Blogging to Paradise

Well, we haven’t seen much in the way of bug reports (or bugs) in v4.8.5.3 so the next version will probably be v4.8.6. As you may know from the “IMPORTANT MESSAGES” notes on our web site, anyone registering after v4.8.6 comes out will no longer have “free upgrades for life”. Instead you will have to pay a reasonable “upgrade fee” after two major versions. So if you register with v4.8.6 you’ll need to pay the fee when v6.8.6 comes out, which probably wouldn’t be for a few years.So far I’ve managed to make two major improvements to v4.8.6. One is a re-factoring of the timers that drive the notes and many other time-dependent operations. This will make for a much cleaner and easier to maintain and extend set of routines. The other is the rethinking and rearranging of the way we handle Scene files and Soundfiles. Scene files and Soundfiles will now be kept in separate folders inside a folder labeled “SonicMood” inside the “Application Support” folder. This will make for a centralized repository for those files which will make it easier to keep track of them. It will no longer be necessary to specify a location for the Soundfiles folder, either.There are a few more improvements:

1. Holding the “shift” key down while sliding the instruments or soundfiles volume slider will set the volume of all the Moods, not just the one currently playing.
2. The “Scene list” is now on a sheet window attached to the “Scene” window.
3. Put the current elapsed timer mode in the “progress bar timer area” of the marquee.
4. Improved the behavior of the elapsed timer so it won’t start up if the current Theme contains no Moods.

More to follow!☺

OK, we’ve managed to squish a few more bugs and the result is v4.8.5.3. I hope we don’t find too many more before v4.8.6 cause I’ll run out of numbers! Check out the web site. We’ve added a few more Moods and another .mid file here:http://www.sonicmood.com/MoodSharing.htmAnd visit the forum here:http://sonicmood.com/forum/once in a while too, ok?☺Cheers,John

<sigh> It was bound to happen. Or to paraphrase: “nothing is certain except death and bugs!”So I’ve learned that SonicMood v4.8.5.2 has a BIG bug - dragging a Mood to a new location in the “Moods list” causes a crash. The good news is we’ve found the error and have a fix! So look for a new version (cleverly titled “v4.8.5.3”) in the next day or so…To anyone who’s been bitten I say “Sorry!” Somehow we missed one that should have been obvious (chalk it up to adding a “last minute” feature that couldn’t cause any problems…);-)John

I’ve posted some more soundfiles on our “Sharing” page here:http://www.sonicmood.com/MoodSharing.htmThey’re sounds of birds (and Loons in particular) and foghorns (with one bell buoy).It’s the last file in the list of soundfiles. Enjoy!John

We’ve finally switched over from the XD-forum Wordpress plugin to a better-supported (read, actually supported) forum based on the open-source phpBB code.I haven’t deleted the old forum entries (such as they were), and I haven’t yet figured out how to move them over to the new forum… There weren’t any ongoing discussions that will get chopped, so it’s not an urgency, but it would be nice to have some history.Anyway, the new forum awaits! Let me know if you’d like to see any new forum topics, etc.!Thanks,John

Or is it “features added and bugs fixed?” Try it and let us know! ;-)Yes, it’s true! We’ve managed to push out another update to SonicMood. This one fixes a few more bugs and add some features, including a few that are “under the hood.” For example, the way SonicMood handles Mood files that are added to an existing file is more logical. If a Mood in the added file has the same name as one in the current file, then that Mood’s settings will replace the settings of the Mood in the current file. Previously, the original Mood’s settings would be kept.This version of SonicMood adds some more “note patterns”, too, thanks to the work of one of our users, Patrick EL MELANIE. If you haven’t downloaded and played any of his Mood files, maybe you should. They’re here: http://www.sonicmood.com/MoodSharing.htm and they’re free! :)I’ve also posted a MIDI file I recorded using SonicMood that captures one of Patrick’s Moods, “Taiko Rhythms”. It’s a lively Mood with a real nice beat! Proof that SonicMood can do more than create slow, semi-random sounds! :)Enjoy!

Well, we got v4.8.5 out, then rushed out v4.8.5.1 to fix some rather annoying bugs. Now we’re working hard on another bug fix version (v4.8.5.2) that’ll squish even more bugs we’ve found!We’ve also made a new page on the web site (“Sharing”) at http://www.sonicmood.com/MoodSharing.htm that contains extra soundfiles and some Mood files users have contributed. Stop by and pick up some new Moods if you’d like.Well, it’s May already and the yard’s a mess. We are threatening to go out and start a cleanup (to be fair, Laura did a bit yesterday while I was pounding the keyboard). So it’s time to GTD (Get Things Done!) :)Hope you all have a great weekend!John