Despair no more… Here’s a nice page that will help you all get the right flash version:

http://www.splicemusic.com/flashversion/

We know some people have been having trouble with the sequencer, others have had trouble with the embedded players. Most of these can be solved by checking this page and figuring out what version of flash you have (and updating if necessary).

- bram

A word from the trenches… We’ve been working all day long on mp3 mixdowns and it looks like we’re getting somewhere! As a little preview here are two tracks I rendered as a test:

Airtone’s most splendid Sp2 Tr1 Dub Remix:
Airtone - Sp2 Tr1 Dub Remix

Our very own Crankshaft’s Tactical Battle Loop:
Crankshaft - Tactical Battle Loop (splcv2 remake)

There are some details missing, but still… I think we can start rendering tracks at the end of this week. We know we’ve been stretching your patience, it’s been a long wait, but we’re slowly getting there!

We’re going to be using a new and exciting technology for the rendering called Amazon EC2, which is a little bit like suddenly owning 50 computers for half an hour and having them all do what you want them to do. 100% geek fun for us to play with!

We’ve all been there - you’re just getting into the groove of your new song and suddenly get called away, leaving you an unfinished number that you’re not sure what to do with. Did you know that in Splice you can save your work privately? This lets you go back later on to get it ready to share with others. There are a couple of ways you can do this:

Check this box to make your song PUBLIC.
If you don’t check the box, your song will remain as a private draft.

Or, you can set a default choice for your account. To find this box, go to
Home > Account Settings and scroll down to the bottom.

Ever wonder what you can do to help make it easy and fun to remix music with other people? The best thing that you can do is to help ensure that the right kinds of samples are going into the public pool. This ensures that when you go to make a song, you don’t have to sort through lots of awful sounds that don’t mix right.

So, what kinds of sounds belong in Splice?

• Creative Commons sounds: Basically, if you didn’t make the sound yourself, you have to have permission from the original creator to upload it to Splice. You can learn more about CC licenses here, but in the end, if you’re not sure, it’s best not to upload it.
• SOUNDS, not songs: It’s almost impossible to do anything useful with a completely mixed track, so we generally don’t allow them here, even if it’s YOUR band and YOUR song. The best thing you can do if you want to share an entire song you’ve made is to break it down into different parts: The vocal line, the drums, the guitar, etc. This makes it super easy for someone who wants to do something like change the beat to do so.
• SHORT sounds: You’ve probably noticed by now that the new sequencer doesn’t like long sounds. We don’t, either, really, because long sounds are harder to remix than short ones. If you’re uploading your vocal track, for example, try to split it into smaller parts, like different verses and a chorus. You’re going to get a lot more remix action from the community by doing it that way.

Cleaning up after yourself

Did you know that in the new Splice, you can delete your own sounds and songs? The only rule is that they can’t be in use by another song on the site. So, if you’ve ever accidentally uploaded multiple copies of sounds, or dozens of Work In Progress copies of a song, or maybe even something that’s copyrighted that you uploaded as a test before you understood what CAN be here, now is a great time to go through and clean up your old files. It’s really easy. Just open the sound or song’s info page by clicking the title, and then look for the delete button on the left side.

Community Watch

Another new feature is that you can now flag someone else’s sound or song for being copyrighted or inappropriate. This brings them to our attention so that an admin can delete them if they don’t belong here. Copyrighted sounds are things like mp3s ripped from CDs or p2p sites and are usually things you’ve heard on the radio, but they can also be things like movie quotes and video game music. Inappropriate sounds are things like hate speech or anything depicting graphic violence. We don’t actually delete things just because of bad language… we’re working on a parental advisory feature that will help people avoid those when they wish to. If you see a sound that you suspect shouldn’t be on Splice, please let us know by flagging it. Just click the title of the song or sound and then look on the left (under the speaker) for “Flag as Copyrighted” and “Flag as Abusive” options.

With a little help from everyone, we can keep the sounds on Splice great for remixing. Thanks!

Since the launch of the new Splice, bloggers everywhere have been busily helping spread the word about what we’re doing here. The reviews have been pretty great and we wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time to show us some love.

If you’ve ever been curious about how the new Splice came to be, you’re certainly not alone. Peter Kirn over at createdigitalmusic.com wrote that Splice Music 2.0 Could be First Web 2.0 Music App - which you can Digg, if you’re so inclined - and then got in touch with us to do an interview with our own CTO, Bram de Jong. You can read it here: How Splicemusic.com Has Taken Real Audio Processing to the Web. It’s really a great conversation about the site and I would highly recommend it. Thanks, Peter!!

The fun doesn’t stop there, though. Artswom.co.uk says Splice is back and better than ever, and we had a mention in an episode of JetSet that helps people to learn about Creative Commons licensing. Speaking of which, our friends over at the ever-awesome ccMixter even took a moment to say that the new Splicetotally rocks. High five, CC’ers!

Liz Revision has likened us to MySpace for musicians, and while my french is a little rusty these days, I still remember enough to know that le Collagiste thinks we’re doing a great job. One of my favorite posts recently was by a Larry Ferlazzo, who is recommending Splice to foreign language teachers, and we all giggled when MusicThing said we have “absolutely the finest 404 page ever made”.

And last, but certainly not least, Matt Rosoff did a wonderful review over in the CNET.com Digital Noise: Music & Tech blog:

Even if you’re not interested in creating a song, this is an interesting tool from a business standpoint as well: Splice shows the promise (and limitations) of rich Internet applications. No, you’d never use Splice for serious commercial audio production, but it’s a great way to learn the ropes and create some reasonably sophisticated tracks. This is why Microsoft is spending billions embracing online services and creating its own Flash competitor–it’s impossible to ignore how sophisticated Internet-based applications have become.

It’s really refreshing to see someone who appreciates the future of creative tools on the internet. Thanks so much, Matt!

If you’ve blogged us, or would like to contact someone here for an interview or some more information, we would love to help you. If you send your request to human@splicemusic.com, we’ll get you in touch with the best person here for your story. Thanks again to everyone who has blogged us since the launch!