Grape Hyacinths

Grape Hyacinths
Originally uploaded by jimblodget.

Today was the first day of Spring Break without a lot of wind and rain. I ventured out into the backyard to take some pictures of blossems and flowers.

Escher on a PDA

This one reminds me a bit of the work of M.C. Escher. It has some of the same hyperbolic spaces that he liked to experiment with. Again I used the polygon tool in Mobi-Paint on my Zodiac PDA.

Spring Break

Today is the first day of Spring Break and I'm experimenting with the Paint program on my Zodiac handheld. It has a polygon feature. Here the number of sides is set to 30 and the conncetion steps is 14. I created six or seven shapes varying the colors of red, blue, and white.

Sketch from Photo

Sketch from Photo
Originally uploaded by jimblodget.

In this experiment I imported a digital photo into the paint program on my Zodiac PDA. I increased the brightness and contast so I could just see the outlines of the shapes of the picture. Then I painted in color and lines with the airbrush and pencil tools. I then increased the contrast slightly to give it more punch. This is one way I could sketch on location and not worry about the accuracy of my drawing. I can just capture the shape and colors.

Sketching on Location

I'm sitting in my livingroom using my Zodiac PDA to see if I can make a quick sketch and post it on my blog. I first made a drawing using a Paint program and then "Sent" it to my email program and now I'm typing a message and sending it to my iUpload blog as an email attachment. This may turn out to be a good way to keep a mobile sketchbook.

Zipboingwow Show #9

Ragtime Piano

This week we travel back in time more than 30 years to hear me play some ragtime piano. I made these recordings on May 25, 1973. I was single then and for a short time I played piano in a bar in Dallas, Oregon. One day while practising I used an audiocassette recorder so I could listen to my performance. These are unedited recordings including bad timing, wrong notes and all.
Show Notes

Download the file: zbw9_1-15-05.mp3 (6.8 Mb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

Zipboingwow Show #8

South Falls Walk

This week we walk the canyon trail behind South Falls at Silver Falls State Park near Silverton, Oregon. The falls are full and the water roars over the top and crashes to the canyon floor 177 feet below. This is my favorite binaural recording. Listen for the subtle details such as how the water falls in sheets and the individual drops as they hit my head. I approach closer and closer until I am directly behind the falls. I turn and face the full power or the water, and then I turn and walk back the way I came. Use headphones to get the full experience.

Show Notes

Download the file: zbw8_1-9-05.mp3 (2.3 Mb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

Zipboingwow Show #7

Ankeny Overflight

This week's recording was made at the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge just south of Salem, Oregon on November 23, 2002. I made it in one continuous 20 minute stretch. As I stood there one flock of water birds after another flew over me. I turned and focused on them with the stereo cone mic as I would a video camera. Between groups you can hear blackbirds and songbirds and near the end a hawk flew in and landed in a nearby tree. This is a great recording to listen to on headphones just before going to bed. It's very relaxing.

Show Notes

Download the file: zbw7_1-1-05.mp3 (8.5 Mb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

Automatic posting pictures to blog

Okay, here's an exciting test. I'm typing this message on my PDA which is a Tapwave Zodiac 2 using a Targus Universal Wireless Keyboard. I've attached a picture which I took at a 4th of July parade in Pacific City, Oregon. I'm send this email wirelessly using Bluetooth to my iBook which is connected to the Internet. The email is addressed to my Flickr account and my Flickr account is set up to automatically send the post and picture to my Blogger.com account. So it should show up in two places - my Flickr website and my blog on Blogger.com.

Zipboingwow Christmas Show

This week's show is all Christmas music. I played each piece on my Roland U-20 in my home recording studio. I recorded the music a few years ago to audiocassette. Today's show was recorded from the cassette in stereo. Feel free to use the music in any way you like.

Show Notes

Download the file: zbw6_12-23-04.mp3 (3.6 Mb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

MIDI versions of these songs are available on our 2001 Christmas Card

Zipboingwow Show #5

Notepad and Theremini

Featured this week are two programs on a Palm PDA - Notepad which is a sequencing program that records up to 4 tracks and Theremini which is a live MIDI instrument. Sounds are produced by touching the screen with the stylus. The PDA is connected to a Roland Sound Canvas which can produce hundreds of instruments and sound effects.

Show Notes

Download the file: zbw5_12-18-04.mp3 (7.7 Mb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

Zipboingwow Show #4

This week I experimented with making binaural field recordings using my new invention - the stereo hat microphone. The mics are positioned on either side of the hat under the band. I first walked out to the chicken house to get a stereo recording of the roosters. The next day I drove downtown and used the same setup to make a recording walking around Salem's Riverfront Carousel. Both recordings have good stereo separation. Be sure to listen using headphones to get the full binaural effect.

Show Notes

Download the file: zbw4_12-11-04.mp3 (3.2 Mb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

Zipboingwow Show #3

My Dad came up to visit us for a week at Thanksgiving. He traveled by train and I made this recording at the Salem station as he was about to leave. I was facing the tracks and stood less than 10 feet away as the train arrived.The mics were clipped to the front of my heavy padded jacket and we stood in the midst of a small crowd waiting to catch the train.

The engine is so loud that the recording becomes way over modulated, but it's fun to listen on headphones and hear the train screech though your head from left to right.

Show Notes

Download the file: zbw3_12-3-04.mp3 (868Kb, 64 Kbps, 22Khz).

Zipboingwow Show #2

This week we explore NotePad and Theremini Palm PDA MIDI sequencing and instrumental software, musical selections include 12th Street Rag and Artillery March, and a natural sound recording of songbirds at Ankeny Wildlife Reserve.

Show Notes

Download the mp3 file.

Jim

Zipboingwow Show #1

This first show is an experiment in portability. I recorded it walking to work in the morning. All my equipment is battery powered and fits in my jacket pockets except for a small mixer which I had in my backpack. Music was played from a small mp3 player.

Click here to stream the mp3 file or for further information.

Or download the file zbw1_11-19-04.mp3 (5.3Mb)

Jim

Going to Work MP3 test

Here's one for you voyeurs out there. I made a 12 minute recording of my drive to work. I used a Sony Minidisc recorder in my shirt pocket with a $30 RadioShack stereo clip-on mic. I positioned the microphones over my ears by clipping them to the frames of my glasses. This makes a binaural stereo recording which sounds very close to what I heard at the time. The recorder was set to automatic gain.

You can listen to a Flash streaming version or download the mp3 file (5.5Mb).

Chemeketa Podcast 1

Here's a little sample of a podcast I produced at work on a Windows computer in my office. I used Audacity an open source audio editing program to make a multitrack recording and iTunes to convert the WAV file to a MP3 file. The finished file is 978K, four minutes in length, 32kbps, 22.050 kHz, Mono. You can subscribe to my RSS feed at feedburner.com. Feedburner now builds in the enclosure tag in the XML for users of Blogger.com. Look for the RSS 2.0 icon at the bottom of my sidebar. Here's a direct link to the MP3 file:

Chemeketa Podcast

Lunar Eclipse

Tonight in the Pacific Northwest we experienced a total eclipse of the moon. It started just after sundown (around 6:30 pm). Totality occurred about 7:30. I took this picture with my Sony DSC-P10 5 megapixel digital camera. The second one is from the NASA website for comparison.

Podcasting

The latest thing is putting audio in your blog. This post is a test to see if I can distribute audio. I've enclosed an mp3 file in this message. If you use iPodder, you can subscribe to my RSS feed and listen to my mp3 file. Here's a link directly to the file as well.

Mac TV theme music

For more information about Podcasting see engadget's article.

Loan Calculator

I got to working with Flash today and created a loan payment calculator. The formula was a challenge to write in ActionScript. The tricky part was rounding off to the nearest cent. You can see the result at:

Loan calculator