Categorie
Digital Audio

Rekord Buddy 2.0: Metadata Syncing Software Goes To Public Beta

It feels like an eternity since Rekord Buddy 2.0 was first announced. The software that promised to sync metadata (cue points, beat grids, loops, ect.) between the top three current DJ platforms (Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor) has been eagerly anticipated for years. After a private beta earlier this year, Next Audio Labs has this week released a public beta version of Rekord Buddy 2.0 that anyone can download – assuming you’re ready to buy.

What Can Rekord Buddy 2.0 Do, Again?

Rekord Buddy 2.0 is music management software with a few special features:

  • Sync metadata between Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor
  • Sync playlists between Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor
  • Organize your library thoroughly using smart lists, filters, and tags
  • Rekord Buddy library file ensures Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor library files will not be corrupted

DJ Software Freedom Of Choice

Rekord Buddy 2.0 Beta Screenshot

A glimpse of the metadata editing screen in Rekord Buddy

Rekord Buddy 2.0 is quite a big deal for digital DJs. This is the first and seamless method of syncing your library’s metadata across multiple platforms. Say you feel like playing on Traktor for one gig then you for your next gig you feel like using Rekordbox on flash drives, with Rekord Buddy 2.0 this isn’t an issue at all. Gone are the days of having to analyze your library more than once, setting beat grids and cue points multiple times, just to have the flexibility to move between different platforms.

The new version of Rekord Buddy makes this process as effortless as possible. Your entire DJ library is imported and all of your metadata is synced across Rekordbox, Serato, and Traktor.

As a DJ who has taken the time previously to analyze my library multiple times, just to have it available in more than one software, this saves a tremendous amount of time. With this software, DJs can be more prepared to play on any of the three major DJ platforms without more investment in library prep time.

Beta: What’s The Catch?

While Rekord Buddy 2.0 is in public beta, it’s a paid public beta. You have to purchase the software before being able to download the beta version. The software license for the beta will extend into the full release version. Cleverly, the current purchase price is discounted to try and entice more people to join the beta.

This will certainly prevent some DJs from joining the beta – but that’s also the point. Next Audio Labs wants beta users that are serious about using the software and willing to actively report on any issues while still in a testing phase. The thinking is: users willing to pay the cost of the software up front are more likely to be invested in the beta process.

First Thoughts: Is It Worth It?

I’ve purchased the beta license for Rekord Buddy 2.0 and have spent some time with it. Unfortunately as part of the terms of the beta I am not able to give many details on the software in its current state.

The software does do exactly what it advertises, and I am completely satisfied with my purchase. Particularly if you’re an organizational nut like myself and/or really into trying all sorts of software, I can confidently say that Rekord Buddy 2.0 is worth checking out.

Editor’s Note: We’ve reached out to Next Audio Labs to see what they’ll allow us to show / tell you all about in the new software and we’ll update this article or create a new one when we get details. 

Autore: DJ TechTools

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

NVIDIA Announces “NVIDIA Titan X” Video Card: $1200, Available August 2nd

In 2014/2015, it took NVIDIA 6 months from the launch of the Maxwell 2 architecture to get GTX Titan X out the door. All things considered, that was a fast turnaround for a new architecture. However now that we’re the Pascal generation, it turns out NVIDIA is in the mood to set a speed record, and in more ways than one.

Announced this evening by Jen-Hsun Huang at an engagement at Stanford University is the NVIDIA Titan X, NVIDIA’s new flagship video card. Based on the company’s new GP102 GPU, it’s launching in less than two weeks, on August 2nd.

NVIDIA GPU Specification Comparison
  NVIDIA Titan X GTX 1080 GTX Titan X GTX Titan
CUDA Cores 3584 2560 3072 2688
Texture Units 224? 160 192 224
ROPs 96? 64 96 48
Core Clock 1417MHz 1607MHz 1000MHz 837MHz
Boost Clock 1531MHz 1733MHz 1075MHz 876MHz
TFLOPs (FMA) 11 TFLOPs 9 TFLOPs 6.6 TFLOPs 4.7 TFLOPs
Memory Clock 10Gbps GDDR5X 10Gbps GDDR5X 7Gbps GDDR5 6Gbps GDDR5
Memory Bus Width 384-bit 256-bit 384-bit 384-bit
VRAM 12GB 8GB 12GB 6GB
FP64 1/32? 1/32 1/32 1/3
TDP 250W 180W 250W 250W
GPU GP102 GP104 GM200 GK110
Transistor Count 12B 7.2B 8B 7.1B
Manufacturing Process TSMC 16nm TSMC 16nm TSMC 28nm TSMC 28nm
Launch Date 08/02/2016 05/27/2016 03/17/2015 02/21/2013
Launch Price $ 1200 MSRP: $ 599
Founders $ 699		 $ 999 $ 999

Let’s dive right into the numbers, shall we? The NVIDIA Titan X will be shipping with 3584 CUDA cores. Assuming that NVIDIA retains their GP104-style consumer architecture here – and there’s every reason to expect they will – then we’re looking at 28 SMs, or 40% more than GP104 and the GTX 1080.

It’s interesting to note here that 3584 CUDA cores happens to be the exact same number of CUDA cores also found in the Tesla P100 accelerator. These products are based on very different GPUs, but I bring this up because Tesla P100 did not use a fully enabled GP100 GPU; its GPU features 3840 CUDA cores in total. NVIDIA is not confirming the total number of CUDA cores in GP102 at this time, but if it’s meant to be a lightweight version of GP100, then this may not be a fully enabled card. This would also maintain the 3:2:1 ratio between GP102/104/106, as we saw with GM200/204/206.

On the clockspeed front, Titan X will be clocked at 1417MHz base and 1531MHz boost. This puts the total FP32 throughput at 11 TFLOPs (well, 10.97…), 24% higher than GTX 1080. In terms of expected performance, NVIDIA isn’t offering any comparisons to GTX 1080 at this time, but relative to the Maxwell 2 based GTX Titan X, they are talking about an up to 60% performance boost.

Feeding the beast that is GP102 is a 384-bit GDDR5X memory bus. NVIDIA will be running Titan X’s GDDR5X at the same 10Gbps as on GTX 1080, so we’re looking at a straight-up 50% increase in memory bus size and resulting memory bandwidth, bringing Titan X to 480GB/sec.

At this point in time there are a few unknowns about other specifications of the card. ROP count and texture unit count have not been disclosed (and this is something NVIDIA rarely posts on their site anyhow), but based on GP104 and GP106, I believe it’s safe to assume that we’re looking at 224 texture units and 96 ROPs respectively. To put this into numbers then, theoretical performance versus a GTX 1080 would be 24% more shading/texturing/geometry/compute performance, 50% more memory bandwidth, and 33% more ROP throughput. Or relative GTX Titan X (Maxwell 2), 56% more shading/texturing/geometry/compute performance, 43% more memory bandwidth, and 42% more ROP throughput. Of course, none of this takes into account any of Pascal’s architectural advantages such as a new delta color compression system.

Meanwhile like the past Titans, the new Titan X is a 250W card, putting it 70W (39%) above GTX 1080. In pictures released by NVIDIA and confirmed by their spec sheet, this will be powered by the typical 8-pin + 6-pin power connector setup. And speaking of pictures, the handful of pictures released so far confirm that the card will be following NVIDIA’s previous reference design, in the new GTX 1000 series triangular style. This means we’re looking at a blower based card – now clad in black for Titan X – using a vapor chamber setup like the GTX 1080 and past Titan cards.

The TDP difference between Titan X and GTX 1080 may also explain some of rationale behind the performance estimates above. In the Maxwel 2 generation, GTX Titan X (250W) consumed 85W more than GTX 980 (165W); but for the Pascal generation, NVIDIA only gets another 70W. As power is the ultimate factor limiting performance, it stands to reason that NVIDIA can’t increase performance over GTX 1080 (in the form of CUDA cores and clockspeeds) by as much as they could over GTX 980. There is always the option to go above 250W – Tesla P100 in mezzanine form goes to 300 W – but for a PCIe form factor, 250W seems to be the sweet spot for NVIDIA.

Moving on, display I/O is listed as DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, and DL-DVI; NVIDIA doesn’t list the number of ports (and they aren’t visible in product photos), but I’d expect that it’s 3x DP, 1x HDMI, and 1x DL-DVI, just as with the past Titan X and GTX 1080.

From a marketing standpoint, it goes without saying that NVIDIA is pitching the Titan X as their new flagship card. What is interesting however is that it’s not being classified as a GeForce card, rather it’s the amorphous “NVIDIA Titan X”, being neither Quadro, Tesla, nor GeForce. Since the first card’s introduction in 2013, the GTX Titan series has always walked a fine line as a prosumer card, balanced between a relatively cheap compute card for workstations, and an uber gaming card for gaming PCs.

That NVIDIA has removed this card from the GeForce family would seem to further cement its place as a prosumer card. On the compute front the company is separately advertising the card’s 44 TOPs INT8 compute performance – INT8 being frequently used for neural network inference – which is something they haven’t done before for GeForce or Titan cards. Though make no mistake: the company’s GeForce division is marketing the card and it’s listed on GeForce.com, so it is still very much a gaming card as well.

As for pricing and availability, NVIDIA’s flagships have always been expensive, and NVIDIA Titan X even more so. The card will retail for $ 1200, $ 200 more than the previous GTX Titan X (Maxwell 2), and $ 500 more than the NVIDIA-built GTX 1080 Founders Edition. Given the overall higher prices for the GTX 1000 series, this isn’t something that surprises me, but none the less it means buying NVIDIA’s best card just got a bit more expensive. Meanwhile for distribution, making a departure from previous generations, the card is only being sold directly by NVIDIA through their website. The company’s board partners will not be distributing it, though system builders will still be able to include it.

Overall the announcement of this new Titan card, its specifications, and its timing raises a lot of questions. Does GP102 have fast FP64/FP16 hardware, or is it purely a larger GP104, finally formalizing the long-anticipated divide between HPC and consumer GPUs? Just how much smaller is GP102 versus GP100? How has NVIDIA been able to contract their launch window by so much for the Pascal generation, launching 3 GPUs in the span of 3 months? These are all good questions I hope we’ll get an answer to, and with an August 2nd launch it looks like we won’t be waiting too long.

Autore: AnandTech

Categorie
Gossip

‘I’m very excited’: Liam Payne signs solo deal as fans worry about his One Direction comments

Cheryl’s man is starting a new chapter

Liam Payne has announced some pretty huge news – he’s officially signed a solo record deal.

The 22-year-old One Direction star made the revelation to his Twitter followers last night and spoke of how much he’s looking forward to getting started with Capitol Records.

‘Happy to have signed to @CapitolUK. They have an amazing history of artists, I hope I can follow in their footsteps,’ Liam posted.

‘One direction will always be my home and family but I’m very excited to see what this chapter brings.’

He also said in a statement that he’s keen to ‘show what I can do as a solo artist’.

Nick Raphael, president of Capitol Records UK, adds: ‘It’s not often you get the chance to sign such a talented and ambitious 22-year-old who has already conquered the world.’

Liam is the latest member of 1D to embark on a solo career after Harry Styles signed up with Columbia.

Meanwhile former bandmate Zayn Malik has already conquered the charts on his own since leaving the group last year, having released debut album Mind Of Mine a few months ago.

Liam’s news has certainly got the Directioners talking and, whilst many are excited about his upcoming venture, others are concerned that his remarks about 1D mean the band are never getting back together. Like, ever.

The hashtag #OneDirectionIsOverParty started trending on Twitter as worried fans questioned whether it’s all over…

And the idea that One Direction might NOT come back has clearly come as quite a blow to many…

Yikes. There’s been no official word that this IS the end of 1D though and lots of fans are trying to spread this message.

There’s no word yet on when we might expect to hear new music from Liam but it looks like both he and girlfriend Cheryl could have records on the way, with Chezza teasing her fanbase about making more tunes in recent months.

Exciting times for Chiam – but uncertain ones for One Direction fans.

Anna Francis

Autore: CelebsNow

Categorie
Energia

Detrazioni 65%, nelle FAQ ENEA chiarimenti per gli amministratori di condomini

Nel caso di interventi per aumentare l’efficienza energetica nei condomini, quale documentazione va predisposta e inviata all’ENEA? La risposta è in una delle FAQ pubblicate dall’agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo sostenibile. Il documento.

Per usufruire delle detrazioni fiscali cosa occorre inviare all’ENEA? E come sapere se la domanda è stata accettata o meno e se si può procedere alla detrazione? Questo è solo uno dei 45 quesiti a cui l’ENEA risponde con la pubblicazione delle FAQ sulle detrazioni fiscali (vedi pdf allegato in basso).

Tra queste, chiarimenti anche per gli amministratori di condominio (quesito 13): nel caso di interventi per aumentare l’efficienza energetica, quale documentazione va predisposta e inviata all’ENEA?

Nel caso di interventi su condomini o comunque su edifici con più unità immobiliari – risponde l’ENEA – occorre distinguere i diversi casi che si possono presentare:

1) Nel caso di interventi che non comportano la sostituzione di impianto termico:

a) in parti comuni del condominio:

se l’impianto termico è centralizzato occorre predisporre un unico allegato “A” e un allegato “E” del decreto attuativo per l’intero edificio. La richiesta di detrazione può essere inoltrata dall’amministratore o da un tecnico abilitato indicando il numero di unità abitative oggetto dell’intervento ed il costo complessivamente sostenuto;

se gli impianti sono autonomi consigliamo invece di predisporre un allegato “A” e un allegato E per unità immobiliare; in particolare, nell’allegato E da predisporre per ciascuna unità immobiliare si considererà la quota parte di intervento sia in termini dimensionali, sia in termini di spesa, sia in termini di risparmio energetico applicando i millesimi relativi all’intervento sostenuto.

b) sul singolo appartamento:

se l’impianto termico esistente è centralizzato, consigliamo di predisporre un allegato “A” facendo riferimento, per l’involucro edilizio, al singolo appartamento e, per l’impianto di riscaldamento, a quello centralizzato; inoltre va predisposto l’allegato “E” per il singolo appartamento;

se l’impianto è autonomo, occorre predisporre gli allegati “A” e “E” per il singolo appartamento.

2) Nel caso di interventi (terminati dopo il 15/08/09) che comportano la sostituzione di impianto termico con altro non a biomassa (per il quale caso specifico si rimanda alla faq 27):

se l’impianto termico è centralizzato, occorre predisporre unicamente l’Allegato E riferito all’intero edificio. La richiesta di detrazione può essere inoltrata anche dall’amministratore o da un condomino qualsiasi, specificando che la richiesta viene fatta anche a nome di altri, indicando il numero di unità abitative oggetto dell’intervento ed il costo complessivamente sostenuto;

se gli impianti sono autonomi, occorre predisporre un Allegato E per singolo appartamento.

3) Nel caso di interventi ai sensi del comma 344:

a) se l’impianto termico è centralizzato occorre predisporre un unico Allegato “A” e un Allegato “E” per l’intero edificio;

b) se gli impianti sono autonomi consigliamo di predisporre un Allegato “A” e un Allegato “E” per unità immobiliare. Per quanto riguarda il valore dell’Indice di Prestazione Energetica per l’intero edificio che deve essere minore di quello limite riportato nelle tabelle 3 e 4 dell’Allegato “A” al Decreto 11 Marzo 2008 e s.m.i., riteniamo che questo debba essere calcolato come media di tutti gli indici delle varie unità immobiliari pesati sulla singola superficie o volumetria”.

Le FAQ complete (pdf)

Autore: QualEnergia.it – Il portale dell’energia sostenibile che analizza mercati e scenari

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

NVIDIA annuncia la nuova GeForce Titan X: dal 2 Agosto per 1.200 dollari

Arriverà sul mercato tra meno di 2 settimane GeForce Titan X, la nuova scheda video top di gamma che NVIDIA ha annunciato ufficialmente quest’oggi sul proprio blog online. Si tratta della scheda che prenderà il posto del modello Titan X attualmente in commercio, mantenendone il nome ma con importanti novità per quanto riguarda le caratteristiche tecniche.

Partiamo dal chip video che sarà quello GP102 basato su architettura Pascal, dotato al proprio interno di 3.584 CUDA cores con frequenza di boost clock di 1.530 MHz. A titolo di confronto la precedente scheda Titan-X è dotata di GPU con 3.074 CUDA cores a 1.080 MHz di clock. La memoria video resta sempre con capacità di 12 Gbytes ma si passa ora a tecnologia GDDR5, per una bandwidth dichiarata di 480 Gbytes al secondo: la frequenza di clock effettiva è quindi di 10 Gbytes al secondo, lo stesso dati di GeForce GTX 1080 che però vanta un bus memoria da 256bit contro i 384bit di GeForce GTX Titan X.

geforce_gtx_titan_x_600.jpg

Questa novità contribuiscono, secondo i dati rilasciati da NVIDIA, a fornire prestazioni velocistiche che aumentano sino al 60% rispetto alla precedente generazione di scheda Titan X. Nella tabella seguente abbiamo riassunto le specifiche tecniche delle schede GeForce GTX della famiglia Pascal attualmente in commercio, accanto a quelle del modello GeForce GTX Titan X che verrà sosttituito dalla nuova arrivata.

Modello

 GeForce GTX Titan X GeForce GTX Titan X GeForce GTX 1080 GeForce GTX 1070 GeForce GTX 1060
GPU GP102 GM200 GP104 GP104 GP106
CUDA cores 3.584 3.072 2.560 1.920 1.280
clock GPU ? 1.000 MHz 1.607 MHz 1.506 MHz 1.506 MHz
boost clock GPU 1.530 MHz 1.075 MHz 1.734 MHz 1.683 MHz 1.708 MHz
ROPs ? 96 64 64 48
TMU ? 192 160 120 80
clock memoria 10.008 MHz 7.008 MHz 10.008 MHz 8.000 MHz 8.000 MHz
dotazione memoria 12 Gbytes 12 Gbytes 8 Gbytes 8 Gbytes 6 Gbytes
bandwidth memoria 480 GB/s 336 GB/s 320 GB/s 256 GB/s 192 GB/s
architettura memoria GDDR5X GDDR5 GDDR5X GDDR5 GDDR5
bus memoria 384bit 384bit 256bit 256bit 192bit
alimentazione ? 8pin+6pin 8pin 8pin 6pin

Il chip GP102 integra al proprio interno un totale di circa 12 miliardi di transistor, secondo quanto anticipato da NVIDIA. La potenza di elaborazione massima teorica che viene dicharata è di 11 TFLOPS con calcoli FP32, dato al quale NVIDIA affianca quello di 44 TOPS INT8 che è una nuova metrica che valuta le prestazioni nell’elaborazione di istruzioni in deep learning inferencing.

La scheda sarà in vendita dal 2 agosto al prezzo, tasse escluse, di 1.200 dollari: si tratta di fatto di un listino pari al doppio rispetto a quello delle schede GeForce GTX 1080. Le vendite inizieranno in nord America e in Europa da subito, mentre seguiranno in un secondo tempo in Asia, attraverso rivenditori selezionati e dal sito nvidia.com. la cifra è indubbiamente molto elevata nel complesso, superiore ai 999 dollari ai quali sono storicamente state proposte le schede Titan a singola GPU che NVIDIA ha presentato sul mercato nel corso degli ultimi anni.

Autore: Le news di Hardware Upgrade