It’s a major upgrade. Logic Studio is a full suite of apps including Logic Pro 8, MainStage, Soundtrack Pro 2, Studio instruments and effects, and the entire GarageBand Jam Pack library. Almost 40 gigs of content!

The user interface of Logic Pro has been completely redesigned. Its new single-window workspace fits the streamlined design of Apple’s other applications. If you’re a GarageBand user, the upgrade will be much easier to manipulate.

MainStage is built for live performance. Keyboardists and guitarists alike will be able to perform with confidence even in the most demanding conditions. It’s a major step to bringing your software instruments and effects to the stage with an interface that gives you just enough information to get the job done.

My major complaint with Logic Pro 7 was the user interface. It wasn’t nearly as fun or easy to use as GarageBand. All of that has changed. I love the new and sexier Apple-centric design.

Watch my introduction to the new Logic Pro 8 template chooser.

If you’re a Logic user and want more tips and tricks, check out Logic Studio Training.

Basically, you just copy the text files to your iPod’s notes folder and copy the MP3s to your music library. Then, in the iPod’s notes menu, you navigate to the main iTheory note and you can test intervals, scales, chords, and absolute pitch.

I think I’m going to hack into mine and personalize it a bit more. It’s really cool how you can reference audio in a note. I wish I knew before that you can do that. My mind is racing with ideas to use this trick.

It’s not cheap at $100 but it looks worth it just to learn the mics, mixers, effects, and instruments they used to get those classic sounds. I’m definitely buying a copy!

Table of contents for 2006 Celebrations and Reflections

1. Top Ear Training Articles for 2006
2. Top Songwriting Articles for 2006
3. Top Music Theory Articles for 2006
4. Top Music Hacks for 2006
5. Top Peak Performance Articles for 2006
6. Top Music Business Articles of 2006
7. Top Music Technology Articles for 2006
8. The Best of The Graham English Blog 2006

Music technology is bound to make leaps and jumps in 2007. Just have a look at the new music technologies we got to play with in 2006.

• Find New Music With Musicovery – And Songwriting Ideas Too
• If You Haven’t Checked Out Splice Yet, You Don’t Know What You’re Missing
• The Easiest Way To Get News On All Your Favorite Musicians
• A Web-Based GarageBand?
• What Was The Name Of That Song?
• List of Opensource Music Software
• What is RSS and Why Do I Care?
• A Big List Of FREE Music Making Software!

You don’t even have to hit play to find ideas for your next song. Just take a look at the moods or genres to give you some direction. But when this website starts playing the music, that’s the coolest part. The interface is amazing!

Musicovery creates an on-the-fly mind map of musical connection, a complex neural network of music. Pretty cool stuff. It even has a special radio for dancing so you can set the mood at your next party. Check it out.

The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to make it stop playing.

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What’s your Last.fm username? Let’s share music tastes.

Full article from Lifehacker: Get newsfeeds tailored to your musical tastes

It’s still new but looks very promising. It was created by a couple of Boulder, Colorado entrepreneurs, David Cohen and Brad Searle. I wish I knew about them when I was living there just over a month and a half ago. Good luck guys!

New to RSS?

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Mac OS X only: Freeware Dashboard widget OnTour scans your iTunes music library, letting you know when musicians you like are coming through your town.

If you don’t own a Mac and you’re a musician, it’s really time.

Click here to download.

read more | digg story

The Good News: I can now receive email.

The Bad News: I’m having trouble sending email.

The Good News: I only have 535 email messages left to sort.

The Bad News: I have 535 email messages left to sort.

As much as I love technology and the internet, sometimes it’s a major pain in the ass. So if you sent me an email during the past few days — no telling how many days exactly — then you can’t be sure I received it or will be able to reply. Sorry.

Officials at the CIA and scientists around the world have pondered the “cocktail party problem” for decades. How could they separate one sound – perhaps a voice – from a group of other recorded sounds, perhaps a multitude of voices at a cocktail party? Now, two researchers have found a mathematical solution the problem.

Cocktail Party Problem on Wikipedia.

This is pretty fascinating stuff. The science of sound. read more.

The iconic rocker says the music industry has no right to bitch about piracy when its modern recording technology only screws up good music anyway.

Dylan’s pretty tough on the current state of recording. He’s got good points too. We’ve lost almost all dynamic range in modern recordings. But there’s still good stuff out there so he ends up sounding a little like a grumpy old man. But as part of the rock lineage, you have to show respect to one of the world’s greatest songwriters and listen closely.

Full article: Bob Dylan: Technology Sucks

British band Duran Duran are to create a virtual island within online game Second Life, on which they will perform actual live concerts. Second Life is an online 3D digital world, which is imagined, created and owned by the residents. Are virtual celeb appearances the next big thing online?

What a great idea. I’ve spent very little time in Second Life but I can see the promise. There’s an entire industry emerging that helps you create your “second identity” in the virtual world. read more.

These performers fit into a wider group of people in the self-made instrument scene, which is particularly vibrant in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“It is one of the main centers for people who make their own instruments and create their setups,” says Pamela Z.

This is partly because of the Bay Area’s high density of tech-savvy tinkerers, but also because of the experimental music courses taught in local colleges like Oakland’s Mills College — which spawned pioneer Steve Reich — Stanford and UC Berkeley. Rent Romus says it is one of the richest areas in the United States for experimental sound.

The summit is being recorded in audio and video, which will be available after the event for those who live elsewhere in the world.

Full article: Musicians Get Out of the Groove

Musiclens lets you search for music using vague criteria like how loud it is or its tempo and mood. Pretty spiffy flash interface as well.

Musiclens is different from Song Tapper and maybe not as good for finding the title of a song. But it shines if you use it to discover new music. I especially like the “purpose” filter.

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