Tag: music

Fun With UPS Power Units, Part Two

Posted on 2016-02-09 Written by D. Lee Jackson

The advice that I received (thanks!) basically said to go as big as I could when it comes to Uninterruptible Power Supplies. One adviser said he rarely gets three minutes out of a unit rated for twenty. No stamina jokes, please.

So, yesterday I sat down and started researching the cost of said UPS units. Turns out that they start at almost $300, and that’s for a 1500 VA/1050 Watt unit. They also change the number of outlets from what I had (10) to a lesser amount (8), but all of them are both battery and surge protected.

Now, while the change to an all-battery-backed unit might sound good, you’ve got to understand what else I’ve had plugged into the non-battery-backed side of the dead unit. Since I’m a music composer/producer as well as an aspiring author, I have previously laid down some serious money on mix-quality audio monitors—specifically, on a pair of Adam A3X desktop units and an Adam Sub7 subwoofer. These aren’t lightweights when it comes to power draw, and to be honest I don’t need them backed up by a battery.

In short, I’m going to have to move things around a bit and risk letting a bit of 60Hz hum into the system (I’m no electrical engineer, nor can I afford one to come in and set things up so that they share a common path to ground). The computer and video monitors will have to go to the new UPS, along with a couple of low-power synths, while the Adam monitors will have to move over to a new heavy-duty surge/noise protector. Total cash outlay: more than $350.

I just hope my circuit breaker box can handle everything once I’m done.

Questions? Comments? Guidance? Please feel free to use the Contact page. Thanks!

We’ll FedEx Your UPS

Posted on 2016-02-08 Written by D. Lee Jackson

My wife finally managed to help get me going and transfer a new music-centric computer system from our kitchen table to its rightful spot by my computer desk. Took most of the day today. We gathered around the system to see if it would boot in its new location. Step one: turn on the Uninterruptible Power Supply.

Instant fail. The battery backup side of things refused to initiate.

After directing a few choice words at the blasted thing, I started doing my research. Is it under warranty? Not any more—I bought it in 2011. Is the battery dead? Possibly, but replacing it might not help (see below). Is it capable of handling what I’m going to be throwing at it?

Probably not. It’s a 900 watt UPS, and the power supply in my system is a 1000 watt box—specifically, a Corsair RM1000 with Active Power Factor Correction. Translation: it requires an Active PFC-compatible UPS with pure sine wave output.

This is the part where I ask you, my learned readers, for help. I can’t determine what amount of power output I need with the UPS. The dead one was good for up to 900 watts, but I don’t know if that will even work with a 1000 watt power supply, much less the other stuff in it—hence the possible fail with replacing the batteries.

Anyway, here are the system’s contents, aside from the Corsair RM1000:

ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer/USB 3.1 motherboard
GeForce GTX 970 reference video card
32GB DDR4 RAM
Intel Core i7 5930K Hex-Core 3.5GHz
Two 1-terabyte SSDs and one 2-terabyte HDD
Blu-ray burner

Now, based on the above, do I actually need a UPS that puts out a minimum of 1000 watts? I fear that I do, but I don’t want to waste money if I can avoid it. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Just use the Contact page to drop me a line.

Thank you!

Interview With The Cyber Den Now Online

Posted on 2016-01-28 Written by D. Lee Jackson

The interview mentioned in my last post is now available online! Mr. Jake Parr of “The Cyber Den” on Siren FM 107.3 in the U.K. has posted two versions for your listening pleasure, listed below. The first link will take you to the short radio edit of the interview, alongside the rest of his show, while the second link goes to a full version of the interview posted on YouTube. Here they are:

Please stop by and listen to one (or both!) if you have time. I just hope I didn’t insert my foot too far into my mouth. 🙂

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to use the Contact page. Thank you!

Announcement – Radio Interview on Wednesday

Posted on 2016-01-26 Written by D. Lee Jackson

As promised, here’s a slightly large announcement: I’ve been interviewed for a radio program in the U.K.!

The interview will be broadcast sometime between 10:00 a.m. GMT and noon GMT (which translates to between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. CST (my time)) on Siren FM 107.3, a community radio station from the University of Lincoln Brayford campus. Mr. Jake Parr conducted the interview for his show (The Cyber Den), and I must admit that he will probably sound better than I did. 😉

The interview mostly covers my history of writing music for video games (e.g., Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D, Stargunner, and Shadow Warrior), along with some of the voice acting I did during the same period. However, toward the end of the interview, he asked me about the science fiction novel I’ve been writing. I said a few words about it, including the first announcement to the general public of the working title (!).

If you want to listen (and I hope you will), go to Siren FM’s “How to Listen” page and follow the instructions. I’ve been told that a longer version will be posted as a podcast and as a stream on YouTube after the broadcast. If you have any problems trying to listen, please get in touch with me via my Contact page and I’ll see if I can help.

I hope you enjoy the interview. Thank you!