OSX 10.7 Lion and some new Mac models out now

Well the release of Lion and two new Mac models have been highly anticipated and today they have been officially released. If you are running Pro Tools do not rush to install Lion as it is not yet qualified! Lion doesn't bring many more features to the table, however it does offer quite a few refinements, including re-sizable windows from any corner. You can read more here.

Appart from Lion, Apple today also released a new range of MacBook Airs and Mac Minis. The Airs  now come with Core i5 and i7 processors claiming speeds up to 2.5 times as fast as the previous model.

What I was interested in was the new Mac Minis. These too have had the i5 and i7 upgrade and now appear to be a desktop version of the MacBook Airs.  This includes the redesign of the housing to EXCLUDE the internal DVD drive. I was completely optimistic in hoping that this model may of included Blu-Ray as many people are using Mac Minis for home theater use. Apple have been having licensing issues with the inclusion of Blu-Ray drives,  however I had hoped that this may have been resolved. Now if you want a Mac Mini you need to purchase an external SuperDrive separately. Something that MacBook Air owners have already been doing. I feel that Apple will lose sales on the Mac Mini on this detail alone... unless they release an external Blu-Ray drive in the near future. If you are wanting the mini for a HTPC you may be better off buying the recently outdated generation... it will be cheaper and includes an internal DVD drive!

iTunes Australia just got 20% cheaper

Apple has adjusted the international App store pricing to reflect current currency exchange rates. For Australians this means that the $1.19 apps are now selling for $0.99. This is also reflected on some of the more expensive Apps for example V-Control also being reduced quite heavily. With Apple on the verge of releasing the new Lion operating system and new hardware models, hopefully we can also see a reduction in prices reflected here. Now we just have to wait for these new HIGHLY anticipated hardware models!

Do you run 2 monitors on your mac?

If you run 2 monitors on your Mac and are sick of always having to go to only one monitor to get to your menus then there is a solution! Andreas Hegenberg has created a nifty little app called Secondbar.

Apple Magic Trackpad and Pro Tools

After hypothesising about the new Apple Magic Trackpad in July last year, I have now had a chance to have a proper play with it in conjunction with my Pro Tools setup.

I have been using a Kensington Trackball ever since I started my working career, so jumping across to the Magic Trackpad was rather peculiar to start with. I have a MacBook so using it's inbuilt Trackpad always seems so limited when working within Pro Tools. In many cases I would just connect my trackball to keep my work flow efficient. The Magic Trackpad is quite different however. Although seeming to  be a bigger version of the laptop trackpad, the Magic Trackpad is so much more.

After setting up the Magic trackpad via bluetooth  the system preferences allow some customisation of the gestures which now allow you to control and customise your magic Trackpad. I did find these very limited, and the settings are all global controls meaning that you cannot have specific gestures for specific programs- something that Kensington allow for with its Trackballs. The program BetterTouchTool, a freeware application opens up these gestures by having this program sit on top of the Apple System Prefs. This allows for specific gestures for specific applications. Once BTT is running, the Apple Magic Trackpad comes into it's own. This makes the Magic Trackpad ideal as an editing and mixing peripheral, as you can fade, pan in surround and edit far quicker than using a conventional mouse. I also have BTT setup to switch between Pro Tools and AudioFinder, with a gesture (single click in middle at top) setup to export my AudioFinder sounds straight into my Pro Tools timeline! Very Cool indeed!!!

After taking a couple of days of getting use to and setting up gestures, the Magic Trackpad has now become my new "must have" editing and mixing tool. Because you can also import and export gestures from BTT, I can now easily use the Magic Trackpad with my laptop with no differences in my workflow.

Keep your web browsers in sync

Do you work on multiple computers?
Do you browse the web on a mobile device?
Would you like your bookmarks and web history to be in sync across all devices?

The impending release of Firefox will see the ability to have all of your Firefox browsers and mobile devices synced with Bookmarks, Passwords, History and Tabs. Although not yet released officially, you can already download the Firefox 4 beta version from here. Firefox Sync is the only service with end-to-end encyrption. Sync’s advanced security measures mean you’re never vulnerable to online bad guys or companies that will sell your information.

Although Firefox doesn't run native as an app on the iPhone, it syncs with the Firefox Home app, giving you access to the sync features on your desktop. Only having used this for a couple of days, I am liking the sync functions. Be warned however that if your current version of Firefox is running 3rd party add-ons, these may not yet be compatible with Firefox 4. Zotero for one is not compatible.

iZotope OS X 10.6

Attention Mac OS X Users:

Under rare circumstances, installing an iZotope product or demo and then applying any Mac OS X 10.6 update can cause some computers to experience problems booting. We have identified the cause of this issue and have provided a simple fix below.

Please download and install this patch immediately, even if you have not experienced any issues at this time. Also, make sure you delete and re-download the latest iZotope installers for Mac OS X. Please note that as of today (May 7, 2010), all of the Mac OS X installers on the iZotope website have been updated so that they no longer cause this issue to occur.

iZotope Mac OS X 10.6 Patch
If you suspect your computer has already been affected by this issue and you are unable to boot your computer, please follow the steps to fix in the iZotope Knowledge Base.

iPod/ iPhone remote

Ever since getting my first ipod touch I have been interested in it's use as a remote control. This includes controlling the TV, DVD player, Amp etc, but more importantly I have been interested in it's use to control my computer. One example is that I currently use my ipod touch to remote control my mac when I record in the studio. I do this by setting up a local wireless network and using the ipod as a remote mouse/ keyboard. This is very cool as I can control my cpu in the control room with it's noisy fans from the studio floor.

This guy however has taken the use of the ipod/iphone to a whole new level...

Apple Magic Mouse - Good for sound editors

Apple have recently updated some of their products including a new iMac, MacBook and a new mouse - the Magic Mouse. With the new iMac sporting cheaper pricing than their predecessors, what grabbed my interested was in fact the new mouse. At first I thought it just to be a new gimmick, however after viewing the Apple video demonstration, I soon saw a potential use for sound editors.

As a sound editor myself, I loath using the conventional computer mouse and as a result use a Kensington trackball. My problem with the mouse is that continually scrolling across a desk all day long brings on shoulder and back pain. Using the trackball eliminates this problem with an added bonus of giving me specific function buttons which I can set up shortcuts on.

The Magic Mouse seems (from the video) to allow the user to scroll both horizontally and vertically without having to physically scroll the mouse itself across your desk. The top shell of the mouse is an entire multi touch sensor. Thus working similar to an iphone/ipod touch touch screen. This will allow the user in ProTools (or any app for that matter) to easily screen scroll.

Keep your Apple 3rd Party Apps up to date

Here is a Mac widget which will allow you to keep your 3rd party apps up to date. It supports Apple’s software directory, MacUpdate and Version Tracker. It will present you with a tidy link list of all the updates found, enabling you to read release-notes and download the the updates quickly and painlessly.

Amongst the key features are automatic update checks once per day or week, Growl notifications, powerful configuration possibilities, support for Apple’s download pages, MacUpdate and VersionTracker and an extensive documentation built right into the widget (but you can also read the documentation in your browser).

Pro Tools 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

What is Qwikn?

Qwikn - an app that lets you effortlessly search and store keyboard shortcuts.

An App to help reset PT Prefs on Mac

Here is a link to a user friendly GUI (Pro Tools Prefs and Database Helper) for resetting you Digidesign prefs and databases when things are not going well.

How some basic electronics can save you some $$$

I wanted to write about how some basic electronic repairs has saved me in excess of $100.

Firstly, I have had a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby guitar "wah" pedal since being a teenager (yes... quite some time). Anyway due to a lack of use, living by the sea and collecting dust my attempt to use the pedal recently was quite futile. The pot inside which creates the iconic "wah" sound had inherited a nasty cheese grating crunch noise, every time I pressed on the pedal! After a quick diagnosis it was apparent that it was just a dirty pot, but a dead pot. Looking around Ebay the replacement genuine Hoy Potz pot was going to cost around $50 AUD. Thinking that this was a bit steep for a part which gets used once a year I decided to test a "non genuine" pot instead. Going to Tandy and ordering a $2.75 part with the same specs had me feeling quite confident. After installing this new pot, my confidence had soared as the sound was identical to the Hot Potz in it's glory days. The only change I had to make was that the nut on the pot has to be tightened as much as possible, as it a slightly smaller fit that the original. But hey, for $2.75 - you can' tell the difference. If you want to know the part I used, it was a 100K ohm linear flat shaft pot.

Whilst feeling confident in this repair, I also had an apple laptop with an external power supply which had frayed cables where the plug inserts into the laptop. Having a second power supply allowed me to simply chop off one cable and splice on another cable (in almost new condition). This doner cable had come from the original power supply. However the power supply decided to internally combust one day after being plugged in for 12 hrs. Many people would simply have thrown these power supplys out and bought another one, however for 10 minutes work I have saved another $50 or so.

Cheap HD TV recording option. And very Good!

With the introduction of digital television into Australia, I have been been procrastinating in my purchase of a video recorder or the like. NOt having even a VHS recorder to my name, I have seen the advertisements in catalogues showing the new DVD recorders, and Hard Drive recorders for sale. What has deterred my from making a purchase is that I didn't want to spend $1000 on a Hard Drive/ DVD/ HD recording device - as I wanted all of these options... not just one or two.

Having an old G4 laptop (circa 2002) in my posession, I wanted to put it to some use without having to retire it to the top of a cupboard. I was ecstatic to read the box of the Elgato EyeTv DDT
which I recently saw perched upon the shelf at my local Apple store. The box mentioned that the USB digital tuner/ recorder (the size of a USB thumbdrive) was compatible with G4 Power Pc's (at SD quality). I don't know about you but this is good enough for me, and at only $130 delivered it beats any $1000 dedicated device!!! Owning an Intel MacBook, I am able to record at HD quality should I wish.
After purchasing the EyeTv over 2 weeks ago I have thoroughly tested the device on both G4 and Intel computers. I can report that my old G4 1Ghz, 768 meg ram runs without a hiccup at SD. I have also set up an external self powered 40 Gb hard drive which I have targeted. Having Roxio Toast installed, I am able to record, edit and burn straight to DVD with only minimal mouse clicks. So if you are wanting a hard drive/dvd recorder and have an old Mac lying around I highly recommend that you check out the Elgato EyeTV.

A few FREE Mac Apps worth mentioning

It has been quite a while since my last post. What I wanted to share today are a couple more small applications which have made my workflow much easier- especially in regards to online collaborations.

Firstly I wanted to mention a Mozilla Firefox extension called Zotero. Zotero is a web based research tool which allows you to manage, collect and cite research sources. Although this is not necessary for the average sound professional, what makes this fantastic is the ability to sync web sources. This is is extremely useful for users with multiple computers, or for workplaces who want to share "common sites". I have used del.icio.us for this same purpose before, however Zotero is far quicker, due to links living locally after sync.

DropBox is another app which I am tending to use more and more. DropBox is a cross platform + web based file sharing system. For free you are granted 2Gb of fully sync-able data! I have a folder set up on all of my computers and any documents or files which I always need access to are only a click away. DropBox also keeps a backup of your data on the web incase of any accidental deleting. This works just like any other folder in your finder.... except it can be shared and synced to anyone you wish - or kept private. Some uses I have had are: contact lists, app udates, picture updates, or just sending audio! This is truly one cool app!

Remote Pad an app for the iPhone and a computer which allows you to use your iPhone/ iPod touch as a remote touch mouse over a wifi network. Great for presentations!

What is great about the mentioned applications is the fact that they are all free!

Mac OSX 10.5.7 update

Be very careful if updating to the new Mac OS X 10.5.7 update.... as the following bugs are just some of the problems starting to emerge.

MacFixIt Bugs

Playback MPEG and Vob files with audio!

"The MPEG-2 Playback Component does not support audio playback for MPEG-2 files containing PCM, DTS or AC3 audio."

There are a couple of workarounds though.. .and this may even save you a few $$$. The option I use is to download  the Squared 5 MPEG Streamer converter

This is a standalone application which will playback the audio! It also allows you to edit, (unlike QTime Pro with Vob files) and export to many other common file types. Not only that- but it can also playback full screen! So if you haven't purchased QT Pro, you can play back any format QuickTime can handle using this application, and the best news is... it is FREE!!! The only catch is that this application will need the you to have purchased the Apple Mpeg2 component plug-in. Talk about false advertising... you need to buy the Apple plug in in order to play VOB files, however the plug in won't playback audio so you need to download a free 3rd part application which actually works and does what the original plug in should do anyway... weird....
Since I am on the topic of Quicktime plug ins and codecs, I have mentioned this before but if you haven't already done so download Perian - The Swiss Army Knife of Quicktime Codecs.

Some of my thoughts on the new MacBook

After having acquired a new Aluminium 2.4GHz MacBook I thought that I would write about some of it's features and flaws as they relate to a sound person.
Firstly as noted in may of the forums, there are no longer any firewire ports (unless you opt for the cheaper "white model"). This limits the user to only 2 x USB ports. Normally this would be OK, as after all this is a laptop. However my problem with this is that that the USB ports are too close together! So if you want to plug 2 peripherals in ie. an interface and a hard drive, than you may come across the problem of only being able to plug one in at a time. Sure you can fix this with a hub, but then you need to carry a hub with you at all times... Having no Firewire opens up quite a few problems for many as many people I know own firewire drives. Another obvious problem is that if you have a Firewire interface... An advantage of most of the firewire drives was that you could daisy chain several together, the problem with USB drives (well all the ones that I own - or have seen advertised) is that they only have 1 x USB port. ie You can't daisy chain them.
On to a positive note about the new MacBooks... One cool feature which is now standard is the illuminated keyboard. This makes working in the studio very easy now as all of the keys are backlit. Another cool feature is the new designed trackpad. This is not only larger, but it supports multi touch gestures. this includes scrolling, rotating and best of all zooming!!! The zooming is great especially when reading text in Word or on the web.
Overall I am happy with this laptop as the performance for the cost is quite amazing. Luckily I do have several ProTools interfaces and many hard drive configurations so the USB issue isn't too much of a deal... well at least not now that I have shuffled my files around accordingly.

New Macs released

Apple has just announced new release versions of the Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro.

The Mac Mini claims to be the most green desktop computer with speeds of 2.0GHz or 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Further details can be found here.

The iMac is now NVIDIA based and is capable of up to 8Gb of Ram. Processor speeds are 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, or 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The Mac Pro is now based on Intel's Nehalem architecture. This new architecture apparently will not suffer from the current memory bottlenecks. Processor Speeds are as follows:
8-core: Two 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz, or 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors
Quad-core: One 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor

Ram is up to 32Gb.
8-core: Eight memory slots (four per processor) supporting up to 32GB of main memory using 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB DIMMs
Quad-core: Four memory slots supporting up to 8GB of main memory using 1GB or 2GB DIMMs

New Mac Books

After much speculation and anticipation, Apple has finally released it's newest range of Mac Books. As a sound editor, one limitation on the new Mac Book models is the lack of a firewire port. This makes using additional interfaces and drives, USB dependent. The Mac Book Pro on the other hand, does have one Firewire 800 port.

For further information, visit the Apple website.

Use your Mac as a mobile phone remote

- Do you not have an iPhone?
- Do you hate typing text messages on your mobile phone due to keyboard limitations?
- Do you wish you could use your Mac address book to ring people directly on your mobile without always having to sync?

Well there is a solution. Mira Software have a cheap (USD$24.95) program BluePhoneElite 2 which connects your mac to your mobile phone via Bluetooth technology. This software makes texting and the management of calls a breeze. Check it out!!!