ASCAP, which represent 380,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and others associated with the music industry, has begun a fund-raising campaign to stifle groups that support free culture and digital rights. It is urging its members to donate money to battle the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and even our beloved Creative Commons.
The attack on the Creative Commons is -- as WIRED reports --laughable. As Kompozers know, the Creative Commons actually creates licenses which protect content creators. The CC has made this point very clearly in its response to ASCAP:
"Creative Commons licenses are copyright licenses – plain and simple. Period. CC licenses are legal tools that creators can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights. Without copyright, these tools don’t work."
Please voice your opinion. Of course, we hope you'll support the efforts of the Creative Commons with a voluntary donation. If you're an ASCAP member, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Yes, I'm a gadget geek. And of course, I'm a rocker. So when someone combines cool gadgetry and music gear, I really get excited. That's exactly what the folks at IK Multimedia have done with AmpliTube iRig for iPhone -- it's the ultimate guitar amp and effects rig iPhone, iPod Touch, and/or iPad.
AmpliTube iRig is a combination of an easy-to-use instrument interface adapter and guitar and bass tone mobile software. With AmpliTube iRig, you can plug your guitar into your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and jam anywhere with AmpliTube guitar and bass tone right in the palm of your hand.
Simply plug the iRig interface into your mobile device, plug your guitar into the iRig input jack, plug in your headphones, amp or powered speakers, download AmpliTube for iPhone Free and start jamming.
You’ll have at your fingertips the sound and control of 3 recombinable simultaneous stompbox effects + amplifier + cabinet + microphone just like a traditional guitar or bass stage rig.
Add amps and effects as you need them — you can expand your rig with up to 11 stomps, 5 amps, 5 cabinets and 2 microphones in the AmpliTube iRig app custom shop.
The AmpliTube for iPhone app is available in three versions: FREE, LE, and FULL. The FREE version includes 3 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 microphones. The LE version, which is available for download for $2.99, includes 5 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, and 2 microphones. The FULL version includes the entire collection of available gear with 11 stompboxes, 5 amps+cabinets and 2 microphones for $19.99.
To make all of this work, you need the iRig Plug Interface adapter, of course. That will set you back $39.99.
By the way, even if you don't contribute to his project, be sure to check out the discussion tab, and look at how he documented the song structure and the virtual instruments he used. The detail he published makes it easy for other members to quickly jump in on the project.
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Here's an interesting use of technology. The folks at the start-up UJAM will create a song for you based on a whistle, a hum, or vocals. While not all musicians will agree that this is a good thing, I can see it as a useful way to quickly "sketch" out the melody for a song floating in your head. Thoughts?
The guys at Roland have come up with clever new mouse designed for your computing pleasure. Show everyone at the office that you're a rock star at heart, while crunching spreadsheets by day.
This mouse is based on the popular BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal. The "tone" knob acts as the left mouse button, and the "dist" knob acts as the right mouse button. There's also a scroll wheel on the side, and the LED lights up when plugged in.
Word on the street is that this is already sold out. I'm putting in my order anyway.
Now you can have your Kompoz collaborations mastered at the most famous recording studio in the world!
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This is big.
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Make great music on Kompoz
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ASCAP, which represent 380,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and others associated with the music industry, has begun a fund-raising campaign to stifle groups that support free culture and digital rights. It is urging its members to donate money to battle the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and even our beloved 
The guys at Roland have come up with clever new mouse designed for your computing pleasure. Show everyone at the office that you're a rock star at heart, while crunching spreadsheets by day.
