Okay, I admit, I love tidy playlists and try to keep my iTunes track ratings quite accurate, so that I can always enjoy my intelligent playlists. There has been a tool called iTunesRatings by Matthew Handley, which disappeared some years ago. Because I think this was a very nice application, I spent some hours programming my own app, which has some improvements:

Features:
· See the rating of the current track
· Edit the rating of the current track
· Supports 1/2 stars (eg. 4.5 stars) by clicking & dragging
· Context Menu with the most important iTunes control (Play/Pause, Previous/Next, Loop One)
· Floating Cover Panel
· Quick Playlist and Track Access
· Option to autostart at login
· Option to hide the Menu Bar icon when iTunes isn’t launched
· Designed to use as less resources & processing power as possible! 
· GPL-licensed (free & open source!)
· Runs on Mac OS X 10.5. (Leopard) or 10.6. (Snow Leopard) / Universal Binary /

RateMe! compared:

I noticed that a bunch of similar programs has been released lately – needless to say, that those that need an extra click to rate aren’t that useful (you could right click on the iTunes Dock-icon as well). Most of them don’t support half star ratings, and many are so overloaded with features that they consequently need too much processing power for my taste, thus slowing down the computer.

RateMe! has been designed to use as little CPU as possible. To reduce the number of AppleScripts, I’m using the iTunes Cocoa-based notification system. I checked for Memory Leaks and kept an eye on RAM usage. And I keep an eye on usability, so there are enough features to make this application useful and less enough to keep it simple and lightweight. 

And finally RateMe! is -AFAIK- the only one that’s open source!

System Requirements:
· Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6. (Snow Leopard)
· iTunes 7

Download:
· RateMe! v0.2.3 (Universal Binary for OS X 10.5./10.6.)

· RateMe! v0.2.3 source (for OS X 10.6 Leopard – developers only, normal users please download the above binary!)

Installation & Usage
· Download and unzip
· Move “RateMe.app” to your programs folder
· Double-click to start
· Exit “RateMe!” by right-clicking and selecting “Quit RateMe!”
· If you want “RateMe” to start automatically with Mac OS X, right-click and select “Preferences > Autostart at Login”.
· Note: Rating is disabled when iTunes is paused!
· To rate full stars click on the star; to rate half stars click and drag

Original Timestamp of this post was 2008 March 07

The main two plugins are
– ACPlotter, an Oscillator-like line renderer, that plots a series of values over time
– and ACSignalEnhancer that provides various smoothing and scaling algorithms to improve (for example) incoming sensory data. With ACSignalEnhancer it is easily possible to scale values from a range of say 100 .. 255 to e.g. -1 .. +1.

Surprisingly, this is the first plotter/oscillator function, as I could not find anything similar on various QC sites or forums. Enjoy!

The second most useful plugins in this suite should be ACSignalEnhancer, which tweaks almost any aspect of how one can improve, scale and bend a numeric value.

I’m also using ACStructureTools a lot, which provides missing Pop/Push and SetAtIndex functions for Structures (Arrays). They are very fast compared to other workarounds in JavaScript patches.

The suite contains:
1. ACAverage:
Smoothing values by averaging
2. ACInputMerger:
Logic input selector (forward input A or B)
3. ACNumberStore:
Delay patch (stores & outputs the previous value)
4. ACPeak:
Peak Detector (experimental!)
5. ACPlotter:
Oscillator like Line-Renderer
6. ACSignalEnhancer:
Various smooth & scale algorithms
7. ACStructureTools:
Pop & push for structures (= QC Arrays)

NEW in v0.6 (Snow Leopard)
8. ACSignal:
Replacement for -Signal: Generate signal after x secs or when x changes
9. ACSignalDelay:
Delays a value for x seconds

NEW in v0.7
10. ACBitLogic:
4-to-1-bit Encoder (useful for logic table lookup)
11. ACIdleDetector:
Sends a signal if a value remained unchanged for x seconds

System Requirements:
· Mac OS X 10.5. (Leopard) or 10.6. (Snow Leopard)
· 32-/64-bit Universal Binary for Intel or PPC Macs
· Quartz Composer (comes with Apple’s Developer Tools)

Installation:
1. Copy “ACProcessorSuite.plugin” to “~/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Plug-Ins/”
2. Launch QuartzComposer (“/Developer/Applications/Quartz Composer”)

License:
Artistic License 2.0

Download:
ACProcessorSuite Quartz Composer Plugins v0.7.2 (32/64-bit Universal Binary)

Version History:
v0.1, 2008-05-21:
· initial version
v0.2, 2008-08-27:
· added Enhancer, InputMerger, NumberStore
v0.3, 2009-02-01:
· added StructureTools & Plotter
v0.4, 2009-02-22:
· fixed Enhancer scaling algorithm: now working with negative numbers
· initial release
v0.5, 2009-07-21:
· added ACSignal and ACSignalDelay
v0.6, 2009-10-05:
· compatibility with 10.6. (Snow Leopard)
· two basic example compositions included (see comments below)
v0.7.2, 2010-03-08:
· added ACBitLogic
· added ACIdleDetector

Also look out for more Quartz Composer plugins:
· ACMarkov:
Quartz Composer plugin featuring Mac OS SpeechSynthesis, String Manipulation and Random Text Generators, soon to be released!
· ACNexusQC:
Quartz Composer plugin for ACNexus – a bluetooth (or Serial via USB) Arduino based sensor-box, soon to be released!

ps:

Cheers to Cybero for a very nice example presented on kineme.net:

The original Timestamp for this post was June, 8th 2009.

Additionally, it can display the time on a floating window on the desktop (“Always On Top” or “Desktop Icon Level”). The font, color & size can freely be chosen!

Screenshot:

System Preferences:

- Mac OS X 10.5. or higher

Download:

- ACTimer v 0.9 (2009-06-05), Universal Binary for 10.5.x, 176 kB

License:

free!

midimouse is a small, easy-to-use and very simple program. It sends MIDI-controller-messages (CC) by moving the mouse over its (resizeable) window. While moving the mouse (with or without mouseDown) over the X-/Y-axxis, each axxis sends a CC, so you might send values within up to 4 configurable Controllers.

The default CC’s are:
CC12 and CC13 for X/Y and
CC14 and CC15 for X/Y with mouseDown*
(* not available in “clickThrough”-mode)

So, what’s it for if you’ve never heard of CC’s?
You can make music with it! Just connect it as a MIDI-Controller to your hardware-synthesizers or software-programs (eg. Ableton LIVE, Propellerheads Reason, …) and you can control the effects by moving your mouse – on a small screensize or even also on full screen, if midimouse is in “click-trough” mode. It’s like a virtual KAOSS-Pad!

Version: 0.6

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.
(Universal Binary for PowerPC and IntelMacs)
Older Versions for Mac OS X 10.3. can be found below in the Download-Archive section!

License:

Creative-Commons (by-nc-nd), that means free for private use and you are welcome to copy and share midimouse! Please ask before trying to use midimouse commercial (that means before you try to _sell_ midimouse, standalone or bundled; of course you might _use_ it for free on any occation).
Parts of midimouse are built upon the PYMIDI.framework from Pete Yandell. Thank you Pete!

Donations are pretty welcome!
If you like to see future updates or use midimouse a lot, you should consider a small donation. Thanks!

Screenshot:

 

· v.0.6 beta: midimouse_071113_0.6.bC.dmg.zip (Mac OS 10.4. / PPC / Intel)
Please contact me, if you have issues with this version or found a bug, older versions are still available below!

Archive (old versions):
· v.0.4: midimouse_060316_0.4.dmg.gz (Mac OS 10.4. / PPC / Intel)
· v.0.3: midimouse_051111_0.3.dmg.gz (Mac OS 10.3. / PPC)
· v.0.2: midimouse_050310_0.2.dmg.gz (Mac OS 10.3. / PPC)

Version-History
· v.0.1: first beta-release (unstable)
· v.0.2: first stable release
· v.0.3: some bug-fixes, added “click-through-mode”, where the window is completely unresponsible for mouse-clicks. This version is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3.
· v.0.4: universal binary for IntelMacs and PowerPCs, added Quartz-Mode supporting QuartzComposer Visuals, some bugfixes, improved window-handling. This version needs Mac OS X 10.4.
· v.0.5: added ScrollWheel support and some minor modifications (never released)
· v.0.6: nearly completely rewritten, now document based application, added keyboard + Wii control (experimental), HID inspector

Original timestamp for this article: March 10, 2005 @ 20:31

The main target are sensors delivering not exactly 0 V (min) to 5 V (max), which most sensors don’t do – but for the vast majority of sensorBoxes a full voltage range is required to get a reasonable output. With calibrateable inputs and scale-/restrictable outputs, the ACSensorizer takes the sensory processing one step further. With just a quick turn on an encoder wheel you can restrict the output of the sensor to one octave and have therefore super-fine control of your intuitive hardware while maintaining easy-to-use menus and named patches. I am using the sensorBox for performing live music with my band zeichensprecher and for interactive sonic media installations.

Features v0.4:
- supports up to 8 sensors
- enable/disable single inputs
- assignable MIDI CH and Controller-Number – or – Note_On generation (!)
- built-in harmonizer with 20 scales (minor, major, blues, spanish…) ⇒ harmonizes generated or received (by MIDI!) note-signals
- built-in syncronizer: master/slave mode (autodetect clock input switches to slave) and selectable BPM
- quantizes events: 1/2/3/4/6/8/12/16/24/32/48, selectable per sensor
- adjustable input range by sense-min and sense-max (10bit values, ignore if not matched)
- adjustable output range with “scale from and scale to”
- sense-factor: used for signal interpolation… uses fast bitshifting or complex division depending on value
- AUTO-sense feature: auto-calibration of sensor, detect MIN/MAX and automatically adapts sense-factor!
- invert signal
- pedal modes:
– filter ⇒ only forward if pedal down
– panic ⇒ send panic on release pedal
– combinations of all pedal mode options are possible
- detect release: send 0-value if signal drops below sense-min
- slowdown: slows down the signal and increases the gaps between generated values
- bankstick support: 1 connected bankstick provides 2 banks with 127 patches each
- midi configurable: full configuration possible with NRPN-messages
- Mac OS X Onscreen Config Program and MiniAudicle Setup Script examples included!
- LCD (2×16) with clearly structured menu for sensor-select, prg-select, sensor-config & -settings
- redesigned HUI input to enable better control with less hardware requirements
- for developers: ACSim Console Debugger: code integrated and ready to use configured for XCode2

The ACSensorizer is a C-Application programmed for MBHP/MIOS (midibox hardware platform/midibox operating system), which is a non-commercial (!) PIC microcontroller hardware platform developed by Thorsten Klose, offering an extremely stable and low-latency environment for computer musicians and DIY enthusiasts.

I released all plans, software and building instructions under a GPL license on midibox.org, where you can also find links to shops where to order PCBs and necessary parts. The costs for building the ACSensorizer are approx. 25 to 150 €, depending on configuration and parts qualities. Preburned PICs are available, MIOS and applications like the ACSensorizer can then be transferred by MIDI (SysEx), this way you mustn’t get in touch with IC Programmers which is usually the hardest part. No programming required, just a soldering iron and some hours assembling time.

Download & Links:
· ACSensorizer 0.4 (midibox.org)

Exhibitions:
· Kunsthalle Budapest, Hungary
  23. March 2007 – 28. May 2007
· Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie – ZKM Karlsruhe, Deutschland
  15. June 2007 – 19. August 2007

Pictures:
· audiocommander picBrowser
· kII Handout (PDF)

Open Source Project Page:
· DIY Plans and Sourcecode @ midibox.org

Links:
· Related Artikels on audiocommander.de
· kII project release v0.1.6 – watch out for upcoming handTracker release v0.2 (to be announced)

kII stands for “Kempelen Two”: Baron Wolfang von Kempelen has been a hungarian inventor and creator of famous automats. Whereas his most famous creatin has been the “Turkish Chessplayer” (which was a late-revealed fake with a chess-player sitting inside), he also invented one of the first talking machines ever. Baron Kempelen lived from 1734 to 1804.

I released all plans and software on midibox.org. You will also find dedicated DIY-building instructions for the needed IIC-SpeakJet-Module and a Core-Module. midibox.org is a DIY-Community founded by Thorsten Klose who released MBHP and MIOS under an open license that forbids commercial use. Please be fair and respect that.

The main goal for the development is not the generation of words or true speech, rather than an experimental approach to generate an interactive musical interface for phonetic experiences.
Watch out for future project descriptions!

If you are improving the application, please contact me or add a comment on this page, so I can update the project!

 
Features:
· Full MSA and SCP Control via Midi!
· Trigger Allophones and SoundFX by Notes
· Trigger Allophones only by Notes
· Trigger SoundFX only by Notes
· Jaw/Tongue control: set position of jaw and tongue by CC, play pitched Allophone by Notes
· Different Jaw/Tongue sets available: Vowels/Consonants/Pauses
· Change the pitch of currently played Allophones by Notes 0..59
· Play the 5 Oscillators by Notes, one OSC per Channel
· Harmonic subtractive syntesis Multi-OSC playmode by Notes(!)
· Control Waveforms (shapes) of harmonic synthesis Multi-OSC mode
· Change Allophone Pitch by using the 14bit PitchBend-Wheel
· Control Bend with CH_AFTERTOUCH
· Control Speed by CC
· Control Master Volume by CC
· Send Pauses by CC
· Send Next Slow/High/Low/Fast by CC
· Control OSC-Frquencies and Levels by CC
· Control ENV-Frequency and Type by CC
· Control Distortion (OSC 4 & 5) by CC
· Fire Phrases by CC
· Supports System Realtime Messages START, STOP, CONTINUE, RESET
· Send PANIC by Foot & AllNotes/SoundsOFF Messages
· Custom assignable controls by editing the definition listing (IIC_SpeakJetMidiDefines.h)

 
Download:
· Download and Documentation on midibox.org

Audio-Example:
http://www.audiocommander.de/downloads/midibox/SpeakJet_kII_03.mp3

Historical Background:
· Androids Automated Smalltalks

Links:
· SpeakJet Breadboard Construction Tutorial by audiocommander
· Circuit (PDF)

Related Projects:
· m5 sensorizer
· Programming Microchips with a Mac
· My User-page on midibox.org

You can find the source code and a fully detailed description along with Instructions at the m5 sensorizer project page at midibox.org. SmashTV is selling high quality PCBs (and Kits) for the MBHP worldwide.

Features of the m5 sensorizer:

• · supports up to 8 sensors, code can be adapted to use more (eg with PIC18F4620)
• · enable/disable single AINs
• · slowdown: slows down the signal and increases the gaps between generated values
• · assignable CH and Controller-Numbers
• · sense-min: 10bit value, ignores every signal below
• · sense-max: 10bit value, ignores every signal above
• · sense-factor: used for signal interpolation… uses fast bitshifting or complex division depending on value
• · AUTO-sense feature: auto-calibration of sensor, detect MIN/MAX by sensing · automatically adapts sense-factor!
• · scale from and scale to: scales the output value from/to
• · invert signal
• · pedal modes:
  filter ⇒ only forward if pedal down;
  panic ⇒ send panic on release pedal;
  combinations of all pedal mode options are possible
• · detect release: send 0-value if signal drops below sense-min
• · bankstick support: 1 connected bankstick provides 2 banks with 127 patches each
• · midi configurable: full configuration possible with NRPN-messages
  NRPN-MSB CC99 for sensorSelect / sysEx mode
  NRPN-LSB CC98 for controlType
  DataEntry MSB CC6 and LSB CC38 for controlValue
• · LCD-Output (2×16 or -recommended- 4×20)
• · HUI-Input to control up to 4 sensors with 8 switch-encoders, pedal, store- & panic-button in 2 modes (PLAY/SETUP)
• · ACSim Console Debugger: code integrated and ready to use configured for XCode2
  select “ACSim” as target and test the application via command-line
  inspect variables with a (graphical) debugger (GDB support within XCode2)
  visit http://www.midibox.org → there’s a tutorial how to use Code::Blocks

Videos:

Demo Video I es ist nicht alles billig documenting Lead-Sounds, 1’17”, 1.6 MB, Quicktime iPod-Video: H.264/AAC

Demo Video II it will never happen if you don’t try documenting Pad- & Lead-Sounds, 3’41”, 3.2 MB, Quicktime iPod-Video: H.264/AAC

More Informations:
· m5 sensorizer project page at midibox.org
· m5 sensorizer picBrowser (Image Gallery)
· Audiocommander’s YouTube Video Page
· zeichensprecher, my band where I am using the sensorizer as musical instrument (free mp3s downloadable; also see the radio on this page, you can listen to our tunes :)

* Notes for developers:
My application “ACSensorizer” is released under a GPL-License, that means you can use it for any purpose as long as you release the sources of your project, too. It is not allowed to use this source in closed-Source projects. However, my ears are open and widely distributed, so don’t think a whole community of midiboxers won’t notice it if you are trying to sell proprietary products using this code.
Please note that MIOS/MBHP is non-commercial anyway and refer to the relevant sections of midibox.org and the midibox-forums!

If you build yourself a sensorizer, write me! I like to hear from you :)

Now Microchip Application Development is getting really easy on a Mac!

All you need is:
- GPASM (binary installer available here),
- SDCC (binary installer available from my server here) and
- Xcode (available from developer.apple.com).

You should also check out midibox.org, where Thorsten Klose (TK) has released an OpenSource modular microchip development platform, the MBHP (MidiBox Hardware Project) that consists of combinable hardware modules and a superb C-Wrapper for the MIOS Operating System for Microchip PIC18 Chips. There are also two shops available in Germany and the US where you can order PCBs and Kits by MIOS Community Members.

MIOS supports SysEx upload of custom applications once a loader is burned into the PIC, so if you buy a chip already equipped with the loader, you just need a MIDI device and you’re ready to go!

Cheers to the MidiBox-Community :D

If you have questions, you can leave a message here or post it to the MidiBox Forum, where you will also find me ;)

Plugin Name: zs_metaimage
Version: 0.3
Requirements: WordPress 2.x
(Maybe it also works with WordPress 1.x, but it has not been tested! Please report your experiences!)

Description:
Adds an <img src=$zs_metaimage class=zs_metaimage …> Tag to your post with an href to the permalink of the post. In other words: kind of a headline image linked to the full article.

Installation:
1. Download the zip-file.
2. Unpack and copy the file named “zs_metaimage.php” to your WordPress directory. Put it in the subfolder “/wp-content/plugins/”.
3. Open your admin-panel, go to “Plugins” and enable the “zs_metaimage” plugin.

Usage:
1. Edit your theme, if not already done. The image does show up _only_ if you call the function”the_excerpt()”. By default “the_excerpt()” returns the “optional excerpt” of the post, if exists. If not, it strips down the post to 120 chars, removes all tags and returns the snippet. zs_metaimage adds your metaimage.
2. Edit an existing post or write a new one: Go to the tab “Custum Fields” and type “zs_metaimage” as “Key”.
Type the full URL of an image (best is to copy and paste) in the “Value” filed. Now press “Add Custom Field”. You can update or delete values anytime.
3. Done! Whenever your page is in excerpt-mode, you can see your metaimage!

Feel free to adapt this script to your needs.
Please report behaviors other than expected along with information on where and how!

Download:
· zs_metaimage_080704_0.3.zip
· zs_metaimage_060327_0.1.zip

This is rather an experiment in programming excercises than a useful program… nevertheless, it’s a nice desktop window to watch – and hey: it’s showing the time!

The hours are shown left, the minutes in the middle and the seconds to the right. you can read the clock by adding the values of the swatches from top to bottom for each row. The swatches have these values:

Version: 0.1

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 (PowerPC)

CPU Load: ~< 0,4%

License: Creative-Commons (by-nc-nd), that means free for private use and you are welcome to copy and share the program! Please ask before trying to use the software commercial (that means before you try to _sell_ the software, standalone or bundled; of course you might _use_ it for free on any occation).

Screenshot:

Download: binaryTime_0.1.dmg.gz (175 kb)

Please leave a message here or mail me, if you’re interested in the sourcecode (Objective-C, Cocoa, X-Code2).