Free download of four Native Instruments' sound and sample players

Beginning September 1, 2010, Native Instruments, a German company based in Berlin and Los Angeles, is offering a free download of a new product, a series of bundled sound and sample players called the Komplete 7 Players. While the players include "a 1 GB sound library and 450 high-quality presets and effects ready to use in the studio or on stage," Native Instruments is hoping you'll be so impressed that you'll return to their online store to buy more virtual instruments and effects.

This is a smart move and kind of mirrors what some other companies such as Camel Audio have done with its Alchemy "sample manipulation synthesizer." While you pay for its Alchemy Player, they'll throw in one free sound library of equal value. Camel also has a promotion running until August 31 where you can pay whatever you want for the sound library Planet Earth and they'll note only donate by default half of your amount to charity, but they'll also throw in the Alchemy Player for free.

My Ten Thousand Year Blog now available for commercial syndication

My Ten Thousand Year Blog is now available for commercial syndication through Newstex. Details are available at http://www.newstex.com/publisher-search/Blogs/The-Ten-Thousand-Year-Blog/

Yet another version of "The Paint Machine Mix" uploaded to the Internet Archive

I think I've finally smoothed the groove in my "Paint Machine Mix", so check out the Take 3 Excerpt on the Internet Archive, all 31 seconds.

Uploaded "Morning on Mount Baker" excerpt to the Internet Archive

Inspired by a morning view of Mount Baker in Washington State from Willows Beach in Oak Bay, BC, I laid down a MIDI track, ran it through some software synthesizers and a drum machine, and came up with "Morning on Mount Baker," what I hope is a soothing listen in the ambient groove.

Uploaded "Strings n Things" excerpt to the Internet Archive

Here's a link to the ending of a piece I call "Strings n Things" that I uploaded to the Internet Archive. You can also play it in your Firefox Browser through the toolbar player below.

"Through Her Lens" Knowledge Network short on Hannah Maynard

I was hired to do some research and writing about 19th century Victoria portrait photographer Hannah (Mrs. Richard) Maynard for a video short, one of a series called "The Edge of the World," that's available for free online viewing on the Knowledge Network. The title of the short is "Through Her Lens". I'm credited at the end of the video.

For a treatment of Hannah Maynard within the developing cultural community of arts Victoria, see Karen Finlay's exhibition catalogue "A Woman's Place" (2004).

Uploaded "The Wild Pianos" excerpt to the Internet Archive

My "The Wild Pianos" one-minute excerpt on the Internet Archive contains the transition between the first slower part and the second faster part, with the latter incorporating a drum track based on the MIDI version of my keyboard improvisation. The total piece is just over nine minutes in length.

To save you a trip to the Internet Archive, I've embedded the audio clip here: