After getting an update from Robert Scoble at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) about Microsoft Research’s new music software called Songsmith, I decided to check it out so I downloaded the free trial which gives you six hours of unrestricted play time so if you decide to minimize the program to do something else or whatever the time pauses. The program only costs 30USD if you decide you want the program.

So after playing with the program and trying to get a feel for all its features I do have to say that I’m very impressed by the product.I find that Microsoft’s Songsmith is a very simple program to use but very robust in features. Essentially the program allows you to pick a musical genre like pop, hip hop, jazz, etc. Then it allows you to pick a tempo and then off you go to sing. Voila! You have

a song as the program generates music to go along with your voice even if your mic is subpar like mine. And the features don’t stop there. Don’t like the musical genre you chose initially? Well then go ahead and change it. Like the genre but want to change

some of the instruments in the music? easy– just go to the mixer choose your instruments and even the volume of individual instruments. The program even has "happy" and "jazz" sliders to change the tone of the chords being produced by the program. Oh and about chords, you can have Songsmith use just 1/2 chord to up to 2 chords. You can even change chords with chords Songsmith suggests or those of your own choosing. Once you’re happy with your music you can export it as a .wma as just vocal, just music, or both. you also have the option to export it to windows movie maker, for music video madness. Songsmith has so much depth for both the beginner or the most experience music maker and is so easy to use. you can pump out a song in as little as 5 minutes. Maybe even faster.

The program does have some limitations. For instance if you sing off beat you can’t match up to the beat so if you start on lets say beat 3 and wanted to start on beat 1, you have to sing all over again. You can’t change the tempo after you’ve sung so sometimes trial and error is needed to find the right tempo, but the program does suggest a tempo. Also the program isn’t necessarily the end all for the song. While the program ships with 30 different styles and many more for purchase, the sounds in the demo were basic so using Songsmith for a really high quality song would be difficult but its great just to be able to start a song and then take it somewhere else, say, Protools and flesh it out. Then again with limited file extensions for export, it may be difficult to do that as well.

If you’re into music, whether expert of beginner, Songsmith is a great program to get a song going. at 30USD the program is a steal with its many robust features and minimal limitations. I have a little sample of me using the program at a basic level as I didn’t mess with many of the settings. It could use some harmonizing but whatever. Enjoy? 0.o Heh. Download the demo Songsmith.

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

We all make them. We all break all or some at some point.

When the party is done we fall back on the previous year never really making changes. Most of us anyway. Me. "Next year, baby." We say or think, be it about money, or love. I had a poetry teacher who told me that their are only two types of poems; Teaching/lessons and Love.

The same for new year’s resolutions.

Lose a few pounds — self love motivated more likely by external love

photo credit: kentgoldman

Cut back or abstain from drugs/alcohol/smoking — self love

Make more money — no matter how happy this makes us this is still for external love i.e., Love that car gotta have it, need more money, or gotta buy that diamond bracelet for the missus, need more money, etc.

Learning a new skill or hobby — this one is obvious. Lessons, learning

Become a mentor — Teaching

These are just examples of the many decisions we may make for new year’s resolutions. Undoubtedly dieting/losing weight is one of the big one We also fail miserably at it. why? well its hard. Haha, seriously there are resources on the interweb to helping a person achieve his or her goals.

For me, I think I’ll achieve this year the most important ones. Like strawberries and a colander I’ll keep all the sweet slightly tangy treats and wash away the dirt. What are some of your New Year’s resolutions?

This post was influenced by Jamie Cullum with songs, "Next Year, Baby", "7 Days To Change Your Life", and "Mind Trick"

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

This post in inspired by the new Kanye West CD 808s & Heartbreak.

The only Kanye West CD I absolutely like. the music matches perfectly with the written material; heartbeats, heartbreak, love, relationship, unrequited-ness, pain. Simple. Not simple in a primitive sense, but in that it is simply driven by emotion. No pretentiousness of earlier CDs songs just a need to express that feeling of love wrapped in whatever facet of love the song is about.

So more specifically this post is inspired by the song Love Lockdown.

Have you ever loved someone, I mean truly loved someone only to feel that it doesn’t feel right. I haven’t even got into how the other person feels. The other person may care about you, the other person may even like you, love you, or the the other person may not give a shit, ready and willing to sell you for a song. Whatever the case there is a brick wall you both must climb or break through. The vibe is wrong.

So what do you do? do you keep pushing forward allowing the Brick Wall to fall on your head only to hurt yourself, to never be the same again? do you move away, get away from that Brick Wall, from that love because if that Brick Wall falls at least you won’t get hurt even if before you left, got away, you painted the most beautiful mural upon the face of that Brick Wall and you called it, "Friendship and Love, Or Something Like It." So now that you’ve ran away to watch it fall from a distance you see that wonderful mural destroyed and still it hurts you, maybe not as if the Brick Wall landed on your head but still it pains you, and maybe you even wish now that it landed on your head instead of seeing it fall and surviving to contemplate the aftermath.

So do attempt to climb the Brick Wall? chinks in her armor like nooks and crannies, handhold and footholds for you to climb to get to the the other side to fulfill this desire to love her, to hold her hand, to kiss her forehead, to feel her hand upon your face, to relish in the sight of the lines of her neck and collar. Even if you attempt to climb this Brick Wall which may be the size of Mt. Everest, the foothold and handholds you trusted on being there may suddenly be gone, they fall from your use and you slip and you hope to find a grip and continue cautious but determined. Or you may slip never to find a grip and you fall and fall and hope to survive.

So you keep your love lockdown, measured and understand that you want her but you must never feel that you need her. And though both are equal in pain, to need her only begets the punishing feeling that you may never have her and to need something means you’re missing something and to love wholly means you must be whole. To love means you must be willing to be loved.

This is the game we all play eventually and many times, as we lose a million times more than we win. I write these words, inspired, but I believe I understand myself well enough to realize that even if I know that I’ll fall every time I climb that Brick Wall at least I’m climbing. I always know I’ll never make it but I continue to climb because… well… maybe I’ll surprise myself.

I write these words knowing I’ll probably never follow them but hell maybe someone will find wisdom in them.