Well, aside from Google becoming Skynet; I must say I’m very impressed with the Android OS/Phone.

Shame on Apple for not reached out beyond their exclusive AT&T deal. Despite the popularity of the iPhone, people continually complain about the AT&T’s coverage. Although AT&T’s data network is faster than VZW. Anyway, I’m not leaving VZW. So I decided to pick up a HTC Android and WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW! I hope Apple enjoyed their time at #1, because the Android is going to kill the iPhone (my prediction). Although the new 4G iPhone is due out soon, the Android is just so much phreaking fun! I’ll give you that iPhone has been doing these tricks for a while, but Shazam, Barcode scanner, Google Sky(net), Aloqua, and other apps really take my phone onto whole new levels. Oh, and being able to speak a text message using Handcent SMS (speech recognition)…. too effing cool!

Gripes? Well, I wish it would do MS Office documents natively without having to pay $. The spell checker/suggestions can be annoying sometimes. Other than that, it’s my favorite phone yet. I would like see it rooted at some point, but maybe this is just one device I don’t manipulate.

Some of the users of the Blackberry 9530 have reported that their screens do not wake up after dimming when upgrading to Blackberry Device Software 5.0.  This is a known issue and I experienced this myself.  I’ve tried wiping the device and reloading the software to know avail.  If your Blackberry experiences this problem, revert back to 4.7 and contact Verizon for a replacement phone.

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB19984

like-a-bird-1-edit-7-export-1

http://www.mts.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/like-a-bird-1-edit-6-export-1.mp3

In standard tuning, here’s a rendition of Steve Vai playing “I’m Like a Bird” with Nelly Furtado at the Grammys in 2002.  This is just the intro but it’s so fun to noodle to….

I spent the better part of Saturday working on a backing track to John Mayer’s tune called “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.”  There are only two back tracks for John Mayer that I could find, so I thought it would be nice to contribute to the community in this area.

It was written in Propellerhead Reason 4.0 using the Redrum Computer from drums, NN-XT for bass, and NN-19 for choir (to emulate the backing vocals during the chorus).

I posted it to my Sounds page.  If you like it or use it, feel free to contact me.

Enjoy!

-Brent

I recently decided to to purchase the van den Hul Integration hybrid cable from Mark Stoddard.  This cable would replace the connection to my TR mod Bassman amp to the TR 2 x 12″ cabinet.  I won’t mention any other brands in this post, but I thought I had a decent cable for this connection before upgrading.  I can’t believe how wrong I was on this assumption.

Let me just say that Mark Stoddard of Lava Cable has been nothing but a pleasure to deal with.  He’s quick to respond to email requests, even faster in the turn-around and shipping department, and all around good guy.  After doing some research, I found that he’s a 24 year Veteran in the Army and is currently stationed in Fort Bragg, NC.  Not only is he a guitar player, but he can terminate one hell of a cable!  I can’t believe what an improvement this cable was over my previous cable choice.  I just purchased five more van den Hul cables to replace the cables I’m currently using from Mark.

I wish nothing but the best for Mark Stoddard and Lava Cable.  If you’re in the market to improve your signal and tone, do your research and then give Mark at http://www.lavacable.com a call.  – He’ll hook you up like no other.

-Brent

PS – Here’s a picture of the cable I’m now using to connect my amp to the cabinet.

After reviewing all the videos from the Masterclass, this was my favorite.  This will have to hold me over until the next tour.

A couple of notes – It looks like he’s using the True Temperament fret system on Flo III.  I (and many) others asked Steve about this and he’s such a perfectionist that this system allows his intonation to be true on all notes on the fretboard.

Anyway – here’s a clip from Metallizer85 of Steve playing Giant Balls of Gold at the Masterclass.

I’ve been struggling with recording music in Windows Vista.  I had no problems with my Alesis IO|26 on my Windows XP computer, but I’ve been wrestling the device in Vista.

Here’s the problem.  Audio recording and playback pops, crackles, sometimes works, and is generally unreliable.  I’m using the Alesis IO|26 as my system sound card (no other sound cards are running).  I can replicate the issue every time by playing a song in Windows Medial Player and flicking through a few pictures in Windows Photo Gallery.  Flicking through a few pictures and the song starts to snap, crackle and pop…..

The fix was to turn off the Windows Vista Aero interface.  So no more Windows eye candy for me, but my audio playback seems to be solid.

Here’s a link for more info.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/04/05/how-to-kill-windows-vista-bottlenecks-pt-i-aero-and-display-issues/

 UPDATE:  It seems that Windows Classic mode is the way to go.