As some of you may or may not know, the Ensoniq TS-10 is the master keyboard in my studio. Anyway, the past couple of weeks I really haven't been doing much in the way of music, just sort of decompressing, but the other night I finished a new track, called "That Look", as well as started a new one that uses just the TS-10. I usually try to write at least one song utilitizing a single keyboard when I first purchase it, to help me familiarize myself with it's operation, and help gauge it's performance; but the TS-10 stepped in to replace my SD-1, so it managed to sidestep this unwritten law. Soo, I started really delving into the effects on this board, which I must say are without a doubt the best I have ever seen on ANY keyboard, it's basically a DP4. The end result is that I fell back in love with this unit (I never really didn't love it, I guess I was just taking it for granted :) heheh) and am doing a couple of tracks just using it... One hot keyboard...

    There isn't too much going on, so I thought I would just mention some of the new shows on the SciFi Channel . They've introduced a few new shows that I think they did a surprisingly good job on - and that's not to say they have done a bad job on any of their previous shows (really, that's only Sliders, and that already had a production track setup from Fox). The two in particular that I like are 'First Wave' and 'FarScape'... Both are very good (although I've only seen the premiere show, so we'll see how they progress). One thing I did find interesting is that they blocked all of their shows together into one chunk of time on Friday, from 6pm until 9pm (my time), which is very cool in my opinion; unlike other networks that cast their shows to the wind and just play them in the slot they land in. Oh well, before this becomes a ramble, I'll end it here :)
    One other quick piece of news, I updated the Delay Calculator in the downloads area to display triplets as well, for all those who asked for it! Enjoy!

    Are you ready for the year 2000, but are tired of waiting? I mean, we all have seen those wonderful movies about what it will be like, so let's just get on with it, right? Well, in a continuing effort to liberate both man and technology from the shackles that bind them, AnalogX working in conjunction with AnalogX, has developed a new utility the likes of which has never before been known to man - BEHOLD! - AnalogX AutoTune! Ok, so now that the hype is over, just what does this wonderful new tool do? Quite simply, it can analyze a sound file, and then 'tune' it a specific note, or even to a specific note and octave. The actual tuning happens in the same way your sampler changes the frequency, by changing the samplerate that the sound is played back at, then, the program can either update the wav file with the new samplerate, or you can have it resample it back to the original rate. I must say that this utility (for me at least) really rocks! I went through and retuned all of my samples (more then 5000), without a hitch. Make sure to head on over to the downloads area and reserve your copy today!
    In other news, I fixed a bug in AutoSave that caused it only to save when in either the Project window or MiniMixer window (the two windows I spend 90% of my time in), so make sure you're running the latest version.

    I just wrote a little utility for the Paris that automatically saves your projects for you, at any interval you set, from 5 seconds to 5 hours. It's small (37k), fast, and really easy to use, so go download it, ok? Special thanks to Robby Hamilton over at the Paris User Group for the suggestion! Oh, and this isn't the program I was talking about releasing later on this week, that's geared towards samplers, but you probably already figured that out! hehehe...

    I just uploaded two more songs onto MP3.COM , named 'Mark III' and 'Bite This', both off of the BuzzSaw CD, and probably the last ones off of that particular CD I'll be releasing, so make sure to go and grab them right now! I'm swaying towards taking a break from the stuff I've been doing lately, the more Electronica sound, and doing another CD similar to BuzzSaw, more hardedge, almost industrial... I really enjoy working with samples and breakbeats, so it's always a treat; we'll see. In other news, I went and saw "Wing Commander" tonight, so you can check out the review, or if you just want the quick answer, don't go see it; the cut sequences in the game were better than this movie, very sad.
    I'll be releasing another cool little app towards the end of this week, that's geared just towards samplers, and the people who use them... Keep you're eyes out for this one - it's DEFINITELY one you won't want to miss!

    With the release of ParisMIDI, I have been bestowed the title 'King of all Midia' by Chuck over at the Paris User Group, and I must say, it has a nice ring to it :) hehhe... Of course, to live up to this title, I have to release another MIDI utility, so voila, here it is... MIDI Mouse Mod! MouseMod is a cool MIDI utility that allows you to use the mouse to control up to 4 realtime MIDI controllers, like Pan, Volume, Brightness, and Modulation, or whatever four strike your fancy. You don't have to choose four, the minimum is 1, but that isn't quite as much fun. If you have a hip older board like the Chroma Polaris, or something newer like the Novation BassStation or Emu Orbit, then this utility is a must, since it makes it a breeze to modify the controllers.
    In other news, I added a new ramble, make sure to go check it out. Also, I updated VPiano and Arpeg as well, with some minor fixes, so if you are using them, make sure to go download the latest versions.

    That's right, mark March 8th on your calendars as a day to remember - the day ParisMIDI was Released! Thanks to help of several people from the Paris User Group, I was able to do testing on more machines than my own, and now am ready to make it available to the world! Make sure to read the enclosed documentation before running the program, so you will be aware of how you need to configure the Paris, and what controller messages do what. I will also be adding a quick reference sheet of the MIDI commands and their usage, that you can print out and keep close to your sequencer. Surprise, surprise, it's in the downloads area, so go grab it right now, and start automating Paris in ways that were hitherto unimaginable!

    Have you been going through MIDI withdrawals with the Ensoniq Paris Harddisk recording system? Well I sure have! And as a service to the world, I have written a utility that allows you to control almost ALL of the Paris Mixer functions via MIDI! Yup, you read right! From the fader, to pans, to the EQ, to trim, to muting, the list goes on and on! Right now I'm testing it with the help of several dedicated Paris users who share my enthusiasm about the prospects of pushing the limits of the Paris system. If everything goes well with the initial tests this weekend, then I plan on releasing it at the beginning of the week... So make sure you have some free time to play this week!