App review: Ecoute

 iTunes, while a nice app, can tend to get cluttered with larger libraries. Its window takes up a large portion of the screen; which, for obsessive people like myself, can become a problem for productivity. With the advent of the iBookstore and the App Store, the usage of iTunes has become bloated.

Enter Ecoute.

Ecoute, from PixiApps, is a minimalistic, powerful media player for Mac OS X. Taking on the UI theme of a bevy of new Mac apps such as Twitter for Mac and Pixelmator, Ecoute features a collection of rounded dark elements, relying on the small and understated to achieve its aesthetic charm.

Ecoute allows the user to have a desktop controller, similar to that of CoverSutra. Shown here is the Baptême theme; although not currently in full use, PixiApps aims to have a full theme center where one will be able to download themes and switch them in Ecoute. There are currently a handful of themes available for download on their homepage. 

Ecoute allows synchronization to last.fm, Twitter, and Facebook. While I'm not one for trumpeting my music to my Facebook or Twitter, the last.fm "Now Playing" and scrobbling integration is very nice (and was effectively the last nail in the coffin for CoverSutra). Ecoute also has support for the Apple (physical) remote and Growl notifications.

Plus, the icon is eons better 

than that of iTunes 10. 

(Yeah, that's live artwork.)

Ecoute is available for $10 from the creator or from the Mac App Store. There is a free demo available on the creator's page.

tune

This is a tune I made in SunVox on my iPod touch. I hope to flesh it out some more in Reason, but I just had the inkling of the tune in my head last night and wanted to make sure I didn't forget about it. I like it, though.

It's meant to be played on repeat; I included one repeat in the file, as the reverb sorta screws with the repeat...

App review: Jasuto pro modular synthesizer

I've played around with Jasuto modular synthesizer for a while; however, I had bought it before the creator had released the pro version. Eh. It was still lots of fun, but I was missing a few key operations which I wanted, particularly an operation that converted a signal to a control value. 

Jasuto Pro recently lowered its price to $1.99; so, of course, I bought it, being the cheap bastard I am. I remembered that it is an amazing little synth builder. The range of modules is wonderful, and the wiring procedure is nice. Being used to MaxMSP, I often wish that there was a simple way to analyze the signals - something like the [number~] object in MSP, or at least some sort of oscilloscope. There is, however, a visualization of the waves going in and out of each module; but this is a bit too small and inaccurate for my liking. 

To give you an idea of the simplicity and feel of Jasuto, here is a simple FM synth:

The module cut off at the bottom is a simple speaker out.

A great thing about Jasuto is the motion control. The location of each object in respect to the other objects is able to control a parameter of the object. One is able to move around an object, and loop that motion. It's a great tactile method of parameter control that agrees with the touchscreen interface. 

With the Pro version comes the ability to control objects with OSC input. This is great, but I really wish Jasuto would include backgrounding, so that I could use TouchOSC on the same device for on-the-go testing...

All in all, though, a great modular synth for iOS. If you know your stuff, this will be a great tool for sound creation. Even if you're new to synthesis, a look at some of the documentation and the examples will have you making cool sounds in no time. 

Jasuto is currently 99¢, and Jasuto Pro is $4.99. Both are available at the iOS App Store. 

been a while

Heh, if by a while I mean a small amount of time that no one cares about.


did you know that you can buy a shitload of bees for crazy cheap? (which reminds me of a certain eddie izzard sketch)


this blog is all over the place, yo. whatever. it's just how i am.


C A V E  S T O R Y


is fucking hard at times. my morning consisted of trying to play through the sanctuary, failing, and then giving up and rocketing to the moon to impale myself upon the flag of our forefathers so glorious in their 

blexams

So, Cave Story is a goddamn amazing game. Although it's shorter than I thought it would be. I had gotten through three-quarters of it before, but then stopped. So I started up again recently, but switched from my PC to playing it on the Wii.

WHICH REMINDS ME

It is much harder than I thought it would be to convert serial data into USB data. There's a logical flow to my thoughts, I swear.

I was playing An Untitled Story, and I realized that I should be playing with a gamepad (as gamers are wont to do). I then realized that, what better way to acquire a gamepad than to make one? Far too much wiring later, I realized thirdly that goddamn serial data is fickle, yo.

Speaking of electronics, I recently started to experiment with sending audio through circuitry. Which means that I am going to either break my iPod or have some crrrreeezzzzyyyyy shit going on.

On Sunday night, I went to Juliet's house. We haven't really hung out for a while. It got kind of awkward when she realized that I was ignoring her. Sorry. I was stupid about that. But she's cool. It's just a little bit annoying. See, I've been pretty lonely these past few weeks. I've been keeping busy with tons of stuff. But there was still a part of me which said that hanging out with friends was this great thing which I had forgotten: this great tension and fattening experience which would take the place of work or drugs. Finally doing it, finally hanging out with someone, I was disappointed.

ohhhhhhhh welllllllllll.

Wrote an essay for an exam today about teenagers finding their sexuality and thus unleashing a world of choke and rape upon themselves. Goooood shit.

it's a dannnnngerous road

i've been getting back into a lot of singer-songwritery stuff recently. i go through phases with dat, yo. this one was kind of odd, though: to go from crezzzy drill-beat breakcore to the mountain goats... turn left at a red light, you know.

hum.

spent a lot of today working out some reusable patches in MaxMSP. if you're into music and logic/programming/mathystuffs, and ye know not yet of MaxMSP, you should check that out. they have a nice 30-day trial at their website.

i've been trying to reproduce a softly noisy synth sound, sort of like at the beginning of this track from Requiem for a Dream. but i really don't know where to start. it's like... some sort of organy, fluttery, deliciousness. regular noise is too harsh for it. it makes me think of glass globes wrapped in black audio tape, spinning around slowly.

i found out there is a counter object in Max5

goddammit.

adsense and copyrighted materials

i like to share poetry on my blogs. this is the first time i've started using adsense. does anyone know if sharing relatively copyrighted poetry here would cause problems with google?

blah. copyright is antiquated. (although open-source and the likes are often badly implemented... [i'm really tired, don't call me out on that])

dammit universe

So, I just sent my iMac to the Apple Store to have it fixed. (There was a crazy problem with it not booting and whatnot. Apple Geniuses (genii? [holy shit that's where genie comes from?!!!]) everywhere were perplexed. They're now trying to replace the logic board.) I thought, hey, it's the middle of the school week. I've got exams next week. Won't miss it much.

Stayed home sick today, no school tomorrow because of snow. Wishing I could be playing me some TF2.

i hate to do this...

but if you want linkbucks, could you use this link to sign up?

http://www.linkbucks.com/referral/348378

(no pressure.)

(really.)

(i mean, i wouldn't ask it of you, but that's, you know,

the name of the game.)

(i'm really quite passive in real life.)