Cjed Audio News 2008-04


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04-29-08 / 11:41 PM : Alesis SR-18 (cjed)

A long time after the SR-16 (shipped in early 90s), Alesis presents the SR-18. This drumbox can look minimalistic with its 32Mb ram only (500 drums sounds and 50 bass sounds) compared with the 50Gb samples of BFD or EZ Superior. However the HR16 (even older) still sounds powerfull, despites a few Mb samples size. Audio and video demos are available, and the SR-18 is priced 399$.

04-29-08 / 11:32 PM : MacPro for audio : cheaper than Rain (cjed)

Rain Recording provides PCs targeted for audio : metal case and silent, many hard drives, many USB and Firewire ports, many PCI Express slots (16x and 1x) and also standard PCI slots. So they look like the MacPro.
However at 2750$ the quad core Penryn 2,66GHz with 4Gb ram and 2X 500Gb hard drives, the Rain Quad Core Digital Audio Workstation aren't interesting compared with the MacPro : 2550$ for a quad core MacPro (faster, 2,8Ghz, and more powerful thanks to its Xeon processors) fitted with two 500Gb hard disks (and Radeon HD2600XT, Radeon HD3650 on the Rain).

04-29-08 / 11:22 PM : Arturia Analog Factory Experience review (cjed)

Audiofanzine provides a long review of Arturia Analog Factory Experience : at 299 euros it brings Analog Factory 2.0 software bundled with a mini 32 notes keyboard controller (from CME).

04-29-08 / 11:11 PM : CrossOver : compatibility and performances (cjed)

The site bit-tech provides a long and interesting article about CrossOver. Many not officially supported PC games run fine (and some even better than under native Windows XP). The compatible games list is higher than on native Windows Vista. The main interest when comparing it with VMWare or Parallels Desktop is that is doesn't require a Windows installation nor licence (expensive), besides not requiring a restart (also the case with the other two virtualization softwares).

04-29-08 / 11:03 PM : MSN 7 mac (cjed)

Microsoft provides msn 7 for mac. Audio and video conferencing are supported, but it requires PC users to switch to Messenger Live 8, in order to support the new Microsoft protocol. Meanwhile there is aMSN, that still manages video.

04-29-08 / 11:00 PM : RIM is developing for iPhone (cjed)

RIM, the maker of BlackBerry, would have hired an Objective-C/Cocoa developers team, probably to develop a client application for iPhone that connects to their push-mail service.

04-28-08 / 11:15 PM : New imacs/GeForce 8800M GS option (cjed)

Apple presented revisions of the imacs : the processors range from 2,4 to 3,06 Ghz (1066 Mhz bus), and prices from 1199 to 2199$. On the 24' model at 2,8Ghz (2Gb ram, 320Gb disk, 1799$), the Radeon HD 2600 PRO (256Mb) can be replaced by a GeForce 8800M GS (512 Mb of GDDR3) for 150$ (this card upgrade isn't available for lower models at 2,4 or 2,66Ghz, but it is default on the higher end 3,06Ghz model). Despite being a mobility card, the 8800M GS is said to be two times faster than the Radeon HD 2600 PRO.
At 1950$, there is still to compare it with refurb Mac Pro (that provides 4 processors), notably if we still owns a display (the imac display is big however, 24').

04-27-08 / 10:50 PM : Copyright and use of sound libraries (cjed)

Through this study document, La protection et l’exploitation des banques de sons instrumentales, the author deals with the various kings of sound synthesis, evolving of sounds libraries, and copyrighting (also use licences). He mentions the creative commons licence and those products : VSL, Colossus, Synful Orchestra. For example, when using a loop from these libraries (rare - but some drums loops from Artist Grooves can sometimes be incredibly useful) the Soundsonline licence states :
(1) Loops must be used in a musical context with at least two other instruments that contribute significantly to the composition.
(2) The entire loop cannot be left exposed at any time in the composition.

These complementary informations will be of great help, as I plans to create Kontakt 2 samples libraries from sounds I programmed with the YS200 (FM 4 operators), D20, JV80 and XV5050 (besides the corresponding patches).

04-27-08 / 07:41 PM : XLN Audio Addictive Drums / EZ / Artist Drums (cjed)

XLN Audio Addictive drums is a drums plugin that provides 3 kits (24 bits samples, 350Mb per kit, 3 Gb total). The user interface reminds a lot EZDrummer, but there are many more settings : besides the mixing console (dry/overhead/room, as for EZDrummer) we find a true sound editor as in Kontakt (pitch, envelops, effects). Then more than a hundred presets are available (full variations over a same kit elements). The audio demos on the site are stunning, more impressive than EZDrummer's ones. The software also brings a midifiles collection (3000), that are more original than those bundled with EZDrummer. The pricing is good, 198 euros (first in sales at Thomann.de in drums plugins category).

We can download a demo version here (180 Mb), that only includes one kit (one kick, one snare, two charlestons, a ride and a crash cymbal - no toms), but that offers many presets (25 full variations). Moreover this demo isn't time limited ! At first, it sounds more powerful than EZDrummer (and close to BDF2 demos), the kits are far more various than in EZ Drummer (including a good 80s kit). However finally the sound seems overprocessed (sound editor settings, effects), even with the clean Sonor kit, the same problem noted with Colossus kits, and that leads to a feeling of artificial or drum box sound. Moreover the charlestons included in the demo sound mudded, as if they have been recorded at a too low frequency (the same with the ride cymbal). The dynamic seems a bit better than with EZDrummer but the sounds are finally complementary (the EZ charlestons and cymbals are better, and the snare, despite being basical, produces the pressure feeling of a real drum).

Here are examples made using EZDrummer (base kit - edited - with Roger snare and GMS kick -, overhead and room setted upper), then Addictive Drums clean Sonor kit, Artist Drums's Simon Phillips kit (with two snares, the former sounding close to Adictive Drums Sonor snare), and finally the three kits together (perhaps the solution !) :

EZ/AD/ArtistDrums comparison (aiff, 10Mb).

Toms cound't be compared, however ArtistDrums toms are the best ever (some of the four Artist Drums kits include at least 6 elements). Artist Drums kits are about the same size as Addictive Drums ones : 350 Mb for wet or dry (and more than double for 5.1 kits, that merge the twos - but they aren't always necessary).

04-27-08 / 07:13 PM : Emotional still in global Top50 (cjed)

The song Emotional keeps its ranking (46th in the global musique-libre rank, over 22500 songs total !) That is here for comments access - last page - (comments alone don't modify ranking, a rating/smiley has to be put - requires an account).

04-27-08 / 06:47 PM : Another Pangea like ballad (cjed)

This ballad uses the usual piano (custom patch SuperbGrandJ4 with 3 velocity layers, derived from the Complete Piano's SuperbGrand patch), Artist Grooves for the drums (loops here, in order to remind the previous songs PangeA/B/C) and SO Gold :
SPBallad

04-27-08 / 01:27 AM : iPhone b4 SDK : inactive applications (cjed)

The beta 4 of iPhone SDK is said to bring officially support for inactives applications, but it isn't really background apps contrary to those demonstrated previously with a trick : only the app delegate would be added, but as stated previously, to make a true backgorund app the application objet also had to be modified.

04-26-08 / 04:47 PM : RoundCube Mail /unusable javascript apps (cjed)

The javascript (Ajax) webmail application RoundCube is a good demonstration of why solution like GWT won't be suitable : approximative multitasking with Ajax calls (not robust and not intended to be used for that), no threads management, no access to core system features. So these applications will always be buggy. Why not go back to eighties classic mac programming with the toolbox (not reentrant APIs). Then what about having spent so much time creating robust OS with semaphores, if it is to end up with javascript...
Another example is the news uncollapse/collapse (+/-) on the site, that sometimes doesn't work (hopefully not often), requiring to load again the page. The calls are Ajax with asynchronous mode.

04-26-08 / 04:32 PM : Objective-C 2 is cool / Java isn't (cjed)

At Cocoacoder blog, the author explains why he finds Objective-C 2 so useful (compared with OC1) : Properties, Garbage Collection, Fast Enumeration. He gives code examples that shows the gain (in terms of time and code length) allowed by OC2.
He also points out an interesting article, When did Java lose its cool ? : deceiving JavaFX, etc.

04-26-08 / 04:03 PM : iPhone SDK tutorial / background App (cjed)

The site IhateTheiPhoneSDK (not serious ?) provides a tutorial that gives tricks to manage some of Interface Builder bugs discovered in the first betas of iPhone SDK. These are principally not working methods or incorrect documentation (not updated). We see the new look of IB, that is really nice (floating toolbars like those in most of Leopard applications : DVD Player, QuickTime Player, Preview, etc.).
In a second article we learn how to create a backgournd application.
To conclude, the documentation on Cocoa is huge : numerous books since 2000 (without counting previous books on NextStep), sites and blogs (CocoaDevCentral, etc.), online documentation (ADC), specific articles by Apple (I remember the one about CoreAudio after OSX shipped, and the recent article about OpenGL), documentation installed by the SDK (1,3Gb for the archive !). We benefit from the experience of more than 15 years users, nothing to compare with the Google Phone SDK, too young and untested.

04-25-08 / 12:24 AM : iPhone SDK beta 4 (cjed)

Apple now provides at download the beta 4 version of the iPhone SDK. Among other new features it brings OpenGL ES support in the iPhone emulator.

04-23-08 / 11:14 PM : Record apple results (cjed)

Apple just published its financial results for the second quarter (fiscal) 2008, it is the best (second quarter) ever in its history : 7,5 billions $ sales (and 770 millions net profit !), 50% growth of macs sales in a year (2,3 millions units this quarter), 10,7 millions ipods sold and 1,7 millions iPhone.

04-23-08 / 10:42 PM : Spectrasonics Omnisphere contest (cjed)

Spectrasonics opened a contest around Omnisphere. Only registered users of a software from the company (Atmoshpere, Stylus, etc.) can participate. The goal is to produce a remix from 45 loops created with Omnisphere, and provided at download (Stylus RMX, REX2 and WAV formats). The contest ends June, 30, and winners (3 categories : Best Vocal Production, Best Instrumental Production and Most Creative Production) will receive a copy of Omnisphere when it ships September, 15, 2008.
Meanwhile we can watch the new videos (episodes) of Omnisphere here.

04-23-08 / 10:35 PM : Penumbra Black Plague : mac demo (cjed)

A mac demo of Penumbra Black Plague is now available (300 Mb, requires a 1,5Ghz processor and a Radeon 9600 Pro card). The full game will be released in a week.

04-23-08 / 10:20 PM : Apple buys PA Semi : new PPC (cjed)

Apple buyed PA Semi, designer and maker of power efficient processors (used for onboard and signal processing chips - mainly military purpose). These processors are in fact derived from the POWER architecture, and a 64 bits dual core chip at 2Ghz only requires 5 to 13 W ! The company founder was the lead designer for Alpha and StrongARM processors.
The price (278 millions $, that is a half the price Apple paid to get NeXT in 96) shows the implications : we could se soon these processors in ultra portable macs (MacBook Air), derived chips in iPhone, and some coprocessing chips in macs. The skills of PA Semi could allow Apple to put pressure on Intel, and monitor their work on the ATOM architecture, for what they don't benefit from a long experience, contrary to Motorola (Freescale) or PA Semi.

04-23-08 / 12:02 AM : Tomb Raider Anniversary : review (cjed)

IMG provides a full reveiw (5 pages) of the new Tomb Raider (Anniversary). This is the occasion to make the point with this series that started 12 years ago on PC (and 10 years ago on mac, with Tomb Raider II). The game has been made by Crystal Dynamics (and not by the original creators CoreDesign), that also managed the previous episode (Tomb Raider Legend, only on PC) and the new enginer. The result seems impressive.

04-22-08 / 11:57 PM : IK Multimedia SampleTron (cjed)

IK Multimedia presents SampleTron, a plugin including 700 presets of 17 types of Mellotron (2Gb samples total). It is multitimbral (16 parts) and 32 effects are provided. Audio demos (and videos) are available. It is priced 330$.

04-22-08 / 11:50 PM : BDF Big Orchestral & Marching Band (cjed)

FXpansion provides a new extension for BDF 1.5 & 2, Big Orchestral & Marching Band. It includes 38Gb of samples and is priced 199$. Audio demos are available.

04-21-08 / 11:08 PM : EastWest 2008 Contest : SCORE THIS MOVIE (cjed)

EastWest started a new contest (ends June, 30) : 2008 CONTEST SCORE THIS MOVIE. The goal is to create a soundtrack (using EastWest samples libraries) from a 2mn movie (available as download). The price is the complete Play products collection (7 total, including QL Pianos).

04-21-08 / 10:55 PM : id Software interview (cjed)

An interview of id Software about QuakeWars and idTech Engine 5 is available at shacknews. They speak about universal texturing : everything in the world can be uniquely textured, and it's a look you just can't get in any other game.

04-21-08 / 10:53 PM : ATI HD4800 (cjed)

ATI announces its new graphic cards generation, the HD4800 (4850 and 4870, with GDDR5) : GPU starting at 800Mhz up to more than 1 Ghz, 1,8 to 2,2Ghz memory (512Mb), 256 bits, 32 textures management units, and an expected price ranging from 179 to 219$.

04-21-08 / 01:43 AM : Forums : songs using SO Platinum (cjed)

Here are some new songs from soundsonline members, made with SO Platinum :
- Outworlder from Pietro
- Sonje Chase from Vatroslav (also Aldina)
- The Streets of B. from Niels van der Leest
- Battlefiled from Bessinnox.

04-21-08 / 01:16 AM : Roland D20 / MRC sequences (cjed)

The Roland D20 sequencer uses 2DD disks (2HD can be used by masking the hole) and sequence files are in MRC format (.SVQ extension). This was the format (MRC Pro) of the MC500 and MC50 hardware sequencers (and later MC50mkII and XP workstations).

The MC50mkII can read D20 disks and play or export them in order to convert them to Midifile format. It also allows to compose without a computer and can chain songs without pause (direct from disk). We can found the official user manual on the Roland , site or at Safe Manual (non official scans). This hardware sequencer can be found around 120$ (used), and can be handful when experiencing a bug in the D20 sequencer while sending midi sequence data through the midi out (tracks muted) : sometimes the pedal hold off are ignored (and later pedal hold off and hold on messages aren't played). It can be fixed temporarly by muting/unmunting quickly the tracks.

Giebler company provides at 55$ the Roland MC package, that includes Roland Diskette Manager and MC-50 Sequencer Conversion Software. These softwares (DOS only) allow to read Roland disks (MC50/500mkII, and probably Roland D-20 ones) and to convert the MRC sequences files to midifiles. A PC with a floppy disk drive (not USB) is required. The drive BIOS compatibility can be checked here.

04-21-08 / 12:57 AM : Roland SRX12 : user demos / the best (cjed)

Through RolandClan forums we can listen to additional Roland SRX12 card demos (made by a user). This card is said to bring the best electric pianos ever found in a workstation (more expressive than the Motif ES sounds). There is still to compare it with the new Super Natural Electric Piano (ARX-02) extension for new Roland GX.
that is here, there and here.

04-21-08 / 12:49 AM : New Roland GX available (cjed)

The new Roland RD300GX/RD700GX and Fantom GX6/7/8 are finally still available on most stores (respectively 1200/2100 euros and 2100/2500/3000 euros).

04-21-08 / 12:43 AM : EastWest/QL Pianos new demos (cjed)

New demos of EastWest/Quantum Leap Pianos are available here. The users reviews on the forums are very positive, however this pianos collection (263 Gb at only 445 euros - it can even be found between 295 and 330 euros !) requires a G5.

04-20-08 / 11:42 PM : SO Gold to Platinum upgrade (cjed)

The EastWest upgrade to SO Platinum bundle (base and XP) from Gold bundle (base and XP) is now priced 350 euros only (that is 1350 euros total for previous Gold bundle owners that paid about 500 euros each for Gold and Gold XP). After having added the item, we have to click to Edit options, and then on the Upgrade Options link.

However it should be more interesting to wait for the avaibility of SO Platinum Play version before upgrading (the promotions aren't going to vanish as usual). The previous Gold/XP licence can be kepted (35 euros) - for example to continue using Gold/XP through Kontakt for old songs (before migrating them to Platinum) -, and then use the Platinum Play version when it is available.

The Platinum bundle is now priced very low (716 euros), but it was fare more expensive two years ago (more than 3000 euros, that was three times the total price for previous owners of Gold/XP wanting to upgrade to Platinum bundle now).
The most interesting pack may be the Complete Composer Collection, at 827 euros. The upgrade to Platinum/XP from the included Gold bundle is priced higher (522 euros), which is logical. So the total price for all Platinum versions is 1349 euros, which is interesting compared with the Composer Pro Bundle (1213 euros, no Colossus nor StormDrum - but aren't necessary for some people -, and SO Platinum bundle from start). There is also the Composer Bundle 2 (981 euros, no RA nor PMI Bosendorfer compared with Composer Pro Bundle).

04-19-08 / 06:53 PM : Ethnic mix & DFH (cjed)

Here is a variation from a theme made using Bagpipes and Cora (the ethnic instruments and bass are from Colossus, and drums are from EZ Drummer DFH) :
DFHA

04-17-08 / 10:43 PM : Penumbra Back with a vengeance (cjed)

Frictional Games announced the third episode of the Penumbra serie, Back with a vengeance. The main features are :
- Physically simulated gym. At any point during the game, Philip can start pumping the iron!!
- Bucket loads of blood and gore!
- Timed button events to further enhance the action!!!
- A great arsenal with all kinds of guns, rifles and weapons of mass destruction!
- No bloody puzzles!!!
- Adults Only Rating!
It is expected for the first quarter, 2009.

04-17-08 / 10:40 PM : Apple : stereoscopic head display (cjed)

Apple a filled a patent about a head stereoscopic display (with laser imaging) that allows peripheral view.

04-16-08 / 10:50 PM : Puremagnetik Vintage Collection/Producer Bundle (cjed)

Puremagnetik presents collections (packages) of some of their existing libraries : Vintage Collection (includes TeeBee, Circuit:30, Analog Bass Volume 1, P-50 Linear, String Machines, Eight Bit and Vintage 80's Classics) at 60$ (2Gb, Kontakt Player and EXS24 formats),
Producer Bundle (Purple Kit, PM Mark One, Technosphere, Guitar Rack Volume 1, Guitar Rack Volume 2 and PM-200) also priced 60$ (2Gb, Kontakt Player and EXS24), and finally Designer Bundle (for Ableton Live only, also 60$).

04-16-08 / 10:35 PM : X-Plane 9.0b20 (cjed)

X-Plane 9.0 is finally shipping (6 dual layers DVD, 70Gb, 79$). The world scenery (parts on each DVD, that can be installed separately) have been enhanced (20% more details). Moreover, on recent computers there isn't any pause when switching from a zone to another during fly. A demo version can be downloaded here.

04-16-08 / 10:27 PM : Google Earth 4.3b (cjed)

Google presented Google Earth 4.3b, that brings new features (some still available through its web site) : display of some towns in 3D (modeled), time management, navigation through streets. We hope this time they will follow Apple Guidelines, as their previous Google Earth porting was not great... close to an Eclipse port quality... But finally they can't be strong at developing javascript and at the same time be strong at developing in Objective-C !

04-15-08 / 11:21 PM : Pro-sounds Atomik Tags (cjed)

Pro-sounds presents Atomik Tags, a 128 patchs collection for NI Massive, priced 35$ : dark and dirty sequences, sound-fx, basses, and motion-heavy synth sounds. A 24 patchs demo bank is provided, as an audio demo featuring 12 patchs from the full version.

04-15-08 / 11:16 PM : GeForce 8800 GT option for old MacPro (cjed)

The GeForce 8800 GT option for old MacPro is finally available, and it is only priced 280$. A Radeon HD 2600 XT option is also listed, at only a half the price of an old Radeon 9600 Pro for G4.... that was out 5 years ago !

04-14-08 / 11:23 PM : Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp (cjed)

Studio Devil presents Virtual Guitar Amp, a guitar amp plugin (VST/AU/RTAS) that provides 18 amp models (it is priced 79$). Audio demos are available here, and a free demo version (only one amp model, and VST format only) is available, Studio Devil BVC.

04-14-08 / 11:15 PM : Podcast : Rand Miller interview (cjed)

The site gamerswithjobs provides an inteview of Rand Miller, as an audio podcast.

04-14-08 / 10:51 PM : MacHeist / Pangea games in stereoscopic view (cjed)

The sharewares bundle MacHeist is back in a new edition. This time there isn't many included softwares, and few succeed focusing attention on (the previous bundle seemed better). Only the 3 listed Pangea games (Enigmo, Bugdom 2 and Nanosaur 2), give the bundle its value (49$ total, compared with 75$ for the 3 games if buyed separately).

We note that Bugdom 2 (as with Nanosaur 2 and Pangea Arcade) supports the stereoscopic view mode (simple paper glasses can be found for example in the Shrek 3D DVD package). On a 20' LCD screen the effect is incredible (and more usable than with a projector), dinosaurs textures in Nanosaur 2 look real, and the view is far more deeper than with a 17' CRT screen (also amazing in Warheads from Pangea Arcade). Enigmo 2, the last Pangea game, was also well done (it was very dynamic, and with great musics as usual).
The pricing in euros isn't provided (should be lower), but there should be aditionnal taxes, plus bank change taxes (from 2 to 2,5 percent).

04-13-08 / 09:23 PM : Round Cycle : rock piano intro (cjed)

This song is based on a piano theme (Complete Piano), an ImpOSCar pad, two drums parts played using ArtistDrums (and merged), guitars (Colossus and K2), and SO (strings) and SC :
RndCycle

04-12-08 / 08:04 PM : Cocoa tutorials and books (cjed)

In 2005 we could read a stunning tutorial about CoreData (with a great layout), on the site Cocoa Dev Central, written by Scott Stevenson. Since, two new tutorials from the same author (more simple but as nice) have been added, and updated to Leopard :
Learn Cocoa and Learn Cocoa II.

On its very friendly blog, the author provides a Core Animation tutorial (and derived versions as screensaver). We also find a link to a beta version of an upcoming book about Core Animation, Core Animation for OS X : Creating Dynamic Compelling User Interfaces. The downloadable version (PDF) is available for 22$ (220 pages, the printed version is priced 44$ and expected this June, 2008), and code of the included examples are provided for free.

Finally the third edition of Aaron Hillegass's Cocoa Programming is coming. It will deal with the following themes of Tiger and Leopard (the second edition from 2004 only covered MacOSX 10.3) : Garbage Collection (Objective-C 2, Leopard), Core Animation (Leopard), Window and View Controllers, and two chapters on Core Data (appeared in Tiger). It is also expected in June 2008 (WWDC). Meanwhile we can download the solutions of the second edition's examples here.

As a starting point, there is also the great Cocoa Programming from Scott Anguish, Erik Buck and Donald Yacktman, that was out in september, 2002 (and covered then up to MacOSX 10.1) and is the most exhaustive (1272 pages). It is the book I buyed in 2003 at Eyrolles (US import, 68 euros), and that I recently started again reading (9 first chapters for now - that is 280 pages -, that confirm that Java, even after having evolved these last 10 years, is still far behind Objective-C/Cocoa, and is only intended to create a giant market, buzz and unnecessary needs, encouraged by many companies and consortiums, that wouldn't like to see a proprietary technology spreading).

We can look at a recent tutorial about Cocoa threads (NSOperation and NSOperationQueue) on the great site Cocoa is my girlfriend.

An older site, Cocoa 3D, provided in 2003 a framework that wrapped Cocoa OpenGL APIs, that are lower level than NeXTstep's 3DKit. In fact we can download on the ADC a great PDF, OpenGL Programming Guide for Mac OS X (166 pages, revised late 2007) that presents the 3 OpenGL programming levels on MacOSX : CoreOpenGLAPI (CGL), that are procedural OpenGL Core APIs, NSOpenGL classes based on these procedural APIs, and AppleGraphicsLibrary(AGL) that are Carbon APIs (also based on CoreOpenGLAPI). That is the usual scheme : CoreFoundation procedural APIs serve as a basis for objects frameworks like FoundationKit and AppKit. An example of screensaver using OpenGL is available at Cocoa Dev Central.

Youtube demos :
Xcode 3 Beep Tutorial
Simple Objective-C/Cocoa Xcode Tutorial
Xcode 3 and Cocoa programming tutorial

04-12-08 / 05:53 PM : Colour Sonics Pianos 2.0 (cjed)

Sonart Audio presents COLOUR SONICS - PIANOS 2.0, a pianos samples library (24 bits, up to 20 velocity levels) for Kontakt 2 and 3 : Yamaha C7, Steinway D, Bösendorfer 290, Baldwin Vertical & vintage electric keyboards (Wurlitzer, Rhodes MK I, Rhodes MK II, Yamaha CP-80). Pads patchs (synth pads layered with pianos) are also included. Audio demos are provided and it is priced 349$ for the downloadable version (8Gb in RAR format, from 10 to 40Gb data once uncompressed depending on the optimization mode choosen). The recommended configuration is a 1Ghz G4.

04-12-08 / 05:20 PM : HighDesign 1.8 (cjed)

HighDesign is an architectural software available in two versions : Standard (150$) and Professional (350$). The specifications can be found here and a demo is provided there (works for 12 hours with watermark on export). It is compatible with G4 (1Ghz min with Radeon 9000 Pro).

04-12-08 / 04:19 PM : Internet content filtering not feasible (cjed)

As the internet content filtering project faces strong legal problems (principle rejected by the european Parliament, without mentionning a legal authorization limitation) it appears that it couldn't be feasible technically due to new providers's non centralized networks and data volumes.
Besides legal problems, filtering would cost more than piracy (for content editors, and also for internet providers). Moreover the free downloading leads to stronger buy as confirmed by a Pcinpact article.
There is also encrypted P2P solutions, or non tracable networks. Then the law project is only here to produce a fear effect (and hope so, as it has worked for some years), but real actions are not due soon.

04-10-08 / 11:07 PM : Garritan Authorized Steinway available (cjed)

Garritan now provides its Steinway D piano library, Authorized Steinway (made with the piano maker), that was announced some months ago. It is available in 3 versions : Professional Version (67Gb/5DVDs of 24 bits samples or 45Gb in 16 bits, 400$), Standard Version (16Gb of 16 bits samples, 200$) and Basic Version (1,3Gb, downloadable, 100$). The Professional version offers 5 mic positions : Player perspective from the bench, classical recording perspective, under-the-lid perspective, stage perspective et close audience perspective (the Standard version only provides two positions, classical recording perspective and under-the-lid perspective).
Audio demos are available.

04-10-08 / 10:57 PM : New FreeBox (cjed)

Free a announced a revision of the FreeBox v5. It removes the unaesthetic antennas (are now inside) and enhances the Wifi speed by up to 5 times (now uses the 802.11g instead of 802.11n). The link with the multimedia module is made through CPL. This new FreeBox is currently only available to new customers.

04-10-08 / 10:44 PM : YellowBox 2 / Apple RCP ? (cjed)

The Yellow Box 2 might be unveiled during the WWDC2008. It would be the perfect rich client solution for the future of WebObjects, as it would bring an Apple made RCP for Windows and Mac. There was the great tool nib4j produced Swing applications from Interface Builder nib archives, but the project site is down (or the developer has been hired by Apple...) Then no need anymore to recreate a responder chain in Java for client side.
The procedural part of the Yellow Box (that is CoreFoundation APIs) is still being used to develop the Windows version of Safari.

04-10-08 / 12:09 AM : Synthogy Ivory Upright Pianos (cjed)

Synthogy presented Ivory Upright Pianos, a 50Gb upright piano library (10 velocity layers) : Yamaha U5 Modern Upright, 1914 A.M. Hume Vintage Upright, Honky Tonk, Barroom Upright and Real Tack Piano. Audio demos aren't available yet, as the pricing.

04-10-08 / 12:02 AM : Radeon HD3870 for MacPro ? (cjed)

Apple might have added today as built to order option for MacPro a Radeon HD3870 (512Mb of GDDR4) . This card was out mid November, 2007, and is 10 to 20% slower in some games than the GeForce 8800 GT (not so much differences at highest resolutions with FSA on), as reported by clubic and bit-tech.net. It isn't listed anymore on the AppleStore.

04-09-08 / 11:50 PM : Adobe media player (cjed)

Adobe provides its media player for Windows and MacOSX. It manages very few formats (only video, and only Flash and some mp4). The user interface is too much big for a player and its performances are poor (requires an 1,8Ghz G5). To play 1080p flash it states a 3Ghz mac is required, compared with a 1,8Ghz processor for Windows !

04-08-08 / 11:12 PM : Nucleus SoundLab Viral Outbreak (cjed)

Nucleus SoundLab presents Viral Outbreak, a samples library made from a Virus Ti, in VSTi and Reason 4 (Refill) formats. The Refill contains 2Gb of samples and a demo refill is provided at download (75Mb). Audio demos are also available. It is priced 99$.

04-08-08 / 11:01 PM : Another review of Penumbra Overture (cjed)

Applelinks provides another review of Penumbra Overture, in an original manner. The result is nice, despites the game being short (it however only costs 20$). The sequel (Penumbra Black Plague) seems better, and is available on PC (also a demo) - Mac and Linux versions are coming soon.

04-08-08 / 12:08 AM : Objective-C / Java / Groovy (cjed)

Here a some major advantages of Objective-C (language used to build Cocoa and WebObjects) over Java :
Java does not comply with the message concept, as it directly binds the message concept to a method call on an object (that must be known). However the message (command) should be dissociated with the method call (result of the command sent).

The Objective-C runtime natively includes a messaging/delegation system (Responder Chain, delegates objects chain), and the target of a message (that can respond to it) isn't known (and hasn't to be) by advance. Cocoa frameworks (AppKit, etc.) use delegate objects definition (bind through InterfaceBuilder for example) in order to redefine/extend objects behaviours without the need to subclassing. With Java nothing has been planned to deal with that. The target object must be known (or at least its interface, even with reflection APIs, except when the class name is specified in a configuration file and in the client code - as with the O/R mapping layers) by advance. Set up a messaging bus (as the Responder Chain) would lead to a less than elegant syntax.

The Objective-C selector feature is more elegant than Java reflection APIs, and we can instantely (and easily) check if an object can respond to a message (without having to know its type). Classes also can be extended at runtime (or be swapped/replaced), and a native proxy aspect is present. br>
And what about Groovy : it brings nothing new compared with Objective-C, and despite its compatibility with Java JVMs, it requires an aditionnal compilation step (that hits the programming flow).

04-07-08 / 11:38 PM : WebObjects : 12 years old, the future (cjed)

WebObjects is 12 years old. The first version of the Next Web solution shipped in march, 2006, just before Apple buyed the company (end of 1996). In a message from August, 2006, Apple announced the deprecation of its famous tools (EOModeler, EOModeler Plugin for XCode, WebObjects Builder, WebServices Assistant, RuleEditor, WOALauncher), and so pushed developers to switch to Eclipse+WOLips plugin. The message ended in a positive manner, stating that the WO was bright, and that the staff would be reallocated to prepare the future of WebObjects.

For some no tool can actually offer the same productivity as WOBuilder, and the Eclipse WOLips plugin doesn't provide WYSIWYG yet. However it could bring that major feature later and still includes exclusive functionnalities (wod binding validation, auto-completion and templated suggestions, tracking of bugs at compile time and not only at runtime).

Hopefully a WO conference is planned in June, 2008, just some days before Apple's WWDC2008. The main following themes will be dealed : Non-HTML apps and WebObjects (talk to Cocoa by JSON-RPC, and use Adobe Flex), Ajax, JavaClient and JBND (learn how to use JBND to bind your Java Swing app with WebObjects and client-side EOF).
We expect Apple's answer about its Web solution orientations, as its staff is now only comprised of 4 engineers. Perhaps a consortium aimed at promoting and modernising WO would be great ?

04-07-08 / 11:14 PM : Advanced features of Preview (cjed)

Macworld presents in an article new important features of Preview (in Leopard) that aren't well known : annotations in PDFs, delete and rearrange pages, PDF documents merge, crop and resize, mask and shape extract, image settings, multiple printing per page, key-words.

04-06-08 / 08:29 PM : Pangea Programming Guide for OSX free (cjed)

Pangea Software now provides for free at download their MacOSX games programming book, Pangea Software's Ultimate Game Programming Guide for Mac OS X (2004). Through its 280 pages it covers all important themes : tools, video modes, CoreGraphics, OpenGL and optimizations, calculations and optimizations on PowerPC, vertex, frame rate calculation, gamma, carbon events, audio (OpenAL), QuickTime, inputs/HID, Maya models, threads management, networking, copy-protection, and even stereoscopic view (used in some of Pangea games) !
The book examples use XCode and Carbon (not Cocoa, but what is useful is the game programming principles and APIs, some of those can be mapped later to corresponding Cocoa objects), and the projects files are bundled in the download archive (40 Mb) !

04-06-08 / 04:34 PM : Ueberschall Analog Attack (cjed)

Ueberschall presents Analog Attack, a plugin (based on Elastik Player AU/VST/RTAS) that provides 1450 patterns and sequences (1,6Gb) made using these analog vintage instruments : Minimoog, Moog Voyager, Prophet 5, Prophet 600, Andromeda, Se-1x, Omega 8, Arp 2600, Yamaha CS 80, Juno 106, SH 101, Matrix 6. The plugin manages time stretching (10 to 480bpm) and pitchshifting.
An audio demo is available, and the software is priced 119$.

04-06-08 / 04:19 PM : Fxpansion BFD2 review (cjed)

Audiofanzine presents a full review of Fxpansion BFD2 (55 Gb, requires a G5 or Intel mac). We can listen to audio demos here, and even audio samples from each of the hundred elements, with 4 velocity levels (96 velocity levels in the software).

04-06-08 / 03:55 PM : Houdini : new 3D software on mac (cjed)

The 3D software Houdini is coming on MacOSX, thanks to Intel switch. A beta program is planned (requires registration). The user interface looks nice, and we can watch a video demoding some 3D animations made with the software.
The Houdini Escape version (2000$) includes modelisation, animation, characters and lightning modules? The Houdini Master version (8000$) adds particles and dynamics management.
An Apprentice version is available at download (free, all features, output resolution limited to 720*576 for still pictures and animations, with inclusion of a watermark). The Apprentice HD version (99$) removes these limitations (illimited resolution for images, 1920*1080 limit for videos, and no watermark). These two versions are for personal use only.

04-05-08 / 12:17 AM : Studiologic Numa (cjed)

Studiologic announced a new master keyboard, the Numa. The 88 notes keyboard is of type Graded Hammer (as for digital pianos) and is very polished (also said to be very solid). Settings are made through a large LCD screen with touch capability. A laptop can be put on the upper side. It is priced 1170 euros and is expected in the end of this month.
For that price we can get a Kurzweil PC1X, however its keyboard isn't as good.

04-05-08 / 12:03 AM : Neverwinter Nights 2 trailer (cjed)

Apple provides a trailer of Neverwinter Nights 2.

04-05-08 / 12:01 AM : Safari on iPhone faster since v2.0 (cjed)

The iPhone OS 2.0 and new Mobile Safari version bring 35% performance boost in the browser performance (however still 20 times slower than Safari on a MacBook Pro in complex javascript tests).

04-04-08 / 11:55 PM : Cult of iPod & mac free in pdf (cjed)

The books Cult of iPod and Cult of Mac, listed on Amazon, are now officially available for free (in pdf, through torrent, here and there).

04-04-08 / 11:46 PM : TimeMachine backup excluded files (cjed)

Macosxhints unveils a command that allows to know files excluded from Time Machine indexation (other than exclusions setted in the preferences pane) : opened files, caches, specific files defined by each application (for example virtual machines files of VMWare).

04-04-08 / 11:33 PM : Firefox 3b5 available : 2x slower than Safari 3.1 (cjed)

The beta 5 of Firefox 3 is available. It is reported to be two times faster than Firefox 2, but still 2 times slower than Safari 3.1 (on OSX and Windows).

04-03-08 / 11:30 PM : Adobe, 64 bits and CS4 : rewrite in Cocoa (cjed)

Adobe announced that the 64 bits version of CS4 for mac (being developed) will ship after the Windows version, due to Apple abandon of Carbon 64 bits support in XCode. Then the software will have to be rewritten fully, in Cocoa (only framework to support 64 bits now). Developers initially refused to do so when the Yellow Box of Rhapsody was presented in 1996 (NextStep APIs for MacOSX Server and Windows, renamed later as Cocoa and enhanced at the MacOSX 10.0 client release early 2001), what leads to MacOSX client and Carbon framework (corresponds to updated MacOS9 APIs - some ToolBox instructions deprecated, and others modified to be reentrant).

However Adobe had ten years to prepare its software base code for migration, and Apple clearly stated more than three years ago that Cocoa programming was the future for MacOSX applications. Moreover, Adobe Lightrooom (beta 2 actually) is written in Cocoa... and then still supports 64 bits (it is a new application however). There is also to consider that updating CS3 to support (deprecated) Carbon 64 bits would have still required a lot of rewritting.

Globally editors of multi-platform apps rarely embrace specific technology of target systems, and prefer to use abstraction layers that map to procedural APIs of each OS. This isn't possible with a fully object oriented framework like Cocoa (uses a true object messaging system - ResponderChain). On another hand, frameworks like Windows MFC (lags way behind Cocoa/Next in terms of architecture and concepts (MFC is finally procedural APIs, far from really object oriented) slows the progress of modern mac applications (in fact at start - early 90s - Photoshop and Illustrator were mac only... at that time it was System 7 procedural APIs).

An alternate solution (except for user interface management, that has to be done through Cocoa Interface Builder and responder chain, that is the AppKit framework objects) would be to use Cocoa CoreFoundation APIs (procedural versions of instructions of Cocoa FoundationKit objects). That is probably what Adobe plans to do, as a full rewritting using all Cocoa object paradigms will require years (even considering Cocoa development is way faster than procedural development like Carbon). This has to be balanced with the fact that an image editing software like Photoshop uses - except for the UI - a lot of functions (filters, etc.) that are typically C code, and that won't be ported (can be called from Objective-C objects, as well as C++ code). However if Adobe decides to replace these libraries with recent Cocoa frameworks APIs (ImageKit, etc.), the rewritting will be more important (but they probably won't do that, because code base synchronisation with Windows version would then be even more painfull).

Some interesting links (some provided infos may not be valid as for now) :

Discussion about Apple's Carbon White Paper (announced in 1998 orientations for Carbon/MacOSX : deprecated Toolbox instructions, etc.)

Cocoa or Carbon ? (may,2000, just before the MacOSX Public Beta)

Carbon vs Cocoa (AppleInsider forum, 2002)
it is possible for a Carbon app to be better threaded than a Cocoa app. Much of Cocoa's AppKit is not reentrant (meaning that it's not safe to make calls to the same method within multiple threads at once), and as a result there is an awkward arrangement built into the application frameworks where only one thread draws into the view (the window, essentially), and this thread also contains the main event loop. This is why Cocoa windows stop rendering when you hold the mouse down on the scrollbar thumb (but only that window stops updating, not the whole app or the whole system). It's quite possible to make a Carbon app that doesn't exhibit that behavior.)

Cocoa vs Carbon (2002)

Short Carbon history (from 2000).

Facts are not that simple : for the MacOSX release (and for some years later), as stated, Apple had to put its efforts on Carbon, and even some new MacOSX APIs were only accessible from Carbon applications (these APIs were later progressively wrapped by Cocoa objects - thanks to the ability of Objective-C to call C and C++ -, that is non-native Cocoa - ie not CoreFoundation procedural APIs). The MacOSX Finder was first developed using parts of System 8/9 Finder (when the APIs used were provided by Carbon), in fact the base code used intially the PowerPlant framework from Metrowerks, another set of APIs to consider (migrate and validate to Carbon).
Since some years the Finder is being rewritten progressively in Cocoa, notably in Leopard (new Finder). Newly introduced APIs are mainly Cocoa, and Carbon doesn't evolve so much.

Finally Apple seems to have found a mean to promote Cocoa, as Safari and iTunes for Windows (and probably upcoming Apple applications) still use CoreFoundation procedural APIs, ported to Windows (come from the YellowBox).
And hopefully, thanks to Google (GWT), will we soon only see superb applications using a great object and reentrant language, javascript !!!! :):):) Although the programming is done using java in GWT, the javascript generation engine is proprietary (owned by Google and not open), the generated javascript is limited in functionnalities and will always be slower than native compiled language (as javascript has to be interpreted by the browser). The new disk access features (Gears) added to Google Docs also brings security concerns (see also this site about Google)

04-02-08 / 11:25 PM : Samplemodeling The Trumpet (cjed)

Samplemodeling presents The Trumpet, a Kontakt 2 Player based instrument that brings 237Mb trumpet samples (24 bits). A demonstration video is available, and it is priced 149 euros.

04-02-08 / 11:17 PM : BigFishAudio Nu Metal City 2 (cjed)

BigFishAudio presents Nu Metal City 2, a loops library (1100) : live drums, screaming guitars, bass, grungy synth textures and atmospheres, plus two additional folders of live drum loops and guitar FX. An audio demo is provided, and it is priced 99$.

04-02-08 / 11:13 PM : MacBook Pro penryn and games (cjed)

Bare Feats provides benchs showing that new MacBook Pro Penryn aren't faster than old ones in games.

04-01-08 / 11:53 PM : Unity supports development for iPhone (cjed)

The 3G games development framework Unity now supports developing for iPhone. The SDK can be downloaded here.

04-01-08 / 11:47 PM : Apple : 21% consumer marketshare in US (cjed)

Worldwide mac marketshare is only 3% (but 0,5 point higher in 2006 from 2007), but if we consider the consumer market only, it is up to 10%, and even 21% in US. The iPhone took 10% marketshare in 6 months (16% for Palm, falling, and 40% for RIM, that was until now alone on the high segment).