Ben Brooks:
That’s not that hard to understand and the fact that Wasserman can’t understand that shows why is opinion isn’t really that interesting. He then devolves to talking about Kelly Clarkson and Ron Paul… yay?
I love it that Ben speaks his mind.
I’ve been using Line 6 gear for many years and have watched them grow into one of the best amp modeling companies in the business. The Pod HD500 stompbox is yet another success in the Line 6 arsenal.
The HD500 is a lot of things bundled in one box. It’s an audio interface to your computer; an amp modeler; effects modeler; and a stompbox that can connect to your amp or PA. Basically, it’s a unit that’s built to do it all.
I expect different things from an audio interface than I do from a stompbox. When I see a stompbox, I think of playing live and all of the perils that come with that.
The biggest problem for me is toughness. When I see some of these pretty looking stompboxes on the market, I immediately think, “that wouldn’t last a night under my foot.” I’m not saying I abuse my gear, but if it’s made for me to stomp on, that’s what I’m going to do. And the Pod HD500 takes it night after night, song after song.
I’ve been through the problems of pedals getting gummed up or not responding when you step on it. That’s not only frustrating, it pisses me off.
Of course, you don’t just have to worry about playing, but moving the stompbox to and from the venue. Let’s face it, you don’t baby the thing when you’re unloading, do you? No. It gets dropped, thrown, stepped on, spilled on, kicked and flung. It’s the nature of the business.
I’ve been playing for years and my old stompbox was a piece of plywood with the pedals fastened to it. I loved that thing. You could set a bomb off and it would come through unscathed. That’s what the HD500 is like for me.
Enough about toughness, how does it sound? That’s the other important factor, isn’t it? It’s fine to get your HD500 to a rehearsal or gig, but if it sounds like shit, it’s not going to last long.
I work hard on my presets, to get that perfect sound (and by perfect, I mean I keep fiddling with it because I’m rarely satisfied with any tone). Because of that, I usually like to plug the HD500 directly into the PA. That’s just a personal preference.
I’ve tried it running through my JCM 800 and it sounds great, but I like having all of those little nuances in the tone that I get from running the HD500 by itself.
As the name implies, this new stompbox comes with “HD” amp models. That basically means that Line 6 found a way to model the 22 amps in such a realistic way, they could only describe them as HD. But are they really that good? I had my doubts, but was quickly convinced after playing it for a short time.
Amp modeling has come a long way in the past few years and you can hear a difference with the Line 6 HD amps. It was kind of strange to hear them at first — maybe them sounded a bit too real or something. Whatever it was, I liked it.
The HD500 gives you complete control over your tone from detailed amp settings to a variety of effects, mics and cabinets that can be added to your tone. Settings can be changed on the fly, using the controls on the device, or from your computer, using the Line 6 software.
Overall, I like the HD500 software, but I didn’t like the effects edit window as much as I like Pod Farm.
In HD500 Edit the effects window is too small for me. I understand that you can edit multiple effects at once, which is great when building a preset, but I’d like to have the option to zoom in close on an effect and work on that separately. Basically, I’d like the effects window to work like the amp window — focused on one thing.
Arranging amps and effects with the HD500 software is really simple. Just drag and drop things where you want them to be — again, you have total control.
New in this version is the ability to put an effect before both amps if you’re making a dual amp tone. I love that feature. Now I can put a Chorus pedal on the entire tone and let it hit both amps when I turn it on. Very smart fix from Line 6.
One miscellaneous item that is rarely mentioned in any review that should be is the tuner. Line 6 makes the best tuners on the market. Yes, most of us can tune by ear, but every once in a while it’s nice to get back to a perfect standard tuning. I hate those tuners that flutter all over the place, so you never know if you got it right on or not. Line 6 nails it every time with their tuner. I appreciate that.
The HD500 also works with the company’s Variax digital guitars and the DT50 amplifiers. I haven’t had a chance to review either of those items, but hopefully one day soon I’ll do those too.
I don’t know what else you would need from a stompbox that Line 6 doesn’t offer. This is the third Line 6 stompbox I’ve had over the years and all three still work perfectly. They’re tough, they sound great, they’re versatile and they’re accurate in tonal characteristics. Well worth the money.
The other tablets.
Being a tech failure pretty much sums up the year every tablet maker, except Apple, had.
Marco Arment:
In fact, all Amazon has said is:But the Kindle has between 5 and 10 models, depending on how Amazon counts them.
- They’ve sold at least 4 million Kindles, total, this month.
- The Kindle Fire is the top-selling model.
The devil is in the details.
I’d be scared to death to go in for a meeting, but that’s cool as hell.
Reports began circulating earlier today that Apple would release two new iPads at Macworld Expo in January. These rumors are completely false.
I checked with a number of my sources today and an iPad 3 is not planned for release at Macworld. In case you’re wondering, an iPad 3 won’t be released at CES either.
You can also mark a TV off your list for either one of those shows too — it’s not going to happen, according to my sources.
An Apple spokeswoman declined comment.
Apple withdrew from Macworld Expo back in 2009 and has not attended the show since. In fact, Apple has withdrawn from most, if not all, tradeshows in the last couple of years.
Marcelo Somers:
So with so much dependency on all this, I knew I needed to save this stuff. If Pinboard disappeared tomorrow, I need a way to access this stuff I’m saving. Maciej Ceglowski, developer of Pinboard, gives you the option at any time to export all your items as HTML, XML, or JSON. Data portability is good. However, there’s no automated option to do this.So I came up with a way to automate everything. This is an idiot’s guide to do it, since I’m by no means a pro at this stuff – I just poke around until I can make it work.
It’s not a big secret that I think Universal Audio makes the best professional audio plug-ins — I’ve said it a number of times. However, until now, you needed a Mac Pro and a spare PCI slot for the UAD card. The portable Satellite Quad changes all that.
Like many pro audio engineers and musicians, I like to work on the road, on a plane or wherever else I may find myself. Sometimes, I just like to get out from behind the desk and work outside. Obviously, I can’t take my Mac Pro and set it up in any of those places, so that left me just editing audio files or doing other mundane tasks, preparing for when I returned to my studio.
With the Satellite, I can work on my music anywhere, anytime. I can use it on an iMac or MacBook Pro, or any machine that has a FireWire 800 port.
Because I’ll use the same plug-ins on my Mac Pro that I do on my portable computer, all of the changes I make when I’m out of the studio will be there when I load the project on my Mac Pro.
The Satellite isn’t just for taking your music on the road — I use it on my Mac Pro in conjunction with my UDA-2 Quad card. It gives me more headroom for plug-ins when I need it.
When you plug the Satellite into your computer, the UAD-2 Control Panel shows you how much processing power you have for plug-ins (the green line). It also shows you how much is being used by the plug-ins in your project (the blue line).
For some reason, my Satellite is only connecting at 400 speeds instead of 800, but that’s probably because I have too many things plugged into the bus. It’s not a problem for me, so I haven’t investigated further.
You can adjust the bandwidth allocation for the Satellite using the control panel. I have mine set to 64 percent, which gives me the ability to load approximately 29 additional plug-ins into my project.
I love the freedom the Satellite gives me and would highly recommend it for anyone that works on music.
If you’re not using Universal Audio plug-ins and hardware, you are not getting the most from your music. It’s that simple.
“The iPad, just as it is in the consumer market, is synonymous for ‘Tablet’ in the business market,” he wrote in Thursday’s e-mailed press release, “leaving Apple poised to take advantage of the increased spending intentions of these SMBs. NPD’s research shows that iPad purchase preference is higher among larger firms than smaller ones, which is an important indicator that Apple is gaining traction far outside its typical consumer space.”
Rolling Stone:
Van Halen may still be cagey about whether they will release a new album on Interscope sometime in 2012, but they have announced plans to tour through the year with original frontman David Lee Roth.
Van Halen with David Lee Roth was one of the best bands of all time.
I’ve been using BFD Eco for the last few weeks as my main drum software instrument. Eco is FXpansion’s scaled down version of BFD 2, the company’s flagship product and one that I have used for many years.
Typically when someone says scaled down, people automatically think crippled. In a lot of cases, you would be right, but not so with BFD Eco. I was very impressed with the features, interface and the way the software worked for me in Pro Tools 10.
BFD Eco uses the BFD 2 engine, so you are getting high quality software from the start. Where Eco differs from its big brother is in the way it approaches drum sounds.
Eco is a preset based drum sampler. What I mean by that is the Eco package comes with a number of drum kits, but the company includes professionally built presets to give those kits a variety of sounds.
I must admit, I was skeptical about how well this would work. To my surprise, it sounded really good.
The biggest thing about BFD Eco is that you don’t feel like you’re giving up anything over its more expensive competition. All of the controls you expect to be part of a drum software instrument are available to you.
For instance, the main BFD Eco interface features the ability to change presets, which includes kits and the mixer; you can just change the kit; or you can change just the mixer. You also have a full mixer view of the entire kit that you have loaded so you can adjust volume levels, change routing or solo and mute individual kit pieces.
You can also adjust the mic bleed, tuning, dynamics and the velocity of drum hits, all without leaving the first window that opens when you load the plug-in. That’s impressive.
BFD Eco also includes a Channel window, which gives you access to EQs and effects that you can load on individual kit pieces. I usually record my kit dry and add the effects in the audio tracks after I print them in Pro Tools. That’s just my preference. But again, FXpansion gave me a lot more control than I expected here. You not only have control over dynamics and tuning, but also sends to the Aux channels, as well as the Overhead and Room mics — for every kit piece.
The final window in the BFD Eco interface allows to play grooves using the currently loaded drum kit. You can build your drum track right inside Eco, or you can drag the MIDI into Pro Tools and build the beat there. I typically build it in Pro Tools.
I only had one problem with Eco. On some drum fills I would get that dreaded machine gun sound. That’s when the snare drum stops sounding like a drum and sounds more like a processed, automated, rapid-fire gun. It didn’t happen all the time and there is an “Anti machine gun mode” built into the plug-in to help with that problem. That’s always been hit or miss for me though.
BFD Eco is selling from the FXpansion store right now for $29. I doubt there’s a better deal on the market right now.
I was very impressed with BFD Eco and would recommend it to anyone that needs a high-quality, inexpensive drum sampler.
AppleInsider:
Among electronics retailers, Apple was first with a score of 83, followed by Newegg.com with 82 points. The Cupertino, Calif., company also took the top spot among electronics retailers last May.
Not a big surprise.
TNW:
I’m not saying that infographics should be banished from the Web. There are plenty of great ones being created by the likes JESS3, and startups often publish ‘Here’s how fast we’re growing!’ visualisations which are newsworthy and well worth sharing, but until journalists and bloggers stop being lured by the quick hit of sub-par infographic, without being 100% certain they know what they’re linking to is correct and well-researched, the plague will continue.
Definitely some good points in there.
Bloomberg posted an article today saying that Apple should start looking at settling its many patent lawsuits or lose out on potential income from licensing.
The company could probably collect as much as $10 in royalties for every device sold, more than the amount analysts speculate Microsoft (MSFT) receives from Samsung and HTC, which use its mobile technology, said Rivette at 3LP.
I disagree with this argument.
With over $80 billion dollars in the bank, Apple doesn’t need royalty money from Android phones. By taking that money, I believe Apple would lose the very things that differentiates it from competitors — innovation.
The reason so many companies are copying Apple is that the features and technology that make up the iPhone, iPad and iOS 5 are unique. Even the most strident Android fan has to admit that Google’s mobile operating system took a major turn from copying the BlackBerry to copying Apple when they saw the iPhone.
Devices manufactured by Samsung, HTC and Motorola are almost exact replicas of the iPhone and iPad. That’s not done by accident — the companies are copying Apple to take advantage of their success.
The copying of Apple’s design is so bad (or good) that Samsung lawyers couldn’t even tell them apart when asked by a judge to identify its tablet in court earlier this year.
Apple is innovating and making its products different from everyone else. More importantly, it’s doing it first. Apple is leading the design and technology markets, forcing others to come up with their own solutions or copy Apple’s.
Sadly, most have chosen to copy. That’s not okay.
Apple makes products that people want. More companies should try that. If Apple licensed its technology, what would set it apart from everyone else?
I really like this concept a lot.
Your business and your clients depend on the visuals you make—if they end up being non-effective, that tends to be a direct reflection of your work. Once again, you want to make sure you are working smart (by doing your research and utilizing it), rather than working hard (creating a bunch of blind visuals hoping someone picks it up).
Macworld posted its Pundit Showdown XIV today and as always, it’s worth a listen. This show is a little different, at least for Peter and I, as Macworld’s Phil Michaels describes what it’s like getting his “Mac news from a guy that dresses like a hobo.”
He also mentions the beard and something about Peter’s pants. The part about Peter and I is at about 16:00 in, but listen to the whole thing and have a laugh.
On today’s The Loop, Jim Dalrymple posted a story called “Disagreements and comments. I found it interesting if only because I’m a big fan of a web site that has a well run commenting system.Jim agreed to do 10 good minutes with his thoughts on commenting in general and on The Loop specifically.
Don’t be scared. Get freaky with a beard tonight.
Matt Alexander is the owner and editor of ONE37.net, a writer, a technology enthusiast and a contributing writer for The Loop.
Last week, I bought an iPhone 4S. I hadn’t planned on buying one, but my upgrade became available eight months ahead of schedule, and I couldn’t help myself.
When I learned that my upgrade was available, my mind didn’t stop for a moment to consider an Android or Windows Phone device, I simply went straight to the Apple Store and bought a 4S.
Nothing out of the ordinary, right? The iPhone 4S is the successor of one of my favorite devices of all time, the iPhone 4. I write a great deal about Apple, and am highly invested in the iTunes ecosystem. On a personal level, my decision makes perfect sense.
And yet, what has caused me to take pause, is that the aforementioned “decision” lacked any of the characteristics typical of a decision. Rather than cognitively weighing options, my decision was more instinctual and basic. There was not a moment that I pondered the purchase, or contemplated an iPhone competitor, I just took the new information regarding my upgrade, and went directly to an Apple Store.
You might suggest that it’s because I’m some sort of “fanboy” (or “fanboi” depending on how skewed your vocabulary is), but if you have read what I have had to say for the past two months on ONE37 and The Loop, you’ll know that’s not the case.
I went out and bought the best product for me. I instinctively picked what I know to be best, and I’m happy for it. Yes, I could’ve gone out and bought a Windows Phone or the Galaxy Nexus, but what would I have gained?
That’s not to say I don’t want those platforms to have any sort of success — I find Windows Phone to be a very compelling platform — but for the modern Apple smartphone user, there’s simply no current, defining reason to switch.
Knowledge is a difficult thing to fight, and it is being fought incorrectly by just about everyone out there. Once a user has experienced a seamless environment, regardless of the manufacturer, do you really think they will willingly stick with or switch over to something more clunky and difficult to work with?
Rather than building something seamless and easy, manufacturers are keen to slap on a UI skin, copy a hardware feature or two, and put out twelve oddly named phones per year.
Sure, those phones are selling, and of course Android marketshare is growing, but do you really think the users are dedicated? Is there really anything about Android that makes users averse to switching to something else? When reaching an upgrade, does the average user know precisely what they’re going to get next and why?
In building the iOS platform, Apple has removed the need for much of what I used to be cognizant of. With AirPlay, I no longer concern myself with how I can play a video on my television from one of my devices. With iCloud, as long as my phone is connected, I have backups, seamless contacts, and calendars. With iMessage I can text internationally for free without thinking about it. As such, as the market stands, I have no compelling reason to seriously consider switching to another platform.
That might sound like my life has been dumbed down, but that’s incorrect assertion. My life has just been made easier. There’s that much less in my digital life for me to be considerate of. No longer must I verse myself with codecs and conversion techniques in order to enjoy my media, or with firmware hacks and overclocking to get the best features and performance out of my hardware. My technology just works, and it does so in the background. I enjoy applications that help me work and live, and I no longer have to focus on the underlying mechanics that facilitate that.
Other manufacturers can tack on a similar feature set — be it cosmetic or software-based — but no matter how good any one of their individual products is, there is quite literally no compelling reason for me to take pause when driving to the Apple Store until the ecosystem matches up. The Galaxy Nexus may well be a fantastic phone, but what can Android bring to the table that my Apple devices cannot? What would make my life easier in having a Galaxy Nexus?
Until manufacturers can answer these questions, and I can do something appreciably different and better using their products and ecosystems, then there is no reason for me to take pause when shopping.
That is not fanboyism — that is being a reasonable, informed consumer.
Public relations is an indispensable tool for a company to help shape public opinion about its products, services and identity. So stories like this are shocking.
And if you think that Ocean Marketing CEO Paul Christoforo was just having a bad day, think again. This isn’t the first time he’s crossed the path of an upset customer and handled it poorly.
It’s certainly a good lesson for any other firm thinking about hiring this firm to be their public face.
Italy’s anti-trust body has fined units of U.S. technology group Apple Inc a total of 900,000 euros for failing to adequately inform customers about their rights to product guarantees and assistance.
New York Post:
“When Tony Jack passed the middle point of the bridge… he nodded toward the huge tower’s foundation,” Humphreys writes.“Say good morning to Jimmy Hoffa, boys,” he said.
[Via One Foot Tsunami]
Rian van der Merwe on taking comments off his site:
Oh, comments. I’ve gone back and forth on this so many times. Sometimes I leave comments open, other times I close them. Sometimes I close comments on a post, get called out on Twitter about it, and then open it up again. It’s confusing and it’s causing me headaches. So I’ve made a decision to close comments on all posts, at least for a month or so, or until someone writes a convincing argument on why sites should have comments.
I’ve gone back and forth on this many times, but I must admit sometimes it doesn’t seem worth it to keep the comments on. Ten years ago comments were a way for the readers to express their opinion on a story — for many that was the only avenue they had to interact with the author.
That’s not the case anymore. You have Twitter, easily accessible email addresses and of course many people have their own blogs to write out their thoughts.
Instashuffle is a way to browse Instagram in an endless image stream. And it is now free. On the App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad with iOS 5 and later.
Jason Snell for Macworld:
In a post on its blog, fellow domain registrar Namecheap reports that customers trying to transfer their domains away from GoDaddy are being delayed. The post accuses GoDaddy of “returning incomplete WHOIS information” as a part of the transfer process, a practice which is against the rules of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the process manager for the domain-name system.
I transferred a domain from GoDaddy last week and it went just fine. However, after losing more than 72,000 in five days, things may have changed.
A couple of quotes from the interview:
Guitars are like women. You’ll never get them totally right.When I see footage of Guns N’ Roses, I see that fucking hunger and attitude. You could not fuck with those five guys. It was just raw. It was this lean, hungry thing on its way up. It was as sincere as any rock ‘n’ roll that I’ve ever heard, and I’m proud of that.
I’ve interviewed Slash a number of times and he’s a great guy.
Matt Richman:
Using those numbers, Apple will sell 59.38 million iOS devices, slightly less than devices running Android. But, if Apple does report “the largest blowout in company history”, then Apple will outsell every Android vendor combined.
Well that settles it, Android is winning.
Lots of great tutorials for different types of Web sites.
Thanks to CleanMyMac for sponsoring The Loop during Christmas week.