Sabra Duffiney

Archive for the ‘Music Technology’ Category

When a friend of mine moved away, he left a few of his things here with me to use until he was able to re-attain them. My favorite of these things is a Roland JP-8000, an analog modeling synthesizer. Well, recently another friend set up his DJ gear in the studio and connected the JP-8000 to the mix through his Ableton Live setup. Without his mac and him here, I have been unable to use the JP-8000 without messing up his set-up.

Roland JP-8000

I am not a DJ as you know. I have no use for a program as complex, bulky and expensive as Ableton Live though it is a really great program. I found a way to skip Ableton Live altogether and just use my mac in place of his.

Sound Studio is a free program for Mac that can be used to bridge this gap. In the Sound Studio drop down menu at the top there is an option called “Preferences”. Select this and you will see a pop-up with a bunch of options. The one that matters most here is “Audio” > “Input”. This is where you change the source of your audio. The “Output section is where you will hear the audio being played.

I have been wanting to start another blog about the musical things that are in my life.  There are 3 things that I love the most and they are my Family, Technology and Music!  The more I have been digging into different styles of music and how it is created, the more I realize that Modern Technology and Music are falling into step with each other.

Some of the greatest songs that are coming out today are technology driven.  Auto-tune is a proprietary audio processor which artists such as T-Pain, Uncle Cracker and Maroon 5 have used in their songs.  Synthesizers are an electronic instrument that is able to produce a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different sound frequencies.  Even drums can come in Electronic Form with sound kits and more – Roland V-Drums are a great example.

With all of this technology in today’s music and yesterday’s too, I just can’t figure out any good reason to start a whole new blog.   In turn, I will be integrating more of my musical experiments into this blog and keeping you updated not only on Computer tips and tricks, but also Technology in Music tips and advice!  Keep checking back for a broader spectrum of topics coming soon!