Must Have Tools for All "Free" Musicians!

In an earlier post, I have mentioned that practicing with a metronome can do improve your skills. But there are some downsides with the metronome. It can produce one or two type of tones. It needs battery (in case of mechanical metronomes, they need proper maintenance). And it costs you money.

What about having a drum machine? They cost even more than metronome. What to do? Here comes two good Free Software (free as in freedom) tools that can help you improve your timing skills without any of the before said limitations and for free of cost!

GNU GTick

GNU GTick is for people who like the conventional metronome. It is fully configurable metronome with a neat and simple GUI. You can configure the tempo (speed or beats per minute) or you can pick it from the preset values. It comes with a visual tick. You can also select the beats in which the accent beat should sound. It is such a small tool that you don't need anyone to teach you how to use!

GNU GTick in action

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is also a Free Software. It is a full blown drum machine. It comes with a default set of drum samples. You can also download more samples and include your own. You can compose individual patterns and club them together to create a song. Each and every aspect like velocity, pitch, volume, pan etc are controllable and you will feel that you are practicing with a real drummer by your side!

Hydrogen in action

Conclusion:

With right set of tools and good practice, anyone can improve their music skills. Surely GNU GTick and Hydrogen are must have in those right set of tools! As a "Free" Musician (Free as in Freedom) let us make sure we use free software, codecs and licenses for all our works. Also we should say no to restrictive technologies like DRM. May the power be with us!

DRM in Firefox?

In yet another bad move, Firefox has decided to include DRM in coming versions. First, DRM is not Digital Rights Management as claimed by its proponents but it is Digital Restriction Management used to impose restrictions on end user. So Firefox has decided to allow an option so that third parties can restrict its user. The entire Free Software community is fighting against DRM while Firefox is saying that they will include DRM to have a better voice in the forum.

How This Will Impact Firefox?

Most people using IE are using it just because it came bundled with the operating system. The same goes to Safari. Others who want a different browser install Google Chrome due to better rendering, faster loading, apps and last but not least, marketing by Google. Already Firefox's market share is falling. But still Firefox is having a good user base compared to other lesser known browsers. Who are those users? Most of Firefox's users are people who care more about freedom. They use Firefox against all odds because they feel it respects their freedom (but recent moves by Firefox paints a different picture). So the move to include DRM will repel most of the Firefox users to switch to some other browser they feel that respects their freedom.

We can Just Disable DRM?

The point that anyone who doesn't like DRM can just disable is not valid. The reason not to support DRM is not a choice but a moral obligation. So, if Mozilla stands firm and says no to DRM, then surely there will be some backlash among users against DRM. Remeber, what Wikipedia did with SOPA? Can't we do it again?

Conclusion:

Dear Firefox, stop implementing DRM before everyone abandons you. You are respected for the values that you stood by. Once people find that you have lost those values, you will be forsaken for ever!