[Politics] MacOS is for Women, Windows is for Men

Yesterday I was, almost literally, hit in the face with a cold.  I was feeling fine reading a book when, within about 30 seconds, I went from perfectly normal to spewing snot monster.  It was a pretty strange sensation and forced me to spend the day, not practicing, but instead blowing my nose.  Anyways, my foggy brain came up with this title and I'm running with it.

Yesterday I read this article about why it's so hard to work in shared offices.  My immediate thought after reading it was, "Duh! How can you concentrate when there are a million people around you making noise doing their things!"  Having spent most of my life in a padded room making noises with a permanent beeping sound in my ear(aka practicing), I understood how annoying distractions and extraneous noises are when you take an exam, or are concentrating really hard.

How is this relevant to the title?  Honestly, it was because of this section here:

“This place must have more Apple AirPods per capita than anywhere in the world,” he said one afternoon, warily looking around.

Okay, not much of a correlation, but my brain grabs on to snippets and it made me realize something.  Not only are shared offices one of the worst ideas ever, but only status-driven narcissistic Facebook-obsessed millennials would every use an Apple, and that the majority of those would be females.

As I began searching for the answer, I soon realized this is a much harder question to answer than I previously suspected.  Apple would never let someone know if a user is male or female, as they themselves probably do not know.  While I did see a statistic that said men spend more money on Apple online sales (think appstore), this did not equate to actual product sales.

I kept digging.

And found a more concrete answer (though I cannot verify statistics)

It seems that men out-buy women 2:1 on apple products.  This could be because men tend to have more disposable income or tend to prefer technology than women, but this is entirely conjecture.

A Forbes article has further statistics, that more educated and affluent people have iPhones.

However, I found this paper from Marshall College indicating that the "demographic profile of U.S. smartphone users who have used a QR code, February 2011,” the gender ratio is 51% male and 49% female"

I have to admit my preconceptions are a little blown out at the moment.  I guess that's what I get on relying on gross stereotypes.

So my thesis is entirely wrong and the parallelism I was going to make up about it is completely false.

-SomethingMusic

Touch Pianist is Amazing and Here's Why

Touch Pianist is a phone app/website that was released today and every tech geek is blogging about it.  As I'm a music geek and ran into it I thought I would also write a little post about it.  So here's what I have to say:

Teachers: learn piano if you don't and be prepared to teach people piano.

                                                             The interface for touch piano

The premise of the app is very simple: Take a well known classical piano piece.  Every time you press your screen or press a key notes will play.  Repeat until the end.

I fiddled with this app for a while and I have to say it's intoxicating.  While I can play the piano, I would hardly say I'm remotely good at the instrument.  This app made me want to brush off my books and relearn how to play piano.  Honestly I might start practicing piano seriously again because this app is pretty inspiring.  Just hammering out the last movement of Beethoven's Appasionata, or the opening of Pathetique, without spending the time to actually learning the notes and the proper technique is still somehow incredibly fun to play.

While you can't control the dynamics (well) and articulation is still an issue, it is still a fun way to mess around with amazing classical works and feel a way of expressing yourself musically without spending the hundreds or thousands of hours necessary practice to master these pieces.  I definitely felt inspired to dust my music off and start practicing again and I believe this app is an amazing way to introduce people to what it feels like to be a classical musician.

While this doesn't remotely feel like playing on an actual piano, it is definitely worth letting students take a crack at this simply because when I was playing this I was playing it as I would a real piece.  While the export of the audio is obviously MIDI and doesn't effectively emulate the sound of the piano, I still felt moved trying to give a, albeit romantic, performance of Beethoven.

So stop listening to me and click on this link and visit the website!  Be warned: It works best on Chrome.  Firefox works, but it doesn't work on IE.

Spotify is amazing

Spotify is amazing.  If you haven't heard of it it's a service which is basically a massive iTunes store with millions upon millions of mp3s from various artists.  For the average audiophile or music listener it's a great way to expand your listening of other genres, but for musicians it's an invaluable tool.

As a musician, when you want to study or really learn a piece you can't learn off of just one recording.  You need several different interpretations of the same piece to really figure out a range of styles that a conductor might take of the piece.  The old way of doing this is to find recordings in a library or from other musicians, however with the internet and iTunes/other online services you could easily purchase several different recordings.  However, with Spotify you can listen to several different recordings of the same piece and get several different interpretations for the piece.  That being said there are some issues:

Most orchestras tend to release through their own label, so the quality of playing is usually lower.  That being said, there are some recordings of major orchestras, but not as wide as their actual library.

I'm not sure if Spotify is partnered up with Naxos, so Naxos recordings might not be available either.

 Fairly add intensive for the free version.  Not enough to drive someone crazy, but enough to be annoying on occasion.

That being said, they still have some great recordings for free.  They keep up to date with new releases for pop/metal bands, as well as having some famous musicians/recordings with their solo albums.  One of the most surprising is having Ian Bostridge's albums, a famous tenor, to listen to.  The range of music this service has is surprising. It has a number of albums for Asha Bohsle, Various Klezmer, Indie, Balkan, and others.  However, it doesn't seem to have any K or J-pop albums.

While it is a great step in the right direction for music diversity, it isn't s complete collection.  That being said, it will keep a listener busy for several years.

[Video Games/Music] Video Games Utilizing Music

It's been a long while since I bothered to write one of these things. I have many games in which I have played, as well as music. I doubt I'll write about them anytime soon, however my new-years resolution is to write in this thing at least once a month. Hopefully it will go well.

Anyways, something that has grabbed my attention recently is how video games are using unique methods in gameplay as well as musical direction to enhance musical experience. Not just the usual method of DDR and guitar hero, but other forms of gameplay which you wouldn't think could be music based. Here we go!


BIT.TRIP BEAT



The bit trip series has been out for quite a while, but only recently has it been released for Mac/PC. As you see from the video all you do is a basic pong game where you hit the balls coming towards you. However, the game uses this in a musical way. Each time you hit a ball it makes a pitch as well as a rhythm, which adds more to the music. Getting a perfect score (which is really hard) would get you essentially the full "song". As you see from the video, the actually rhythm of the background music is very minimal, but with the player hitting all the balls correctly you get a version of a full piece of music.


Chime



Chime is a game I haven't played, but it looks like a semi-rhythmic tetris based puzzle game. The piece you put down do have some sort of corrolation with sounds played, but I don't know to what extent your play influences or adds to the music. I know the game's been out a while as well and it's on sale right now. I might pick it up eventually.


The Polynomial



I would have never expected a 3d quasi-space sim to work with music but it kinda does. While not as influential on the music you play, the music effects the gameplay arena depending. It's quite a relaxing game to just fly around, listen to music, and enjoy looking at the nebula-style surroundings bounce around. It's quite enjoyable, and I'm pretty sure I'm still one of the top scores on the high score list.


Beat Hazard



A 2d area shooter which uses the music to gauge the intensity of the enemies as well as the power of your shots. While it's quite fun, it's also pretty difficult due the the fact quieter music is harder. Also, it's pretty easy to beat the bosses, and the overall difficulty, while can be hard, just doesn't lack the creativity as some other games. On the other hand, you don't need to copy your MP3s into a specific playlist folder so at least in that way it's easier to use. Also on Xbox.


Everyday Shooter



Yet another 2s shooter! However, the game play is much different. Each level has a different scoring system for you to figure out. Also, the enemies when shot play sound effects, which sometimes can add to the music and in other ways really detract from it, depending on how in-sync with the music the other tones are. The background music is pretty generic and boring anyways so I don't find it too bad, but there are complaints about it. Over a fun and challenging game.


I believe everyone knows what audiosurf is. For those who don't, here's a video:



There are many other video games which I didn't go over (DJ hero, Guitar hero, DDR, ITG, that keyboard game, some drumming game, probably some others) But I was specifically looking for games where music effects gameplay and gameplay effects music, not just playing to the music.


These games are where the gameplay effects music. This is becoming a more and more common theme in modern music with audience participation, either purposely or unwittingly. For example, the cellphone symphony:



This is for a commercial, but this has been used in actual music. I just can't find a video of it right now.

Another example is the classic piece known as "O Superman" where Laurie Anderson just uses her voice and a modulator to create a form of music.



There are other examples where non-musicians can use technology to create music, but I really can't find them right now. Either way, electronique music is getting more popular with audiences and users since it needs audience participation, which makes people more likely to join those concerts. People like being a part of something, not just to watch but to participate. Classical styles were once also based heavily on participation and social cliques, but in modern times since Berlioz and programme music, music is now made to be listen to and analyzed, and less about the popular. Because of this, there is a hole in the industry where the latest group of crap is shoved at huge prices so that companies can make money.


This post was inspired by BIT.TRIP BEAT and youtube's current link to super popular music with 111 million views, which after listening to I found myself disgusted.

[Tech]iShenanigans

I was going to do a music post, but then I realized that something else was much more important.

Okay, actually it isn't important at all, but it's newer while the music can wait a bit, and I like being on top of news sometimes.

Anyways, Apple released the newest of overpriced shenanigans yesterday, naming it the iPad.

Period jokes aside, I'll take a quick look at the more technical parts and see if it's worthwhile, as well as it's shortcomings.

Problem 1: I think this is the biggest problem of the apple product, and that is NO FLASH SUPPORT. If you make something that is basically an ultra-portable laptop, you're really gimping your experience without being able to play your social networking games on facebook, or scrabble or whatever. I assume that this means it also won't have Java, or at least a very limited amount. For what it's supposed to do, I think this is gimped, especially if you consider that this isn't because flash is hard to implement, but because Apple wants to sell you deliciously cheesy apps for 99 cents. In other-words, it's just to drain money.

Problem 2: It's a large iPhone. It works pretty much exactly like an iPhone, except much more expensive if you want the 3G coverage. Also it becomes much more unwieldy. How are you going to put it in your pocket? Does anyone actually have 9.7 inch pockets? Is Apple going to design apple-designer clothing with pockets specifically built for the iPad? I wouldn't put it past them considering they're practically the new church of Scientology, but short of another way to make money I think it's unnecessarily unwieldy.

Problem 3: Lack of keyboard. When you make a larger screen for internet browsing, you start wanting a keyboard for you know, blogging and such. While Apple does sell a keyboard add-on, why not just buy a laptop instead? It's just like the Wii; you have to buy 7 different peripherals just to play a game. Hidden costs sucks. For a ps3 or 360, all you have to do is buy the game except for DDR and Guitar Hero and you're good to go.

Problem 4: Price. The pricing for this is just ridiculous. It STARTS at $400. Sure it's light, from all reports pretty smooth, has wifi/3G access, and has a 1ghz processor, but should that really cost $500 for an ENTRY level? just for kicks, I will compare it to something else that does exactly the same thing. A netbook.

I will compare the current cheapest netbook on newegg, the MSI Intel Atom 270 vs the latest and greatest of shiny things, the iPad. I'm even going to compare the MSI to ALL iPad, meaning that the best specs of the iPad at ANY level verses the MSI at it's specs.

COST:
MSI - $279 free shipping
iPad - $499 introductory price (I assume free shipping as well)

Pretty simple here. MSI is cheaper all round.

Screen Size:
MSI- 10''
iPad - 9.7''

MSI wins, but the iPad has better resolution from what I hear (1024x768). I'm not too surprised, as this is the cheapest thing out there. If I added another $100 the netbook shopping I could find a better one. And it would be still cheaper.

Weight:
MSI- 2.7 lbs
iPad - 1.5 lbs
A difference, but 2.7 pounds is still incredibly light. Grow stronger if you cant transport it.

Processor:
MSI - 1.60 GhZ
iPAd- 1GhZ
I'd actually expect that the iPad would be faster, but I guess not.

Ram:
MSI - 1GB
iPad - 256? 512?
I'm unsure of what iPads RAM is, but I've heard anywhere from 256-512 so I'm putting those numbers down. Apples site has nothing about it. If anyone knows more let me know.

Hard drive:
MSI - 160GB sata
iPad - 16-64Gb flash
MSI's sata drive holds more and lasts longer. Flash memory cannot overwrite itself as many times without crashing. However, it is much faster and since there are no moving components takes up less space, hence smaller and lighter.

Battery Life:
MSI- "not amazing but good"
iPad - 10 hours
For some reason I can't find MSI's battery life. It is only a 3 cel-lithium battery, but I'm not too surprised about it as they were cutting costs. I'm guessing 5ish hours, give or take.

Wifi:
MSI- Wlan
iPad - Wi-fi and/OR 3g network (3g costs like $150 more)
MSI apparently has some problems with getting decent wi-fi, but it would probably work in buildings so it isn't horrible. iPad's wifi stuff is probably more reliable, but again it's at least twice the cost.

Camera:
MSI - yes - 1.3 megapixels
iPad - no?
I'm pretty sure iPad doesn't have one. Someone let me know if it does.

Sound:
MSI - sound blaster speakers + headphone jack
iPad - essentially the same thing

No big difference there.

OS:
MSI - XP home
iPad - whatever they use

XP home isn't the best, but it's okay. Newer models have windows 7 on them, but cost more. And yes, I have had no problems with windows 7.

I think that's it for comparisons. In other words, you're paying another $250ish + for a gimmick and a pound less wight.

And if you REALLY want a cheap netbook with OsX, get a Dell mini 9 and follow this handy dandy guide to get OsX on your netbook.


That's it for now. I will do a music blog soon as I have it kinda set up, but I want to wait a bit before posting it. Also I'm lazy enough to not bother with writing it yet.

Some other articles about the iPad from gizmoto:
Ipad is Gadget we never knew we needed
iPad just tried to assassinate the computer
8 things that suck about the iPad

Till later then!

[Music/Tech] Achron and Music

WAs just checking some sites of developing games, and one of which I've been following is called Achron. It's an RTS about time travel. I don't check this site often, but I did today and I found a post on the composers side of looking at a developing piece. This is the site. It also has the post on the front page.

I'll post some of it here as well:

Achron has a four dimensional story which begs for an engaging sort of storytelling -- something with some darkness, gravity, and emotion to it. When I started working with Hazardous Software on music for Achron, there was not yet a visual artistic concept to coordinate with, which meant there was quite a bit of back and forth between myself and Chris about storyline and motivations. We determined that there would be a few key factors to account for in the music. One would be that it should be something one could listen to for an hour at a time without going crazy. While it cannot be confirmed that this will make the final cut, our current intentions are to use tracks which are significant in length, so as not to be an afterthought.

Another major consideration was that there was a story to tell and epic themes were going to factor in. The bottom line is that I did not want to get lost in a generic feeling of military or sci-fi cliche. I wanted to use the music to emphasize story elements.

Because the story begins from the human perspective and much of the story involves being somewhat achronal, we mixed themes of bravado, arrogance, regret, and loss, which accompanies a people who are, for all intents and purposes, lost in space that they had previously conquered. At the same time, these people still have something to lose which is worth fighting for, so that sense of urgency and non-hopelessness has to be inherent.

For the Vecgir, we described their context for being with themes of brokenness, freedom, individualism, and tribal instinct.

The Grekim are a discussion for another day.

Until Later