I’ve always thought hardbop200.com needed a logo, so I jumped on one of those free sites and made a logo. What do you think?
Josh
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02-Jul-08Going Mac?
30-Jun-08For the past month, I have been looking at options for a new computer setup. My old workhorse, a Pentium 4 running at < 2.0 Ghz and 512 MB RAM is getting a little long in the tooth. Furthermore, it's running screwed up versions of Windows and Linux. I just can't seem to get off of the fence; on the one hand, I love *nix-based operating systems, but on the other I just can’t leave Windows behind.
Enter the Mac.
I never once, not once considered the Mac until this past week. My good friend Jeff is a hard-core *nix fan just like myself, and he runs a Mac. This prompted me to start looking around at all of the free software that is available for Mac, and there’s quite a bit of it. Ardour, for one, which is well on its way to becoming the greatest DAW on the market.
I’ll have to leave Windows VSTi’s behind, but there seems to be a plentiful lot of free VST instruments for the Mac available.
So what’s the pricetag for all of this? $949 gets to an Intel Core 2 Duo proc running at 2.0 Ghz, 2 GB of RAM, and a 170 GB SATA hard drive. Plus, I can get one of those nifty firewire audio interfaces, which are bus powered. And the form factor! I can clear off 3 cubic feet of crap out of my office with one of these little babies.
So there you have it - I think I’m going Mac. Now where did I leave my Starbucks card?
Josh
I will be participating in a free concert given on the Centenary Campus tomorrow night. This is the second year I’ve done it, and it’s always a blast. There are musicians from Dallas, Shreveport, Texarkana and New York participating this year. From the press release:
Concert II: Big Band Jazz led by Bill Causey Jr., Tuesday, June 24, 8 p.m., Memorial Amphitheatre (Band Shell)
Sponsored by AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company
Miss Louisiana 1995, Karmyn Tyler will be featured vocalist on Charade by Henry Mancini and Mangos by Rosemary Clooney. Tyler will be joined by Jennifer Dowd and Elizabeth Wuellner to form a trio and perform songs by the Andrews Sisters including Rum and Coca-Cola and Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy.
OK, so the singers get the love in the press release, but trust me, it ain’t all singing. 
It’s a great time, so be sure and check it out.
Josh
Clearsynth VSTi
17-Jun-08In my last post I mentioned that I used a “no-name VSTi” for the bass sound in my version of Crosstown Traffic. Clearsynth was the VSTi used, and it is far from a no-name VSTi. I’ve come to really appreciate the simplicity of a synth like this:
The bass patch on that track is super-funky, thanks in no small part to this handy free VSTi.
Josh
Crosstown Traffic
05-Jun-08A quick version of the Hendrix classic Crosstown Traffic. This was recorded into Reaper, using two guitar tracks played on my trusty Fender tele, a no-name VSTi synth for the bass, and Drumatic. Nothing is quantized, and I don’t know crap about mixing, but here it is.
Note - no vocals yet, just instrumental, so it sounds little naked.
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Josh