Mattias Xpress

The migration has finally taken place. As such, this will most likely be the last update on this site. What’s happening now is this site is finally retired, and will only remain available until its expiration, which is some time in 2010. I’ll have to look at my options on what to do considering the new site is an addon for this server. They’ll probably have to play around with my login details, but I suppose I should only worry about that when the time comes.

Until then, please visit the new website for all future updates: matthewbecker.ca

Automatic forwarding may take place in the future for surfers trying to access this page, but until then, this update will suffice.

Tags: matthewbecker.ca

I’ve started the transfer of the new domain name today. Some other stuff has to be completed before I can actually start building the site. Stuff that’s not really in my control, so I just have to sit back and be patient.

Cakewalk had a discount on an upgrade to their Home Studio software, so I thought I’d take advantage of it. It was less than $50, and considering how old my previous version was (going from version 4 to version 7), that’s actually a reasonable cost to upgrade. It has some amazing VST capabilities and a wide variety of electronic sound fonts. The only thing I’m still trying to figure out is configuring my own percussion without using their available drum samples. Or in the very least, how to add audio effects to the preexisting drum samples enough so that it sounds somewhat original in that regard. But other than that, input is considerably easier than I remember it to be. In HS4, you had to start a new MIDI track. Then you’d have to activate a Soft Synth. From that point, you have to change the MIDI’s output to the soft synth. Now it’s easier. You just insert a new soft synth and start scoring for it. So much easier.

Of course, the only reason I had considered upgrading was writing for PARPG. Electronic, ambient-style music is not really possible on Finale, and HS4 simply did not want to cooperate with Vista 64-bit. There’s already some sampling in the works for that, which will be made available as soon as the new site is up and running.

You may have also wondered about the open letter I had posted, and how it’s not suddenly gone. The person I’ve been trying to reach has finally found the letter and has already responded, so there’s no point in keeping it up anymore.

Tags: Cakewalk, Home Studio, PARPG

Okay, maybe not. Of course, nobody actually believed the title of this post…I hope. Anyway, this article was passed along to me by one of my friends (who is to leave for South Korea at the end of this month to teach English. Exciting!). It appears that some of Mozart’s pieces that he had written as a child were recently uncovered. Makes me wonder where they’ve been hiding all this time, and how they’ve even confirmed it as legitimate.

The article can be found here.

Anybody else addicted to the music from Katamari Damacy?

Tags: Katamari, Mozart

This summer so far has been…well…utter crap. This weekend is the most sun I’ve actually seen in at least two weeks. Not joking in the least. Hopefully all of the hiking trails will finally be dry enough to walk through instead of a considerably large amount of mud the last time I tried. Not pretty.

Why does everything associated with Mac need to be expensive? The ear buds on my iPod I had thrown away months ago, as when there was a mouse incident, one of them chewed considerably on one of the speakers. Since then, I used another set from Sony which was part of their “sport” accessories. The sound in those late this week started to crackle and hiss, like a previous set of ear buds did from when I was working out wearing them. How Sony always manages to get my money, I’ll never know.

Anyway, since the previous iPod ear buds I had were great, although not immune to mice, I thought I’d go scoop up another pair. I knew they wouldn’t be cheap, but $30? Am I paying for ear buds, or because there’s a logo for a piece of fruit on it? They’re great ear buds, though. Here’s hoping my new home won’t have a mouse situation. But hopefully my future landlord would do something more instead of giving us traps and bait. So essentially, unless there are more mice to worry about,  I shouldn’t have to throw these out.

I’m also addicted to Starbucks. Yes it is expensive, but I like the fact that they have a new song that you can download for free from iTunes every week. Plus, I love me some Tazo Chai Tea. Mmm.

Just another month and a half before I can start the launch of the new domain name. Perhaps planning for my next album will also take place, as there’s a small assembly of music coming together. Perhaps upgrading my Sonar HS will have to happen, first. It’s only $50 to trade-up to the latest edition…plus an extra $35 for shipping. It’s easier to write music with a sequencer, and some of the music from the last album was compiled using it (Countdown to Madness and Traversal Plain).  I’ll make sure to have better cover art, too.

Tags: Chai Tea, iPod, sonar, Starbucks

As a lot of you are probably quite familiar with, the domain name that I’ve chosen for this site is rather on the eccentric side. That is, of course, my initial desire was to make this some sort of e-commerce site. Naturally, there wasn’t a good portion of planning put through, and the domain basically sat in limbo for months before I decided to do something else with it. Despite the site’s expansion over the recent years, the domain name still wasn’t much to my liking. After some (careful) planning, I finally said, “screw it” and then proceeded to purchase…

New dot ca domain

There it is. A domain with my name on it. How original…

In the very least, when assembling portfolios, it will look at least a little bit more attractive to independent projects I may be interested in. It’s also a little bit easier to remember. If you try to access the domain now, you’ll see a generic under construction message. Alas, it won’t allow me to edit the page without first purchasing some sort of web building package. Essentially, I have to wait 2 months until I can transfer that domain to a different server so I can fully set it up. It’s a bit of a hair-pulling process, considering I use an anti-user friendly Linux server, but this case I won’t have to put aside extra funds for hosting considering I can get it all done with the same one I use now.

As soon as the migration from one domain to another is complete, this site will eventually retire. It had a good run, but it’s time to move up.

Tags: domain, dot ca

Like my previous post, Gary was kind enough to improve the sound quality of Kingdoms. Check it out in the Music section!

Tags: Kingdoms, Overture

Couple of announcements. Well, some in regards to the site, some personal. I decided to pre-order a copy of Windows 7 that’s coming out in late October. With taxes, it was just under $70. That’s pretty amazing for an OS upgrade. For those who are interested in upgrading from Vista, pre-order this OS. Do it now.

If you check the Downloads section, I have updated the previous recording of Resting. Gary Franklin from over at Fossil Records was very kind to make alterations from the original MIDI file. It sounds miles better than what it used to. He’s even working some of the other works, such as Kingdoms, which I can’t wait to hear until he’s finished it. So until then, go and have a look at Resting. He also slowed down the tempo, which is a pretty good decision. It always seemed a bit jumpy.

Upon calling the graduate chair at my school, I had learned that next term I will be studying with Malcolm Forsyth. Yes, Juno award winner, Malcolm Forsyth. Never heard of him? Shame on you! Go check out Atayoskewin.

Tags: Fossil Records, Malcolm Forsyth, Resting, windows 7

There, I said I would do it, and I did…eventually. I’ve cleaned up some of the music from the Music section; took out four links and added four more. Some of them were written last year, but for some reason didn’t upload them here. They’re far more accurate depictions of the type of music I write now than I did a few years ago. I even finished another piece for another independent, open source project (right now, it’s simply called PARPG). One of the sound engineers/composers on the project is going to look into actually recording some of the written parts (well, just guitar), as well as add some different effects. Since the theme is a post-apocalyptic world, the lead directors and programmers want to go for a more ambient setting. They want music comparable with the soundtrack from Fallout. It’s not something I’m too familiar with, since they’re looking for more electronic-based sounds. Since my copy of Sonar HS doesn’t want to work with my Vista-64 OS, Finale will have to do for the mean time.

Upgrading my copy from 4XL to 7 of Sonar HS is pretty modest; Cakewalk only wants $50 US…plus $35 for international shipping. I think I’ll hold off. If anything, I’ll probably upgrade the Garritan sounds that came with Finale. The percussion sounds that comes with the software are not that impressive. On top of that, what’s with the flute playback? These are supposed to be sophisticated sound fonts; authentic recorded sounds, even! How does the MIDI flute sound more realistic than the GPO flute? But, I digress.

On an unrelated note, has anybody else had a serious issue with Firefox, lately? For some reason, it likes using 200MB of RAM. They just can’t seem to get past the memory leaks…neither can Safari. Looks like I’m back to IE for a little while. I don’t like Chrome, but I haven’t tried Opera yet. Hmm.

Tags: Fallout, Finale, MIDI, PARPG, Sonar HS

It took me a while, but I’ve pretty much taken a step back. I’ve been trying to get an embedded player to work on the Music page, but the open source software requires a lot of work. Setting up playlists, modifying code…I’m no software engineer. The code looks straight forward enough, like HTML, but at this time, it’s not happening.

For the most part, I’m going to be uploading some new music some time this week. There are some pieces that are included in some independent projects I’d like to get up. In turn, there are older pieces I’m going to be taking down. Really old. 2001 old. Music I shouldn’t have put up here in the first place due to my extreme amateurism old. But I digress.

It was fun looking at the different stats of many types of visitors I get from the site. Most viewers are from the US, and right behind them are…the Russians? I don’t know what the appeal from Russia is, considering the site is in English, but they’re getting more views than my home country (which sits in third). No, this does not call for an “In Soviet Russia…” joke. Blog writes you? Really? Sounds painful.

Tags: Embedded Player, Russia

In full realization that this will certainly result in some jeers, I’ve been playing around with the Windows 7 RC that’s available right now. No, don’t jeer yet. The reason to jeer: I actually like it. It’s fast, it’s responsive, it likes what I plug into it (driver support) and it doesn’t fight with the sound card that Vista tends to do. It crackles, lags, and makes me cringe. But in Windows 7: instant cure. What is it about Vista that’s eating up resources so much that causes my sound to lag? What’s even more awesome is that I installed it on my tank of a laptop (2003 Toshiba model, noisiest laptop to graze the planet, seriously) and it also worked incredibly well on it, too. This OS has promise. Sure, I’ll probably face the wrath of Mac and Linux geeks for this, but whatever. I can’t afford Mac, and Linux has brutal driver support. Try again in the morning.

I was in a local record store today. Just for kicks, I went to see if they had any Nightwish. Most big name retailers only carry their most recent album, but there I saw four (4) of their albums. Angels Fall First, Oceanborn, Wishmaster, and Once. I think that means I’m only missing Century Child, which they didn’t seem to have. Nonetheless, I pretty much cleaned them out good. The one guy at the counter gave me a strange look. Yes, I’m in a record store buying music. You know, legitimately supporting artists by purchasing their works. Strange, indeed!

Oy, and I know I’ve been saying this for ages, but for sure I’m going to clean up the downloads section. For real, this time. Tomorrow, most likely. I’ll have to make a note of it.

Tags: laptop, Nightwish, windows 7