Music

In 1995 I created an audio CD of my electronic music. At the time I was working on a Macintosh II FX computer and my electronic keyboard was a Roland U-20.

Practicing more on the kalimba today. I’m trying to play double notes.  This is an improvisation. You start a rhythm and then make up variations on the spot as you go. I played this in the den and recorded it using a Blue Snowflake USB mic connected to my new MacBook Air. I used Audacity to […]

Here’s a recording of kalimba music. I recorded it today in the den using my iPad. Playing kalimba puts me in a meditative state. Very relaxing.

I’m testing a new sound module from Korg that includes a very nice piano sample. Here’s my first test recording. I think it sounds very much like a real piano. Keep in mind this is all happening on an iPad.The app has a built-in recorder. It can only output as a M4a file however. I […]

The last couple of weeks I've been working on and off learning how to create a MIDI backup band for my harmonica. I discovered that there are quite a few .kar files on th internet. These are MIDI files with lyrics that are usually used for singing karaoke. You can turn the lead instrument off […]

I discovered this clip of me playing piano at home on an old VHS tape. It was Christmas time in 1989. I used an Elgato Eye TV Hybrid USB video capture device to transfer the clip to my iMac. I then used Miro Video Converter to change the file to a mp4 file and to […]

I'm learning the song “Summertime” on the chromatic harmonica. I did this brief recording in the barn using my iPod Touch and the Multitrack DAW app. I emailed the file to myself and opened the file in TwistedWave on the iPad so I could edit it and convert the file from m4a to mp3 and […]

It’s been a while since I recorded a harmonica practice. Here’s about 10 minutes of me practicing on the diatonic and chromatic harmonicas. Recorded with my iPod Touch in my lap using TwistedWave audio recording app set to 44 kHz Mono. I did a bit of editing later using MultiTrack DAW.

This is a test recording using my new equipment setup. I’m playing a Kurzweil PC 88, audio stereo left and right out into a Blue Mikey audio connector into an iPad 3 using the MultiTrack DAW app. No FX, no post production. I’ve been practicing the piano for about a month and a half after […]

Length:15 minutes Show Listing: Song Start Length Nola 0:00 4:41 Frog Legs Rag 4:42 1:03 Sweet Georgia Brown 5:45 1:31 12the Street Rag 7:16 1:24 Maple Leaf Rag 8:42 3:10 Kitten on the Keys 11:53 3:02 Description: And now we travel back in time 40 years to hear me play some ragtime piano. I made […]

I produced this in real time on my iPad using the Mixtikl app. You can record live in the app and then save it to the clipboard and paste it in another application. I pasted it in MultiTrack DAW and added a fade in and fade out.  

I figured out how to upload an audio file to my WordPress install using my iPad and link to it in a blog post. It’s a two step process. First, I record the audio clip in MasterTracks DAW and email it to Dropbox using the free Send to Dropbox service. I then use FTP Client […]

I can choose a picture from the Media Library like this one of my harmonica. And I can insert an audio player if the audio is already on the server.  

In 1981 my mother gave me this Casio VL-Tone musical instrument. It was one of the first electronic musical instruments and (drum roll) it was also a calculator. I still have and it works. It has several instrument sounds and rhythms. It also has …

I’m experimenting with NanoStudio on the Mac. It’s a free sequencing program and it comes with an amazing collection of synthesized drum and instrument sounds. I’m still learning to use the program. This is my first sample mix of Happy Birthday. Jim