Today in North America we get to experience a total solar eclipse for the first time in 38 years, but that totality only lasts for 160 seconds. Reader Sidirbal composed a track of the same length in Mersenne, Animoog, and Cubasis. The video was also produced in iOS with Wizibel and LumaFusion.

Video Description:

160 seconds is the maximum length of totality during the solar eclipse on August 21, 201. This is also the title and length of this music video by Sidirbal.
www.sidirbal.com

This weekend discchord turns 6, but perhaps even more importantly I turn 38. This is usually the time of year I combine our birthdays for an annual fundraiser/gimmie presets... which I will continue to do, but this year I've got a present for you!

Preset Sharing

You didn't ask for it, and you got it! I've spent the last several months working hard to bring you a feature that I think will be extremely useful to the community. You can now upload presets to the site! These presets can include custom artwork, and demos from either SoundCloud or YouTube. The goal here is to make sharing presets as easy as possible, and I sincerely hope I have accomplished that.

There are a hell of a lot of security concerns involved in letting people upload files to the site. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure people couldn't hack the site, but preventing people from using the service to upload malicious content is even harder. There are just too many different types of presets, so I can't check them all. To weed out miscreants I've limited uploading to just Patrons, developers, and active members of the community that have been here for a while.

If you have had an account here for longer than 6 months, and you've been actively commenting, your account is now automatically enabled for uploading! If you didn't make the cutoff don't worry! The system will continue to enable uploading for people who have been on the site for a year and are actively commenting. If you still can't make that cutoff, and don't want to be a Patron, you can email me and I'll consider you on a case-by-case basis. Now for someone to upload something they shouldn't, they would have to spend an extremely long amount of time to do so.

Right now there is only one preset up there, so I hope there will be a lot more by the end of the weekend! To see if you are an authorized uploader hit this link. If you don't see a message saying you can't upload, then you can!

Now Back to the Important Stuff

As I continue to age disgracefully, I keep trying new and interesting hobbies to avoid golf... or worse, model trains. This year I'm getting into reef keeping. This is the challenging end of the aquarium hobby, which combines fickle saltwater fish and even-more-fickle corals.

There's so much to learn! The hobby demands constant water quality tests to maintain a delicate balance of water chemistry. I'm only one month in and have already had to deal with some serious issues in that regard, but I'm loving it! The challenge is extremely engaging!

So this year, as every year, I ask that if you enjoy the site please become a Patron! (Per Video or Per Month) You get an ad free experience on the site, automatic upload approval, and the knowledge that you are helping me directly! If you aren't comfortable with Patreon, please consider sending me a one time gift such as a gift certificate to Unique Corals (my email address is tim@the most obvious domain name that comes to mind), or PayPal me to help me pay for fish! If I've helped you enjoy the music making hobby, please help me enjoy the reef keeping hobby!

I'm documenting my experience as a novice reefer in a series called Proteus Reef on YouTube. This is a monthly episodic journal of what I've learned and how I deal with challenges along the way. The first episode if up right now, and another will be posted to YouTube at the end of the month. I'm not going to be posting any more of them here, because I can appreciate that most people won't give a fuck about my fish.

Doug Woods fired up the brand new Drone Machine inside of DM2 - Drum Machine!

Video Description:

Please help support thesoundtestroom by becoming a Patreon for as little as $1 a month.
You will also have access to exclusive Patreon only content and videos.

https://www.patreon.com/thesoundtestroom

If you would like to make a donation to help support me and Jo you can use this easy link below.
Many many thanks for your support.

https://paypal.me/thesoundtestroom

Follow The Sound Test Room on Twitter
https://twitter.com/soundtestroom

You can also visit my Bandcamp Page and listen to or buy some of my music.
https://thesoundtestroom.bandcamp.com/

Check Out Doug Woods And Colin Powell At Bandcamp Too If You Like Progressive Rock
https://dougwoodsandcolinpowell.bandc...

ROLI have announced a new NOISEMaker Challenge 3! Contestants in this contest are asked to remix a project file from Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, for a chance to win a Lightpad Block.

Video Description:

Learn more: https://roli.com/stories/noisemaker-c...
Download NOISE: https://roli.com/products/software/noise

Remix the hip-hop sounds of Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA for a chance win a Lightpad Block! In our third NOISEMaker Challenge — which runs until August 31 — we’re thrilled to present a Wu-Tang-style track created by ROLI’s very own Ruben Dax.

Tweak it. Remix it. Make it your own. Then upload your project to NOISE.fm, and you could win a $179 Lightpad Block. It’s that simple!

All the sounds come from “Spoonful of Grit,” RZA’s amazing soundpack for NOISE and BLOCKS. From kung-fu effects to gritty basses, the pack captures the Wu-Tang soundscape of 1990s.

Just follow the directions below for entering this month’s NOISEMaker Challenge:

Here’s how to enter:
- Download NOISE, if you haven’t already.
- Click on the download icon on ROLI’s NOISEMaker #3 project, and the project will automatically be added to your Projects Library
- Remix the project (ie: change sounds, tweak parts, etc)
- Share your remix to NOISE.fm by August 31st

Here’s how you win:
The remixes with the most likes on https://www.noise.fm/ enter the top 20 leaderboard. The remix to climb to the number one spot will win a Lightpad Block — plus two soundpacks of the winner’s choosing. So encourage your friends to Like your track!

Sebastian Resch has been doing Groovebox video exclusively, but now he's taken to Blocs Wave on his iPhone.

Video Description:

Blocs Wave

http://ampifymusic.com/blocswave