Sun, 26 Sep 2004

SUCK.COM

SUCK.COM was my favourite internet site of all time, lucky the site is still there with all it's past articles. The only lasting bad thing of the 2000AD tech stock wreck was this site shutting down.

Posted at: 14:40 | category: /links | # | 0 comments

Sun, 19 Sep 2004

track for spin cycle - test mp3

well it's a made with new gear, created using new techniques (that dx200 sequencer has some annoying limitations!), and recorded on a new recording device. This will sound quite good when it is finished. Wel it is essentially finished but I know I can record a better version.

and here is the mp3 file

Encoded using Lame

Editing using Audacity

Posted at: 03:44 | category: /bleeps | # | 0 comments

Fri, 17 Sep 2004

mp3 player screwed up. not happy. read up on it. fixed it. happier

Copying files to it it messed up with a kernel error: 
Sep 16 17:59:10 scion kernel: usb 2-1: reset full speed USB device using address 8
Sep 16 17:59:15 scion kernel: usb 2-1: control timeout on ep0out
Sep 16 17:59:20 scion kernel: usb 2-1: control timeout on ep0out
Sep 16 17:59:21 scion kernel: scsi: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery: host 6 channel 0 id 0 lun
0
Sep 16 17:59:21 scion kernel: SCSI error : <6 0 0 0> return code = 0x50000
Sep 16 17:59:21 scion kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 516608
Sep 16 17:59:21 scion kernel: >scsi6 (0:0): rejecting I/O to offline device
which is linux talk for "this thing is messed up".

After that the device was acting wierd.. veeeerrryy slow. except for the volume change and config submenus. I mean like 30 seconds for button presses to take effect. After ages I could also mount the file system but then cannot read errors andwierd USB errors occured more.. I guess the FAT filesystem was corrupted and the thing was tying itself in knots trying to scan it.

I couldn't find the manual so I hunted for info on unjamming these on the 'net.. as this thing closely resembles an iRiver a found their manual for the similar looking device - and it was the same manual, except with the iRiver references taken out. Reading the faqs on this device and it mentions reformatting it via win2k. I had already tried dosfsck on linux to no avail, but formated using a win2k box... even though the format errors out at the end, the result was the device worked fine.. in fact it works faster than when I got it, leading me to believe the filesystem on it may have been already slightly corrupt to start with. So at least I know not to use this as primary storage as filesystem corruption is easy to cause (but easy to fix).

At least I know this is a clone or no-name version of the iRiver iFP 300 series players .. although I am not game to try any of the firmware updates.

Posted at: 01:16 | category: / | # | 0 comments

Thu, 16 Sep 2004

New Nerd Toy - cheap noname mp3 player usb drive thingo from ebay.com.au

Here are a few remarks on this device and comments on using it with a Linux computer. Mainly got it for listening to music in the car easily, but the quite decent recording quality also opens up a few additional uses for it. It is small and handy and runs off a single AA battery so I can use my rechargeables.

mp3 player

It appears to be a clone (or no-badged version?) of the iRiver iFP-395T

Sound quality is quite good, and the output level is higher than I expected, and has driven every device I have tried at a loud enough level.

The user interface is quite slow and not very well designed, either the buttons dont register every click or it is quite slow to respond, but it is workable (although annoying) once you get the hang of it.

There is absoluetely no brand name or model number anywhere in the software, manual or on the unit itself. It seems completely no-name except for identifying as "Philips" but I reckon that is who made the USB storage chip it uses. The manual is copright 2003 "our company" and the box mentions 128M and 256M size, but has 512M written on by hand..

It claims to be "Firmware Upgradable", and there is an Upgrade/ subdirectory on the USB storage device but there is no mention of where, how, or what upgrades are available.

When I plug it into my Debian GNU/Linux box the USB hotplug stuff reports: 

scsi7 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: Philips   Model: MassStorage Disk  Rev:
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sda: 259073 2048-byte hdwr sectors (531 MB)
sda: assuming Write Enabled
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
..so it meets the advertised 512MB space although df reports 506M size. I can mount it if I mount /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1 as there is no partition table (type VFAT), and read/write files like any USB storage device. It has an Upgrade/ directory and a Radio/ directory, presumably for firmware updates and recordings respectively.

Recording a random mp3 into the line in after setting it to maximum sample rate and quality (it has a range to choose from) produces a file identified by "file" as: 

teleport:/mnt/mp3# file /mnt/mp3/Radio/Radio004.wav
/mnt/mp3/Radio/Radio004.wav: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, IMA ADPCM, stereo 44100 Hz
.. which is not a straigh digital audio file but stored in IMA ADPCM lossy compression. Most Linux audio programs don't seem to like this format, but it can be converted to normal uncompressed PCM .wav files (and hence processed further. The trick I found to do this with sox (as both have .wav extensions so dont want to convert) is to use a non-lossy intermediate format: 
teleport:/tmp#  sox -V Radio004.wav  Radio004x.cdr
sox: Detected file format type: wav

sox: Chunk fmt
sox: Chunk fact
sox: Chunk void
sox: Chunk data
sox: Reading Wave file: IMA ADPCM format, 2 channels, 44100 samp/sec
sox:         44711 byte/sec, 512 block align, 4 bits/samp, 2364928 data bytes
sox:         2 Extsize, 505 Samps/block, 512 bytes/block
sox: Input file Radio004.wav: using sample rate 44100
        size shorts, encoding ima_adpcm, 2 channels
sox: Input file Radio004.wav: comment "Radio004.wav"

sox: Output file Radio004x.cdr: using sample rate 44100
        size shorts, encoding signed (2's complement), 2 channels
sox: Output file: comment "Radio004.wav"

teleport:/tmp#   sox -V Radio004x.cdr Radio004x.wav
sox: Detected file format type: cdr

sox: Input file Radio004x.cdr: using sample rate 44100
        size shorts, encoding signed (2's complement), 2 channels
sox: Writing Wave file: Microsoft PCM format, 2 channels, 44100 samp/sec
sox:         176400 byte/sec, 4 block align, 16 bits/samp
sox: Output file Radio004x.wav: using sample rate 44100
        size shorts, encoding signed (2's complement), 2 channels
sox: Finished writing Wave file, 9330384 data bytes 4665192 samples
However setting levels is a bit hit and miss as there is no VU meter, but there is a input level control and a AGC mode which I haven't tried. The line-in is audible on the headphone outs so some basic monitoring can be done however. Due to the fiddly user interface I wouldn't try anything in a hurry however. The quality, while not DAT crystal, is noise free and quite usable enough for making quick demo recordings, etc.

Posted at: 00:11 | category: / | # | 0 comments

Mon, 13 Sep 2004

Went and checked out BRING THEM HOME on the weekend

..which was a most worthwhile gig to check out on September 11. I haven't been out to a good old crazy warehouse knees up party in ages so was excellent to check it out in all it's glory. I got some pictures of Clan Analogue act Nerfcore doing that bleep bleep thing live on stage.

Nerfcore Live action #1

Nerfcore Live action #2

Posted at: 09:05 | category: /bleeps | # | 0 comments

Dark Network

Most excellent analogue electronic music from this mysterious duo.

http://www.darkwork.net

I have been listening to their most excellent album Late Set on Clan Analogue Recordings, plus their site has some mp3s for download as well.

Posted at: 08:41 | category: /links | # | 0 comments

Thu, 02 Sep 2004

Updated my live setup.. with another FM synth

After being flat out and leaving this blog languishing for months it took me to be home sick with the flu to get of my backside and update it..

For ages have used an old Yamaha DX21 4OP synth as the main (only?) tone generator, with a Korg ER-1 for rhythms. All this driven from a laptop.

Now have just got a Behringer VMX300 DJ mixer and a Yamaha DX200 synth groovebox thing. The DJ mixer has been very handy with the D D T T residency, but now I can use a new stripped down live setup without a bulky keyboard, laptop or large mixer to haul around.

I will have to work on a new set and evolving a new compositional technique using the on board sequencers of the two grooveboxes, but at least I have a small reliable live setup, while keeping the amazing FM synth sounds.

Posted at: 20:16 | category: /bleeps | # | 0 comments

strange lockups fixed by flashy cables

After reshuffling the inside of my computer I started getting wierd random lockups - Wolfenstein Enemy Territory would crap out with a signall 11, compiles sometimes messed up, etc.. Memory tested OK, and a lot of reseating of everything didnt help. For a while I blamed it on the proprietry Linux nvidia drivers, and went on a raft of upgrades, downgrades and crossgrades that didn't help at all.

Turns out the problem was the older crappy 40 pin ide cable I had used for my the first hard drive mainly because it was the only one long enough (by and extra few centimetres) to reach.. Replacing it with a Thermaltake IDE cable fixed the problem, now the box is working perfectly.

Posted at: 19:56 | category: / | # | 0 comments

just got a gmail account

thanks to Nikt. As I already have heaps of email accounts I may not use it much, although I think I will check out the spam filtering. All I need to to is publish the email address on the web and this should come to pass real soon.

Posted at: 13:26 | category: / | # | 0 comments