Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak performs a magic trick (a Ring and Rope routine) at the Santa Clara CA Apple Store on iPad launch day.
KORG iElectribe for iPad
I’ve had my eye on the KORG ESX1 Electribe for years. No trip to Guitar Center was complete without stopping by their dusty floor model and punching buttons as the lights flashed and tubes glowed. But I never could bring myself to drop $500 on this sleek jamin’ sampler. My Tribelessness ends tomorrow morning with the launch of the iPad.
Way to go KORG for bringing it to the pad. iElectribe for iPad was released yesterday and is probably already in the iTunes library of thousands of fans of bleeps and bloops. It’s a no-brainer purchase at $9.99. In fact, one can snag this software and an iPad for about the same cost as the ESX1 hardware.
Digital knobs may be a drag (pun intended) but I am guessing it won’t be long before we see a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth control surface show up iPad ready. Are you listening Frontier Design Group?
Here is a link to the KORG web page on the iElectribe.
Dark Side of the Moon – 8 bit version
Brad Smith is a video game programmer in Ontario. What does he do when he’s not coding modern gaming wonders? He codes for vintage game hardware. Below is an excerpt from his epic note-for-note, 8-bit recreation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, as one would hear it through a Nintendo Entertainment System circa 1983. Download the whole “album” from Brad’s web site.
My 1982 Collectors Edition Corvette – For Sale!?!
About eight years ago I bought a “dream car,” a 1982 Collectors Edition Corvette.
I have admired Corvettes since 1973 from watching Bill Bixby in a show called The Magician. He played a mystery-solving magi who lived on the top floor of the Hollywood Magic Castle. He would drive his white Corvette up a ramp to park in the back of his private 747. Gas was cheaper then.
Corvettes were well out of my price range in the ’80s. But I found that if you let them age for 20 years, they become quite affordable.
My ’82 Vette has been a fun car. It was once written up in Corvette Magazine, and I even built a little tribute web site for it. But it’s really about time I drove something built in the 21st century. I posted the Vette on CraigsList a few weeks ago.
My daughter was 5 years old when I bought the Vette. She loved playing with her dolls in the rear compartment when it was parked in the driveway. Here is a photo from the day I brought the car home:
Eight years later, on the eve of selling the car, I parked in approximately the same place, and crammed her into rear compartment to take another photo.
The 1982 Collector Edition Corvette is a unique vehicle. A special multicolored design called “Silver/Beige” incorporated decal graphics, multiple pin stripes, and custom interior leather, and the first ever Corvette hatchback. Chevrolet only made 6,759 of this special edition. Mine even has an 8-track tape rack in the glove box. Groovy.
Flash Fight – h.264 Free for Five More Years
The MPEG Licensing Authority (MPEG LA) announced yesterday that it would extend the royalty-free period for use of H.264 for free streaming video through 2015.
This is just the latest punch in the fight for online video codec ubiquity. Last month both YouTube and Vimeo posted beta tests of their HTML5/h.264 offerings.
Last week Steve Jobs flaunted his Flash-less device around the Yorba Linda stage. Blue lego after blue lego paraded across the shiny iPad screen, as Apple took another not-so-subtle shot across the bow of their ex-BFF; Adobe.
There are over 30-million Flash-free iPhones around the world. Even with a few million more high profile Apple devices about to hit the street, the rumors of impending death to Flash are greatly exaggerated.
The extension of free h.264 licensing did not impress the open source community. John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, tweeted this prophetic warning regarding the announcement; “It’s good they did it, but they sort of had to. But it’s like 5 more years of free to lock you in 4ever.”
This should be an interesting year for fans of video streaming codec legalities (all 12 of you.)
Does the iPad fill a much-needed gap?
With Apples reveal of the long-rumored iPad touch tablet, tech pundits and mainstream press alike shift from predictions to post-announcement reaction. Skepticism abounds regarding the need for this “third category” device.
The iPad is a perfect solution to an unknown problem. It is likely to spark the next revolution in personal computing and user interface. But it could just as easily turn out to be summarized by Moses Hadas’ famous phrase; “It fills a much needed gap.”
Tablet computers have been around for years, but have mostly been repackaged versions of the existing Microsoft Windows user experience. All have failed to capture the mass interest or imagination of the public in general. Apple’s approach brings fresh thought to the space by defining the use (some might say dictating), and refining the user experience.
Apple has a history of success in taking over existing markets with innovation in these areas. The iPod captured virtually the entire portable music player industry from successful predecessors, none of whom names come to mind. The iPhone brought smart phones to a wide consumer audience that had no interest in the devices … until they did.
Creating a new industry from scratch is another order of magnitude in difficulty and expense. But history shows that innovations in User Experience Design (UX) can open new markets, as well as create them.
John Dessauer struggled for years to build a working prototype of his plain paper copier. Without funds to manufacture and market the device, in 1956 he took it to IBM. But rather than build units or user test the never-before-seen product, they commissioned an 18-month viability study. The study conclusively proved that there was no market for a plain paper copier.
Two main issues; there was no volume market for copies, and the mimeograph process, which the study chose for comparison, was 10 times less expensive.
Mimeograph copies required the user to first “cut a stencil.” Waxed paper mounted on stiff cardboard was inserted into a with a ribbon-less typewriter. Forceful typing created the stencil holes. The resulting stencil would be affixed to an ink-filled drum which was hand cranked to turn out fuzzy purple copies; a process that Gutenberg himself would have found familiar.
Long story short: Dessaur and Chester Carlson, the inventor of electrostatic photography later called xerography, founded their own company. Changing the user experience of inexpensive printing from an ink-stained hand-cranking to push button simplicity sparked a multi-billion dollar industry.
User Experience – Invent, Test, Repeat
As User Experience Design (UX) continues to mature into the twenty-first century, the practice evolves from guessing game to repeatable process. Many practitioners have histroically approached UX as an exercise in clairvoyance; pseudo-psychically connecting to unknown masses of users and predicting their future actions.
Several factors play into this choice of process; from time, budget, and resource limitations to designer arrogance or even corporate risk aversion. Alan Kay, one of the fathers of graphic user interface, illustrates the necessity of risk in this story from his days at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) research.
I remember in the early days of PARC–during one of the many visits by Xerox executives–when I had just come up with the idea of overlapping windows. We had implemented a test version of it, and I showed this to the executive who was there that day. I wound up the demonstration saying, “What’s even better is that this idea only has a 20 percent chance of success; we’re taking risks just like you asked us to.” And the executive looked me right in the eye, and said, “Boy, that’s great, but just make sure it works.”
Kay famously said; “…the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” The researchers at PARC however never lost sight of user experience design as a proactive and reactive practice; proactive in predictions while reactive to user testing.
Steve Krug is one of the leading thinkers in usability testing. Through his consulting firm, Advanced Common Sense (which he refers to as a “fictional, one-person DBA company”), his books, website and public speaking, he evangelizes the need for user interface testing.
Steve’s excellent first book, Don’t Make Me Think, revealed “everything I know about Web usability.” His second, Rocket Surgery Made Easy, is a how to guide DIY testing. A usability testing expert teaches how to avoid hiring a usability testing expert. The video clip below explains why he chooses this anti-sales approach and demonstrates much of the testing process.
Digital Beatles to ship in ugly physical package.
The digital release was inevitable. The only remaining question was distribution; Apple, Amazon, EMI web site, or some new online upstart. Who would have guessed that the initial digital release of the Beatles catalog would arrive on physical media; a bulbous green USB memory stick that is as ugly as it is useless.
So the music gets put in silicon, the silicon into metal, the metal into plastic, plastic into boxes, boxes into trucks. The trucks are driven to giant brick and mortar buildings, then more trucks take them to smaller brick buildings. So thanks a bunch EMI. We would have loved to welcome you to the 21st century by cleanly zapping Beatle bits from there to here, but instead you hand us music with a carbon footprint as large as the device we use to listen.
Can this even be considered a true digital release? Technically yes, but it’s delivered in a physical enclosure, just like a CD and we already have those.
I have always been perplexed at the hubbub surrounding the eventual digital release of the Beatles catalog. Most fans have the material on CD and many have vinyl (I have both) and have already ripped them to various iDevices. Digital distribution would only bring a new level of purchasing convenience to those filling out their catalog or newly discovering the band … or so we thought.
Anyway, look for this sickly shiny green apple at a grocer near you on December 7, 2009 (Dec 8 in the states.) You know, this probably would have played out very differently, and year ago, had Steve Jobs just come up with a different name for his computer company.
Apple’s Magic Mouse – Elegant, Functional, Unusable
It would be all too easy to sprinkle prestidigitation metaphors throughout an article on Apple’s new Magic Mouse. References to “disappearing” buttons, “amazing” design are obvious. So lets get straight to the point, clear and simple. Apple has created a mouse so perfect that it is unusable. Ok, so much for clarity.
This may be Apple’s most elegant current product. The compound curves of plastic, aluminum and space converge at each edge with a beauty and precision unparalleled in consumer electronic devices. The technology of touch is integrated is a uniquely usable fashion. All pre-purchase doubts about a touchpad mouse dissolved within minutes of use. Scrolling, swiping and sliding quickly become second nature. The low-profile is challenging at first, and require some getting-used-to time. The utility this mouse provides would make it worth the effort, if not for one fatal flaw.
The Magic Mouse places it’s optical sensor in an unusual place. In use, it falls right under the fingertips. Logically this would seem to be the ideal spot for a device used for pointing. This location was never possible with rubber ball mice. The size of the track ball required the point of control to fall deeper in the palm. When optical mice swept through the industry replacing ball mice, they simply mimicked the same positioning.
The control point of my current mouse (Macally IceMouse) is right under my first knuckle. The Magic Mouse moves that point more than an inch further from the palm. This small shift is enough to completely change every gesture my muscle memory has been imbedding for the last two decades. In particular, side-to-side motions, fulcrumed from the wrist, are magnified dramatically and would require relearning as much slighter motions.
Perhaps a secondary preference control could allow a separate tracking setting for smaller side motions. Until then, the retraining required for using the Magic Mouse would be comparable to relearning to draw left-handed.
World’s Coolest Mixer, The Korg ZERO 8 – Discontinued!
I had been vacillating for weeks on replacing my aging Mackie 1202VLC mixer. The headphone jack died months ago, and several channels need periodic jiggling to make connection. When I ran across the Korg ZERO 8, it seemed to have everything one would want in a mixer, and so much more. Between the time I placed my order at Musicians Friend and the expected ship date, Korg killed the product line.
What a shame. This was an amazing piece of gear; 8 stereo channels, Firewire I/O, effects, a touch screen that doubles as a Kaoss Pad, lots of knobs, slider, and “blinken lights.” The ZERO consistently receive rave reviews. Why would Korg kill this dream machine, less than 2-years after its release? It could be any of many reasons. Here are two.
Price. All this digital power does not come cheap. With a list price of $2,450 it’s difficult to understand to whom this unit was targeted. The street price apparently quickly dropped and was currently hovering around $1,000. A few weeks ago, some retailers started clearing these out for about $850. That’s when I made my purchase.
Sound. While many ZERO 8 owners were quite happy with the sound quality, a small but vocal group of users groused about their units being crazy noisy for a fully digital mixer. Several months of no response from Korg only made this community louder and angrier. When a response finally came down from Korg many of these users took it as a denial of the issue. You can read all about it on the Korg Forum. I don’t have an opinion on this subject, but I was looking forward to forming one upon receiving my ZERO.
Which will now never arrive. So farewell ZERO 8. We hardly knew you. Does anyone have any recommendations for an alternative? My Mackie is ready for retirement.
Welcome to the Button Matrix – Part 1: The Monome
Music making has involved button pressing since the 3rd century BC. Whether forcing air through tubes, banging hammers on strings or pushing voltage through USB cables, button manipulation is a classic interface between human and sound.
Push button music has evolved and exploded over the past few years. It’s history can be traced back to a number of arguable origins and originators. One of them is Brian Crabtree, who built his first prototype button matrix device in 2002. Inspired by Max, a visual programming language popular among musicians and multimedia artists, he built a “barely functional … constructed from parts found in an electronics salvage depot bin” device that would eventually become the Monome.
Brian believed that adding visual feedback to a musical instrument would facilitate intuitive interaction. His device first grabbed the attention of musicians and performance artists when a small video clip of his performance virally circulated among music blogs around 2004
In 2006 his fledgling company released a 64 button matrix controller, the 40h. Although only 400 of these “adaptable, minimalist interfaces” were produced, these buttony boxes sent sound waves and shock waves through the music hardware industry. And as popularity grew, so did the number of buttons on the Monome.
Musicians, DJs and technogeeks embraced the concept. Square rubbery buttons would no longer be confined to rows on drum machines. They were now showing up on new instruments and in new forms. Molded silicon replaced the traditional black rubber. Velocity sensitivity was also jettisoned to make way for much more interesting electronics; lights.
The translucent silicon allowed for LED back-lighting. This added a dramatic visual aspect to this new genre of instruments, comically referred to as “blinken lights.” But the lighting was not just for show. A well programmed lighting system turns a matrix of 256 identical buttons into usable, even friendly, device. It also breaks the spacial limits of the device allowing for an unlimited number of virtual buttons and displays.
In the next installment of Welcome to the Button Matrix, we will look at more push button oddities, the Tenori-on, the new Eigenharp, the AKAI APC40, and the soon-to-be-released (and already pre-ordered) Novation Launchpad.
Peter Gabriel – From Rehearsal to Caracas
Richard Evans gives us a rare look behind the scenes at a Peter Gabriel tour preparation. The group spent four weeks preparing for the 8 show tour of Mexico and South America. Two weeks of music rehearsal will took place in the “grey and grotty” Millside rehearsal rooms at Real World, followed by two weeks of production rehearsal.
Richard plays a kit consisting of a MIDI MalletKat, a MIDI Parker Fly Guitar, Ableton Live and “various other bits and pieces.” He explains how he recently reworked his rig down from a ProTools HD system with two “huge, great desktop computers,” to a MOTU 896 and a single laptop running Ableton Live.
Richard also takes us on a walking tour through the technology labyrinth that is Gabriel’s Real World Studios, including the impressive, non-grotty Big Room. Many thanks to guys at SonicState for documenting this.
For a more detailed look at Peter Gabriel’s secret world of music production, watch the three-part guided video tour at SonicState.com.
