At the end of my first Photography in Multimedia class, I had students fill a survey. I had one question, asking about their view on the course in general. One answer struck me more strongly than anything else --  this is a photography course.

The following is an assignment submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in Introduction to Music Production, a massively open online course by the Berklee College of Music in Coursera, supervised by Loudon Stearns this April 15, 2013.

Assignment #6 Topic:

Explain the usage of the 5 most important synthesis modules: Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier, Envelope, and LFO.

The following is an assignment submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in Introduction to Music Production, a massively open online course by the Berklee College of Music in Coursera, supervised by Loudon Stearns this April 8, 2013.

Assignment #5 Topic:

Within a musical context demonstrate the effective usage of two of the three types of modulated short delay effects (flanger, phaser, chorus). Explain how the effects function and why you chose to configure them the way you did.

While I don't fancy myself as much of a collector, I do find myself buying guitar straps on impulse every now and then. It was different with Mono, though. When they first came out with their straps some years ago. I was immediately interested. I already had enough experience with the comfort of using a neoprene strap with a DSLR camera. The strap definitely made the camera feel lighter, which helps quite a bit if you have it weighing down your neck for extended periods. I have fairly heavy guitars, so I find it appealing to have that same benefit of perceived lightness from a guitar strap. It wasn't enough to actually get me to order one, though. I had a number of reasons. First, the strap was over three inches wide, and I was worried I would look too nerdy using a strap that might cover my whole left shoulder (yes, I'm shallow, sometimes). Second, the Mono straps at the time reportedly had really thick ends that made it nearly impossible to attach strap locks on. Most importantly, it was going to end up being costly for something that I didn't really need.
 

And then I find Jef of Nellden Music selling the damn things much much cheaper than any other online seller I've seen, and with free shipping to boot. This time, it was much too good a deal to pass up.

I hesitate to call this a conventional review. I don't have the inclination to write a comprehensive one, especially since others have already done so. But if I were to write one, it would bear a certain resemblance with this (with a different writing style, of course), which I recommend for interested people to read. I agree with all but the writer's sense of aesthetics, which shouldn't be a big deal (it's a matter of personal taste, after all). There are also way too many so-called unboxing and hands-on preview blogs around to find, which unfortunately do not provide the insight people need to make an informed decision whether or not to buy the phone. So, to be a little bit different, I'd like to write about the bigger picture and how this phone fits in my life in the long run. I want to figure out whether or not the Cloudfone Thrill 430x (or the Innos D9, if you prefer the original model name) will ultimately be just a waste of my P7,777.

A word (or rather, a lengthy blog) of caution to cheapskate guitar players.