Customary background:

Last year I used TiddlyWiki on a USB drive exclusively. It followed me around and I was able to plug it in and instantly start working – on any computer I found myself at. This was useful as I wrote most of my novel at work. Overall, I would say that I used 6 different computers – some with internet access some without – to complete it.

I still have it, and thanks to the brilliance of Tiddly, everything still makes sense. I started writing the second part to the series in it this summer – using the original Wiki as the basis. All of the character outlines, text, and locations were all in there – in a nice tidy search-able format. It was an absolute joy to use.

Whats different this year:

I am not going to be writing it at work, nor do I intend to use multiple computers. I might use a different computer (my laptop) sparingly so I would like a work-flow that is adaptable. Using Tiddly was great but my biggest complaint was the entering of text. It is still a non linear wiki – its’ not designed with the idea of typing out 5000 words in to a Tiddler (and have it make sense / be readable / wordprocessor style). It’s not a deal breaker – its just that since my requirements have changed a bit this year I wanted to take the opportunity to check out my options.

The biggest trend has been the “distraction free” editors. Things like DarkRoom & Q10. I could have edited Tiddlys CSS and ran full screen in Firefox and gotten a similar results but I thought I would switch it up a bit. Experiment.

This year:

This year I am not going to use TiddlyWiki to write my novel in – even though I think it is the absolute best way to write a novel from a 2 or 3 line thesis statement. This year I am going to use a combination of Q10 & Fossil.

Why I think this is ‘the way’ for me:

I will be using at most 2 computers and I need it to not be in the cloud. I want to utilize a distraction-free editor and still leverage the ease of a 1-file solution. I also want version control.

Fossil stores all the data in a single SQLite file. It runs on any platform so I can use it on any computer I have. I can easily back it up across my own computer and FTP it off site (in case of data loss) and since its a version control system, I have a record of every alteration to every chapter, and can easily export a copy of the most recent chapters, etc.

Not only can I still write in Wiki Markup for a future import but Fossil has a built in wiki so if I need it, so its always right there waiting.

I can import pictures and other meda into the “project” and they stay in the single file.

It also gives me a good reason to use & learn Fossil which will come in handy once it comes time to start writing more code.

Q10 has some amazing features for writers. Character counters, page counter, timer, running word count, easy-on-the-eyes colour scheme, etc. Do check it out for yourself!

It also provides a wonderful interface – essentially none. It is really distraction free. Digsby sometimes pops up on me, but otherwise it’s light enough weight to run on my computer, while doing exactly what it says on the tin.

Some people may not like the typing sound effects but when I get on a roll it becomes almost hypnotic.

The added bonus is that it writes plain text files so I can still write with Wiki Syntax.

Oh, and did I mention their both free?

Other Runners up:

Google Documents. Why not?

Not working in the cloud. If I was working on multiple computers, that all had internet access, and were fast enough to use Google Dox it could be a contender. No fear about data loss (cloud) and plenty of flexibility.

ccTiddly. Why not?

The better scaled brother to Tiddly gets a pass this time. I don’t have my project server up so I lack a good place to run it at the moment. Also, like I stated above I want to try an interface other then Tiddy’s this year.

yWriter. Why Not?

Amazingly powerful and flexible piece of software. I really want to poke at it more – its so detailed – but for Nano I am locking for a big canvas – something I can catch a lot of words on and worry about later. I think yWriter really shines when it comes time to edit – as its all broken down right in the software. If i remember correctly, you can even import text files. Last year I imported my novel into yWriter to fiddle with. Check this software out.

Wordpress. Why not?

Interface. Feels too much like data entry. Even for my posts on LK.com, I write them in Q10 or Notepad++ first…

PyRoom. Why not?

Not as feature filled and polished as Q10. I use PyRoom on my Linux laptop, but my desktop is windows, and Q10 simply rocks (yes I have PyRoom on my windows machine too – see my post about it).

MS Word / Open Office. Why not?

To plain. I spend a lot of time in these applications as is (at work) so I wanted something that’s visually different. Still powerful word processors, and a viable option nonetheless.

Paper composition book. Why not?

To much work to transcribe. Sore hand.

Thoughts:

When it comes to NaNo or even strict-outline-less writing, I have yet to find anything that works as well for me as Q10 or TiddlyWiki. This is for my own style and creative process. Tiddly gives you the tools to build an entire world from scratch, on the fly. Q10 just gets out of the way and lets you type (and keeps you from checking your Facebook/Gmail/IM/Twitter every 5 minutes).

I’m excited to use Fossil for this project too. It gives me some fun side projects. One of them is skinning Fossil, which I currently have done enough to be workable for Nano. The other is to code a helper app to act as an easy mode button for commits and what not. It’s not something that’s essential – just something I feel like doing.

Overall, it comes down to what works best for you for the way you work.

Expect a follow-up post where I dig a bit deeper into the exact work flow I am using, and maybe if I find time, a proper post/screencast/presentation about the power of TiddlyWiki.

On with it.

I was playing with ways to implement a sub system to the counter-intuitive CRM I was using at the time, and one of the contenders was a bespoke desktop quasi-app with a SQLite backend. The primary design goal was to be able to flag & organise bits of information in the datastream. Due to the technical limitations that were imposed on us by corporate IT, we could not run a server, so any app had to be small and relatively self contained.

Bit of background on the process I was using.

I was the interface between the app, and the datastream/database was a .pst with 30,000 emails, with 100’s being added daily. I would first sort emails based on an algorithm I devised, then (due to limitations imposed by the architecture) I would take the result and (starting with the data that was classified as “very significant”) manually process it.

If it was indeed a significant peice of information, it was flagged as such, and I then created a record/thread in my app. I assigned it an id, imported the necessary meta data, whom the information came from, pre-defined keywords, etc.. and moved onto the next bit of data.

Which brings me to: Jim Rowe Psychic Hotline

Looks pretty ridiculous, right? (and yes, I have a terrible tendency to fill my alphas with obscenities.)

Look’s ridiculous, and ghetto, but it worked (for a while). The main problem was that, in the same way we couldn’t run a server and out network was locked down, bringing external applications into the office was something that could get you fired (and from an IT standpoint, it makes sense. Don’t misinterpret this post as a kvetch against strong-arm IT – but more a how radical limitations promote creativity). That mostly ruled out coding things from home, so you work with the standard XP tools.

In our case: Batch.

Yes, the Jim Rowe Psychic Hotline is just a dozen different batch files acting as the front-end: writing, parsing, and manipulating a SQlite database.

A lot of our remote support work was done with batch files so using them in bizarre ways was natural. I also learned a few more batch tricks in the process.

It was a pain trying to do with out a VCS. I wrote a little batch file that would .cab everything up at the end of the day, then I would email myself that cab, and that was my snapshot. The project was made extra complicated by how I had to pipe data around. Into files, out of files, delimited from files, piped to batches writing to files getting piped to other batches writing files. I found that batch was not designed to easily work with user input & sql statements.

But like I said above – it met my needs. Sure it was spartan as hell and looked ghetto but I was able to track & recall important data. It made me more efficient, more organized, and overall increased my knowledge by condensing all of the valuable information being given to use from the SMEs.

The biggest pitfall was the interface. The amount of time I would have had to put into coding in batch (see note below) would have been better spent somewhere else. After the first few versions, I started to get into diminished returns. I was so busy at home that I couldn’t work on it there & my work had let some people go. I lost the extra time I had gained through added efficiency (I was using this time to work on “JRPH”).

Around this time I happened on a solution by the brilliant guys at Osmosoft – TiddlyWiki , which I will talk about later (and at length). TiddlyWiki was the perfect tool @ the perfect time, and alas The Jim Rowe Psychic Hotline was abandoned.

While I don’t think its appropriate to compare JRPH aginst TW (TiddlyWiki is genius. Bottom line. JRPH is shit. I’m just contrasting the two to point out a few aspects of JRPH) I’m going to do it anyways.

The key aspects that were lacking in the LRPH, compared to TW were:

Interface - JRPH was a beast to use, and required intimate knowledge of the underlying framework. TW’s interface is so intuitive its ridiculous.

Expanded Search Functions - JRPH used minimal SQL, leaving the user to craft strings on the fly – TW’s search worked as expected, in addition to a having a strong keyword system.

Organization & Flexability – JRPH lacked TW’s radical ad-hoc flexibility. JRPH was a strict database, not a wiki.

Clutter - TW could run in an active desktop window – JRPH could not leading JRPH to ass to my overwhelming amount of open windows. Windows + D dropped to right to TW, no mater where you were, 1 keypress and you were right on the metal.

There were a few bright spots though. When you have a slow computer running way too many things and your trying to search through a giant TW – things would grind to a halt. JRPH was always brisk.

JRPH was ripe to convert into a dynamic web app based on its foundation – A ghetto MCV batch front end & a SQLite database. (note: I did actually import it into my home SQL server, and played around with php crud with it, as a proof-of-concept, and it worked fine). The idea was that I would use the desktop front end to start the tagging. When I was ready to expand I would convert the .pst into SQL (which I did, more on that later) and then it would be a matter of flushing out a few details and viola – ready for my team.

This actually got to be a bit of a problem when we maxed out TW. Fortunately the TW community is brilliant and beyond clever, and we were able to easily import our desktop-bound TW into ccTiddly with minimal headaches – all while retaining the things that make TW amazing.

Overall, while JRPH was a piece of shit it was an amazing learning experience. Desktop based front-ends to databases are alive and well in the business environment – and still fill a niche. It’s just that their not done with batch, and for good reason.

I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Jim Rowe or his Psychic Hotline.

(note: after this I made sure UnixUtils were on every Windows Computer I had. Dos lacks so many of the little apps I take for granted when using linux.)

(note: I realised about 7 months after I wrote the “JRPH” that I might have been able to use WSH (providing it wasn’t disabled as part of my GPO) and had alot more power/flexibility)

(above shitty picture is of Jim, drunk, wearing a silly crown)

A footnote on Jim Rowe.

Jim was the shit. Out of all the big-time guys & SMEs we delt with, Jim was by far the most talented & congenial. He knew what he was doing, and had a sense of humor about it. I saved his quotes when I would come across them. In a culture where being proper and professional was without question, Jim injected life. Often reflecting humorously in his notes about how absurd everything really was, which was true, everything going on was absurd. Of everyone corporate, he was the one I wanted to have a beer with before our contract was finished.

Jim stopped me from becoming a BOFH by his example.

Firstly, I don’t recall when i signed up so I can’t provide you a time table of when invites are going out. Sorry.

I also have not been following it at all, nor did I watch the video or read any info about it, nor was I fammilar with GrandCenteral, so i came into it really without knowing what to expect.

That said I was blown away!

I’m not so cynical to say its rare I get excited these days. Alot of things excite me, and this is one of them. It had me franticly fliping through the setup tabs and sending urgent SMS’s to everyone I knew within reach of their phone, urging them to call my new number.

Basically, Google Voice feels like GMail for SMS & Voice. It integrates decently with gmail & your contacts (it some how knew my brothers phone numbers. wtf?) and offers a whole ton of features that make me giddy. Press 4 to record the conversation? Yes please.

But we’re jumping the gun a bit.

When you accept your invite to Google Voice your brought to a familiar “Goolge Screen” where you put in a few details and then move on to the selection of your phone number. Like always, coming up with something is the portion I spent the most time on. I spent quite a bit of it poking and prodding and seeing just what I could get.

Example:

(Note: Nice CA. Ha)

I decided to opt for something a little less out there. Thinking about it for a moment I soon decided I wanted a phone number from Compton. So I got one. 424-242-4454. Unfortunately 4242424242 was unavailable.

After setting up my fancy new phone number, I was greeted with the main screen:

Looks alot like Google Mail, right?

Things I love:

Timed Rings. Filters. Do not Disturb Mode. All brilliant!

MP3 Voice Mail that’s downloadable!

Transcription. It had problems decoding a friend of mines new york accent. It thought the Jewish homeboy was did you show more but its still bad ass. Seems to work better with plain ol’ midwestern accents. When you get a voicemail it notifies you via email, with the transcription as well as sends you an SMS with the transcription of the message!

the number forwarding seems to work just fine. When someone called my Compton number it rang me in Fargo Nd with little to no delay.

25 free business cards!

Things that are not so good:

I’m unable to record my own voice mail greeting in my project studio (and add appropriate background sound and/or music) and upload it. I really hope this is a feature they will implement soon. With the ability to download the voicemail as MP3, it seems like a startling omission.

Labels & Colour Coding from gMail. While it’s true I get a considerably greater amount of email then phone calls, I imagine once I start sharing the number, using the number like its intended, I will start to build up a large history – a certain level of organization beyond stars will be required.

When you get a voice mail and it send you a notification it dosent attach the mp3. Rather it makes you go to the gVoice site. A minor quibble, but one anyways (and one more tab/window open!). With the interface so similar, why not offer an integrated solution – combining gMail & gVoice in 1 page?

It’s not a replacement for Skype Out yet. Right now I can call out, but it will call my party with my gNumber, then connect them to my mobile (or any other phone i point it at). How about merging it with gTalk and letting me call out from my gNumber without having to use my mobile? Do that and then we’re talkin.

Thoughts:

Google Voice has impressed me considerably. It’s free, it’s crazy, its powerful. I don’t think its for everyone. I think its really geared towards tech-savy people & Small Businesses at the moment.

It givesSayNow (http://www.saynow.com/) a solid run for its money. If you have been thinking about SayNow for your band or other application – Google Voice should be more then adequate.

In closing we can ask it the traditional new-tech question: Would my Mom use it (often)? Not yet. That said I know a few people who will be racking up mileage on it, my self included.

One more thing.

I’m not a huge fan of cloud computing. A part of me isn’t exactly comfortable with my junk in someone elces hands – especially someone I don’t know too well. Google Voice is another powerful app that makes cloud computing so alluring. Armed with my smart phone I can orchestrate all sorts of things from almost anywhere.

gDocs needs to play better with my mobile phone, but its not a deal breaker. I can view files, just cant write em direct into gDocs

gMail works fine on my phone. it gets the job done.

gTalk is lacking on my phone. Palm Garnet..eh…not the end of the world.

I mention these other Google apps because frankely with Google Voice I am now waiting for my Virtual Personal Assistant.

We’re close, too.

A google task application that I can update like twitter or an easy way to leverage google tasks (sms? email? transcribed voice mail to self?).

When can I use gMail & gVoice to update my Google Calender? I want to create events on my calender via email/sms/voicemail. I can refil a prescription over the phone, with my new Google Voice number I should be able to call it, drop to my appointments menu, enter date, times, etc.. and have it update. I want Google Voice to send me SMS’s reminding me of meetings, events, and other things in my calender.

I also want to be notified of scheduling conflicts, and have the ability to have my Virtual Assistant mediate this (via quasi-automated emails / voicemails) in addition to mapping out my travel routes / interstate exits in Google Maps to meetings & sites and emaiiling/sms/voicemail them to me.

And I want all of this for me & other people in my organisation (via Google Apps for my domain).

They have all the tools. All they need is a little more synergy between them. With extremely portable ChromeOS & Android powered devices it would make a VERY powerful package.

And I havn’t even gotten into some of the google apps I hardly use (Financial, books, scholar) .

I think the next few years will be very interesting.

I got the Android LiveCD running in VirtualBox on my other machine now. Must say, I like having the mouse!

Been having fun installing applications (finally) into Android. I’ll whip up this short little pictorial to help.

The biggest thing i didn’t realise when I was first trying is that for whatever reason the Android LiveCD will not resolve DNS, so when you try to use handy CLI tools like wget (to punt our apk right into the phone!) it won’t resolve, tricking you into thinking it cannot be done. (Note: I tried the DNS workaround listed here

Not only can it be done, if you happen to run a development environment on the same machine (in my case, XAMPP) you can punt your apk’s right into the phone w/o having to route them outside the machine.

The rest of this post assumes you have such a system!.

That being said, Xampp isn’t that hard to set up.

Start xampp & Apache & Copy your .apk somwhere into the htdocs folder

Start the virtual machine:

Get your IP:

Hard Part!!

find an .apk to install

I have tried android market, androidfreeware, etc.. and have not found an intuitive way to download apk’s to my PC! This is a very aggravating portion of all of this. I spent a considerable amount of time combing the internet for apps to install, that i could get outside of the marketplace. If Android is to work as a pseudo-desktop sort of experience there needs to be an easy way to get the free apps you need, otherwise, whats the point?

Next thing you have to do is:

———————————–

press Alt+F1 (drops you to the shell)

cd /system/app

[enter]

wget http://(IP)/(file name, etc..)

[enter]

You should see it xfer over.

Now press Alt+F7 (takes you back to the GUI)

————————————

check to see if it is showing up correctly:

Now launch it and see if it works!

Congrats…

Rinse, Wash & Repeat when you happen to come across actual apk’s to install

For Reference:

Familiarize yourself with the Android Shortcuts Here

Browser shortcuts:

Open Go to window MENU + s

Open Bookmarks MENU + b

Open Windows MENU + w

View history MENU + h

Refresh or stop page MENU + r

Go back a page MENU + j

Go forward a page MENU + k

Find on page MENU + f

Go to home page MENU + ENTER

Zoom in MENU + i

Zoom out MENU + o

Go to Settings MENU + p

Page down SPACEBAR

Page up SHIFT + SPACEBAR

————

Notes:

Yes, I believe there will be a much easier way when 0.3 comes out, and i hope to god they have an SD card emulation going on. That is by far the biggest problem I have has is with the lack of SD card (unless someone can clue me in on how to pull the mount off in this version (plenty of help files for the SDK Emulator)).

You dutifully download its svelte 1mb installer, and click like mad.

Your joy/nostalgia instantly grinds to a halt, when you receve this less then informative error message:

An error occurred during the move data process: -119

So…you hit google, find a cupple of threads that lead no where in particular. Maybe you download swflash.ocx and try to regsvr it. Maybe you set it up in a virtual machine. Maybe you try to install an old version of flash.

Maybe those worked for you (and if they did, why are you here?)

Myself?

I simply copied Flash10b.ocx (located in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash folder), pasted it into the same folder, then renamed it from Copy of Flash10b.ocx to swflash.ocx.

Retried the installation, with fabulous success:

Now I can generate waveforms for my Trackers!

Pretty cool!

Navigation was weird at first – i instinctively went for the mouse – but there is none. You move around with a combination of the arrow keys, enter, escape, and windows/menu keys.

Go Grab it yourself and give it a go!

Having used it for a bit this afternoon, I would say that if it ran briskly on a 1hgz P3 I would install it.

Although…that said my biggest deal-breaker is the lack of “SD Card” support. That being, I can’t trick it into thinking i have a giant SD card in there (and hence cannot install applications!). And I think Audio is still being worked on, so as soon as faux-SD card support + audio is live, we’re there.

Both are being worked on (and hopefully at least “SD Card” support) will be included in 0.3!

To download the SF-86 forum your self, click here

* – I’m not going to disclose what & where the job is, but I will say the job pays 9$ usd / Hr and offers no benefits.

With that in mind, I’m not sure what exactly to think. Well, other then I may as well try to get security clearance while I’m being investigated.

———————–

In connection with my application for employment and as a condition of continuing employment, I understand that investigative background inquiries may be made on me including previous employers, schools, consumer credit, criminal convictions, motor vehicle, and other reports. These reports may include information as to my character, work habits, performance, education, compensation, and experience along with reasons for termination of employment from previous employers. Furthermore, I understand that the company may be requesting information from various federal, state, and other agencies which maintain records concerning my past activities relating to my driving, credit, criminal, civil, and other experiences as well as claims involving me in the files of insurance companies. I authorize without reservation, any party or agency contacted to furnish the above mentioned information and release all parties involved from liability and responsibility for doing so.

or

Background investigations for…are conducted to gather information to show whether you are reliable, trustworthy, of good conduct and character, …. The information that you provide on this form may be confirmed during the investigation. The investigation may extend beyond the time covered by this form when necessary to resolve issues. Your current employer may be contacted as part of the investigation, even if you have previously indicated on applications or other forms that you do not want your current employer to be contacted.

In addition to the questions on this form, inquiry also is made about your adherence to security requirements, honesty and integrity, vulnerability to exploitation or coercion, falsification, misrepresentation, and any other behavior, activities, or associations that tend to show the person is not reliable, trustworthy, or loyal. Checks…may be made about your spouse or other cohabitant.

—————-

How about:

—————-

I authorize, without any reservation, any party or agency contacted by the Employer, or this employer

]]> http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/07/sf-86-federal-form-for-security-confidential-secret-top-secret-clearnace-vs-job-application/feed/ 1 http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/breakfast-ideas/ http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/breakfast-ideas/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:31:02 +0000 admin http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/breakfast-ideas/ When Eli woke up with morning I asked him what he wanted to eat for breakfast.

His reply was, “Eat. Eggs. Juice.”

So I get up from the computer and head into the kitchen. I open the refridgerator door and reach for the eggs. Ack! Somehow someway they managed to run out of eggs without letting anyone know (I was just at the store! Grr!). I apologise to Eli, and ask him what else he would like for breakfast.

His reply was, “Yo-eee (yogurt)”.

I say, “Ok” and take the yogurt out of the fridge. Ack! Hardly a bowl left!

He demolishes the yogurt, and is still hungry. I pour him some of the juice he wanted. He ignores it and refuses to eat it. I try to bait him with his favorite cereal – no joy.

Humorously enough, they are out of bread too – so no grilled cheese, sandwiches, or peanut butter toast (as if he would eat it)!

I leave his cereal out on his table and he eventually eats some of it grazing, but I know that seething beneith the surface is a ravenous beast that is waiting to devour any piece of deliciously hot breakfast that walks in front of him.

Partway through us watching mythbusters make a cannon out of an Argon tube, a bowling ball, and some match heads, I decide we need to get out of our pajamas and head to the store. I ask Eli if he still wants some eggs.

He says, “Bite. Eggs. Eat.”

So while he laughs hysterically at the end of the cannon episode, I rummage about looking for pants, socks, shoes. Thankfully everything is where it should and I assemble a baby-bag, and a change of clothes. We head out, stop up stairs at my apartment so that i too can get dressed enough to go to the store.

I get him strapped into his car seat and we depart. Little did he know he was going to be subjected to multiple plays of DJ Foods re-edit of the Sesame Street “Pinball Number Song” complete with his old man singing at the top of his lungs (with probable bewilderment of the people driving beside him).

The store is rather uneventful. I made a list before we left so we didn’t doddle.

But…

Eli is a flirt. Even the haggard older lady’s who are buying hemorrhoid creme or pickled eggs seemed to get doe-eyed. He got a sucker from the cute cashier who seemed very eager to help us.

Speaking of – the only casualty of the trip was due to Eli striking up a conversation with the pretty organic & natural foods lady. I was trying to remember what kind of yogurt to get, when she asked if she could help me find something. I, as expected, momentarily lost my train of thought. Eli starts talking to her, I grab some yogurt off the shelf, we make small talk, and then were off to get the next thing on the list. When I got home I realised I had gotten the Low Fat Vanilla rather then the Whole Milk stuff. So thanks to the lot of them I have to eat a bunch of yogurt this week.

By the time we got home it was about lunch time so Eli had decided that he wanted Hot Dogs rather then Eggs. You would think that with all the running around and effort to get a dozen eggs I would be frazzled – Had I not wanted one of those amazing Jumbo National Hebrew Kosher Dogs myself!

As expected he wolfed down his cheese sandwich, glass of juice, and jumbo dog in mere minutes. After a quick check of his diaper he went down for a nap just as fast.

Which, is where I am heading.

Those dogs are that good.

]]> http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/breakfast-ideas/feed/ 2 http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/soundsystem-stuff-pt-1/ http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/soundsystem-stuff-pt-1/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:14:36 +0000 admin http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/soundsystem-stuff-pt-1/ Dancehall Reggae Sound Systems Flickr Pool

Reggae Soundystems Flickr Pool

Jah Tubby’s World System Photo Archive

Wiki’s List of Soundsystems

And of course the Valve Soundsystem

Here is a compiled version of trevords awesome posts talking about sound systems:

Link to the Original thread from he TapeOp MB

(trevord)

Here goes – I didn’t want to Hijack the thread with an overly long post

I used to be involved in that scene (in Trinidad at least) since the 70’s and still do a little now – it was more DIY back then because the big guys had not taken the market seriously.

AFAIK – these days the super groups (sound-systems) make the circuit to all the big city Carnivals from Toronto to Miami to San Francisco and all points in between.

It is all top notch now.

The double 18’s are actually the “home systems” seeing that you can’t travel far with them and most of the big money comes from putting the systems on “big trucks” and playing the street during the Carnival parades.

Typical older/local system is made up of a number of bass/mid/his combos

typically the double 18 box , a big mid horn, and a bank of piezo tweeters.

Piezos are favoured for everything but the bass cause you can’t kill them – usually when you do – you fry the lead wires and solder them back and keep jammin. These are usually separately amped but the amp is not in speaker box but in a rack maybe 3 or 4 19” racks wide and 5′ tall (big enough for everything plus a dj “coffin” on top).

In my day we didnt use crossovers but did separate equalizers as crossovers – this gave more flexibility on the sound. Amps are not bolted but are free standing for cooling – the racks are surrounded by fans.

The systems that they travel with is more efficient – usually made up of the big multi 15”/12” columns with piezo tweeters. This way you can completely surround the truck with a wall of columns and have your rack in the middle. The newer systems also use compression and newer things like ultra low frequency rejection (u aint seen nothing till u see a double 18” bounce because of turntable rumble).

In the old days and on the older systems today the amp of preference were the 500 W per channel tube Crowns and McIntosh’s. The bigger tube Dynacos were also popular. These tubes bad boys would drive to distortion 24hrs a day (in the topic heat) and still sound “pleasing” .

The other thing with tube is you could distribute the hi-voltage (if you had really long speaker wire runs) and put the transformer at the speaker.

Another reason tubes were popular is you can pick the output impedance to match your speaker config – there were 4/8/16 Ohms taps on the output transformer.

There were are few transitor amps which were legends

1) Phase Linear – Never understood the reason but these amps sounded great under stress – and were typically under rated in power.

2) Carver – (later on) very efficient and sounded good under stress

3) Consumer Pioneers – hugely underated in power and had the extremely high damping factor that damped speaker movement. You could run low bass all day on these things.

I think all these lines share Carvers designs – nothing sounds like these amps – anything they have now will auto shut-off right in the middle of your clash Smile

But nowadays power effeciency is paramout- so newer qsc or mackies are used. But if your see a crown 500 tube or phase linear 700 – get it – thats the sound of bass Wink

With a system like this you have to run from the junction box of the building or use a generator. Of course the “big-trucks” always use a generator.

your team would be

1) selector – manages records and picks them

2) sound-boy – tweeks and fine tunes to get the best sound

3) sound-system – the guys who actually own the system and are responsible for transport and setup

4) electrician – responsible for all things power either a generator or knowing where to get enough power

5) You would usually have a dj chanting over home made dub plates

6) Promoter – Guys who organized the fete

All of these could be one team or independent – I used to be an independent sound-boy.

The big bass horns are popular for outdoor events – but you get a mid-bassy sound – but it is more efficient. You would arrange a pair of double 18” in a corner formation to get more concentrated projected sound outdoors.

These systems might be home made – but they were not guess work. There was a “bible” of the speaker design – I dont know if you guys remember the Radio Shack books on speaker design – the DIY speakers were usually made from the tables in those books.

The double 18 are usually 1” plywood or high or mid density fiber-board reinforced with 2×4s. Depending on the desired mobility the 18” were designed to be easily removable – to make things lighter for transport and you usually blew a couple during a “fete” anyway. If the double 18 was stay at home or extremely high-power speaker the botton was cast with concrete to prevent it from moving.

The new systems are all planned by the manfacturer representative – I think JBL had cornered the market for a while. There is nothing like every truck blaring JBL on Brooklyn Labour Day parade for advertising. But again the other manufacturers have caught on and the manufacturer/sound retailer is usually the “sound-system” for the super groups.

Of course the high-lite of being a dj like this is the “sound-clash”

There are two types of “sound-clash” the fixed place (”hall” or “basement” and the “big-truck”)

The “big-truck” is not too exciting – two trucks meet on the parade and one dominates and people dance to that one and the loser is “asked” to turn-off.

The more exciting “sound-clash” is the “hall” or “basement”. “Halls” are bigger rental spaces and “basements” are basements in homes.

Typically two or teams would battle with bass heavy songs and dj’s – in my day the crowd turn the speakers of the loser around. Smile

Typically a promoter would organize a fete – the money is made from selling of food (ital) and liquor (and other agricultural products Smile ). Depending on the size of the venue and expected crowd – you would involve more than one sound-system on your team. You are expected to arrive early and setup. Earlybirds got the corners for the bass boxes.

You were also expected to arrive early and play at max volume as advertisement. Depending on the geography around the venue – these things could be heard for miles – of course its different for a club or house in the city.

There is more interesting stuff

At home – the first thing we did was varnish (yeah thats right as in poly-urethane) the paper cones of the 18 to protect them from rain, spilt beers and also to strenghten them. We also added paper re-inforcements from an old 12” to strengthed the joint from the cone to the core.

We also added multiple leads to the core and extra insulation.

AS far as the bass boxes go the the big problems were usualy the cores over extending and getting stuck – a quick slap to the cone would put them back. Other than that the cone would catch fire – then you just popped a spare 18” in.

The piezos would take almost anything you threw at them – the main problem would be frying the lead wires – many piezos are fixed right on site – the solder remover tape serving as a temporary lead. Or a big 4.7 uF in series kept the bass out – but most of the time that was one more thing to blowup.

As far as quality – you are right about the distortion especially the tube amps – that was the sound to get. I remember me and my “sound-boy” friends use to laugh that we were just gating the 60Hz power supply with the bass. But these are meant to be listened in a huge crowd in the outdoors. A “block-o-rama” – it was these systems that gave birth to rap in the ’70s.

Those were fun times – nothing like telling a gang of rastas stop smoking the big blunts by your system because the long ash was getting in and shorting things Wink

Interesting side note: The same mentality has combined with the American car audio contest to produce a strange phenomenon. The idea is to have a small sedan – packed with enough equipment to sound like a full “sound-system”. The thing is – you are partyin in the street – but the desired thing is the source of the sound should not be identifiable – they are are usually the simplest hand painted (in a single color) sedans. Its amazing what they pack into these “sound-system” on wheels.

Hope I didnt stray too much from the topic. It was fun reminiscing.

—–

For the older/cheaper systems i think the faults were in order of frequency

1) Any coil driver in a mid-horn or tweeter – might as well walk with a box of them. Use piezo-electric drivers or spend the night replacing coils in your horns.

2) 18” speaker repair kits – there were two problems with these

a) edge failure – the expected excursion of an 18” for high SPL is relatively small – and the edges were usually deteriorated from sun/heat, moisture and use. Even the newer edges deteriorate in the sun/heat, and there isn’t much you can do to protect it.

b) leads and cores – usually an 18 would knocked out of alignment by someone hitting the cone or dropping the box and the weight of the magnet shifting everything out of alignment – the core would then rub and short out (if you are lucky – if not – the cone would catch fire)

3) Low frequencies getting thru and blowing speakers

4) replacing tubes/transistors

When you get speakers – get the ones which can be taken completely apart by bolts.

But the need for hot repairs depended on the situation – if it was you alone with a big system in a smaller venue — hardly anyone noticed (one 18 out of 6 or 8 double 18” boxes)

Its funny – it wasn’t the bass that gave the most problems – its was the mids. In spending on your system spend on the mids – thats the perceived “quality” of your sound.

You bass could be 100% undiluted distortion but as long as people heard the melody and recognized the tune – it didn’t matter.

Also this is reggae/soca/latin music – the bass doesnt “hit” that often – almost all the time you will see your bass power amp vu meter return to zero – while the mids power amp will be continuously driving. Plus when the venue gets packed the thing you compensate by turning up is the mids/highs.

If you have 500w RMS amp and 300W RMS amp put the 500W on mids and 300W on bass – the bass amp will be peaking a high value but running 200W RMS while the mid will be running 300W RMS.

So usually the thing to fix (because it immediately affects the sound) was things to do with the mids – horn/speaker going, amp overheating etc.

In a “sound-clash” its different tho – you go for it – hopefully you start sounding like crap before things begin blowing up. Smile

The other big cause of failures was unexpected resonances in the space you are in. You would be surprised at what 6 double 18 would find in a room – from the floor going into resonance to bass build up actually moving speakers. More often than not you got bass feedback going thru the floor which cause your amps to overheat in one venue but not in another – this is why dj “coffins” are usually suspended from the “rack” by springs . Not to mention, when things are going good and the whole crowd is jumping in perfect synchronization (for calypso/soca) and the whole crowd “dip” in sync in reggae – thats a very low freq bump going thru your system

The other failures was people tripping over cords – one thing we learned early was how to wrap cords and connect cords/cable. It is one thing I dont see anyone do in America. Our way is – any cord going to the rack is first looped with the tie point of the loop at the top – this does two things – strain relief – if the line gets snagged (some one tripping over it) the loop just gets tightened – if water drips down the line – it would fall off the bottom of the loop before getting to the rack.

The amps were very reliable – but back then power amps were huge and simple – take the phase liner 700 for example

thats 50lbs of meaty transformer and heat sink – any of the driver transistor go – just unscrew them and replace them. Plus the heat sink was the perfect place to put “roti” (Indian wraps) to warm them up Smile

New amps seem to have the transistors hidden – but with all the modern auto shut-offs you should not need to change anything in an amp.

The big tube amps seem to sound better as they died – you knew they were dieing because the sound got really crunchy and the tubes changed from healthy red/orange to blue/violet – but they kept on jammin – nothing could stop a mono-block 500W McIntosh – that mutha would drive a short without complaining – you just noticed the lights in the village were dimming in time to the music Wink

Hey – I didnt know there were so many fans here

I’ll try and set up a little treat for you fans.

——————————————————————————

Kinda makes you want to hit Parts Express and start buildin…

More links, pics and video in pt. 2…

]]> http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/06/soundsystem-stuff-pt-1/feed/ 0 http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/05/android/ http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/05/android/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 13:47:59 +0000 admin http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/05/android/

Playing with the Android SDK.

]]> http://levonkohoutek.com/2009/05/android/feed/ 1