Author Archives: andy

Things Always Changing

It’s funny how fast time goes: one minute, you’re on top of all your passwords, plans, and dev environments… and in the next minute, you’re forgetting passwords, plans, and how you set up those dodgy dev environments years ago.

For example, I just recently noticed that one of my old Python-related projects was no longer working (after a fairly recent server change). After looking into the problem, I end up finding out that I need to upgrade my local virtualenv environment. So I navigate to my environment folder… and realize that I have absolutely no documentation from when I last set up this particular environment. Oops.

There is help out there, though, with potential answers to these types of issues.

To fix this particular issue (and for my personal reference, at least,) I ended up taking the following steps to get things up and running:

  1. Back up your virtualenv directory before doing anything else. (Note: This process is more of a fresh-install than an upgrade… running the command will possibly take away old packages…)
  2. Re-create the virtualenv directory by using the following command:
    $ /path/to/system/default/virtualenv /path/to/your/environment/directory
  3. Then, update individual packages as needed:
    $ pip install package-name-here

Now there’s some documentation for next time…

kanjoto collection

Summer provided some time to begin working on the initial Android implementation of kanjoto. The following entries are a step-by-step look at how this implementation was created and where this implementation is headed.

  1. Wireframes Drawn
  2. Framework Created
  3. Code Reviewed
  4. kanjoto Logic Added
  5. Project Demoed and Presented

Generating MIDI on Android

Went back to a previously-found project that helps with generating MIDI on Android: android-midi-lib. This is a really easy-to-use library (albeit with code-only documentation) that makes it easy to generate MIDI on Android.

I ended up trying out one of the examples included with the android-midi-lib project in a new Android application called Generate. This application then generated a simple MIDI file that could then be read by my earlier-created prototype of a MIDI playback application.

Initial Research

Found a way to play back MIDI files by using MediaPlayer class based off of this tutorial:

A simple exercise to play MIDI audio using MediaPlayer

And that tutorial was found via the breadcrumbs from this Stack Overflow post:

How to play changing midi on Android – jetPlayer

where a user named @dorien was previously asking about similar MIDI playback functionality (and evidently went on to create an Android application that generates counterpoint-focused music.) The paper on this app creation process can be found here:

So at this point I am able to play back pre-generated MIDI files in a basic Android app, and have created a prototype Android application named Playback.

Calling of Simon

After many attempts, I’ve settled on version 9.x for the Calling of Simon mix. The goal of this mix was to create more separation between the various instruments and tracks. That goal continues to elude me… but my ears want to tell me I’m getting closer.

The biggest change in this final version (as compared to the almost-final-version that was posted originally on FB,) is the piano track. I wish I could keep the crisp, original track as it was recorded for the final version of this song’s mix… but for whatever reason (frequency fights, velocity problems, etc.) I found myself getting tired of hearing the harsh, repetitive pinging of notes from a sampled instrument. In an effort to avoid these problems, I ended up reshaping the piano tone into something different… and from what I can tell, the change in tone has helped to better separate the piano from the rest of the tracks. But there is still more that could be done!

The song (and lyrics) can be found on the Music Scrapbook… or on SoundCloud (for the time being.)

Calling of Simon Mixing Notes

With the mixing of Calling of Simon, I’ve been trying to branch out into different mixing techniques (“different” as in: not trying to hide the mix in a glossy, mid-range mess…)

These techniques have involved:

  • using delay and reverb for vocals (rather than relying on a channel strip preset)
  • cutting out low end frequencies from the reverb-saturated piano
  • cutting out boomy low end frequencies from the bass
  • breaking up the drum group track into individual drum tracks

But I’ve faced problems with:

  • finding mysterious frequencies that hurt my ears (and these might be caused by unnecessarily-boosted mid-range EQ frequencies… but still trying to locate the source)
    • helped: by using a compressor/gate on the master aux to act as a “catch-all” for any harsh frequencies missed in the individual tracks
  • flattening the vocals… how do the pros do this?
    • helped: by using a compressor/gate to help with smoothing out the vocals
    • helped: by panning the vocals to hard left and hard right to take away the “in-your-face” aspect of the vocals and allow the vocals to sit better in the mix
    • still need to add more automation for the loud parts of this song, though… and find a way to cut out the light distortion happening from the mid-range vocals eq… (might try out different attack settings with the compressor, too.)
  • taming the high-end EQ of the drums without making the drums sound like they are being played in a bit-crushed cave

Calling of Andrew

Finally had the opportunity to finish up the latest mix for the first (of five) songs from the end of last year. School got in the way of finishing these sooner… but I wanted to try to have these mixes sound easier on the ears than any previous recording I’ve had the opportunity to mix. Though even after spending so much time on the arrangement and mix, I still wish certain parts could be done differently…

The first song, Calling of Andrew, is from the album The Calling and follows the events of John 1:35-42 where Andrew meets Jesus and soon invites his brother (Simon) to meet Jesus.

The song (and lyrics) can be found on the Music Scrapbook… or on SoundCloud (for the time being.)

Maybe いい加減 isn’t so different after all…

Phrases that use いい加減 (e.g. いい加減にしろ！) have often been a mystery to me. According to one dictionary, at least, there were so many possible meanings this phrase could have:

  1. irresponsible; perfunctory; careless;
  2. lukewarm; half-baked; halfhearted; vague;
  3. reasonable; moderate;
  4. considerably; quite; rather; pretty;

But which meaning makes the most sense in general usage?

It wasn’t until just recently that I’ve noticed that when 加減 is used in the phrase: 手加減をしない (when used as a way to explain the phrase: 容赦ない,) it appears to be used to indicate “not [going] easy on someone” or “not [being] reasonable“.

When used in this way, the phrase いい加減にしろ！ seems to make more sense in that the particle に is helping to indicate that the speaker using the phrase wants the listener to “make [it] reasonable!”

In this way, narrowing down the context of how and when a phrase is used can begin to help with piecing together language puzzles such as いい加減.