I’d heard of CodeWeavers‘ “CrossOver Mac” before. I understood that it was an attempt to run Windows applications without installing windows. It was basically an actively supported OS X build of WINE that was tailor-made for running business applications like Office and Photoshop. It seemed promising, especially when word of games support was advertised. I installed the demo copy about a year ago and was mildly impressed. It installed Office 2003 fairly well and ran quickly, compared to emulators that were publicly available. I had already bought Parallels and since I was using my original copy of Windows XP with it, I didn’t feel that I needed a program like CrossOver Mac since my needs were being fulfilled.
On the games front, I believe I had tried to install a game or two using CrossOver mac, but I didn’t have much luck. The program gives you a list of supported applications to choose from, but you can also launch an unsupported installer if your app of choice isn’t on the list. Since it had just coalesced as a product, their supported applications were mainly productivity packages and fairly limited. Since this was the case, I forgot about it for a while.
I was searching the net yesterday and noticed that CodeWeavers had split their flagship program into two halves. CrossOver Mac would now be dedicated purely to productivity and CrossOver Games would cover the entertainment sides of things. Each program is to be separately updated and expanded based on customer demand. There’s even an application voting section where you can show your interest in particular applications and games. Should you have deep interest in having a program be supported (and deeper pockets) you can pledge funds toward its support. Not a bad idea.
What does a year of development get you in regards to CrossOver? Steam support. That’s right! CodeWeavers has added specific support for the Steam gaming platform! You can install it from a game disc, or pull the installer directly from the web. After I finally remembered my login information for steam, I had, within minutes, over ten games available (yes 90% of those games are variants of Half-Life, but still) for play. I only have a measly MacBook (pre Core2 Duo) with a built-in Intel 950 graphics chip, but I was able to play Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, Half-Life Source, and Ragdoll Kung-Fu without a problem. The framerate on Ragdoll Kung-fu was very playable. HL2 was ok, not great, still playable. I’ll have tweak my settings a bit. I’d assume that even if Half-Life 2 was natively built for OS X it wouldn’t play much faster with my little video card. This software is amazing!
Yes, WINE is free and UNIX based, but CodeWeavers are putting a badly needed support framework around the app that makes it much more accessible and functional. The built-in net-install of steam is a great touch. So many PC games are up on steam now, that it only makes sense to get that program under your developmental belt.
So far, I’m really impressed with this offering as it means that all the money I’ve spent on PC games might very well not be wasted. I’d be able play these games in the future on my platform of choice (even if my old PC dies on me through severe neglect). CodeWeavers even has a Linux version with the same perks as the Mac app.
CrossOver Games is $39.99 at the CodeWeavers’ website and is downloadable immediately upon purchase (as God intended).
KORG will finally come through on a product that I’ve searched for but have never been able to find from any vendor. Congratz Korg, bully!
There’s no information on pricing or when these things will be in my possession. (at least the keyboard, and maybe the drumpads, whoo hoo). Click image for original article.
Update!!
They should be out around christmas time at about 100 bones each!
According to AT&T wireless, you aren’t able to purchase more than one phone as an individual. You’re also now not able to purchase an iPhone if someone else in your household also has purchased one. AT&T, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do!
My guess is that this is a new rule added prior to the launch of the new 3G iPhone model, which is due June 9th at the Apple WWDC. Preventing people from hoarding the new iPhone and starting an entire black market of ebay sales is something AT&T seems to take very seriously. Once the “early adopter” phase of 3G iPhone sales have faded, and there isn’t a cut throat demand to support an underground market, these rules will go out the window….I hope.
This is crazy shit here. I don’t know why they don’t just roll this shit out to the public, or at least soldiers coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan. Why even bother testing on monkey’s at all. I guess there’s a threat that the arm could flail about wildly and gouge out a eye or two, but I think people would be ready and willing to take that risk. Now, if that monkey could remove a bra with one cold, mechanical meat hook, then we’d be in business. That, or auto-erotically asphyxiate itself, INXS style. I’m sure that was next on the test agenda.
I’ve installed the update and had no issues booting up so far. I did notice that a few Calendar synchronization windows came up, but I believe this is because they revamped the iCal synch procedure. All the iCal appointments are correct after the sync. VMWare Fusion 2.0 Beta is running fine right now. It’s even allowing me to do odd stuff that I haven’t tested yet, like interact with the Sony Reader.
The update is a 400MB+ download that affects iCal, Time Machine, AirPort, Spaces and General OS X features. A full list of changes is available from Apple.
I’ll keep you posted. Obviously this blog post is masturbatory since I’m the only Mac user. Sue me.
If anyone has thought about calling Microsoft for help, you might as well staple your dick (or cunt) to your forehead, then do a back bend. I was just told by a supervisor at Microsoft XBox support that I had two options when dealing with my latest xbox 360 problem, I could either pay them over $100 to fix it or hang-up the phone.
According to her, there are no other authority figures that you can speak to once you’ve spoken to her. She only has a first name (Crystal) but no last name and no employee number. They all have email addresses, but they will not give them out. Every time you call about an issue you are treated like you had never called before. If their representatives don’t keep accurate records on your account then that’s your problem, not theirs. If you have one problem they will replace your system for up to three years, another (possibly more serious) problem and you have to pay for the repairs. You basically have two options. You can either pay or hang-up. They will refuse to help you nor care about the time and money they’ve taken from you because they are unable to take responsibility for their actions. There’s no accountability because the person you deal with is interchangeable and no empathy because all responses are scripted. Microsoft is truly the worst company I have ever personally dealt with and I will NEVER pay them another dime and I vow to dedicate all remaining effort to discourage ANYONE else from purchasing their products or services.
I just bought an N64 from a garage sale for $5. It came with Golden Eye and two controllers. It was very poorly kept and seemed to have grass and dirt inside the console. The cartridge slot was not in good shape either. Guess what….the fucking system works perfectly. My Dreamcast, which I bought back in 1999, works perfectly. My Saturn, which I bought second hand around the same time, works perfectly. My Nintendo from 1986, WORKS FUCKING PERFECTLY!!!
I’ve had 4 Xbox 360′s since 2006, and guess what….they are ALL FUCKED!!!!! Now the latest problem is that the system is chewing up my game discs!! hahahaha, fucking awesome. Not only does the system lock up in the middle while playing but it’s chewing up my $60 games, making them useless coasters, isn’t that fucking sweet!!! Thanks Microsoft!! That’s great to know that this problem-that’s costing me more money as time rolls by-is NOT covered by my warranty. Thanks Crystal, for being a useless, stonewalling CUNT! My hats off to you! There are so many more important problems in the world but I can’t avoid being insanely pissed off by such a large company SHITTING on people who shell out good money to support their products.
It is with this I leave you with my final solution. I will be filming the destruction of my Xbox 360 Pro system. I will crush the fucking thing on film then proceed to piss all over it. If you’re all lucky I will also take a huge muddy shit on it’s fractured husk. Fuck! That’s what I should have done the moment I bought it, because that would have saved me thousands of dollars in games, accessories, and online purchases. Would have been the smartest thing I could have done after having bought the thing at Circuit City.
I leave you with a trip down “Fucked by Microsoft Lane” buffeted by photo highlights of the life and death of my xbox 360′s. Fuck em all!
UPDATE
If you visit the website referenced in the support document image above you get this fucking bullshit…
WARNING – Though it sounds at the beginning of the video that the amplitude of the recording will surely blow your fucking ears in, it’s, in reality, just a poor compression on the video. It will play at a reasonable level when it does get started. NO NOT FEAR!
I am totally fucking excited to see this come out. First the DS-10 virtual synth from Korg, then this home brew sample scratcher. Awesome! Definitely check out that video.
The interface reminds me of a mini-version of the JazzMutant Lemur or Dexter. So as long as you can overcome the smaller screen realestate, you can have a similar touch-based music interface box, though it’s not multi-touch, and probably not very customizable. So scratch that (pun intended), I guess the only real comparison between this and the JazzMutant offerings is they both deal with music controls and both sport similar-looking interfaces. Still very exciting.
After doing a bit more research on this project, it seems that there’s more here than meets the eye! Along with the scratching and loop triggering, there’s MIDI output via the Nintendo DS’s wifi radio, as well as the ability to utilize the DS’s built-in microphone to live-record audio clips for use in the software! Shit, if I had this little thing on the train, I’d probably miss my stops, for fuck’s sake!
In leu of the utterly fascinating David Lynch videos related to our man’s panty diet, I thought this one also deserved a mention. Pretty fucking brutal. lol
I know I’m a little late to the game in discovering this, but I couldn’t be more excited. Back in the late 80′s and early 90′s (and I suppose still to this day) there was a music phenomenon of sorts that allowed any computer user (that wasn’t an adept programmer) to create full musical compositions via a sample-based utility known as a tracker.
The early tracker application “VicTracker” for the Commodore Vic-20.
Trackers come in all shapes and sizes but they have evolved from utilities that meet the “bare minimum requirements of music making” to full blown powerhouses of sample and virtual instrument manipulation. The tracker that I started with back in 1996 was Impulse Tracker. Seen here in all it’s glory.
I liked Impulse Tracker at the time because it was all I knew, but having inherited a hardware synthesizer from my father I started to want more MIDI implementation in my software. Plus, at the time, there was a sort of chic-vacuum when using trackers. Probably from my inexperience in using Impulse Tracker I assumed that things like Groove Quantization and virtual instruments were not possible with a mere tracker. I also had discovered that I could load samples into my Sound Blaster 64 AWE and sequence them in Calkwalk with full-blown DSP effects! I started moving away from trackers thinking that I would be much better off using Calkwalk then eventually Logic for all my music making.
I have to admit that I’ve been able to do a lot with the much more expensive software packages like Logic. Multi-track recording is obviously suited for the bigger apps, but since I primary make electronic/dance music, multi-track recording is usually unnecessary. Enter Renoise…
Renoise has re-lit my appreciation for trackers like I never felt possible. It creates a bridge between what I wanted from a digital audio workstation (DAW) and what I need as an electronic musician. Sure it doesn’t have a full multi-track recording interface but it allows you to export all tracks into a DAW should you want to throw in some real instruments. Or you can just sample. There’s a sample editor, recorder, and generator built-in, including the ability to cue up any portion of that sample at any speed, direction, or repeat-rate.
It’s really liberating to have a tool that allows me to compose while within the limiting constraints of a train seat with only my laptop; nothing else. I’ve been searching for a really small MIDI instrument to control my other apps, but now I have the perfect input device, the computer keyboard. Sequencing is a dream when you’re just a keyboard shortcut away from any feature.
I was hesitant to use Renoise because of my prior experiences with Trackers, but Renoise is built for electronic music, has VST/VSTi support, is PC and Mac compatible and is actively developed. Yes, it’s not as Free as Impulse Tracker was back in the day, but 90 bucks is a steal for what this will do for your creativity.
I’ll be sure to post some samples of things I’m working on, but right now I’m just happy to be creating again.
The ProjectMix I/O is M-Audio’s answer to the more expensive Digidesign (despite being part of the same company, AVID), Tascam, and Mackie control surfaces. It gives you a flexible audio interface and motorized fader-based control-surface. I’ve debated making the leap in purchasing this thing on several occasions. I don’t have any need for it now, but seeing how M-Audio likes to drop driver support for certain products, I’m glad I didn’t pick it up.
It’s safe to assume that the ProjectMix I/O is one of (if not) the flagship devices M-Audio makes currently. OS X Leopard (10.5 to be exact) was released October of 2007 and M-Audio still has not provided support for the operating system. It seems odd to me that a company that has such a partnership with a software manufacturer could be “caught with it’s pants down” when it’s new, much publicized, operating system is released. No doubt M-Audio was given advance access to the pre-release copies of Leopard as to allow them to release updates to their product lines. Why a company as prolific as M-audio is in the Mac Pro-Audio field would not be able to write a driver update for their flagship hardware devices after over a year is beyond my sphere of understanding.
I’ve already come to grips that I won’t be able to use my much-beloved Omnistudio Pro USB anymore, since they’ve stated they have “no plans” to support it into OS X Leopard. Fine. It’s an older device; gone discontinued since 2005, I believe. Sucks, but I can take it. How the hell is anyone to have any confidence with this company when you can’t be guaranteed to have drivers prepared for your $1500 recording device a YEAR after an operating system is released. For fuck’s sake, point-releases are coming through (already 10.5.2 and 10.5.3 on the way) and nothing. I don’t envy ProjectMix owners.
Currently, I’ve been experiencing problems with my FastTrack Pro USB interface that I purchased to replace the OmniStudio (I believe in second chances). The audio will drop out after functioning normally for an arbitrary amount of time. I don’t know if it’s a problem with the device or with the driver software that M-Audio dutifully provided, several months after OS X Leopard was released. I like to know if there’s a company out their more trust worthy than M-audio to fill the void on reliable audio interfaces. I hear bad stuff about everyone else’s products like Tascam, Lexicon, Focusrite, etc, (minus Pro Tools rigs, but I hear issues regarding the software required to run them, plus I want be able to use software other than ProTools), maybe this is all their is? All I can do is tune in and wait.
Adding true multi-monitor support and “experimental” DX 9, it looks like version 2 of Fusion will fully close any gap that may exist between its rivals over at Parallels.
Anyone using Parallels Desktop 3 knows that their idea of “Multi-Monitor” is really “giant-ass monitor” support. They decide to combine horizontal resolutions of multiple monitors when in Convergence mode, using the root monitor’s vertical resolution as a base. This means that you aren’t able to take advantage of 100% screen realestate if you use monitors of varying resolutions. An invisible cutoff point will exist when you try to drag a Convergence window south of your initial display’s max vertical res. Weak.
Fusion 2 actually passes monitor detection to the guest OS, allowing it to treat each additional display as its own, configurable, and arrangeable output. Check the youtube vid below to see this in action. Their testing proves that it can work with as many as 8 independent displays.
Sure, the 3d performance won’t blow anyone’s socks off, but DX 9 support alone is pretty impressive.
the beta 1 release is available as a free download from VMware via the following link. You can see more videos of Beta 1 in action here.
Even though it probably won’t happen, I would like to see either company develop a utility to allow a user to convert a virtual machine into a Boot Camp partition, in case you wanted to dual boot. I realize that it’s probably infeasible, but we can hope can’t we?
Look at the ship itself, for Christ’s sake. Sure it’s not a B1, but you know, you take what you can get. I’m just amazed we are still using prop aircraft in this day and age.
Kinda makes me wanna play DC. Get everyone in the gunship then flip upside-down and “park” it in the hanger. Hopefully this thing doesn’t do a barrel-roll with that laser engaged, thus cutting the Earth in half.
Another great provider of excellent, value-packed, Macintosh software bundles is MacHeist. Usually they kick off their bundles with a “spy/mystery” themed puzzle that you have to solve. As you solve these puzzles, or “cases” you accrue “loot”, which may include free software or credits that you can use towards future bundles. The cases are usually extremely clever in their design, but a helpful community forum may help you along should you need help. It’s really just a fun way to get the word out on new Mac software.
Should you have a Mac, I suggest supporting the site and buying 12 apps for $49 bucks, even though (as Socrates will point out) Bugdom and Nanosaur don’t really count. It’s more like 10 apps for $49 bones, which is still a great deal.
The good folks over at MacUpdate have extended us another wonderful Mac software bundle for a reasonable price. For the price, you are once again getting an assload of software! Check it out, NOW!
