Sunday, November 04, 2012
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Wark wark! Kupo! Distant Worlds 2012
Swag this year was thin, got the DVD which I've been meaning to get, as well as this year's T-shirt. For those up in scotland, bring £30 if you want to get the T-Shirt :( Various CDs available but I'm pretty sure I'd already bought all of 'em. Those after plushies, get there early, I saw cactrot and moogle plushies, they went *very* fast.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Dynamic range compression at the sensor level...
Just blogging out loud about the one artifact in digital photography that sucks - blown highlights. Well, actually less the blown highlights themselves, rather the region between the fully blown and non-blown regions that always give me a "eww, crappy digital" kind of feel that you will never get with film. Maybe the big boys and their "full frame" cameras don't suffer as much. But anyways, as I do my own audio mixing, this makes me question something....
In audio, we have limiters used in several parts of the audio chain. For example, powered speakers may have a limiter built in so as to not blow the speakers when a suddenly overpowering input signal appears, and it manages this by clipping it before passing it into the analog components. A blown highlight is similarly that, a signal that's waaay to strong and the sensor just saturates.
Again, just thinking out loud, if each individual photosite has a limiter, or perhaps even a compressor applied to the incoming signal... would it alleviate this issue? It is the same thing isn't it, trying to capture a high dynamic range signal with a limited bandwidth medium, that's what was needed back in the day.
Then suddenly, you'd think about colour balancing, and the bayer filtering, and how the individual channels will combine with compression. Mmm..... not sure. For now, till some genius invents some uber high dynamic range capture or some new technique can be used to alleviate these exposure issues, it's best to follow the old adage of exposing for the highlights, and raising the shadow regions in post.
In audio, we have limiters used in several parts of the audio chain. For example, powered speakers may have a limiter built in so as to not blow the speakers when a suddenly overpowering input signal appears, and it manages this by clipping it before passing it into the analog components. A blown highlight is similarly that, a signal that's waaay to strong and the sensor just saturates.
Again, just thinking out loud, if each individual photosite has a limiter, or perhaps even a compressor applied to the incoming signal... would it alleviate this issue? It is the same thing isn't it, trying to capture a high dynamic range signal with a limited bandwidth medium, that's what was needed back in the day.
Then suddenly, you'd think about colour balancing, and the bayer filtering, and how the individual channels will combine with compression. Mmm..... not sure. For now, till some genius invents some uber high dynamic range capture or some new technique can be used to alleviate these exposure issues, it's best to follow the old adage of exposing for the highlights, and raising the shadow regions in post.
London MCM Expo 2012 Photos
A few of my favourites from my jaunt to the London MCM Expo yesterday. Wish I had a 17-55/2.8 :3
The full photo dump here: London MCM Expo October 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Autumn!
Today was cold! Brrr.... I think I need to bring out the gloves tomorrow. So far I'm only wearing a light sweater and a regular jacket, but the wind is killer >.> Probably another week or so will defo have to bring out the proper heavy duty winter stuff.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Cosplay :D
So the office is having the yearly xmas party, with the theme being Japanese. What better time to get into cosplay again? Last I was cosplaying back home I stopped due to having a bad taste in the mouth - like being laughed at by the more serious cosplayers helped alot in leaving that fandom.
But it's over a decade, maybe time to try again? Not sure what to work towards; half of me thinks it's going to be fun - the other half thinks it is a waste of both time and resources. Can I meet both ends?
First idea was to go as Kurama in his demon fox form, but I don't think I'm exactly the slim and lithe kind :P Plus, what exactly would I do with a toga like thing after that? And what would I do with a fox tail? Seriously.
Other ideas like Vincent Valentine: Waay to costly and time consuming to get it right. Will think about it.
But it's over a decade, maybe time to try again? Not sure what to work towards; half of me thinks it's going to be fun - the other half thinks it is a waste of both time and resources. Can I meet both ends?
First idea was to go as Kurama in his demon fox form, but I don't think I'm exactly the slim and lithe kind :P Plus, what exactly would I do with a toga like thing after that? And what would I do with a fox tail? Seriously.
Other ideas like Vincent Valentine: Waay to costly and time consuming to get it right. Will think about it.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Rest your eyes!
Been feeling extremely tired the last few weeks, and I finally figured out what it was - overstressed eyes. I thought it was lack of sleep - I've been sleeping earlier and earlier to no avail. Just not doing stuff like programming or score study in the evening is helping, so I'll be taking it easy this week.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Recabled Grados - wow...
One thing I noticed is that I can now go for much longer listening periods before I tire of the detail the SR80s provide. Usually I need to rest my ears after about an hour or so, and I'm not talking about ear splitting volumes here - comfortable volumes and music with wide dynamic range.
I think I went for about 4, 5 hours - not all at a go of course, one needs to answer the call of nature ever so often - before I had to take it off as it was getting to me. I'd even switched over to music that usually fatigued my ears and those went through fine. So what? No idea. Not only that, I found the bass very punchy and strong, not sure if it's improved by the recable, or my ears too used to the lack of bass on the SE215s (or, the cable rolling off the highs; hence enhancing the bass). In any case, very pleased to have my SR80s back as my constant companion.
I think I went for about 4, 5 hours - not all at a go of course, one needs to answer the call of nature ever so often - before I had to take it off as it was getting to me. I'd even switched over to music that usually fatigued my ears and those went through fine. So what? No idea. Not only that, I found the bass very punchy and strong, not sure if it's improved by the recable, or my ears too used to the lack of bass on the SE215s (or, the cable rolling off the highs; hence enhancing the bass). In any case, very pleased to have my SR80s back as my constant companion.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Recabling my Grados SR80
The recable excercise was inspired by CyberSpyder at Head-Fi. Go there if you are into high-end listening :3
Long story, I had my grados recabled by the local dealer here awhile back, and they started to disintegrate. Again. I have this feeling that the materials used are not suitable for use in the UK, as my grados have lasted probably 5, 7 years with no issues, and only started to have the rubber fall apart when I came to the UK for work.
I decided to do it myself, as I don't see the point in getting the dealer to recable it again, if it will just fall apart as it did. Hunted around for people to recable it for me, but they're very expensive, and really more for the serious audiophile type, which I am not. Hence, DIY!
The cables I used were the same type as CyberSpider above, Mogami 2983. The local dealer was sadly out of stock and took about 6 weeks for me to get my cables. The 2983s had 4 cores with a copper shield. Two of the cables were for ground, and the other two for the left and right channel. The copper shield was unused, though probably it may help get rid of some efi. I guess :P
The stereo plug I used is the Canare F-12, also from Japan. I really wanted to use a right angled Neutrik - because I like the brand (my mic uses a custom built cable, neutriks on both ends) and they look soooo cool, but the inner diameter was too small for my needs.
There is some strain relief cables inside that I braided together, and covered the entire thing with heat shrink sleeving.
Tada! Covered with the heatshrink above.
I should have taken more photos of this part, but after the heat shrink, all of the cable was covered with expandable nylon sleeving. Tricky thing, not only does it fray at the end (melt the ends with the hot air gun!), due to it expanding it shrinks in length. I was quite surprised at how much more sleeving was needed, and I am very thankful that I bought the nylon sleeving separately on ebay, and it came with a 3m length as minimum.
Here's some details of the ends further shrink wrapped. Cable ties were used for strain relief, just like the originals.
Here's it all assembled up. I actually didn't hot glue the cups together, as I don't have a hot glue gun. I'll see how it holds up :P
Audio wise, I can't say it is better or worse than the stock grado cabling; there is no way to do a 1:1 comparison. What I can say, is that I'm very happy to get my grados back. During the wait for the cables, I have been using Shure SE215s for listening (paired with my Cowon D2+), and I am not a fan of them - they sound very flat to my ears, and the bass is uninspiring. I primarily bought them to replace my lost Sennheiser CX330s, and for the price, I can't say they are a good match for me.
What the SE215s are really good for though, is critical listening for music production - I'm thinking that because of they are IEMs and having a good seal allows me to pick up artifacts (like noise) in samples that I can't with my headphones. A more likely fact is that I have crap ears.
The other pair of headphones (in my videos) I use regularly, are the AKG240s MK2s. They have a very different signature from the Grados. I feel that they are able to pull out more details than the grados, but are not as upfront as the grados. The 240s are relegated to mixing and piano playing.
Hope I don't have to go through this recabling thing too soon, it took about 4 hours from start to finish, not as much fun as I thought :P
In any case, I am very glad the recabling went with no major issues. Some aspects could be improved, e.g. I only bought 2 metres worth of cable, I would probably have liked to have it longer. Very glad to have my old companion back in action with me.
Long story, I had my grados recabled by the local dealer here awhile back, and they started to disintegrate. Again. I have this feeling that the materials used are not suitable for use in the UK, as my grados have lasted probably 5, 7 years with no issues, and only started to have the rubber fall apart when I came to the UK for work.
I decided to do it myself, as I don't see the point in getting the dealer to recable it again, if it will just fall apart as it did. Hunted around for people to recable it for me, but they're very expensive, and really more for the serious audiophile type, which I am not. Hence, DIY!
The stereo plug I used is the Canare F-12, also from Japan. I really wanted to use a right angled Neutrik - because I like the brand (my mic uses a custom built cable, neutriks on both ends) and they look soooo cool, but the inner diameter was too small for my needs.
Audio wise, I can't say it is better or worse than the stock grado cabling; there is no way to do a 1:1 comparison. What I can say, is that I'm very happy to get my grados back. During the wait for the cables, I have been using Shure SE215s for listening (paired with my Cowon D2+), and I am not a fan of them - they sound very flat to my ears, and the bass is uninspiring. I primarily bought them to replace my lost Sennheiser CX330s, and for the price, I can't say they are a good match for me.
What the SE215s are really good for though, is critical listening for music production - I'm thinking that because of they are IEMs and having a good seal allows me to pick up artifacts (like noise) in samples that I can't with my headphones. A more likely fact is that I have crap ears.
The other pair of headphones (in my videos) I use regularly, are the AKG240s MK2s. They have a very different signature from the Grados. I feel that they are able to pull out more details than the grados, but are not as upfront as the grados. The 240s are relegated to mixing and piano playing.
Hope I don't have to go through this recabling thing too soon, it took about 4 hours from start to finish, not as much fun as I thought :P
In any case, I am very glad the recabling went with no major issues. Some aspects could be improved, e.g. I only bought 2 metres worth of cable, I would probably have liked to have it longer. Very glad to have my old companion back in action with me.
Saturday, October 06, 2012
Teensy 2.0
Not tried it yet, bit tired from work and having had a few nights of insomnia so I'm going to take a nap now.
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Blast from the past: OpenTyrian
Discovered OpenTyrian yesterday through a remixer at ocremix. I thought the name Tyrian was familiar, and after a quick google, I was like "damn! It's Tyrian!" I'd played this as a kid of course, but only had the shareware version so never knews what the whole story was.
Given that I play (play? More like religiously practice) a few bullet hell shooters, I thought Tyrian would be cake. And it was.... for the first episode. Come the next few episodes (there are 4 in total).... things weren't so easy.
For a start, the game mechanics are quite different from your typical shooter. The weapon loadouts are customizable between stages, with unique weaponry available depending upon where you are (I love the lasers :D). Two side "slots" are available for various options (with Lifeforce/salamander style Option ships available), as well as opportunities to upgrade the shields, hull, generator etc - pseudo rpg elements, almost. Some side slots have variants that use ammo. I haven't used those much.
In game, we are present with a very nimble fighter that I think is not really suited for pixel-fine bullet dodging. Apart from its extremely light response to the controls, a tiny bit of inertia is built into the motion. This baby easily circles the entire screen in seconds, unlike say, JamesTown where the craft is slower and suited to navigating through fine bullet streams.
That said, the fighter in Tyrian is designed for what it is, to be able to MOVE fast to dodge not only bullets, but physical obstacles at speed. Some of which are intent on ramming into you.
As mentioned, the craft is shielded, with shield strength slowly replenished by your power generator. This generator also powers your guns, so at times it makes tactical sense to not shoot, and dodge bullets whilst the shields get recharged. Apart from shields, there is another component on amour on your ship. At low levels of armour, the whole screens goes whoop whoop whoop and a special vessel will show up. Blow it up, and it replenishes some of your armour.
The later episodes are somewhat challenging (side note: I was playing in medium difficulty), combining navigating your way through narrow passages, or threading your ship in between massive battleships whilst avoiding energy blasts that take up a third of your screen. Probably not meant for you but a larger target behind you, but hey, you are in the way. Oh yes, regular enemies abound too.
The game bosses are not particularly challenging imo, I did die several times thanks to them forcibly squishing me to death, but apart from that once I was equipped with the almighty laser and figured out their movement patterns, bosses went down, in seconds. And a fair few of them did so, literally. (Pro tip: If you want a bigger challenge, don't equip lasers.)
The pacing of the game is quite intense - whilst there are sometimes small gaps for your to catch a breather and recharge the shields, enemies come from all directions - unlike modern games - and shoot at you after they've gone past you - unlike modern games - making it a race to figure out where you need to be without bullets coming in at you in a near 360 arc.
In game, you collect so called "Data Blocks" that give you some idea of what is going on with the game to progress the story, ranging from humourous descriptions of the travel opportunities and food recommendations to storyline pieces, as well as "interactions" you have with other NPCs in the game that move the story on.
Given the vintage of this game, I don't think it is fair to compare it to more modern shooters like say Blazing Star, where the graphics are more detailed with multiple background layers giving a better sense of depth. With that in mind, I'd say the graphics are what they are, from the mid 90s, retro styled, blocky pixel art. Pixel art does not detract - look at Cave Story or Super Meatboy. Fact, with JamesTown, I relish the fact there is no antialiasing. Blocky pixels baby!
Apart from the main game, there is arcade mode (not keen), and multiple mini games (not me). Hard mode I was looking forward to, but it features fog of war (what?!), with a clear view the shape of a cone extending ahead of your ship. Everything not in that cone is rendered very dimly in greyscale. BORING. Give me more bullets to dodge, sure, I don't fancy attempting to shoot stuff I can't see very well. And in my advance old age, not something I relish.
So, Tyrian, an age old classic turned opensource (thank you epic megagames/world tree productions!)
Perhaps one day we can see another epic megagames opensource release like Jazz Jackrabit? I only had the shareware version of that IIRC. Or maybe even Dune 2 :3
Given that I play (play? More like religiously practice) a few bullet hell shooters, I thought Tyrian would be cake. And it was.... for the first episode. Come the next few episodes (there are 4 in total).... things weren't so easy.
For a start, the game mechanics are quite different from your typical shooter. The weapon loadouts are customizable between stages, with unique weaponry available depending upon where you are (I love the lasers :D). Two side "slots" are available for various options (with Lifeforce/salamander style Option ships available), as well as opportunities to upgrade the shields, hull, generator etc - pseudo rpg elements, almost. Some side slots have variants that use ammo. I haven't used those much.
In game, we are present with a very nimble fighter that I think is not really suited for pixel-fine bullet dodging. Apart from its extremely light response to the controls, a tiny bit of inertia is built into the motion. This baby easily circles the entire screen in seconds, unlike say, JamesTown where the craft is slower and suited to navigating through fine bullet streams.
That said, the fighter in Tyrian is designed for what it is, to be able to MOVE fast to dodge not only bullets, but physical obstacles at speed. Some of which are intent on ramming into you.
As mentioned, the craft is shielded, with shield strength slowly replenished by your power generator. This generator also powers your guns, so at times it makes tactical sense to not shoot, and dodge bullets whilst the shields get recharged. Apart from shields, there is another component on amour on your ship. At low levels of armour, the whole screens goes whoop whoop whoop and a special vessel will show up. Blow it up, and it replenishes some of your armour.
The later episodes are somewhat challenging (side note: I was playing in medium difficulty), combining navigating your way through narrow passages, or threading your ship in between massive battleships whilst avoiding energy blasts that take up a third of your screen. Probably not meant for you but a larger target behind you, but hey, you are in the way. Oh yes, regular enemies abound too.
The game bosses are not particularly challenging imo, I did die several times thanks to them forcibly squishing me to death, but apart from that once I was equipped with the almighty laser and figured out their movement patterns, bosses went down, in seconds. And a fair few of them did so, literally. (Pro tip: If you want a bigger challenge, don't equip lasers.)
The pacing of the game is quite intense - whilst there are sometimes small gaps for your to catch a breather and recharge the shields, enemies come from all directions - unlike modern games - and shoot at you after they've gone past you - unlike modern games - making it a race to figure out where you need to be without bullets coming in at you in a near 360 arc.
In game, you collect so called "Data Blocks" that give you some idea of what is going on with the game to progress the story, ranging from humourous descriptions of the travel opportunities and food recommendations to storyline pieces, as well as "interactions" you have with other NPCs in the game that move the story on.
Given the vintage of this game, I don't think it is fair to compare it to more modern shooters like say Blazing Star, where the graphics are more detailed with multiple background layers giving a better sense of depth. With that in mind, I'd say the graphics are what they are, from the mid 90s, retro styled, blocky pixel art. Pixel art does not detract - look at Cave Story or Super Meatboy. Fact, with JamesTown, I relish the fact there is no antialiasing. Blocky pixels baby!
Apart from the main game, there is arcade mode (not keen), and multiple mini games (not me). Hard mode I was looking forward to, but it features fog of war (what?!), with a clear view the shape of a cone extending ahead of your ship. Everything not in that cone is rendered very dimly in greyscale. BORING. Give me more bullets to dodge, sure, I don't fancy attempting to shoot stuff I can't see very well. And in my advance old age, not something I relish.
So, Tyrian, an age old classic turned opensource (thank you epic megagames/world tree productions!)
Perhaps one day we can see another epic megagames opensource release like Jazz Jackrabit? I only had the shareware version of that IIRC. Or maybe even Dune 2 :3
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Humble Bundle: Rochard
After reading that Rochard was developed with Unity3D, I knew I had to try it out. Trying it out on linux was utter fail, giving me some GL something error. A quick google told me little. Sighing, and wishing modern games weren't a gig in size, I switched to my OSX box, downloaded, and it ran without a hitch.
I was presently surprised by Rochard. The graphics were on the more toony side with a well developed colour palette. Controls were very tight, and many aspects of the game design was very appealing.
For example, there is no concept of lives, and if you die through a particular scene, power ups collected stay collected. Every scene is basically a puzzle to solve, be it fighting through enemies or mostly, figuring a way to manipulate gravity, be it with the hand held gravity beam or engaging the space stations global low gravity mode, or reversing gravity, yada yada to get to the next screen.
The difficulty ramps up quite nicely, with hints (that can be turned off - I think they need to be more obvious in certain areas though) showing you the way forward. I only encountered one area, so far, where it took me like a dozen tried to get through, where enemies came up on elevators at both sides with robots floating down from above. Ergh. The rest of it you could take the time to figure out the puzzles to get through.
There is a significant amount of voice acting, which sounded very professionally produced and polished, and the enemy AI in the game reacts to not only line of sight, but also to noises. The vocal quips made in response to your actions really give the sense of life. Several things about the AI could be made better, e.g. grenades landing on the enemy has zero reaction. To be fair, half of me doesn't want the enemy to run, as the ragdoll effects engaged when the grenades blow up are hilarious. The other half says the realism could be improved. A solution I think would be a timed release; e.g. instead of the grenade button just firing off a grenade and it will blow up after some time, hold down the button so that the grenade still activates in-hand, so that you can toss it over and the AI tried to run, but can't as the grenade blows up at their feet. Sorry AIs.
There is a short blurb on the rochard website detailing the journey dedicated to make this game come to life. Highly inspiring. It's a great game devs, I look forward to completing it.
EDIT: Completed the game. Just under 5 hours. Two things that stand out I'd like to have changed. The last "boss" fight always has the monologue going on if you die and restart. That really needs to be skipable. Also, when on a ladder - this is a personal thing of course - is then when pressing jump on a ladder to do megaman style drops, instead of jumping upward on a ladder. Not only do I think jumping upwards on a ladder is kinda tough, but falling from a ladder makes more sense in terms of speed.
I was presently surprised by Rochard. The graphics were on the more toony side with a well developed colour palette. Controls were very tight, and many aspects of the game design was very appealing.
For example, there is no concept of lives, and if you die through a particular scene, power ups collected stay collected. Every scene is basically a puzzle to solve, be it fighting through enemies or mostly, figuring a way to manipulate gravity, be it with the hand held gravity beam or engaging the space stations global low gravity mode, or reversing gravity, yada yada to get to the next screen.
The difficulty ramps up quite nicely, with hints (that can be turned off - I think they need to be more obvious in certain areas though) showing you the way forward. I only encountered one area, so far, where it took me like a dozen tried to get through, where enemies came up on elevators at both sides with robots floating down from above. Ergh. The rest of it you could take the time to figure out the puzzles to get through.
There is a significant amount of voice acting, which sounded very professionally produced and polished, and the enemy AI in the game reacts to not only line of sight, but also to noises. The vocal quips made in response to your actions really give the sense of life. Several things about the AI could be made better, e.g. grenades landing on the enemy has zero reaction. To be fair, half of me doesn't want the enemy to run, as the ragdoll effects engaged when the grenades blow up are hilarious. The other half says the realism could be improved. A solution I think would be a timed release; e.g. instead of the grenade button just firing off a grenade and it will blow up after some time, hold down the button so that the grenade still activates in-hand, so that you can toss it over and the AI tried to run, but can't as the grenade blows up at their feet. Sorry AIs.
There is a short blurb on the rochard website detailing the journey dedicated to make this game come to life. Highly inspiring. It's a great game devs, I look forward to completing it.
EDIT: Completed the game. Just under 5 hours. Two things that stand out I'd like to have changed. The last "boss" fight always has the monologue going on if you die and restart. That really needs to be skipable. Also, when on a ladder - this is a personal thing of course - is then when pressing jump on a ladder to do megaman style drops, instead of jumping upward on a ladder. Not only do I think jumping upwards on a ladder is kinda tough, but falling from a ladder makes more sense in terms of speed.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Humble Bundle 6... boo :(
Have some spare change this month, and decided to get the 6th Humble Bundle. None of the games really stood out for me, but I could do with a new shooter, and thought Space Pirates and Zombies would be a good one. Sadly, it is uber slow on linux - I bet it's run through wine and not native - and it doesn't even run on my mac. Torchlight I also had hopes for it but no, it ran like mud on my linux box. Didn't even bother to download it for osx. Not keen on the platformers either, so :(
Seriously, I think I should just bite the bullet and buy a new game for my DS. Like, no worries about hardware or drivers, just bloody insert the cartridge, play. I'm getting old, you know?
On the flip side, the bundle game with a whole lot of OSTs, so there is a *lot* of music to listen to. Hopefully it'll be good. In the 4th bundle, Cave Story's soundtrack is fantastic, especially when you factor in that it the entire game was done entirely by one guy. Jamestown's OST is similarly friggin' awesome. So here's hoping the OSTs in the 6th bundle are good :)
Frankly, as much as I would like to game, I am at the stage where I can't be arsed to dig into my os to get stuff to work. Like SPAZ on linux, I had to chmod the download, install it, find out that it won't run full screen (LCD gives me spasms about incorrect sync?!), had to go to a terminal, kill the game, find out that the windowing system is now on the fritz, reboot, edit the frakin' game config file, finally get it to run, only to have it speed by like molasses.
No thanks.
I'd rather spend time writing pointless blog posts and learning counterpoint, ya know?
Seriously, I think I should just bite the bullet and buy a new game for my DS. Like, no worries about hardware or drivers, just bloody insert the cartridge, play. I'm getting old, you know?
On the flip side, the bundle game with a whole lot of OSTs, so there is a *lot* of music to listen to. Hopefully it'll be good. In the 4th bundle, Cave Story's soundtrack is fantastic, especially when you factor in that it the entire game was done entirely by one guy. Jamestown's OST is similarly friggin' awesome. So here's hoping the OSTs in the 6th bundle are good :)
Frankly, as much as I would like to game, I am at the stage where I can't be arsed to dig into my os to get stuff to work. Like SPAZ on linux, I had to chmod the download, install it, find out that it won't run full screen (LCD gives me spasms about incorrect sync?!), had to go to a terminal, kill the game, find out that the windowing system is now on the fritz, reboot, edit the frakin' game config file, finally get it to run, only to have it speed by like molasses.
No thanks.
I'd rather spend time writing pointless blog posts and learning counterpoint, ya know?
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Autumn hither here come
Getting colder day by day, used to be able to hang out during lunch time in a tee but it's way to cold for that. Change in weather doesn't help, i just got over a bit of a stomach upset earlier this week, and caught a cold yesterday >.>
Boo, hope I can recover by the weekend.
Boo, hope I can recover by the weekend.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Kindle and Ebooks
Recently, I took to checking out the free ebooks on Amazon, and there is a vast treasure trove of free ebooks available for download at no cost. For example, a very enjoyable sci fi novel is The Phoenix Conspiracy. The characters and plot are very well developed and I was absolutely sucked into reading it straight through, then purchasing its sequel. And very anxiously awaiting the 3rd book.
I suspect that's how the authors use this platform for sales, the first book in the series is let go in the wild free, and if the reader enjoys it, will definitely want to continue, hence the need to purchase the rest of the series.
The kindle platform is one I really enjoy. I think I have lost interest in gadgets years ago (hello, pda). But this is one gadget that I don't regret purchasing. First, the e-ink is just damned good for reading with compared to real paper. The battery life is insanely good as well. I like the fact that kindle ebooks are downloaded in an instant, and I don't have physical books cluttering up my room. Wolf knows how many books that don't have digital versions are stacked up 10s high on my shelves.
One additional feature that's really nice is sample content; a short preview of the ebook to check out before purchasing.
Technical books OTOH are what I generally do not want on the kindle as I want it on my lap or across my desk as I work on 'em. Stuff like math and programming texts, ewww, no digital stuff. I do tend to mark up such texts with a pencil as well, so paper is the way to go for these.
I suspect that's how the authors use this platform for sales, the first book in the series is let go in the wild free, and if the reader enjoys it, will definitely want to continue, hence the need to purchase the rest of the series.
The kindle platform is one I really enjoy. I think I have lost interest in gadgets years ago (hello, pda). But this is one gadget that I don't regret purchasing. First, the e-ink is just damned good for reading with compared to real paper. The battery life is insanely good as well. I like the fact that kindle ebooks are downloaded in an instant, and I don't have physical books cluttering up my room. Wolf knows how many books that don't have digital versions are stacked up 10s high on my shelves.
One additional feature that's really nice is sample content; a short preview of the ebook to check out before purchasing.
Technical books OTOH are what I generally do not want on the kindle as I want it on my lap or across my desk as I work on 'em. Stuff like math and programming texts, ewww, no digital stuff. I do tend to mark up such texts with a pencil as well, so paper is the way to go for these.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Midi Controller: Phase 3
Just wanted to put down my thoughts on the hardware and stuff on the midi controller. It is my hope and long term goal to put up this project as open source so others with better knowledge of hardware and software can improve upon it.
So this is what I've got after thinking about this project on and off. I'm actually thinking about AI at the moment but oh, look, cheese!
Cough.
First, is input. Previously I used the Arduino's ADC to read in the values directly without any anti-aliasing filter. Well, phase 3 will add that, as well as using the designed-for-microprocessor MPX5010GSX.
Signal Acquisition Hardware:
MPX5010GSX Pressure Sensor
MAX7410 Low Pass Filter IC.(alt: MAX295CPA)
Teensy 2.0
Other inputs:
3x Switches or Potentiometers
The pressure sensor hopefully will work as before, without the necessary amplification components. For the anti aliasing filter before the ADC, the MAX7410 looks like a good candidate.
At the moment, I'm planning on sending perhaps 25, 30 midi CC packets per second tops, so, we need at least 60Hz to fulfill the nyquist limit. Add in perhaps double, or 4 times oversampling, it will be still under a few hundred Hz.
The MAX741X series comes in either Bessel or Butterworth type filters. I'm going with thebutterworth bessel for its linear phase.
The max7410 seems provide a variable bandwidth from 1Hz all the way to 15Khz, and only seems to required a capacitor to tune its cutoff frequency. That, or I can use one of the DIY filter algorithms to figure out some capacitors, resistors and inductors to chain together.
The Teensy is described before, it was chosen because of its (theoretically) ease of programmability into a HID controller, so we can just plug it in, and modern OSes will recognize it as a midi device, without using a real midi input device as before.
Finally, I think a few external controls will be good. First, variable breath pressure input. The previous version was fixed to a given level, so you would need to blow a certain amount to reach the full midi value. I think not everyone has the same breath force as I do (I probably have very little, given I tend to keel over when playing the flute), so a potentiometer to vary it between low and high pressure would help here.
Next, linearity. Just putting the values through a power function, and yet another potentiometer to adjust between linear to various non-linear ways (duh).
Finally, perhaps a 3rd input to control how much digital filtering is going on. We could set it to low, to use minimal filtering (large bias), or have the output curves be smoother (low bias for input data). Who knows. There have been some thoughts at the back of my head to only output midi data when there is a significant delta between subsequent samples, else it does nothing. Mrrr.
So this is what I've got after thinking about this project on and off. I'm actually thinking about AI at the moment but oh, look, cheese!
Cough.
First, is input. Previously I used the Arduino's ADC to read in the values directly without any anti-aliasing filter. Well, phase 3 will add that, as well as using the designed-for-microprocessor MPX5010GSX.
Signal Acquisition Hardware:
MPX5010GSX Pressure Sensor
MAX7410 Low Pass Filter IC.
Teensy 2.0
Other inputs:
3x Switches or Potentiometers
The pressure sensor hopefully will work as before, without the necessary amplification components. For the anti aliasing filter before the ADC, the MAX7410 looks like a good candidate.
At the moment, I'm planning on sending perhaps 25, 30 midi CC packets per second tops, so, we need at least 60Hz to fulfill the nyquist limit. Add in perhaps double, or 4 times oversampling, it will be still under a few hundred Hz.
The MAX741X series comes in either Bessel or Butterworth type filters. I'm going with the
The max7410 seems provide a variable bandwidth from 1Hz all the way to 15Khz, and only seems to required a capacitor to tune its cutoff frequency. That, or I can use one of the DIY filter algorithms to figure out some capacitors, resistors and inductors to chain together.
The Teensy is described before, it was chosen because of its (theoretically) ease of programmability into a HID controller, so we can just plug it in, and modern OSes will recognize it as a midi device, without using a real midi input device as before.
Finally, I think a few external controls will be good. First, variable breath pressure input. The previous version was fixed to a given level, so you would need to blow a certain amount to reach the full midi value. I think not everyone has the same breath force as I do (I probably have very little, given I tend to keel over when playing the flute), so a potentiometer to vary it between low and high pressure would help here.
Next, linearity. Just putting the values through a power function, and yet another potentiometer to adjust between linear to various non-linear ways (duh).
Finally, perhaps a 3rd input to control how much digital filtering is going on. We could set it to low, to use minimal filtering (large bias), or have the output curves be smoother (low bias for input data). Who knows. There have been some thoughts at the back of my head to only output midi data when there is a significant delta between subsequent samples, else it does nothing. Mrrr.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Processing
Been doodling in processing and reading up "Getting Started with Processing". I'm about a 3rd of the way through the book, and it is an easy read for those who know programming. It's Java. Half of me is going woo, great, haven't used java in years, will be fun. The other half is going.... java... again?! Why isn't this in C or C++ >.>
Anyways.
Started on a small project this time, and had some major tearing issues, supposedly caused by the lack of vsync. Evidently it has to do with the rendering modes. I'm guessing it's my driver on the linux box, but it does not like the OpenGL drivers, getting odd stalls and stuff. Switching over to P2D or P3D seems to run the examples very smoothly.Which is good, because I really don't want to boot up the music machine just for this.
Ergh, so ill.
Anyways.
Started on a small project this time, and had some major tearing issues, supposedly caused by the lack of vsync. Evidently it has to do with the rendering modes. I'm guessing it's my driver on the linux box, but it does not like the OpenGL drivers, getting odd stalls and stuff. Switching over to P2D or P3D seems to run the examples very smoothly.Which is good, because I really don't want to boot up the music machine just for this.
Ergh, so ill.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, September 03, 2012
Disney's Brave
As with every Disney film, it's a happy ending, but I can't say I felt that good after the show. There's something in the story that reminds me of my choices in life but that's for another post...
Loved the short film, La Luna, I thought that was brilliant. Brave is quite appealing visually, and I throughly enjoyed the contrast between the mother bear and the 3 bear cubs, one more realistic, versus the very stylized japanese look, almost like tanuki.
My main gripe would be the massive lack of wolves, but we can't have everything. At least the bad guy is a bear this time, and the mom plays the good bear, so all is well.
Loved the short film, La Luna, I thought that was brilliant. Brave is quite appealing visually, and I throughly enjoyed the contrast between the mother bear and the 3 bear cubs, one more realistic, versus the very stylized japanese look, almost like tanuki.
My main gripe would be the massive lack of wolves, but we can't have everything. At least the bad guy is a bear this time, and the mom plays the good bear, so all is well.
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