Jim Fiore's Stuff

Welcome to Jim Fiore's sub-pages

Depending on who you are, you may be interested in what I do.

Things I do professionally:

I am the resident dissident. Since I created this company, I got to choose whatever title I wanted. Owner was too dull. CEO was pretentious. Chief Poobah, while appropriately disrespectful, was just too dumb. Some people suggested resident dissident president, but that's a mouthful, so the resident dissident I became. Bottom line: I write software. This includes all of the commercial software offered by dissidents on this site. My main area of research interest is weird DSP (digital signal processing), primarily interesting and unique mutations of audio. YES, I genuinely like this stuff! I'd much rather design a new spectral warping algorithm than watch some inane game show on TV. The first one puts energy in you, the second one takes it out.
I teach courses in Electrical Engineering Technology at Mohawk Valley Community College. These include DC and AC circuit theory, linear semiconductor circuits (i.e., transistor theory), operational amplifiers, and programming courses. I also teach Web-based on-line courses covering audio systems and embedded C programming (available to just about anyone with a computer and the appropriate background).
I write instructional and informational material. This includes an electrical engineering technology text book and dozens of articles in the past 15 or so years for publications such as The C User's Journal, Amazing Computing, Amiga World, Modern Drummer, Electronic Musician, and others. Along with these are the user's manuals for software products such as Sample Wrench. I recently finished the the second edition of my Operational Amplifiers and Linear Integrated Circuits: Theory and Application text. There is a companion lab manual, and the publisher also has a companion web site. This text was recently translated and is now available in a Spanish language version.
At one time I used to design PA systems and loudspeakers, but I generally don't have time for that these days. (Trivia note: that's how dissidents got its start.)

Things I do for the love it:

Almost anything with my wife (the rare exception includes moving furniture around the living room, but then that's hard-coded into most men's DNA who'd be happy to leave things as they are for the next 30 years so long as there's a recliner with a good view of the TV).
Running. I prefer longer distances (10k and up). There are some nice races in the area I like to do, including the SUNY-Tech 5k in May, the Boilermaker 15k in July, and the Falling Leaves 14k in September. To get more info on running in Utica, check out the Utica Roadrunners site. Running is very popular around here. The Boilermaker is the largest 15k in the country (approximately10,000 entrants), but you can almost always find more modest races with just a few hundred entrants. The Boilermaker attracts top international talent and has been rated as the most competitive 15k road race in the world for the last few years. One thing I like about running is the lack of an "object". There is no ball, bat, net or goal, so the focus is entirely on the runners themselves. There are no complicated rules, referees or judges, and there can be a lot of personal drama. Besides, it's very healthy- being one of the most efficient ways for the average person to stay in shape.
Biking, hiking, kayaking, cross-country skiing and other muscle-powered endeavors.
Music. "Music is the best" said Frank Zappa
Drawing cartoons. I'm not very good at it, but I like it. Some of my stuff can be seen on this site (yes, I drew "the doggie" on the home page).

A few personal words about software from dissidents

Software from dissidents is basically an outgrowth of stuff that was needed for consulting work, projects, and research activities. Thus, this software is decidedly not driven by a marketing department. The primary concerns have always been accuracy, flexibility, and usability. Consequently, dissidents products tend not to follow certain industry fads, particularly in the areas of excessive graphics and feature-driven marketing. For example, the waveform display on Sample Wrench is modeled after a good digital storage oscilloscope display. It is a true peak-to-peak reading graph that never skips over data (you might be surprised at the number of commercial products that do skip over data. Check out spikey.zip on our downloads page). Sample Wrench also allows you to look at virtually any part of the waveform at any magnification. A lot of other tools give you limited zoom and pan controls. Similarly, the DSP functions have been crafted with attention to accuracy, or as some people might call it, musicality. I'm an engineer, but I'm also a musician. I don't want shortcuts that hurt my ears, and I'm sure you don't either.

It became apparent that there were many people who would find this approach advantageous to their work, so we went global. You may note that dissidents does not aggressively market its products. It has no intention to be the market leader, whatever that means. It is not the company mission to make its software the most popular or the most profitable, and certainly not to be the heaviest placer of glossy advertisements. There are plenty of products out there for people who prefer eye candy over substance, and if they like that sort of thing, that's great for them. On the other hand, that market core should not dictate to other users with different needs and expectations, even if this second group represents the minority. Sometimes, being in the minority is a good thing. With that concept in mind, the name dissidents was a natural, and our first product, SpeakerSim, was published in 1988. Sample Wrench 1.0 followed in 1989. I've heard from a lot of users over the years about how much they like dissidents tools and I'm happy that this company has been able to help so many people. If you've got comments you'd like to share, drop me a line.

Oh yes, this brings up another happy situation. When dealing with small companies, you very often get to talk directly to the people who design and create the products, and who make the final decisions. This is way better that being "item 143 in the waiting list" of some beleaguered tech support or marketing person slaving away at a large company. Think in terms of "small, intelligent mammal eventually wins out over large, corporate dinosaur" ;-)

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