Category Art

Lucida Grandε.

This has been itching me ever since I installed Leopard. Lucida Grande, the ‘default’ font for much of OS X’s UI has been ‘upgraded’ to version 6.0. This wouldn’t be a problem (or even noticeable) if the new Lucida Grande hadn’t replaced the glyph for the hellenic character epsilon with the ugliest, most striking version […]

In The Junkyard 3 Release Fest

Τη Παρασκευή 16 και το Σάββατο 17 Νοεμβρίου θα πραγματοποιηθεί το φεστιβάλ για τη κυκλοφορία του Ιn The Junkyard Volume 3 από τη μη-κερδοσκοπική Spinalonga Records. H τρίτη (και τελευταία) συλλογή της σειράς In The Junkyard 3 που κυκλοφόρησε τη περασμένη άνοιξη κλείνει τον πρώτο κύκλο προώθησης της ελληνικής αγγλόφωνης ροκ σκηνής από την Spinalonga. […]

Guitar Rig 3

Also read the Guitar Rig 4 Mini-Review A bit more than a year ago I wrote about Guitar Rig 2, Native Instruments’ flagship product for Guitarists. Guitar Rig 2 was an excellent product in most ways, with exceptional sound quality, a solid foot controller and several improvements over the original. About two years since Guitar […]

NIN is Free.

So, last week Radiohead broke the mould for music distribution by an 'established' band and allowed their fans to pick the price for their upcoming album. Then, yesterday, Ian Brown from the Stone Roses and The Smiths' Johnny Marr both praised the move. And now, Trent Reznor (NIN) announces that after 18 years he's going to take over the distribution of his works, hopefully under a similar model. Is this becoming a trend? Does is signal the beginning new era? Maybe it is.

Downloadable fonts and CSS

One of the main gripes of designers and users alike about the Web is its inherent dependence on the few, largely mediocre (e.g. Trebuchet, Times New Roman, Courier New) or poor (Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana etc.) fonts that Microsoft commissioned or designed more than a decade ago. This year CSS turns ten and along with it comes yet another proposal on the Web's Typographic liberation. Or sort of. This time it might work, although scores of technical and legal questions remain. A List Apart has the details.

No Really. It's up to you

Checkmate from Radiohead. One of the bands with the highest artistic integrity from the early 1990s to date, redefine music distribution by offering their new album In Rainbows on their site at a price specified by the buyer, ala Magnatune. No Really. Radiohead Rock!

Guitar Rig 3 is out!

Guitar Rig 3New amps, new effects, new presets and some new features. Woot! If this is anything like the upgrade from version 1 to 2 then we're in for a rockin' upgrade. :) The order has been placed (the 'software edition' obviously as the new Kontrol is somewhat pointless if you have the previous version). A review is forthcoming, when I get some free time that is...

Amazonmp3

The first fully DRM-less music store is here, offering 'over 2 million songs' by EMI and Universal encoded in 256kbit mp3s --- the largest unencrypted music downloads offering to date. Although the service is currently in beta, I have a feeling this is going to usher a new era in music downloads and spur competition. Let's hope more record labels align themselves behind either Amazon's or Apple's store. What's sad, although completely understandable given the very low proliferation of capable devices, is that tracks are using the ageing mp3 format instead of newer and higher quality codecs, such as AAC. Maybe in the future I guess.

Ο Prince, η μουσική και οι δισκογραφικές.

Μια από τις πιο επιφανείς περιπτώσεις καλλιτέχνη που ‘τα έβαλε’ με τις δισκογραφικές είναι αυτή του Prince. Στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1990 η Warner Bros., η δισκογραφική τότε εταιρία του εν λόγω καλλιτέχνη, είχε ήδη κατοχυρώσει το όνομα ‘Prince’ ως σήμα κατατεθέν και είχε τα δικαιώματα για όλη τη μουσική του καλλιτέχνη κάτω από […]

Animusic 2: Resonant Chamber

Animusic Resonant Chamber
Since Apple announced their support for the H.264 codec back in early 2005 I never bothered revisiting their HD gallery. Until today that is. To many outside the world of computer graphics, Animusic became known from the real-time version of its 'Pipe Dream' piece, used for ATi's Radeon 9700 some years ago. The company has released two collections of tracks on DVD all featuring imagined animated (computer graphics) 'robotic' instruments accurately performing the tracks. Needless to say they are quite interesting to watch and very well done. The HD 'Resonant Chamber' sample presents a more 'acoustic' piece than 'Pipe Dream' and one that transcends several musical genres performed by an impossibly complex stringed instrument (a construction that combines guitar, lute, bass and harp) that might invoke images of Pat Metheny's Pikasso I 42-string guitar. Worth watching. [Update: Also available on the site is Starship Groove]