The Usual...

Sorry for the tepid posting. Well, not really sorry as such. Okay, not sorry at all. I’ve been busy as busy can get. Just finished a pair of contract UIs, plus we wrapped up a 2-month R&D project and sent it off, in the hopes that it will bear (bare? I’m never sure about that) fruit at some point in the near future. So no complaints.

For some strange reason, there was a slew of product announcements in the last few days. Novation announced Yet Another Little Keyboard With A Microphone For Hipster Bands, Roland is about to announce Yet Another Combo Platter Of Blasé Versions Of Everything They’ve Ever Made, and NI just popped out a new iteration of Maschine.

Korg is apparently about to announce something along the lines of this. There’s a lot of talk about that being a Photoshop or 3D rendered fake. I’ve had a good look at it, and in my considered professional opinion, the image is real. It is definitely not a Photoshop fake. There’s just too many things in the image that are far too difficult to do in Photoshop. (Note the different reflections on each key.) It could be theoretically done in a 3D program, but in that event the person that made it is a grade A Illuminati-level 3D modeller. In short, while it is possible it is a fake, Occam’s Razor applies. We’ll know on the 4th, I guess.

EDIT: Definitely a fake. I stand corrected. (I didn’t think of it from “putting it together from other sources” viewpoint. I don’t design or think that way. My bad.)

In other news, Adam is working on a small update to Axon to fix some persistent bugs with the envelopes and preset saving/recalling. While he does that, I’m trying some envelope-pushing UI design stuff out. I hope to have something to show off here in a bit.

EDIT: Axon 1.2.1 for OS X is now in the AD store for immediate download.

So, this is an open thread. How’s your day going? AMA.