Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 3:10PM I am really, sincerely, going to try to get some music up on my site. Many of you, especially my Facebook friends from back in California, have asked me repeatedly for some music. I hear you and I will try my hardest. Stay tuned.
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 1:53PM Since Apple discontinued iWeb support I had to migrate my site. After trying several options including Wordpress, Tumblr and other hosted solutions I settled on Squarespace. While slightly more expensive than other options, the tools and design options are just better for what I want to do with the site and I can do it without managing a host server.
So, while the site is still a work in progress, hopefully I will be more active with this site to include music, lessons and more.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 11:23AM Previously I posted that I recently moved my studio computers from years of Windows to the Mac. I couldn't be happier except that it really pisses me off that I waited this long! Anyway, I am so impressed with the performance I am now moving ALL of my machines, except for a dedicated CAD Workstation to the Mac. I just got a new Mac Book Pro and have migrated all of my mail, contacts, etc. to the Mac platform with Apple's new Mobile Me (.Mac) service. As such, this Blog will be moving back to my original site over the next few weeks. Please note the new address: http://www.willroland.com.
The new site will have all of the same content, but I will have more control over the layout and I will be able to post offline, which is much easier now that I have my Mac Book Pro with me pretty much everywhere. The gig calendar, the reports on gear and other content will continue, and, since I didn't use this blog for comments, the transition should be seamless.
Please note that when the site is completely migrated, I will not be posting new content to this Blog. Thanks for visiting, I'll see you on the other side.
Friday, April 18, 2008 at 6:43PM Well, I've had my new studio up and running, at least partially, for over a week now and all I can say is,"I should have done this years ago". The only downside is that my work load is so heavy right now that my studio time is pretty limited. But, this computer is a joy to work with. The stability, power and performance is providing a very comfortable environment in which to compose and produce music.
Currently I am running Logic Pro Studio 8 and Sibelius 5 with lots of great plug-ins. The system is so intuitive and powerful that I have decided to hold off on ProTools for the time being. There are several problems with ProTools LE as it is not currently supported on Leopard. Also, compared to Logic, ProTools LE is severely limiting and its production-oriented interface is not condusive to the type of compositional environment I prefer.
Also, I must say that the Apogee audio interface is stellar. At my core I am an audio guy and I am very frustrated with the mediocre audio performance provided by the majority of computer audio interfaces. But the Apogee interface is outstanding with excellent dynamic range, superior noise floor and a soundstage that is second to none. I am very impressed with this unit.
Monday, March 31, 2008 at 6:03PM After years of fighting .DLL errors, system crashes, BSOD's, hardware incompatibilities and everything else that has impacted the creative process of writing and producing music, I have HAD IT with Microsoft Windows. I have given BillyWare years of patience, understanding and updates in the hope that I could have a working studio that would be 100% stable, efficient and transparent to the creative process. Well, I can't wait anymore.
My new studio is now Mac based as I have taken delivery on a new Mac Pro 8-Core desktop system. I will running Apple Logic Studio 8 for the creative work and Digidesign Pro Tools for production along with Apogee audio hardware and a Euphonix control surface. This studio will be rock solid, high performance and most of all, will allow me to CREATE MUSIC!!!
After years of hearing about how much better Macs are for music and video, I finally relented. Last summer I got my son a Mac Book for his music and school work as he went off to college and I cannot believe how much more stable and efficient it is. It is my firm opinion that Macs are simply better computers than most Windows-based machines.
For those of you who depend on me for your Windows systems, don't worry. Unfortunately, all of my business machines will have to stay with Billy, so I will have to keep my skills current on both platforms.
I will report more and post some music from my new studio as soon as I can.