ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card
It uses a PCI express X1 slot so make sure you have one.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
A great sound card
I am posting this mainly for my own reference but also for others who want a good sound card to use with a media server running Media Monkey. I have heard the results and will be getting one of my own as soon as I can afford it. Here is the link at NewEgg for the Asus card that I like:
Friday, April 29, 2011
Olive Opus Goodbye for good !!!
The next two paragraphs of this entry are background. If you just want to learn how to get audio files off the Olive Opus version 4, you can skip to paragraph four.
A few years ago, a good friend bought an Olive Opus version 4 with a 1 TB hard drive. His intention was to rip his entire CD collection. This seemed good until he realized how tedious the process would be with the Opus and once accomplished, how terrible the user interface would be. After investing a lot of time he finally gave up and gave me the unit. We put together a system based on Media Monkey and a high quality sound card that works flawlessly. Other entries on this blog cover some of this but I do need to cover this some more.
I also wasted a bunch of time ripping CDs to the Opus assuming that I could deal with the interface and other issues as I do not listen to CDs as much as Richard. Once I was done, I soon realized that the interface options are so horrible that I would never use the system. I tried to find a way to get all of my files off the Opus and contacted support for their help. They had no solutions other than one suggestion that was a total waste of time for reasons I won't bother with here. Typical well meaning but useless support. So, the rest of this entry covers how to get your audio files off the Opus when you decide to give it the hefty heave.
The Olive Opus version 4 (and probably other versions, so please let me know if you have a newer or older version and if these methods work for you ) runs under Linux and uses Linux partitions on the internal hard drive. If you are a Linux person, you will have an easier time getting your files from the drive but for Windows people, it is also possible.
The Opus is a UPnP compliant device and can be accessed through a network for access to the files but as far as I can tell, there is not utility for accessing folders of files in a way that will allow you to download thousands of files all with names such as track 1 track 2 etc, while keeping them from overwriting each other. I could write such a utility but have other things to do. Therefore, it is necessary to temporarily disconnect the internal hard drive and connect it to another computer in order to copy the files. This is also much much faster than UPnP access.
The Opus hard drive is SATA (serial ATA) so you will need a computer that has a SATA drive interface. You can physically remove the drive and temporarily install it as an additional drive in a desktop computer that has a SATA controller. You can also connect it via USB with a suitable adapter or you can use an E-SATA connector. If you use E-SATA you will also need to provide power to the drive so it is best to buy an adapter that does this. Another option is to use an external hard drive that you probably already own and have outgrown to provide the interface. This is what I did because I could not find my other adapters. I had an old 250 gig external drive with USB 2 which I now use as an interface. Before you hack apart an old external drive, check to be sure it uses SATA internally. The universal USB, E-SATA,firewire interfaces that come with power supplies are pretty cheap and useful so it probably makes sense to just buy one of these and try to not loose it. I have two of them somewhere.
If you have a Linux computer, all you have to do is connect the drive and access the relevant partitions. The Opus drive has 7 partitions with the OS and other stuff you will not need on the first 6 of them. It is the 7th partition (may be called partition 6 if a utility is calling the first partition number 0) contains your ripped files. These will be in a folder called "Library" if I remember correctly. I have the Opus back together so I can not verify this but it is the largest folder in partition 7 if you have more than a few CDs ripped. Within this folder are individual folders for each ripped CD. These are named as CD_ and a unique number that was generated by the Opus. Look in any or these folders and you will see a file for each track in the format you ripped to such as MP3 or Flac. These are the files you need to copy. I have not been able to find where the Opus stores its database because of silly computer problems. Since I had all Flac files with metadata within I did not bother to look further and try to find the database. There was one large file named blahblah.dat that looked like a candidate but I could not copy it (silly reasons for this so go ahead and try it if you have WAV files and need to get the metadata some other way) that is probably an Sqlite database or some other accessible format.
If you do not have a Linux computer, fear not. There is a wonderful utility that allows you to "mount" Linux partitions on a Windows computer and copy the files within them. This is "Extsfsd" and is available at http://www.ext2frsd.com There are other utilities also available but this is the first one that I got to work so I know it is a good choice. Unfortunately it did not work on my Win 7 64 bit computer so I had to use an old XP machine. I have Win7 pro and have virtual XP but I have never been able to get USB support for hard drives to work so I did not even try the program in virtual XP. Others may have better luck. Some of the other Linux to Windows PC tools might work under Win 7. If anyone finds one that does, please let me know.
So now, you have an XP machine with either a SATA drive controller and the Opus hard drive connected to it or an external adapter such as a USB to SATA adapter. All you have to do is install Ext2Fsd and give a few waves of your magic wand and you can copy your files to the Windows hard drive. There is a help file that explains all you need to do to access Linux partitions and also a web site with faqs in case the following is not clear enough.
After installing Ext2Fsd and running it you wil be presented with a screen that shows all the attached volumes. Hopefully your Opus hard drive will be shown with all the volumes it contains. Select the largest of the Linux partitions (number 6 or 7 depending on how you like to count) and select "mountpoint management" from the "tools" menu. An "add a drive letter" box will appear. Choose an appropriate drive letter and other options if you wish but in general, the default choices will work fine. If you now check your windows explorer you will fine a newly listed drive letter. Be sure to refresh the "my computer" window if it was already opened. If you double click this letter, Windows will probably tell you that it is not formatted. If this is the case, it is because the "management service" is not running. If you see your folders under the drive letter, all is well, if not, you need to start the "management service". Choose "service management" from the "tools" menu and click the "start" button. If you do not fiddle with default settings, the service will be started each time you run Ext2Fsd. If at any time Windows does not recognize the partition, check to make sure it has an unambiguous drive letter assigned and that the "management service" is running.
Once you have access to the files from the windows browser, you can copy them anywhere you want. For some unknown reason I had copy errors when copying my 6500 tracks. The windows copy system is unforgiving and stops at the first error leaving you to figure out what was and what wasn't copied on your own. I therefore use "Beyond Compare" to do all but the most trivial copying. This is probably the best Windows program ever written. If you don't have it, get it and thank me for recommending it. Get it at http://www.scootersoftware.com/
Be sure to read my blog entries on using Media Monkey and Team Viewer for remote audio file serving. I really should add some more on this and will in time.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Insurance Claim Hints
I recently had a fire in my workshop caused by a powerline surge. My AAA homeowners insurance paid for some of the loss and a lot of cleanup. In the process I learned a lot about what to tell the insurance company when submitting a claim and how they determine payment. I am sharing this information so that others might have a chance to be less screwed.
First I need to mention that it is my impression that insurance companies will do or say anything to delay and minimize payment. Do not trust anything said to you by an agent. Anything you do not have in writing (e-mail does seem to have the power of paper today) is essentially worthless. Agents will intentionally mislead you and or make promises they have no intention of keeping. You may make decisions based on this information and find later that you made a bad choice but that it is too late to change. So get everything in writing and write down the name of every person you speak to.
Property loss compensation is subject to some very confusing rules intended to minimize payment, however (with AAA at least) the need for documentation is minimal affording an opportunity to influence the eventual payment. I was unaware of these rules and lost quite a lot of money.
The two most important considerations are "replacement cost vs. actual value" and depreciation. If you have a replacement cost policy you may be paid the cost to replace your lost property with equivalent items but you will need to replace the items within a fairly short period of time. If you can not replace an item or have no place to house it because your house is gone or uninhabitable or if you would rather have cash and not a replacement item, you should consider taking "actual value" instead.
Actual value has little to do with the actual value of an item. Actual value is based on purchase price minus depreciation. There are some exceptions for things like art and possibly some collectibles or antiques so ask your insurer in advance as to how they treat these items and be prepared for a a bunch of double talk and confusion. Get everything in writing or fight your way through your policy declarations with the help of a lawyer or two to make sense out of it.
Depreciation can be considerable. For tools (including ones that suffer no wear in time and actually increase in value) the depreciation may be 5% per year with a maximum of 80%. That wonderful Starrett tool you bought 20 years ago for $400 will be compensated at $80 even though it costs $1500 to replace today.
Now for the most helpful hints:
The insurance company is not likely to require proof of purchase price especially for an item purchased 20 years ago. They took my word on everything I claimed. I made the mistake of being honest. If you got a great deal, do not tell the insurance company, it will only reduce your payment. Present the highest reasonable purchase price for every item and set the purchase date as close to the present as is believable.
Take pictures of everything you own and keep copies where they will not be destroyed in a fire or other disaster. This may be your only proof that you actually owned the items.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Rural Cell Phone Fix? change home SID
This information most likely does not apply to newer phones. This post was written 14 years ago and much has changed. The same principle applies, you phone may drop calls if it "thinks" it can connect to a home network. Not sure what the current solution might be as the options described in this post most likely no longer apply?
I live in a remote rural location where cell phone coverage is marginal at best. The mountains make it especially difficult to receive a signal in some places. My house is the worst cell reception location on my property. I have a signal booster, sold by Wilson Electronics that makes it possible to use the phone at the house. Previously I used a "yagi" antenna pointed at the closest tower but this required an external antenna connection on the phone and these are very rare on new phones today. The Wilson U-Booster "Sleek" is only about $100 and works with all phones.
The remaining problem is that I have Verizon as a carrier and all of their phones are programmed to switch to Verizon equipment whenever it is available, instead of roaming on another carrier's system. This would be fine if the connection worked. The phones only seem to check the receive signal strength and don't bother to test the connection before switching. I have used various techniques such as trying to shield the antenna from the Verizon signal but this has pretty much stopped working especially with my new phone.
It seems that one key to choosing a connection is the use of preferred SID. Every carrier has a SID number for each area they operate in. Boundaries are often county lines but not always. When a phone checks for available services, it compares the SID of the available signals to the preferred roaming list in the phone. I am not sure how to change this list if it is in fact a list. This is what "updating roaming" seems to do.
For me, changing the "home SID" seems to help the phone stay on the carrier of my choice. You can get lists of nationwide SIDs from the following three pages.
If you know the carrier that provides better service to your area, you can change your home SID to this number if you can access your phones settings. For my phone, this requires "manual programming" mode. I have listed the procedure below but it probably works only for some LG phones. I got the secret procedure from Verizon. They will not tell you anything other than their own local SID but you can probably get them to talk you through the procedure for manual programming on you phone. Pretend that you can not update roaming because there is no Verizon equipment in your area. They will be glad to help you change the SID to one that will not work. I changed my SID from 1076 (Verizon Mendocino) to 1075 (US Cellular Mendocino) To accomplish the same, you will need to find the SID of the best facility in your remote area.
HOW TO CHANGE THE HOME SID NUMBER:
This works on an LG Accolade. Other phones will probably require different manual programming access codes. If anyone knows the codes for other Verizon phones, I will make a list and publish them all.
Key the following as if you were keying a number. ##77647265600 and then press "send" Enter 000000 as the "service code" From the menu that displays, choose the first option "service pro" Click OK until you get to the "Home sid" display. Record the number shown in case you need to restore it. After editing the number, click "OK" until the phone re-boots.
I will maintain a list of manual programming access codes if I am able to get them for other phones. Please contact me if you have any codes to add to the list.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Comparing E-Mail Clients
Now that I have switched, I realize that I have been suffering with garbage for many years. I was an early adopter of "The Bat" for an E-mail client. I was attracted by the many advanced features such as the ability to use "regular expressions" in searches and the availability of a portable version that I could run from any computer using a thumb drive.
"The Bat" started out as a pretty good program with a few annoying bugs such as the world's worst text editor and the inability to properly display HTML in received e-mail.
The editor was the worst problem. Inserting copied text was nearly impossible without destroying formatting. Jumping all over the document was common and I thought it was my doing, hitting hot keys or something. I spent more time correcting an e-mail than writing it. Now that I have a better program I realize that the problem was with "The Bat"s editor, not me. It interprets certain key combinations or sequences as commands to do things like jump to the end of the document or some other place that I can not even describe.
No matter what configuration choices I made, I could never properly display HTML in received e-mail. The rest of the world seemed to have no problem but I had to deal with garbled text in an HTML world.
Rit Labs never answered my support questions. I figured they would eventually sort out the bugs. They had no problem adding useless features and charging for upgrades but they never fixed the basics.
I had heard that Mozilla "Thunderbird" was pretty decent so I gave it a try. There is a little to get used to and a few features that could be better but I am generally impressed. I can't believe the time I wasted with "The Bat".
I have made a new rule and hope to remember and stick with it. If something looks like it has problems, don't give it too much time. I suffered with "The Bat" for over 7 years. It was the advanced features that kept me hooked but I never used them enough to justify the daily suffering.
Of course, "The Bat" uses its own format for e-mail and a address book entries and their feature for exporting to standard formats does not work so saving my 100,000 email was a bit of a challenge. Together with "Thunderbird"s transition tools and an inexpensive (for one user personal use) program called Aid4Mail, I was able to get all my mail into "Thunderbird". I can not get the folders arranged exactly the way I want but that is a minor issue. For some reason, copying or moving between folders takes foreeeeeeeeeeeeever. Various solutions found on the internet for creating folders and moving messages just do not work. I might let the computer take the four days that it will take to copy the messages or I might just learn to live with things the way they are.
GOODBY BAT, I WILL NOT MISS YOU.
"The Bat" started out as a pretty good program with a few annoying bugs such as the world's worst text editor and the inability to properly display HTML in received e-mail.
The editor was the worst problem. Inserting copied text was nearly impossible without destroying formatting. Jumping all over the document was common and I thought it was my doing, hitting hot keys or something. I spent more time correcting an e-mail than writing it. Now that I have a better program I realize that the problem was with "The Bat"s editor, not me. It interprets certain key combinations or sequences as commands to do things like jump to the end of the document or some other place that I can not even describe.
No matter what configuration choices I made, I could never properly display HTML in received e-mail. The rest of the world seemed to have no problem but I had to deal with garbled text in an HTML world.
Rit Labs never answered my support questions. I figured they would eventually sort out the bugs. They had no problem adding useless features and charging for upgrades but they never fixed the basics.
I had heard that Mozilla "Thunderbird" was pretty decent so I gave it a try. There is a little to get used to and a few features that could be better but I am generally impressed. I can't believe the time I wasted with "The Bat".
I have made a new rule and hope to remember and stick with it. If something looks like it has problems, don't give it too much time. I suffered with "The Bat" for over 7 years. It was the advanced features that kept me hooked but I never used them enough to justify the daily suffering.
Of course, "The Bat" uses its own format for e-mail and a address book entries and their feature for exporting to standard formats does not work so saving my 100,000 email was a bit of a challenge. Together with "Thunderbird"s transition tools and an inexpensive (for one user personal use) program called Aid4Mail, I was able to get all my mail into "Thunderbird". I can not get the folders arranged exactly the way I want but that is a minor issue. For some reason, copying or moving between folders takes foreeeeeeeeeeeeever. Various solutions found on the internet for creating folders and moving messages just do not work. I might let the computer take the four days that it will take to copy the messages or I might just learn to live with things the way they are.
GOODBY BAT, I WILL NOT MISS YOU.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Interfacing to the LX Reproducing Piano
I have been promising to write an article on a digital audio file serving system that can be built for very little money and that produces excellent quality audio. I have gotten sidetracked because a simplified version of the same system makes an excellent interface for the LX piano. It can also work for the Yamaha Disklavier, Pianodisc and Pianomation systems.
All of these pianos can be operated with specially coded audio files by connecting an audio source to their appropriate inputs. Each system has its own requirements, some accept audio from an MP3 file while others use decoding systems that do not work well with MP3.
Fortunately, the LX piano works perfectly with MP3 files. Although the system to be described here works with WAV and FLAC, MP3 is the most convenient for those who like to perfect the metadata displayed in libraries and playlists.
Previously I used Itunes and an Airport Express to send data to the LX piano. This worked fairly well but there were problems. My intermediate method switched to WinAmp and finally to Media Monkey still using the Airport but the new method does not require an Airport and its associated problems.
The new system allows the piano to be controlled from any computer in the house (or on the internet for that matter) as well as from an Ipod, Iphone, or I pad. The key to the system is a small dedicated computer connected to the piano with an audio cable and a few very reasonably priced and free programs.
The computer can be almost anything. It can be a notebook, a small form factor computer or just about any old piece of junk that you can hide somewhere. It is even possible to set it up without a monitor or mouse. The computer can even be configured to boot to the necessary programs without having to see anything on a monitor. It is necessary to have a small keyboard hidden somewhere as the computer will not boot without one. Some computer bios will allow you to boot in spite of a keyboard error so it may be possible to eliminate even the keyboard. If you have room for them you might as well have a small monitor and keyboard for maximum flexibility. Just want to cover the various options.
The key to the system is a media playing program called "Media Monkey". It costs less than $50 and is by far the best program of its kind. There are many plugins and extensions that allow you to do amazing things with it. One of them is an Iphone/Ipod application that lets you control the program remotely. I do not have an Ipod but borrowed one and tested the app. It works!!! IN the future, I will blog about some of my favorites plugins for "Media Monkey". Some day, I might even keep my promise to explain how to use MM as the basis for an excellent digital audio file server.
"Media Monkey" can be used to rip original LX cds to MP3 files which are added to the library. MM can also play files from shared network locations including a shared network drive. When ripping files from LX, and other piano CDs,no metadata is imported as it would be with audio CDs. This is because the data is not available on the internet sources such as FreeDBD. You have to add the data to the MP3 files yourself. I have written a utility that makes this easy to do from a tab delimited text file. It is available from the LX tools page of my web site. I have a ready made listings for all of the CDs available from "Live Performance" which are also available from the LX tools page of my web site.
In order to lay the piano from any other computer in the house or the world, you can set up a remote desktop connection between the dedicated computer and any other one. This is why you do not even need a monitor on the piano's computer. The computer can set up to boot to the remote desktop application with "Media Monkey" also running. Then you view it from any remotely connected computer.
A remote desktop configuration would be very complicated and unreliable using Microsoft's "remote desktop". In addition, you need to buy a professional version of Windows just to use remote desktop. "Remote Assistance" can be used but it is a royal pain to set up and use. Fortunately, there is a program that is free for personal use. "Team Viewer" is very easy to set up, is well documented and works flawlessly. No need to worry about firewalls, proxies, encryption, security etc., "Team Viewer" handles it all. It does depend on an internet connection for each computer in the shared configuration so you may want to set up the dedicated computer to run on its own if you have frequent internet outages.
"Team Viewer" is also available as an Iphone/Ipod app in case you prefer this to the "Media Monkey" Iphone/Ipod app. It is also available for the Mac so you can "run" "Media Monkey" on the Mac but you do need a PC connected to the piano to actually run the program. Many people are hoping for a Mac version of "Media Monkey" but it might not happen since most Mac users "like" Itunes for some reason.
Please contact me via blog comments or through the e-mail link on my web site if you think I should write a complete document on how to set up this system. My web site is linked on this blog but here it is link for the LX tools page. http://www.spencerserolls.com/LX_tools_information.html and the LX Music page http://www.spencerserolls.com/Live_Performance_LX.html
All of these pianos can be operated with specially coded audio files by connecting an audio source to their appropriate inputs. Each system has its own requirements, some accept audio from an MP3 file while others use decoding systems that do not work well with MP3.
Fortunately, the LX piano works perfectly with MP3 files. Although the system to be described here works with WAV and FLAC, MP3 is the most convenient for those who like to perfect the metadata displayed in libraries and playlists.
Previously I used Itunes and an Airport Express to send data to the LX piano. This worked fairly well but there were problems. My intermediate method switched to WinAmp and finally to Media Monkey still using the Airport but the new method does not require an Airport and its associated problems.
The new system allows the piano to be controlled from any computer in the house (or on the internet for that matter) as well as from an Ipod, Iphone, or I pad. The key to the system is a small dedicated computer connected to the piano with an audio cable and a few very reasonably priced and free programs.
The computer can be almost anything. It can be a notebook, a small form factor computer or just about any old piece of junk that you can hide somewhere. It is even possible to set it up without a monitor or mouse. The computer can even be configured to boot to the necessary programs without having to see anything on a monitor. It is necessary to have a small keyboard hidden somewhere as the computer will not boot without one. Some computer bios will allow you to boot in spite of a keyboard error so it may be possible to eliminate even the keyboard. If you have room for them you might as well have a small monitor and keyboard for maximum flexibility. Just want to cover the various options.
The key to the system is a media playing program called "Media Monkey". It costs less than $50 and is by far the best program of its kind. There are many plugins and extensions that allow you to do amazing things with it. One of them is an Iphone/Ipod application that lets you control the program remotely. I do not have an Ipod but borrowed one and tested the app. It works!!! IN the future, I will blog about some of my favorites plugins for "Media Monkey". Some day, I might even keep my promise to explain how to use MM as the basis for an excellent digital audio file server.
"Media Monkey" can be used to rip original LX cds to MP3 files which are added to the library. MM can also play files from shared network locations including a shared network drive. When ripping files from LX, and other piano CDs,no metadata is imported as it would be with audio CDs. This is because the data is not available on the internet sources such as FreeDBD. You have to add the data to the MP3 files yourself. I have written a utility that makes this easy to do from a tab delimited text file. It is available from the LX tools page of my web site. I have a ready made listings for all of the CDs available from "Live Performance" which are also available from the LX tools page of my web site.
In order to lay the piano from any other computer in the house or the world, you can set up a remote desktop connection between the dedicated computer and any other one. This is why you do not even need a monitor on the piano's computer. The computer can set up to boot to the remote desktop application with "Media Monkey" also running. Then you view it from any remotely connected computer.
A remote desktop configuration would be very complicated and unreliable using Microsoft's "remote desktop". In addition, you need to buy a professional version of Windows just to use remote desktop. "Remote Assistance" can be used but it is a royal pain to set up and use. Fortunately, there is a program that is free for personal use. "Team Viewer" is very easy to set up, is well documented and works flawlessly. No need to worry about firewalls, proxies, encryption, security etc., "Team Viewer" handles it all. It does depend on an internet connection for each computer in the shared configuration so you may want to set up the dedicated computer to run on its own if you have frequent internet outages.
"Team Viewer" is also available as an Iphone/Ipod app in case you prefer this to the "Media Monkey" Iphone/Ipod app. It is also available for the Mac so you can "run" "Media Monkey" on the Mac but you do need a PC connected to the piano to actually run the program. Many people are hoping for a Mac version of "Media Monkey" but it might not happen since most Mac users "like" Itunes for some reason.
Please contact me via blog comments or through the e-mail link on my web site if you think I should write a complete document on how to set up this system. My web site is linked on this blog but here it is link for the LX tools page. http://www.spencerserolls.com/LX_tools_information.html and the LX Music page http://www.spencerserolls.com/Live_Performance_LX.html
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Setting up a PC based media file server at almost no cost
I am the proud owner of an Opus Olive media file server. A good friend gave it to me after realizing that he would be long dead before Olive got the bugs worked out. Basically it is a piece of overpriced garbage. My friend and I figured out how to create a system that outperforms this and many other file serving systems at a fraction of the cost. All you need is a computer that has a pcie slot, a $150 sound card and some cables that you probably have already. Of course,"Media Monkey" is a key part of this system because you need to organize and lay your files.
This post is only intended to get you excited about the possibility of dumping your CDs and implementing a digital file server. There are a lot of details to master. I will eventually share all of my secrets. The system that I propose was tested on a truly fine stereo. I am not going to bore you with how to rip all your CDs so you can listen to inferior noise. The file serving system will not be the "weak link" in your audio chain unless you have more than $50,000 invested in your stereo.
It will take me a while to document all that we have done. Please be patient.
This post is only intended to get you excited about the possibility of dumping your CDs and implementing a digital file server. There are a lot of details to master. I will eventually share all of my secrets. The system that I propose was tested on a truly fine stereo. I am not going to bore you with how to rip all your CDs so you can listen to inferior noise. The file serving system will not be the "weak link" in your audio chain unless you have more than $50,000 invested in your stereo.
It will take me a while to document all that we have done. Please be patient.
More Media Monkey
I am using the "Media Monkey" to play my Live Performance LX piano too. I have a little SFF (small form factor) computer connected to the LX via the built in sound card. I have Media Monkey on the little computer with all my LX MP3 files in the library. I am using another great free program (free for non-commercial use) program to interface with this computer from any computer in my network (or even any computer in the world (isn't that fun,I can actually play my piano from France if I want to)) "Team Viewer" is used to set up a remote desktop control that is much easier to use than Microsoft's "remote desktop" or "remote assistance". I don't even need a monitor on the little computer as it boots to running "Team Viewer" which means that I just have to turn on the computer and walk away/ I can play the piano from anywhere as long as all computers have internet access.
I used to use an "Airport Express" connected to the LX but don't need it anymore. A big advantage is that the media files are on the directly connected computer. All streaming is direct to the piano, only the control is across the network. The result is perfect timing, no glitches whwn the network is overloaded.
I used to use an "Airport Express" connected to the LX but don't need it anymore. A big advantage is that the media files are on the directly connected computer. All streaming is direct to the piano, only the control is across the network. The result is perfect timing, no glitches whwn the network is overloaded.
The Best Media Player, Bar None
Things have changed since this post was written. My favorite media player now is Foobar 2000. It may appear a bit sparse but there is much power hidden below the surface. Spend some time with Foobar and you will find it does everything well. https://www.foobar2000.org/
I recently needed to convert many thousands of file from FLAC to MP3> I tried audacity and bought other programs to do this. Nothing worked reliably crashing after just 500 or so files. I thought I needed to make and process hundreds of folders with fewer than 200 files in each.
With Foobar all of that was unnecessary. I could process any number of files in batch mode.
You do need to do some exploring to discover all that Foobar can do but if you do you will probably have little use for the more complicated JRiver, MediaMonkey or others.
I have been playing with a media organizer/player that is so superior to everything else out there, I have to comment about it. This is the "Media Monkey". On the surface, it looks about equal to "Itunes" or "Winamp" but the surface is where the similarity ends. This is an amazing program. It has taken me about a week to learn how to exploit some of its capabilities and it is well worth the time spent. If you give it a fair chance, you will dump Itunes in a flash. "Out of the Box", it will do everything that Itunes does and better. Looking at details of customization including plugins and scripting capabilities will uncover something that could only be accomplished in an open source environment.
Media Monkey is primarily intended to just catalog and play common audio files such as MP3, FLAC and WAV but there is a plugin for MIDI as well. All the features of Itunes such as tagging from web databases is included. There is even the ability to play internet radio, manage podcasts etc. What makes it so different is the ability to customize virtually every aspect of the program and also to install plugins and scripts contributed by others. One of these scripts allows you to add meta data from text files. If you can create a text file for each of your multimedia files, you can import the tags to Media Monkey. So???? This is incredibly powerful. I have written a script that creates these required text files from a tabbed delimited text file. You can therefore do all your editing in a text editor or in excel and dump the tags to your media library. You don't have to edit the tags one at a time. If you already have the data in a file or database, you can easily convert it to the simple tabbed text format and save countless hours of editing.
I have created a file for all of my E-Rolls and emulation files so any of my customers (spencerserolls.com)can now use Media Monkey to organize and play their files. Media Monkey has no problem slurping tags from MP3 files but we who use MIDI have been left in the dark until now.
I have also been using Media Monkey as the force behind a very inexpensive media file storage and playing system that can be assembled for very little money and that can produce excellent audio. It has been tested on a fine stereo system, the like of which I will never personally own. I will be posting some details about this system in the near future.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
A Surge protector that works!!!
I returned home to find that a fire had damaged my workshop while I was away. A power surge of over 1000 volts was caused by a falling 60kv transmission line. This happens all the time where I live because PG & E has constructed one of the worst transmission and distribution systems of anywhere in the US. I used to loose from $200 to $10,000 worth of line connected equipment every winter, until I discovered a surge protector that actually works.
Virtually all surge protectors that are affordable to consumers, who are not wealthy, contain metal oxide varistors (MOVs) as their primary protective device. MOVs are very useful but they are far from perfect for protection against surges. They absorb energy in a surge by converting it to heat. When the voltage across which they are connected, rises above a certain design level, they become less resistive and act like a clamp. The more MOVs and the higher the rating (in joules of energy) the greater the protection. The intensity and duration of the surge determine whether or not the protection will be adequate. MOVs are great for short duration spikes even at very high voltages. They act quickly and offer for many common scenarios. They are not good for protection against a long duration high voltage. They are simply destroyed and so is the connected load. There are other problems with MOVs of which most people are unaware.
MOVs are damaged by “stress”. Their ability to absorb energy continually decreases as they are subjected to high voltages, over time. There is no way to determine the remaining capacity other than by destructive testing. Visual appearance will indicate a MOV that is destroyed and there are measurements that can be made to indicate if they are “functioning” but there is no way to know what capacity remains. Therefore the only way to assure protection is to replace them regularly. This can get expensive. Another little known fact is that MOVs can fail in a shorted condition. If they are connected again to the line, they can flare, creating a hot plasma that can start fires. If you have a power surge that trips the breaker or results in a power outage, you can have a fire once the power is restored. Better surge protectors have fuses or circuit breakers upstream of the MOVs to prevent a damaged MOV from being connected to the line. Many do not including the one that started a fire on my desk on year.
There is only one line of protectors of which I am aware, that works in a different and preferable way. Most people do not have the severe surges that I get, which are technically called “faults” because they are of long duration. However, the cost of these protectors is only slightly higher than the competition and their clever design also protects the MOVs in such a way that they are likely to last longer than those in other devices. Here is the secret:
Panamax makes a variety of surge protectors. Many of them are of the conventional design but one series has a feature called “protect or disconnect”. If you see this phrase on the package or the datasheet, this device is what I will describe. If it is not specifically stated, it is not likely to have this feature. The model M4-EX is one example of such a device. There are many other but even more that do not have this critical feature.
Protect of disconnect, works by sensing the line voltage and disconnecting the load from the line if voltage either too high or too low. Voltage level and time constants are built into the device are well chosen. The device rarely triggers falsely. The load is connected through an electromechanical relay which acts as a “deadman” switch. If there is any problem with the protective circuitry, the most likely result will be the disconnection of the load. Because the device also reacts to low voltage conditions, it protects against brownout caused damage as well.
The Panamax “protect or disconnect” surge protectors have several MOVs, but the majority are connected to the load side of the disconnect relay. This means that they are protected against surges as well and are less likely to suffer from stress induced capacity reduction.
It is amazing that Panamax makes these excellent devices are affordable prices. Most surge protectors offer little protection. They often include an insurance policy and you may actually collect but if you want your valuable equipment truly protected it is better to buy a quality device instead.
There is one scenario that the Panamax will not protect against. In five years, I have had only one failure to protect a device connected to a Panamax protector. This was due to a faulty design of the device, not the Panamax. A distribution line had become partially disconnected at a cross arm, creating what is called a “floater”. The line voltage continued to swing from low to high over a sustained period. I was sleeping and every time the power went on or off, I assumed it would be the last. I should have gotten up and shut off the main but I was unclear as to what was happening. The device that failed was a new refrigerator. The designer of this expensive piece of crap (Amana, but this is made by Maytag along with other brands such as Jenn Aire) did not bother to include a start delay in the design. This is a serious oversight. A start delay is a time delay relay that prevents the compressor from “short cycling” so that it does not start under a loaded condition. This was common practice in all refrigeration units until recently. New refrigerators do not use mechanical thermostats and defrost timers. They use microcontrollers and temperature sensors. This is done primarily to reduce cost. A circuit board that is the functional equivalent of two thermostats and a defrost cycle timer costs considerably less to manufacture and install. When these cheap boards fail (due to a power surge, for example) they are not cheap to replace. The manufactures sell them at highly inflated prices. The disturbing fact is that a start delay would cost nothing to add to such a control board. It would require a minor modification to the program residing in the microcontroller chip. I cannot imagine how a competent engineer could leave out such an important design factor. My guess is that the manufacturer prefers failures that can be blamed on power quality. They do not have to cover such damage under their warrantees and can sell expensive replacement parts. My refrigerator was replaced under warrantee but the appliance dealer probably had to call it a compressor failure and not mention power problems. Once I got the refrigerator home, the first thing I did was to install a start delay relay which cost me about $25.
Virtually all surge protectors that are affordable to consumers, who are not wealthy, contain metal oxide varistors (MOVs) as their primary protective device. MOVs are very useful but they are far from perfect for protection against surges. They absorb energy in a surge by converting it to heat. When the voltage across which they are connected, rises above a certain design level, they become less resistive and act like a clamp. The more MOVs and the higher the rating (in joules of energy) the greater the protection. The intensity and duration of the surge determine whether or not the protection will be adequate. MOVs are great for short duration spikes even at very high voltages. They act quickly and offer for many common scenarios. They are not good for protection against a long duration high voltage. They are simply destroyed and so is the connected load. There are other problems with MOVs of which most people are unaware.
MOVs are damaged by “stress”. Their ability to absorb energy continually decreases as they are subjected to high voltages, over time. There is no way to determine the remaining capacity other than by destructive testing. Visual appearance will indicate a MOV that is destroyed and there are measurements that can be made to indicate if they are “functioning” but there is no way to know what capacity remains. Therefore the only way to assure protection is to replace them regularly. This can get expensive. Another little known fact is that MOVs can fail in a shorted condition. If they are connected again to the line, they can flare, creating a hot plasma that can start fires. If you have a power surge that trips the breaker or results in a power outage, you can have a fire once the power is restored. Better surge protectors have fuses or circuit breakers upstream of the MOVs to prevent a damaged MOV from being connected to the line. Many do not including the one that started a fire on my desk on year.
There is only one line of protectors of which I am aware, that works in a different and preferable way. Most people do not have the severe surges that I get, which are technically called “faults” because they are of long duration. However, the cost of these protectors is only slightly higher than the competition and their clever design also protects the MOVs in such a way that they are likely to last longer than those in other devices. Here is the secret:
Panamax makes a variety of surge protectors. Many of them are of the conventional design but one series has a feature called “protect or disconnect”. If you see this phrase on the package or the datasheet, this device is what I will describe. If it is not specifically stated, it is not likely to have this feature. The model M4-EX is one example of such a device. There are many other but even more that do not have this critical feature.
Protect of disconnect, works by sensing the line voltage and disconnecting the load from the line if voltage either too high or too low. Voltage level and time constants are built into the device are well chosen. The device rarely triggers falsely. The load is connected through an electromechanical relay which acts as a “deadman” switch. If there is any problem with the protective circuitry, the most likely result will be the disconnection of the load. Because the device also reacts to low voltage conditions, it protects against brownout caused damage as well.
The Panamax “protect or disconnect” surge protectors have several MOVs, but the majority are connected to the load side of the disconnect relay. This means that they are protected against surges as well and are less likely to suffer from stress induced capacity reduction.
It is amazing that Panamax makes these excellent devices are affordable prices. Most surge protectors offer little protection. They often include an insurance policy and you may actually collect but if you want your valuable equipment truly protected it is better to buy a quality device instead.
There is one scenario that the Panamax will not protect against. In five years, I have had only one failure to protect a device connected to a Panamax protector. This was due to a faulty design of the device, not the Panamax. A distribution line had become partially disconnected at a cross arm, creating what is called a “floater”. The line voltage continued to swing from low to high over a sustained period. I was sleeping and every time the power went on or off, I assumed it would be the last. I should have gotten up and shut off the main but I was unclear as to what was happening. The device that failed was a new refrigerator. The designer of this expensive piece of crap (Amana, but this is made by Maytag along with other brands such as Jenn Aire) did not bother to include a start delay in the design. This is a serious oversight. A start delay is a time delay relay that prevents the compressor from “short cycling” so that it does not start under a loaded condition. This was common practice in all refrigeration units until recently. New refrigerators do not use mechanical thermostats and defrost timers. They use microcontrollers and temperature sensors. This is done primarily to reduce cost. A circuit board that is the functional equivalent of two thermostats and a defrost cycle timer costs considerably less to manufacture and install. When these cheap boards fail (due to a power surge, for example) they are not cheap to replace. The manufactures sell them at highly inflated prices. The disturbing fact is that a start delay would cost nothing to add to such a control board. It would require a minor modification to the program residing in the microcontroller chip. I cannot imagine how a competent engineer could leave out such an important design factor. My guess is that the manufacturer prefers failures that can be blamed on power quality. They do not have to cover such damage under their warrantees and can sell expensive replacement parts. My refrigerator was replaced under warrantee but the appliance dealer probably had to call it a compressor failure and not mention power problems. Once I got the refrigerator home, the first thing I did was to install a start delay relay which cost me about $25.
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