New Audio Toys

The Sonata synth is now freeware. Looks like it's got lots of potential.

There's also SafFron, a new freeware SoundFont player VSTi. (Hm. Looks as if it might be a good idea to wait for the next version, but damn lots of features.)

And, Sony (damn them for buying Sonic Foundry, anyway) has just released Sound Forge 9. Audacity is cool, and Audacity is free, but SF is where I do my finishing work. And now they've added a buttload of features I really want, including some features you previously had to pay for (and I presume weren't selling all that well) such as Noise Reduction 2 and 5.1 Dolby® Digital AC-3 export. And mastering plugins from iZotope.

So the Mac and Linux people don't think I'm dissing them, there's a Version 2.0, Release Candidate 1 download for Ardour.

How's your music software week going?

Dialtones

You can get cacie's debut album now. Thanks to ohiblather for the info, and for the link to this video, in case you've never heard Cacie:

POTENTIAL TYPE 1 DIABETES CURE -- SERIOUSLY

This is frickin' fantastic. (h/t hughcasey)

The Jeb Bush College of Education

New music software, new music, a possible cure for diabetes... what could possibly screw up a day like this? Oh, right, Republican bullshit. This isn't even the third or fourth most egregious example this morning... but something about it typifies everything about conservative "government" these days.

Cool Straight Guy Of The Week

Now that's an honor. Thanks very much to Michael Jensen of AfterElton.com.