Blogging to Paradise

Well, we’ve been hard at work readying the next version of SonicMood, and it’s nearly done! Beta testing is at the point where only small bugs are surfacing, and I feel like the “last bug” <grin> has been squished!

So with any luck we’ll be going live in the next day or two. As usual this has taken much longer than anticipated, but I believe the improvements and new features will be worth it! Here’s a few of the new/changed items:

Added three new Moods (”Rainy Day,” “Aurora,” “Inside”), and added a “Check for New Moods” Mood menu item. The new Moods should be added automatically so the check is there “just in case.”

Updated and changed the Help system to use a browser to display the Help files, instead of using the Apple Help system.

If the “Green + zooms SonicMood full-screen” is checked in Preferences, then clicking the green “+” causes the SonicMood window to zoom to full-screen while “Option clicking” causes the window to shrink to its small size.

Added a “drop picture folder” capability to the “Picture Window” (formerly the “Scene Window”). The new capability allows for nested folders so you can drop a folder containing picture files and folders containing more picture files. Picture files/folders/images can be dropped anywhere on the window. Added this “drop picture folder” ability to the list window, too. Generally cleaned up the code to make it more efficient and improve error trapping.

Fixed some bugs on the “Individual Note Properties” page of the Edit window:
Fixed a bug that caused the BPM/seconds conversions to be inaccurate.
Fixed a bug that caused the note time multiplier to be wrong and to display the wrong values next to the selection buttons.
Fixed a bug that caused some sliders to indicate zero instead of the correct settings.

And this is a very short list compared to the full list of changes!

Should be soon…

We’ve done preliminary testing on the new alpha (soon to be beta!) of SonicMood v4.9.6 (and also the currently shipping version, v4.9.5) and so far we’ve found nothing that doesn’t work just fine under Snow Leopard.

The one area that’s a bit of a problem is digital audio recording. Since SonicMood relies on Soundflower to record, and the current version (1.4.3) of Soundflower doesn’t work with Snow Leopard, SonicMood can’t record digital audio. Note that this doesn’t affect MIDI recording at all, just recording to AIFF, etc., files.

I have found a temporary work-around by using a customized version of Soundflower that I discovered here: http://si02.info/index.php/audio/tutorials

Digital audio recording works fine under Snow Leopard using this customized version of Soundflower.

Anyway, other than the recording hiccup discussed above, SonicMood seems to get along fine with Snow Leopard. We’ll be doing more testing, of course, but I think it’s safe to say SonicMood has no major problems running under Snow Leopard.

And the beta should be starting SOON!!!

Cheers,
John

Boy, I am slow! We released SonicMood yesterday morning - it’s finally out!

This version 4.9.5 adds a number of new features despite its “bug fix” number change. Here’s a few highlights (complete list is here: http://www.sonicmood.com/SonicMoodHistory.htm)

• Can record digital audio with the help of soundflower, a free utility.
• Changed the MIDI file format so each instrument now has its own track.
• Added an “undo/redo” capability to all controls.
• Added “.caf” (Core Audio File) to the list of audio files SonicMood can play as “soundfiles.” If you have iLife installed, you may find some interesting sounds here: “/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/iLife Sound Effects.”
• Many more updates and bug fixes!

Get it here: http://www.sonicmood.com/SonicMoodDownloads.htm

Thanks!
John

Are we there yet? Are we there yet???

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but SonicMood v4.9.5 should be out in a few days. I’ve basically finished the updates to the Help and beta tested the heck out of it! So barring a catastrophic bug showing up now, it’ll be out before the week is…

I’ve made a few changes (improvements?) to the web site, too. A selection of SonicMood’s repertoire will start playing when you visit some pages. The selections were recorded (of course) with the new recorder I’ve added to SonicMood. It makes recording SonicMood so much easier! I’ve changed the web site’s look a little to be more in keeping with SonicMood’s spirit - I hope you like it!

Boy, it’s been almost two months since my last post. I’m really not much of a blogger I guess… But I have been working hard on the changes/improvements to SonicMood, so it’s all good!

Cheers,
John

Well, I’m still working on SonicMood next version, alpha 12. My computer died about a week ago and it took a few days just to track down the problem (bad video card). I took a shot at just buying something from Best Buy (bad idea) but of course that video card didn’t work (Mac Pros are pretty particular about which video card you can use…) plus it wasn’t even as described on the box (only one DVI connector, not two). So I bought one that I knew would work (a very nice ATI Radeon 3870 HD MAC/PC edition) from Amazon with next day shipping.

Anyway, long story short, I’m back up and working on SonicMood again. I doubt I’ll make the “early June” hoped-for release date since I haven’t even started beta testing of this version. I’m also still struggling with the audio recording. Parts are looking pretty good, but I’m stuck at needing to use something like “Soundflower” (www.cycling74.com/products/soundflower) to get the recording input to work right. I may have to go with that this go-round and get something that works better for the next release.

That’s it for now - back to work!

Cheers,
John

I’ve been working hard on the next SonicMood update. I have the undo/redo working and also “digital recording” is coming along well. With this version you should be able to record both the instrumental sounds and the nature sounds to an audio file that you can move to iTunes and then upload to an iPod, etc.

There’s still more work to be done as I’m not yet happy with everything on the recording side.

I’m shooting for an early June release, but that could change depending on how long testing takes (and how many bugs show up…)

Cheers,
John

Hi all,

I’ve been working on SonicMood v4.9.2 and making progress on adding a proper undo/redo capability so you can reverse editing changes. This is taking longer than I expected (as usual) since I have to be careful with the way I handle changes (since one control can affect others).

I also am making some cosmetic and functional changes to make the whole operation a little more intuitive (I hope!). And I’d like to improve the way timing is selected with a few more choices in the note and rest durations. Still thinking about how to handle that.

Finally, I am still planning on adding MP3, etc., recording capability. I’d like to do that soon, but don’t know if it will make it into this version or not… I’m afraid I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked with the undo/redo thing, so we’ll see…

On a side note, I just wanted to let you all know about what I consider a GREAT deal over at MacHeist. They have a “bundle” sale that just started today (March 25th) with what I consider mostly incredible apps for $39! I don’t know how they do it. 25% of their sales is supposed to go to charity, too.

I don’t know if you have to be a member or not (doesn’t cost anything) but if you’re interested, here’s the link to their web site:
http://www.macheist.com/

SonicMood isn’t part of the bundle and I don’t get anything out of this. But it just seems like such a good deal that I thought I should pass it along.

Cheers,
John

Not to be confused with the impending birth of our daughter’s baby!

SonicMood v4.9.1 has been posted on the web site. You can download it there or use SonicMood’s update feature to download it.

Most of the changes are cosmetic, intended to improve usability, especially with Mood editing. But there are some bug fixes, of course. A list of the changes are here.

Enjoy!

Version v.9.0 is out, and we’re having a sale!

To honor the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, we’re taking 44% off the price of SonicMood!

For this week only (Sunday thru Saturday), SonicMood is only $7.25 (it’s usually $12.95)!

Help us celebrate this historic event by taking advantage of SonicMood at 44% off.

I just wanted to let everyone know; please help spread the word!

John

SonicMood v4.9.0 is now available on our web site, www.sonicmood.com

The improvements include a re-designed note selection engine, some nice “tweaks” to many of the included Moods, a few cosmetic enhancements, and the usual assortment of bug fixes.

It’s a free update to all registered users. If you were a “trial” user whose trial expired, this version will give you another 7 days to check it out.

Enjoy!

John