Disqus - Latest Comments for joemi

Re: Aphex Twin gave us a peek inside a 90s classic. Here’s what we learned.

Joe M — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 22:51:12 -0000

Talking about trackers is really bringing me back... I started out in the 90's on various DOS trackers like ST3 and FT2, and even started a little record label that pretty much exclusively released music made on trackers. Had a lot of fun doing shows with trackers, doing a bit of live tracking and/or remixing tracks on the spot. We couldn't afford laptops then, so me and some friends would lug desktops and CRT monitors to perform on...... Ah, good times, good memories! (though I don't want to do that again!)

Re: Bastl’s Dude is a €75 mixer in the space of four AA batteries

Joe M — Sat, 20 May 2017 03:08:37 -0000

Besides the one point you already mentioned (runs on batteries), it seems to be smaller than Maker Hart's Loop mixer. Those two points alone (not to mention the mutes) make Dude way more useful for me, as someone who doesn't need stereo.

Re: ArduTouch is an all-in-one Arduino synthesizer learning kit for $30

Joe M — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 23:32:04 -0000

You must be right, because there's no way that's $30 (or even $25) worth of parts, even if you stick to pricier suppliers. The $30/$25 price mentioned must be the kit price, which I assume he must be selling himself at workshops. Although I _could_ source everything myself and send the gerbers to oshpark or wherever, I'd love if the kit were sold online somehow.

Re: One new board turns into a complete sound and light lab

Joe M — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 00:09:42 -0000

I'm really looking forward to this. I've been doing a bunch of breadboarding lately, and this would definitely save me from some of the boilerplate set up I seem to keep doing over and over...

Re: Kastle is a 65€ micro modular that’s the size of three AA batteries

Joe M — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 15:14:44 -0000

Sorry, but I doubt they're going to do that. This synth already has the I/O area that lets you integrate it with eurorack, so why make a eurorack version of something that can already integrate with eurorack? Plus, it's opensource hardware, so you can (in theory, at least) just make a straight eurorack version on your own, if you want.

Re: Gole1 mini PC giveaway

Joe M — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 21:39:58 -0000

Well, I'm intrigued. Got a lot of ideas for uses...

Re: So Behringer’s analog synth is a poly, and other revelations

Joe M — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 21:39:31 -0000

Seems to me that it's the fault of whoever made the video, not the folks in it.

Re: Beauty in Repetition: Listen to Hanno Leichtmann’s Minimal Studies

Joe M — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 22:04:23 -0000

I'm interested in what those (presumably) synth modules are that are mounted in those tiny cases. And how they're getting used. Peter, can you give us the scoop?

Re: How Atebits' Letterpress Could Really Shine (and Make a Lot of Money)

Joe M — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:38:14 -0000

Fair enough. And I am indeed more of a purist when it comes to things, and have yet to get bored with the current implementation of Letterpress. I guess we'll see what Loren ends up doing. I'm fairly certain there will be changes made, as this is only the first version and as you noted it's only been out a few weeks. Also, I'm not die-hard enough in my purism that I'd stop playing the game after such changes.

(Also, while I have the opportunity, I'd like to say that I quite enjoy your blog, and have enjoyed it so for at least a year, so thanks for entertaining (and educating) me, and making me think about things!)

Re: How Atebits' Letterpress Could Really Shine (and Make a Lot of Money)

Joe M — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:35:19 -0000

I don't know... I think part of why I like this game so much is its simplicity, and I think this idea would potentially ruin that. As it is, it's singular and it's simply defined. "This is the game, this is how it's played." To that end, it's like a classic game, such as chess or go. This is what it is, and that's it. Your proposal really feels to me like a Star Wars brand Monopoly board, or perhaps more aptly, like a Settlers of Catan expansion pack. I can see the appeal (especially for those selling such things), but ultimately it sort of cheapens the original. (An clear example of such things cheapening the original: think about OS X vs. the seemingly countless versions of each Windows release.) I'm not trying to attack your idea, or claim that Letterpress is perfect as it is (god I would love leaderboards! and an easy rematch button!), but I don't think this would be a good direction for such a game. (Though, admittedly, this may all be because I come from a strict scrabble-dictionary-is-the-bible background of scrabble playing.)

I'm seeing the additional dictionaries idea being implemented in one of two ways. 1. You would have to decline games that used dictionaries you didn't want to play with. Or: 2. You would have to set your settings to say which dictionaries you'll accept for games. With option 1, it would be super annoying to keep getting requests to play games with dictionaries you don't want to play with. (I, for one, would never ever accept any game that plays with a medical dict.) Likewise, it'd be frustrating if your games were always turned down. Who knows how long it'd take until you actually got an opponent? Option 2 seems better, since you'd set it once, and then the opponent matching stuff would find you players that are willing to play your dictionaries. But this adds some unideal interface issues. If you ask the players to choose what dictionaries they want to play with when they open the app for the first time, it can be viewed by some as annoying. Also, you'll probably find that some people don't know what is being asked of them and get confused. Or they set it not understanding what they did, and then they wonder why players keep using "grepped" against them. If you don't have the settings set on first run, and just leave the extra dicts unchecked, sitting in the 'more' page, lots of people will miss it. (I think I had other drawbacks to that, too, but after writing all this text so far, I can't remember them.)

Additionally, I think determining what actually makes it into these proposed extra dictionaries could be troublesome. I don't know exactly where the current word list comes from, but there are pretty well established word lists out there right now, like the scrabble dictionary, which I suspect might be what's used in Letterpress (or at least a variation thereof). Another authoritative one that pops to mind is the OED. But where do you get a nice, neat, _accepted_ list of technical jargon? Or medical terms? And how many extra dictionaries do you want? Let's say there's initially 10 extra dictionaries, but now you really want to use an acting/improv term, but there's not a dictionary for that. Bummer.

And that leads to my final point (oh, I really hope you read this far, since this is the best point): No matter how many extra dictionaries one adds, people will still complain about what is and isn't in the extra dictionaries, so this ultimately won't solve anything. Today, you're posting about "refactor" not being in the dictionary, and tomorrow you'll be posting about "foobar" not being the the technical jargon dictionary...

Re: http://exphostor.tumblr.com/post/9466502584

Joe M — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 03:19:35 -0000

always appreciated

Re: Pixels, Sublime, as Side-Scrolling Gaming Meets Tabla Music

Joe M — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 13:46:23 -0000

The game is pretty awesome to play. 1 player vs. 1 player or 2 players vs 2 players... and the gameplay feels sort of like aspects of Super Smash Brothers meets aspects of Soccer (or volleyball?). Your side has to score on the other side, but you can fight, and you have a limited amount of double-jumps. It's really a lot of fun to play, even if you're the worst player in the room, as I was.

Re: A Game A Week 2: Snake/Osmosnake -- MARYHOLA.COM

Joe M — Mon, 21 May 2012 03:02:07 -0000

Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that. No other way right now, but I'll add alternate keys soon. First I need to finish my current game... A little too much scotch and Minecraft have delayed me.

Re: http://killedincars.com/post/5221698432

Joe M — Mon, 09 May 2011 12:57:05 -0000

This is indeed a great track, but best as I can tell, it's a remix of this, and not an oOoOo original: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: http://killedincars.com/post/3777408954

Joe M — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:01:37 -0000

Quite advanced. It truly is a language... a programming language. It's sort of like the text-only version of Max/MSP. In that respect, it's sort of like csound.

And yes, it's available for Mac OS. Free, too.

Re: Welcome to HipChat HQ!

Joe M — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:04:12 -0000

Nice. For a second I thought you said "Sunnydale" though.

Re: Isaac Kearse | SafariRSS - HotCocoa Safari RSS Handler

Joe M — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:37:42 -0000

You probably already know this, but just in case you don't:

Google Reader itself provides a bookmarklet that you can use that has the same functionality, pretty much. If you go to Settings > Goodies, there's a "Subscribe" bookmark that works great. (Then again, it's possible I'm misinterpreting the function of your program.)

Re: O' Bedlam!!! - 1112pm. nice & easy day, and now it’s over....

Joe M — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:48:43 -0000

Thank you, Lou, for doing your part to busy up the internet today.

Re: O' Bedlam!!! - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEL!!! You’re genuine good...

Joe M — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:00:15 -0000

This shot is by you, Lou? I love its ridiculousness.

Re: O' Bedlam!!! - 10.13.09, Robyn, while she punched me repeatedly....

Joe M — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:00:58 -0000

I like everything about this. The woman, the idea, the photos...

Re: exphostor

Joe M — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:50:13 -0000

Thanks a bunch, Mareen! That's what I suspected, but I didn't want to write that until I was more certain.

Re: exphostor

Joe M — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:48:30 -0000

Oh, and a quick Google image search of Jonathan Banks informs me that he's one of those character actors I've seen EVERYWHERE and never knew his name.

But now I know.

Re: exphostor

Joe M — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:46:30 -0000

Daaaaamn... pulling through again to fill in my blanks! Nice.

I had heard about J.L. on Dexter... But now that I'm tighter on free time, I'm not sure if I'll continue watching that series or not. I don't think it's total shite as you do... but then again, I don't think it's all that awesome, either.

Re: exphostor

Joe M — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:43:52 -0000

I've never seen it the whole way through... I remember catching parts of the first 3 or 4 films in the series on some UHF channel as a kid. I remember parts of it being awesome, but then again, that was before I watched most of the films I've seen today.

Re: exphostor

Joe M — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:40:00 -0000

As far as I know, it's not available at all. I think I may have read about it being shown in a gallery somewhere once, but beyond that, I don't think it's possible to play it, yet.