Simo Virokannas

Writings and ramblings

Author: Simo

  • Orchestral tracks from the past

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    It’s already a long time since I removed the online jukebox from these pages, so here’s some of the old orchestral music from those times (along with some new).

  • Dashcode, part II

    After using Dashcode for almost a year now, this is the bottom line: “Don’t make any big projects with it.” – A random Dashcode user After a while, when the project gets bigger, you’ll have some 20+ Javascript files, thousands of lines of code, several data sources (which are great, btw), it gets really slow.…

  • Wonderful null character

    I recently programmed a lengthy piece of online software with PHP and JavaScript, utilizing server-side PHP/MySQL queries. But there was a problem that just popped out of nowhere – all but one data entry worked perfectly. This one row, when observed from the SQL server side (with a great tool called Sequel Pro), looked perfectly…

  • MacRuby and (too) persistent objects

    If you’re starting with MacRuby and Xcode, you might stumble upon the same problem I did: If you deploy the project even once, those precompiled ruby object files (.rbo) stick to the deployment directory and you have to clean it up each time before testing any new code. Here’s a simple script you can put…

  • Amplify multiple mp3s from command line

    Amplify multiple mp3s from command line

    This is quite easy to do, actually, just another case of bad (or missing) documentation. First, get an ffmpeg binary. This can be done by either compiling it by yourself or googling for a ready compiled binary. If you’re on a Mac, you probably have it already, as many of the video converters from Mac…

  • HALion Symphonic Orchestra on OSX Lion

    HALion Symphonic Orchestra on OSX Lion

    This page at Steinberg’s website claims that Halion Symphonic Orchestra won’t work on OSX Lion. It says “Plug-in not detected by host. No update planned but runs as VST Sound Instrument Set based on HALion Sonic on Lion.” Not true. I just finished installing Cubase Studio 5 on Lion, with HSO working just fine, both as…

  • UBV Beach Volley 2011

    UBV Beach Volley 2011

    I’m happy to announce the first version of UBV 2011 is now available for buying in the Mac App Store. Link to Mac App Store Here’s a short trailer:

  • 4 new tracks

    4 new tracks

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    Here’s some new music: Vector Strongly influenced by Tron: Legacy soundtrack. Vector HD1 Tried to capture the classic feeling of Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire. HD1 Bronze Tries to be like the stuff they play in saunas at Impuls+. Bronze Puzzle Older track, found it lying around unfinished. Puzzle