Posts tagged as ' Herman ' ...

Posted By andrew603

A Couple Random Photos

Here are a couple recent photos of my audio rack, and Herman, our bird.  Not too much going on right now.  Though I am waiting for a new MIDI Controller Keyboard and a new microphone.  More on that when they arrive.

The top half of my synth rack as of March 18 2010.

The top half of my synth rack as of March 18 2010.

Some synths temporarily on top of my PC

Some synths temporarily on top of my PC

My synth rack, as of Mar. 18 2010

My synth rack, as of Mar. 18 2010

Herman hides in between the pillows!

Herman hides in between the pillows!

Herman

Herman

Herman is a fan of the blue cloth!

Herman is a fan of the blue cloth!

Herman

Herman

Posted By andrew603

Messing around with Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta

On a whim I’ve started messing around with the current beta of Adobe Lightroom 3.  I’ve “developed” some new photos of Herman using the software, and am liking the results I’m getting so far.

The image tweaking capability is quite good, despite the fact that some features are disabled in this beta.  I don’t care for the UI much though, coming from only iPhoto, it will take some getting used to.

I like the export options available in Lightroom. Being able to set up a preset that will resize my images and add a watermark automatically is fantastic!  Until now I have just been going through a whole procedure of having to drag images out of iPhoto to a desktop folder or external drive, run a shell script that that can resize all the images in a specified directory, or load them up one at a time in GIMP and resize them.  I’ve never even bothered with adding a watermark before mainly because of that extra work I would have to do on each image.

The other thing that I’m liking about Lightroom VS iPhoto is that it appears to keep track of all my edits rather than just “overwriting” my images and leaving me only the ability to revert to the original image.

Finally, Lightroom runs on my main Windows workstation, instead of my laptop, which is the main reason I am interested in it.

Enough of the rant, below are a couple of my photos exported from the Lightroom 3 beta.  You can see even more on the Herman page.

Herman Profile!

Herman Profile!

Sleepy Herman.

Sleepy Herman.

Posted By andrew603

Praying Mantis in the Backyard!

I have not seen one of these things in years! Pretty impressive insect!

Below are some photos I took of it. Enjoy!

A Praying MantisA Praying MantisA Praying Mantis

A Praying MantisA Praying MantisA Praying Mantis


Now, for good measure, here are a few photos of Herman!
Herman posing for the camera.

Herman posing for the camera.

He loves the sound of the camera!

He loves the sound of the camera!

He didn't quite expect this last shot LOL!

He didn't quite expect this last shot LOL!

Posted By andrew603

New Gear: Yamaha MG102c Mixer

Just got a new mixer to help make my life easier.  I didn’t want/need anything fancy, like automation, or stupid effects processing.  I just wanted a real preamp for my microphone, and some extra inputs.  I decided on the Yamaha MG102c.  It was a toss up between the Yamaha MG102c, and a much more expensive Behringer Xenyx 1204FX.

The issue for me was that I would have liked the multiple outputs of the Behringer.  Additionally the Behringer mic preamps are supposedly better than the ones in the Yamaha, but I’ll leave that to the real experts.  On the negative side, the Behringer has the effects processor I don’t need and comes with an external USB sound card which also would not help me since I use my M-Audio Delta 1010 ASIO anyway.  In case you don’t know you can only have one ASIO driver loaded in FL Studio or any other software as far as I know, its a limitation of the ASIO driver spec or something.

The big positive of the Yamaha MG102c on over the Behringer is that it has more inputs than the Behringer 1204!  One more stereo pair to be precise.  I really don’t see why they (Behringer) call that thing Xenyx 1204, it should be called 804, or 84.  I’m sorry, but it doesn’t count as an input just because you have two kinds of plugs!  This rant of coarse is directed at the fact that the Xenyx 1204 has both XLR and TRS plugs on its 1-4 inputs just like the Yamaha.  Behringer counts it as 8 inputs, Yamaha is realistic and counts it as 4!  What professional engineer would use both of those plugs at the same time?  I don’t imagine they would.  Moving on, the only drawback about the Yamaha?  It has no mute buttons!  That’s kind of a bummer but not in a way that really matters for me.

By now, I’m sure you are saying:  “But comparing the Behringer Xenyx 1204FX to the Yamaha MG102c is unfair if you don’t want effects!  Compare the MG102c to the Xenyx 1204 instead!  It has no effects, which also brings its price down a bit!”  Well, they didn’t have that model at the store, and the Yamaha still has more inputs, so I opted for the Yamaha.  Additionally, the fact that I am relatively brand loyal also entered into it, as I am thrilled with my Yamaha HS80 monitors.  I also have my old Yamaha PSR530 keyboard, and a fair amount of my dad’s old Yamaha Stereo equipment that has yet to break down in my lifetime.   🙂

So I bought the Yamaha MG102c and so far it works great!  The sound quality is perfect near as I can tell.  For $99, I don’t think there is anything better at the moment.

Here are a couple photos of it.

My Yamaha MG102c Mixer.

My Yamaha MG102c Mixer.

Close Up of my Yamaha MG102c Mixer.

Close Up of my Yamaha MG102c Mixer.

Now, because he was in the room, here is a photo of my bird!

Herman, my pet cockatiel posing for the camera.

Herman, my pet cockatiel posing for the camera.