Steven Keens mi7 community feed

Back in the game!

Steven Keen — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:59:26 GMT

The draught is over, I'm happy to report! Had a serious writer's block for more than two years, but it would seem the haze has lifted :) I've written new material, and I'm extremely excited about picking up the project with Maria Wiberg that's been lying dormant for so long.

You can hear some early demos in my Player here.

Don't know what spawned it, and I'm not sure I want to ;) But the fact is, I'm active again, and that is a huge relief, since music is all I ever knew how to do (if I do say so myself). Imagine losing that!

Also, I'm fiddling with an idea for a Cubase book. Firstly intended for the Danish market (it will be in Danish), but if the idera pans out, I'm hoping MI7 will be interested in helping to translate it (who knows, possibly even distribute it?) to the other Scandinavian languages.

Here's hoping y'all are productive, and making most of your lives :)

Love...

C4

Steven Keen — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:27:34 GMT

I know it's a bit tacky, but I just felt like ranting a bit about Cubase 4.

I've used Cubase since 1991 (on the Atari), and with the exception of a few years with a PowerMac 9500 running Opcode StudioVision, it's been my choice of musical composition tool ever since. Granted - had StudioVision still been around, I'd most likely still be using that. What a sad story that was, btw. What's wrong with those people over at Gibson anyway?

Sorry - lost the plot there for a moment.

C4 is the bomb! It still has a few flaws, and I still get the occasional "serious error - please save your work under a new name", but it's never thrown away work or not been able to proceed. It's streamlined, easy to use, and extremely powerful. And best of all - it really sounds fabulous. The new plugin set deserves a blog of its own, but I can't be bothered. If you haven't alreday, buy it!

There are so many good things to be said about C4, I hardly know where to start. I'll just say this: ProTools is great, Live is funky, Logic is geeky, Sonar is cool, DP is mindboggeling, ACID is groovy, but Cubase 4 is all of the above. And then some. I am falling in love all over again.

I just wish Manfred and Charlie would pick up the pace a little and finally give us side chaining (it's coming, they say), free Group Track Routing, and release the goddam VST 3 SDK already!

Other than that, I am one happy camper.

Inspiration...

Steven Keen — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:40:27 GMT

...is a weird entity. Yes, I believe it is an entity in it's own right. It's been close to two years since I've made any music. My whole life has been consumed with it since I was about six years old, and for the first time in my life, I hit a writer's block, pretty much coinsiding with the untimely death of my mother.

But there's no such thing as coincidence, is there?

Anyway, it seems inspiration is slowly weaving it's way back into my life. Like a long lost lover finally sending a letter from the other side the Wolrd (or is it from the other side of life?), letting me know she's ok, and considering returning.

It's funny (and frustrating) how inspiration can totally dominate your life. When it's in it, but even more so when it's not.

Here's hoping y'all find inspiration in your life, whether it's in music, other arts or simply in enjoying a day in the sun.

Love,

Stef :-)

What are you protecting, exactly?

Steven Keen — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:52:34 GMT

So.

Reinstalling my Spectrasonics plugs. That takes a huge chunk out of your evening. It's beyond me, that Mr. Persing and his loveable gang of premium nerds havent changed the installation procedure in what, five, six years?

That is unless you're on the Mac, of course. Then again, if you own an Intel Mac, you're even more royally f'''ed, since you can't even use them (except for RMX, that is).

Well... I guess I'm just fed up with installing and authorizing stuff, and constantly feeling criminalized because I decide to buy a faster computer, and so my registrations are rendered invalid.

Some turn to dongles - iLoks, Syncrosoft Keys aso. That's all good, but it all makes our lives as paying customers difficult.

Sorry for bitching ;)