andrew dodson

Not really a music specific post today, but more of a gear post.

Over the last few years, I’ve used several audio interfaces with my computer.  When at home, I mainly need a good, solid interface that will let me mix anywhere from two to thirty-two channels without any hassle.  To be specific, an interface that worked well with my Mac mini and Tracktion.  I don’t do a lot of recording at home, so having multiple inputs (XLR, MIDI, etc.) isn’t an issue.

I’ve settled on a Behringer FCA202 FireWire interface.  Yes, a Behringer product.  A lot of people bash them, but when it comes to bang-for-your-buck, there’s no better.  I’ve owned several of their products and never had any real complaints.  The FCA202 is a very simple firewire device - two 1/4″ inputs, two 1/4″ outputs, a headphone jack and two firewire ports.  That’s it.  A negative of this interface is no XLR or MIDI inputs.  But, if you want to upgrade your computer’s sound card (using a factory sound card for pro audio applications is not recommended) for a cheap price ($80), I highly recommend this card.  It’s also extremely compact, making it a great, portable unit.  I often throw this in my laptop bag to work on audio projects on the go.

The main issue I ran into using other units dealt with audio dropouts, pops, clicks, and more noises.  For some reason, a couple of units would only briefly work with my setup before the audio would drop out.  But, I would expect more from $200-600 units, so this was disappointing.  The FCA202 performs much better with my setup.  The units that didn’t perform as well included an Edirol FA-101, Alesis MultiMix 8 FireWire, and a PreSonus Inspire.  They all resulted in glitches while I tried mixing a project.

I can’t verify if this product would work well with a PC, or another Mac setup that differs from mine.  It does work great with my iBook G4, though.  If you have a 6-pin FireWire port on your computer, the device can be bus-powered (no power adapter needed).  Looking through reviews on Musician’s Friend shows there are issues if you try to use it with Vista (but, what else is new?  The surprise would be if it WORKED with Vista!).

If you’re in the market for a great little (affordable) audio interface, and if you don’t need XLR or MIDI inputs, I highly recommend this unit.  Combine this with GarageBand on a Mac and you’ve spent $80 to start recording your ideas and more.

(These types of posts always worry me a little bit.  I never know what the reaction will be - it could go either way.  I could be seen in a negative light, or plenty of people might agree.  But, I’m interested in your opinion.  Feel free to post a comment!)

I was driving on the interstate a couple of days ago.  I looked over to the side of the road and saw three small crosses planted in the grass - a memorial to crash victims, no doubt.  As I continued my drive, I started thinking about the idea of putting a cross where someone has died to honor their memory and the place of their death.  Sometimes, people just use a stake.  Others, a ribbon around a tree.  I’m sure there are more ideas that have been used.

Should we use a cross as a symbolic memorial of someone’s death?  I’m not trying to sound insensitive with this post, I promise.  I’m just not sure we should use a cross.

Here’s my reasoning:  This past Easter revealed to me how much Jesus’ death on the cross has come to mean to me.  I don’t take it lightly anymore.  The cross is huge to Christianity.  It has become the universal symbol of Christianity.  Even though a person’s death may be tragic, no one’s life or death accomplished what Jesus accomplished through the cross.

Part of me says, if I were to die, I would like to be remembered with a cross.  I would want people to know I was a Christian.  But, another part of me says I haven’t endured what Jesus endured - I wouldn’t deserve a cross as a memorial.  In fact, I’ve done plenty to deserve the cross as a punishment.  If it were up to me, I wouldn’t feel worthy to be remembered with a cross.

What do you think?

It’s that time of week… time to randomly blog:

• CLS has picked up steam over the last couple of weeks.  I’m going to try my best to keep up with blogging, but I am prepared to be working some overtime over the next several weeks.  Along with other projects, the blog might get forgotten about some days!
• NCAA Final Four this weekend - my pick in North Carolina, as much as I don’t like that.  I just think they’re too powerful.  With the way they’ve beaten people in the tourney so far, they remind me a lot of another extremely talented team that won it all by pounding teams in the tournament - the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats.
• Baseball season is now in full swing.  UK got off to an amazing start, but they’re now into SEC play, and have lost a handful of games over the last couple of weeks.  The Reds kicked off their season yesterday with a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.  The staff gave up three homers, and the Reds only mustered three hits.  Fortunately, they have 161 games left to turn things around.
• Seriously - the Drop Trio is good.  Check them out.  The Leap album is a completely improvised album, which I’d normally love, but judging from some 30-second sound clips, it’s not as groove oriented as their other two releases.
• I’m enjoying Wordpress 2.5 so far.  If you haven’t upgraded yet, you should!

Sorry for the lack of a theology related post yesterday!  To be honest, I had writer’s block.  I didn’t have a subject in mind.  I’ll try to do better next week!

For a music related post today, I wanted to get the word out about another jazz group I’ve discovered.  The Drop Trio is way cool.  You can read about them on Magnatune here (and stream their albums!).  Their official website is here.  If you have an eMusic subscription, they’re available for download there.  You can also find them on iTunes, as usual.  Go check them out!