Faith Hacker

Burn – Free Open Source Mac Disc Duplicator/Burner

Douglas — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:34:53 +0000

I was looking for a simple application to duplicate discs. Our sermons are recorded on CD and SD cards and I wanted a way to quickly copy the disc using a MacBook Pro. Burn is a free, simple application that does just what I was looking for. I can open the app, put in a disc and drag my tracks into Burn. Once it’s copied to the local hard drive in a temporary folder I just eject the master CD and insert a blank disc and click burn.

Disk Utility works for data discs but Apple has blocked the copying of audio cds to protect copyright. Since these discs are our own, copyright is not an issue.

This software does more than just copy discs. You can use for simply dragging files into it and burning to a disc too. Try it out! It’s free!

Roland Announces TD-30KV Electronic Drum Kit at NAMM 2012

Douglas — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:13:56 +0000

Roland has announced a new electronic drum kit at this year’s NAMM. Roland has taken more steps to make these digital drums look, act and sound more like real drums. There is also a new USB port so you can load .mp3s onto a jump drive and play along with your favorite tracks. This would be great for loading up upcoming song sets to practice with.

We use digital drums for our youth room and for mobile applications like off site conferences and retreats. We have last years model of Roland’s digital drums. They could work in a main service setting but most musicians and drummers will prefer real drums. Digital drums work great in small rooms and acoustics sets work well in big rooms.

Here’s a quick video overview from Roland:

Product Link: http://www.rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=td-30kv

Press Info:

For over a decade, Roland’s revolutionary V-Drums have lead the industry in expressive sound quality and incredible playability. With the introduction of the SuperNATURAL-powered TD-30KV V-Pro Series, the electronic drum set reaches a new pinnacle in drumming performance. SuperNATURAL sounds with Behavior Modeling, along with advanced sensing technology, provides a new level of expressive sound quality and playability, resulting in an instrument that reacts and responds to all the subtleties, nuances, and dynamics of a drummer’s technique. In addition, USB audio-playback functionality has been added to expand the performance palette. For the stage or for professional recording, the new V-Pro is truly a complete and natural drumming experience.

I’m a Guru [video]

Douglas — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:34:57 +0000

This video is hilarious and so true. The guys over at churchtechtalk.com produced this. We’ll talk about them more in another post…

Dropbox – Simple, Free File Sharing

Douglas — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:02:54 +0000

If you’re still running around with a jump drive or using a local server to share files in your church or ministry, you need to check out Dropbox. You can install it as an application on your computer, cell phone or ipad and have access to any files you “drop” in the folder on any other device logged in with that same account. You can even share a folder to another account. My church uses this a lot. All of our laptops and computers have it installed and when I design something or someone asks for a file I just say, “It’s in Dropbox.” and they know where to find it.

You can get 2GB of space free or pay $99 for 50GB or $199 for 100GB. Here are some examples of how we use dropbox:

- Share design files with our church plants.
- Share our lyrics library/database so we don’t have to re-enter lyrics into each computer
- Share pictures and names of all new members so staff can learn names with faces from their cell phone
- Keep a folder of all manuals to tech stuff
- Keep a folder of all ministry logos so they are easily accessible to all

Here’s what dropbox looks like on your computer:

And your iPhone:

And the web:

Roland VR-5

Douglas — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:02:46 +0000

This is a great all in one audio/video mixer. I’m planning on putting it in my 2012 budget it’s so good. It has 3 camera inputs and 1 VGA input. You can also put videos on an SD card and mix them in as well. The SD card can also be used for capturing your mixed video. Alternatively there is a USB out for online streaming, composite or s-video. Mixing is very easy and can even be ran with the dual touch screens. What’s also great about this mixer is the price, just $4,995.

Photos

Videos

iFixit – Free, Step by Step Repair Manuals

Douglas — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:51:31 +0000

Recently we had a laptop that got dropped and needed some repair. Apple gave us an estimate of about $1200 to replace the main logic board. We originally just left it broken and used the external display to run a flat screen in our foyer. Then, after a software update, I got stuck with only the main screen working. I later found out that when the computer is booting you can close the lid right away and the main screen will shut off and you will see only external. Anyway, I decided to hunt for a new logic board on eBay and see if we could fix it ourself. And now we come to the main point of this article, iFixit.com. The website is great for easy, step by step manuals for many products. In this situation we ended up also changing out the video cable and then LCD screen. All guides were found on iFixit.com.

All you do is search for the product you’re working on and then pick the type of repair you’re doing. The step by step guide is very detailed even giving you a list of tools and parts you’ll need and rating the job difficulty. Next time something breaks and you’re out of warranty, try it out. What have you got to lose?

You can even embed the guide in a web page:

Installing MacBook Pro 15″ Core Duo Model A1150 LCD Panel

Here’s a video I made of part of the repair process.

Vimeo Releases New Features

Douglas — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:41:14 +0000

If you’re looking for an alternative for YouTube or just a real quality site for uploading sermons and other video, Vimeo is the best I’ve ever used. They have a free and paid service but either way you won’t be dissapointed. Our church is currently using it for baptism and testimony videos along with a few videos for our I’m New page on our website. We also use it to post videos of the entire message of a singles ministry we are a part of called Momentum. Vimeo has recently released a few more sweet features.

First, custom URLs. This means instead of the web address for your video being this vimeo.com/17162585, it can look like this: vimeo.com/momentumdsm/promo. Now why this is a little longer, it’s easier to remember. You can still use the old link of you’re looking for something shorter, both will work.

Next, if you’re a Plus user, meaning you pay, you can embed your videos in HD and they will play HD default. Previously, the video would default to lower quality and the user could up the resolution by choice. I tried to test it here but this webpage isn’t wide enough to hold an HD video :)

The final feature is pretty basic. It allows you to show or hide your recent activity on your profile page.

Ok, recap. Vimeo is one of the best options for video online and it’s always great to get new features! Thanks Vimeo!

Creation Swap – Free Designs & More

Douglas — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:10:31 +0000

So graphic design is my biggest weakness. This is why I love Creation Swap. Formerly known as CreativeMYK.com, the updated site now promotes more than just free content sharing. You will soon be able to “purchase professional photos, bulletins, banners, postcards, logos and more sold by thousands of church artists worldwide.” This feature will be released in April along with the ability to print products and have them delivered to your door. Live now is the networking section with features like job postings, artists for hire & discussion forum.

Now with all of those great features, what I use the most is the free section with many designs giving you a .jpg or even the original design file in .ai or .psd format. This will give you a starting point for creating your next sermon series design or youth poster. Check it out and if you’re a designer, make sure to post something maybe you’re done with or never used that someone else might benefit from.

Audio Blog – behindthemixer.com

Douglas — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:58:19 +0000

I had this blog recommended to me so I thought I’d share it here. It’s updated often and it has some good tips and reviews targeted directly and church audio. Check out Behind the Mixer at behindthemixer.com. The site is ran by Chris Huff who has been in the industry for 15 years and currently runs sound at Franklin Community Church, in Indiana, where he’s also the volunteer Tech Director.