Ripping VCD di Linux

Anda gemar menonton film dalam format VCD? Anda biasa menyewa keping VCD dari persewaan VCD? Jika anda tidak memiliki banyak waktu untuk menontonnya, biasanya anda akan menyalin terlebih dulu berkas film tersebut ke dalam Hard Disk komputer anda.

Di atas Windows, kita bisa dengan mudah menyalinnya menggunakan Windows Explorer lalu gunakan fasilitas Copy dan Paste. Bagaimana di atas sistem operasi Linux? Menggunakan file manager, lalu copy dan paste? Saya jamain 100% anda tidak bisa menggunakan cara tersebut.

Untuk menyalin berkas film VCD di atas Linux, kita harus melakukan prosesripping terlebih dulu. Caranya? Kita memerlukan perangkat lunak bernama vcdimager. Hanya saja vcdimager menajdi kurang praktis bagi pemula karena menggunakan Command Line Interface (CLI). Tapi tenang saja, ada cra yang lebih ,udah menggunakan vcdimager. Yang kita perlukan hanyalah sebuah frontend berbentuk Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Frontend ini pun tak perlu repot-repot anda cari. Ya, gunakan saja K3B, yang sebenarnya fungsi utamanya adalah untuk membakar data ke dalam keping CD atau DVD. Caranya adalah sebagai berikut:
1. Masukkan keping VCD yang akan disalin ke dalam drive optik di komputer anda

2. Buka program K3B (pastikan juga anda telah meng-install vcdimager)

3. Dari menu shortcut yang tersedia, lakukan klik kanan mouse lalu pilih menu Rip Video CD


4. Lakukan mounting VCD tersebut


5. Dari track film yang ada, lakukan klik kanan, pilih Start Ripping


6. Pilih lokasi penyimpanan file, klik tombol Start Ripping


7. Tunggu hingga proses penyalinan selesai


Setelah selesai, berkas hasil ripping akan anda temukan dalam format video MPEG (*.mpg)

Greatest Guitar Solo ever

Berhubung lagi broken heart, bukannya dengerin lagu-lagu sedih, kemarin malah saya sengaja mendengarkan lagu-lagu rock berirama cepat, dengan lagu milik White Lion, Broken Heart sebagai lagu utama. Saat saya mendengarkan interlude lagu itu, saya memutuskan untuk menulis tentang lagu-lagu dengan permainan gitar solo terindah yang pernah saya dengar (di mana lagu milik White Lion ini termasuk salah satunya).

Dan berikut ini adalah daftar lagu-lagu dengan permainan gitar solo terbaik menurut saya (maaf kali ini saya tidak memasukkan lagu milik Yngwie Malmsteen, karena sudah pasti permainannya yang terbaik). Nomor urut tidak melambangkan apa-apa, saya hanya mengurutkannya nerdasarkan yang saya ingat

1. Broken Heart – White Lion

   Nama Gitaris : Vito Bratta

2. Beat It – Michael Jackson

   Nama Gitaris : Edward Van Halen

3. The Final Countdown – Europe

   Nama Gitaris : John Norum

4. Highway Star – Deep Purple

   Nama Gitaris : Ritchie Blackmore Sebenarnya lagu ini adalah perpaduan sempurna antar permainan solo gitar dan solo kibor (kibor dimainkan oleh Jon Lord)
   

5. Prisoner In Paradise – Europe

   Nama Gitaris : Kee Marcello

6. Till Death Do Us Part – White Lion

   Nama Gitaris : Vito Bratta

7. November Rain – Guns N' Roses

   Nama Gitaris : Slash

8. Dr. Stein – Helloween

   Nama Gitaris : Kai Hansen & Michael Weikath

9. Bella Donna – UFO

   Nama Gitaris : Michael Schenker

10. This Night Is Gonna Last Forever – MSG

    Nama Gitaris : Michael Schenker

11. Stormbringer – Deep Purple

    Nama Gitaris : Ritchie Blackmore

Itu cuma sebagian yang saya ingat sebenarnya

The Sweetest Pain

The Sweetest Pain

They say that time will heal this hurt and pain

But the memories of us will forever remain

Knowin' still I have to hold on

Knowin' this life keeps goin' on

No need to cry for yesterday

No need to regret that you can't stay

There's still a future to live for

And I won't need to repent anymore

1st Chorus:

Farewell to you, my dearest friend

Let all I feel for you come to an end

Knowing what I've done, all are in vain

Cause all I endure is this sweetest pain

They say that time will cure this heartache

Though I never know, how long it will take

Believin' a new day will come

Believin' all will be said and done

No need to fear of all about you

No need to scare of all the things you knew

There's still a tomorrow to face

And all sad memories will soon be erased

1st Chorus – Repeat

2nd Chorus:

Goodbye to you, my dearest friend

You leave me a broken heart to mend

Knowin' what I've done, all are in vain

And my love for you is the sweetest pain

Written by Forrester – Gordon-Isle – D. Marshall – K. Marshall – McCabe – McCall

© 2009 Allie Ann Publishing/Ashes To Aces Publishing/D-Twins Publishing/K-Twins Publishing/Craigie Publishing/Dru or Dy Publishing/New Destination Publishing

Dedicated to … aka 7.4.9.

Mimpi itu...

Aku bermimipi kau di sana. Tapi kau tak memperdulikan aku. Kau bahkan tak melihatku. Ternyat, mimpi itu benar-benar terjadi. Kau kini bersama orang lain. Maafkan aku yang tak pernah memberitahukan dirimu. Kini biarkan aku menangis. Menangis sekeras mungkin. Jangan hentikan tanguisanku. Biarkan aku sendiri...........

Was It Something I Didn't Say

Was It Something I Didn't Say

Spending another night alone
Wondering when I'm gonna ever see you again
Thinking what I would give to get
you back baby
I should have told you how I felt then
Instead I kept it to myself, yea
I let my love go unexpressed
'Til it was too late
You walked away

Was it something I didn't say
When I didn't say "I Love You"
Was it words that you never heard
All those words I should have told you
All those times, all these nights when I
had the chance to
Was it something I didn't say

Always assumed that you'd be there
Couldn't foresee the day you'd ever
be leaving me
How could I let my world slip through
my hands baby
I took for granted that you knew, yea
All of the love I had for you, yea
I guess you never had a clue
'Til it was too late
You walked away

[Chorus]

All the words were in my heart
They went unspoken
Baby now my silent heart
is a heart that's broken
Shoulda let you knkow you're the one
I needed near me
But I never let you hear me

[Chorus]

Written vy Diane Warren
As performed by 98 Degrees

The Girls From Toto

Toto, one of the legendary band. Okay, they never had any girl members, but why did I choose the title “The Girls From Toto”? Do you know why? Yeah, that's right. Toto often used the name of a girl to be the title of their songs. Here is the list of them (with a little info showing the writers, the album where it was originally included, and an additional info that I already knew).

1. Title : Angela

   Writer : David Paich

   Lead vocalist : Steve Lukather

   Album : Toto

   This song is originally included in their first album (released in 1978), but it is also included in their Best Ballads album (released in 1995).

2. Title : Lorraine

   Writer : David Paich

   Lead Vocalist : David Paich

   Album : Hydra

   Taken from their second album, Hydra (released in 1979). Lorraine is David Paich's wife.

3. Title : Rosanna

   Writer : David Paich

   Lead Vocalists : Steve Lukather and Bobby Kimball

   Albums : Toto IV

   Taken from their biggest album, Toto IV (released in 1982) The song title, Rosanna, was taken from Steve Porcaro's ex-girlfriend, Rosanna Arquette. This song is also known as one of Toto biggest hits.

4. Title : Carmen

   Writers : David Paich - Jeff Porcaro
   

   Lead Vocalist : David Paich and Fergie Frederiksen

   Album : Isolation

   One of my favorites on the Isolation album (released in 1984). Featuring the voice of their new singer, Denise “Fergie” Frederiksen.

5. Title : Holyanna

   Writers : David Paich – Jeff Porcaro

   Lead Vocalist : David Paich

   Album : Isolation

   Still taken from Isolation. Holyanna is David Paich's sister. I love its video. It really depicted the story of the song. I watched it for the first time through a TV program that played the videos of the hits from 1970s to 1990s.

6. Title : Lea

   Writers : Steve Porcaro

   Lead Vocalist : Joseph Williams

   Album : Fahrenheit

   Taken from their sixth album, Fahrenheit (released in 1986). Joseph Williams came to replace Fergie Frederikssen. Some Toto fans (including me) had a doubt of the actual lead singer of this one, cause Williams' voice in this song didn't sound like Williams at all. Some guessed it was actually the writer, Steve Porcaro, who sang it. But the band denied it. It was really Joseph Williams singing in this song. The notes on Best Ballads album said that Lea is about someone's little daughter.

7. Title : Pamela

   Writers : David Paich – Joseph Williams

   Lead Vocalist : Joseph Williams

   Album : The Seventh One

   The second album featuring Joseph Williams on lead singing, entitled The Seventh One (released in 1988). Pamela is the name of Joseph Williams' ex-girlfriend.

8. Title : Anna

   Writers : Steve Lukather – Randy Goodrum

   Lead Vocalist : Steve Lukather

   Album : The Seventh One

   Still taken from The Seventh One. This is the second hit of Toto that was written by Steve Lukather with Randy Goodrum (the first hit is I'll Be Over You).

9. Title : Melanie

   Writers : Steve Lukather, David Paich, and Randy Goodrum

   Lead Vocalist: Steve Lukather

   Album : Mindfields

   Mindfields (released n 1998), the album that welcomed Bobby Kimball back to Toto, but Kimball is not credited on this track. He is not even listed as the background singer. But, this is one of my faves on Mindfields album. Melanie also became Toto last track that used a girl's name as its title, cause until their official break-up in 2008, Toto never released any tracks that used a girl's name.

Toto Line-up changes

Albums : Toto, Hydra, Turn Back, Toto IV

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Jeff Porcaro : Drums, Percussions

Steve Porcaro : Keyboards, Vocals

David Hungate : Bass

Bobby Kimball : Vocals

Album : Isolation

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Jeff Porcaro : Drums, Percussions

Steve Porcaro : Keyboards, Vocals

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Fergie Frederiksen : Vocals

Album : Fahrenheit

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Jeff Porcaro : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Steve Porcaro : Keyboards, Vocals

Joseph Williams : Vocals

Album : The Seventh One^*)

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Jeff Porcaro : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Joseph Williams : Vocals

*) Steve Porcaro continued working in the making of The Seventh One, although he was no longer an official member of Toto

Album : Past To Present (1977 – 1989)

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Jeff Porcaro : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Jean-Michel Byron : Vocals

Album : Kingdom of Desire

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Jeff Porcaro : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Albums : Absolutely Live, Tambu, Toto XX (1977 - 1997)

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Simon Phillips : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Albums : Mindfields, Livefields, Through The Looking Glass, Live In Amsterdam

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Simon Phillips : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Bobby Kimball : Vocals

Album : Falling In Between

David Paich : Keyboards, Vocals

Steve Lukather : Guitars, Vocals

Simon Phillips : Drums, Percussions

Michael Porcaro : Bass

Greg Phillinganes : Keyboards, Vocals

Bobby Kimball : Vocals

........................

4 5683 968

Wish I could say those words to you now, but I don't think I have a chance., though I always pray for it. I just want you to know, you've impressed me right from the start. Sorry for never telling you before cause I was around there with someone else. But the truth is that my heart was torn in two and you really got the most part of it.

to
7.4.9.



from Me,

Your Admirer.

Malmsteen and Rainbow

It's no secret that Yngwie J. Malmsteen (better known as Yngwie Malmsteen) is influenced by Ritchie Blackmore's guitar playing, both when Blackmore was in Deep Purple and in Rainbow. Malmsteen even cited Ronnie James Dio (formerly of Rainbow) as his favorite singer and Jon Lord (formerly of Deep Purple) as his favorite keyboardist. But I found a little unique facts about Yngwie Malmsteen and some ex-members of Rainbow/Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, a band founded by Ritchie Blackmore.

Some ex-members of Rainbow was then recruited by Malmsteen to join his band. Here is the list of them.

1.Cozy Powell
Powell played the drums for Rainbow from 1975 to 1978. He was fired after that. In 1995 Powell joined Yngwie Malmsteen and recorded an album with him, Facing The Animal , in 1997. Sadly, when the Facing The Animal Tour was about to begin , Powell tragically died in a car accident. He was then replaced by Jonas Ostman on the tour. Malmsteen dedicated the next album, a live recordings album entitled Live!!, to the memory of Powell. The album includes a live version of Gates of Babylon, a track which Powell originally contributed his drumming while he was joining Rainbow. Malmsteen said “that one was for Mr. Cozy Powell”, after the band performed it. Malmsteen himself had previously recorded the track for the Inspiration album.

2.Bob Daisley
Rainbow bass guitarist from 1977 to 1978. Daisley joined Malmsteen in 1987, but only contributed his bass playing in four tracks of the 1988's Odyssey album. The rest of the bass parts were played by Malmsteen himself. On tour, Daisley was replaced by Barry Dunaway.

3.Joe Lynn Turner
Turner joined Rainbow from 1980 to 1984 (replacing Graham Bonnet). He was the last singer joining Rainbow before Rainbow was officially disbanded for the first time. Turner then released solo records before joining Yngwie Malmsteen in 1987. Together with bassist Bob Daisley (see previous chapter), Turner recorded the Odyssey album and toured with Malmsteen to promote the album. In this album, Turner wrote the lyrics of all tracks.

Their live performance in Leningrad, Russia, was released as a live recording album entitled Trial By Fire (available on cassettes, CD, video, and recently on DVD formats). After the tour, Turner left and joined Deep Purple. Turner (with some former band members of Yngwie Malmsteen) rejoined Malmsteen to record the Inspiration album in 1996. All tracks included in Inspiration are cover version tracks of the musicians that have influenced Yngwie Malmsteen's musical style, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Scorpions, UK, Rush, Jimi Hendrix, and Kansas.

4.David Rosenthal
Rosenthal was the keyboardist of Rainbow from 1982 to 1984. He joined Yngwie Malmsteen to record the Inspiration album in 1996 (not in all tracks). There is a mistake for the credit of the track Gates of Babylon (originally a hit of Rainbow), that the keyboardist was actually Jens Johansson but it is credited to Rosenthal. But we can still hear an amazing keyboards playing of Rosenthal in the track Child In Time (originally a hit of Deep Purple). Rosenthal rejoined Malmsteen in 2001 for touring only.

5.Doogie White
White was the singer of Rainbow when it was re-founded by Blackmore after leaving Deep Purple for the second time (and also for the last time). White joined Malmsteen after the previous singer, Jorn Lande (together with the drummer, John Macaluso) left. White recorded two albums with Malmsteen, Attack!! and Unleash The Fury. He was actually well-received by Malmsteen's fans but in 2008, White left and was then replaced by former Judas Priest lead singer, Tim “Ripper” Owens to record the Perpetual Flame album.

Well that's just my opinion about this unique connection of Malmsteen and some former members of Rainbow.

Also notice that the second band Malmsteen ever joined in US, Alcatrazz, is a band founded by former Rainbow singer, Graham Bonnet. Meanwhile, the original Rainbow frontman, Ronnie James Dio, had ever worked together with Malmsteen when they both contributed a track in a Van Halen tribute album. It means that all former Rainbow singers had ever worked with Malmsteen.

What my heart wants to say

I don't care if u ignore me. I don't give a damn if u don't care for me. I just wanna let u know what i feel for you. Please undertsnd, I need u to stay in my life.

Rainbow

Beberapa waktu lalu saya membaca sebuah majalah. Di sana disebutkan bahwa ada dua band yang memiliki nama berbeda tapi arti nama kedua band tersebut adalah sama. Sayangnya, majalah tersebut sepertinya melupakan satu buah band lagi yang arti nama band-nya juga sama, yaitu pelangi. Ya, band-band yang dimaksudkan adalah L'arc en Ciel, Nidji, dan yang terlupakan adalah Rainbow.

Untuk L'arc en Ciel (Laruku) dan Nidji tidak akan saya ulas di sini, kelihatannya kedua band ini terlalu banyak dibahas di mana-mana. Namanya aja lagi naik daun., coba kalu lagi naik batang atau ranting. Saya hanya sedikit membahas tentang band yang terlupakan, yaitu band rock asal Inggris, Rainbow.

Rainbow didirikan oleh mantan gitaris Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore. Nama asli band ini adalah Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, namun beberapa waktu kemudian , setahu saya mulai album kedua, nama band ini dipotong menjadi Rainbow saja. Formasi awalnya ada Ritchie Blackmore (gitar), Ronnie James Dio (vokal), Micky Lee Soul (kibor), Craig Guber (bass), dan Gary Driscoll (drums). Tahun-tahun selanjutnya, Rainbow berulangkali melakukan bongkar pasang personil. Beberapa nama yang sempat bergabung di Raimbow selanjutnya ada mendiang Cozy Powell (drums), Bob Daisley (bass), Graham Bonnet (vokal), Don Airey (kibor), David Rosenthal (kibor), Roger Glover (bass), dan Joe Lynn Turner (vokal). Uniknya, nama-nama Powell, Rosenthal, Daisley, dan Turner kelak sempat terlibat dalam pembuatan album milik gitaris asal Swedia, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, meski memang tidak pada saat bersamaan (kecuali Turner dan Daisley). Bahkan Bonnet sendiri pernah bekerja sama dengan Malmsteen ketika mereka bergabung dalam Alcatrazz (yang memang didirikan oleh Bonnet).

Tahun 1984, Ritchie Blackmore membubarkan Rainbow setelah para personil Deep Purple Mk. II memutuskan bekerja sama lagi dan merilis album baru. Beberapa tahun kemudian, Blackmore terlibat perselisihan dengan vokalis Deep Purple, Ian Gillan yang membuat Gillan keluar. Posisi Gillan akhirnya diisi oleh Turner yang ketika itu sudah keluar dari band Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. Sayang, album mereka bersama Turner, Slaves and Masters, mendapat kritik dari penggemar karena dianggap terlalu bernuansa Rainbow. Turner pun dipaksa meninggalkan Deep Purple, dan Gillan kembali. Namun, perselisihan Blackmore dan Gillan tampaknya belum reda. Kali ini giliran Blackmore yang memutuskan hengkang dari band yang ikut dia dirikan tersebut.

Blackmore kemudian mendirikan kembali Rainbow yang kali ini kembali ke nama aslinya, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, bersama dengan personil baru, termasuk vokalis Doogie White. Sayang, usia Rainbow kali ini lebih singkat, hanya sekitar 3 tahun, dari 1994 – 1997. Blackmore kemudian memulai band baru bernama Blackmore's Night bersama penyanyi latar Ritchie Blakmore's Rainbow, Candice Night. Beberapa tahun kemudian, vokalis Doogie White juga bergabung dengan gitaris Yngwie J. Malmsteen menggantikan vokalis sebelumnya Jorn Lande. White mengisi vokal di album Attack!! (bukan merk detergen lho) dan Unleash The Fury.

Ya, itu sekilas cerita tentang sebuah band yang pernah begitu berjaya dengan lagu-lagu macam Temple of The King, Since You Been Gone, Gates of Babylon, dan Street of Dreams. Hubungan unik antara para mantan personil Rainbow dengan Yngwie J. Malmsteen akan saya bahas lain kali.

Let There Be Drum Part 2: The Interface

Just like what I have promised you before, I will continue explaining the Hydrogen Interface, Now I'm gonna talk about the pattern editor, drumkits manager, song editor etc.

1.Pattern editor

Fig 1 Pattern Editor

This pattern editor is the “key” of all. This is the window where we must create the pattern. Just click on the part you want to play the sound. Kicks, snares, toms, crash/cymbals, hi-hats, cowbell and many more, depend on the drumkits we use. We can create as many patterns as we can. To work with other pattern, click on the Pattern Name panels above (use the '+' and '-' button)..The lines at the bottom side shows how hard we hit the part.

2.Drumkits Manager
With the drumkits manager, we can select which drumkits we want to use. By default, there's only two drumkits available, GMkit and Roland-808 drumkits, but we can simply import other drumkits.

Fig 2 Drumkits Manager

How to import drumkits?
Click the Import button

Fig 3 Importing Drumkits

Click Browse button, and select it from the directory containing the drumkits. Choose the drumkits we want to import. And then click the Import button.

Fig 4 Browsing the directories containing the drumkits

The drumkits must be in *.h2drumkit format. We can download the drumkits from Hydrogen official website, but it is usually in a compressed format (*.tar.gz, *.tar.bz2, or *.zip), so we've had to extract it before importing it.

3.The Mixer
We can adjust the volume and also the balance of each drumkits part separately with this mixer. Just click the volume control and move it with your mouse.

Fig 5 The Mixer

4.Song editor
After creating all the patterns needed, we'll have to combine all patterns in order to compose the full song. This is what this part used for. Remember, you may play more than one pattern at a time.

Fig 6 Song Editor

After completing it, we are now able to play the pattern. Use the Play button on the bottom panel.

I think it's enough for now. In the next tutorial, I will show you how to save the patterns and export them into other formats

Interupsi

Mohpn maaf, tutorial tentang Hydrogen saya hentikan sementara, karena saya sedang mencari cara agar dapat melakukan posting dengan bantuan editor HTML agar lebih mudah dalam menyusun gambar.

Let There Be Drums Part 1: Introduction

When I was only a kid, I had a little obsession of becoming a drummer. The problem is of course, I believed that my father would not let me. But I still love to hear the sound of the drums. Sometimes I imagined that I was the drummer of my favorite songs (by playing an imaginary drum). I always dislike a song with a bad drums sound (this is one of the reasons I dislike most of the Indonesian songs, the sound of the drums is so.....horrible).

Instead of never having chances to learn how to play drums, I always pay attention to the drummer of a band in every TV show. That is how I began to know how to play it. The normal drummer (not the left-handed drummer) always hit the snare with their left hand, while the right hand was hitting the hi-hat or cymbals. Not to forget that the drummers also used their feet to play kick part (the bass part). I still wanted to play drums somehow.

It wasn't until 2006, when I finally used SuSE Linux 10.0 as my computer operating system (I'd been introduced to Linux operating system the year before). I found a very interesting software named Hydrogen (a drum machine software) there. A software that can produce the sound of drums.? I said, wow!!

Then I started learning how to create a drum pattern by learning the demo included. Little by little, I tried to re-interpret the drum patterns used in my favorite songs, and of course created a new pattern myself. Now, let me introduce you to Hydrogen, An Advanced Drum Machine.

How To Get Hydrogen?

How can we get Hydrogen? It's easy, just get it from the atmosphere! :-P .(Sorry, I'm just joking about it). Some Linux distributions have included Hydrogen in their software repositories. If you used the SuSE Linux/ openSUSE distributions, Hydrogen has usually been included in the installations CD/DVD. Or if you chose Ubuntu distribution instead, you'll need to install it from the software repositories (both the net or the DVD repositories). Use apt or synaptics packages manager to install it in Ubuntu (or at least in the Ubuntu-based distributions). Or you may download the Hydrogen installation file from this address (there is also the Windows version). But I suggest, if you don't wanna get mad, don't ever install Hydrogen from its source-code.

Starting Hydrogen

This tutorials uses Linux Mint 4.0 XFCE Edition (an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution), but you can apply it in other Linux distros. To start Hydrogen, from the start menu, choose the Multimedia section, and then choose Hydrogen. The Hydrogen splash screen will then appear

Fig 1. Starting Hydrogen from the menu (sorry for the picture of Curious George behind it, I'm one of George's fan)

Fig 2 Hydrogen splash screen

Fig 3 The Main Window of Hydrogen

Hydrogen Interface

The Hydrogen interface consists of many parts, the panels, pattern editor, drumkits manager, song editor, mixer, and also instrument editor, but you can freely select which part to appear (except for the panels).

1. The Panels

There are two panels in Hydrogen, the top panel and the bottom one.

Fig 4 Top Panel

At the top panel, we'll be able to do all the things we can do with the menu. Saving patterns, exporting into other formats, choosing other windows to appear and so on.

Fig 5 Bottom Panel

At the bottom panel, we'll be able to play/stop/pause the pattern, set the tempo, set the mode of how we play the pattern (we can choose between the pattern and song). A song usually consists of more than one pattern that we combine.

In the next tutorial, I will explain the function of other parts and of course I will also show you how to create drum patterns and combine them into a full song. See you next time!

English...English...English

As an Indonesian, I realize completely that English is a foreign language. But why do I often write something in English here? Am I not proud of being an Indonesian? Or just to show to others that I have a really well English ability? No. I'm still learning. It's because one of my lecturer, who advised me to improve my English. He's been studying abroad (in Malaysia for the Doctoral Degree) for more than one year now.

When I met him last year, it was when returned to Indonesia for celebrating Idul Fitri (and I had promised to send him my Final Task report), he said to me that most Indonesian students had abilities which could compete with the students from other countries. The problem was, most of the Indonesian had a lack of English ability. That made them hard enough to compete with the students from China, India, and even Iran (who had better English ability). So he told me to improve my English (and also to take care of my health, knowing I ever suffered Bell's Palsy about two years ago) That's the main reason now I often write something in English

Talking about English, I never had an English course formally (means I had no certificates of English course at all). I learn it by myself. I learn it by reading articles, magazines, books (I even bought some English novels just like The Three Musketeers, Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Man In The Iron Mask, and I also have an English version of Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix - sorry I'm a die-hard fan of Harry Potter) and of course listening to the musics. Ever since I was in the elementary school, my father have always asked me to listen to English song (and I didn't mind at all cause I loved it). He also asked the same things to my older brother and sister (currently my father also asked my youngest stepsister). He always believes, English will make his children better than him (because my father is never able to speak English himself, he was formerly a Math teacher). English would then become my favorite subjects in High Schools.

Well, talking about writing in English, I always write words/poets (I often call them lyrics cause I often write in a songwriting style) in English. I never even wrote (and maybe I will never write) it in Indonesian. I began to learn how to write it when I was in Senior High Schools - but none of them was ever finished :-) - just to write something for a girl I had a crush on. Cause I couldn't stand seeing her. It always made me nervous whenever she was near, and I always tried to stay away from her (I believe I wasn't the only one ever having a feeling like this). And then I thought, the words I wrote would say what I wanted to.

When I entered the college, many more inspirations came. The words I wrote then talked about anything, about my crush, about my sister, friendships, and about my mother (I always love to write something about my late mother, cause I really love and I always miss her so much).. Remember, I always wrote the words in such a rhyme, cause that was what I ever learned from the songs I listened to. But most of the archives (including the one I wrote for my mother) are now missing. I don't remember where I've kept them (I haven't had any computers yet at the time so I wasn't able to type them and just wrote them in papers).

Only a few of them I can find which now I upload them and all the new materials in my other blog. You know why? I have to make a confession now. I think I've began to have another crush on a girl. I realize I've fallen in love with her ever since the first day I met her, the day we talked each other. But I have always lied to myself instead, that I've got no feelings for her at all. And that really makes me hurt cause truly, something 'bout her always makes me wanna get closer to her and even keep an eye on her (my ex-girlfriend sometimes had a suspicious mind about it and it made us often had a fight). Lately, the feeling is getting stronger and stronger. But I think the problem is finally solved now. I've been trying to be more honest to myself.

Back to English topics, even though there'd been a plan of posting something in Javanese, in a few minutes I'm gonna post a software tutorial. And this time it's gonna be different cause I wrote in English completely. But there's something forgotten, since a few weeks ago, if I had to write in English, I decided to write in US English only.