After From One came “Duality”. While not as fundamentally heavy as From One, Duality offered a more refined, produced sound that seemed to blend more into mainstream rock. Personally, I think Duality is outstanding and every song on that record is a hit. The guitars are not “hooky” as From One, but the vocals make up for it. I find my self singing songs off Dually all the time. Tracks like “Take me away”, “I lost everything”, “Got me going”, “Undertaken” and “Tell Me” have lyrics that I can relate to. It confuses as to why this record was not an enormous hit, it’s clearly better than 80% of the crap out there. Needless to say, once again I highly recommend this record.

Now.. enter the latest “Black Sun”

Ever eat something you don’t like, only to have someone say “Oh, it’s an acquired taste. I love it!” just as you spit it out? I never understood that. Why the hell would anyone need to “acquire” a taste for something in order to enjoy it? If you don’t like it, don’t eat it - seems simple to me. Here’s the thing, those people that have that “acquired taste” are usually die-hard fans whatever they are eating. I think I have an idea of what this all means now.

When I first heard Black Sun my impression was that it does not quite stack up to the previous Ra records. Now, having listened to it a number of times, I reckon I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of this record each time. The sound is unique.

So far, Black Sun is not a “beginning-to-end” hit list like the previous to records where to me. I think it’s probably more along the lines of 70-30 outstanding. If I had to comment on each track it would probably sound something like this:

Broken Hearted Soul

I dig this track a lot. I like the guitar tone and the “pop song” style vocals but I’m not a huge fan of the bridge. Not because it’s not good, but it interrupts this kick-ass “Eff You” sort of jam with a wimpy “I think I love You” vocal. Overall a good song.

Faulty Information

Very cool song. This track definitely has that “Duality” sort of vibe. The driving yet smooth guitar during the verse, the angry chorus and the very angry bridge get this song stuck in my head.

The First Step

I like the effects that are used in this one. Again, the track has a real “duality” vibe to me. The vocals are tight, and the chorus is decent, but this sounds a lot like a “generic Ra song” to me. Good but not great, this seems to lack that “hook” some of the others have.

Push

I think the acoustic guitar line in this track is outstanding. That combined with the ambient vocals are cool as hell. Hard to describe this one completely, but it has that epic “saga” sort of feel to me, like it tells a story. Not very radio-friendly, but still a pretty neat track.

Don’t Turn Away

Probably my favorite track on this album. This one has that huge sound that is similar to the epic “Tell Me” off of Duality. Enough said, I really dig this song.

Lost Along The Way

I hear a big Police influence on this song as well. Not my favorite track, not my least, this is another one of those generic Ra songs.

I Believe Again

I’m still debating on whether I like this one or not. I’ll update when I make an opinion.

Waste Of Space

If you know anything about the history of Ra, you just knew there would be a Sahaj’s bitch session on Black Sun. This is that song, and he hold no punches. Not my favorite track on Black Sun, but it’s not written for me. One thing is for sure, it’s justified.

Genocide

Easily my second favorite track on Black Sun. I love the tension in this song, it makes raise the volume… can’t explain it.

A Poet’s Dream

Not a huge fan of this one. It’s a little to “deep” for me and there really isn’t a “hook” that gets stuck in my head like other Ra songs.

Easier Than This

Again, not my favorite track. Like the track above this, this song is a little to “weepy” or “deep” for me. I much prefer the rocking sound of Ra. To me, this track is more like a R&B song with electric guitar. Seriously, put a hip-hop beat under this and it would be a hit.

All in all, I’d say this album is worth picking up!

Some helpful Ra Links:

RaFans.net
Ra Band

I had never been to any of these places, and needless to say was very excited about the prospect of experiencing the different countries. But, to be honest, I think I was actually more excited about the ship itself. I had seen countless videos and pictures of huge cruise ships, but had never been on anything larger than, say - 400 feet.

The morning after the wedding we flew down to Fort Lauderdale and took a bus to Miami, where the Freedom was docked. If you have never seen a ship of this type close up - words just do not do it justice. This thing is absolutely mammoth. The fact that it floats is a true marvel of modern engineering. I was speechless.

The check-in process was quick, and the people were very pleasant. In fact, I found that over the entire vacation, the Royal Caribbean crew and staff were some of the nicest people I can remember. They have one goal in mind, all day - make your trip as enjoyable as they can. Everyone was awesome.

We got on board and found our room. It was more spacious than I anticipated, and had a balcony overlooking the ocean. I opened the slider and went outside. Again, the scale of this boat hit me. It was like looking out the window of the tenth floor of a beach-side hotel. I was waaay up there, looking down over Miami. Even though I was beat, I sat out there for a bit - just to take it in.

We got settled, took a nap, and then decided to explore a bit. There is so much to see on the ship, so much that I could not possibly talk about it all, so I’ll touch some highlights.

Freedom of the Seas - Ship Highlights:

The Windjammer Café – Ok, this place was simply awesome. It’s a buffet of epic proportions that is located near the top of the back of the ship. There are tables located next to huge windows that allow you to see gorgeous views of the ocean. The food was absolutely spectacular. I spent a lot of time there, playing the “oh, gee.. just one more plate” game with myself. This was my favorite place on the boat.

The main “Adult” Pool – I was impressed by the number of pools. It seemed like the entire top-deck was just one pool after another, followed by big hot tubs, pool-side bars, frozen fruity drinks and sun. When I was not eating in the Windjammer, I was sitting by the pool listening to either the live Island music, or the seemingly endless collection of 80’s party hits. I’m not sure where they get their music, but it was pretty funny at times. Seating was a little challenging because of the volume of people trying to get sun - finding a few empty chairs in the sun was pretty hard.

The Casino Royal - I’m not a big gambler, but I did try my luck on some poker machines in the casino. In fact, I came out on top (not by much, but still). The casino was a blast, and there was lots of energy and activity there.

The Royal Promenade - Literally, a full-scale shopping mall equipped with restaurants, coffee shops, clothing shops, live music, a few pubs, a pizza house… you name it - it was unreal. Walking down the main strip, looking up at the towering ceilings and glass elevators made me really find it hard to believe that this was all in a boat - and floating. During our trip we enjoyed gourmet coffee, pub-style pizza, and British ale’s.

The Acadia Theater - No joke, a full-scale theater located at the end of the Promenade. You walk in and can’t believe the size of the place. With balcony seating, an awesome PA system, and shows scheduled throughout the week, this place was very, very cool! We saw an illusionist show there that was loads of fun.

The Ice Rink - I don’t recall the name, but the Freedom actually has a skating rink on the boat. We did not see much of it, but caught the end of a show that was pretty impressive. Next time…

Dining Halls - The food was some of the best I have ever had, no joke. The service was as impeccable as the hall was gorgeous. We generally had dinner there and lunch/breakfast in the Windjammer.

Climbing Wall, Wave Rider, Mini-golf, Basketball Court - I didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked on all these. There was so much to do, that I we would have need another ten days to get it all in. I did however walk around and check it all out. The wall was huge, and the wave-rider looked pretty cool, but I didn’t want to wait in line for them. Again, next time…

I mentioned above that the service was outstanding, and believe me it was. I never walked by anyone that didn’t say hello with a big smile. Everyone is there to make sure you are enjoying yourself, and if you ever need anything they get it for you with no question. Having tall frozen fruity drinks served to me while I sat in the sun listening to live Caribbean music over the dull roar of the fountains was something I will not soon forget.

I also wanted to mention that the Freedom was remarkably stable. I know it’s a big boat and all, but I barely felt any motion and never had any real “motion sickness”. I was a little concerned getting on the boat that it may be an issue. There was one day that we had sort of rough seas, but even then it was no issue. I could feel the boat move, but not enough to bother me.

So, needless to say I was extremely impressed with our Royal Caribbean “Freedom of the Seas” experience. I’d say that I may try out other cruise lines in the future, but there is simply no need - Royal Caribbean set the bar - 10/10.
We can’t wait to go back!

The only issue was that this client had about 50 .pdf files - located all over their site. Updating them all would have been a real pain in the a**, but the client needed this data for reporting during a search-marketing campaign that was about to launch… uhg

I just knew there had to be a better way to get this done without sifting through a huge site, updating links one at a time. I’ve been using jQuery more and more these days as the needs arise and found myself reasoning this way…

Why not just gather all links on the page, look for the “.pdf” extension and dynamically add the code to the link when the page loads? Seemed easy enough!

I already have jQuery running on the site so I went into my custom-functions (.js) file and added this code to get the job done:


$(document).ready( function(){
$('a[href*=.pdf]‘)
.click(
function () {
pageTracker._trackPageview(’/outgoing-links/’ + $(this).attr(”href”) );
}
);
});


If the above looks alien to you, you probably want to get a little more comfortable with how jQuery works. I have another example of using jQuery that includes some of the basic set-up here:
Emulate xHTML-Strict Friendly iFrames

To sum up, Google says that if you want to track external links you need to call a custom “track this” script on the external link itself and fire it off “onClick”:

onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing-links/mydoc.pdf');"

This tell Google to track that click as a custom “/outgoing-links/mydoc.pdf” page view. With this system, you can go into your reporting and see all hits to that “page” and know it was a download.

My code basically gathers all the link tags, finds any with .pdf extension and calls (on click) the Google tracking code - using the URL to the pdf as the “page view”. I put in a generic “/outgoing-links/” directory to make the reporting easier. That way I can filter by that directory when viewing my Google Analytics reporting.

Well, I put this code in place a couple of weeks ago and just looked at my reports - ALL pdf documents are being tracked upon click. This was a huge success and will scale with the site. I can add as many .pdf files as I want and as long as Google Analytics, the jQuery library, and my custom function is called - I will continue to track clicks to all of them.

On side note, this technique actually helped my find a broken link on my site. I looked at the reporting and saw a page view to this URL: “/outgoing-links/pdf-title,pdf” - note the comma where a period should be. A user clicked the link, the script tracked the page view (using the incorrect address of the .pdf), and must have received a 404 error. I was able to see that was wrong and fix the typo.

Very, very cool script!

I have a lot of history in the park, and a lot knowledge about the park itself. People have actually joked with me about giving tours around the park because I spit things out like “Hey, that’s the fairy garden,” or “If look down here you will see the old well,” or “The Castle sat right on the hill here, you can see the steps over there,” and a bout hundred other interesting facts about the park. Well, at least interesting to me…

Anyways, I could rant about the park for hours.

Now I live in a town next to Newburyport and still trying to wake up early when I can to walk in the park. I did that this morning for about an hour and grabbed a couple of pictures I wanted to post.

Standing on the dam

The waterfall at the dam

Walking along the pond, through the laurels

Looking through the laurels at the stone bridge by the pond

Walking over the stone bridge

The pond - downstream

The pond - upstream (by the beaver dam)

The back field - (near farm, and where old farmhouse was moved from)

The back field

Product Description:

The Korg D888 Digital Recording Studio is an eight-input/eight-output mixer and eight-track hard disk recorder in one easy-to-use unit. Best of all for those used to analog recorders the D888 has a very analog-like look and feel that’s comfortable and very easy to use. The input jacks trim knob three-band EQ controls pan knob and fader are all placed in a straight line for each channel and channel settings are obvious at a glance. A backlit LCD screen provides additional information that’s easy to understand.

Each channel has a high-performance balanced mic preamp with TRS and XLR inputs with 48V phantom power. As a standalone mixer the 1/4″ outputs are configured to provide Monitor Out L & R; Master Out L & R and individual outs for channels 5-8 or you can switch to eight individual outputs.

The D-888 provides 16-bit/44.1kHz uncompressed recording quality with eight tracks simultaneous play and record in WAV format. You also get eight virtual tracks for each track for a total of 64 tracks in addition to a stereo master track. The recording section has easy-to-use tools like punch-in/out copy and swap operations four editing locate points for each song one hundred mark points non-destructive editing Undo and Redo functions eleven types of digital master effects and 3-band EQ on each channel. The D888 also has an assignable metronome two indpendent headphone jacks 40GB hard drive a USB 2.0 connector MIDI Time Code transmit and optical optical S/PDIF outputs.

You also get Cubase LE Recording Software thrown in Free

Korg D888 8-Track Digital Recording Studio Factory B-Stock

If you want an example, I recorded this track using it: Hopelessly Lost - 4.9mb [MP3]

Thing Kicks Ass!
$0.02

I mean honestly, do you really need any more time than a week to download all the music you could possibly want? Seriously, I could probably fill my IPOD in like two hours with a decent connection, let alone an entire week. This has to be the best offer I’ve seen yet when it comes to accessing downloadable media.

Stop and think about it. Get the trial, download all the music you can for seven days, and then just cancel. It’s a complete no-brainer! Take a day off from work even. Is there a catch?

Give it a shot, get Napster - fast, safe and legal. Over 6 million Music MP3s!

Just my $0.02

Damn, check this thing out!

Occasionally I find the need for a page element that is not considered valid xHTML-Strict markup. Once big one that has come up is the good ole’ “iFrame” tag. Granted you can always change the DOCTYPE to “Transitional” and still have valid code, or you can use the “Object” tag to get the same results and be valid. In the past I’ve done both of these, but I’d rather use the Strict DOCTYPE and let’s face it; “Object” tags simply do not play nice across browsers. I’m sure there are other ways to display this sort of content, but I’ve yet to find any useful. Regardless, I found what I think is a MUCH better way to display iFrame content, both technically speaking and considering Search Engine Optimization (SEO; search bots don’t like iFrames). I wanted to share in case someone else finds himself or herself in the same situation.

Note: This outline is designed for people with at least a little or moderate developing experience. Also, this technique is a workaround that is SEO friendly for use when iFrame content is inevitable. It should be noted that iFrames are not valid elements for a reason and should be filtered out if possible.

Step One: Setting up jQuery to run on your site

I won’t get into a big rant about jQuery, but lets just say that it is probably the best thing to happen to JavaScript since, well, JavaScript. For those who don’t know what jQuery is, or what it does, it can basically be summed up like this:

jQuery is a crazy-powerful, free JavaScript library that once included on your page, allows developers to enhance and manage their pages, using JavaScript, in a way that is much less technical or demanding than compiling advanced scripting knowledge and well… doing all the work yourself. Once again, god bless open source!

Download jQuery

Use the link above to visit the jQuery download page. Scroll down until you see “Current Release” heading and select a file to download (I use the “minified” version personally). Save the file to your website code base. If you are not sure where to save it, a common convention is to make a “scripts” or “includes” folder in your website root where all shared files go.

Also - Because I don’t want to muck with the contents of the jQuery file, I always create an additional JavaScript file for custom functions that I write (using jQuery) to handle data on my pages. I call this file something like “functions-custom.js” and include on my page as well. Just make sure to place it after the main jQuery script call so the browser gets jQuery first, as it is the brains here that my functions (loaded second) depend on.

Once you have the jQuery file saved and the custom function file created, you simply need to add it them to the <head> of your xHTML Strict page - in the same way you would add any JavaScript file:

<script type="text/javascript" src='path/to/where/you/put/jquery-1.2.6.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src='path/to/where/you/put/functions-custom.js"></script>

Note: It may go without saying, but you need to update the path in the code above to point at the appropriate files.

With that complete, you are now including both the jQuery JavaScript library and your custom file on your page and can begin to see what it can do.

Step Two: Creating the custom function to do all the work

The issue: We have an iFrame we want to use on our page but:

• Iframes are not valid xHTML Stict Markup.
• Iframes are SEO bottlenecks.

The Solution:

• Send the markup to the browser using valid code, then use javascript to dynamically insert the iFrame code after the page is downloaded
• Because most search bots don’t parse JavaScript, they receive the original valid markup with SEO-friendly urls to the iFrame content.

The Code:

Place this in your “functions-custom.js” file you made above:

$(document).ready( function() {
// create xhtml strict friendly iframe
$('a.iframe').each(
function (i) {
$(this).replaceWith("<iframe src='" + this.getAttribute("href") + "' frameborder='0' scrolling='no'></iframe>");
}
);
});

Place this in your xHTML Strict page where you want the Iframe to display (anywhere a link tag can be placed and still validate):

<a href="Link to my iframe content" class="iframe">View my Iframe Content</a>

With everything above in place, you should now be able to load your page and see the iFramed content. If not, just review above to be sure you have it set up correctly.

Step three: Understanding what the heck is happening.

Ok, first lets look at the link. The only really important thing to notice here is the class declaration:

<a href="Link to my iframe content" class=”iframe” >View my Iframe Content</a>

The class is needed because when the page loads and the JavaScript fires, any link on the page with a class of “iframe” will be converted into an iFrame with the content of the iFrame being the “href” of the link (see below). Because the jQuery functions will only fire after the page is sent to the browser, if you view the page source you will actually see the “a” tag and not the “iFrame” tag. This makes the link SEO-friendly because search bots will scan the xHTML markup of the page and generally not parse the JavaScript. Thus seeing the normal link tag, not the dynamically generated iFrame that the link tag was “replaced with” after the jQuery ran.

Note: Tools like Firebug will show you the “compiled source” of a page, allowing you see the “final” markup creating the page after all JavaScript has been run in the browser. You will see the iframe tag in the compiled source.

Now, if all that makes sense let’s look at the function we added to the functions-custom.js file. There are two main components to it. The first part (below) is needed for most any actions that require jQuery to run. It basically tells the browser to wait until the page is loaded and jQuery is prepared to run. Once it is ready, the items inside will fire.

$(document).ready( function() {
// some functions and stuff to run once jQuery is ready
});

In some sense, it’s practical to consider the “$(document).ready( function() {” the header and the “});” the footer of your custom scripts. As mentioned, this tells the browser to wait until jQuery is ready and then run anything between those lines.

The custom code we wrote to create the iFrame(s) is:

$(document).ready( function() {
// create xhtml strict friendly iframe
$(’a.iframe’).each(
function (i) {
$(this).replaceWith(”<iframe src=’” + this.getAttribute(”href”) + “‘ frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’></iframe>”);
}
);});

To really understand the functions and options you really need ready up on, and tinker with jQuery. To summarize, the function outlined above will:

• Scan the document for all links that have the class “iframe” and loop through results - $(’a.iframe’).each
• Replace each instance with an iFrame tag, using the original link’s “href” as the iFrame location - $(this).replaceWith

Summary

This method will send SEO-friend, valid xHTML-Strict code to the browser. Once loaded, the jQuery-powered function actually replaces specific links (tagged with class=”iframe”) with the iFrame tag - problem solved.

Suggested Reading

• jQuery Documentation

Cheers!
-a

Anyways, for the past like five months or so I seem have been in a “mellow acoustic rock” phase. For example Jack Johnson, Howie Day, and Dave Matthews have been high on my play count. Now it looks like I’m leaning towards a little bit of a heavier style. I’m not talking death metal or anything, just heavier rock like Seether, Ra, and Godsmack.

I’m not sure how these bands fell out of my daily spins, but there are certainly back with a vengeance. I wanted to write a quick post with what I consider….

Kick-ass hard rock songs that everyone should own:

• 
  

  Seether - Gasoline

  I listened to this song once, and it instantly became one of my favorites. The over-driven guitars, driving basslines, and hard-hitting lyrics of this comparatively short (2:49) song are completely badass at high volumes. There is nothing over-technical about the arrangement, and nothing sparks “wow these guys are awesome musicians” comments from me, but this song is rocking.

• 
  

  Ra - Do You Call My Name

  Ra’s first record “From One” is outstanding from beginning to end, but this song really jumps out as being the “if you had to pick one” track. First off, it’s catchy as hell. The guitar riffs are crazy-heavy but not overkill, and technically it’s a pretty impressive arrangement. I’ve found myself singing this in my head hours after I listen to it. Other “notable mention” tracks from the same record are Rectifier, Parole, and Fallen Rock Zone.

• 
  

  Godsmack - Moon Baby

  This band has some killer tunes, but this one takes the cake for me. I like how tight the guitars are while Sully belts the “Let’s take a blast to the moon baby… now I’m craving you” verse. The songs builds into this over-driven, pounding jam that makes you inadvertently raise the volume. There is nothing to technical about the track; it’s just an awesome, awesome song.

• 
  

  CKY - Shock And Terror

  Admittedly, this is a quirky song. I originally got into this band for the track “Escape from Hellview,” but found myself listening to this track more and more. The entire album is great, and it was hard to pick one, but “Shock and Terror” has one of coolest sounding guitar/bass lines I’ve head in a long time. You can’t help but nod your head to rhythm. Infiltrate-Destroy-Rebuild - Definitely one of my favorite records.

• 
  

  Stone Temple Pilots - Crackerman

  If there was a record dedicated to the best “driving songs,” this track would clearly be on it. It’s catchy as hell, has a great guitar line, and after like fifteen years, this cd is still in regular rotation with me. I’m sure there are other tunes that could be the best on the record, but “Cracker Man” is just awesome. I saw them play it live once and it came across incredible. Other notables include “Wicked Garden” and “Naked Sunday.” Break this record out, dust it off and play it - one of the best.

Well, I decided to bite the bullet and get things rolling on this studio thing. I’m certainly not new to the concepts of multi-track recording. In fact, over the past 18 years of playing I’ve used a ton of systems including Tascam multi-track cassette recorders, reel-to-reel systems, and computer hardware/software interfaces. I pretty much know what I need get; I’m just a little out of date with the available technology and what falls within my price range.

After talking to a lot of people, reading a bunch of articles, and doing what I can to bring myself up to speed, it became obvious that a computer-based system was the way to go. This was no shock, but I have to say…

I hate recording music with a computer.

I know computers fairly well. I’ve worked as a Web Developer for more than 8 years and can find my way around a machine better than most of the people I know. The issue I have is that sitting at a monitor, using a mouse to adjust virtual sliders, praying that the computer runs smoothly, and dealing with drivers and codecs makes me crazy. It just takes something away from the “playing music” part of recording when you need to deal with the computer at the same time. I prefer using “stand-alone” systems with real knobs and buttons, but it’s no secret a computer based system offers more possibilities. I accept that, I just hate using them.

I’ve had a stab at setting up a computer-based system on a few occasions. Usually in the moment, with great haste, when I’ve written something decent that I quickly want to capture before its gone. Granted I’ve never had a decent interface, and have been using an antiquated version of Cakewalk Guitar Tracks, but I always ran into terrible sound and bad latency issues Every time this happened, I’d get frustrated, cuss up a blue streak, put the guitar down and break out the Musician’s Friend catalog.

Anyways, I know a lot of people that do use computers with great results and figured it was time to put my dislikes aside, get on the bandwagon, and give this an honest shot. I’d get some decent equipment, take the time to set it up right and learn the system well. It was time to shop!

I have a pretty kick-ass laptop that exceeds the minimum for everything I looked at (Dell e1705, 17 inch monitor, core 2 duo, two gigs of ram); I just needed an audio interface to connect to it. This is where I ran into a pricing barrier. I wanted as many inputs as I could get for the money. Most interfaces I found have only one or two XLR inputs. That made zero sense to me. What if I wanted to record direct from my acoustic while using an instrument mic, and singing? That’s at least three right there, and if I wanted to invite anyone over to record? Forget it.

I had to sacrifice inputs for value and decided on the M-Audio 410 FireWire interface. It looked like it would do what I wanted, had two XLR inputs, claimed “zero latency monitoring” and it was certainly in my price range ($299). For the first time, I was actually excited about computer-based recording and headed directly to Guitar Center from work.

No one likes to go to Guitar Center with me; I can easily spend a couple hours there. I try guitars, look at PA gear, and tinker with anything else they have on display. I love that place. I also hate to spend money, and can never make up my mind on what to get. When I got there to buy the interface I literally looked at all the options for like an hour before I actually brought it to the counter. I did go with the M-Audio 410… niiice…

I rushed home, opened the door, stormed right across the house to my studio, and busted open the box. In like two minutes I had the software installed, the interface plugged in, and had already ran into an issue. The interface would not work. The drivers were installed, the lights where on, and still nothing. No sound, no levels, nothing.

It was actually sort of funny. All this time I knew that I hated computer recording. I knew I had so many issues in the past. But I was determined to try. Now, after doing my research and purchasing a decent interface, I still could not get the damn thing to work.

I looked into the issue a little further, and went to the M-Audio support page. Turns out, that even though the box said “XP, Vista compatible,” what it should have said is “NOT Windows Media Center Edition compatible.”

M-Audio Support Page

Are you kidding me? After all that, I don’t have the right freaking operating system to run this damn thing? I was livid. In fact, not only am I out of luck with the M-Audio product, it looks the all the best names in recording interfaces are NOT compatible with Windows Media Center Edition.

More on recording with Windows Media Center Edition

The unofficial list of un-supported interfaces include:

• Digidesign Pro Tools (all versions).
• All M-Audio software and hardware.
• All Steinberg software.
• Cakewalk SONAR (all versions).
• The iLok.
• Syncrosoft USB dongles.
• Focusrite interfaces.
• Lexicon Omega/Alpha/Lambda.
• Edirol interfaces.
• Alesis USB and Firewire mixers.
• All MOTU hardware and software.
• All E-MU hardware and software.
• Native Instruments software.
• Waves software.
• Mackie Spike. Tracktion has been known to work, but is not guaranteed.
• Novation X-Station series.
• TC Eletric PowerCore series.
• Universal Audio UAD-1 cards.
• All RME hardware.
• All PreSonus hardware.
• All TASCAM software and hardware.
• Blue Snowball and Samson C01 USB Microphones.
• Line 6 USB hardware and drivers

Perfect, just perfect. After all that, I can’t even use most of the good recording interfaces because of the OS my laptop came with. I couldn’t’ t even believe it. The next day I packed up the interface, drove to Guitar Center, told the guy my issues and returned the M-Audio. He mentioned that there is some “hack” I can get to make it work, but it’s un-supported. I told him no thanks; my goal here was to not use anything that required a “hack” to work.

It was a sign; computer recording was not for me. I tried, I really did. I bought a good interface, did all I could to get it going, and found that I basically need to replace my operating system to make it, or any other decent product run… Eff that.

I ended up getting a KORG D888 digital workstation. It has 8 XLR inputs, two headphone outs, on-board effects, a 40gig drive, and does everything I need it to. What an awesome machine, and it runs exactly the same… every time I turn it on. I’ve recorded like five full songs since purchasing it - with zero issues.

To all those people who “swear” by computer recording systems - have a blast! I’ve given up. Standalone multi-track recorders are way better in my opinion for the casual home-based musician. And for anyone who runs Windows Media Center Edition… yeah, good luck with that!