7/25/06

Back to Cricket!

Various things are happening in India cricket, and few of the major
controversies are being created by people who are no longer listed
active for duty or service.

Case 1: Gangully Vs Jagan "Mohini" Dalmia, broken horses are waging
fierce verbal war. Gangu used this fingers again, he showed his middle
finger and pointed at his so called mentor Dalmiya , he held Dollmia
responsible for the celebrated Chapell email leak that sealed
Gangully's cricketing carrier. Mr. Dolly is notorious and known for
his of such activities is busy denying his charge - only a naive soul
will believe Dolly's side of the story. These guys have made enough
money why they are still hungry for power? Like thenga Srini would
say "antha karuppaNNasami than kapAthanam".

Case 2: Majeraker/Sachin issue, ManjuJi made "sweeping" statements on
Sachin. Sanjay the "technically blah blah blah" Manju wrote in his
newspaper column that Sachin is afraid to accept failure; when ever
Sachin goes low on batting form he takes a medical break Yah! The team
of orthopedic surgeons and other doctors who diagnose his problems
must have had an IQ below 25. Well, it is his opinion - he has to
right to express it. But just about few years ago Manjuji had
different sets of opinion on Tendulkar. In the past his swaggering commentary on
TV established his blind faith on Sachin the cricketer in High
definition digital color. But what is that "something" that suddenly
changed San"juice" course? And Sachin usually never replies to such
opinions or claims by anyone, however may be for first time he has
shown displeasure directly to the press.

Team selection, I am just wondering how Dinesh Mongia made it back in
to the team. He has an average of bowling not more than 10 balls per
innings in the past. How did he make it to the team? Why was he
recalled? Did he attend a special camp or is there some one who can
push so much load [of crap] in that part of India? Seriously the board
was brutal to the new faces in spite of performances. Sri Lanka is in
top form. It is very hard for India to beat them at home and if India
losses badly again in this one day series, people would not hesitate
to show the coach his name sake - Patharatchalu. In my opinion he is
totally inefficient.

7/20/06

Tamil Single Release!...

If he had taken an alternative career path or his music seriously he could have gone all the way to the tinsel town kodambakkam, but like many “talented” Desis he side tracked his music for a day job. Folks, meet Siddharth from Richmond, Virginia. The singer I am introducing today is a genuine vocal power house.

Having worked with various talented singers, my observation is that often a singer is influenced by their idol; Do not get me wrong, this influence is perfectly ok and normal. But when I heard Siddharth, it was hard to guess his idol; he had a voice and a tone that will identify him. Siddharth was able to bring in expressions that I had in my mind.About a month ago, I auditioned him in my studio. We recorded peppy folk song which would be a sequel to the Vasiyakari (Written by Udhaya); officially that was his first song in my studio. This is his second song;

Coming to the lyrics part –why I choose to write it? The subject that I had worked for this is track was kind of personal. I had to write lyrics so that I can convey my emotions directly..

How many times a friend, a colleague or a peer or a trusted someone abandoned you? How many times you helped someone for their growth and they simply discarded you when you are no longer needed. This happens to every human being, people in the art field are soft targets for such ugly incidents. Regardless of what of the twins says ["thick skin" "face reality" etc] nevertheless these are painful circumstances to deal. This is when an artist tends to seek spiritual refuge, over period of time every artist will get over it and life continues. I am not trying to prove anything to anyone however this does reflect my emotions on such issues.

I kindly request you to hear the song couple of times on a good speaker system.

You can download the song from my website...click the image below.

Good day!.

Crap seen on TV

I was watching a TV show called "America's got Talent" on NBC [Nations
Boring Channel]. The show did not make any sense to me at all; even
kids show on NICKtoons is better, they are interesting and
challenging.

Three great Judges were trying to find best among apples, toilet
tissues, keyboards, hairclip, ants and coffee. They are being paid
high dollars to press the X button and of course the package is not
complete without superficial statements on love, pride, passion, so
called wit filled pithy comments in British accent. For the money
paid, we also get see how celebrities fight amongst themselves. Regis
must be getting couple of millions for a portfolio that is now way
superior to the Airport PA announcer. Studio audience gets to watch
the crap live while as a bonus they get to boo at the judges.

Seriously the whole concept seemed dumb to me, it has too much act
diversity with well cooked chaos. May be NBC can think of splitting it
like LAW and ORDER – SVU/Crime unit etc say "AMT–Childish" or "AMT-
Silly", "AMT-Ridiculous" or AMT–Pathetic.

Irony here is a talented Brit producer is running the show to pick the
most talented American. Simon Cowell knows "America's got Gimmicks."
He is using it quite well. Tell me what is talent got to do with a
person throwing and catching a set of bowling ball with knife attached
to its or his ass? How this is different from a fear factor
participant who swallows leaches and who don't hesitate to swim on
skunk puke in name of Determination. This act is followed by a 6 year
old prodigy playing Bach on a grand piano.

Talent is a natural ability to do something well, stunt is something
dangerous mostly done to as a challenge or to entertain people A stunt
or show piece will have caption "do not try this at home - this was
performed by professional stunt personnel". Most gigs shown in this
show was pathetic. The crying Russian dancer in particular; the 70
year male strip dancer, the horny guy, he had about 20000 cycle horns
tied on to him, plays music using it. Sounds interesting? But the way
he played it sounded worse than a circus seal playing the same. The
judge told that he looks amusing, yes, just like a Bear riding a bike
in the circus.

Do you know the "America's most desperate" - TV producers for NBC, CBS
etc, these folks need to attend a full time course on entertainment
rehabilitation; if it works for them, we should send our Sun TV
producers and directors.

Our Sun-TV directors are superior primates when compared these guys. I
need to congratulate the director of Tamil serial Kolangal, his
thought process is seriously as unique as an alligator or a jelly
fish. Someone please patent the gustatory system in his brain. His
taste process is so useless even Brahma rues his creation. There is
another comedy when you read the title card of Anandam, there is a
person with a portfolio called "Creative head". I would change this
dude's title to Dick Head instead.

Good day.

7/19/06

Next Tamil Single!..



7/18/06

Musicians Mantra - 3

Please note this discussion would get some what technical - hang in there.

What is this Receptor? Medical books defines it is as a nerve ending that is sensitive to impulses, engineering books defines it as an electronic device that receives electronic signals or chemistry book calls it as specific cell binding or a molecule. What ever! I cooked all this from MS word lookup feature.
What is Muse Research Receptor? Let me explain features of Receptor one by one and map it to my initial requirements. [Listed earlier]

A product that can host VST instruments and effects without the host software– Yes! Receptor hosts VST instruments and effects standalone –it is a VST host that drives VST plug-ins; a stand alone box that can be an open ended sound module, an effect processor or both.

That is housed in a separate rack, like every other sound module controlled via midi sequencer or feeds via direct audio inserts from a mixer or wired digitally within the digital domain YES, Receptor is housed in a 2 rack unit. Can be triggered via midi, has audio inputs /outputs and direct guitar, USB,S/Pidf ADAT in/outs and networking.

That can be easily added on to any existing setup and work flow; of course! Receptor has Midi in, outs and thru, just plug in your midi keyboard or midi hub and start using it directly or can be called from your midi sequencer or DAW. Direct audio inserts from the mixer or wired digitally within digital domain: This is where Receptor shines like a star; receptor [5.1] uses a technology called Uniwire. Uniwire enables communication between software based instruments/sequencers or VST plugs via Ethernet. This is the best feature I like, effects are hosted else where so that pc can spend its power on audio processing instead. When tested there was no latency at all.

That is multi timbre Yes! - Receptor supports 16 channels of Midi.

That is not really 100% PC/Mac OS dependent; The Entire show is driven by Linux and set of proprietary/open source software. The OS image is small and occupies less space; the shutdown and start up is very quick. This is a remodeled computer that has CPU, a 160gig hard drive with VGA, keyboard and mouse interfaces. Though sounds like a PC, behaviors wise it is totally different from a PC; there are no hidden virus scanners, or automatic update checks or no other unwanted window services to worry about. A PC or Mac is needed to install software upgrades.

That has an easy learning curve: Receptors is very easy to learn, it just like another sound module. It does have some networking implementation concepts; however it no big deal it is as easy as installing a DSL modem.

The last but not the least something that is very easy to control with or without GUI: There are button, knobs and a LCD display in the front panel using which we can control the receptor, Receptor can take VGA monitor, keyboard and a mouse, Or, they provide software to drive receptor from a pc/mac, something similar to the Remote desktop connection in windows XP.

What Receptor can do for me? Receptor can host VST plug-ins; Receptor can serve as a multi timbre Sound module handling multiple channels of midi or it can host Effects processors that take [dry] signals and add effects and return a wet signal. Receptor offers 16 channels or I would call it as slots to host VST, meaning I do not need a midi/audio sequencer to host VST plug-ins anymore; each receptor slot can accommodate VST effects or VST based soft synthesizers. Each slot has the ability to respond to Midi and audio inputs directly or transmit midi and audio. More over you can route each channel to 3 additional effects. And some more, Sound effects can be routed or ordered using 3 paths - series, parallel or a combination of both. As an instrument alone, Receptor can have 16 different software instruments with 48 effects. As if this was enough, we have 2 x 3 master effects slots that can be used by every channel. You can save all the setting, patches and recall them when needed. These are stored as data files that can be backed up.

What are the instruments or effects it can host? A huge list can be found in their website, they list few of them as unsupported - mostly due to “non technical reasons”, but you can give try, 8 out 10 times it works.

Other than being VST host, what are the other powerful features of Receptor?God gave the power of speech - for humans to communicate [supposedly] better. Human beings created networks protocols for “their creations” to communicate; Receptor supports TCP/IP - You can access Receptor’s hard drive via networking. Receptor comes with DHCP and IP protocols for windows and apple talk that will automatically hook on to your network. Receptor wires itself as network a resource using an IP address. For non computer folks, every network resource is identified by a unique number [E.g.: 111.111.111.111] in a network.

Data can be transferred to and from receptor using the shared work space. Plug-In installations are done via network using a pc/Mac, Yes! In way Receptor is kind of computer dependent. I contradict my earlier notion little here. To install a new component, I should put the component in a predetermined folder in Receptor; May be someone hard coded the location in the code. I prefer this install directory as user configurable folder; like I should be able to use my USB stick/drive to install components. Receptor should take user inputs for getting the active install folder name. I am sure future versions will have this feature.

With its Network capabilities Receptor can communicate with other software products using Uniwire. Uniwire is a single cable solution using standard Ethernet protocol. Muse Research provides a VST plug-in that can be hosted on the DAW [Digital Audio work stations - a fancy name for an audio sequencer].
This plug-In will establish a path between the DAW and Receptor via Ethernet. Using a single network cable receptor can transmit audio and midi data in all the 16 channels. You can them connect directly or via network hub/switch. I tried using Uniwire in Protools, via VST to RTAS wrapper [converter], it worked but was sluggish; may be due to the wrapper, it is matter of time before Muse gets out a native RTAS UNIWIRE plug-in. Until then I am better of using S/Pdifs outputs for digital audio transfer. Receptor also comes with USB ports, using which you can connect an external hard drive or DVD drive, very handy for data backups. Or you might host a 1 gb grand piano sample from USB hard drive. There are ports to connect keyboard, mouse, and a VGA monitor. This is very hand in studio environments. Or you can use the remote control application, which is something very similar to windows XP remote desk top connection tool. Type in the IP address, the front end of the Receptor appears in a window. This window application has few limitations like the clip board is not common between the windows etc. this is really painful, if you want transfer some license key number, you have no other choice other than to type them one by one. Other than that, it works really well. I have a monitor/mouse connected to it.

Receptor comes loaded with 265mb of ram, this is too “low” and seriously with 256mb you will hate this box right away. A plug-in like Spectrosonics Atmosphere is destined to fail due to low memory in Receptor. Best bet would be to go for the highest supported upgrade – 2 gigs. You will not regret it, even mammoth plugs work easily with such configuration.

Receptor also comes with slew of plugs preloaded; for those “privileged” Receptor owners some of the premium plug-ins are free. I tried almost all of them; few of them are very cheesy. I don’t think few in the list will be off any use in the professional circuit, these many be handy for a marketing person who can show it off in a demo. Muse should take a note of this; they should not dump plug-ins because they are free.

“Poor Musicians” who “own” cracked plug-ins might have a question, well…will cracked plug-ins work on Receptor? I really do not know, but bottom line here is Receptor is a serious music instrument for serious musicians who want stability “yada yadas”, so regardless of anything - using cracked plugs anywhere warrants trouble in the production cycle. So it is better to avoid such “cracked” investments. A musician who can afford Receptor will be able to afford premium plugs-ins. Musician who can afford? What is the cost? - The full upgrade cost ranges from $1800-$2200. Samash has live demos available, you might want to check it or visit Muse website for demo videos

There are questions asked in Muse discussion boards like why can’t I invest on a PC instead? Well yes you can, Receptor is technically a desktop PC, but please go back and read my 4 basic points. I believe that I can get more out of Receptor than a PC or Mac because Receptor is dedicated to do a single PC task properly. Host VST! , do you pay $2000 just to host VST plug-ins? True can be argued, bottom line “you need to make a choice based on your comfort zone”.

When thinking about future possibilities, I foresee something very promising for the music industry. Assume Roland decides to bundle their VSynth technology into a windows based VST module, or some other synthesizer manufacture plans to create cross platform VST software versions, Receptor can host them for you. Does it not sounding too promising? Is there a catch? Yes there are few, both technically and logistically, technically Mac users have few issues. Receptor supports VST plug-ins made for windows platform only. Mac users should cross convert their plug-Ins. But most premium plug-ins seems to be cross- compatible. Some windows based plug-in might not work due their implementation. From a manufacturer perspective I am sure Muse is working on this cross compatibility and will get more manufacturers to “receptorize” their VST products. Logistically, Muse has to deal agreements with companies. This will never be easy in a market that is brutally competitive. The crude truth is it is matter of time before we see hybrid clones of this product.

Will this ensure “good” musical productions? The word “good” is very subjective; no one can define “good music”. People don’t decide music quality based on musical instruments – often decided based on the person playing it; Mandolin was just a European instrument, mostly used in film music genre, but when one “little guy” from South India called “Srinivas” played it, the whole complexion of the instrument changed. World heard something new! Today whenever we hear the word “Mandolin” our god given neural network will automatically map the name “Srinivas” to it. I read that Receptor is owned by many top class musicians around the world, it is also used by some of my favorite bands and musicians. U2 is said to have stacks of them, and it is also believed that “A.R.Rahman” owns this so does Harris Jeyaraj and few other Indian musicians who are technology savvy and who are NOT intimidated by technology;

In my case [a small scale musician] Receptor will definitely aid my music production in a better fashion, and over all, I am thrilled to see the possibilities using receptor and I am looking forward to produce music as usual, may be this can add more color and perfection to my creations.

Finally, I am yet to fully realize the potential of Receptor but on the first go it is simply awesome! And remember first impression is often your best!

7/17/06

Musicians Mantra - Part 2

If you have missed the previous part of this series, please click here…

Any goodies to work properly, there is a price to pay. Apart from the monetary aspects, there are various technical overheads like CPU cycles, memory limitation.

A VST plug- in cannot run on its own. It requires a host that it can hook on to or call it piggy backing; having VST plug-ins without the host is like me owning Hindi literatures, just occupies space in the hard disk. This is not the major issue - Most software sequencers today support VST [Yes, today many Tamilians read/write Hindi including someone “wink-wink” who opposed Hindi]. No worries here, but the real issue would be, Software synthesizers and Effects demand lot of CPU time/Cycles - processing power and memory space. PC or Mac must be equipped with acres of memory and powerful processing capabilities. In general adding plug-ins drains processor cycles, soon system ends up in being slow or sluggish [like watching a mind blowing game of Golf on CBS or swashbuckling batting display of Geoffrey Boycott].

The situation can become volatile under PC environments [Duh!]; apart from the sequencer OS essentials like windows explorers and travelers will be drawing additional CPU juice. Also from an exiting VST users perspective if they go live on stage, using the funky-Vocal-Slice effect that was used in the studio recording is not easy, you can though, by carrying the pc or a lap top or iMac along, host your favorite software synthesizers & effects, wire them etc., believe me this is a cumbersome process and if PC goes into one of its hanging or brooding mood, we are done.

What if I use software that does not support VST or in my case I use Protools, Protools supports RTAS plug-Ins - native for DIGI design products. On the contrary there are plenty of RTAS products, but most of them will bankrupt you in day or two. Easy approach here would be to change my base software if I need to use VST, a costly proposition as I cannot let go my favorite Protools, it is damn stable and dependable, and who knows other software might come with problems or might have a steep learning curve. Having said that, at the same time I don’t want to skip VST from my producer palette, today’s industry norm is such that, musicians have limited choices if their work flow fails to support VST instruments and plug-ins.

Bottom line: Mac or PC – plug-in overload during live shows or studio recording is not a very pleasant scenario. And it is very hard for musicians to change their work flow. All said and done, in spite of pains ready to strike musicians do not hesitate to play around with VST instruments and effects why? Simply because these things inspire, they open new avenues and doors for musicians. VST is such a great tool that it has become a must for Musicians. How do we come to a compromise here? I should be able to use VST without worrying about the processing cycles crap, or changes in my work flow crap?

What if? I find a product that can eliminate or reduce the pains mentioned above; A product
• That can host VST instruments and effects without the host software
• That is housed in a separate rack, like every other sound module controlled via midi sequencer or feeds via direct audio inserts from a mixer or wired digitally within the digital domain
• That can be easily added on to any existing setup and work flow
• That is multi timbre
• That is not really PC/Mac dependent
• That has an easy learning curve - you can use your existing VSTs as is.
• The last but not the least something that is very easy to control with or without GUI

The above is a massive requirement specification. Let go the fancy sides like multiple platform support etc, when it comes to musical gizmos, in my opinion apart from inspiring them, “serious” musician worry about 4 major things.

Stability: The product must be stable, period. Not once my triton or motif has hung up on me, they just keep working on and on and on… [Touch wood! in my case my head comes really handy]. The reason I still use Protools in spite of no VST support is due to its damn stability. Never once it has hung-up on me.

Latency: Reaction or Response time between gadgets, assume you turn on the TV using your remote, and it comes up after 10 minutes, the latency here can termed as "pathetic". Software synthesizers are notorious for such goofy behavior; notes would sound 1 or 2 seconds after actual play time . Few software products try to compensate for such latency however at times it gets ugly which in turn slows down music creation and composing. Musicians will have to try some other alternative patch up work flow. Serious musician cannot tolerate latency. When transmitting and receiving (midi/audio) data, the unit has to respond faster [than human beings] without latency.

Adapting into my work flow: In order to accommodate the new comer, I should not order upgrades for my other trusted gadgets; with very minimum process change it should fit in automatically; Easy learning curve is a must, like the product should use same terminologies, like it should not rename the common jargons like “patch” to say something like SAVE - simulated algorithm for Virtual Entities [I just made that up]. Simplicity – Korg Triton is a complex instrument but its front is designed so well, anybody can pick it up within a short period of time.

Genuine Life time, Future upgrades and Support: I want my investment protected; I need upgrades in future and good support. When the product comes to the market it should have cleared hurdles in the beta version stage, and should have a proper life time say 2 years. The product should then grow with the industry. As soon as I buy it, since the old version had serious bugs, the company should not release a completely redesigned new version that is not downward compatible. Some companies are notorious for such gadgets.

These 4 are vital statistics for me to buy a musical instrument. You can add a 5th, Cost factor: How much you are willing to pay. This is very subjective, and depends on individual needs and economics.

Are there such products out there to do this? If not say why don’t a bunch of experienced software geeks who are also expert musicians design this for the world?

Yes! That is exactly what Muse research and their Receptor is all about. Folks! The product I will be talking about from now is called RECEPTOR. Designed and developed by Muse Research. People in Muse Research fit my description perfectly. Receptor was developed by computer hardware/software/network geeks who are also avid musicians. They come from various backgrounds and popular companies in the music industry. Before stepping on to receptor development, they have done other things to music industry. Using their experience in both the worlds, they have designed and built receptor in such a way that I am marveled as composer/producer/keyboardist and as hardcore software professional, I am thrilled to see its architecture and implementation. They have exploited technology in every possible way and have clearly addressed the needs of musicians. Honestly when heard about this gadget, I “assumed” that was just another complex thingy and I was not seriously keen to get one for me, but I was totally wrong. Receptor is a powerful gadget; its open ended architecture ensures a great future ahead of it.

Tommorrow, let use see what is this Receptor all about?

Let me clarify that I don’t work or market any thing for Muse research; I am just an avid musician who would not hesitate to use any kind of modern technology if my composition warrants such usage.


Good day..

7/14/06

Musicians Mantra

Few days ago I mentioned about a new gadget for my studio, few of my friends tried guessing however none came even close but before going into it, let me write an intro for non-technical people so that it helps them to understand what I am scribbling about. The goal here is to explain few concepts and create a step by step valid reasoning or justification for need of such gadgets. .When I finished the article today I realized it was about 10 pages long, hence I decided to divide the article into smaller parts based on average time spent per Blog by a Blog reader [aka ETWDO - Effective Time wasted during office hour]. I know what you are thinking! I promise, article completion is assured as I have finished the article in full. If you have been a dormant reader of my Blog please do share your thoughts, honestly such participation encourages me to write more in these topics. Alright here we go!

How many times you have heard the word software Plug-ins?

Time and time again I have “yada yada ed” about Electronic Music instruments and how they have evolved for generations, starting from a dumb electronic circuit that generated calling bell sounds to something more much complex like Software based instruments that match or mimic any natural instruments to perfection. Technology growth in the music industry is phenomenal. Today we have incredible tools that inspire musicians to produce great music. One such growth is “PLUG-INS”.

The word “Plug-in” is an important “mantra” for musicians. Assume a plug-in to be a component that does a specific task in a process chain, it can be added, updated or removed based on needs. When you order something on the Internet, your order actually travels through a pipeline, like from adding the item into shopping cart, capturing address details, validating your credit card, creating the order, and finally it ships to you. The each activity mentioned in the pipe line can be called as plug-ins that does specific predefined tasks. Or another simpler example, while entering the free way we see traffic meters in some cities [e.g.: Minneapolis, MN ] , these meters permit one or two car per green, it is a plug-in that aids smooth traffic flow. This can be turned on and off based on traffic congestion.

In music production cycle, plug-ins executes specific tasks, a “plug in” by its name, plugs itself into the main task or chain of activities. VST, DirectX, RTAS, AU are few famous plug-in technologies available today. Plug-Ins can do various tasks like providing reverb, delay, phase, sound modeling or even pitch corrections, or act as virtual instrument to play drum grooves. All the plug-In technology match each other in quality and performance, however let me jump directly to the most popular form of Plug-In called VST.

VST is an acronym for Virtual Studio Technology developed by Steinberg, makers of products like Wave Lab, Cubase, and Nuendo. VST refers to an interface standard for connecting audio synthesizer and effect plug-ins to audio editors, sequencer and hard-disk recording systems. VST allows the replacement of traditional recording studio hardware with software counterparts. Example, Today, if you need an industry standard reverb like Lexicon, you can get the VST version of Lexicon instead of the hardware version. Such Plug-ins can be chained into the audio track. They get the feed from the audio track – adds effects and sends it back. The sources is retained in the format it was recorded. Effect is just an insert over the source and it can be changed without affecting the source. VST Plug-Ins has various flavors and has their own Graphic user interface [GUI], using which users can play around with the parameters [Value Semantics that changes the behavior of input data]. Meaning you can configure or tweak the plug-in independently. The host software will not know or worry about these changes other then sending and receiving data. Like I said before there are also other interfaces like RTAS, AU and Microsoft DirectX; VST is the most popular among all because slew of powerful VST effects, instruments and synthesizers can be found on the internet. Some of them are free.

What is VST based software instrument? Let us consider Yamaha Motif ES sampler/workstation/keyboards for example. Motif comes as software & hardware bundled and housed in a big “silver” shell. It is a dedicated piece of hardware with its own control sets. Assume we pull the software from Motif ES and make it run on the PC abiding by the Virtual Studio Technology standards and protocols - this becomes VST based Software Synthesizer Plug-In. Instead of stand alone dedicated hardware, the computer midi devices triggers it, and the hard disk stores the sounds samples and its processor does the processing for you. Technically Yamaha motif is a computer in a different form; it has processors, memory and executes code. The idea here is - Why not use the PC/Mac to do the processing. I should also mention about Digi Design, [makers of Protools] as one among the pioneers in developing such concepts. Advantages of such software based instruments are, Costs can be kept considerably low to its hard ware counter parts, the reason being it does not need processors & memory to be bundled along. Once it becomes downloadable software it is now open for wide range of upgrades and possibilities. A fantastic concept and a powerful mechanism widely used today in most audio production. Be it a Blogger musician or a professional musician, they have access to tons of free and premium VST plug-ins.

However even God’s first creations came with a catch called “apple” restrictions. For these goodies to work properly there is a price to pay. Apart from the monetary aspects, there are various technical overheads like CPU cycles, memory limitation.

More on Moday....

Have a great weekend.

7/11/06

its Tuesday - keep it short

Good morning, as I start another trip around the sun I thank….. [Inaudible whispers]. I left home at 6.00am, Traffic was ok this morning; Weather seems to be perfect around DC metro. No rains for past few days. My midi 8x8 Hub that was fried due to power surges is back in action. I received the firmware chip from M-Audio and it took 20 minutes to get going. Sachin looks to strike form, basically his minimum score for past few weeks has been hundred, yesterday in a rain shortened game charity game against Pakistan, he fired a quick 50. Good going for him, I wish he gets back on groove before the world cup. Dravid leading the Indian team and lost the charity match to Pakistan.

As you see there is nothing much to scribble, it ends here :)

Good day.

7/10/06

OGIM [oh! God its Monday]

Monday Morning Traffic was crawling on 270 towards 495 belt way. It was more or less of a "Janavasam" for everyone. Like starved rodents let go lose, little topless cars zigzagged through lanes. In the name of music some cars were blasting "the Brigade road thuds". I really do not know the purpose of having 10 lanes. My agony was padded well by the morning show on DC-99.5. These guys come up with some crazy gigs and remove pain from the every lasting "Janavasam ride".

Yesterday on Sun TV I managed to catch "sapathaswarangal", an all kid show, presided by Gana Ulagananthan. Every kid sang with perfection. One that got my attention was "Srinithi" she should be about 10 or something, apart from a sweet voice, the expressions she was able to deliver into the song was simply amazing. She seemed to have all the qualities of a play back singer; it is just matter of time she reaches the lime light.

Italy won the world cup, France lost. I did watch the game. Penalty shootout seemed ridiculous to me that too in a final. 90 minutes of regular time was simply mocked. You can ask me, how you can then finish the game. I would change the rules – have 2+1 penalty shoot outs, one in the beginning and one during ½ time. The regular time should be used to score something more than achieved in those penalty shoot outs,. If the score are equal still, one more shoot out at the end. This will restore some honor to the regular 90 minutes. Play your heart out but if the result is end based on last 10 minutes in the shoot out, seriously it makes the game really dull than what it is already. btw: The French captain did a head butt to an Italian player. It was like watching "Chimbu" in action.

Yesterday NBC had a short news clip on why Americans don't like Soccer. The report said it was a boring blah blah blah and they termed Soccer as "Rest of the world sport" and the winner as "rest the world champions". Topic then shifted went towards baseball; but they covered up baseball with its old tradition etc duh! How interesting is Baseball? To me the entire 11 innings fiasco feels like watching hibernating polar bears roll over in their bed; or watch VVS and Dravid play for a draw [with 2 turns each]. Nothing much happen other than swing and a miss. Desi scientists in Harvard or Berkley can try this, create a turbine that traps the air flow from each swing and miss to generate electric which powers the beer refrigerator in the stadium. Homer Simpson was damn right on money. Unless you get drunk nothing seems interesting in this sport. My take is in order to make this game interesting - the spectators should get drunk - more the merrier- while the players get doped.

Finally – as per US sports media, I guess playing Baseball between Main Street and Wayzata blvd fetches the world champion title but in Soccer playing against world teams gets only the "Rest of the world champion" title.

7/6/06

Friday Sermon

The recent downpour in Maryland had caused power surges in my studio; in spite of spike busters etc, firm ware in one of my midi hub was fried; M-Audio resolved it at once, thanks to their fantastic support. Currently things are back to normal. During this cleanup work, I managed to co ordinate serious gadgets upgrades. The studio is now properly wired for foreground and background scoring. A new powerful gadget landed in the studio for this and other purposes. I am now a proud owner of a brand new gadget! What is it? Musicians never tell their secret. I would discuss more after I churn out songs using it. However the manufacturer tells me that I am the 5 th Indian to own this thingy; this will change my work flow to something remarkable. I am hoping that my musical carrier will take a serious step forward; please wish me luck;

One main reason I went for upgrades was to work on film scoring, but the bottom line MPGD ["Man Proposes God Disposes"]. Things don't happen like you had planned for or the trusted someone takes you for granted; life shall takes it course; priority changes for people, nevertheless I have been doing music for long enough that I usually don't deviate for such petty issues. It did make me feel gloomy but consolation is – "what can you do? It is not your fault" Sea is full of fishes or Saravana-Bhavan is not the only restaurant that serves "paper dosa"; - Hold it, I see that you frown and wonder what the heck this guy is whining about, nothing, just my "@#$@#@" story.

Moving on - My next song is a Hindi track, you can see the banner below; I would be introducing two more wonderfully talented folks. "Raghu and Ajay" I will talk about them once the track is released. One thing I want to say is, it was a pleasure working with Raghu and Ajay. Bharath has played my drum score with lots of punch and flow. I am sure this track would be a new beginning for me and my talented team. Following this there are 3 or 4 Tamil songs in the production bin for this summer, I will be introducing more vocalists. The collection includes a sequel to "vaisayakkari" track called "Nadodi kalaignan" - Introducing - Siddharth, Just hang in there for more updates.

Have a great weekend;

7/4/06

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