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| 03-31-08 / 11:24 PM : EastWest : a product offered for another (cjed) |
| To celebrate its 20 years anniversary, EastWest provides (from March, 24 to April, 30) a product for free for each software buyed, among these : FAB FOUR; GYPSY; MINISTRY OF ROCK; VOICES OF PASSION; COLOSSUS; SYMPHONIC CHOIRS; RA; PLATINUM ORCHESTRA BUNDLE; PLATINUM PRO XP; GOLD ORCHESTRA BUNDLE; GOLD PRO XP; SILVER ORCHESTRA; STORMDRUM; PERCUSSIVE ADVENTURES 2; HARDCORE BASS XP; ADRENALINE; STORMBREAKZ;PERCUSSIVE ADVENTURES 2 LE. |
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| 03-31-08 / 11:11 PM : PMotif in school short movie (cjed) |
| The song PMotif has been used for a school short movie, that is here to watch the video (also includes many other songs from various artists). |
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| 03-31-08 / 10:44 PM : Last Man Standing Coop 4 (cjed) |
| A new version og the Doom 3 mod Last Man Standing Coop, the 4.0, is available at here (300 Mb). The mod provides 80 maps (Single Player and Multiplayer) aimed at recreating the classic Doom experience. We can see some videos. |
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| 03-31-08 / 10:31 PM : EVE Online review (cjed) |
| IMG provides a full review of mac version of EVE Online. Graphics and sounds are great. The game is accessible through a monthly fee subscription (15$ for the first month). The game has been in fact available since November and the port was done using Cider (so good performances are a great news). |
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| 03-31-08 / 10:22 PM : ACID 3 test : Safari 3.1 way ahead (cjed) |
| At Joshbuhler site we can discover the results of ACID 3 test from the main browsers. Safari 3.1 scores the best (75/100, 35 points better than Safari 3) and will do even better considering the last version of Apple WebKit (the core engine) reaches the stunning 90/100. Firefox 3 is way behind (68/100), Opera is very far (46/100) and IE7 and IE8 can't catch up (respectively 12/100 and 18/100). |
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| 03-31-08 / 10:15 PM : Youtube plugin for Safari on iPhone (cjed) |
| The new 2.0 firmware 2.0 for the iPhone may bring a full Youtube plugin for the integrated MobileSafari browser. |
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| 03-31-08 / 10:07 PM : Next 3G iPhone in June ? (cjed) |
 Apple should announce during the June WWDC (release of the final iPhone SDK) new 3G iPhone with OLED screen (and perhaps a new Touch cover that allows once opened to use a large surface for typing and gestures).Hon Hai may start the production soon. Many models are expecting, with prices ranging from 200 to 400$ (without subscription). |
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| 03-31-08 / 09:55 PM : EastWest PLAY Trial Pack (cjed) |
 EastWest provides PLAY Trial Pack : at 9,95$ it allows to test during two days FAB FOUR, GYPSY, MINISTRY OF ROCK and VOICES OF PASSION. A full licence can then be buyed to continue using each of the four softwares. The whole installation requires 50Gb available space (and an iLok key). |
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| 03-30-08 / 01:20 AM : Drop Point: Alaska (cjed) |
 IMG provides a review of Drop Point: Alaska, that can remind Stoked Rider. On some points its graphics are advanced (depth of field, refraction on-screen as snow turns into water on our goggles). However globally it appears to be lacking and unfinished.It requires an Intel mac (64 Mb video card or GMA chipset) and is priced 25$. |
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| 03-30-08 / 12:54 AM : Waves GTR Solo (cjed) |
 Waves presents GTR Solo, an effects plugin for guitar derived from GTR3 (and more affordable) : 10 amp simulations, 10 types of cabinets and 13 stomps (OverDrive, Distortion, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Delay, WahWah, Spring, Pitcher, Vibrolo, GateComp, EQ and Volume). It is priced 140$ (380 to 500$ for GTR3 depending on the inclusion of the hardware module) and a demo version is downloadable (7 days period). |
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| 03-30-08 / 12:35 AM : Guitarist/Pianist/Drummer for iPhone (cjed) |
 Moocowmusic provides three music applications for iPhone (donationware) : Guitarist, Pianist et Drummer (15 pads, Rock, Dance, Jazz 1 and 2, and Electro kits, that can be selecetd through on button). The interface is stunning (better than many PC audio softwares UI) : guitar animated strings, piano animated keys, illuminated drums pads, quick navigation through frets or piano octaves. Up to 5 notes can be played simultaneously (multitouch 5 points).Instruments are multi-sampled (one sample per note). A future version of Guitarist will include more sounds (for now only acoustic guitar) and a chord sequencer. Pianist still includes a sequencer and allows to play MP3 in background (also the case with Drummer). Custom made kits can be added in Drummer. Demo videos are provided (see also Space Invaders on Drummer) |
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| 03-30-08 / 12:06 AM : NESS.app : NESS emulator on iPhone (cjed) |
We can download the application (and source code) here. It uses the hidden APIs CoreSurface, LayerKit, etc, and so it has to be compiled using the provided aditionnal headers (and it cannot run on the iPhone emulator). |
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| 03-29-08 / 11:56 PM : Crazy Kart 2 on iPhone (cjed) |
| Int13, a french mobile games development company ported Crazy Kart 2 on iPhone. We can watch a video at youtube. The game brings these original features : 320 * 320 pixels playing area, Touch controls with a virtual steering wheel, 3 vehicle classes (karts, motorbikes, hovercrafts), 6 characters with different vehicles, downloadable content (new vehicles, new tracks), Wifi online multiplayer with match making and up to four simultaneous players. Initially created for Windows Mobile and Symbian, the game could be even enhanced thanks to specific great features of the iPhone : Thanks to it's simplified controls and flexible camera system it was not too hard to adapt it's interface for the iPhone touch screen, but we're still evaluating alternatives (like tilt control and landscape display)... The game is perfectly smooth on the iPhone : constant 60 FPS with a pure software engine, we already plan to work on a sequel with a full 3D accelerated engine to exploit the full potential of the device. It is expected this July. |
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| 03-29-08 / 11:38 PM : VOIP with iPhone and modified Siphon (cjed) |
| It is possible to make phone calls over IP (VOIP) with an iPhone and Free internet provider, thanks to Siphon open source software. We can now find a modified version that can operate with any provider. |
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| 03-29-08 / 11:21 PM : Activate hidden API included in iPhone SDK (cjed) |
| The site OnLamp presents hidden APIs of iPhone SDK (CoreSurface, Celestial, LayerKit, UIPreferencesTable, run in background) and how to add required headers to use them. It also details the procedure to follow to install the development tools on another system (Linux, etc.). |
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| 03-29-08 / 11:01 PM : PhotoBoard 2.0/MultiTouch Picture Browser (cjed) |
 We can watch on Youtube a demonstration video of PhotoBoard 2.0, an iPhone/ipodTouch application that allows to move/rorate/zoom pictures in the same way as Microsoft Surface prototype (the video is taken from the iPhone emulator). We can also see a more stunning video (running on a real iPhone), MultiTouch Picture Browser. |
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| 03-29-08 / 09:40 PM : Logic 8 Pro perf : targeted to QuartzGL ? (cjed) |
| Logic Pro 8 performs slower graphically compared with Logic Pro 7 or Express. In fact it seems the this new version has been programmed with QuartzGL in mind, that as stated by ArsTechnica leads to optimization choices that are opposite to what we did with Quartz 2D. Then if we activate QuartzGL on Leopard (through sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver \QuartzGLEnabled -boolean YES), scrolling under Logic 8 becomes perfectly smooth, as it is with Logic 7 under Tiger. It however requires a graphic card that can manage hardware CoreImage acceleration and QuartzGL (Radeon 9600 Pro min). With a Radeon 9000 Pro Leopard only provides software CoreImage (managed by the G4). We also note that without QuartzGL, Logic 8 Pro uses (under Leopard) 30 to 40% CPU with MIDI events only (compared with 7% in Logic Express 7 under Tiger), and it drops to 10% if Logic Pro windows are hidden. So QuartzGL should fix this. |
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| 03-29-08 / 06:54 PM : iPhone SDK installed in root folder : the fix (cjed) |
| The solution presented here to install the iPhone SDK on PPC leads to misplaced files : most of folders are created on the root partition folder instead of inside the /Developer folder (that indeed doesn't contains much files). Moreover uninstall files scripts are copied into /Library instead of /Developer/Library, so that uninstall scripts don't work (added application and utility files have to be deleted manually - unix binaries can be left as is, as they will be replaced by further installation). We can look at installed files places through the packages structure opened in Pacifist. In fact the fix can be found in the comments : 1. Make the iPhone SDK.dmg read/write-able with Disk Utility using convert -> to read/write. 2. Mount the R/W dmg. 3. You need to delete some unneccessary file so that you can modify the installer config file, because the image is completely full. I choose the PDF in the root of the dmg. 4. Modify /Volumes/iPhone SDK/iPhone SDK.mpkg/Contents/iPhoneSDK.dist : - Line 71 ( in function agreedToSLA() ) - modify “return false;” to “return true;” - Line 81 ( in function SDKPresent() ) - modify “return false;” to “return true;” That’s it. Now you can double-click the iPhone SDK package and install as usual. The Aspen SDK will show up and get installed. Besides, the beta 2 (1,3Gb from 2,1 Gb in the first beta) weights 1,3 Gb less than beta 1 when installed. Moreover the installation procedure detailed here is very fast (less than 30mn compared with close to 90mn with Pacifist). |
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| 03-28-08 / 01:13 AM : Yamaha P-85/P-85S available (cjed) |
 The new Yamaha P-85/P-85S digital pianos presented during the Winter NAMM 2008 are now available (799$). We can watch videos here. These portable pianos can reveive an optional stand (Matching Stand and LP-5 Pedal Unit). Featuring Graded Hammer Standard touch, it can serve as a nice master keyboard. |
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| 03-28-08 / 12:54 AM : iPhone SDK : beta 2 with IB (cjed) |
| Apple now provides on the ADC section a beta 2 of the iPhone/ipodTouch SDK. It brings a new version of Interface Builder, that can manage specific iPhone/iPod Touch controls (UIKit), as well as new examples and updated documentation. The download size is smaller than for beta 1 (1,3 Gb vs 2Gb). We could read an interesting evaluation of SDK beta 1. |
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| 03-28-08 / 12:42 AM : iPods audio quality to be lower ? (cjed) |
| Apple might have decided to drop Wolfson DAC from the iPod Nano and iPodTouch in a few months. Current ipodTouch and iPhone use DAC Wolfson, as well as old ipods up to generation 5.5. However 6G ipod Classic use a Cirrus Logic audio DAC, said to be worse sounding :There is more treble and noticeably more definition. There is definitely less...presence... It lacks 3D image and has an electronic haze to the sound. We can check this thanks to precise measurements here. As some say, ipods miniaturization should lead to a sensible loss in audio quality. It reminds me the switch of DAC maker between Roland JV880 (and previsous D series) and later JV and XP, that led to a less warm sound with very few presence. |
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| 03-27-08 / 12:33 AM : PangeC : third Pangea like music (cjed) |
 This song is the third derived from the ambiance of Pangea Software games musics (see PangeA and PangeB). It also uses Artist Grooves for rhythm, Complete Piano card and SO Gold XP : PangeC |
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| 03-26-08 / 10:59 PM : RealStrat review (cjed) |
 Audiofanzine provides a review of RealStrat, from the same company as Real Guitar. We can also read an article at soundonsound.Videos and audio examples are available here, and a demo version can be downloaded (works for 30 days, with limited samples, playing styles and patterns). The software is priced 140$, including 1Gb samples and more than a thousand patterns. |
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| 03-26-08 / 10:40 PM : 3G iPhone with OLED ? (cjed) |
| The site ipodobserver states that Apple may have ordered 10 millions 3G iPhone, fitted with OLED screen. Indeed Apple stock quote is high again since some days. |
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| 03-25-08 / 11:35 PM : Warblade (cjed) |
| Warblade is a shoot them up game derived from an old Amiga game. It is priced 20$ and a demo version is available (OSX universal library, and Windows) here. |
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| 03-25-08 / 11:31 PM : Tiki Magic Mini Golf review (cjed) |
| IMG provides a review of Tiki Magic Mini Golf. |
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| 03-25-08 / 11:28 PM : Cross Over Games 7 (cjed) |
| Codeweavers presents Cross Over Games 7, a games targeted version of the Windows APIs emulation layer. Priced 40$, it allows to play a dozen of games (and more with less compatibility) and doesn't require Windows. |
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| 03-24-08 / 11:57 PM : Safari 3.1/Firefox 3/IE7/Opera9 benchs (cjed) |
| Computerworld provides a comparative review of Safari 3.1 (on OSX and Windows), Firefox 3b4, Opera 9 and IE7. Safari is still two times to four times faster than Firefox 3 (while using less CPU), and two times to six times faster than IE7. Moreover Safari 3.1 is the only browser to comply with new HTML 5 tags, CSS3 animations and CSS3 webfonts. Finally Safari 3.1 is faster on OSX than on Windows, probably thanks to the better integration of WebKit in Leopard, and the OSX network layer. Macnn also provides an article including HTML and javascript benchs. Even Firefox developers are jaleous. |
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| 03-20-08 / 11:17 PM : Korg : new free patchs for M3 (cjed) |
| Korg provides for free at download 512 new patchs for M3. That is here. There is also 128 new patchs available that use the EXB-RADIAS expansion. |
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| 03-20-08 / 11:09 PM : 3D projection (cjed) |
| Apple filed a patent about a stereoscopic projection system, that adjusts the image depending on the user view angle (no special glasses required, but a sensor). |
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| 03-19-08 / 11:22 PM : Pirates of the Caribbean Online review (cjed) |
| IMG provides a review of Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Graphics are not very good but the game seems interesting. |
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| 03-19-08 / 11:18 PM : Wii Instrument (cjed) |
| The Wii Instument is a drums sampler application that can be triggered from a Wii controller. We can hope the same from an iPhone (but won't allow to trigger another application instruments through Midi). |
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| 03-19-08 / 11:01 PM : Very cheap USB2 PCI card for G4 (cjed) |
| The iPhone and ipodTouch require a mac with USB2 ports. In fact we can find a very cheap 4 USB2 ports PCI card for G4 (only 12,90 euros) at Macway. Moreover it is very small. |
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| 03-19-08 / 10:58 PM : iPhone SDK : no CoreMidi / i3L (cjed) |
 The iPhone SDK gives access to CoreAudio but not to CoreMidi, what prevents developing a portable Midi sequencer. The framework i3L allows to send messages from an iPhone to a receiver application on another mac through internet UDP protocole (that is through WiFi then). We can watch a video here.It would be better to plug an USB Midi interface on the iPhone USB port, but besides requiring CoreMidi, the iPhone wouldn't probably feed enough power (no power supply for example in the Fastlane USB interface). |
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| 03-18-08 / 11:57 PM : SoundAndEffect : 4 libraries for Kontakt (cjed) |
 SoundAndEffect released online (through download) 4 samples libraries for Kontakt 2 : The New World (80$), Synths of the 70s (50$), The Wizard II (100$) and Electrified! - Kontakt (1,5 Gb, 130$). Audio demos are available. |
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| 03-18-08 / 11:50 PM : AVX / SSE5 / Altivec (cjed) |
| Intel presents the AVX, successor to SSE4, and due to 2009. It brings 256 bits paths and 3 operands. We can also read an article at ArsTechnica about AMD's SSE5, equivalent but with 128 bits data paths only. It is stated that Altivec (back to 1999...) was better designed thanks to its free assignable 4 operands. |
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| 03-18-08 / 11:31 PM : Safari 3.1 (cjed) |
| Apple released Safari 3.1. It brings support for new HTML5 audio and video tags, CSS animations, web CSS fonts, and is even faster. |
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| 03-17-08 / 11:41 PM : Linn Electronics LM-1 Drum Computer (cjed) |
| Futuremusic provides an old ad of Linn Electronics LM-1 Drum Computer (80-83), that was priced 5000$ at that time. We can watch a video at youtube, and read an article at keyboardmag.com, where we learn that its sampled sounds weren't filtered (as it is used, at a half the sampling frequency, that is the upper cut frequency stated by Nyquist, because beyond that limit the frequencies are distorded). |
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| 03-17-08 / 11:29 PM : Toast 9 / LiquidCD (cjed) |
 Roxio gives details about Toast 9 (100$). We can also download a great freeware Liquid CD that manages CD, CD audio, DVD (and RW) and DVD video burning, and can read all images formats : .iso, .dmg, cue/bin and .cdi (DiscJuggler), some .nrg (Nero) files and even .toast files ! It is Leopard compatible. |
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| 03-16-08 / 06:30 PM : Youtube : better quality (cjed) |
| Youtube now streams some videos at a higher quality (providing that they were originally uploaded at a better resolution than the final 320*200 reencoding). The filesize is limited to 1Gb (and 10 minutes for the duration), at up to 480*360 H264 video with AAC audio. The 10mn duration limit (probably set to reduce the illegal full length movies share, that now requires to upload and watch movies in dozens of parts) makes the new 1Gb size useless, as a 10mn video at high settings will never weight more than 100Mb. Hopefully the duration can be faked (see this tutorial). |
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| 03-15-08 / 12:25 AM : Yamaha NX-A01 Cubic Stereo Speaker (cjed) |
| Yamaha presented cube type mini speaker (9cm side) with original design, the NX-A01. Each cube delivers stereo sound through two speakers (one on two opposite sides). It uses the SR-Bass (Swing Radiator Bass) system to reinforce bass. The power is 2*4W (at 8 ohms), and the frequency response 90hz to 20khz (so limited in bass frequencies as supposed, but fine for its size). The THD is high (10%). It is priced 99$. |
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| 03-14-08 / 11:51 PM : Prosoniq OrangeVocoder 10 (cjed) |
 Prosoniq announces the 10th version of their OrangeVocoder effect plugin (one of the most famous plugins, that first shipped in 98 as a VST1 plugin). The new verison is finally available as an AudioUnit, and is universal binary. Audio examples are provided here. It is however priced 169$ (from 149$ for the previous version). |
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| 03-14-08 / 11:38 PM : Gameloft interview : App Store is great (cjed) |
| Macworld provides an interview of Gameloft, that states that the iPhone apps and games distribution model presented by Apple (App Store) is great and very innovating : Apple still is the best in managing such sites (through the iTunes Store), the developers gains (70%) are very honest, and they can focus fully on creation. Meanwhile Microsoft announces that Vista successor will make progress in vocal and writing recognition, and in touch capabilities... There are still one year late behind Apple ! |
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| 03-14-08 / 11:25 PM : iPhone Developer Program/firmware 2.0b (cjed) |
| Following too much subscriptions demands to the iPhone Developer Program (99$/year), Apple had to limit the number of accepted developers. The beta program gives access to a beta version of iPhone 2.0 firmware, that allows to install custom developed applications on the iPhone (and so do real tests). The free downloadable SDK only provides testing through the bundled iPhone emulator application, that could be fine however for some time, considering that the final 2.0 firmware will be freely available starting June (during the WWDC 2008). |
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| 03-13-08 / 12:53 AM : Motif Rack XS (cjed) |
 Yamaha presented the Motif Rack XS, that brings the same audio engine as the Motif XS (355Mb ROM, 128 notes polyphony, arpeggiator, Cubase AI 4 bundled. No sampling module), at only 1499$. We can listen to Motif XS (keyboard version) demos here.s |
| 2 comment |
| 03-13-08 / 12:41 AM : M-Audio ProKeys Sono 88 (cjed) |
| M-Audio announced the ProKeys Sono 88, a semi-weighted 88 keys master keyboard that onboards an USB audio interface (only 16 bits/44.1khz) with inputs (XLR and Jack) , as well as samples (Steinway piano, electric piano, organ, clav, strings, choir, GM bank). The polyphony is limited to 40 notes and it is priced 550$ . At that price we can better choose a graded weighted master keyboard with aftertouch, if we still own a better audio interface and samples libraries. |
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| 03-13-08 / 12:29 AM : SDK iPhone : 100 000 downloads in 4 days (cjed) |
| In only 4 days, the iPhone/iPodTouch SDK has been downloaded 100 000 times. In comparison the Google SDK (Android system, not ever any prototype for now...) has been downloaded 750 000 times... but in 3 months (that is still a huge number). Even considering that the Apple SDK download rate will logically slow in the following months, it can do better (or at least the same) than Google. Besides EA, Sega, Gameloft (plans to develop 15 games for iPhone in 2008), id Software (see the Slashdot article here), we can list Namco, THQ Wireless and PopCap among interested developers. |
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| 03-11-08 / 11:26 PM : ImageLine Toxic Biohazard (cjed) |
 ImageLine presents Toxic Biohazard 4, an hybrid virtual synth (FM, subtractive) with multimode filter, effects, step sequencer. It works onIntel and G4 (Tiger and Leopard) and is priced 99$. Two audio examples are provided, and a demo can be downloaded. |
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| 03-11-08 / 11:19 PM : VSL Special Edition PLUS boxed (cjed) |
| Following separate downloadable Vienna Special Edition PLUS extensions, VSL presents a boxed version including all extensions (575$ for standard, 505$ for extended, 1080 for full). |
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| 03-11-08 / 11:08 PM : iPhone SDK on PowerPC : install with Pacifist (cjed) |
| As Apple announced that iPhone OSX version 2.0 will bring in June support for SVG, we can read a tip on how using the iPhone/ipodTouch SDK (and emulator) on PowerPC, through Pacifist for installing all packages. |
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| 03-10-08 / 11:19 PM : Kontakt 3.0.2 / Massive 1.1.3 (cjed) |
| Native Instruments announced through its forums updates to Kontakt 3 (3.0.2) and Massive (1.1.3). |
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| 03-10-08 / 11:09 PM : Games developers bullish on iPhone (cjed) |
| As Apple gives details on its direct Exchange interconnection system from the iPhone (contrary to Blackberry RMI system where an proprietary intermediary server is needed), developers are jumping in the iPhone game development world. They think that the iPhone will do better in that area than the WII : thank to its 3 axes accelerometer, Core Animation and OpenGL, Touch API, innovative and quick distribution system (that is finally cheap and offers a high security feature to all developers). |
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| 03-10-08 / 11:03 PM : Toast 9 : HD movies on Blu-Ray (cjed) |
| Roxio announced Toast 9, that brings HD movies burning capability on Blu-Ray (version 8 only supported data). |
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| 03-10-08 / 10:59 PM : PCMag : Leopard the best OS (cjed) |
| PCMag provides a comparative review of varisous OS : Leopard, Windows XP and Vista, Unbuntu. They should be right... |
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| 03-08-08 / 04:14 PM : Sun : JavaME for iPhone, then SE and FX (cjed) |
| Following the avaibility of iPhone/ipodTouch SDK, Sun announces that they will bring Java ME on this plateform (apparently the OSX version integrated in iPhone doesn't include it), and try to give access to native functionnalities of the device (that is Touch and accelerometer). They also plan to bring full Java SE later, and even JavaFX. |
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| 03-08-08 / 04:08 PM : VC-1 D-50 video (cjed) |
| The site gearwire provides a video of the VC-1 D-50 card in a V-Synth XT. |
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| 03-08-08 / 02:54 PM : Bobby Blues : best of Roland D-50 (cjed) |
 The site Bobby Blues presents, through a funny approach, the D-50 synthesis, audio examples of most of the D-50 factory patchs, samples from commercial songs using D-50 (from M. Jackson, JMJ, Eric Serra - however the Digital Native Dance patch used isn't mentioned -, Michel Jonasz, etc. Here is missing the famous Zenith concert from S. Gainsbourg), and finally the list of all D-50 commercial ROM banks produced : 50 makers or artists, with a photo and the patchs list for each card, very useful ! |
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| 03-07-08 / 11:22 PM : TB-303 & TR-606 original ads (cjed) |
 FutureMusic came accross an old Roland ad for TB-303 and TR-606. A that time the TB-303 didn't encounter a commercial success, it was said too much synthetic sounding. Many years later it was recognized as a standard, through the first instrument emulation software, Rebirth RB-338 (in 1997) from Propellerhead (editor of Reason).To remember, Rebirth is now free and can be downloaded at Rebirth museum (version 2.0.1 CD - MacOS9 only -, plus additional musics and mods, a free registration is required). Propellerhead also provides a Refill for Reason (97 Mb) that includes samples made from Rebirth, but not all capable sounds so and the result seems less good |
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| 03-07-08 / 10:44 PM : MacBookPro dual 2,6 Ghz vs G4 mono 1,25Ghz (cjed) |
| Macbidouille presents benchs (made with xbench 1.3) of the new MacBook Pro dual core 2,6 Ghz. In processor tests it is 3 times faster than the single G4 mono 1,25 Ghz (3 to 5 times in floating tests, and less than two times faster in FFT tests, that is G4's Altivec is still superior to even SSE4), 6 times faster in threads management, 4 times faster in memory tests, between 2 to 3 times faster in Quartz 2D and OpenGL tests, and up to 12 times faster in user interface tests ! The hard disk is slightly slower than the G4 internal disk, that is honest for a laptop. We can then suppose that a dual 1,8 Ghz G4 would be as fast, fitted with the same memory bus and a recent graphic card (that should have great influence in UI tests in Leopard). There is still to know if the Intel processor second core was used fully. |
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| 03-07-08 / 10:31 PM : iPhone SDK presentation : video available (cjed) |
 Apple posted the video of the iPhone/ipodTouch SDK, games/app and App Store presentation. A HD version is also provided. In the midlle of the video we can see Xcode and Interface Builder adaptations to iPhone development, a complete iPhone emulator, the debuging, profiling through Instruments, stunning demos using OpenGL, Open AL, touch API and accelerometer (an incredible plane fighter game using the iPhone orientation sensors as command, Spore from EA, Super Monkey Ball from Sega also using sensors). These examples have been made in a few days only, without prior Cocoa development knowledge. Gameloft also plans to develop 15 games for iPhone/ipodTouch in 2008. |
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| 03-06-08 / 10:47 PM : Kore 4 new Sound Packs (cjed) |
 Native Instruments presented 4 new Kore SoundPacks : Massive Expansion vol. 1 (200 patchs for Massive, 5Mb, 59$), Best of ABSynth (200 patchs, 80 Mb, 59$), Kontakt Sax and Brass (includes all saxophones, trumpets and trombones from Kontakt 3 library, 820 Mb, 59$. However the K2 to K3 upgrade may be worth more at 149$) and Pop Drums (20 kits, 960 Mb, 79$). Audio demos are available.The packs can be purchased online directly (download). They require a Kore hardware interface or the free Kore Player software, that can be downloaded here (works as a plugin in a host sequencer, or in standalone mode). Pop Drums can also be used with Kontakt 3. |
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| 03-06-08 / 10:34 PM : SuperDocker 2.0.1 (cjed) |
 SuperDocker is an utility for Leopard that allows to change Dock appearence, without requiring Terminal commands. Notably it provides a new darker transparency color for the Dock (black), that gives an elegant look. That is here (donaware). |
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| 03-06-08 / 10:12 PM : iPhone SDK / games / App Store (cjed) |
 Games will come on iPhone, with notably the famous Spore from EA, a Sega demoed title and Gameloft games. Spore will be a true/full version (the same as for computers), thanks to the complete system onboarded on the iPhone (special version of OSX that also includes OpenGL, Core Animation, Core Audio, etc.).Apple presented the iPhone/iPod Touch SDK, based on XCode, Interface Builder (this version can produce interfaces targeted to iPhone) and Cocoa (as any OSX application). A new API, Cocoa Touch, allows to manage multitouch entries, and the accelerometer is also managed (used in EA Spore and in Sega's Super Monkey Ball). Moreover an iPhone emulator is bundled. It allows to test/debug applications/games without owning an iPhone/ipod Touch. The SDK however requires an Intel mac (and Leopard). Apple will distribute exclusively all applications and games (will take 30% gains) through the new App Store. Free applications will be hosted without cost. |
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| 03-06-08 / 10:00 PM : Long S. Jobs interview (cjed) |
| Fortune magazine publishes a long interview of Steve Jobs. The article is divided in parts (themes) available through icons (kind of Dock). |
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| 03-06-08 / 12:15 AM : Eastwest / Quantum Leap Piano shipping (cjed) |
 Eastwest / Quantum Leap Piano is now shipping, after a long wait. Il includes 263 Gb samples (35 dual-layers DVD !) : a Bechstein (73Gb), a Bosendorfer (87Gb), a Steinway (58Gb) and a Yamaha (46Gb). It is priced 445$. It requires an iLok key (for Play). Audio demos are available through the Demos tab. |
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| 03-05-08 / 10:56 PM : Filmmusicweekly free /VSE review (cjed) |
| The site filmmusicweekly provides free pdf magazines (one per week !), through simple email registration (then we can download the current issue, and receive the later issues through email). In a previous edition we can read a review (page 12) of Vienna Special Edition (400$). It seems the best complement to it is Appassionata Strings, and even more considering it is now listed among VSE extensions. It has to be mentioned however that in the SE String PLUS extension, the included Appassionata Strings samples of the Extended part (330$) only represent 1,4Gb (and even less considering that the Extended part also includes Chamber strings), whereas the original Appassionata Strings (645$ base and 1120$ Full) includes 18Gb (Full). So the String PLUS extension for VSE may not provide all articulations (and probably no 24 bits samples). |
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| 03-05-08 / 10:29 PM : Apple ranked 6th computer maker (cjed) |
| For the last 2007 quarter, Apple is ranked 6th in computers sales with 2,9%, just behind Toshiba (4%), Lenovo (7,6%) and Acer (9,5%). Considering the 40% sales grow this year, Apple can soon go ahead Toshiba and reach Lenovo in a few years. |
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| 03-04-08 / 11:27 PM : VectorDesigner (cjed) |
| VectorDesigner is a vector draw software that provides layers and CoreImage filters. The demo can be downloaded here (15 days). The latest version brings performance gains on PowerPC. |
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| 03-04-08 / 11:24 PM : MusikMesse : march, 12-15 (cjed) |
 As there were finally few announcements at the Winter NAMM (except Roland GX, but they were expected from a long time), gearjunkies is waiting the MusikMesse, that starts next week (march, (12-15). They will even travel to Frankfurt. |
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| 03-04-08 / 10:59 PM : Introversion interview (cjed) |
| The site RPS (rockpapershotsgun) provides an interview from Introversion. Beyond Multiwinia, they take the time, and are developing complex generation algorithm to create huge environments (towns, etc.) and unbound experience. They explain that the pleasure to create is finally worth. It reminds me an article from Tilt or Arcade magazine (mid 80s) where we learned that Ubi Soft developers lived in a castle (most of the time), where they made games whatever the time of the day (when they wanted). On another side constraints can be useful sometimes. I remember having completed 23 songs (masters 3A and 3B) in less than a month (August 92), while playing Another World (that i completed without a walktrough) as spare time. That was near a song per day (they had been started the past year, and some didn't last more than 30s before reworking, after that they lasted 4mn, with a lot of variations). The result wouldn't have been as good without that. But each situation is unique, and it would be interesting to be able to compare it with what another context would have produced. |
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| 03-03-08 / 10:27 PM : VSL Special Edition extensions (cjed) |
 VSL provides extensions for Vienna Special Edition : SE Strings PLUS, SE Woodwinds PLUS, SE Brass PLUS, etc. Each is priced about 300$ in full version. |
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| 03-03-08 / 10:21 PM : Fab Four, Gipsy and VOP review (cjed) |
| Audiofanzine provides a review of Fab Four, Gipsy and VOP from EastWest. |
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| 03-03-08 / 10:16 PM : ScummVM 0.11.1 (cjed) |
| An update to ScummVM is available, the 0.11.1 (bugs fixes). |
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| 03-03-08 / 10:14 PM : Delicious Library 2.0 preview (cjed) |
| AppleInsider provides a preview of Delicious Library 2.0. |
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| 03-02-08 / 08:38 PM : 4 tracks : musics with D-50 and HR16 (cjed) |
| At kohit.net, free mp3 site, we can find stunning musics from James Limborg, made using a D-50 and Alesis HR16 (also real guitars and bass :)) : notably Christmas Music Idea, Steve&Jim Rap song, Keyboard Rock song idea, The JETS. The mp3 encoding quality isn't great, however the mix has a huge energy. The composer site provides other samples, and tracks could be buyed, but it doesn't work for now, and the site crashes Safari and Firefox (also a very loud ad message). However the music can be found at the ITMS. |
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| 03-02-08 / 06:03 PM : Search feature fixed (cjed) |
| The search feature on the site now works correctly with multiple criterias (AND operator). To narrow the results to multiple keywords, just type + sign before each word. For example, to search for articles about Roland SRX11 card, type +Roland +SRX11 in the search field. The list of available operators can be found here. In fact I just had to remove the urldecode instruction, that finally wasn't useful (the extracted search parameter string with the POST php method was still decoded), and it leaded to signs removal (so the string was treated like an OR search, and too much results were returned). |
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| 03-02-08 / 04:07 PM : Roland Clan : patches for JV/XP and D50 (cjed) |
| The site Roland Clan provides user custom patches for JV/XP and D-50 (for this later, the Web downloads collection is in SQS format, it must be opened with Midi Quest. a demo is available for OSX). We can also find many patches for Fantom S/X, and notably a file named XV Collection (169ko), that provides some presets from JV, XP and XV, reprogrammed to work with Fantom S and X internal samples ! |
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| 03-02-08 / 03:59 PM : Roland SRX-06 : original SRJV patchs (cjed) |
| At Synthmania we can listen to patchs from Roland Roland SR-JV80-13 Vocal Collection and SR-JV80-16 Orchestral II cards. Their samples are included in the SRX-06 Complete Orchestra card, however it provides new reworked patchs. The original SRJV cards patchs are provided on a CD bundled with the SRX. Finally some SRJV patchs seem useful and are not found on the SRX patchs list, so it can be a good idea to check them. |
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| 03-02-08 / 03:32 PM : ScreenFlow : a revolution in screen capture (cjed) |
 ScreenFlow is a revolution in screen capture softwares area : it uses a proprietary compression algorithm (multithreaded, SSE and Altivec, 64 bits) that allow to simultaneously record multiple sources (screen, audio, iSight or DV cam, DVD from DVDPlayer, Keynote presentations), and then to edit them (as with iMovie) before exporting in QuickTime format.Only modified screen area are encoded, and the later editing allows to modify audio level, add zoom effects, shadows, reflection effects, hilight some areas (with circles for tutorials, zoom on cursor with sound, display of an overlay keyboard to display hitted keys), rearrange the pars. QuickTime export is optimized (through the GPU) in order to keep texts readable even when modifying the video resolution. It is available for Leopard only (uses Core Animation, QuickLook, Spotlight, QTKit, Quartz Composer, OpenGL, Core Data), and it requires a G4 with Quartz Extreme compatible graphic card (including Radeon 9000 Pro). A card supporting Core Image is required for some realtime effects (Radeon 9600 Pro min). The software is priced 100$. A demo is provided. |
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| 03-01-08 / 11:42 PM : Silverberg : The Longest Way Home (2002) (cjed) |
 The latest novel from Robert Silverberg, The Longest Way Home (2002), doesn't seem to meet the expectations, as said in an article from Cinecstasy (provides a huge list of books reviews). |
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| 03-01-08 / 11:10 PM : Lilchips : great UT2004 maps (cjed) |
 Lilchips site provides screenshots from stunning UT2004 map, created by David R. Green (level designer, audio engineer, software engineer). They can be downloaded at fileFront (for example VCTF DG Arctika map). |
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| 03-01-08 / 11:02 PM : Roland SR-JV80-04 Vintage Synth : a classic (cjed) |
 At synthmania site, that provides many orignal audio examples from many instruments and expansion cards, we can listen to hundreds of great demos of best patchs of the famous Roland SR-JV80-04 Vintage Synth card.Among these we find Random Pad, and other unique sounds (not present in later JV and XV). |
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| 03-01-08 / 10:55 PM : Neon Tango review (cjed) |
| Macworld provides a review of the famous Neon Tango. That is here. They liked a lot the music, from Andrew “Digital Droo” Tokuda, besides the stunning orginal visual effects. |
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