Announcements

So the new site is finally finished, ready to go, and it's live now!

It's been a TON of work to redo the entire site with a truckload of new content, better features, better organization, better skinning/design, and just about no part went untouched, at least in one way or another.

So. We're live with zero downtime. ;)

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Well, this is the new Renegade Minds web site. While it looks substantially the same for the moment, there are a huge number of changes. In fact, it's pretty much new from the ground up. It will also allow new functionality and expand what we can do here.

 

The new Guitar & Drum Trainer v4 is now available as an Open Beta. Major new features include: 1) the ability to save slowed down music and pitch shifted music as FLAC audio files or as MP3 files with the optional LAME.EXE encoder, 2) filter instruments with a karaoke style vocal remover to remove center panned audio or non-center panned audio, 3) new stereo 31/31 band EQ perfect for filtering out instruments when combined with the new vocal removal features.  read more ...

Just a quick note that GDT v4 is going well and should be released in April. There are currently 2 issues that could prevent some functionality from making it in there, but they aren't insurmountable, and only 1 is a major feature that may be delayed significantly, though it is looking good so far.  

This is a good award to win because it's from real music people and they don't give them out like candy as many other download sites do. An award that's really worth something! :)  read more ...

This release fixes an important bug in the web automation interface that caused it to fail. It also fixes a bug in the About box.  read more ...

For the third year in a row, Guitar & Drum Trainer has been nominated in the Shareware Industry Awards. This time in the Best Vertical Market Program or Utility. Other nominations in the category include "Help & Manual" by EC Software (an excellent program that I use), and VMware Workstation by VMware (another excellent program that I use). The competition there is intensely fierce. Please wish GDT good luck!  read more ...

GDT v3.3.3 fixes a couple minor bugs.  read more ...

GDT v3.3.2 is out with a few bug fixes and some new color schemes for the waveforms and EQ visualizations.  read more ...

The new GDT adds is FLAC and WMA support along with new waveform visuals and a few other niceties.  read more ...

The v3.2 beta is finally available with support for Windows Vista. Please read the blog entry for the download link and some important information. read more ...

If you're wondering about GDT and Vista compatibility, it's on track now and should be available soon. See the blog for more information.  read more ...

GDT v3.1.6 is a maintenance release with some improved behaviours to make life easier. You can now stop GDT and set loop points. There are also a few other improvements and minor bug fixes. Just install it over top of your current GDT installation.  read more ...

Yet another cool utility to help you on the web. The Renegade CSS Scrollbar Color Designer is a fast and easy way to create stunning CSS scrollbar color themes for your web site. The only thing missing from this software is your imagination - download it today to make it complete with your web design talents!  read more ...

The Renegade PayPal Batch Encrypted Button Generator was released about a week or so ago, and I'd say it's successful so far. It's a great way to do things faster, especially if you like to offer discounts like I do. There are more things I have planned for it, but a few projects are first. But this will be an ongoing project as I improve things at Renegade Minds and add in some better functionality. If you're an Internet marketer, you really should check it out as it is a great way to save time and offer some cool Internet marketing methods. read more ...

Guitar & Drum Trainer v3.1.4 introduces some graphical improvements to the GDT interface. 

GDT v3.1.3 fixes a display bug that may cause the GDT main window not to appear. This problem has been verified in 1 case with 2 other reported cases, and is quite rare. However, updating to the latest version is recommended.  

This year GDT won the SIA Best Application Using .NET for the second year in a row, then later at a private party as a complete surprise I won the Silver Faucet Award. Read on for more about the night and pictures.  read more ...

A new video tutorial is available to show you how to use the EQ visualizations to find notes. A short and simple techno groove serves as the music.  read more ...

Guitar & Drum Trainer 3.1.2 fixes 2 small issues (a rare window position issue, registration issue) and adds 1 minor option in the preferences to reset window positions. The nForce workaround is not yet addressed.  read more ...

I recently did an interview with All & Mike at The Project Studio Network. You can hear the podcast directly here or visit The Project Studio Network. It's worth subscribing as they have a great show. I've been listening for a long time and love the show, so it was a real treat to be on it! read more ...

You can now choose between using the left/right mouse buttons for start/end loops points or just left click and drag to set a start and end loop point. Keep the mouse on the top of the wave for click & drag loops. Also, click below and drag to the top half to set only an end loop point, or click and drag to the bottom for a start point.  read more ...

Now you can practice faster, and Faster, and FASTER! The Speed Trainer let's you gradually increase the speed of a loop however you like. You can loop at the same speed multiple times then speed up, or even slow down.  read more ...

A small bug in the installer caused the GDT Tips to freak out a bit when clicking the close button. This is now fixed.  

It's official! GDT v3.0 is out of the gates. The new version lets you see the music and find notes with some very powerful tools. There's more than one way to do most things, so finding what suits you is easy. More intuitive, more power, more of everything. If you liked GDT before, you'll LOVE GDT now!  read more ...

The GDT v3.0 closed beta tests are over. Bugs are fixed, and new functionality is added, and new features planned. And the feedback for the new GDT is completely off the hook! The pre-release has been made available to all licensees and the public release is coming in the next couple days.  

I've been just far too busy for far too long, and a program that I've had ready for months just isn't ready. The Renegade Audio Converter has been ready for at least 4 months, but I just haven't had time to make the installer. A couple dumb problems with the installer have put me behind a stupid amount of time, and there's nothing I can really say about it other than... DOH! It hasn't helped that I've been working on the next version of GDT, but that's no excuse. I'm hoping to get the next version of GDT done and with any luck, the gods of fate will smile on me and help me to turn out a decent installer for the new audio converter. Wish me luck~!  

Version 2 of the Renegade Email Protector is now available. It's actually been done for a while (months) but I've finally released it. Anyways, if you have a web site and want to post your email address, you need the Renegade Email Protector to protect you from getting onto spam lists. The new version protects email address 4 different ways and can even protect HTML. Simple to use, but necessary for web masters.  read more ...

Well, other than 1 very small glitch that only affected 1 person, the server transition was flawless. Everything is working 1,000% better than it was and I'm happy to say that work on some other projects is going well. Cheers~! 

Renegade Minds has moved to a new server in order to provide more reliable services and yadda yadda yadda... In short, the old serve stunk. It was slow, didn't work properly, and the administrators and support staff just didn't care. Service outages were very common and things kept breaking. So, here we are. On a nice, bright, shiny new server where hopefully things will work better :) In the meantime, there may be some email failures, so please use the Contact form to send email. Cheers~! 

Those who follow the software scene would be hard pressed not to hear of Dr. File Finder (Michael Callahan). Anyways, he's published an article I wrote about "What's On My Desktop?" at Tucows.com. It's a series of articles from software pros about the software that they use. You might note that I'm a bit long-winded... And that was the MASSIVELY cut down version :) Have a read. Hopefully you'll find it informative and amusing.  read more ...

I've added a major expansion to Renegade Minds at http://renegademinds.com/lyrics/ where you can find lots of music lyrics for all kinds of songs. You can even add some if you are feeling so inclined :) I hope you enjoy it and gets some good use out of it.  read more ...

I've added a lot of new pictures to the Soju Dreams. If you're looking for a humorous look into life in the Republic of Korea, you've got to have a peek :)  read more ...

For a departure from the regular Judas Priest fare, I've posted a GDT song config file for System of a Down's Aerial with guitar tab and bass tab.  read more ...

I've posted a new GDT song config file for The Ripper by Judas Priest along with the tablature for it. Check the forums for it. read more ...

You're probably wondering what these have to do with each other, well, not much, but what it does show is how .NET is becoming more accepted on the desktop. If you're running Renegade Minds software, then you're already ahead of the pack :)  read more ...

Well, I needed to protect some email addresses from spambots, so I whipped up a quick utility to help obfuscate email addresses on the web and make them invisible to spambots. There are 2 ways to do it, so you've got both with the Renegade Email Protector~!  read more ...

A minor update for GDT is now available. While there were no bugs to fix, there were a couple minor functionality additions: 1) Options to overwrite or keep EQ and loop settings when loading a GDT song config file, 2) Help file, Yes - a *real* help file :), 3) Minor issue with toolbar and changing styles fixed, and 4) Double clicking a GDT song config file in Windows Explorer now opens it and the MP3/OGG/WAV in GDT. Make sure to uninstall the old version before installing the new update. And as always, enjoy!  read more ...

The new version of Guitar and Drum Trainer is online now and ready for you to rock. There is a lot of new functionality and some very cool things you can do with it to learn guitar, drums, or any instrument.  read more ...

In preparation for the new release of Guitar and Drum Trainer, I've put some new forums online. There's a section for "Renegades" where licensed GDT users can post song files. There is also a tech forum for techical questions on tutorials and programming topics. Enjoy~!  read more ...

The next version of Guitar and Drum Trainer is almost ready, and here's a quick peek of some of the new toys you'll find in it. Yes - more toys are on the way, but for the sake of getting GDT out to you ASAP not all of what I want to get in there will be available immediately in this release.  read more ...

I've added a bunch of new Soju Dreams. If you haven't visited the Soju Garden, you really must do so. Some of the new pictures include t-shirts with bizarre poems on them, onion drinks, and just the most wacked out silly crack-baby wierdness you can imagine. Look for "Love quietty comes long in time" - and it only gets better.  read more ...

Book your tickets now for flight 666 if you want to travel with Bruce Dickenson for an Iron Maiden concert in Reykjavik. Sounds like one Hell of a good time! I can just image all those stewardesses now... Got to love Women in Uniform!  read more ...

I figured it was about time to start updating some new resources (click the Resources link or "read more..." below). There are some really good guitar programs out there, so check out the resources. I can pretty much guarantee that there is at least 1 thing in there that you could really use even if it's not for guitar. I'll try to add more over time. (P.S. Panasonic SUCKS!)  read more ...

If you're read my last blog, you already know that Panasonic sucks. Well, I'm not satisfied with just that...

I'm quite fed up with companies behaving dishonestly, unethically, and abusing their customers in the most underhanded ways. So, I've started a new site appropriately named PanasonicSucks.org. It is just a skeleton at the moment with only 1 page, but over time I hope to build it up.  read more ...

Every company has defective products occasionally, but the difference in how they deal with it is what makes all the difference in the world.

This is my mini-horror story with Panasonic (Panasonic sucks hard), and a comparison with Seagate, an infinitely superior company that knows how to deal with its customers.  read more ...

Free guitar tuner! The Renegade Guitar Tuner is still in beta, and was going to be a new feature in Guitar and Drum Trainer 2.1 (delayed), so I've released it on its own instead. It's a digital guitar tuner, and the only thing you need is a mic or a small adapter to plug your guitar into the mic jack of your sound card. You'll also need the .NET Framework v1.1. Enjoy! read more ...

This short article shows you how to quickly use a batch file to dump file and directory listings into a text file and open it with Notepad - all in a single click!  read more ...

Fourth and last in the series, this article quickly shows you how to setup No-IP DDNS services so that you can easily use a domain name to connect to your remote PC.  read more ...

Third in the series, this article quickly shows you how to setup RealVNC so that you can access your PC remotely. read more ...

Continuing the Tips & Tricks article on accessing your PC remotely, this article shows you how to install RealVNC. This is the second in the series. read more ...

BlankSheetMusic.net is a fantastic resource that anyone who uses Guitar and Drum Trainer will really appreciate. It can help you easily print attractive and easy to use blank staff music sheets for transcribing music with GDT or writing your own music.  read more ...

I'm still plodding away on v2.1, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. There are 2 minor bugs that will be fixed as well. Remember to drop me a line as I'm trying to get as many "requests" in as I can without delaying too much. read more ...

I finally got around to giving Renagade Minds a MUCH needed facelift. It's far from perfect, but I've always maintained that I suck at design. I hope everyone likes the new design... Drop me an email to tell me if I should just shoot myself or not. (Email address in in the Support page when logged in.) 

A new Resources section has been added. The first section is dedicated to Guitar and Music resources. More will be added later. Check it out for some great resources on the net. The purpose it to point to valuable things on the Internet that you will find useful.  read more ...

This articles shows how to get and display all the HTTP headers available in ASP and ASP.NET. Using headers will be covered in future tutorials.  read more ...

Learn how to add a web browser to your VB.NET application, fill inputs programmatically, submit web forms automatically, and manipulate HTML through the DOM with MSHTML. This sample application and tutorial is for VB.NET developers.  read more ...

100% rewritten from the ground up, a 16 band EQ and looping are just a couple of the major improvements. Now works on other Windows versions. Guitar and Drum Trainer 2 is for musicians to slow down music and pitch shift music to easily learn new songs by ear.  read more ...

A whole bunch of new Soju Dreams have been added. Make sure to check out the ones for all you can drink and free beer. Seriously. Also added a couple BJ places. No. Really... Seriously... You've got to see this... read more ...

Anti-Keylogger for IE and the accomanying code generator is now available for purchase. Visit the demo and see just how powerful Anti-Keylogger for IE is, and how it can protect your customers, even if they are already compromised by trojans and keyloggers. read more ...

Anti-Keylogger for IE is a secure input to protect web site visitors from having valuable information stolen by key loggers and sent to hackers.  read more ...

As promised, Email Avenger is now available for anyone, and not just developers. Email Avenger is a free emergency email utility to send email when you can't access your email account. You can send email to anyone from any email address, and all without an email account, email address, or email server. read more ...

Guitar and Drum Trainer version 2 will be out soon. Version 1.1 was complete scrapped in favor of a much better solution. In Guitar and Drum Trainer v2 there will be a lot of new things added, so make sure to check back soon. 

Well, we had a few problems, but now we're back online with most things available. The Soju Garden is still on the TODO list, but we'll get it back up for you soon. Also on the TODO list is a new look and a v1.1 beta of the Guitar and Drum Trainer will be available soon.