Hello, my name is Ed Malaker. Today I want to talk about using the 5 most important synth modules.

The 5 most important synthesis modules are: Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier, Envelope, and LFO.

Using these 5 modules it is possible to create really great sounds that are all your own. I hope that you had fun reading.
Check out my blog at http://32hertz.com  and get free song reviews at http://getmysongreviewed.com.

Hello my name is Ed Malaker. Today I want to talk about configuring an EQ plugin to function like a Rupert Neve Designs 551 500 Series Inductor EQ

Rupert Neve is the creator of the Neve Recording Consoles, which are very highly regarded consoles. It makes sense that this company knows what’s important when it comes to recording, so trying to mimic their hardware with your software is probably a good place to start. Especially if you’re not really sure how to get started.

I use the free plugin REAEQ from the makers of Reaper DAW. It looks like this (click to make it bigger):

So lets get started:

We see the Rupert Neve EQ has a push button high pass filter set at 80hz. So I set band one on my plugin to 80hz and change “type” to Highpass.

Next, we see the Rupert Neve EQ has a switchable (bell curve/shelf), sweepable (35hz-220hz), low frequency controller. To do that in our plugin we will set band 2 to a frequency between 35 and 220 for now, but know that we can move it anywhere between those numbers at any time. Also, I will set mine to a bell curve (band on this plugin) for now, but know that you can also switch it to shelf curve at any time. I also set the Q (bandwidth in this plugin at 1).

Next, we see the Rupert Neve EQ has a switchable (high q), sweepable (200hz-6000hz) mid range controller. To do that in our plugin we will set band 3 to a frequency between 220 and 6000 for now, but know that we can move it anywhere between those numbers at any time. Also, I will set mine to a bell curve (band on this plugin) for now, but know that you can also switch it to notch curve at any time to get rid of problem frequencies. I also set the Q (bandwidth in this plugin at 1).

Last, we have the high frequency controller. It is switchable between the frequencies 8k and 16k, and switchable between bell curve and shelf curve. To do this in our plugin we set band 4 to either 8k or 16k, knowing at any time we can choose the other. Then we set it for bell or shelf curve, knowing at any time we can choose the other. I also set the Q (bandwidth in this plugin at 1).

That is all there is. To save this as a plugin just click vst at the top of the plugin, choose save preset, and give it a name. Next time you need it click vst, and choose load preset.

You now have a plugin that tries to emulate the Rupert Neve model. It is important to realize that the electronics inside the Neve have a lot to do with the sound they produce, just as the code in your plugin affects the sound it creates.

I hope you found this interesting and helpful.

Have a great day!
Ed Malaker

Hello, my name is Ed Malaker, I am from Carbondale Pa and today I want to go over the controls of the “Classic Compressor” which is a free vst plugin. I downloaded the Kjaerhus Audio Classic Series (a group of effects that includes the Classic Compressor) from http://www.acoustica.com/plugins/vst-directx.htm.

This is what it looks like (click on any image to see a bigger image):

The compressor does come with several presets and you can save your own settings as a preset.

 
 
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading. Maybe you will want those free plugins.
Have a great day
Ed

Check out my blog at http://32hertz.com  and get free song reviews at http://getmysongreviewed.com.

Hello, My name is Ed Malaker and I am from Carbondale Pa, USA, and today I want to tell you how to create a new project in Cakewalk Music Creator 6.

1. The first thing you will need to do do is set a proper project name and location. When you first open Cakewalk Music Creator you see something like this: (click on any image to make it larger)

On this page you will want to click on “Create A New Project”. When you do you will see this:

On this page you will select a name for your project. This is very important because if you write a lot of songs things can get confusing if everything is named “new_song_1”, “new_song_2”, etc.. If you have no title then I recommend the date, such as  “new_song_5-2-15”, at least this gives you a time-frame. Please remember that the computer does not like spaces in titles. Do not use “new song”, instead use “new_song”, or “new-song”, or even “newSong”.

I recommend leaving the project in its default location. I used to try to move them to where I thought would be better but things get lost, confused, and forgotten, way too easily. In default, everything is in one place. I leave the other setting as default also. That gives me this:

2. Now we need to set digital audio preferences.  That means our Sample Rate and our Bit Depth. To do this go to the top menu bar and select EDIT then select PREFERENCES. You will see something like this:

On the left panel select “Advanced” to see this:

Here you can set your Sample Rate to the recommended 48,000, and the and the Bit Depth to the recommended 24.

3. Set Recording File type. Cakewalk Music Creator 6 records in WAV format which is acceptable. You can export using Broadcast WAV format (recommended) by going to the top menu bar and selecting EDIT then select PREFERENCES. You will once again see something like this:

Select “Audio Data” from the left menu bar and you will see this:

On this page, you can check the box to export Broadcast Waves by Default.

4. Set Hardware Settings. To make sure your hardware settings are correct, once again go to the top menu bar and select EDIT then select PREFERENCES. You will see something like this:

On this page make sure your recording and playback devices are correct. I use asio4all and that is why you see those settings, your settings may be different.

5. Set the Buffer Size. From the page you are on if you select “Playback and Recording” on the left menu you will see something like this:

On this page, you can set the buffer size. It is recommended to start at 128 and increase as needed.

With these settings finished you are ready to begin recording your new project. I hope that this was helpful and informative. Have a great day and check out my blog at http://32hertz.com  ad get free song reviews at http://getmysongreviewed.com.

Thank you and have a great day!

Ed Malaker

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first draft

When Edna wakes to feel relieved that she is not dead but quickly realizes her worst nightmare has come true. She is strapped to that operating table and that hideous alien monster is just standing there staring at her. She wants to scream, or beg to be let go but once again she is paralyzed. This time not only by alien technology but by her own petrifying fear.

“Edna?” asks the alien calmly

“You speak English?” Asks Edna in a surprised voice

“Yes,” says the alien

“Then why have you brought me here? What could I possibly have that would interest you?” Edna demands, trying to muster up some anger.

“You have been chosen.” Says the alien

“Chosen for what?” Edna asked loudly, pulling on her restraints trying to break free.

“Chosen to save your people from a terrible fate,” says the alien.

“That is ridiculous! Let me out of here!” She exclaims

“You must help me complete this task.” Says the alien a bit louder now. “All of your species depends on it.”

“You are insane! I’m not helping you do anything” Edna says “What kind of being straps you to a table and asks for your help?”

“You were going to destroy the ship!” Says the alien.

“And it would have served you right,” Edna says “for kidnapping me against my will, and for putting those things in containers back there.”

“Those THINGS are several of your planets most endangered creatures. I am trying to help them hold on and stay in your world a little bit longer.” Says the alien now clearly sounding a little annoyed. “I was sent here to get you and we are to complete a task. That is what we are going to do. I cannot go back to my people if we fail, and your people will not exist.”

“I don’t have any people!” Edna says “I’m just a girl in a man’s world. I’m no leader, go see the president if you want the leader, he lives in a white house in Washington DC.”

“You are the one I was sent to get,” the alien says “Only you can succeed.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere strapped to a table,” Edna says “And I wouldn’t go anywhere without knowing where I’m going or what it is that I am supposed to do, and without even knowing who you are or what your name is.”

“My name is Fanool,” the alien says slowly “I am from …another place. I am forbidden to tell you where I come from or who sent me. My people have been here since the beginning. Since before your species first learned to work together, since before the giant lizards roamed, even since before your moon was carved from the very earth you stand upon. We are the helpers, the watchers, and the caretakers of this world. Unfortunately, over the ages, we have had among us a few dissenters. Those dissenters are now imprisoned very deep below your planet’s surface. Recently we have been receiving reports that they may not only be planning to make their escape but may have found the means to accomplish it. If they do it will surely be the end of mankind and millions of years of work.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this” Edna says “but I don’t really care too much about mankind, or your work. Right now I just want to GO HOME where I can wake up from this nightmare!”

“I can’t let you go anywhere until you agree to help me.” Explains Fanool “I am sorry but I have no choice. Once our job is complete I will not bother you again.”

“Even if I was going to help you I am NOT going anywhere looking like this!” Said Edna “I just went outside to get a little fresh air and look through my telescope. I’m practically ready for bed. Then you come along and suck me up into this ship without any kind of warning or permission! Then you chase me around the ship for half the night before zapping me with your little ray gun. NO! I need a shower and some decent clothes and shoes, I have to feed my cat and get some sleep. I’m tired, I worked all day.”

“Tomorrow we begin then!” Says Fanool.

Edna stared at Fanool for a long moment getting the feeling that Fanool was not going to accept NO for an answer.

“I tell you what,” she says helplessly “I’ll help you under these terms.”

“And they are?” Asked Fanool

“You let me go get some sleep and I’ll meet you tomorrow, then when we are done with this mission of yours you grant me one wish. Anything I want.”
Said, Edna

“And that wish is?” Asked Fanool

“I’ll tell you when the mission is complete,” said Edna

“Then how do I know that I can grant your wish?” Inquired Fanool

“How do I know that I can complete this mission?” Asks Edna sarcastically.

Fanool stares at Edna for a long moment knowing that he has lost. In a defeated tone of voice, he says “FINE! I will return you to where I found you and you can return home for the evening and you will meet me in the same spot after dark tomorrow. Agreed?”

“I agree.” says Edna looking down and tugging again at her restraints “Now let me out of here!”

Just as Edna says these words and looks up at Fanool he is once again pointing his ray gun at her and once again she feels a sharp pain before everything goes dark.

Edna wakes up on the soft, damp grass next to her telescope. She takes a quick look around. There is no sign of Fanool or his ship and she is glad about that. Her watch says 4:53 am, that’s more than 6 hours since she set up her telescope. She quickly packs it up and begins to head home. On her way home the sky begins to lighten as the sun rises and she sees a man walking his dog up ahead of her. “Probably out for his morning walk and I didn’t even get home yet.” She thinks to herself. As the two walk toward each other, she thinks about telling the man about what has happened to her. Surely he should at least be warned, he too could be in danger and what if that cute little dog ends up in one of those jars she saw in the ship? But no matter how hard she tried she could not find the words to tell a complete stranger that she was on a spaceship and when the two got close she simply nodded and smiled and kept walking home to go to sleep.

first draft

It was a cool clear night and Edna was doing what she does every chance she gets, looking at the stars through her telescope. Edna doesn’t much care for the planet she comes from, no that doesn’t interest Edna too much at all. It’s always too hot, or too cold. It’s usually raining, or snowing, and there are way too many bugs, snakes, rats, cockroaches, and other critters lurking around every corner. But what Edna likes the least has to be the people. People are the worst of all. Always hurrying about trying to get ahead of everyone else not spending one moment thinking about who they will hurt or what kind of damage they will cause. Not one second thinking about how they might help someone. No Edna prefers solitude, just her and her telescope. Unlike our planet, the Galaxy seems to be in perfect harmony and peace everything working together for the greater good. The moon is Edna’s favorite she can see it so clearly through her telescope and she could spend hours just looking at the different craters. As a child, she would always imagine what it would be like to live on the moon away from the hustle and bustle of modern-day life and it was always the wish she made when she blew out her birthday candles. on this particular night as she is looking at Jupiter through her telescope when she hears a soft humming sound that almost sounds as if it is coming from above her. After a few seconds, the becomes distracting and when she looks up she sees a large ship of some type. Edna has never seen a ship like this and a terrible fear and panic overcome her. She tries to run but she can’t move. Worse yet, she feels herself being pulled up towards to ship. Actually being lifted right off of the ground by some unseen force. She wants to scream. As she rises higher and higher she feels herself getting dizzy and passing out.

When Edna wakes up lying on a cold hard floor, she notices a strange device above her that most likely whatever pulled her up into this weird place. But where is whoever or whatever brought her here? Edna is not about to wait around to find out. She notices that she could see a good distance and there’s a lot of strange-looking machinery around. she starts looking around for someplace to hide. She doesn’t get very far nor find anything that even remotely looks like a hiding place when she hears some strange sounds coming from behind her. This must be them coming to finish what they started she thinks and just then she spots a little clearing behind a piece of electronics and she hides.

She only hears one set of footsteps and after a few moments of what sounds like someone looking around the room the footsteps move on. Edna feels relieved but knows she must find a way out of wherever she is, and she has to do it right now. Once she can no longer hear the footsteps she starts to look around again. She notices that she is in what looks like the engine room. No way to be sure of course but there is a large oddly shaped object in the center of the room giving off a soft hum similar to the one she heard earlier with a bunch of tubes or pipes going into the walls. She does see a few controls but she can make no sense of the strange markings that appear to tell you what the controls do. Quietly Edna sneaks to the next room.

This room appears to be for storage. Many shelves with some type of containers, each one marked with the same type of unreadable writing.
She looks around and not seeing anyone or anything decides to take a peek inside one of these containers. To her horror and disgust, she sees what appears to be some type of grotesque embryo. She quickly shuts the box and quietly moves to the next room.

This must be the control room. There is a seat in front of some type of screen obviously used to look outside but now is turned off. There were many levers, buttons, and switches all labeled with the strange markings. Everything seems so orderly except for one strange-looking button that seems to stand out a little more than the rest. I wonder what that does Edna thinks but as she does she hears some noises and quietly sneaks into the next room.

A cold sweat comes over her now as she sees what looks like some type of operating table with all kinds lights and metal arms that look like a giant spider with a thousand legs hanging over it. Surrounding the table were all types of tools that looked like they could only be used to perform operations. Edna dreads the thought that she will be put on this table. Is that why she was brought here to be experimented on?

She can see into the next room and its the engine room again so it seems Edna has been around the whole ship and there’s not a lot of places to hide. Just as she begins to realize this she hears some noises up ahead in the engine room so she runs back towards the control room.

Edna knows it that she can probably be seen now, her footsteps sound like hammers on the hard floor. Her only chance might be that strange button. If she can press it maybe something will happen that will buy her some time. She runs with all she has and just as she’s about to reach it she feels a sharp pain in her back. So sharp it causes her to spin around and that’s when she sees it. The most terrifying thing she has ever seen. There standing right in front of her is some type of hideous alien creature and what’s worse, he had just shot her with some type of alien weapon an everything…was….going….dark!

When I was starting out with Blender I found it very hard to use. It is a very powerful program that has a steep learning curve. Many tutorials were long and hard to follow. I hope to keep these posts short and really simple only covering a little bit each time.

In this post I want to make an animation of the default cube rotating.

1. Mark The Start Of The Animation.

   • Start out in the default view. The default cube should be already selected (highlighted with yellow), if it is not then select it now.
     
   • Take a moment to get familiar with the timeline. By clicking around on it you will notice the green bar moving, this is the “Currently Selected Frame” marker.
     
   • Under the timeline you see the playback controls. If you press the play button the green bar will begin to move to the right from wherever it is and when it reaches the end it will loop again until you press pause. You can set the length of the total animation using “Start” and “End”. In my version the timeline defaults to 250 frames and I will leave as that. Start = 1, End = 250.
   • With your mouse hovering on the window that contains the cube (not hovering over any panels above, below or to the sides)press i on your keyboard to INSERT KEYFRAME. Doing so will bring up the “Insert Keyframe Menu” and it looks like this..
     
     I am going to choose “Rotation” because we will be making the cube rotate. If we want to animate the physical location of the cube we would choose “Location”, or if we wanted to animate the size of the cube we would choose “Scaling”, and so on.
   • Once you click “Rotation” the menu will vanish and it will seem as though nothing has happened but if you look below the main window you will see the time line..
     
     Clicking around on the time line will move the green bar but you will notice that at frame 1 there is a yellow bar and that is what you have just inserted. The yellow bar contains the “Starting Rotation” of the cube at frame 1.
   • Now the easiest thing to do is to click the little plus sign on the right side of the window.
     
     That brings up a menu that looks like this. (you may have to scroll up the menu to see the yellow highlighted section)
     

     The part that is highlighted yellow is the information you have just stored in the yellow bar. The x,y, and z starting rotation settings.

2. Mark The End Of The Animation.

   • Now select frame 250 in the timeline by clicking on it. You will notice that the yellow highlighted section now has a green tint to it.
   • By changing the value of Z in the green highlighted area you will notice that the cube rotates on the Z(blue) axis. I set mine to 360.
   • Once again press I on the keyboard to INSERT KEYFRAME, and once again choose Rotation. What you have just done is insert another yellow bar with the new values in the green shaded area. You will notice that once you insert the keyframe the green tinted area is once again yellow.

3. Play The Animation.

   • If you press the play button now you will notice that the value of the green shaded area will increase gradually from the first keyframe until it reaches the second.
   • You can add as many keyfames as you like to get the results that you want.

That is all there really is to it. That and a lot of practice. I hope this post helps you.

These are settings I find useful when exporting video from Blender that I want to upload to YouTube.

You render a movie the same way you render an animation. By clicking Render in the top toolbar then selecting Render Animation.

You can make these settings right from the default view when you open blender, so it is the first thing that I do when I start a project. The panel is on the right side of the window.

You can see the word “Dimensions”. This is where we will set our screen size.

YouTube uses a 16:9 aspect ratio for their player (16 pixels wide by 9 pixels high or 32 pixels wide by 18 pixels high and so on) so any of the following sizes are acceptable sizes to export your video from Blender and your YouTube video should fit the player perfectly and not have any black bars on the sides:

• 240p: 426×240 (16:9)
• 360p: 640×360 (16:9)
• 480p: 854×480 (16:9)
• 720p: 1280×720 (16:9)
• 1080p: 1920×1080 (16:9)
• 1440p (2k): 2560×1440 (16:9)
• 2160p (4k): 3840 x 2160 (16:9)

You can enter the dimensions manually by entering them under “Resolution”.

Lower resolution will render faster but if you want to create dvd video and watch them on a big screen you will want a higher resolution.

• I choose “Render Presets” under “Dimensions” and choose HDTV 1080p which uses 1920×1080 resolution but you will want to experiment for yourself.
• I choose 29.97fps for my frame rate because it matches my video camera. Generally speaking the higher the frame rate the higher the quality but the larger the file size, the longer the render time, and so on. YouTube is good with whatever.

In the same panel but below you see the word “Output”. We will make some settings here.

• I like to set my own directory instead of using /tmp\
• Click PNG and select MPEG
• When you select MPEG some new options appear below it



• I select AVI in format and MPEG-2 codec and MP3 as audio codec (YouTube suggests AAC-LC as audio codec).

Audio codec: AAC-LC

Power Tab Editor 1.7 is a really great free tool for guitar or bass players who use tabs to read and write music. It can be downloaded for free by going to Power Tab Editor.

Once you have it installed it should look something like this:

You can switch between guitar and bass tab by going to the “view” tab in the top menu.

It is very easy to write the tabs, simply click the string you want to get the blue box, type in the number, then use the arrow keys to go to the next spot.

• Power Tab Editor automatically writes the tabs in notation form above the tab.
• You set the length of each note using the toolbar on the bottom.
• Power Tab Editor will play back the tabs using midi.
• Power Tab Editor has every symbol needed to create high the high quality tabs you see in magazines.
• Power Tab Editor lets you save, print and export your tab as a .bmp

Overall I think that Power Tab Editor is more than a great program if you want to create nice tabs or even if you want to get your ideas out really quickly and you can’t go wrong with the free price tag – no ads or time limits, fully functional.

I recommend Power Tab Editor

Please check out my website to get free song reviews getmysongreviewed.com