When it comes to importing Visio files however, OmniGraffle Pro opens all Visio formats including VSDX, VSD, VDX files and Visio stencil files in VST, VTX, VSX and VSS format. If you need to work with Visio clients or customers, we strongly recommend going with SmartDraw instead which is the only Visio alternative on Mac that can both import and export to the latest Visio VSDX file format. However, it’s important to be aware that OmniGraffle can only export to Visio VDX format – it can’t export to VSDX format used by Visio 2013 and Visio 2016. However, it has definitely been made with Visio in mind and the Pro version can import and export Visio files. OmniGraffle is a far more artistic graphic design tool than just a technical diagramming program like Visio. Since there’s no version of Visio for Mac, OmniGraffle is frequently cited as one of the best alternatives to it although the fact is it’s much more than that.Īnything created in OmniGraffle looks considerably more stylish than in Visio because OmniGraffle uses high quality vector graphics. The developer Omni Group has a very solid track record with productivity software on Mac with the excellent project management software for Mac OmniPlan (see more in our full review of OmniPlan).Īll Omni Group software is designed specifically for Apple products so it’s nice to know from the start that you’re getting something that’s tailor-made for Macs and iPads. In place of the misshapen, washed-out pop pastiches of previous albums, this feels like a pleasing leap forward, a welcoming beast that’s easy to let into your heart.OmniGraffle is a powerful diagramming and graphic design software suitable for everything from wireframes, electrical systems and prototypes to family trees, mind-mapping and maps of software classes. His soft croon and lyrics about isolation and regret allow the instruments to breathe and he’s found an entirely suitable musical setting for his new disposition. On Watching Him Fade Away and Moonlight on the River, the erstwhile stoner joker hits his stride and locates a gorgeously minor-key, mournful register of pensive, loping folk-rock, anchored as they are in sepulchral hues of woozy drum machines, prowling bass, sonorous keyboards and sprouts of deftly folksy guitar. Elsewhere, there’s the wistful miniature, Sister, paean to his half-sister Holly, and the lilting For The First Time, a love song that’s decorated with the cheesiest synth line this side of an episode of Miami Vice. The title track is a doleful, mid-paced rumination on the long-term ramifications of love, with the charismatic singer’s voice caressing the listener like Nilsson singing a star-crossed Neil Young ballad. On The Level and One More Love Song both sink into synth-laden, 1970’s yacht-rock introspection, whilst the mellifluous opening cut, My Old Man, stares mortality in the face whilst probing at emotional fissures from his relationship with his errant father. The languid, jangly strums, shaggy dog stories and on-the-verge-of-collapse sonics are replaced here by a smoother, swinging mode, yielding an alchemical combination of pin-drop intimacy and sun-dazed soul-searching – it’s as if by wandering outside the normal musical parameters of his art he’s discovered a new plateau that’s more heartfelt, adult and confessional. Recorded at home in LA, the new record sees DeMarco pursuing a more polished, streamlined sound than the lo-fi one with which he is associated, with the scruffily processed effects extracted and the organic, melodic pop classicism of troubadours like Harry Nilsson, Paul Simon, Neil Young, James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, Paul McCartney and Randy Newman invoked throughout. However, one glance at his burgeoning catalogue and rate of activity since his 2012 emergence suggests a formidable work ethic, witness two critically admired albums, a mini album, the churn of a touring schedule that’s made him a consistent feature at many festivals and now this third album, This Old Dog. The Canadian singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco has long enjoyed a reputation as a goofy man-child grotesque, a poster boy for unkempt slacker indie-rock, always ready with an off-kilter aside or fart prank. Mac DeMarco is back with a new record, and it’s a more polished affair to get really excited about.
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