Exciting new things to do with Logic Pro for iPadOS 17. (scratch, updating)

Following up on my first article for the Logic Pro for iPad Users group, on Facebook, here, in this article, I’ll detail some notions I’ve come across, through years of maintaining interest in topics ranging from the obvious - music creation and audio recording, for example, to more recent developments and prospects for the future of our digital and mobile lives - topics such as IoT and edge technology, in incorporating musical creativity in new and largely unexplored reaches in to people’s lives. In doing so, we’ll examine some of the existing hardware devices and software platforms that exist, currently in the summer of 2023, and I’ll offer my best estimations, or experiences, in working with, or, for studying, these extended-use case scenarios, which offer the creative minds of music-making, on Logic Pro, exciting and stimulating new horizons to explore, all within hands’ reach, on our iPadOS devices.

First of all, I’m composing this article, as Apple’s annual WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) 2023 is taking place (June 5th-9th). Yesterday, at the outset of the conference, we got some exciting peeks at brand-new hardware technology (VisionOS and updates to existing laptop and desktop hardware), which I won’t get in to, at the time being; here, for our purposes, I’ll detail some of the highlights, features-wise, which make the new iPadOS 17 a rich environment to perform some distinct and unique purpose-fulfillments in the development workflow, and how these tablet-specialties, as I’ll call them, figure in to creativity and professionalism for us, as musicians, and for iPadOS - our chosen platform for concentrating on certain aspects of development. 

Keep in mind - 

This article will cover a lot of ground, for newcomers to the audio and MIDI world hosted on Apple’s mobile iOS and iPadOS platforms - both largely similar and comparable to one another, yet, given some extended use-case scenarios, for either one - some things become distinctly advantageous, when considering Apple’s tablet designs, for the sake of becoming reinvested in digital audio workstations (i.e.Logic Pro, for iPadOS). 

Aside from the obvious advantages of having a truly responsive multitouch display as the workspace, as well as the user interaction workflow environment, there are several advantages to starting off with a new, and updating app installation iPadOS audio environment, where the general third-party plugin and instrument apps are known as AUv3 (Audio Unit version 3) and IAA (Inter-App Audio) - these are the largest standards established, as far as iOS / iPadOS audio is concerned; although, given the boutique-ish (somewhat) form of app development, given years of having established a reputation and user base, amongst App Store audio buffs, as far as generalized audio files needs, per se - a few of these small-purposed apps bear the weight of acts taken for granted, in coming from a desktop pro audio workflow environment. Here they are (there’s only a few, or several, heh heh 🤯😳): 

AudioCopy

In fashioning an abstraction of a complete newcomer’s (to iPadOS pro audio, that is), standpoint, imaginably, people would approach the performance and session considerations, depending on the types of background and skill sets that the user has. Something that isn’t immediately considered, perhaps, is translating audio files over, from audio that’s already been recorded - this is, for example, well understood, as master tracks, taken from session recording microphones - one track, each, to every microphone. So, there would be a kick drum track, perhaps some more drum tracks, a vocal track, guitar and bass amp tracks, etc. So, if you’re able to get these tracks, per se, in to your iCloud account, and or download them in to the Files app, using your on-device (iPad built-in hard drive space) storage, there are still a huge amount of apps, completely aside from Logic Pro, or Files, or… anything else available, off hand, which a person could use to take these raw audio files (specifically audio, we’re dealing with, here - standard formats, such as .wav and .mp3 files) - in short, there’s no other app, amongst everything else out there, that will allow a user to copy an audio file, from one portion of on-device or iCloud storage, in to some of these other apps, for portability, duplication, workflow progression, within some other plugin or filter app, for example. You’ll need AudioCopy for this purpose.

AudioShare

This is the other, companion, and, otherwise, indispensable app, which allows you to fulfill the obvious “receiving” end of the audio file management process - the thing being, is that other apps, as well as the iPadOS built-in app environment, as far as the Files app goes - since everything, essentially, is done within an app, here, in iPadOS. If there is no app for it, then it might just be that the user “just clicked” on something, or perhaps the user is just swiping around, exploring. There’s no extended file management capability, or specialization, for working with audio files, except for these standard and necessary apps, such as AudioShare. This app allows users to share audio files both locally - on-device, and within the iPadOS Files environment, which includes access to cloud storage (iCloud, Google Drive, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc.), on-device storage, plugged-in storage, etc. AudioShare is the app that will let you complete the copy-and-paste functionality, so to speak, as well as that it is also built in, somewhat as a standard, for higher-level functionality considerations within many audio plugins, filters, and instruments, as far as your file “push” and “pull” drop-down pop-up menus would be concerned - comparable to “Save As” on desktop environments. In this case, in iPadOS, the user would encounter a pop-up window, with various options, as far as where to save the file to, yet, if it were an audio file, the user would be significantly limited, as far as choices, as to destination apps, if the user didn’t have this app. There’s no way around it.

That being the case, that’s it, as far as stuff like that goes.

Now, we can explore common-use case scenario plugins, instruments, and apps.

Brusfri - noise-cancelling of an audio signal (microphone input, for example)

One of the most common pro audio use case scenarios is handling the signal-to-noise ratio of every recorded audio track. If you’re hot on microphones for your iPadOS device to connect to, you can jump to that section here (Title Link). There are somewhat limited, cheap-y, to moderately professional-grade quality mic’ing solutions available, depending on which model iPad device you’re working with, what connectivity, therefore, it uses - although, these days, … hmm… 🤔 actually- make sure to not try this out, for yourself - don’t go on a mean search and research binge dive, out in to the internet, to figure out as much, on your own - I’ll update folks when things change, but I really ought to make this clear - there’s not much of a really suitable Bluetooth microphone device hookup capability for iPadOS audio monitoring and recording - meaning, specifically, you cannot “be” the recording artist, “and” hear yourself, at the same time, with Bluetooth, specifically. Sure, there’s a lot of cool little bitsy hardware earbuds, and stuff, that are available, but keep in mind - Logic Pro for iPadOS was just released yesterday, and better solutions will arrive, over time, but a different authority manages the standards, development, and production of those hardware and communication / connectivity things. If you’re trying to get in to manufacturing hardware - let’s face it: some folks just can’t help but check out the scene, when it comes to that sort of thing 🤯😬🤷. I used to do that sort of thing, also.

Brusfri, the app, would easily cancel out so many considerations that a user would have, aside from obtaining any wired microphone that the user could get to rationally connect to their iPad, for their pro audio workspace environment to really have its basic, essential functionality - iPad and microphone, that is, connected by a wire. It’s not so old or useless an idea this point, to be sure. 

What Brusfri does, essentially, is exactly what, for example, a good Mastering / Channel Strip Compressor/Limiter would do, with a fairly simple layout, and premise - here, the basis is: run the audio input feed, or audio track, that’s already been recorded, and click the “ear” thing. It’ll cancel out an appreciable amount of background noise. In semi-pro audio, on mobile, at this point, obtaining a “modest” and “noisy” (crappy, even, or not “ideal”) recording is fairly standard. Brusfri largely makes that circumstance largely seem to fade away, and the audio input feed, or audio recording, will instantly sound much cleaner and much more usable. This is one of the indispensable, reliably developed and produced, audio plugin AUv3 apps out there, to include in your audio workflow signal chain.

Updating…

June 21, 2023 - some inspiration to throw together some kits (or, you could wait for me to do it, and upload some patches) - a 1.99 GB library of Future Bass Samples, MIDI templates, and more, featuring great sounds to use as starting points in your signal chain, to create Chill Trap and Future Bass tracks. It’ll be our latest group project.

Here’s the Google Drive link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11ZDFTC544O1q9ybk2PUrnUfJdVPWHaAq/view?usp=drivesdk

Getting started with Logic Pro for iPadOS - a hands-on starter’s guide, for beginners. (Updating)

Discovering that Logic Pro for iPadOS (was|is) [going to be] available was big news, amongst a generation of music enthusiasts and audio professionals. 

Conceivably, for those amongst this demographic, work had become stale, given that our musical imaginations had disappointed us, for the sake of the number of physical steps that digital music creation would require of us, during the creative process, itself. Thinking back, and comparatively, perhaps some of the cutting-edge and elite music producers and studios had, for a long time, now, employed touchscreen formats, which allowed for similar types of control over the workflow and user interface formats, along with software and hardware plugins, instruments, and effects, perhaps - all suited to accommodate music creation and capture, and, also, unique, to some degree, perhaps. 

 For me, I happen to recall that I intently set aside the creation of music tracks and songs, at some point, back when I was trying to juggle so many acts, in between work, walking the dog, home life, and various other attempts at juggling lifestyle concerns. 

Nowadays, 

the late model iPad Pros make things easy, and so many pursuits in life, that had been accommodated by ostensibly larger, clunkier, hardware, are much more well-suited and accommodated by this handheld device, control surface, and screen, all in one. 

For one thing, the sheer speed and power of the late model iPad Pros (I have the 2022 11-inch version) are a challenge to beat, in terms of some senses, of “doing things,” so to speak - in particular, music-wise, in graphic design, in an illustrative sense, and for the sense of user experience and interactivity. The possibilities are, by far, much more on the creative enthusiast’s side, with the iPadOS format; for example, I am a classical pianist, since age 5, which is the recommended age at which a child is recommended to begin piano lessons, in general. I ended up attending university and grad school for music and for music composition, as my concentrations, and majors. 

That being said, 

perhaps that sense of belonging, and, of… 🤔 perhaps, longing, as well - for a familiar platform, in music creation, which accommodates the user at the point at which familiarity brings relief, rather than discontent, for the fact of that it feels like little has changed, in some regards, from the desktop / laptop macOS (and prior) versions of Logic Pro - I’d been a Logic user since version 5, I believe, somewhere back, around 2002-2003, or so - that’s how far this particular platform dates back, historically, for me: it was my preferred platform for creating music, for as long as I’d worked with digital music, on a computer.

Landscape view of the workspace layout, in a new project session I had tinkered around in, in the new Logic Pro for iPadOS app. Here, I had learned where the patches, control panels, session features, such as creating new tracks, instrument patch selection, mixer, and various options, for instruments, for example, are located. 

Now, granted,

I’d long ago ditched such things as jailbreaking my device(s), and I’d set out on the comparatively much brighter outlook of purchasing my software from the App Store. To be sure, it’s a golden age, somewhat, of affordable software, on a top-tier platform, and format - it’s been this way, for a very long time, and for performance, over newness and novelty considerations, it’s truly an illustrious time to be an avid App Store browser and searcher, with the degree, versatility, depth, and features of the third party apps - instruments (inter-app audio) and plugins (Audio Units) that have already been developed, going on, for a good run and a show of things - all of these things, considered, for over a handful of years, and then some (I got on to the latest-model iPhone and iPad Pro formats beginning around 2017, or so. That being said, I’d personally accumulated a fair number of handy and nifty plugins, instruments, and apps - for that matter, apps of all sorts.

Getting fairly personal, here - a peek at my first-page Home Screen, on my current 11-inch 2022 iPad Pro. Here, I had tried to include as broad-reaching, yet contextually succinct, in most cases - the nested folders, which describe the apps I placed in to them. In some cases, the context is largely generalized. For example, I included Logic Pro in my “Apple” nested folder.

All of this being the case,

a newcomer / enthusiast, to the iPadOS format might be wondering where, and or how, they could fit themselves in to this vast ecosystem of new opportunities and grand possibilities in music and audio, with Logic Pro, now being offered, for iPad. I’ll be quick, since other sites cover this sort of specification requirements - essentially, at this point, a Logic Pro user would have to be on a late 2020, or later (release) standard iPad, such as the 8th generation standard iPad, which came out, in late 2020, the iPad Air 3, iPad Mini 5, or any more-recent device. The prospects are not so dim - devices dating back to this time, in development and production, hardware-wise, given iPads - this is an iPad thing, to be certain, and I feel that some users might begin obsessing and searching, madly, for some sort of “other” platform hack, or crack, or otherwise, some sort of solution, which would allow for Logic Pro to work on an iPhone, or something - it won’t work out; that’s my advice (at least not to a person’s overall satisfaction with such an arrangement, if it does become possible to do so). 

So, people will need a late 2020 or later model iPad, of (any|some) sort.

What to do? - if a person doesn’t already own an iPad?

A conundrum, and a frustrating situation, of all things, but, trust me, it’s worth it to switch to iPad, if you’re a music and audio enthusiast. First of all, the display (screen) real estate is at it’s best, with the iPad, and it’s Retina display features, at this stage of starting out with iPads, as a standard feature. All things considered, it’s about (or, at least) as much display and screen space as people had become accustomed to, with iPhones, or other mobile devices, and I consider it a must, for doing work in digital formats, for any kind of digital multimedia arts enthusiast. Trust me, it’s a bargain, in many ways. For one thing, people can employ Google Voice, to field their phone calls, on mobile, and be done with paying for cellular service, and, instead, switch to an unlimited data Tablet Plan, such as AT&T offers, for only $20 a month. 

Hmm… the information detailed in that link suggests that this plan is only for business users, but it’s the plan that I’m on. I’m wondering what the particulars are, on this topic. Perhaps you’ll have to fashion your own business premise, out of this iPad procurement issue - not beyond reach, for the otherwise standard user, who’s aspiring to create music. AT&T has some obscure, behind-the-scenes marketing distribution efforts, I’d estimate, directing customers to one or another offer, to suit, and these types of distinctions and exclusivity could be somewhat incremental, and progressive, in a sense - you might have to come back to the AT&T website, over several days, perhaps, and contingent on that you’d worked out your budget for a device and for this plan, yet I find it the most suitable accommodation in Apple iPad financing and data plans - this AT&T package. For one thing, it greatly reduces the cost of monthly payment commitments, making owning an iPad vastly within reach - for example, I’m mostly outfitted with a welfare-benefits budget, yet I still qualified for this program; that being said, I do run this blog, and associated activities, as a business, for example. I imagine that my readers might encounter different offers, from AT&T, yet, as I’d said, previously, try back at it (AT&T’s website, or app), over the course of several days, perhaps, and see if you get a progressively better deal, once you’ve worked out your finances and budget, for allowing for this sort of thing, with leasing-to-own an iPad, if you can’t purchase one outright.

The next thing to consider is storage.

Here, you could potentially have several choices, depending on where and how you buy in, to the iPad format. Perhaps you already own an iOS device, with some storage used up. On one hand, you’d be fairly hard-put to allow for a fully-featured, free-roaming Logic Pro installation, which, in and of itself, at this point, of the outset of its release, on iPadOS, amounts to about 16 GB of space, if you install all of the content, included in Logic Pro. Recent macOS users of the Logic Pro app would find many of these offerings in the iPadOS version to be very familiar. I chose to download everything, since I have 512 GB storage on my iPad Pro, with plenty of space, at this point. 

The Logic Pro Sound Library dashboard, on iPadOS.

Some of the add-on Sound Packs included, standard, with iPadOS.

A page describing one of the sound packs and instruments included with Logic Pro.

As I’d said, the total installation size, for the complete offerings included with Logic Pro, as well as the app, itself, amounts to about 16 GB. That being the case, if your device only has 64 GB storage, you could, conceivably, already not have enough space, considering other apps, music, photo, document, video, and system data storage content that.s already been filled. On one hand, I wouldn’t much recommend trying to fit Logic Pro in to your iPadOS system, to the exclusion of other stuff you have going on, in your digital iDevice life, since it’s probably also necessary, and it feels good to have options available, as well as an appropriately situated outlook for storage expansion, given legacies of apps, content, and storage committed to our iCloud+ backups, which you’ll also have to figure in monthly fees, to store your backup iPadOS system images, as well as store content, which will be accessible on your iCloud+ subscription plan, which is a good, well-integrated, cloud storage system, in my opinion. 

So, for example, if your current installation is nearing, at, or over - 100 GB, then you’ll definitely be much more comfortable with a 256 GB device, over 64 GB options, that might typically be available. You can find deals on iPads, locally, at any time, on craigslist - one of my old favorites, and a long-time tech-buyers’ and sellers’ haven, for Apple device transactions to go down, locally, and, most commonly, without a hitch. Be sure that the seller is willing to let you demo the device, as far as setting things up, if you go this route. The other well-established platform for local deals would be Facebook Marketplace, which, locally, is very comparable, and, perhaps, even more well-populated, with deals on Apple devices, for local, in-person transactions. Here, you will have various options, and, at times, more options, perhaps, as far as payment, with regards to completing your side of the transaction. I’ve not yet had a poor experience using Facebook Marketplace. There’s also eBay, which is another well-trusted platform for e-commerce transactions to take place; here, with buyer and seller standards, of ratings, and reviews, at the forefront. Amazon is also a suitable marketplace for online transactions, in searching for a new iPadOS device. 

Some things to consider are that, ideally - in my opinion, you’d want to go with a “carrier unlocked” device, which means that it’s been paid for, in full, most likely, by the seller, or, by another previous user, and you can check out any carrier’s plans, as far as getting your device hooked up with data service - iPads can, and do, have their own “phone numbers” provisioned to them, but you can’t make “phone” calls from iPadOS devices, although you can use the phone number for Apple device messaging and FaceTime only - you can’t make calls from your iPad, per se, although you can use Google Voice, for free calling, and it works just as well as a real cellular phone number, in many cases. Only occasionally, a person would run in to a problem with verifying their accounts, from various websites, for example, for needing to use a Google Voice number - it isn’t allowed, in some cases, or, you’d have to contact customer service to notify them of the difficulties in using a VoIP number, such as a Google Voice number.

You’d definitely have to avoid an “iCloud locked” device, since those devices are ones that the current owner of the iPad cannot unlock, themselves, which is questionable. It’s practically junk, in other words. At the time of the transaction, make sure to meet in a comfortable, public or private setting, where it would be reasonable to “go over” your personalization and booting up of your new iPad device, if you’re buying from a local buyer. Make sure that your purchasing platform, or payment medium, has buyer protection, in case something strange happens. 

That being said, remember to try to go with a reasonable amount of storage. If your iOS device backup is already at 100+ GB, or so, you could reasonably, in short order, max out 256 GB, but maxing out 512 GB would be far more off, in the future, perhaps years from this point. Keep in mind some general rules of solid state storage, such as that performance starts to decrease, when the storage drive becomes filled at over 50%. Beyond that, there is about a 10% decrease in performance, with every increase of 10% beyond 50% of storage space filled. Remember, an iPad is a versatile device, and you’d probably explore many different interests, in the App Store - some of which will require a fair amount of storage, themselves, for the app, and for content you create. Set aside a vast amount of data storage for yourself, and don’t worry about it, all that much, for the time being. Just stay intent on expanding, over years, with newer devices. By that time, storage performance and read/write access times will greatly increase, over newer generations of device busses, RAM, VRAM, and storage.

Updating…

Catching up with neat-o fancy apps of web | app UI design, with universal or hybrid platform code bas

For first-time web | app (website-derived apps, or even in-page call stack coding “miniatures,” if you will) - somebody (like, myself), who is a “basically” amateur open-book sort of web app developer | aspirational type of approach to coding (except for Linux stuff, which has only limited-scope usefulness and portability, in this consideration of a use case scenario):

• Many people, I imagine, simply draw a blank, as to what to do, in a case like this, since it was all just some imaginable “great” internet-borne experience.
• Consequently, the urge to come up with something ingenious and worthwhile (worth talking about, perhaps) comes to mind.
• The mind comes to consider that somebody else had already come up with this great idea.
• A search on the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store commences / newbies might, alternately, opt to try to break in to / subvert their devices security measures, and pursue some sort of disassembly of their device and or it’s operating system, for the sake of coming upon something “better.”

• Ugh.

• Personally, I stopped doing the self-hacking of the device and the disassembly thing, several years ago, since I was always at odds with coming up with something innovative, or productive. 

   To be certain, 

  most decent development ideas have already been derived and established, of an organic nature, independently - just as an offhand fleeting assertion; the notion could extend to as much as that we are always, it may seem, and from here on out - aside from the expectation of that novelty, as a general premise in development, and in discovery; perhaps, innovation, per se, we now have some recent seminal works on the limitations of novelty, given some development task. For example, in the recent years, leading up to this point in time, we have some of the formative rhetoric and ideological and logistical backdrop established, as to what can be attained and wrought, from out of an intersection between novelty and the influence of creative works, from the study:

  Park, D., Nam, J. & Park, J. Novelty and influence of creative works, and quantifying patterns of advances based on probabilistic references networks. EPJ Data Sci. 9, 2 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0214-8

  “Also, there are implications for the psychological study of novelty as well. It has been known in optimal theory of novelty that the positive acceptance (also called the “hedonic value”) of novelty follows the so-called Wundt curve that increases initially but decreases after a peak, indicating that too much novelty can be off-putting to humans…”

  which includes references to information derived from yet other works:

  Berlyne, D. E. (1969). Arousal, reward and learning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 159(3), 1059-1070.

  and  Berlyne, D. E. (1970). Novelty, complexity, and hedonic value. Perception & psychophysics, 8(5), 279-286.

  Both, simply for a quick flash of the context’s potential subject areas, which could, or ought to be considered, in this case. 

  Essentially, the topic, in and of itself, supposes that novel ideas are limited, in their usefulness and in their longevity, yet, as we may observe, from the initially-cited article, 

The neat-o iPigeon.institute homemade instrument of the day (updating).

As an aspiring mobile device-driven music box designer, from various standpoints of development: nature’s form of the instrument (whistles, clicks, pops, bird sounds, and resonant bodies of materials, such as metal, wood, etc.), digital design of the emulated instrument (physical modeling, synthesized sounds, audio recordings, key mappings, and transpositions), as well as the delivery of the app, in a usable form, of some standard such as MIDI, 

I have, on one hand, a lot of free space to work with, given that any individual component would reasonably simulate some sort of more complex mechanical form and instrument structure, for example, my first novelty device:

The Can Drum Bellows Clicks-Flourisher - runs on tar!

Long-time readers of mine know that I’m big in to tar. What a fortunate discovery, to have happened upon this hand-crafted (post-manufacture and consumer use of this recyclable product - an aluminum can) bellows device - a sequential flourish-clicker, if you will, with features of a miniature steel drum; on one hand, percussive, as the form of the instrument was crafted by my own musician’s take on suitable design, for a makeshift tobacco pipe, whereas - as a pipe, for that matter, the instrument is played with the breath. It goes well, with a popping sound, perhaps, as a flourish moment, in a musical idea, whereas the tar, from smoking the aluminum can pipe, with tobacco; then smeared (the tar) across the numerous holes in the can’s smoking bowl section, whereby the can, suitably designed, mind you, would blow out, with a bellows thrust and force design concept, in mind, with both flutish and percussive effects being achieved, in one simple blow. 

It’s a simple thing to construct, yet it takes a musician’s skill and finesse, along with some entrained tonal fine-motor muscle tuning, which goes in to the crushing of the can - perhaps even a newcomer could construct the panels of the body of the instrument well enough; it’s just that this is particularly a musical instrument consideration. The holes are poked through, slightly, with a safety pin, or needle, perhaps, and the blowing happens through the drinking mouthpiece, otherwise, visually, the “top” of the can. 

Try it for yourself! It’s really a cute instrument to pull off, to wow your friends, compatriots, and passersby, alike. Try it with a squeeze pop!

Hear the individual sounds of the instrument, freshly capped with tar, from tobacco!

How to: Easy homemade spice fragrance and flavor oleoresin collection with Wisesorb Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals.

 I’ve come across a novel concept, in extending the use case scenario, in my studies and observations regarding chaparral plants of California, in the case of implementing Wisesorb’s Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals - not only as a desiccant, yet I’ve found that it seems to bind spice | herb oleoresins to the structure of the silica particles.

Wisesorb Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals, image courtesy of Amazon and Wisesorbent Technologies.

What does this mean, in particular?

Within the world of spices, I imagine that I would update this blog article, in days and weeks to come (I started on this project idea at the end of February, 2023) with exciting developments in detailing a rather simple and relatively labor and machinery-free method of processing fresh plant material in to an accessible pure oleoresin, which can be observed as in the image below:

A closeup of Wisesorb Silica Gel crystals with some fresh spice herb material and bits of oleoresin.

What an exciting thing to observe, for a fragrance and flavor enthusiast, perhaps with the added feature of bearing an artisanal crafting aspiration, in manufacturing ingredient concentrates from scratch. Imaginably, from this point, I could keep loading the silica gel crystals up with fresh spice herb materials until a satisfactory amount of oleoresin had built up in the crystals, at which point, I could perform a simple solvent extraction, of my choosing, of such, dependent, perhaps, upon the plant’s best reputed solvent, determined per species of harvested plant. In this instance, I came across a fresh, minty, mesquite-smelling chaparral plant in my local commonplace whereabouts.

Update: my backpack with this project, started, in it, had been stolen from me, so I can not currently continue this blog article. Hopefully, some day, I’ll be able to come back to it.

Product Review - Maison Margiela “Replica:” Jazz Club - Eau de Toilette.

This time, I tried out an unexpected “newcomer” fragrance. 

I hadn’t heard of Maison Margiela, prior to showing up at Nordstrom, out at the Del Amo Fashion Center, where I’d intended to show up to purchase Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka - Cologne Intense (currently $160-$220 USD), as a departure from men’s fragrances I’d already tried, and loved, such as Dior Homme ($95-$175 USD - 1.7-6.7 oz.) or Viktor and Rolf Spicebomb ($134, 3.04 oz.). Prior to showing up, I’d tried to pore over exactly what I was trying to get at, here and there, in maintaining a fragranced personal profile, for people (not really) - the thought had come up, in my mind, as a suggestion, after all. Sure, Myrrh and Tonka smells great, but was it beyond something I could reasonably mix up, myself, somewhat, if I’d just purchased various component ingredients, myself? On one hand, Tonka bean is a bit of a contentious ingredient, being that it is potentially toxic. After the fact (of my purchase), I got some feedback on things. Supposedly, the toxins had been painstakingly researched and studied, as far as the end product fragrance composition, in question, and they’d duly been removed, from the consumer fragrance product - not all that far-fetched, to suppose. 

Then, at the men’s fragrance rack, at Nordstrom, the merchandising display winds up being a different story. I chose to do retail, at a department store, for one thing, for the sake of the fact that they have an on-site testing and auditioning space and capability, as far as product offerings, in fragrance - it’s something that e-commerce solutions, as far as branching out, in to something new, can - at times, be lacking in, resulting in purchases that lead to buyer’s remorse, perhaps, or a lack of diversification, which can wear down on things; concepts such as innovation. On the bottom of the fragrance rack, there were these products, named Replica, as a brand, which I had never heard of, before. I figured - “hmm… Replica? As though they might, somewhat, be fairly high-end aiming, (somewhat) bargain alternatives (at $150 USD, for 3.4 fl. oz.) to the more high-end and more well-established luxury lines, such as Jo Malone - in this case, I’d say that this brand is a bit of a newcomer, at Nordstrom, out here, whereas Creed products, far more expensive, which were placed at the top of the same section, on the same part of the fragrance rack, Jo Malone, right below, and some other brand, next one down, with Replica products seated at the bottom of the rack. My analytical mind had me supposing that perhaps these ones were a viable knock-off sort of thing, or otherwise cheaper alternative product, leading me astray from fulfilling my initial intention, in procuring a new fragrance for myself - so I don’t smell, while I’m out and about, in public, feeding the birds, and such. I do routinely become sweaty, and oh - what a travesty, if I end up smelling bad, as a known pigeon-feeding bum.

This is the product, similarly, as I’d encountered it, as a sample bottle, in-store, at Nordstrom. Maison Margiela’s Replica fragrance line touts itself as a rendition, if you would, upon a notable theme, or experience, per se. I found “Jazz Club” to be a suitable attention-grabbing alternative, given my initial intention to purchase Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka cologne, for a fair sum of money more, on this instance of purchasing a bottle of cologne.

As it turns out, the general field of relevance, contextually - in a sensory sort of consideration, given the two top competitors, here - Myrrh and Tonka versus Jazz Club, I found my choice to wind up being reasonably within a similar olfactory ballpark, with Myrrh and Tonka’s lavender top notes becoming a citrusy and floral theme, with primofiore lemon and neroli, in Jazz Club. In addition, I’d also recently - by turn of fate, been interested in Rum, as a fragrance ingredient - quite expensive, as it turns out, and I feel that it’s a sophisticated ode to myrrh, on one hand, with its complexity and breadth, in a fragrance composition. The unifying features, between either one of them, were the sweet base notes of either one - Tonka bean versus vanilla bean: similar, in an olfactory sense, yet, upon sampling both fragrances in the store, I found Myrrh and Tonka to have a bit, perhaps, too much richness, in the bottom notes, and I felt that I would, at some point, measuring out a use-case scenario, of me being out and about, and sweating, and stuff - of that I’d develop a viciously rich musk about myself - easily offensive, if I ever got lazy, and I’d wind up “not realizing,” so to speak, how I smell, to other people, whereas I found Jazz Club’s features to accommodate the same general aesthetic, while remaining a bit bright, I’d say, as far as the overall effect, of the fragrance, whereas I could layer it with some still-there citrus and woodsy fragrances I have, in small amounts - Eau d’orange verte, by Hermes, and Dior Homme. Together, the trio of the three fragrances is deliciously elegant, like a luxuriantly-enveloped citrus rind, upon close examination, with the middle and base notes becoming more evident, with diffusion, starting at a slight distance, perhaps, with a slighter sniff of the nose. In my fragrance-wearing oeuvre and repertoire, of purchases-past, I’d enjoyed having what I’d say, would amount to a similar citrus-led layering of colognes, such as that the Hermes botanicals line of products would be most suitable - for instance: Eau de Citron Noir had been a recent favorite, with Dior Homme and Spicebomb as my layering choices - quite complex, in that instance. 

After purchasing, I tried on some of my choice, in purchasing, and I found it to have a delightful olfactory sense of that the fragrance imparted a notion of having taken a shower - ostensibly due to an addition of C-12 (I’d sensed - both Lauric Alcohol, as well as Aldehyde C-12; fairly bitter), with Alcohol C-12 (Lauric Alcohol) being the characteristic “just-showered” scent, of all scents, I’d say, and C-12 Aldehyde being a bit controversial for me, since I’m allergic to drinking alcohol, and overall, I found that this fragrance easily affects me with a notable depressive and sedated effect. It was my choice, though, in trying this one out, and perhaps it’s not all that much, to my detriment, overall. I’m trying to do life as representatively (as much as possible) not overly, or obviously, stimulated - it’s simply too cheaply and easily a topic of controversy, and I strive to be an honest role model of sustainability in my enterprise model, so I don’t get thrown out of town - quite literally, that, which could wind up, being the case, for me. I figure - if I take the bottle out, with me, on a walk, and with my ionic mineral carry-along profile, and with my travels equating to some form of milling, further, of the product, the fragrance would, ostensibly, mill out the aldehyde, or I could throw some other stuff in there, since the bottle actually allows for the entire spray top, and “cap” of the bottle, to be removed - allowing for additions, or refills, for example, another ingredient, or entire fragrance, could be put in to this bottle of Jazz Club, thus transforming the presence of this contentious (for me, being allergic to “drinking” alcohol) Aldehyde C-12 ingredient in to something altogether unexpected, and far-removed, sensory-wise, in the fragrance composition, in my experience with aldehyde C-12.

A nice touch, that the bottle’s top is removable, allowing for refills. 

I’ll leave this review, at that, for the time being. Thanks for reading :)

(Abandoned, and cannot update): Analyzing and Comparing the Efficacy of Two Common Learning Methods - Immersion Versus Self-Quizzing.

 Originally published: 09/21/2021

Every now and then, I get quizzed on knowledge base, perceptual acuity , memory tasks of contexts pertaining to occurrences and developments in my life, and of “seemingly” random tidbits of learning, taxonomy, culture, or lore (otherwise), in my remote-sensing environments which happen upon me.

This sort of thing happens on a regular basis. The remote-sensing quorums are attended by various classes and types of individuals, yet commonly, the topic basis is one of a civil complaint against me, and I find myself chronically stressed out, in life, of various sorts of consequences. The pursuit of an ever more leisurely outlook and disposition, in life, is an obvious lure for me, and unfortunately, I find myself deprecating in to former and legacy modes of behaviors, such as seeking novel or imprudent sorts of entertainment online, for example, rather than using my strengths, and building upon gainful and productive aspirations in life. 

 The app I have in mind, in this instance, is a simplistic one, although I would strongly presume that the merits are founded, and sure. 

Why an app? 

Mobile development is an industry that had a significant heyday leading up to the time of the Pandemic, and by all means, it’s an industry that will see growth, to come, as various demographics see a rise and fall in their social and class status underpinnings; I’d suppose that would happen, based on much of the “conjectural” (perceptual?) confessionals and Freudian Slips that I’d been privy to, as we’re all under interrogation by the higher authority, until we become the highest authority, when it comes to a remote sensing tech and lifestyle sort of, uh, lifestyle. 

Within the gold rush timespan, leading up to the era of high-powered mobile device hardware, we saw many shining stars emerge in app development, which fulfilled many of the needed purposes to be seen through in app development in an ever-increasingly more compact, more large if need be; more graphics, higher data throughput and storage capability expectation and demand, on our devices. Activities and pursuits of merit, once confined, largely, to the classroom environment and to libraries, were suitably accommodated and made much more accessible to the layperson of an aspirational creed, who would shrug off the influence of pirating goods (and jailbreaking,, etc.), and go with the program, as far as discovering what was available and being offered through mainstream big tech app stores, offered by Google, Apple, and now Amazon (does Microsoft do an App Store for their mobile devices? I don’t know, off-hand, but I’d assume so). 

The point is,

is that many developers and programmers had staked their worth and product offerings, early on, and they’d established themselves, app-wise, as the go-to solution that people would come to discover, and support, for menial scrum pay - that many App Store offerings were given to people as, with archetypes such as the iTunes Store’s $0.99 offerings of parted-out pieces of what could, would, or had been full albums, previously; many of such apps, themselves, offering a similarly compartmentalized concept of what productivity and development, or “work,” on mobile devices could, and ought be, as it was envisioned and carried out. 

My go-to app, for learning about neural networks, all learning and literature (mostly) aside, came to be Neuronify. Was it free? Did I pay for it? I don’t quite remember, but if it cost anything, it was a couple, or several dollars, or so. It seemed to do the job, as imaginable as it might be, for a dilettante entry in to app-attainment goals, for my arrays, choices, and learning-basis inclusions on to my mobile devices, and for that matter, SSD hard drive space, on an iPad, even more so than on a mobile phone device - it goes a lot further than on a desktop environment (as well as better than phones can offer). I’ve currently (September 2021) got 569 apps, 6020 photos, 346 videos, 168 songs, on my device, which features 256 GB of SSD storage, and I’m only down to about 161 GB remaining. I do anywhere from a 4+ hour to 8-hour screen time daily average, given a week, on my iPad Pro device, particularly now that I’d lost my Google Android Pixel 4a 5G, which is part of a great series of mobile phones, for the cost, by the way. For that matter, the Google Store also features the Neuronify DIY neural networks mapping (doing) app, as well. 

The premise of a neural network is fairly basic, in essence. There aren’t all that many parameters and objects that would be featured in Neuronify, but the significant feature of having development and productivity, on mobile, playing out, at the speed of whatever measure of achievement that could be wrought out of the device and app, through the user’s input, as a moving visual image: interactive, and engaging that it is, playing out on the screen, is part of an attainment, in mobile device development, particularly on the iPad (Pro), which would have formerly only existed in richly-resourced study and research learning and development environments, and tracing even further back, in static image renders, of the calculations involved, and even further than that, in people’s imaginations. At some point, the technology falls back in time, in to philosophical codices, with the basis and need for the science of neurology being a pursuit, study, and investigation of what comprises the mind, itself, and it’s functioning, at the most critical points of investigation and discovery that could be had. What works? What doesn’t? What is the most effective cause and effect cycle and premise? Which types of decisions and behaviors are harmful, or wasteful? These sorts of questions could be proven, to as best the researcher could prove, to the scientific community, whom, in turn, would be capable of producing the same results, in a lab setting, thus validating the discovery. 

Within the app itself, as I’d mentioned earlier, there are only several parameter objects and icon type tools, or actions and feedback mechanisms, in other words, of the interface. The interface, in and of itself, is a node-based class of workflow environment.

The Neuronify app interface, on a 2020 model iPad Pro.

Here, then are the various user interface tools of the app:

Leaky excitatory neuron

Adaptive excitatory neuron

Leaky inhibitory neuron

Adaptive inhibitory neuron

Voltmeter

Spike detector

Firing rate plot

Loudspeaker

DC current source

AC current source

Irregular spike generator

Regular spike generator

Visual input 

Touch activator

Note

My hypotheses:

Premise 1: innovative skills arise out of need, as well as out of rote. 

Some findings and observations, upon that basis:

• Needful skills could only possibly attend to the problem which arises. In this case, I’m choosing productivity as the title of merit. Takin time to discern and decipher, as well as determine that the problem is resolved, and move forth, is hampered by products of neural activity that could rely on lesser or greater electrical pulses, at a more accommodating timing, if the problem at hand were capably handled by a more singular and fluid, unique mind, rather than a mind of more randomness. Electrical efficiency is the requisite object of attainment.
• My preference, for deciphering that engaged and interactive learning, for example, is the superior backdrop to a greater productivity, is that the problems are being resolved in an engaging, real-time environment. Calculations happen quicker through methods gained in using hand-eye coordination types of skill sets - gestural and procedural industriousness, of various other enterprises of life, which pertain to economics, could be translated over in to the argument for an active learning environment basis to a more capable and effective problem-solving style, compared to a “flash card” setting, of completely randomized data sets, this being the cards. 
• The goal of this hypothesis would be to employ certain scientific control environments of my own study, ask individuals for their input, and analyze their statements and claims, as well as their preferences, and discover, within the control environment, whether or not they find similarity, or comparability, in their input received, when calculated against my personal findings. On one hand, it takes a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to discern valid mathematical truths about a visual environment, of an insightful nature, yet - I would assert that we, as intelligent and rational creatures, would pursue and develop upon gainful, rational, formal structures, rather than something more founded upon chance, randomness, (even within a finite series of choices), memory - which would alter the resonant section, even, of the brain, itself - a costly transformation; I would say more so, than if the knowledge were understood by an actively engaged mind, of rote discipline, and familiarity, set about in a workflow and industrious setting and environment. 

I’ll pause here, in writing, because I’ve arrived at my destination, of where I’m going, for this part of the day.

Update: 02/09/2023

Hello, I apologize for the abandoned blog article, here - ha ha… a silly way for me to appear, in front of others in the scientific community, but I had abandoned this blog article, due to ongoing challenges in my personal life, which still persist. Aside from that, the app no longer loads on my device; I believe that the app is no longer available for iPadOS, for that matter.