Jim Martin

Learn and Master Guitar with Steve Krenz

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:29:00 GMT

Last week I decided to pick up a new electric guitar. I've played piano since I was younger, but I've alway had an itch to play the guitar. I decided it's never ever to late to learn something, so I decided it was time to get equiped with...(read more)

Play Free Bird!

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:37:00 GMT

No matter where you go to listen to music there is always at least one person in the crowd that yells "Play Free Bird"! Here is my contribution. [VIDEO]...(read more)

Piano Recital

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:14:00 GMT

Today I participated in my second piano recital. My first recital was last year and it was shortly after I started taking lessons. This recital marks a little over a year since I started taking lessons with my current piano teacher. I will say this, I...(read more)

Silverlight Video Upload Application

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:14:01 GMT

After doing a lot of digging around on the Internet about Microsoft's free silverlight hosting service I realized that it was quite complicated to use if you just wanted to host a video. It took me a long time to figure out that in fact it does support...(read more)

Graffiti Silverlight Video Plug-In

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:08:00 GMT

I decided to create a plug-in for graffiti to allow for silverlight videos within graffiti posts. This plug-in supports Microsoft's free streaming service as well as just placing the .wmv on your own server. It is one graffiti.silverlight.video.dll...(read more)

ipMIDI Sending MIDI over LAN

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:50:00 GMT

MIDI was first proposed in 1981 out of the need to standardize a form of communication between electronic instruments. 1983 saw the publishing of the MIDI specification 1.0. Today MIDI plays an important role in all musical applications and is used every...(read more)

Now With Photos

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:52:00 GMT

Click here to view some pictures of my play room aka home studio. I finally got around to setting up some photo galleries in flickr so I decided to add them to my blog. I'm using the silverlight graffiti plug-in that Kevin talks about in his post...(read more)

VIDEO: Let It Be

PlayingKeys.com: blog — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:28:00 GMT

This is another quick little sample video using EastWest Quantum Leap Pianos . In this video I'm playing "Let It Be" on my Yamaha S90ES triggering the samples of the Bechstein in Quantum Leap Pianos . Stream Video...(read more)

VIDEO: Playing EWQL Piano

The Musician Blog (Jim Martin) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:50:00 GMT

Well the much anticipated piano sample library of 2008 EastWest Quantum Leap Pianos shipped last week. This library is absolutely amazing! This sample library consists of 35 DVDs of samples from 4 different high dollar pianos. You can read more about...(read more)

Connecting Multiple Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs)

Jim's Musical Blog — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:39:41 GMT

The term DAW , or Digital Audio Workstation , is just a fancy name for a computer that is optimized in both software and hardware to be used in the production of music/audio. There really isn't that big of a difference between a DAW and the standard...(read more)

Help a fallen soldier

Jim's Musical Blog — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:15:00 GMT

I recieved an email from my Sister-in-law this morning about the son of a friend of hers and I wanted to post it here in hopes of reaching others that might be able to help. Here is the email: Hi Everyone, I wanted to reach out to you regarding my realtor...(read more)

VIDEO: Linus & Lucy

Jim's Musical Blog — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:45:00 GMT

Here is a little video clip of me playing the holiday classic Linus & Lucy. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and don't forget to give thanks to our troops! Stream Video View Video Format: wmv Duration: 1:21...(read more)

Zune Tag in Community Server

Jim's Musical Blog — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:33:00 GMT

Now with live Zune stats in the side bar. I also updated my facebook to include my zune tag. Pretty cool little addition to the new zune....(read more)

Zune 2.0

Jim's Musical Blog — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:33:00 GMT

The new zune launches tomorrow and I'm excited. I've had the first generation zune since it launched a year ago and I've been extremely happy with it. 1st gen zunes will get the new 2nd gen firmware with the launch tomorrow and if you buy...(read more)

Congrats

Jim's Musical Blog — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:17:00 GMT

Dad, congratulations on your new venture . I'm very excited for you and I know you will do great! Even though you didn't tell me until yesterday I forgive you :) I know you're going to miss Cisco, but sometimes stepping out of the comfort...(read more)