Having been a musician all through the 80s I have recently returned to songwriting and generally "playing around with music". one of the things I found a little frustrating when dealing with today's plugins was /is the hundreds of parameters that these plugins expose - for sure this is great for really being able to tweak as sound to perfection but a lot of the time I simply want to change a sound at a much broader level and searching for a particular parameter to do this was both time-consuming and frustrating. My answer to this was to create a library for a generic library for a growing number of keyboards that exposes the most commonly used parameters (filter, resonance, modulation, etc) in a consistent and "easy to grab" way. This library has grown in popularity and currently has support for over 100 of the most popular plugins in use today!More details on my blog post here:https://gadgeteer.home.blog/2022/07/10/flkey-how-many-third-party-plugin-instruments-have-specific-parameter-mapping-support/

Wrote and published the Chat GPT Book "Let's Talk Chat GPT"

Enjoying writing code to manage the glue between DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) and Control Surfaces - being paid in peanuts (albeit quite large ones).[Also invented the "Dude with a cool haircut" Smiley Face \\:-)]

Development of scripted interfaces for various bits of hardware and DAW systems (primarily FL Studio).Previously did work on a number of early Windows hardware prototype devices - I was one of the first developers in the UK to have an App available on Microsoft's' fledgling Windows Phone system. I subsequently followed the device through its' improvements developing over 100 Apps over the course of a 2 year period.Highlights included a great review on BBC's Click for the Live Tile News App (see media insert below) as well as enthusiastic reviews on Microsoft's own 'Hot Apps' international Internet based show on Channel 9. Subsequently I published a number of Apps available to the Windows store including ports of the successful Phone based 'Gadgets' and 'Live Tile News' Apps.

Taken some time out to Study for the ISTQB Foundation System Tester Qualification

Initially working as a business analyst authoring a number of technical responses to business requirements documents relating to various financial services related applications, subsequently acting as Technical Architect and Lead Developer, bringing projects to fruition in an ASP.Net and SQL Server environment (using SSIS for ETL based work).

Initial work involved writing a paper and subsequently implementing the virtualisation of a number of key servers for development use within CSC and to facilitate off site presentations for Zurich Financial Services. I then worked as an analyst authoring a number of responses to Zurich business requirements documents which were later implemented offshore.

Work involved supporting Zurich’s new ‘SOA Competency Centre’ in providing expertise on the strategic toolsets and initiatives projected for take up within Zurich on a global basis at the time. These include the use of UML, Rational Software Modeller and IBM’s IAA standard. (Insurance Application Architecture). Initial project related work has involved the modelling and generation of WSDL relating to some of Zurich’s proposed systems.

On returning to Zurich I was asked to carry out a number of technical evaluations of key component services to be used as a part of Zurich’s move towards a more ‘service oriented’ architecture. These included an evaluation of strategic “GIS”, “Business Rules”, and “Ratings Engines” as well as making recommendations for other key ‘utility’ services. Practical work carried out during this exercise included the prototyping of a geocoding service, a “Google Earth” interface using MS.Net and an XML Web Service for address validation.

“Motor Insurance”Specification and documentation of a large on line (web) branded Motor Insurance site. My role involved working alongside another technical architect in the preparation and documentation of an XML Web Service based system (and corresponding client test harness) prior to handover to CSC development teams based in India. The Application was architected using version 2 of the Microsoft Enterprise Architecture Design Patterns and Enterprise Code Blocks. Consultant – iMarket (Broker Insurance SIte).Advised CSC on the technical architecture and coding standards in use within its’ outsourcing partnership in India, provided on site liaison with IBM (UK) to ensure conformity with WSDL driven contract, coded key C# components for the resultant application.

Zurich Intranets.Initially taken on to facilitate skills transfer I was subsequently involved in the development of the IT Departments internal intranet system 'ISD Net' covering its 400 IT staff. The success of this system led me to being asked to architect and develop a system for the 4000 staff of its' UK General Business 'Network Z', which ran alongside the Life business' Intranet, developed externally by IBM using Lotus Notes. After a number of years I was asked to join a Director-lead project to facilitate the development of a Global Intranet for Zurich. I subsequently acted as Technical Architect and Lead Developer on the site which utilised Microsoft Content Management Server and MS.Net.“ATLAS” Graphical Information System.Working in conjunction with MapInfo I was involved in the development using VB.Net/SQL Server of a ground breaking system enabling the tracking of accumulated Insurance costs across it's businesses.ARMS (Agency Registration Management System)Lead developer and technical architect of a secure Intranet site developed using C#. I was also responsible for establishing a connection to the Financial Services Authorities’ secure site (in order to download, decompress and import data into Zurich's central Agency management system). Work involved accepting feeds (using IBM's MQ Series) from some of Zurich's Mainframe Insurance systems and the use of SQL Server Reporting Services. All system testing was carried out using Mercury Test Director.

Project work was based around MSG’s on-going “Omiga” Mortgage management system, on which I worked on all three tiers of a web based GUI, XML middle tier, and Oracle/SQL Server back end.

I worked on the front and back ends (VB/ Oracle) of a number of systems supporting the day to day operational requirements of the Company.

During my time at Hyder I worked on a number of Utility oriented systems as both a front (VB) and back end (SQL Server) developer. During my time there I also studied and gained MCPs in Visual Basic Desktop and Distributed Computing.

Initially taken on by the Utilities' Marketing Department to facilitate refactoring o their FoxPro based Customer Contact Management system I subsequently moved to the I.T. arm (Hyder) to assist in migration of the App into a VB / SQL Server environment.

As a part of their internal software house I worked on and supported a number of systems and was involved in the design and development of their 'Farm Business Management' Accounting Package developed using Visual FoxPro.

Working my way up from a temporary junior programming position I worked primarily as a part of the Environments' Information Division developing award winning systems for the County. Subsequent work involved liaison with the Chief Executive developing a revolutionary (for the time) touch based kiosk information system using Visual FoxPro. During my time here I studied for an HND in Computer Studies and MBA at Gloucestershire University.