Recent Posts

5551

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by superboyac on October 01, 2007, 05:22 PM »

hehe

It's going to be hard finding what you're looking for.  Like I said before, I spent an intense two weeks searching, didn't find anything that was simple and affordable.  Steinberg's Groove Agent was the closest, but it's expensive.  The cheapest and easiest solution is this:  find a sample drum cd with some loops on it of the rhythms you're looking for.  Then, play the loop in Ableton Live, or if possible, another software (of which I don't know of) that can loop the file seamlessly.  Good luck.

5552

General Software Discussion / Re: IE is working, Firefox is not. Why?

« Last post by superboyac on October 01, 2007, 01:58 PM »

Actually i just noticed on your settings the DNS server is your router, I was doing that for a long time and it worked ok, but then it stopped, i had no idea why, after a brief call to my ISP support they told me to change the DNS to the one they recommend, so I did, no more trouble.

May not be your problem but could be worth a try

-Grorgy (October 01, 2007, 12:37 AM)

I'll check that out and see if I can do something.

One thing that my cousin and I came up with yesterday is that maybe by installing Netlimiter, which has a firewall in it, it conflicted with the firewall in Kaspersky.  You know how they say you shouldn't install two antivirus programs or two firewall programs at the same time?  Well, maybe it screwed something up by doing that.  Maybe the solution is to uninstall Kaspersky and reinstall it from scratch.

superboyac: does your network settings change in safe mode?

Could be a netlimiter filter driver left behind that screws up things... could be a lot of things. Does seem a bit suspicious that DNS server is set to your router, though - never seen that done before (with hardware routers anyway).

-f0dder (October 01, 2007, 03:35 AM)

I didn't check the network settings in safe mode, I'll do that later.  All I know is that firefox worked fine.

5553

General Software Discussion / Re: IE is working, Firefox is not. Why?

« Last post by superboyac on October 01, 2007, 12:25 AM »

OK, some more information.

I started my computer in Safe Mode with Networking, and Firefox works fine!  Now what?  How come it doesn't work in normal mode?

I think Netlimiter screwed something up, but it's uninstalled and I'm still having problems.  I think my router is fine, but something is blocking firefox and the bat from working right.

5554

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by superboyac on September 30, 2007, 09:17 PM »

^.^

Actually the thing i'm working now works using standard XM files... [FastTracker modules]... That allows for small-filesize loops and easy BPM changing... I'll try to get it finished this week :-]

-scancode (September 30, 2007, 04:46 PM)

That would be cool.  Here's a suggestion if you're interested, on what I think would be the perfect thing for something like this.  Most sample cd's use wav files (or can easily be converted to wav files).  If you can make something that can use these wav files, that would be great.  Here's my vision:
Have maybe 6 buttons on the program (intro, main loop1, fill1, main loop2, fill2, ending).  For each button, the user would assign a wav file to it (it would be easy because drum loop sample cd's are already organized like this and they are loop-ready, meaning if you play the file in a repeated cycle you won't notice any breaks).  Then, have another button somewhere where you can change the bpm.  That would be the perfect program.  You can assign keyboard letters for each button to make it easier and control it from there.

By the way, this is how my old yamaha keyboard was back in the day, and it was a really easy way to get drum accompaniment.

5555

General Software Discussion / Re: IE is working, Firefox is not. Why?

« Last post by superboyac on September 30, 2007, 04:56 PM »

Yes, I can access my linksys router configuration, but I don't know what to change.  But I still don't get why it would all of a sudden change like this, and why IE still works, torrent works, but email doesn't work (the bat), firefox doesn't work.  I have some port forwarding set up already for some applications, but I never needed it for email and firefox, but maybe I'll set it up for that also.  However, I don't know how to setup a port forwarding for firefox (can you help) and same for the Bat.  What ports do I use, etc.?

Here's a screenshot of my settings:

5556

General Software Discussion / Re: IE is working, Firefox is not. Why?

« Last post by superboyac on September 30, 2007, 11:46 AM »

It has always been on direct connection.  So I don't know why it stopped working suddenly.

Here's what I think the problem is.  Before, when I go into the Windows Network Connections and click on the details, I get a bunch of IP numbers listed there.  Usually, one of them would be the WAN number from outside (76.xxx.xxx.xxx), but now they are all showing 192.168.1.10, which is the LAN number than my router gives the computer.  Somehow, firefox and some other programs like my email are not seeing the outside WAN number anymore, but IE is and so is the torrent program.

5557

General Software Discussion / IE is working, Firefox is not. Why?

« Last post by superboyac on September 30, 2007, 10:21 AM »

I don't know what's happening, but all of a sudden, my firefox stopped working ("server not found" message for all addresses).  However, IE still works.  I don't know exactly what's changed on my computer, but it's been left on for a few days and here's what I think I've done during that time:
--I installed Netlimiter.
--I used utorrent to download some large files, and when I did, it seemed like I couldn't use the internet because it was overloaded or something.
--I think Firefox got updated (minor updates) a couple of times.

So I don't know what's happening.  Netlimiter has a firewall that I've turned off.  Also, I use Kaspersky IS with the firewall turned off.  I have a linksys cable modem and linksys wifi router.  Utorrent still works even though firefox doesn't.  Also, my I can't send any pop3 email anymore.

My Windows network connections shows my IP address to be the 192... address assigned by my router and when I click on details, none of the IP's are the actual outside IP (which should be 76...).  I have DHCP enabled (although I don't exactly know what it means).

I guess I'm just not understanding why IE and torrent is working, but nothing else is including email and Firefox.  And I haven't really changed anything.  Anyway, thanks for any advice.

5558

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by superboyac on September 27, 2007, 05:04 PM »

Percussion Studio can also create loops etc:

http://www.henrykell...om/PercussionStudio/

-Beth UK (September 27, 2007, 04:57 PM)

I think you guys might be missing what Tekzel is actually looking for.  I don't think he wants a program where he can create a rhythm.  He wants one where he can just turn on and have a drum rhythm start playing, so he can practice to it.  There are a lot of good drum sampling programs out there that allow people to create drum samples, create rhythms, play "virtual" drum sets, etc.  But there are very few dedicated, simple drum machines.  Again, the only one I can think of right now that's any good is Groove Agent.  I remember I searched for weeks for a good, simple program and never found one.  That's why I settled on playing the samples on a loop.  Anyway, those are my thoughts.

5559

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by superboyac on September 27, 2007, 04:02 PM »

Hey, I was just asking for this also, I play a lot of jazz piano, so I'm always using an accompaniment, whether it's a metronome or, like you, preferably a drum machine.  Steinberg has a program out called Groove Agent that lets you easily pick a style you want and it will just play along.  i've used it and it's pretty good, but it might be more expensive than you want.  What I settled with after a LOT of searching for this exact sort of thing is that I got a looped sample CD that plays jazz brush drumming (which is what I wanted) and I just loop those wav files in my sequencer program.  It works really well.  A good program to play loops with is Ableton Live, which might also be too expensive for you.  You can also load it in the popular freeware sequencer (I forgot the name), but you won't have Ableton's nice looping features.

Yeah, I've looked for this a lot and sadly it's not really out there.  Actually, for me it's difficult because I'm looking for light jazz brush drumming, which is very difficult to find.  For most other popular styles, it shouldn't be too hard.  Groove Agent would be the easiest to use if you can afford it.  There's also a program called Band-in-a-Box that can be used for just drums, but that's also a little expensive.  Good luck!

5560

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Cue sheet creator

« Last post by superboyac on September 27, 2007, 10:25 AM »

Shouldn't be too hard converting the file... simply use the first column for the INDEX.

-f0dder (September 27, 2007, 04:45 AM)

Yeah, it doesn't seem to be too difficult, I just don't know how to automate it.  That's what I need help on because I don't really know programming or how to use the fancier features of a note editor.

Btw, why split to individual MP3s instead of having a .flac+.cue combo?

-f0dder (September 27, 2007, 04:45 AM)

Mp3's are more useful to me.  I can transfer them to my minidisc recorder and they take up less space.  For me, there's not a drastic enough difference between a good mp3 file and a lossless file to make up for the big difference in file size.  If I had everything in lossless, I'd need a much bigger hard drive and probably multiple of them.  And I don't like the idea of having a supporting file (cue file) to go along with the music file.

Either way, I'd still need a cue file.

5561

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Cue sheet creator

« Last post by superboyac on September 27, 2007, 01:53 AM »

Thanks for the Cue Splitter program, i didn't know about that.

But you missed the point of the post here.  These are my own recordings, so CueMaster won't work.  And CDRCue is ok, but I have to input the information on a track-by-track basis.  What I need is to somehow massage the text from Sound Forge into the proper cue sheet format.  It's more doing it from scratch and batch-style/automated than the options you mentioned.

5562

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Cue sheet creator

« Last post by superboyac on September 27, 2007, 12:58 AM »

OK, here's a problem I'm having.  In my anal process of mp3 creation, the last step is to split a large mp3 into smaller pieces using the standard cue sheet.  I do this with a program called musicutter.  The audio is recorded from my jazz gigs as wav files, I use Sound Forge to mark the regions where the songs begin and end.  But then, I have to somehow convert the regions' information into the standard cue format, which is just a text file in a specific format.  In Sound Forge, unfortunately, I can't export it into the proper cue sheet format which is the following:

Standard Cue Sheet Format (example from wikipedia)

[Select]

TITLE "Live in Berlin, 1998"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
FILE "faithless - live in berlin.mp3" MP3
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Reverence"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "She's My Baby"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 06:42:00
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Take The Long Way Home"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 10:54:00
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Insomnia"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 17:04:00
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Bring The Family Back"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 25:44:00
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "Salva Mea"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 30:50:00
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Dirty Old Man"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 38:24:00
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "God Is A DJ"
    PERFORMER "Faithless"
    INDEX 01 42:35:00

However, in Sound Forge, I can export the region information in the following way:

Sound Forge (using the export to Windows Media Script File option)

[Select]

start_region_table
00:00:00.0 00:01:00.3
00:01:00.3 00:04:15.0
00:04:15.0 00:04:41.5
00:04:41.5 00:08:58.8
00:08:58.8 00:10:13.8
00:10:13.8 00:15:18.6
00:15:18.6 00:15:46.4
00:15:46.4 00:21:13.9
00:21:13.9 00:21:57.3
00:21:57.3 00:26:22.6
00:26:22.6 00:27:05.0
00:27:05.0 00:31:02.8
00:31:02.8 00:32:01.9
00:32:01.9 00:38:31.5
00:38:31.5 00:38:45.7
00:38:45.7 00:43:08.3
00:43:08.3 00:44:41.9
00:44:41.9 00:50:48.3
00:50:48.3 00:51:32.1
00:51:32.1 00:58:47.5
00:58:47.5 00:59:22.6
00:59:22.6 01:02:50.5
01:02:50.5 01:03:34.5
01:03:34.5 01:07:55.3
01:07:55.3 01:09:16.7
01:09:16.7 01:15:38.4
01:15:38.4 01:16:10.0
end_region_table

I need to somehow find an automatic way to take the first numbers from each line of the Sound Forge text and somehow format it to the proper cue sheet format.  I'm sure there's a way to do this with some text editor and a script or macro, but I have no idea how.  Can anyone help?

Thanks.

5563

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on September 19, 2007, 04:52 PM »

Ah!  I see.  Well, that's not so bad.

Maybe our quest for the perfect notetaker is a wild goose chase, but at least we can try, right?  Let the goose chasing continue for another 25 pages!

5564

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on September 18, 2007, 04:30 PM »

At least you extracted some conclusions of 25 pages of discussion... something that superboyac (I think) couldn't achieve through the thread. Well, I have seen +1000 pages threads, so let's keep going for some other 25

-Lashiec (September 18, 2007, 03:16 PM)

Wait....what?  I didn't come up with any conclusions?  I don't get it...

My conclusion was that there isn't one best program for this notetaking (as I've tried to define it).  I remarked about this in another thread about how difficult it is to do a comprehensive review.  I don't think it's accurate to say "this is the best program", rather, I like to focus on specific features of a program and specifically remark if that feature is implemented the best in that particular software, and let the user decide if that is the best program for him.  For example, I won't say Evernote is the best notetaking software, but I will say it's the best for dumping and retrieving notes.

5565

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2007, 11:19 AM »

Yeah, I'm a little miffed by this company also.  They seem to have a great track record of being responsive to customers, but I tried to contact them several times about texnotes and not once did I get a response.  I tried directing them to the notetaking thread here, as well as the review I did, but they never responded.  So I don't know what is happening there.

5566

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on September 15, 2007, 03:32 AM »

whoa...doublewitt, as the author of the notetaking roundup and this thread, let me respond to your comments.  First of all, I don't mean any of this in an offensive spirit or non-constructive manner, and if I came off that way, I apologize.  When I said that TreeDBNotes is not a purely notetaking software, I meant it from the standpoint of managing simple text notes with no real added features (except for formatting features like rtf).  I did that on purpose to make the review somewhat manageable or else it would have been nearly impossible for me to write a review if I didn't limit my pool of software.  I purposefully didn't want to consider applications like TreeDBNotes, Do-Organizer, and UltraRecall because I don't have the time/energy to productively compare the enormous amount of features these programs offer.

Also, it's not really a matter of defining what "notetaking" really encompasses, whether it's just plain text, contact info, calendar appointments, etc.  Many of us are going to have different philosophies on all that, and there is no right or wrong as far as I'm concerned.  Again, the only reason why I limited the definition of notetaking software to ones that just dealt with freeform text is more of a practical reason to make this review manageable.

If you are the author of TreeDB, welcome to this site and, honestly, we love having the authors participate here.  I never meant EATKS to be an insult, just a short abbreviation to quickly categorize that kind of software as doing much more than a simple notetaker.

Your focus is:  *ILLGC software
inefficient, low, level, goose chaser

I'll ignore this, i can understand why you felt that way.  The "ILL" part hurt my feelings...but I don't know what a goose chaser is.  If you explain that, then I can be properly insulted by it.  (I mean that all in fun  ).

5567

General Software Discussion / Re: any excel pivot table experts out there?

« Last post by superboyac on September 13, 2007, 06:20 PM »

Actually guys, I decided that this is something better suited for Access.  I'm going to try to create it in there.  Ugh...Access...so complex.

5568

General Software Discussion / Re: any excel pivot table experts out there?

« Last post by superboyac on September 13, 2007, 04:37 PM »

ooo...I try to avoid VBA whenever possible.  It's always a big headache for me.

5569

General Software Discussion / any excel pivot table experts out there?

« Last post by superboyac on September 13, 2007, 04:03 PM »

I have a excel sheet that shows individual basketball players that gets updated daily to show win/loss record of that day, and the total win/loss record overall.  I'd like the table to automatically get sorted every day so that the person with the best winning percentage is on top.  How can I do this with pivot tables?  Whenever I try to make a pivot table, I can't get it do to this kind of automatic sorting.  I don't even know if this is possible with pivot tables or something else.  Thanks.  Here's a screenshot of the excel sheet.

5570

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Getting Organized in 2007

« Last post by superboyac on September 12, 2007, 07:11 PM »

minidiscs are/were awesome.  Sony screwed it up in typical Sony fashion.

5571

Living Room / Re: Bad forum designs

« Last post by superboyac on September 12, 2007, 04:20 PM »

Oh yeah, forgot about that one.  The sourceforge forums are pretty much useless.

5572

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Getting Organized in 2007

« Last post by superboyac on September 12, 2007, 04:05 PM »

OK, count me in.  I promise to finish two more blogs for DC before the year is over.  In one, I will be focusing on Minidiscs, and the other one will be a review of the software Transkriber.

5573

Living Room / Bad forum designs

« Last post by superboyac on September 12, 2007, 03:49 PM »

Man, I am really sick of the crappy forum designs I keep running into.  It makes it such a pain to find information your looking for.

Musicplayer forum:
http://forums.musicplayer.com
Great place for information about pianos and keyboards.  Lots of helpful, knowledgeable people there.  But their forum design is beyond crappy, and get this, the maximum date range you can search through is 6 months!  You can't pick any range larger than 6 months to search through.  Good luck finding anything from a few years back!  So obnoxious.

Hydrogenaudio forums:
Otherwise known as the foobar forum.  Good grief, this gets my vote for the worst design ever.  I challenge you to find ANYTHING using their search.  The search result will give you a link to a thread, and that's it.  So if the thread is 100 pages long, and you're looking for a specific word/phrase, well, good luck.  You have to sift through all the pages and find it.

Learnjazzpiano.com:
A fantastic group of people who give probably the best piano jazz advice anywhere on the web.  Unfortunately, they have the oddest forum design you've ever encountered.  First of all, you never stayed logged in for more than 10 minutes.  You have to keep relogging in all the freakin day long.  Second of all, maybe it's me, but their search engine doesn't really work all that well.  The organization of the threads is chaos (rooms, halls, it's just weird).


I love the DC forum design.  It's the best I've seen anywhere, there isn't even a close second.  you can't beat it's highlighted, previewed search results.  Thanks mouser.

5574

Best E-mail Client / Re: How to accurately block junk mail? (The Bat and other clients also)

« Last post by superboyac on September 12, 2007, 11:40 AM »

You know, After all this time, I'm still not catching anything with the Bayesit plugin for the Bat.  What the hell am I doing wrong?  Every time I get spam, I mark it as junk...yet not once has the program automatically caught a message.  I keep having to mark it.  I don't get this antispam stuff, I don't think it's ever worked for me.  Even at work, with our Groupwise mail, we have a junk filter.  Every time I get a spam, I'll mark it as junk, and has it ever caught anything on its own?  No.  I'm a savvy computer guy, why can't I figure this out?

5575

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7

« Last post by superboyac on September 12, 2007, 11:27 AM »

Great review, loved it!  I'm very happy with Kaspersky, it's the best program I've tried over the last 10 years, and I've tried a lot.  You are right about its log and event history, where it shows what is happening at all times.  It's very comforting to know what is being scanned at all times, and it is one of the few programs that does that in such a detailed manner.

And, I must say that Kaspersky has gone a long way in being user friendly over the years, which used to be a big complaint about them.