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.

Chris Watson visiting regional NSW

From 11-19th October The Wired Lab <http://wiredlab.ning.com/> will be hosting UK artist Chris Watson as artist in residence. Watson is a founding member of the influential experimental music group 'Cabaret Voltaire', and since the 1980's has worked as a sound recordist specialising in nature and the natural world around us. He records wildlife, the sounds of animals and habitats from around the globe.

Watson has recorded and produced the sound for a number of acclaimed documentary series such as David Attenborough's "The Life of Birds and The Life of Mammals" films, "The Big Cat Diary" and Bill Oddie's "Wildside" bird watching series. He is a renown BBC sound recordist and artist working all over the world. He has worked extensively throughout Central & South America which habitates over half of the planets wildlife.
On Saturday 17th October Watson will give a performance at the Cootamundra Creative Arts and Cultural Centre (CCACC). This will be your opportunity to hear Watson provide two live surround sound mixes from his 'Midnight at the Oasis', a 20 minute time compression from sunset to sunrise in South Africa's Kalahari desert. Along with; 'Oceanus pacificus' recorded on location around the Galapagos Islands 1000Km off the coast of Ecuador, and 10m below the sea surface.

The performance is open to all ages. Come along and be sonically transported to two of the worlds most extreme and complex environments.

WHAT: Chris Watson & The Wired Lab concert
WHERE: Cootamundra Creative Arts and Cultural Centre <http://www.ccacc.org.au/>
16-20 Wallendoon Street, Cootamundra
TIME: 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start
COST: $5-10 door fee, with proceeds to the CCACC, a volunteer run facility.

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).

Line6 Pod Farm for free!

Limited time! Line 6 is giving away POD Farm™, the premium tone plug-in – a $99 value! Get the tones you need for pro-sounding recordings. For FREE!

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.