mud

Hi guys! I noticed the last song that I posted was in 2007, how time flys!

I'm messing around with building a browser based MIDI recorder, and as a result I finally got my piano setup to record MIDI. This song was recorded in GarageBand, but I hope to someday be able to record stuff like this in the browser (maybe even on BandAMP.com, collaborating with other members as we talked about once).

The song is one take, split into two tracks; a Harp (tuned to 1/16th time) and a Celtic Dulcimer (tuned to 1/8th time), along with a drum (loop) track in the background. It's inspired by Tchaikovsky, and Caribbean steel drums Hope you enjoy!

I've been working on this piano song for a few months now, on and off. It's has a few takes, so it's a bit fragmented, and my recording equipment may sound a bit hissy (it's my laptop microphone, so the fan is audible).

Do you guys have any ideas for how it could end? Or perhaps other ideas. Kinda got stuck.

When I got back from camping a few weeks ago I dumped all my clothes in the laundry. When the load finished I realized my I'd accidentally thrown in my iPod Nano! I thought for sure it was broken, so just set it under my bed for the past few weeks. Yesterday I plugged it into my mac, and to my surprise it booted! These things are indestructible. Apparently the Sure Ec3 earphones are waterproof as well (at least after they dry out). Now my iPod is fresh and clean.

I'm planning on building a large geodesic dome (about 20ft. tall in the center) out of metal pipes for Burning Man 2008. It should be sturdy enough to hold hammocks, or bungie cords for people to swing around, if they wanted. I may go larger (40ft tall), if there seems like there will be a lot of people coming. It would be a place where you guys can get together and jam. Maybe it could be setup for live concerts, with a continually rotating list of BandAMP members. If there are going to be a lot of people though, it would be good for some of you to bring your own tents, or if you want privacy, ect.

It might be cool to have solar to power the equipment. We brought a bike powered generator this year, which was dumb, because you're in a desert. I was at Burning Man this year on reconnaissance in preparation for 2008. It's a very creative environment, filled with interesting and enjoyable people; the perfect place for musicians to truly be heard, and perhaps found? Last years burn was amazing. The Oil Derrek burn... erm... explosion was the most impressive. I lost my camera, so we only got a few shots.

We built a hexi-yurt. We taped it together with duck tape, which was a bad idea, because the duck tape heated up in the sun, then sand got beneath it, and finally, the big dust storm! Our home was completely annihilated. But then, some friendly neighbors took us in, which was really cool, because they were great people. That's how Burning Man is, disaster strikes, your house blows away, your camera is lost, but who cares? You enjoy it all.

Oh, don't worry, the geodesic dome will be indestructible!

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More info about geodesic domes: Desert Domes · Pacific Domes · Wikipedia

Information on the burn: http://burningman.com/

The site is officially yours What does this mean? I'm giving this website to you, the loyal members of BandAMP. I'm giving away all rights to commercialize this property. This doesn't mean I wont be helping in future development... it just means, now you can participate in bringing this community into its true potential.

So what's next? I'm going to setup a Non-Profit Organization, so BandAMP will not only officially belong to you, but legally as well. This way, you, the members, will have complete control in the future of BandAMP!

Pitch in to help make the website truly be, for musicians, by musicians. Do you know PHP, Javascript, or Flash? Perhaps you're a great website designer, or a writer who wants to extend the FAQs, About Us, et cetera. If you have an idea you'd like to implement, contact Jim who will be divvying out server access to start working on the code. Btw, is there some way you'd guys preferably meet online? We could have developer chats on IRC to get people coordinated. It might be easier for some people if there was a separate chartroom on BandAMP for developers.


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BandAMP code will become Open Source (GPL) once the it's been looked over by a few members (and perhaps some bugs, security issues, ect. may need to be fixed). It will be released on NoFunc a website some friends, and myself, have been depositing random bits of GPL'd code. There's a lot of tidbits in there that could be useful, especially this playlist editor that allows you to reorganize your music, rate music, edit titles in place, and so on. I've not had a chance to tie it into the database or make sure it works in Internet Explorer, so someone could volunteer expedite that. Also, maybe a layout more like this would be more appropriate for the amp... (of coarse with different content)

This kind of development has worked for Wikipedia, Linux, and many other popular projects. Let's make it work for us.