Xray Dubs - Music Technology category

Why people use cracked software

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:02:25 GMT

Today I tried to buy a copy (i.e. "activate the demo") of Native Instruments Traktor 3.3. The bloody NI website makes it impossible to buy anything either with credit card or Paypal - an object lesson on how not to design a website store. Getting in the way of the credit card payment! Obtuse error messages. Apparently non-existent Paypal integration (landing me at my standard Paypal home page rather than the page that allows me to authorise payment).

An all-round abysmal experience of abject web usability. E.g. obviously pointing to the wrong paypal page, a credit card details screen that was extremely hard to conquer -- in a non-sizeable pop-up window but too small for the available window size, from a third party (i.e. too cheap to get their own payment gateway or even front someone else's), all in Deutsche, and seemingly would not take either my American Express or Visa card, and while it had an error message for that in English, it wasn't helpful ("payment option not enabled for this user"???). Also they forced me to create an account on their website in order to buy, continually rejected fields in my address details with no explanation, and so on.

Really it was a pathetic experience and it lost them over USD$200. And future sales because there is no way I'm gonna buy any of their software until they make it easy (or even possible) to pay for it. They probably wonder why they don't have any web sales and end up in a vicious circle of "we don't make money from direct web sales, so don't spend any money on the process" and they probably wonder how Ableton manages to do it!

I deliberately contrast this to Ableton whom I have found nothing but a pleasure to deal with on the two occasions I had to contact their support, including the time I exceeded the unlock limit on my previous version of Live after I bought a Macbook. They cheerfully - and speedily - replied that since I was an "old friend" (i.e. a long term customer from v1 days) they had no problem giving me another block of unlocks on the version and I was operational again within the course of my working day.

Anyway the cracked version of Traktor 3.3 that I downloaded via a torrent was however, perfectly reasonable and functioned out-of-the-box so well done "ArCADE". Frankly I believe that as NI wasted more than a couple of hours of my time as I tried every conceivable option to pay for their software, they owe me a free copy.

Myspace alternative - Virb.com

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:35:23 GMT

Virb is a very much nicer social networking site than myspace. For a start it doesn't look like it was designed by a retarded monkey flinging flouro paint at a screen, it allows an excellent amount of customisation, easily managed, it has less of "OMG! RLY? LOLZRZ!!1!" flavour, and it has a much cleaner interface, you can put more than 4 tracks up, and you can organise them into a proper discography. Also you can upload 320kbps MP3s for maximum quality (and optionally allow users to download them). For example see http://virb.com/victorxray (if you don't like the colour scheme that's my fault).

Oh yeah Virb also has heaps less link-whores hassling your friend requests with requests from rock bands who quote Nickleback as an influence. Do those people even read the description of the people they link-whore from? Not too mention comment-whores filling your comments up with requests to "vote for me" or download a free myspace comment spaminator, or even ringtone shills. The downside is, of course, that Virb doesn't have those things because its number of users is much smaller, while you can't reach a mass audience through the site alone, you can certainly reach a quality one. At any rate its actually a very neat and simple way to host your music online, if nothing else.

Nerve Agent - Amphibian Preset

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:21:55 GMT

Last.Fm just gets cooler and cooler every week. Now they have this little embeddable player (Flash) that allows you to stick tracks on a webpage using their streaming service. What's nice about it is that it's all perfectly legal; the music is licensed from records labels. In this case, I uploaded this material myself directly to Last.Fm (being the copyright holder and all, and it being out of print). Without further ado, I present, Amphibian Preset by Nerve Agent off the G-Type Nerve Agent album (also found on one of the Freaky Loops CDs).

Problems in Computer Music

Sun, 28 May 2006 02:04:37 GMT

PostClassic: Post-Semester Rampage, Electronic Version. A discussion about the approach to Computer Music in the academy.

And in a similar vein, Bob Ostertag on Why Computer Music Sucks from 2001.

On Being Creative

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 23:40:55 GMT

We operate in two worlds:

(1) reality, which contains profundities and comedy unimaginably wild and deep, but on the surface is mostly deadly boring and

(2) fiction, which isn't too hard to make superficially appealing, but is difficult as hell to make profound or deeply funny.

Another useful quote from the article:

A Craftsman knows how to avoid accidents -- an Artist knows how to use them

Randy Thom, On Being Creative

Via Creating passionate users

Sony's DRM hacks your computer

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 21:12:30 GMT

Basically, Mark Russinovich reveals how he discovered that Sony's inept DRM puts a root kit on your Windows machine. Although I am not a lawyer, I feel this is an illegal modification because you don't agree to such an install. Sony should be sued for this and provide a free remedy to any affected computer user. Read it, it's another nail in the coffin of Big Music and their immoral DRM fantasies.

At that point I knew conclusively that the rootkit and its associated files were related to the First 4 Internet DRM software Sony ships on its CDs. Not happy having underhanded and sloppily written software on my system I looked for a way to uninstall it. However, I didn’t find any reference to it in the Control Panel’s Add or Remove Programs list, nor did I find any uninstall utility or directions on the CD or on First 4 Internet’s site. I checked the EULA and saw no mention of the fact that I was agreeing to have software put on my system that I couldn't uninstall. Now I was mad.

Read in full at: Mark's Sysinternals Blog: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

Clan Analogue product now through iTunes Music Store

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:21:30 GMT

Guess I better shut my trap about iTunes now that some of my stuff, via Clan Analogue, is available on the iTunes Music Store now. We found this out this morning before the launch yesterday afternoon. Anyway if you're a big iTunes fan you can now buy some limited range of Clan Analogue recordings through iTMS Australia (the rest of world, and the rest of the catalogue, to follow). Of course, I still think that iTunes itself is little better than a freaking virus, what with the background services it silently forces Windows users to install (and a 33Mb "setup" application - I hope that's the whole thing!). Nonetheless, there it is.

Hey Clan....
'Doppler Shift' now available to download from iTunes Australia Music store!.... and other Clan product through CV I guess too!

Doppler Shift (Electro Selections)
Various Artists

Originally Released: 2004
Genre: Dance/Electronic
(P) 2005 Clan Analogue

iTunes for Mac and Windows