When life gets hectic, get a new toy!

As you can probably tell from the lack of posting lately, my life on the eighth floor in Toronto has been keeping me very busy lately. I've been workin' it at both eights; the office and the home. I'm generally not a workaholic, but I've been making a conscious push to finish a large, multi-year project that I affectionately call "the beast".

However, all work and no play is not what I'm about! Yesterday I got myself a new toy, an Oxygen8 USB MIDI controller. I've been hunting around for a long time for some sort of affordable MIDI/USB device to take my hobby electronic music composition to the next level (who am I kidding, I'm just one step above beginner). Sometimes it pays to keep a close watch of craigslist's for sale sections; I got a great deal on this second-hand toy.

For now, my plan is to use it in concert with my copy of FL Studio. It's early times, but there doesn't seem to be any setup necessary. It was recognised automatically as a MIDI input (as long as it is plugged into the USB port before the program loads) and piano key input works automatically whenever an instrument channel is highlighted. Assigning functions to the knobs on the controller is done by right-clicking on any setting or knob on the screen, whether it's instrument properties or a software plug-in.