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Friday, January 16, 2015

Building Reaktor Synthesisers, Download Scripts, and Re-Spin Revenue

After a bit of fiddling I've figured out how to build non-trivial Reaktor software synthesisers. By the looks of things, you can do quite a lot but there seems to be some gaps in the software which makes building a full blown synthesiser ready for sale to the public (which they will want to buy) a non-option for the moment (unless there is some information that I'm missing which is likely the case)...

For the lazy among you the easiest Reaktor Synthesisers that can be built can be made as so. Right click in the workspace, Instrument -> Synthesizers -> Option and then hook up to correct/relevant Voice Combiner. My designs obviously start from scratch though, as I'd like to be able to design some both for educational purposes, for resale, and if that's not possible simply to give away.

You can download my updated experiments from here:

I've been looking to build some Android software applications for a while now (curious to know whether this is a viable long term option). It's interesting how many people actually Open Source their software on the various web stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_Android_applications
https://github.com/psaravan/JamsMusicPlayer
http://www.alexdantas.net/projects/kmp/

I recently wanted to download al the applications/archives from a particular website, http://www.vst4free.com/ so I looked at various website download programs (HTTrack, Teleport Pro, wget, curl, etc...). In spite of the filters/wildcards that were available they were too slow to be realistic.

####Start Quote####
Use wildcards to exclude or include URLs or links. You can put several scan strings on the same line. Use spaces as separators. Example: +*.zip -www.*.com -www.*.edu/cgi-bin/*.cgi

+*.png +*.gif +*.jpg +*.css +*.js -ad.doubleclick.net/*

+*.zip +*.exe +*.msi +*.tar.gz +*.tar +*.rar
+*.css +*.js -ad.doubleclick.net/*
####End Quote#####

https://www.httrack.com/html/filters.html
http://httrack.kauler.com/help/Catch_all_files_of_certain_type

What did I do? I built something because I noticed patterns in the way files were encoded.

####Start Quote####
Range for Instrument VSTs
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=160
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=362

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=160
was the same as
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Advanced_MIDI_Gate&id=160
which converted to
http://www.vst4free.com/get_plugin.php?win32=drumatic_3_02.zip
which could then be parsed for automated download.

Range for Effects VSTs
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=401
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=479

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=401
was the same as
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Advanced_MIDI_Gate&id=401
which converted to
http://www.vst4free.com/get_plugin.php?win32=microrock.zip
which could then be parsed for automated download.

Range for Midi VSTs
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Hyperion&id=1401
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Hyperion&id=1421
####End Quote#####

You can download my script from here:

As I've stated previously I've been thinking of re-spinning some versions of Linux for fun and possibly profit. The irony is that it's actually much easier to go down than it is go up. Namely, the smaller distributions such as DamnSmall don't really lend themselves to customisation going up because there are too many dependencies that need to be remedied prior to being able to come up with something workable. This has led me to work on scripts to achieve the exact opposite on smaller (but large such as Knoppix) DVD/CD based live distributions. They work based on class of program based on yum or apt package information. It'll be interesting to see what we can do.


Several of the ways in which I was thinking about making revenue was:
  • distributing/re-sale on chosen media such as USB, CD, DVD, etc... http://damnsmalllinux.org/usb.html
  • creating custom versions for who ever wants them. After all, if I'm currently building the code to allow for this why not? (You need to send a portion of payment now and rest on delivery.) Working perferably only on smaller distributions at this point unless the project is really interesting.
  • donations
  • figuring out what the public wants and then attempting to build that for them
  • figuring out what the best possible distribution is and attempting to build that for the public
  • support via of these distributions
Interesting stuff in general I came across during the week.



Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Some Fun

It's been a while since we've done one of these...

Animals in Africa get drunk by eating ripe Marula fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50tlF3kGbT4
Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys! - Weird Nature - BBC animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSm7BcQHWXk
Mourinho on Setanta - Gangsta Sven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhJZenzG6jI
ATM Theft Backfires as Explosion Knocks Down Robber
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30633723

Some articles...
Some quotes...
  •  "Two friends are talking: "Say, buddy, could you loan me 100 Euros?" "Well, you know I only have 60 on me." "Ok, give me what you've got and you'll only owe me 40."  http://io9.com/5770759/science-explains-why-humor-turns-women-on
  • A young teacher is interviewing for a position. He is asked: "Can you give me three reasons why you wanted to be a teacher?" The interviewee promptly answers: "December, June, and July. http://io9.com/5770759/science-explains-why-humor-turns-women-on 
  • "An attacker could simply download the My Satis application and use it to cause the toilet to repeatedly flush, raising the water usage and therefore utility cost to its owner," it says in its report. "Attackers could [also] cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to [the] user." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23575249
- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Brother HL1110 Linux Printing Drivers, Re-Spinning, and Musical Experimentation

I've been meaning to purchase a new toner cartridge for my Brother HL-2140 laser printer for a short while now but noticed that the price of cartridges are multiples of their cheapest laser printer at 'Officeworks'.
http://www.openprinting.org/printer/Brother/Brother-HL-2140

The only problem is that you may need to update your drivers. I wasn't able to find any relevant Debian packages after a quick search online. I converted from what was available of RPM packages online. The existing driver for the Brother HL-1110 prints nothing but blanks at this stage on some version of Linux.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=177290
http://support.brother.com/g/b/countrytop.aspx?c=au&lang=en
http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/linux/en/index.html?c=us_ot&lang=en&comple=on&redirect=on
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/brother-hl1118

root@system:~/CUPS# alien *.rpm --scripts --to-deb
hl1110cupswrapper_3.0.1-2_i386.deb generated
hl1110lpr_3.0.1-2_i386.deb generated
root@system:~/CUPS# ls
hl1110cupswrapper-3.0.1-1.i386.rpm  hl1110cupswrapper_3.0.1-2_i386.deb  hl1110lpr-3.0.1-1.i386.rpm  hl1110lpr_3.0.1-2_i386.deb

Download my Debian packages from here...
hl1110lpr_3.0.1-2_i386.deb
hl1110cupswrapper_3.0.1-2_i386.deb

Information on the difference between the 'Sampler' and 'Simpler' on Ableton.
https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/sampler/
http://www.askaudiomag.com/articles/ableton-live-simpler-vs-sampler
http://www.anthonyarroyodotcom.com/theabletoncookbook/ableton-tutorial-2/getting-started-with-ableton-sampler-loading-multiple-samples/
http://samplesimple.com/how-to-use-the-sampler/

I've been looking at these (online payment systems) for a while now to see what ways there were of efficiently transferring currency across the Internet for various projects I've been working on.
http://www.selz.com/
http://www.paypal.com/
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-12-alternatives-paypal/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/paypal-alternatives/

I've been investigating some of these as a means of online distribution of larger content (re-spun Linux distributions and other content). Note, that I do not have the ability to be able to use P2P style technologies because of various limitations at this moment in time..
https://www.dropbox.com/
http://alternativeto.net/software/dropbox/
http://www.cloudwards.net/top-10-secure-dropbox-alternatives/
http://codecall.net/2014/04/02/best-free-dropbox-alternatives/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer

There's been some work that I've been meaning to upload to GitHub for a while now. Surprised how much it has been streamlined...
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9577968/how-to-upload-files-on-github
https://windows.github.com/
https://github.com/blog/1302-goodbye-uploads
https://guides.github.com/introduction/getting-your-project-on-github/

Locations for free wallpapers that I've been looking at for re-spun Linux distributions.
http://wallpaperswide.com/1280x800-wallpapers-r.html
http://wallpaperscraft.com/all/1280x800

http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-roll-your-own-linux-distro/d/d-id/1063618?
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-make-create-linux-distribution.html
http://knoppix.net/wiki3/index.php?title=Knoppix_Remastering_Howto
http://custom.nimblex.net/Admitere/site/infogen
http://www.nimblex.net/
http://www.nimblex.net/download
http://www.nimblex.net/component/wrapper/
http://sneekygeekers.com/2014/06/09/how-to-create-your-own-ubuntu-respin/
http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/739139-roll-your-own-customized-ubuntu-with-uck
https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/uck/

These are some of my first attempts at Reaktor Software Synthesisers. It's interesting how much customisability there is within the software actually. I thought I may have to venture into other software (or direct programming) to be able achieve this level of power.

Download my Reaktor Synthesisers from here...

This is where I learnt how to build them. It'll be intresting to see whether I can build anything worth selling/purchasing...

Ever wondered how those URL breakdown systems work and who actually supplies such services? So did I?  Curious to know though whether they can be used for downloads. Think of the difference between a stealthy, a semi-stealthy, and a transparent proxy for an idea of what I mean...

I've been looking at some young House producers/composers of late looking for furher indications into how they actually build up/layer a track. If you've spent enough time looking around then it's clear that the sound of many of these young producers is quite immature. In terms of sounds intermingling it's quite complex but with regards to actual structure it's quite simplistic. Think of the song 'Icarus' from 'Madeon' as a good example (very reminiscent of Daft Punk's 'Around the World', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9MszVE7aR4 in terms of structure)(it exudes innocence, young, vibrancy, and is 'poppy'. It's not exactly my cup of tea but hey it works right?). It basically has a bunch of clips goign over the top of one another and doesn't quite complement but actually builds up. It has an introduction, has a period in which it sets the stage, the main storyline, without much of an outro, it simply just fades out... Moreover, the main storyline is just like a chorus/choir joining in on a solo. It's not quite as difficult as you think to build something like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUC17C-DgDs

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Updated Playlists, Tutorials, Linux Re-spins/Custom Distributions

Updated and added a few more playlists to my YouTube account.
  • Classical-19-Dec-14
  • Soundtrack-19-Dec-14
  • Opera-4-Dec-14 
  • Disco-4-Jan-15

Some of the software that I use:
  • Ableton
  • Akai MPC Studio and associated libraries
  • U-He's Synthesisers
  • Cakewalk's Rapture
Some of the hardware that I use:
  • Native Instruments Maschine
  • Korg Triton Taktile 25
  • Roland A-49
  • Audio Technica ATH-M50x
Some of the cheaper, smaller, hardware synthesiser options out there:
  • Korg MicroKorg, Triton Range
  • Novation's XioSynth, MiniNova, UltraNova Range
Most of them will have systemic problems associated with them  but a lot of the time they're easily fixable and service manuals are available online.

What people are actually buying out there.
How to build something simple has been bugging me for a while now.
http://electrictrumpet.com/SympleSynth/
https://www.facebook.com/ReaktorTutorials
http://www.reaktortips.com/
http://www.nireaktor.com//
http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/7-hours-of-free-reaktor-tutorials.209915/
http://www.nireaktor.com/category/reaktor-tutorials/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtPuGwIq_DY
http://flipmu.com/work/software/
https://www.udemy.com/build-a-synth-in-reaktor/
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Category:Reaktor
http://www.sonicacademy.com/Training+Videos/Course+Overview/Learn-How-To-Make-a-Synth-using-Native-Intruments-Reaktor.cid2095
http://adsrsounds.com/synth/reaktor/
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Reaktor/Tutorials/Requests
http://proaudiozone.eu/education/groove3-reaktor-explained-tutorial/
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/09/learning-reaktor-online-tutorials-samples-discussion/ 

How to build something simple has been bugging me for a while now.

Fitness tests for entrace to the ADF. Interesting for those of you out there.

If you've ever used sampling software such as Akai MPC and like the functionality, simplicity of a single click to create a note inside the piano roll there's also the 'Ctl+B' shortcut inside of Ableton.
https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=171328&view=previous
https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/editing-midi-notes-and-velocities/
http://abletonlife.com/6-tips-for-more-efficient-midi-note-editing
http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/28-ableton-live-tricks-you-didnt-know-229245/

Been re-thinking my strategy of selling MIDI clips and so on. Basically, I've been thinking of creating a library of small clips in Ableton and then using this as the basis for personal music and/or reselling this on to others. An example of this is using the 'Vinyl Scratches' VST plugin to learn how to create a group of unique clips for later reuse.

Have been involved (or have been researching) various forms of online money making in recent times (options for those tired of the standard office work work). These are some of them.
http://www.maven.co/
http://www.ideaken.com/
https://www.freelancer.com.au/

Thinking more about musical bridges in music. Think of note progression, more short notes into passage and slow out (particularly into 'breakdowns') , using effects as a means to keep things blended in.
Interesting for those 'vocalists' out there (it's a vocal sampler CD. A lot of websites also provide a lot of free or paid vocal samples on-line as well) 

If you are a vocalist, watch out for over eating. It can have some strange impacts on your body and voice.
http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/guide/what-is-acid-reflux-disease

A long time ago at University, I was playing around with automated deployment of software (reasonably sophisticated. Think about Windows automated deployment and so forth) and so on. Now there are many options out there including many distrobutions which are designed with customisation included.

Some interesting electronic artists.
https://soundcloud.com/alekseybeloozerov

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Dodgy Job Contract Clauses, Random Stuff, and More

- in this post we'll be going through dodgy job contract clauses. Ironically, many of which are actually unlawful and unenforceable on c...