Latest news...Microsoft Surface, Audio Program ideas and summer music release plans.

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Summer plans include Microsoft Surface and Music CD’s

I’ve been working on plans for summer projects both at the University and in the Studio at home.

Projects at the University are of course centered on the second phase of the Microsoft Surface application development centered on the Declaration of Independence exhibit. As I have mentioned before the second phase of applications will be showcasing the new additional Elements introduced in Service Pack 1 for Surface. This includes among other thing new ElementMenu tools that allow for some really cool menu options for the applications. We also want to exploit the ability to hook into Live Earth; allowing the patron to see where the signers lived. I’ve started working on the ElementMenu parts but have run into some snags with how to get a Menu Element to work with an image with ScatterView attributes. I admit part of the issue is my newbie status as a WPF programmer; so classes are definitely in the near future. I’m planning on updating the Attraction background as well. Instead of the current University Virginia logo engraved on the bottom of a reflecting pool; I’m thinking about the Broadside of the Declaration of Independence at the bottom of a reflecting pool. Now that I type it it sounds kind of strange. I also want to change the backgrounds of the applications to simulated wood grain like a desktop.

Projects in the studio at home are centered on releasing a collection of soundtracks as well as two music CD’s. The latter two CD’s will be different from one another. One will be ambient space music; the other being more progressive rock with some space rock. I have several tracks that did not appear in the “Living Dead Festival 40th Anniversary” DVD. I want to release a CD that includes the tracks from the DVD as well as the unheard tracks. It’s not enough to make a full CD so I’m thinking of adding other soundtracks I’ve done this year. So it would be more of a “Soundtrack Collection 2008-09”. I also have almost a whole ambient electronic and almost a whole prog rock CD as well. Adding tracks to complete those CD will be top priority. Meanwhile I am building a Windows based machine so that I can use the vast collection of software synthesizers that I have collected lately and over the past couple of years. These are all Windows VSTi’s so it has to be done. The hold up is determining which Windows based sequencer to use. Cakewalk has been an old friend, but I can’t locate my discs. :-(

11:35 AM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it
May 28

Not too much to post lately…

Carpel tunnel is finally getting better. The B6 I have been taking and the rest I’ve been giving my hands by staying out of the studio and using tablet PC’s have really done a good job in letting my hands heal. Because of the trying to let things rest a bit before I start any projects; the studio is still torn up after the flooding. I hope to get carpet back down this weekend and the equipment set back up this weekend. I would like to get a some material together for release as well as send some music to Chris over in London to put up in the TD radio show that he does every week. In the meantime I have been scouring the internet for interesting VST synthesizers and have found some really great ones. They are mostly Windows based however so I am reworking the studio computers to take advantage of these synths.

I have also been working on new applications for the Microsoft Surface platform; taking advantage of the SP1 that was released earlier this month. Worked on the code for adding MenuItem control today. As a side project I started sketching out how a touch computer based audio mixer might work. I think it would be cool to either run a WPF for Surface or WPF for Windows 7 that would use multitouch capabilities to create a functional audio console. I am also thinking software synths using the multitouch capabilities of Windows 7 and Surface as well. One can dream!?

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 3, 2009 at 4:27 PM

    Interesting. Have you thought about using Microsoft Surface for business intelligence applications?

    John

    ReplyDelete

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