June, 2008

Bad decisions — 1 Comment
25
Jun 08

Norwegian opera says no.

The Norwegian opera says no to Tom Waits due to capacity issues with technical maintenance on stage. In the history of bad concert booking this has to be top ten, maybe top five. For me this is the worst music decision this side of 1977. It is like having tickets to a Jimi Hendrix show and then stay home because your tv is on.

http://www.vg.no/rampelys/artikkel.php?artid=500918 (In Norwegian). At least the opera boss will have a place in history as the one who said no to Tom Waits due to technical issues. Congratulations.

Tools - Hardware — No Comments
14
Jun 08

So I’ve been Phidgeting…..

Phidgets has many nice products but I do not like to rely on anything USB. Therefore I have avoided those tempting Phidgets until now. It is easy, it is small, has 8 analog ins and 8 digital ins and outs. This is obviously called PhidgetInterfaceKit 8/8/8 and it is growing on me. I like the ease of Phidgeting so much that I am going to build me an instrument and find out how reliable USB will be in my setup.

My Avols interface (I will post more on this later) will still be my first choice, but the Phigdets might turn out as a very good alternative in many cases where high quality AD, DA or Ethernet is not required.

If you want to phidget then make sure you get the right crimps and housings for your cable (see phidget manual for part numbers). And I almost forgot: That insanely priced crimp-tool is required as well (See the company that make the crimps (Molex in this case) for tools). In Norway these things cost around 400$. Please correct me if I’m wrong!