"Kids" music video (MGMT cover) - GarageBand on iPad 2 - by Nguyen-Anh Le

For my next Internet music video - here's a cover of the fun and catchy song "Kids" by MGMT!  I recorded and arranged it all on the iPad, using the GarageBand app.  I had just downloaded the app for $4.99 a few days ago.  Rather than just toying with it, I figured I should just do a full production with it.  Et voila, here it is!



Link to the recording on YouTube

GarageBand for iPad - The Good

My first impression of the iPad was that it was just a shiny new toy. Yeah, you can do fun stuff with it, but would the novelty go away? Then I saw a few music apps come out and realized there could be some promise. But even those apps are semi-toys too; it's hard to play something really well since they are limited instruments and the keys are so small. But GarageBand for iPad really put it over the top. You can do some serious music with this app!

GarageBand is perfect for the iPad. Why? Because you can record tracks directly on the iPad. If you've ever used GaragePad for Mac or any other desktop music studio software, you have two choices for recording: playing real instruments and feeding the sound to the computer, or tediously clicking your mouse to record each note. On the iPad, the iPad is both the studio and the instrument. I recorded half this song just sitting on the couch, with the TV on.

GarageBand's synth sounds are great. I own two "real" synths. I don't use my 88-key Korg workstation anymore because it's so big and clunky. I do use my 61-key Alesis, but it's still a pain to drag it out. The synth sounds on GarageBand have good enough quality and variety to play for real. This is quite an improvement even against the other synth apps available for the iPad. GarageBand also provides guitar, bass, and drum apps. They sound decent enough. Not close to the real thing, of course. But they'll work fine if you want to quickly lay down tracks for a song.

GarageBand for iPad - The Bad

There are some limitations to GarageBand for iPad. Since the iPad is an "all-in-one" device, there's currently no easy way to hook external inputs up to the iPad. This means you are stuck with the tiny built-in microphone on the iPad. My voice is bad enough as it is - and using this mic just makes it sound worse! Most vocalists and live recording artists use fancy condenser microphones - so iPad isn't ready for them just yet. There's hope though - companies like Apogee Electronics are making input products for the iPad.

Another shortcoming of Garageband for iPad is limited effects and processing capabilities. There are several knobs you can turn for each instrument. On analog synths, you can edit basic things like attack/decay, cutoff, resonance. The sound recorder lets you select from a few typical presets (large room, small room, chipmunk, etc). You can do some processing of most tracks like editing reverb, echo, compressor. But that's about it. You can't add typical effects like graphic equalizers, chorus, distortion, or even auto-tune (haha). And you can't fine tune your song with various envelopes.

These limitations are far from being showstoppers. If you want to do more with your song, you can export it into GarageBand for Mac. I did this with "Kids" so I can add a few more effects and do some fine tuning. This was only the second time I've used GarageBand at all (iPad or Mac), but you can see that the Mac version is a more powerful editing platform. But for most home users, you can won't need to do all this fancy stuff. Considering it just costs you $4.99, and you don't need any other instruments or gear, GarageBand for iPad is super easy for you to make some music.

Other Musings and Conclusion

Oh yeah, this was also my first time making a music video with fancy editing.  I tried out Sony Vegas - neat tool!  Doing this was lots of fun too. I am still quite the video newbie though. The biggest challenge was getting all the video clips to sync. A few clips got out of sync towards the end of the song - don't know how to fix them.

At any rate, I hope you enjoy the song. Recording it was lots of fun, as well as a great learning experience!  I'd love to hear any experiences you've had with music on the iPad.

All is good in the world again: I finally got an iPad 2!

 

When the iPad 2 was released in March, I wasn't that excited.  Yes, it's a newer, better product, but was it worth shelling out another $600?  No way.

But a few weeks later, everything changed.  My parents came down to visit.  I let my mom use my iPad to check a few things on the Internet.  I didn't think much of it, since she had used various laptops, netbooks, etc. before.  But with this device, she had fallen in love.  She immediately became an Angry Birds addict.  She was on the iPad all day during that visit.  After that, I decided to part ways with my iPad.  It became a retirement gift for my mom.

My good deed for my mom created a void in my life.  What to do?  No little tablet thingy to play with on the couch, in bed, at the coffee shop, etc.  Time to do some shopping.  I had looked at some of the other tablets on the market.  The Android-based Motorola Xoom looked like a strong candidate.  Gearheads could probably argue for hours on which tablet is better in terms of hardware/OS/features.  But iPad blows away the competition when it comes to apps.  I could care less about the specs; I just want to be able to do cool things with my tablet.  Hence, I decided to go with an iPad 2.

Getting an iPad 2 was a pain in the neck, however.  It's been over a month since they released it, but supply is still very low.  You usually have to get in line at an Apple store around 8am or earlier, to hope to get one.  No thanks, I'm not waking up for that.  And although they advertise it at Target, Walmart, and Best Buy, these stores hardly carry any.  You could order online, but it'll take you 3-5 weeks to get one.  Maybe I should have done that anyways.  But just last Wednesday, I called up the Apple store on Michigan Ave. in Chicago a little before noon, hoping to find out about a shipment the next morning.  Surprisingly enough, the dude on the line told me they had a few iPad 2's currently in stock.  I hopped on the bus and arrived there 15 minutes later.  No line, no hassle - and I suddenly had my hands on a 32GB black wifi iPad 2!  Praise the gods!

To celebrate this momentus achievement, here is my Flava Flav hip hop pose, with an iPad clock around my neck. This goes out to Dan S., who originally came up with the idea :)

If you are curious, here are some of my favorite apps:

• Angry Birds: Forget World of Warcraft or Call of Duty.  This simple little app would be my vote for the game of the Decade!
• TD Ameritrade's iStockManager: Powerful, fast, responsive app for stock trading.  It puts a lot of info at your fingertips for trading, and it's easy to use.
• Netflix: Netflix streaming movies + iPad app were a match made in heaven
• Air Video: Allows you to stream videos from another computer.  This gets you around the 16/32/64GB limit of your iPad.  I have many gigs of TV shows and movies on my main PC's hard drive.  I installed Air Video Server on that PC (works on Mac too).  Then I run Air Video on the iPad to stream movies over wireless from the PC.
• Dropbox: Sync files between your iPad and other machines.  Apple tries to force you to use iTunes for everything, even though it sucks at managing anything besides music.  Ideally, iOS should have its own file manager like Windows Explorer or Apple Finder.  But no.....
• Keynote: Great way to display Powerpoint presentations, even thru a video projector.  Now I take my iPad to present at customer meetings, rather than my laptop :)
• Piano Accordio: The main app that sold me on the iPad originally.  It may be the most playable music instrument app on the market today.
• Pro Keys: Piano/keyboard app.  There are lots of these, but this one is pretty solid.  I used this app the other day in my "New Wave Ensemble" class, in which we played some David Bowie, The Cars, and The Replacements.

In a strange twist of events, I've become a Mac, not a PC!

Warning: this will be a fairly geeky blog post.  But hopefully it'll be entertaining too :)

Yes, it's true.  I have joined the Dark Side.  Or is it the Light Side?  Several of you will laugh at the irony.  Yes, I've built many PCs from piece parts over the years.  Yes, I'm the guy that said that iPads are waste-of-money toys.  Yes, I'm the one that said I would never get a Mac because they are too "user-friendly" and way overpriced.  I even bought a PC Netbook on the day the iPad became available in stores.  But lo and behold, strange things have happened since.  First, I gave away my Netbook to my parents a couple months ago and bought an iPad to replace it.  To top it off, today I received this brand new Macbook Pro as my official laptop for work - bye bye Thinkpad.  No, Steve Jobs didn't bribe me.  I think I just may have officially become a Mac!!

This was my arsenal of compu-weapons before.  Very black.  Very PC.  I got good mileage out of them.  As a technologist working for a technology company, you kinda need some techie gear, you-know-what-I'm-saying? I have a desktop PC, which is my most powerful computer and contains all my data and runs major applications.  For work, I had a Lenovo Thinkpad W500, a top-of-the-line laptop.  The laptop is my IBM "office" (I don't have a real office) - containing data and applications for work. 

When you're traveling for leisure, carrying a 5 lb laptop with a 15" screen (with all your work data on it) is not very desirable.  That's why I bought this cute ASUS Netbook.  It's about the size of a hardcover book and only weighs 3 lbs.  Works great for Internet surfing, e-mail, streaming video, etc.  I took it to Turkey and wrote a few blog articles on-the-fly. 

Over time, however, I realized that the Netbook was only useful to me when on the road.  I do not travel all the time.  I hardly ever used it at home, since the desktop or laptop was always available.  I ended up giving the Netbook to my parents (who wanted a second laptop/netbook so they wouldn't fight each other for dibs at playing online Sudoku, hahaha).

Since I no longer had an ultra-portable compu-device, I started paying attention to the iPad.  It wasn't serious for a while.  Aside from email/internet, I thought, why else would I want an iPad?  All the apps were just cute little games.  No "real" use case for them.  Nothing a desktop or laptop could not do.  Didn't justify the fancy $600-1000 price tag.  But one day I stumbled this video of an iPad accordion application and was amazed.  Then I realized that the iPad isn't just a toy.  You can actually do some really neat things on it, like playing/composing music!  How cool!  You can't play a piano or accordion live on a desktop or laptop.  That was something very unique to the large touch screen on the iPad.  If people wrote more apps like this, the uses could be boundless!  A couple days later, I walked for the first time to the Apple Store on Michigan Ave in Chicago and walked out with my very own iPad!

I admit, the iPad may not be worth the price tag for most people.  You pay a bit for the newness factor, the sex appeal, the cute toy aspects.  But hey - now I have my own iPad accordion video! :)

I've had some kind of IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad since 1996, when I was first hired into IBM. They have always been solid, reliable machines. I've taken them all over the world. Even my old cat enjoyed hanging out with the Thinkpad.

At work, we folks in sales have to show off our enterprise software to customers all the time.  Having powerful, reliable machines for sexy demos is very important.  There has been a push to try out Macbooks as our platform for doing this.  That's why I'm getting one.

Several people have asked "hey, don't you work for IBM?  Isn't it an oxymoron for you to have a Mac?"  You may be surprised by the answer: not at all.  Yes, it's true that IBM invented the PC.  But what many people don't know is that IBM doesn't make PCs anymore.  That's sooooo 20th Century.  In fact, no PCs, laptops, printers, or hard drives.  We sold off those businesses years ago, because they didn't make enough profit.  The Thinkpad is now made by Lenovo, a Chinese company.  What we sell is enterprise hardware and software - stuff that most normal people don't see, like in the photo above.  Apple is a consumer electronics and technology company.  Unlike in the 80's, we two companies don't compete anymore.  On the other hand, a real competitor these days is actually Microsoft, since they sell software to enterprises too.  So using Mac OS may be better for us, since we wouldn't be paying our competitor Microsoft for Windows and Office licenses...

  

Looks like 2010 marks my new journey with Apple technology.  The iPad has been fun so far.  Hopefully the Mac will be productive too.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not becoming a Mac bigot (and I wasn't a PC bigot before).  I still wouldn't buy a Macbook with my own money, unless they got 50% cheaper.  But hey, I will try it out for work since it's free to me :)  Actually, this reminds me of the first computer I used - the Apple IIe in my 2nd grade classroom.  Can you believe I learned to program on one of these things??

Related links:
- This article on my blog
- My blog

Top Chicago dishes: Guacamole at Frontera Grill

Today's top ten dish has been high on my list for a long time: the Guacamole at Frontera Grill (website). Frontera Grill is one of Chicago's top restaurants, owned by superstar chef Rick Bayless. There's no surprise that a dish from this restaurant would make it to a top ten list. Yet I bet you may have been surprised that a simple dish such as guacamole (and not the other wondrous items on Frontera's menu) would be the one.

If you talk to someone from Mexico, he/she would tell you that guacamole is everywhere, and everyone can make it. But Frontera's guacamole is special. After you eat it, no guacamole is the same. I'm sure part of the secret is the use of top quality avocados (how do you get good ones all year long??). And perhaps it's their blend of ingredients such as sun-dried tomatoes. Whatever it is, you're in heaven when you eat it. And to top it off, it's just an appetizer to one of the best quality (and not terribly expensive) meals you can get in Chicago.

[ Link to image ]

So I finally completed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It's funny.  I pre-ordered the book, like many people.  Eager anticipation of one of the most highly anticipated books ever!  I started reading.  Got a couple hundred pages through.  And then it sat on the shelf.  I'm one of those people with the rare talent of being able to postpone anything.  I daresay it is related to procrastination.  But it's a step above, since you actually stop in the middle of something enjoyable.  It sat for many months, til last week, when I went out of town.  I am a much better reader when there are no distractions from home.

Anyways, it was a good book.  If you haven't read it and intend to, please go no further.  I will have SPOILERS!  Well not big ones.  But there will be some, oh yes.

Let me start with the bad side.  Unlike the Harry Potter fanatics, I actually don't blindly enjoy these books.  There were a few things that annoyed me.  First of all, it seemed that Rowling invented the last two books to pretty much stand on their own.  Yeah, there were some things the led up to them, but the horcrux thing plus the deathly hallows solely came out of the last two books.  In the first five books, it seemed as if You-Know-Who was more like that-bad-guy-you-could-never-get-rid-of in cartoons.  You know: Wile E. Coyote, Gargamel, Megatron, etc.  Then all of the sudden, Harry gets a clue and starts figuring out the bad guy.  In Rowling's defense, I guess she needed a way to wrap it all up.  Maybe it's because the first couple books were way too simple; she just didn't have much of a story arc to work with.

The other big thing that bugged me about Deathly Hallows was that there was too much explicit explanation.  Yes, everyone wants to understand what happened and see all the loose ends get wrapped up.  But do you have to make it so obvious?  Like the pensieve scene.  It just seemed that the plot got so complex that it needed a long-winded, complex resolution as well.  Maybe this one time, this story would be better suited as a movie, since you could easily do a  dream-sequence-that-reveals-everything.

Now that I've had a chance to whine, let me talk about the good things.  It was still quite an enjoyable novel.  Rowling did a great job tying all the components of the Harry Potter universe into the last book.  It seemed like every good guy and bad guy you met ended up in the book.   It incorporated parts of past books, like the Room of Requirement and Dumbledore's Army.  The final battle was epic and spectacular.  It was a true fight between good and evil, and everyone showed up.  Reminded me of the final battle in LoTR.  I can't wait to see a movie version of that battle.

Harry did a lot of growing up too.  And it was about time.  It got a bit annoying seeing him stumble about all the time.  He was like a wizardly Inspector Gadget.  But in this book (and the previous one), he and his friends actually think strategically.  Harry figures out the complex relationships and lore regarding You-Know-Who.  And he won over enough people through his actions and his defiance of the bad guys that they would come join him in the final battle.

So, a couple of annoyances aside, Deathly Hallows was a fine ending to a fine series of books.  The books are kinda strange as a series - they don't really fit together.  The first ones are simple and cater to young children.  The last ones are dark and complex, probably way above most 10 year olds' heads.  I guess they show a good transition from childhood to adulthood.  And thus it ends, with Harry walking away in the sunset.  Oh wait - there's an epilogue.... maybe it's not all over... JK Rowling is gonna make more money!!!

Top Chicago dishes: Zeppole at Quartino

Chicago is a wonderful place to eat. It has food from every nation, every style, and every price. For a long time, I have thought about having a Top 10 dishes list. It's quite a challenge, since there's so much food! I'm going to have a series of blog posts to share some candidates for the list. One of these days, I will complete the list and share with you all!

Today's Top 10 candidate dish is the Zeppole at Quartino. Quartino is an Italian restaurant in River North (website). It's a nice blend of family style, pizzeria, wine bar, tapas bar, and upscale River North. The Zeppole is a dessert dish - hot Italian doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar and dipped in honey. The dough is amazingly fresh and comes right out of the oven. And how can you go wrong with honey? It's a great way to end a meal at one of my favorite Chicago restaurants.

(Sorry for the bad pic - I only had my cell phone on hand to take a pic).

Reviews of Quartino:

• Yelp
• Metromix
  

A review of Naked Economics

Ok ok ok, I guess I should post something if I'm going to have a blog.  So here we go.  I figured I should start out with a review of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, since it was what got me thinking of blogging.  Amazon has a bunch of reviews of this book.  But you should really read mine, cuz I am cool.

Naked Economics is an introduction to economics.  As the title suggests, it introduces economics in an down-to-earth and interesting way.  Instead, it's a 250-page paperbook book that is clear, concise, and witty.  Charles Wheelan writes for The Economist.  Unlike long-winded, formula-ridden college textbooks, Naked Economics reads like a magazine you would find at the hair salon.

What does it cover?  From the table of contents: markets, incentives, the role of government, information, productivity and human capital, financial markets, organized interests, national economies, the Fed, trade and globalization, and development economics.  Ok, these topics may sound a bit stuffy.  But each topic is covered in an engaging way.  Wheelan uses lively yet relevant examples to explain all these topics.  Examples include how difficult it is to open a business in Mozambique, how a Chicago congressman found federal funds to build a parking garage for the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, why we are ok with giving our money to a bank teller we've never met, why Bill Gates is richer than we are, how Wheelan's condo association prevented the city of Chicago from building an El stop next door, and a civil case in India that finally got to court after both parties had died.

Wheelan also brings up some controversial examples.  Ethanol subsidies in the U.S., the protests against the World Trade Organization, the globalization of labor (including NAFTA), and may more.  One could conclude that this guy is biased (aside from being a capitalist), based on his commentary on these issues.  The funny thing is that on one page, you could think he's really conservative, while on another page you could think he's a socialist.  How could this be?  Because he's just using these as examples to illustrate the topics he's explaining.  He states that economics simply tells you how all these things are related.  Policy is often a matter of opinion and preference, rather than an economic truth.  For example, a classic economic tradeoff is between taxes and providing public services.  Economics won't tell you how much you should tax and how much to fund services; it just tells you that if you consistently spend more than you collect, you're in trouble.

So how did Naked Economics affect me?  First of all, I learned a bit about economics.  But more importantly, the concepts were very relevant to my own thoughts and values.   Some ideas were reinforced.  I've had to re-evaluate some others.  Let me list a few things that came to mind:

• I thought that powerful interest groups were just an American phenomenon.  Who knew that they are predicted by economic theory?
• Why I don't consider myself a conservative, liberal, or moderate when it comes to economics anymore
• How so many Americans have such strong feelings on topics (like taxes or government "intervention") but they have no clue about economics
• Maybe the U.S. isn't as bad to live in as I once thought - just because other countries could be even worse off
• The Fed won't be able to prevent a recession this year.  Only the government can, but it probably won't, because it would involve massive spending

The list goes on and on!  Juicy stuff, eh?  Well, I worded some of them to sound controversial.  But you'll have to wait to read more - I will dedicate future blog entries to these topics.  Stay tuned!