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destiny-smasher · 4 years

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Always Gotta Don’t Stop (speculating about Smash)

So with Byleth incoming in just a few days, we also got other noteworth announcements that got me pretty excited about the possibilities for what could come to Smash Bros. Ultimate over the next two years. I felt like having some fun and came up with multiple lists using this template by Matthew Lovenzka, and I tried to find a balance between various factors -- perceived popularity (not just with Western Smash fans but that’s part of it), moveset potential (they CAN make a moveset out of anything but Sakurai specifically focuses lately on bringing new mechanics), and also a twist of marketing (since that IS part of it, as Byleth demonstrates).

Long post is LONG, I’m goin’ ham.

First up, just some general predictions for Fighters Pass Volume 2:

Now, I don’t believe we will get Sora AND Geno, but it DOES feel likely we will get another Square character, and those two feel like the most popular picks with people from Square. I could Nintendo trying to get Sora in first and foremost, but if legal complications (or Square just being fussy) got in the way, they might compromise on Geno. I feel like with how big Activision/Blizzard is, they’d want a character in, and if Nintendo likewise WANTED to parley with that, and go for another western-themed pick, Bandicoot makes the most sense. Crash didn’t get into Playstation All-Stars but everyone still inherently associates Crash with the Playstation One, so it’d be a great pick and feel similar to Banjo-Kazooie in a lot of ways. I could see moveset being a little standard but they could probably come up with some fun elements. Given how much emphasis the Crash franchise has put on Coco more recently (made her fully playable in the Crash Trilogy, given her lots of attention in CTR Nitro-Fueled), it would feel in-character and also just be neat if she was added as an alt costume. Capcom: I feel like we’re all expecting a new Capcom rep, and that by no means entails we will get a new Capcom rep, buuut it feels pretty likely. Capcom is on good terms with Nintendo, Ultimate already has plenty of content from them, they even pitched in plenty of new music tracks to Ultimate. The real question is, who would Nintendo want from Capcom, and who would Capcom give their approval on? I would’ve thought Resident Evil a couple months ago, but since we just got RE spirits added, I’m starting to think that if a new Capcom rep got chosen, it must’ve been from somewhere else. (Maybe RE was considered first and they did spirits and all that but then it got cancelled or switched, I dunno). There’s plenty of possibilities, including multiple desired characters who have already been in Marvel vs Capcom. Personally, my money is on a Monster Hunter rep just because the game is so huge in Japan, and recently finally broke through to worldwide popularity. Next, a Bandai/Namco rep. Given that the company works on the series, it’s actually strange to me that B/N costumes from Smash 4 were removed, and we have yet to get anyone new added in. Pac-Man is still the only Bandai-Namco fighter in the game. As for who they’d add, most of the obvious picks might feel redundant (Tekken? Soul Calibur?) but if they went with something like Dark Souls, they could incorporate a stamina managing mechanic, as well as that grim-dark aesthetic (I feel like ONE of these six newcomers will be from a grim-dark game.

A year ago, you wanna know who EVERYONE was expecting to get into Smash? When it was revealed that NINTENDO was deciding the DLC, not Sakurai? Wanna know who everyone expected? ‘The new Fire Emblem protag.’ Which is...exactly what we got. I would say that at this point, we can’t really expect anyone or anything from Smash, but the exception to that rule is to expect a first party, corporate overlords pick. Could be a Gen 8 rep, could be Travis Touchdown to promo NMH3, could be a new Zelda rep to promo BotW2, I dunno, could be a new Splatoon character to promo that series (and whatever is coming next from it) but I feel it in my bones that one of these six will be first party, from a more recent game, basically to just be Nintendo flexing their own brands.

But something we learned over the past year is that they are actively trying to add more franchises and characters via Mii Costumes. So here’s some theories as to what we might get from 1st/3rd party Mii costumes in the couple years to come. It feels like we’ll prolly get more Nintendo themed Mii costumes, and tbh I just feel like with more Pokemon DLC coming, they will want to push that here. Especially if we get a new Pokemon fighter/stage, it would feel natural for them to throw in a trainer-oriented costume.

If we get a new Square rep, which feels likely because Square is just THAT big, then I would suspect we’d get one or two more Square costumes, but I’d expect them to be underwhelming. So, like, bring back the Chocobo hat. Bare minimum, that’s been Square’s creed when it comes to Smash.

While Resident Evil feels like it didn’t make the cut, I could totally see them adding in one or two RE themed costumes as kind of a peace offering for the franchise. Leon/Claire would make sense with the RE2 remake being such a hit, and Leon’s history with Nintendo hardware.

TBH it feels kind of criminal that Chun-Li isn’t in the game in some way outside of a spirit and a music track. At least give that lady a costume, for Din’s sake.

2B is also technically Square, but her creator has been very open about being interested in just...selling her likeness all around. I feel like 2B could be a fighter, of course, like she already is in Soul Calibur 6, but I also feel like if Nintendo was going to aim for a Square character, they’d have their sights set on bigger fish. She would please plenty by appearing as a costume, at least.

OK, so, I have played a Minecraft or two over the years. Hell, I played it WAY back before it was even officially finished/released. I can definitely see the appeal of Minecraft coming to Smash, though more as a stage than as a fighter. I could easily see a Minecraft SOMETHING making its way in, and it is very possible to show up as a fighter, but a Mii Fighter skin feels more likely imo.

So something else that hasn’t officially become a pattern yet but has definitely set up an anticipation is indie games getting their dues with ‘premium’ Mii costumes. So here’s my picks for those. I think three of these are actually still quite possible to be fighters, if IF IF Nintendo is willing to truly throw an indie a bone. But it feels more plausible that that bone would be much smaller, and we’d get popular indie reps in the form of these premium skins with music tracks. I feel like I don’t even need to really explain most of these, but VA11 HALLA is here more because I personally like it a lot, it’s a popular enough visual novel internationally, and it has a banging OST. But tbh if I could decide on a Stardew Valley skin that would’ve gone there instead, just because of how prominent the game is. You could likewise replace Cave Story with Stardew, except I feel like Cave Story was THE indie game that kind of kickstarted this whole ‘indie revolution.’ Tricky part there is the complicated and unfortunate nature of the series’ ownership (essentially taken away from its creator).

The other four, though, I could easily see them as fighters with their own unique gimmicks/mechanics and stages with cool music and aesthetics. The only other indie game/character I could envision more than them is coming up. I feel like if this indie trend continues, one of these is bound to show up.

So Sakurai made a weirdly big deal about the concept of ‘echo fighters’ only to like...add three and call it a day? There’s so much more you could get out of the concept, and as many have discussed, doing an ‘Echo Fighter pass’ (or just piecemeal adding in Echo Fighters) over the course of the next two years would make extra bank, please lots of folks, and not actually take up more resources. The trick is they’d all have to be first party characters from already establishes franchises in Smash, otherwise I just don’t see them happening. To be a proper echo fighter, they would need to be slightly different than another fighter, but different in some way. This usually entails at least one special move being totally different, but it also often entails changing the characters’ properties in some way. To be clear: Tetra - Toon Link, Medusa - Palutena, Octoling - Inkling, Gooigi - Luigi, Impa- Sheik, Dixie - Diddy.

Personally, I think Impa would make the most sense of these to be her own fighter, and she has many forms she could take (pictured above is the Hyrule Warriors version), which tbh could just mean an entirely original, new adaptation, like they’ve already done with Sheik and, arguably, Zelda. But she could totally get away with being a Sheik echo, as well. You can probably imagine differences on your own, but if we were to get more echo fighters added, these are some of the more popular and perhaps plausible picks that might possibly please the higher proportion of people.

So I don’t think any of these feel specifically likely outside of a Monster Hunter rep, and even then, I feel like Byleth essentially got the ‘gimmick’ you’d give to a Hunter fighter (like they got in MvCI), so you could swap the Hunter for a Palico or even a Monster or something, I dunno. I want someone from Monster Hunter, and I want a Monster Hunter stage/music. But I do feel like at this point, anyone feels possible for Smash, so these are picks I would personally DIE OVER, like I did with Mega Man, Lucina, Banjo-Kazooie, and Joker before them. Ones that I personally have great affection for and would main regardless of play style, but which also feel prominent enough and appropriate enough where you imagine them in Smash, imagine many people knowing who they are, etc etc.

ARMS was such a lovingly made game that just didn’t have mechanics deep enough to hold people’s attention in the long run. Which is a shame, because the characters, the world, the aesthetic, it’s all so well done and I adore it. I do feel like we’re bound to get at least one more Ninty rep (probably two or even three depending on how much Nintendo wants to dabble with third parties this go-around), and I feel like ARMS is a franchise worth inspiring interest in. The game did well, it just didn’t do SPLATOON well, and I don’t want Nintendo to abandon it. Give us the four most prominent characters from the game as different skins, use colors to reference the ones who are shaped differently from them, give them a unique mechanic with their arms and the swapping-fists element.

I do think we may very well get an Activision/Blizzard rep, and while I ain’t happy with that company right now, I do think they’re one of the biggest western companies who’s not in the game (Bethesda being another one, who I am also not happy with atm but who has much less defined characters). Tracer would tick many boxes in terms of what I want from a newcomer in Smash. She has lots of personality, she’s a woman (a thing sorely lacking in new Smash characters lately), she has what could be a VERY unique gimmick, and she would help advertise Overwatch 2 and other Blizzard games that have been coming to Switch. Make it so she doesn’t have a Final Smash but has an Ultimate that charges over time (and the Smash Ball just insta-fills it), but make it not as powerful AS a normal Final Smash. Give her Blinks and a Rewind but no traditional recovery, so you have a real intriguing balance between managing her cooldowns to either maximize offense at great risk, or grant very safe recovery but then lack ways to overcome neutral. Tracer’s kit could encapsulate just about everything interesting about competetive Smash gameplay. The only real downside is that Overwatch doesn’t have much in the way of music -- so incorporate other Blizzard stuff to make up the difference. Overwatch already crosses other Blizzard content into it, anyway.

Undertale may have gotten a nod in Smash already, and arguably in the form of one of the most desired characters/tracks added, but I also think the game is big enough of a deal that a full-on fighter/stage as the first indie properly added would feel...I dunno, fulfilling. Appropriate. Not to mention the moveset potential. Whereas Sans is already repped well enough tbh (even the nature of him being a costume FITS his too-lazy-to-actually-show-up-in-person mood), a concept for the actual player character of Undertale has way more potential imo. Not to mention that Sakurai/Nintendo seem much more keen on adding the primary/player character to rep a game before anyone else. Frisk could be played in a dual style: either a hyper defensive passive style that relies on turning the opponent’s strength against them, OR a hyper aggressive rush-down style that is fast and fierce but easily punishable if you make mistakes. The key to creating a truly fitting Undertale rep for Smash would be finding that balance of player choice between peace and violence and working it directly into the character’s kit. HOW you would implement it would be tricky -- ideally, you’d want to reward players for actually committing to ‘Frisk’ style or ‘Chara’ style, and punish them for middling between the two. Not only this, but an Undertale stage would bring with it one of the decade’s most beloved gaming OSTs, and you could probably get people in the gaming world who’d be JUMPING to arrange those tracks for Smash. The stage itself could take many forms but I think one that plays with the various characters and their attack styles would maximize the creativity of the team. If I had to pick one single character/stage to get added to Smash, I’d vouch for this one, probably, and I’d make it either the first of this pass, or the last; it’d have the biggest impact on either end but would be a big deal regardless.

Kat from Gravity Rush is, arguably THE least likely out of everyone here to show up in Smash, mainly because she is a Sony character. Unlike Joker or Crash, she isn’t a third party character who is associated with Sony, she is a Sony-owned character, to my knowledge. But out of every first party Sony character, she makes the most sense to me as a Smash character. She’s cute, cartoony, she has a primary gimmick that a PLATFORMING fighter could take full advantage of (imagine managing a gravity charge to go sideways or underneath the stage for kills, BUT dooming yourself if you mess up), and she would be a real “oh whoa wtf” moment in terms of bringing Sony into the fold. Main problem is, if Sony was to let of their characters in, it would probably be someone else, just because it seems they’ve lost sight of value in this series, unfortunately. Though, tbh, I’d be pretty damn down for Aloy, as well, I just think the stage/moveset wouldn’t be nearly as exciting or new.

Lastly, I want more Splatoon. We all want more Splatoon. I don’t know if the series has gone into hibernation until the next Nintendo hardware, or if a spinoff is coming sooner than we think, or what. But Nintendo knows how big Splatoon is. And the series FEELS big enough over the past decade to warrant more representation. I feel like we’re getting a new Ninty rep or two, anyway, and I’d much rather it be Splatoon than more Pokemon or Fire Emblem or JRPG etc. (nothing against those things, we just HAVE plenty of them). The pop idols of Splatoon have won the hearts of many, and you could definitely come up with a new moveset for them in many ways. It could be a tag-team moveset where the player swaps between them (maybe even on time intervals like a musical performance), it could be music-themed instead of ink-themed, it could be Ice Climbers -esque, I dunno, there’s a lot of possibilities. A Splatfest themed stage with multiple variations could keep things tied to the actual gameplay of Splatoon, as well (or they could do a Salmon Run based one, that mode is INSANE). It would drive up appeal in the brand even further, it would capitalize on the fanservice angle, it would highlight just how much the series has accomplished these past ten years -- for fuck’s sake, there are PHYSICAL CONCERTS YOU CAN GO TO to watch these characters perform. Who the hell else in Nintendo history can you say that for? And these characters are still pretty recent! That speaks a lot. If I had to rally for any first party add, it would be this, honestly. And yet, we already have Splatoon, but I think the brand is fresh enough and fun enough to warrant a whole new fighter.

So that’s my hopes, some predictions, and some shots in the dark.

The past year has been a WILD ride. The next two years will hopefully follow suit.

#super smash bros #smash ultimate #fighters pass #Nintendo #video games

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jessicakmatt · 4 years

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Francesca Lombardo on Working DAWless and Her New Sample Pack

Francesca Lombardo on Working DAWless and Her New Sample Pack: via LANDR Blog

Until the inception of the DAW, music-making was always a very hands-on experience.

As Francesca Lombardo recounts, even the early days of techno and house in London’s late 90s dance scene were almost completely computerless.

It’s something that’s stayed with her over her decades-long experience as a deep house and techno producer.

Today still, she tries to do as much as possible away from the computer screen, leaving only recording duties to Logic and Ableton.

Last week we sat down with Francesca to talk gear, recording, creativity in the studio and the inspiration behind her new sample pack, out on LANDR Samples this week.

A natural on the dance floor and the DJ decks

Lombardo’s start into the world of dance and electronic music was on the dance floors of London’s vibrant 90s rave scene.

When she got her hands on a friend’s DJ decks something changed. She wanted learn more and began to hang out with producers in her scene.

It wasn’t long before she was making music of her own.

Drawing on her classical training in music as a child, she already had the music theory knowledge to write tracks.

When she started working with synths, drum machines, sequencers and MIDI, something magical happened.

“The first time I put my hands on the decks I was actually really good. So I was like why not and it just kicked off.”

“Even in Italy, when I had a music teacher, he had a studio himself, and I always said I love this! You make this music without having to record, and you can make it with all these drum machines and synthesizers.”

What’s so special about analog gear?

The feeling of working with physical hardware is important to Francesca. For her, working off of a computer screen is too limiting.

Years of working with many of the original synths that would eventually define deep house and techno are how she also came to find her personal sound today.

“It’s like playing an instrument, and synths can do really amazing things if you know how to use them.

I don’t like to write with a mouse and keyboard. I’d rather use my hands and touch the knobs, filters, and for me I think it sounds better.”

Of course, there’s still a DAW present within her workflow. It’s a no brainer given how easy it is to record audio in with Ableton and Logic.

But aside from recording, Francesca’s sound and studio setup are mostly DAWless.

She even uses a hardware sequencer for most of her sequencing needs, rarely relying on Ableton’s sequencer.

“I was brought up using analog stuff, I think I can’t detach from that. Some people think you can make music with digital and I’m sure you can. It’s just easier for me when I can put my hands on stuff and record that way.”

Where should young techno and house producers start?

Francesca’s early forays into music production found her hanging out with many of the electronic artists behind London’s early 2000s rave and dance scene.

She learned a lot during this time, even going to technical school to learn about music technology.

It wasn’t long before she picked up the tools she needed to write her own tracks.

Important pieces of gear like the SH 101 synth bass were inexpensive–you could get it and a TR-808 for a few hundred euros.

Today you can’t get hardware for so cheap. Instead most young producers gravitate towards the cheaper and sometimes free synth VST realm for their first tracks.

But to the producer who’s looking to start using analog hardware, Francesca has a few suggestions.

First start with a good synth bass, she suggests. It’s the first step for laying down the foundation of a dance track.

“If you’re doing techno I would definitely recommend a good bass synth. There’s so many out there, the Moog Voyager is one of the best basses you can find and the SH 101 is pretty sexy as well. But it depends on the budget, everything is so much more expensive than it used to be.”

Once you know your way around your bass synth, get a drum machine and then finally invest in a good polyphonic synth that can write melodies and pads–something like the Prophet 6.

While it might be hard to find an affordable SH 101 or a TR-909 on the used market, Francesca agrees Roland’s boutique reissues of these synths are a good option to replicate their vintage predecessors.

“The 909, the SH 101 and if you want something on top for some melodies I’m gonna go with the Prophet 6–even though it’s quite expensive. But the order you should get them is a synth that does a good bass, than get a drum machine and then get a Prophet 6.”

“The Roland boutiques are a good option. People say it is really good, it’s definitely good for live I think.”

What goes into making a sample pack?

Of course, if the cost of picking up hundreds of dollars worth of synths and gear doesn’t make sense right now, you can always find samples of the gear you love.

Francesca’s sample pack is designed to make it easy and fun to put together a dance track of your own.

It’s chalk full of samples that we’re handmade with a selection of Francesca’s favorite synths.

“There’s the Prophet 6 that I love. The Minimoog Voyager, the SH 101 I love them too. I used the Tempest as my drum machine and the Drumbrute as well because it has a nice kick.”

The pack is a kind of palette of colors that gives you the option to create a number of different basic tracks with samples that layer together very easily.

“I started to really play with the synths and harmonizers. It was like a painting at the end, because the loops I made are all connected. I started to play with them and started to make tracks with them and they were working really well. It was like ‘damn it!’ I want to use this for myself!”

Working with vocals and vocal samples

One of the defining characteristics of Francesca’s tracks is the use of her own vocals.

Most producers just use some else’s samples when writing techno and house.

For Francesca, using her own voice in her own tracks adds a personal element to her work.

Vocal inspiration comes in different forms for her, it’s all about capturing them at the right moment–whether a vocal idea is the impetus for a track, or if they’re added after most of the track has been written.

She’s gotten to know her own voice over the years, learning how to get specific tones and timbral qualities out of her recordings.

“I see voice as something separate from the instruments always. It’s very personal.”

“In the tracks I usually use the same setup, I have a couple of templates of presets that I use. My voice is really dreamy so I always use reverb and delay and the right EQ. I use some specific preamps and mics, ones a bit more breathy, one has a bit more bass in it.”

Writing vocal parts in the context of a sample pack was a fun creative challenge for Francesca.

Rather than thinking about how a particular vocal worked inside of one track, it was more about finding interesting effects and creating something that works inside of a wider creative palette.

For the vocals in the pack she made use of delay, reverb and the Eventide Harmonizer to create dreamy and ethereal vocal soundscapes that work perfectly to complement a dance track.

Getting out of creative ruts and finding a workflow

Staying creative while writing any kind of music is challenging–even seasoned veterans like Francesca fall into creative ruts.

For her it’s all about finding a balance between routine and creativity.

“It depends what kind of track it is… Sometimes I have an idea and start with melody. Sometimes I start from voice… If it’s like a dancefloor track I start with kick and bass.”

Dance tracks often follow a formula and while that makes it easier to write from a starting point, there’s always the danger of getting stuck in the same patterns.

Her trick is to stop when she feels like she’s getting into a rut and do something else, whether that’s changing up whatever she’s doing in the studio or getting away entirely.

“I follow a few loose routines, but i don’t follow anything too close or it gets boring.”

“Everyone gets stuck. If you know you’re stuck you need to get away. Sometimes you have to do something else, even if it’s not music like cooking. I mostly get stuck when the track is more than halfway through, when you’re nearly finished that’s when you get stuck.”

The post Francesca Lombardo on Working DAWless and Her New Sample Pack appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/francesca-lombardo-favorite-synths-new-sample-pack/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/626081379808067584

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ultimateseoorg · 5 years

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Visit Cloud Computing: Digital Ocean vs Google Cloud vs AWS for the whole story

This post originally only focused on cost and user experience but after a real world case study and experiment I have some performance data and it is actually surprising.

Teaser here … in a head to head test between AWS and Digital Ocean one of these two out performed the other in

rate of requests handled

number of requests processed

time it took to process each request.

The same winner of those won 10 / 10 speed tests and the results were not close.

The results of these tests convinced a previously skeptical client’s IT team into switching cloud providers.

Scroll down to the section “VPS Performance” to see more about that specific use case scenario. Ultimate SEO has accounts on all but Azure and has powered its servers from AWS, Google Cloud and Digital Ocean at some point. We’ve consolidated to one provider and its the same one who performs best in these tests.

Want to see a spoiler (the answer)? Here is a summary sentence of our tests, or read on and learn why and how they win.

Testing Sites Used

Spoiler

Testing Sites Used

Server Load Testing: Loadimpact.com

Page Speed Testing: GTMetrix.com

Spoiler

Summary

The AWS server costs twice as much and delivers one tenth of the capacity and is the slowest page load in all 10 page speed tests.

The AWS server is unable to complete the full server load testing.

In every instance Digital Ocean out performed AWS.

Comparing Digital Ocean Droplets and AWS EC2 VPS

How Is This SEO?

This may seem off topic but its on topic, technical SEO is imperative … you’re not going to rank number one on Google using Shopify or Wix. It just isn’t going to happen.

Those platforms are not serious enough to deliver the configurability one needs to out perform a competitor.

It’s also apparently difficult to get solid advice on SEO Hosting from “experts” Best Blog Hosting for SEO is junk … reciting features doesn’t make a hosting plan the best…one quote notes that WordPress is already installed with InMotionHosting.com … so what!

Our web servers are preconfigured to install WordPress in every new account as well…it only saves maybe 5 minutes per user but for a web host that time adds up very quickly. So thats not a benefit for the client as much as it is for the host.

You aren’t a web host so it’s not that big of a deal. I’d like to hear about benchmarking tests they may have run to decide who is the best. And we do … but thats later.

I only mention these to point out typically articles covering which ibetter focus on the irrelevant because the author lacks a technical SEO understanding. Well, this isn’t one of those articles.

Features Aren’t Technical Specs

Unlimited bandwidth…sounds great but what are the limits? There are limits, the infrastructure that a site sits on has limitations. If someone uses a CAT5 cable instead of a CAT6 everything will be slower and you’ll find a speed limit there. Bottlenecks are designed into infrastructure by error and these can limit it. Unlimited bandwidth means nothing because there are limits … physical limits exist and can’t be avoided. So “unlimited” is a term being misused a lot in hosting today.

WordPress preinstalled saves someone 5 minutes but nothing else. These aren’t important to the Hosting performance and way too many top articles on SEO hosting confuse WordPress’s selling points with the web host’s infrastructure. That’s what this is all about after all, infrastructure and how it directly impacts a site’s Google ranking.

Google says that over half of all searches are now mobile. Mobile is extra sensitive to speed and technical SEO matters. Thats why its so important to set yourself up with the best infrastructure to build on.

Cloud Computing: Be Your Own Host

The industry standard in web hosting is cPanel. No way around it with cPanel your support opinions are bountiful where as dreamhost.com has its own proprietary server software … its no better in actuality its just far less supported by third parties. Ultimate SEO is hosted on a variety of cPanel servers that were easy to build and deploy, I made them from scratch and with templates but all in all there are 4 AWS servers, 2 Google Cloud Platform and 4 Digital Ocean currently powering hundreds of sites including this site. Cost varies wildly…

Its important to note that your web host is honestly likely run on one of these three services. Godaddy is … if you have their shared hosting your running on this environment. You’re sharing their share of the cloud environment.

Why not just skip ahead and be the master of your domain….sure it will cost more than $3 a month … but that $3 a month hosting plan is shit. You can have a decent VPS server for $5 a month with better performance.

We’re not going to mix apples with oranges though, this isnt about shared hosting plans and a VPS. The VPS will win. A good review between AWS and a traditional hosting provider is AWS vs Blue Host

Amazon Web Services

I don’t even know what I am spending, where and how it is being spent. AWS charges you for everything little thing and no matter what steps you might take it may seem like rising project costs are simply unavoidable.

Their platform to work within is NOT intuitive and it will require some play time to remember that you have to leave the virtual server’s configuration area to select an IP address to then assign it to the server. Then go back to the server and keep working. ( that will cost you money too…each ip address, not talking about bandwidth that’ll cost you too … I’m just saying the ip number ) and then return to that original area to associate it.

Don’t even think about swapping hard drives and knowing what is attached to what unless you are prepared to write down long strings of numbers and letters.

AWS does provide greater flexibility than the others on options beyond just a virtual server…but unless you plan to send 100,000 emails a day to people you won’t benefit from their email service … as an example.

Technical SEO wise I’d give AWS a D overall. Infrastructure and computing power is an obvious A+, but it’s how you interact with that that weighs the grade. More so AWS limits your resources with Throttling and Burstable CPUs … these sound good but the mean we’re only giving you part of the resource not all of it.

Poor navigation and the nickle and dime pricing is absurd. Want to monitor your usage so you can understand your bill? Monitoring costs more…its ridiculous.

They do offer reserved instances and I loaded up on those but still my costs never decreased. AWS is so hard to understand billing wise that IT Managed Service Providers will offer free excel templates to figure out your AWS monthly costs. Think I’m being over the top? Check out this calculator form sheet by AWS to forecast your expenses. It is never simple when you ask how much and are handed a spreadsheet to calculate the server costs.

Heres something crazy…why my April bill was $167 but AWS forecasts it will be $1020 in May I have no idea. I’m not adding servers…

Google Cloud Platform

Is easier to use and wrap your head around but it is considerably more expensive than either of the other options. For this simple reason…they receive an F. The additional costs come with less options and less features than AWS.

Billing is more transparent and you can understand why your bill is what it is at least. But Google also makes unilateral decisions for you like blocking smtp and ssh access. Sure its more secure but it makes email and server maintenance a nightmare. You can add those to nonstandard ports in the firewall but then you have to keep up with an oddity.

Documents like this Connecting to Instances make it seem like not a big deal, but these will not allow you to move a file from your computer to the server like SFTP would.

They are expensive, offer less and needlessly shot you in the foot with their restrictions. Thats why I stand by the F as an overall grade. Now infrastructure capabilities … A+ no doubt about it…but you’re paying a premium and placed into a box.

Digital Ocean

I received no compensation or thank you from anyone for writing this … Digital Ocean is my B+ graded cloud solution. It’s the cheapest, and they don’t seem to charge you a fee for tools that are required for the main product to function, unlike AWS and their static ip addresses.

They have the least ability and options outside of a virtual server. If you want a database server that’s in the works unless you can use Postgres. UPDATE Sept 2019: SQL Databases are now fully supported and available. That’s limiting, but it is also not important if you’re just running a few web servers that will already have MySQL installed on them anyhow (if a LAMP server template is utilized).

Digital Ocean is the no frills, no surprises, cloud computing option. The reason I have so many servers is because I am migrating everything off AWS and Google Cloud to Digital Ocean…it’ll be cheaper. A lot cheaper…we’ll discuss performance in this article.

That’s right… $20 vs $121, $177 and $120 from AWS, GCP and Azure. I didn’t really consider Microsoft Azure just because I have reservations moving into their sphere or control where every thing you need to do is addressed by yet another Microsoft product that usually has little imagination in it.

Test out a server in each environment and I think you’ll quickly take to the Digital Ocean option.

But in deciding the winner of this debate I figure a more scientific method could be used….so let’s divide the debate into areas that can be scored and assessed.

Amazon Web Services vs. Digital Ocean

Ease Of Use

As previously noted, the Digital Ocean’s dashboard is very streamlined compared to AWS. With AWS you have to configure your network, and several other parts such as the keys before you can make a server that’s accessible to the internet. Digital Ocean you can literally have a server running in less than a minute from a single screen.

Base Cost

Digital Ocean’s costs are inclusive of bandwidth, hard drive size, ip addresses and more. Everything you need to have a server is right there in one easy package. Their packages include:

RAM CPUS BAND SSDHD PRICE 1 GB 1 vCPU 1 TB 25 GB $5/mo $0.007/hr 2 GB 1 vCPU 2 TB 50 GB $10/mo $0.015/hr 3 GB 1 vCPU 3 TB 60 GB $15/mo $0.022/hr 2 GB 2 vCPUs 3 TB 60 GB $15/mo $0.022/hr 1 GB 3 vCPUs 3 TB 60 GB $15/mo $0.022/hr 4 GB 2 vCPUs 4 TB 80 GB $20/mo $0.030/hr 8 GB 4 vCPUs 5 TB 160 GB $40/mo $0.060/hr 16 GB 6 vCPUs 6 TB 320 GB $80/mo $0.119/hr 32 GB 8 vCPUs 7 TB 640 GB $160/mo $0.238/hr 48 GB 12 vCPUs 8 TB 960 GB $240/mo $0.357/hr 64 GB 16 vCPUs 9 TB 1,280 GB $320/mo $0.476/hr 96 GB 20 vCPUs 10 TB 1,920 GB $480/mo $0.714/hr 128 GB 24 vCPUs 11 TB 2,560 GB $640/mo $0.952/hr 192 GB 32 vCPUs 12 TB 3,840 GB $960/mo $1.429/hr

Amazon Web Services doesn’t allow an easy comparison. Everything is charged individually it would seem. They have a tool called Simple Monthly Calculator, its a spreadsheet basically … first off if you need a calculator it’s obviously not simple.

To compare something with the $5 option from Digital Ocean I used the calculator and a t2.micro which is 1cpu and 1g ram with a 25 GB SSD drive, with 2 ips and 1 TB of data transferred to the world costs about $21.49 but that’s also after a -11.00 discount … without the discount it was 32.49.

So at $5 to $32

Digital Ocean Wins

But wait there’s more and this is the why you’ll switch to Digital Ocean.

Options

Monitoring and alerts can be configured on both platforms .. both allow scaling up and adding additional storage as well as internal networking. AWS though has an expansive offering of options and wins out in this area.

AWS Wins

Billing Options

Digital Ocean allows for credit cards as well as paypal. AWS allows credit cards and bank accounts. The difference then is Paypal vs Checking Accounts and since this is a cloud computing, tech product … Im going to prefer Paypal to a tool that has been around for hundreds of years. So we’re going to hand it to Digital Ocean.

Digital Ocean Wins

Freelancer Friendly

Each can transfer servers to other accounts. I’ve only been successful in doing this with Digital Ocean and not AWS. The AWS process is more tedious and you can give a server away that you aren’t an admin of anymore but still are responsible for billing somehow. That sucks!

Digital Ocean Wins

Support

AWS only offers free billing support…although if you ask them a tech question they do tell you “as a courtesy” here is an article that might help…but tech support itself is out of your reach for free. Digital Ocean allows you to message them and I’d assume some tech level of support for their platform without charging.

Digital Ocean Wins

So all in all…

The winner is Digital Ocean over GCP and AWS.

but … now an added update to question these assertions…

VPS PERFORMANCE

Testing Digital Ocean to AWS head to head.

Two test servers with the same site exact site tested at the same time on the same tools. In these tests we’re trying to speed up a client’s slow page load speeds. We’re at 97% optimization of the site, we’ve unloaded some sliders but still 5 second homepage loads. We are determined to be at 3 seconds…and we think we have the answer in addressing the client’s hosting infrastructure.

But before we can make the switch, testing had to be done and we had to convince the IT team to look at more than just AWS. As technical SEO “experts” we have to get their buy in to ensure the projects success isn’t discounted because we get viewed as just marketing people.

Below is adapted from communication between Ultimate SEO and the client.

Two Part Question, then price considered.

How many users can the server handle?

EC2 Unlimited – Expensive but it’s just a checkbox away in availability.

Same test on each by loadimpact.com. Simulates 25 users for 3 minutes. Detailed results included after this summary.

Server: Test2 On Digital Ocean

The average response time of the system being tested was 36ms, and 10497 requests were made at an average request rate of 59 requests/second.

Server: Test3 On AWS

The average response time of the system being tested was 481ms, and 4401 requests were made at an average request rate of 25 requests/second.

Findings From Server Load Testing

The AWS Server takes more than 10 times longer to server half the pages requested, at half the rate given to the Digital Ocean server. So it failed before reaching full capacity of the test.

How fast can a typical page be delivered?

For this test we’ll use GTMetrix.com with 1 user 7 tests per server and then an average with the lowest score and highest noted.

Test Run

Test2

Test3

7.0s

7.4s

3.8s

6.2s

4.1s

5.7s

4.2s

4.9s

4.3s

4.7s

2.9s

5.6s

2.7s

5.3s

3.6s

5.1s

3.5s

4.5s

3.4s

4.4s

AVERAGE

3.95

5.38

Ultimate SEO ran the GTMetrix.com tests at the same time, that way it was similar network traffic and each one in its own browser tab. * These tests are not reliant upon our local machine and are just between GTMetrix and the target.

Conclusion

In this test the AWS server adds an average 1.43 seconds over 10 tests. In no test was AWS faster than Digital Ocean. The fastest test for Digital Ocean was 2.7s with AWS at 4.4s. Digital Ocean’s fastest is below our goal, AWS is 1.4 seconds above or 45% more than our goal. GTMetrix gives both servers an A for optimization, meaning neither can be optimized more … its infrastructure and content now. Each site has the same content.

AWS could do better but they appear to “throttle” performance much tighter. Even using C class servers instead of T class resulted in lack luster performance.

If there is anything wrong with my methodology let me know and you’re free to repeat these tests.

Want $50 Credit To Test Digital Ocean? Here is a link, it also gives me a credit full disclosure. Test Digital Ocean Out And Receive A $50 Credit × Dismiss alert

How Does Performance Change When We Test A Web Server that has a separate dedicated Database server

Server + Database Server Configuration VPS

Now that we’ve tested and found Digital Ocean to be the cheapest and fastest VPS lets try some optimizations and see if they provide real world benefits. The easiest to test is the offloading of the database to its own separate server. Since this creates a dedicated database server I choose to build the database on a very small machine. A $5 1 CPU 1 GB Ram server was created from a LAMP server and it was given an internal ip address and placed within the same firewall as the site server which also had an internal ip address. Internal addresses did appear to save connectivity time and avoid firewall involvement.

This shows the blue line … response time as steady and unaffected by the growing requests and users on the site.

The average response time of the system being tested was 33ms, and 8716 requests were made at an average request rate of 49 requests/second.

This wasn’t remarkably better than the original server but that server did show a couple brief spikes where this has none. It would likely only be of real value when large amounts of traffic are experienced.

GTMetrix shows individual page loads are unaffected by the SQL off loading. So the benefit is again only pronounced when many requests are made.

The post Cloud Computing: Digital Ocean vs Google Cloud vs AWS appeared first on Ultimate SEO | Backlinks, Audits & More.

#IFTTT #WordPress #SEO #Ultimate SEO #Ranking #Backlinks #Audit #Keywords

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pkansa · 6 years

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I have long had a fascination with solar-powered watches. As a matter of fact, one of the first watches I bought for myself as an adult was a solar powered (and atomic-clock syncing) one from, you guessed it, Casio. Even though that was about a decade ago, they’re still making those solar powered watches (funnily enough, I just listened to a podcast from Two Broke Watch Snobs about solar watches just today). Let’s see what’s happened in the intervening decade with a look at the Casio Edifice EQB501D-1A.

So, let’s start with one thing – for the remainder of this article, I’m just going to call it the Casio Edifice, because that model name is not one that rolls off of the tongue, now is it? That out of the way, let’s get to the review. For starters, why would you even want a solar-powered watch? Well, for one, you’ve got battery longevity. The one I personally own, I’ve had that for about 10 years, and it’s still on the original battery. Additionally, solar powered gets this watch firmly into the realm of things that a mechanical watch can’t do, which is a good spot for a quartz.

When you add in that the Casio Edifice also has Bluetooth, so it can lash up to your watch? Well, yeah, you’ve got some tech under the hood. Which would explain why this watch is as thick as it is, because the radio, the solar cells, and all that’s required for the functionality of the watch. Speaking of, here’s a quick rundown of all the watch can do:

Time and date (of course)

Dual time, with a quick swap of home and travel time (shown at the 9 o’clock position) via the phone app

Daily alarm

Chronograph

Automatic calendar (up to 2099)

Watch modeling assistance provided by my 5 year old

This is a lot going on, of course. And, if I had one complaint against the Casio Edifice, is that there is a lot going on, and it can be tricky to manage via an analog dial. In fact, for the longest time, with my own Casio, I had a wallet-sized cheat sheet that I carried around just to be able to tell how to switch between functions, and know where I was in the roster of capabilities.

Fortunately, that is ameliorated with the app you use to pair your phone to the Casio Edifice. As shown above (and in the gallery below) the app can tell you what it is you’re doing on the watch. And, actually, you can set quite a few different things (home time, travel time, alarm) on the app as well – so you may not even need to fiddle with the watch a whole lot.

Then again, we wouldn’t be watch folks if we didn’t fiddle around with the watches, now would we? And in that regard, you’ve got plenty to play around with. You’ve got four pushers that drive various functions (the one you’ll interact with the most is over at 8 o’clock, and that wakes up the pairing to your phone). Just don’t try to move that crown, as it’s vestigial. As in, it serves no purpose, and is locked in place.

There’s also plenty on the watch that plays with the light. You’ve got polished surfaces galore (which does mean fingerprints, of course). One of the best comes in the form of the bracelet. With how Casio designed this bracelet, it almost looks like you’ve got two bracelets, one stacked on top of the other. It’s a neat look, and it’s the single feature that attracted the most comments.

Then again, a shiny bracelet probably isn’t the only reason you’re going to the market to look for something like the Casio Edifice. Short of any very specific fitness or outdoors needs, this is a watch that will cover off on most of the bases for many folks. With the high polish across the surfaces, this also means it’s a watch that fits into a dressier setting, which some of the things like the G-Shock and Pathfinder lines (which have similar capabilities) certainly wouldn’t.

With pricing for the Casio Edifice coming in at $300, you’ve got a whole lot of watch coming in for a rather reasonable price, in my book. Sure, there’s no atomic clock or GPS time syncing, but it does lash to your phone – which would be pulling very accurate times. So, yeah, I think this is a great option for someone who wants more than “just another” quartz watch, and appreciates some of the technical wizardry that goes in packing in solar and Bluetooth, as well as all of the other movement capabilities. Or, frankly, even if you don’t care about that, but would like some help from your phone to manage a more complicated watch, this Casio Edifice has you covered.

In regular-sized hands

What about those who are interested in a watch like the Casio Edifice, but don’t see it as daily wear? Well, then, don’t worry, because the Casio solar tech has you covered as well. Once it realizes it’s not getting light, it drops into a low-power mode. At first, this just stops the running seconds, and the main time will keep going. Eventually (I’m presuming here based on my other Casio solar) it will completely stop the hands, while still keeping time. Then, once some light hits it, it springs back to life, and it’s ready for action.

For me, that’s really where watches like the Casio Edifice shine – with quartz and solar, they’re low maintenance, put them on when you want to, sorts of companions. Adding the Bluetooth sync to the phone just sweetens the pot, giving quick time resets, as well as the integrated guides for how to operate this wunderkind. So, yeah, I liked it, and I think this is a good use of some “smart” capabilities. But, just don’t take my word for it. Let us know below, or over in our Slack channel, what you think of the Casio Edifice – I’m curious to hear what others think. casio.com

Review Summary

Brand & Model: Casio Edifice EQB501D-1A

Price: $300

Who’s it for? As I mentioned in the review, this is for someone looking for an affordable watch that brings a lot to the table and is more than “just another” quartz watch

Would I wear it? Yeah, I would – this is a good pick-up-and-go change of pace

What I’d change: I wouldn’t mind seeing the bracelet upgraded to not use collared pins

The best thing about it: How much is actually packed into this case

[amazon_link asins=’B071KF8HDG,B0721SHL5P,B01LP94YR4,B01LY9SC3Z,B06ZZ3ZV7W’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’wristwatchrev-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’75ebaeb3-0b71-11e8-b694-37dc882421df’]

Tech Specs from Casio

100M Water Resistant

Solar powered

Mobile link (Wireless linking using Bluetooth® SMART)

Airplane mode

Dual time (Home city time swapping)

1 second stopwatch Measuring capacity: 23:59’59 Measuring mode: Elapsed time

Daily alarm

Low battery alert

Full auto-calendar (to year 2099)

Power Saving (hands stop to save power when the watch is left in the dark.)

Date display

Regular timekeeping

Analog:3 hands (hour, minute(hand moves every 10 seconds), second)

4 dials (24-hour, dual time hour and minute, dual time 24-hour, day)

Accuracy: ±15 seconds per month

Approximate battery operating time:

Module: 5429

Watch modeling assistance provided by my 5 year old

In regular-sized hands

Spending time with the @Casio_USA Edifice EQB501D-1A #solar #bluetooth #under$500 #review I have long had a fascination with solar-powered watches. As a matter of fact, one of the first watches I bought for myself as an adult was a solar powered (and atomic-clock syncing) one from, you guessed it, Casio.

#bluetooth #Casio #edifice #Quartz #solar

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