Tag Archives: music

Modding The Korg Volca Beats to Have MIDI Out

I took some time last weekend to do the MIDI out mod on the Korg Volca Beats.  It took some research but I had some help from a couple of websites.  It was a lot of fun to make, although it ended up being a little on sloppy side cramping everything back in the unit once I got done. Continue reading Modding The Korg Volca Beats to Have MIDI Out

SXSW Day 03: SUNday Funday

Sunday started out raining but it ended up being a SUNdat fun day. Yeah, puns all over the place. I ran throug some sessions, got some grub and schwag, and shook hands with a real cool. All while it from cold and rainy to warm and sunny. It was like the sun energized the whole crowd. Let’s look at the talks: Continue reading SXSW Day 03: SUNday Funday

SXSW Day 6: Still Going Strong

Alrighty, the Interactive portion is done, but I’m still going strong.  Please head on over to Helping Zero Knives Enter You, my music blog, for a roundup of what music I’m checking out for SXSW.  In the meantime, I’ll be blasting the panels I will attend during the day before rocking out at night.

The only panel I made yesterday talked about how people will listen to music in 2020.  Some representatives from SoundCloud and Last.fm were there as well as some other music industry types.  They talked about how streaming is the big uptake now.  They were quick to point out that it will fall in line with a preference rather than a dominating choice.  The question of money came up not only for streaming but also for terrestial radio and it provided for some heated discussion.  I can know see the point of of view for charging radio stations to pay for per play licensing like interent radio.

So that’s about it.  The music yesterday was awesome and I encourage you to check out this blog as well as my music blog to follow along.  Peace!

SXSW Here I Come!

As you may have realized from the sidebar on the right hand side, I’m SXSW bound!  This will be my first time heading down to Austin, Texas and mingling with the technological, film, and musically inclined.  SXSW is somewhat of a long time dream of mine and starting tomorrow it will be fully realized.  Much of what I’m interested in both personally and professionally intersects with all of the different aspects of SXSW.

For the Film portion, I’m into seeing the movies that pull me back to my high school days.  During the late 90’s, I watched movies all of the time.  I would head to the now defunct Video Library out in Lenexa and pick up a movie 6 pack for the weekend then veg out on the couch.  After awhile, I got to the point where mainstream movies just weren’t enough.  I wanted to see the influence of great directors and actors, I wanted to see off the beaten path movies, and I wanted to tap into an underground that couldn’t otherwise be known if it weren’t for the 5,000 plus title Video Library sported.  It was an age of discovery for me.  I hope to relive that with the Film portion.

The Interactive portion is all about cutting edge technology and more importantly how it affects people.  Most people come away from this event with more than just the latest, hip social media trend.  Workshops are all over to walk through attendees on some of the best practices in development or the latest methods to integrate bleeding edge tech.  New technology will be on display as each big player brings out the best they have to offer.  This is the meeting of highly proficient minds and what spins out from that collaboration and networking can be something special.

My passion for technology and how new ideas affect people and hopefully improve their lives came from my college days.  I used to work in the only profitable division at Kansas State besides the athletic department:  the distance education department.  Because of the money we made, we got to preview and implement tech before it saw the light of mainstream.  We’re talking smartboards and video captured lectures using carts, cameras, and computers.  I always remember the impact it on the teachers utilizing that tech to help teach their content.  Hopefully,  I will see what new items (more than likely in the mobile realm) that will help people and their daily lives down in Austin.

The  Music portion speaks for itself.  Whereas the Interactive portion’s sessions usually start around 9am, the Music portion’s sessions start at 1pm.  The brunt of the showcases won’t end until the last encore song bleats out over the PA system at around 2am.  It’s all about bands and musicians coming together and sharing their voice.  On top that, they will share the methods and discuss topics on how to best use their voice.  The collective voice for SXSW will hear over 1000 bands joining in the song.

I’ve always been trying to find my voice.  Whether it’s in technology, music, or just my day to day actions.  I sport a decent amount of music equiptment that grows each day, but I’ve never found it sounding right to me.  Morever, I’ve also found it hard to share my voice with other people.  Courage will always be a hard thing for me.  I’m thinking that a chorus of over 1000 other bands may just help me join in and sing my song.  What better way to find my voice?

Half the fun of finding my voice is the path I take to get it..  That path leads me to SXSW.  Most of what I identify with will be represented in some form down in Austin.  I’m lucky enough to go down there and take part.  What do I hope to accomplish?  I want to start a new age of discovery.  I want get my hands on new technology to help others.  I want to mix with peers and jam out with them, whether it’s tech, film, or tunes.  Most of all, what I want to do on this trip is to bring back fresh inspiration and make some new friends.

This is a great opportunity for me to mix with like minded people and I’ll be bubbling up the better things from the event right here.  I’m going to do my best to document much of the road trip and the conference so be prepared for an onslaught of content.  Please feel free to share with me what you think.  If you are going down there, hit me up and let’s have some fun.  SXSW is like Mecca to me, even though I’ve never been and I don’t pray toward Austin every day.

Twittering Around

Twitter

It’s been quiet the last month or so but I have been active online in another format: Twitter.  So here’s a couple of resources I’ve been using and my thoughts on them.  I grouped the sites by different actions or contexts.  The river is wide in tweet-dom so I need some tool that can help me follow like minded twitters.  Because there’s so many, I also would like to see where I rank among the them.  A couple of utilities would be nice to help manage my Twitter account.  Finally, there’s a growing set of applications for Twitter so I need a place to look up any new apps that might fit in whatever mode I am twittering around.

Continue reading Twittering Around