Computer Music Magazine
and 73,620 free sample downloads
Spring Cleaning
I've not created a lot of space but I have managed to list and sell and re-house some old tech gear that's not been in use. I don't need a reserve studio.
Maschine
I will try to keep this short. My work with La Belle Maschine has been much smoother. I watched one very helpful video. It's a basic introductory guide to Maschine, is 15 minutes long and sets out the basics of how a lot of it works. Recommended.
Computer Music Magazine
And then for £6.99 I got the collection of magazines and sample DVDs that you see here. A real bargain buy on eBay; an awesome deal.
While my guitar study has been much more consistent, my interest in making music on a PC has waxed and waned over the years. Purchasing and reading Computer Music Magazine has come and gone with it. There are a few similar print magazines in this space: the traditional and definitive Sound On Sound, Future Music, MusicTech. Computer Music is my choice, probably because it has more of a focus on tuition and study than the others: 'Make Music Now', 'Create your First Track' etc.
FileSilo
Is it called The Vault any more? I don't think it is. It's FileSilo at the moment. FileSilo is Future Publishing's online storehouse of samples, software and tutorials from previous magazines (not just Computer Music). I got obsessed with hacking into FileSilo the other night. You guess words to unlock the vault for each magazine you don't own. If you own the magazine then finding the word to get in is easy. Anyway, it's all really a waste of time because once you're in you just upload and download files of giga-chunks of data very very slowly. You may have noticed even opening the website takes some computer cycles. Free music samples from MusicRadar (a sort of online version of Computer Music magazine) is a far easier way of getting pretty much the same free samples as you get with the magazine every month. A library of 73,620 samples available at the last count. Check it out…
Filing Samples
I'm not really sure how the obsessive, autistic aspects of my personality will handle the world of music samples. I can find a terabyte of disk space here or there for them but where do I start with the organisation? I should start and will start at some point so more on that coming soon to this journal.
On a Train
On a train I set about reading Issue 297 (August 2021) of Computer Music. Build your own plugins? Ah... so that's what Reaktor and Max for Live do. Great - I don't need to worry about them. I even managed to browse and not read those articles. Then I came to a quick interview with Loraine James and this was great. Loraine uses Ableton and mostly free VSTs. That's useful to know. I'm thinking Ableton is probably the most widely used DAW in home studios. And she does what she does and doesn't get hung up on the tech side of it at all and makes DJ Mag's No. 1 album of 2019. Phew... I am inspired. So that was great to read. I'm really looking forward to listening to her music and reading the rest of this magazine.
What's on my table?
Well not much now. Doctor Who - The Movie (1996) has arrived which, if weird/not very good (I've seen it), seems pivotal in the canon for being the bridge between Old Who (1963-1989) and New Who (2005-). And I have those Sample DVDs to check out and upload.
The Beatles Didn't Use iPads
This is my seventh post on The Beatles Didn't Have iPads and regular readers may be getting a feel for what to expect. It's really a quick run-down of what I've been getting up to with my music studies and creation. Writing this journal helps me feel more connected to the music community, more professional and encourages me to continue making music. And when I get frustrated with tech I can have a good moan.
If you happen to come across this journal through your internet browsing for answers to tech issues I hope you find something useful here. If you disagree with some of my opinions that's fine. This is just my take and comments with further ideas or different views are welcome. I'm not seeking a huge audience for this blog; I'm just enjoying it for now. It should be called 'The Beatles Didn't Use iPads' I think. That 'have' is all wrong. I wonder if I can change it or if it will break things.