinLaunch, by early next year, aims to begin the first tests of firing catapults containing payloads at hyper-sonic speeds to launch objects into space.
This may be good for things, but it’s hard to see if this would be safe for people…
BBC:
Nasa is reported to be investigating a claim that an astronaut accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station, in what may be the first allegation of a crime committed in space.
Anne McClain acknowledges accessing the account from the ISS but denies any wrongdoing, the New York Times reports.
Her estranged spouse, Summer Worden, reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
How is it a crime to check your bank balance from space?
Are microwave-safe dishes really safe?
I was heating up a Lean Cuisine dinner today, and part of the “dish” melted in the microwave. Now, I did not quite follow the instructions, which were to heat for 3.5 minutes, then stir, then heat for 1.5 minutes more (I just went for 5 minutes – I have cut back on that rigid following of instructions). It looks like there was some fluid trapped by the food, and the heating of that fluid resulted in the melting of the plastic dish. This is the first time this has happened to me – could be just a fluke – but made me wonder if I should be more careful in the future. Thoughts, anyone?
They don’t make them like they used to…
Ken Shirriff has restored an Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), used in the Saturn V spacecraft. He recently published an article on how the power supplies still worked flawlessly after 50 years. Recently, two embedded computers that I work with burned up their power supplies, so this is really impressive to me! Ken has also written articles on creating a core rope simulator (the way software was programmed), writing software on the AGC to do bitcoin mining, and a more detailed discussion of core rope memory. Finally, he has references to a virtual AGC simulator, and to a great summary page on simulated AGC projects. Wow!
Computer music formats
I am trying to collect some information on music formatting languages/tools to assist me in doing some algorithmic music composition.
MusicXML – granddaddy of them all (used by Finale, Sibelius, many other music notation software applications)
Collection of formats – Interesting site with extensive collection of formats
Music JSON proposal – GitHub repo with a proposal for notating music in JSON
Using LilyPond as input to Tone.js – Will have to look at this some more…
Musescore – open source music notation program
VexFlow – open source music notation program that uses VexTab as a music notation language
OpenMusic – a visual music composition language, with applications available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.
JAMS – JSON Annotated Music Specification Github repo (other docs)
musicxml-interfaces – NPM library for parsing MusicXML to JSON
musicjson – NPM library for converting MusicXML to MusicJSON and back again
W3 Music Notation – community group
How should developers build apps?
Earlier this week, I read a post titled “Build Libraries, Not Apps“, where the author (Nicolás Ortega Froysa) puts forth an idea that software developers should create the main part of their applications as libraries, then create APIs so that other developers can create alternate user interfaces in other clients if desired. I can see that being an appealing goal for developers who want their application to be used in lots of other settings. However, I do not think that most applications are designed to have alternate user interfaces. For myself, I think of the user interface that I want my application to have, and then create it, and then create the logic that powers that interface. It is not a design goal for me to support an API. Froysa mentions different ways that Unix/Linux applications can interact with libraries (GUI, text interface, command line interface). To me, if a design goal of the application is to support multiple clients, or provide services to other applications, then including an API makes sense.