Throwing myself into edit mode today, made a start yesterday so will crack on and do as many as I can to get the project completed.

A fun day in the studio. Moved a few things around and it's lovely and slick now, or at least getting there. Dunno how it will trim down for live transport but lookin' forward to some gigging and a new level of improv.

Good meal out but very slow delivery. Had to leave as Pat due to work and I went too, didn't feel in the mood for more drink and hanging around. Getting to be an old bore. Came home and read a book and listened to a bit of music, so much for the christmas spirit eh?

Pat had an evening of stress and more deaths at work, I spent it getting high and polishing my "season_finale" tune, which I like. Also played Mariocart and was still shite (really don't think buying more games or a fecking x-box is a good idea) and watched some pointless telly.

Think I have the last CSI track done, assuming the last 4 were OK and I polish this one a bit. Could mean a weekend of editing and diligence or aimless noodling, haven't decided.

Did pretty much sod all today. So there.

Well well, good response to CD, which makes a pleasant change. Alas, they still have composers coming out of their ears but have passed me on. We'll see if owt comes of it. In the meantime I have completed to new tracks, not sure either fit the brief but there you go.

Lots of snow still. No new Cirklon OS for a bit, hoping for something soon. I've started to rethink how I intend to use it, which is to put more emphasis on the live/improvisational angle and less on attempting to do complete, finished, repeatable songs. It can't be Logic so why not let it be its own thing?

Managed another track yesterday, I think, taking the total to 19 I think. Also knocked up a strange little idea for a track that, stoned, I posed on Soundcloud. Listening back it definitely has potential but needs work to "normalise" it - and I don't mean mess with the levels!

Wednesday, where am I? I think I have 18 tracks for the CSI project, two more to go. Did one today but it's rather odd - a jolly/sad tune featuring synth solos and human beatbox. When will I learn! One for the archive.

Boiler all done yesterday, very good job too - phew! Still awaiting new Cirklon updates and have started reading "Glass Bead Game". Hesse always makes me think. He also has that quality that makes me believe he thinks like me, or a grown-up, intelligent version of me anyway.

Drinking Crabbies while Pat watches some horses bouncing up and down like they'd on a trampoline or something. Shame I struggle to read small text in anything other than natural daylight. Eyes going. Following the brain.

Sent CDs to Warren and Chris. Can't say I expect any reply but I sent all the current stuff, again sticking to one theme on Paul's advice.

Well well, boiler guy didn't bother to ring or turn up. Quel surprise! Glad we didn't pay yet cos that always focuses their attention. Synth went back, didn't really get chance to program it as much as I wanted. Can't afford it anyway so no worries.

Started a new track, made quite a lot of progress with it.

Castle party was fab, as always. More rooms, great bands, missed Judson though, I seemed to get into chat mode early. The stars were amazing (acid helped) and I timed everything well so I was straight by early afternoon ready for home. Must make more effort to get out next year.

Achieved almost nothing yesterday (and hey presto I'm blogging again), revised that last paragraph so I was happy(ish) with it, played with Cirklon and updated my Eventide stompboxes. I can now name patches, which for means for the first time I'm saving Pitchfactor patches. Getting a lot more out of it and have even placed it on the floor. Created this shimmering chorus/delay on it that makes *everything* sound fab and lush. It's currently on the V-Synth but spent time making the Virus and Ultranova sound incredible too.

Thaw continues, looking good for castle. Must contact Tony and make sure it's OK to bring Synthi for mods.

Hmm, seems I've been busy cos no blogs. Review done, did a very quick Wally update for John, what else? No idea. Castle this weekend, weather permitting.

Can I buy the nice new toy? Going back on Monday alas, so a few days to knock up more cool patches.

Good day. Just shows the new wise saying has to go in. If you have to do something, do it graciously. The good vibes led to a good evening's writing, very happy with the review now and my insights and general style. More polish tomorrow but its back is broken, it's done.

Did horse stuff all day and saw mum too. Now I'm on the Bushmills and feeling pretty happy with myself. Will sell Microsampler to Tim if he wants it.

:(

Double blow today, realised Pat's away tomorrow which means I'm on horse duty BUT she's not working at night, which rather screws my planned review time. And this afternoon, just as I start to enjoy a bong and drink, it turns out I'm on horse duty today too. I should get a little time to work on review later, when I get back from horse and before Pat gets home from work, but... moan, moan etc. Ah, now I know what value this blog has!

If you have to do something, do it gracefully. That dear old adage.

Colin has done a few nice tweaks including the track mute visibility via lower LED that I wanted. It really works too, hoping he'll reduce the glow of it a bit.

Ah well, I have an hour to work on a track. Had wanted more but... gracefully Paul, gracefully.

LATER:

Do good shit, my first wise saying. It actually works. Has real practical benefit, I mean. I did the horse. I did it properly and cheerfully, then I came home and the review just flowed. All the stilted sentences (the ones you start with after writing up notes) becoming proper, linked and flowing paragraphs that logically progress through the synth as the article fills your head. You can even sort out the duplicates and spot the omissions. Do good shit. The bong possibly helped too. :)

New track went down well, I'm relieved. Should learn to trust myself more. Did very little today except wait while the boiler was installed. It now is and we're warm again, if poorer.

May work on something this evening, no Cirklon update yet, or may just lounge in front of the telly drinking. A very hot curry is on the cards, certainly.

Review now needs the kind of polish and slickifying that a good wodge of special shortbread usually supplies.

Note to self, advertise that Metasonix pedal, swap for a Prophecy would be nice. Prophecy would be a nice controller for the Minimax.

Feck

Now I remember the joys of a well-paid job - new boiler needed, a snip at £1800.

Arseburgers.

Left review stewing in my mind for the afternoon after verifying that NRPNs are sent. Worked on track "prints" instead, think it's worth letting Paul hear. Lots of Morphestra, not sure I feel emotionally engaged with it but still...

Paul likes, I'm relieved and have wazzed over.

Snowing, the boiler won't work (again) and I'm back downstairs writing. At least I'm getting a lot of the Ultranova review written up; don't think there's anything I don't understand about it now.

Cirklon can now load its OS from card, bootloader update went well and I think Colin is coding today. We need to think about better introductions to the new testers coming on board as all have varying levels of experience and varying plans for what they want to do. Colin's gonna add USB soft-thru I think, clever fellow. Looking forward to getting CV board installed but mostly looking forward to him getting back to the core stuff.

Got castle ticket today - just hope the snow will let us all get there! Must get a costume sorted...

Blimey it's Sunday. I must have been busy. Have been absorbing the new blue keyboard and this evening I should start to type up some of my notes. Haven't sorted a date and wordcount yet but I could write anything up to 4,500 words I think.

No time to work on any of the tracks in progress, alas, and still no sign of Morphestra. More pratting around with those eternal arseholes at 1&1.

Probably more to note but no time and this is enough for my memory jogging anyway. ESX-1 with Tony for repair, snow in Northumberland with the castle weekend coming up soon.

OK, those tracks not really grabbing me so I totally stripped one of them down to practically nothing and started again. The other two will get the same treatment but will probably get interrupted by new synth arrival tomorrow - gotta do that before owt else.

Calvin and Hobbes Complete arrived - large and very heavy! And way too good for loo reading.

Last night did new track "Silent Witness". Tidying some of its excesses today but it's OK, sorta atmospheric.

Gonna spend time processing a few loops today, could really do with those Moogerfoogers back, must drop Phil a line. Gonna use the Biscuit and Synthi and possibly some pitch-screwing via the Eventide and some final filtering from the VF-1 and Restyler. Should be able to gather some useful new material.

Well, that was the plan. In the end I got sidetracked polishing Silent Witness and then worked on DNA and "a single drop of blood" both of which ended up in the useable bucket, may need some polish but both have some potential. Couldn't get twilight working, I think cos it was originally done for something else it just doesn't stand reworking. The only rework that might come out OK is "toxic terry" as I'll keep the same mood/aim and possibly change the title to "toxicity" or just "toxic".

Managed to find someone who'd match the morphestra offer. Not entirely sure they really have it in stock though as they got a bit cagey once I asked when it would be shipped.

A nice day in Witton Park and some minor testing of Wavelab and Cirklon in the afternoon. This evening I'll crack on with new tunes, once my hair dries!

OK, I need 20 tracks for this project so I'm only halfway through. Will buy Morphestra just to keep me in sounds. Hey ho. Onwards and upwards.

Lovely day for it but will knuckle down to some work later, no need to do the horse so can spend a lot of time.

Aaaargh! Time and Space's £90 offer on Morphestra supposedly ends at midnight - but I can't order as they're now out of stock! Grrrrrrrrrr.

Cool, M likes the latest tracks, especially "fibres" so I may do something else in a similar vein.

Another glorious day, should press on I guess instead of blogging. Or have another cup of tea...

Good day, lovely weather so ran up Rivington Pike first thing.

Got 11 tracks now, Paul likes new ones; sent to M. Also contacted new library, will see if he likes 'em. Octatrack looking closer, looks a good thing.

Cirk 042, some fixes but Colin preoccupied with the fact he broke main board and has to repair. I nagged him a bit about stuff, just to keep him ticking over. Phil still offering to do work.

Listening to some smart stuff on R3 including a really good piece from jonny greenwood and a rather reserved thing from Will Gregory - hope he does more though and gets a bit adventurous. Always wanted to do the synth orchestra thing too, all monosynths of course. All with their own little speaker. Never did though.

One toot on the bong and stoned tonight. Not smoking owt much these days obviously a good thing.

Contemplating Morphestra or Symphobia. Not cheap but...

Excellent, Colin has tracked my "row bug" and also the drum editor is progressing nicely. Now all we need is for his broadband to be restored and I can update.

I think I probably want to push for more "arrangement" stuff to go in next, after a few more realtime refinements. It's getting to the stage where I really could compose entire Cirklon tunes and as a result more and more of my hardware is getting defined to it.

Cirklon updated - very impressed by the drum editor even in its current state. Realtime record has moved on too. But even better, we're getting a new royal hanger-on to support. Brilliant. Let's hope we hear loads and loads and loads and loads about it.

Let's go to the beach..

It's a sunny day so we thought "why not?". Good decision. Jasper had fun, sun was gorgeous and I coulda walked for miles. Went for lunch and now we're home. It's half three and already the light is fading. Why the hell did they move that hour?

Last night I got three tracks complete including one new and two newish. Will see what Paul thinks as they may be straying off course, but interesting tracks anyway. Possibly a bit too much complexity creeping in, always a chance of that.

Life is good.

Review sent off this morning, hopefully OK. Got some good loops from my electribe and the B and will try to get more before it goes back. Sounds much better than Logic's bitcruncher that's for sure.

Progressed the new track DNA, it's gonna be fine I think.

And now a new Cirklon OS to play with, promising to be a good weekend. Pat working quite a lot so I have loads of studio time and no new review gear until sometime next week. Press on with tunes boy! But tonight, it's shortbread and Cirklon all the way.

Very windy last night, garage door hanging off. :(

Curry tomorrow, reminds me must book.

Review done and I got some good electribe apple loops by using B on it. Really quite versatile and I do like the sound.

Also started a new track, called DNA. I didn't realise until later but there's this big drum thing happening that sounds just like D N A. Well, it's three hits and it sorta hints...

Made decent progress last night and tonight, have a first draft and it's about the right wordcount too. Must make sure I haven't forgotten anything and get it all tidied up tomorrow night then the final polish can happen Thursday. A fast one eh!

Eyes starting to struggle, too much screen. I think my cold is finally gone.

LOL, Prodyssey now working. Was the D-Beam. No idea how those other keyboards also had problems, did I turn off in between connections? Anyway, all good and turned off V-Synth controllers (then turned on some - pad now sets env retrigger mode, c1 does one effect, 2 the other.

Lost much of the evening tweaking the Prodyssey - a darn good synth that and still one of the best interfaces ever. I do keep saying that even though I'd change the top row of sliders for knobs. :)

Review going well, words flowing. Cirklon improving now with inroads into realtime and quantization. Not enough hours or Colins in the day.

Odd day. Confirmed ESX is knackered but didn't resolve Prodyssey weirdy. It plays fine from Cirklon/thru but when I connect V-Synth, PC200 or Korg Microsampler, it don't wanna play. WTF? I mean, it does play a bit but chokes, envelopes sorta stop working. Is there a stay CC coming from every one of those synths? Unlikely. Very. No active sensing either. Only thing I didn't check to the nth degree was MIDI cables. Have long suspected that Prody's MIDI In; some cables seem to need to be really pushed. I bet that's it.

Would be good as my main synth connected to V-Synth rather than Minimax. Minimax is so good for sequencing, the Prody is an awesome polysynth, plus the interface is almost perfect - I can get modulation without holding the V-Synth's stick too! Those sliders and backlit buttons rule so I want to solve it.

Think I worked out everything about the new toy today and did some mixes of Wally for John. Hopefully there's something of value there. No writing and no Cirklon (Colin kiddy minding!) progress. Today woulda been an excellent day to work with it too.

Wine and chocolate this evening.

OK, Friday arrived and with it a cute little box for review. Upgraded its OS and have tinkered with it all afternoon - fortunately very easy and hands-on so don't see any difficulties getting stuck right in this weekend with some writing.

I have 6 tracks for the forensic project now, the last one (Hookers) needing some tweaking still because it's got some very odd key liberties, even for me. Might be too strange generally but we'll see.

Pat working tonight so have time to do a few things. Sadly she swapped shifts for tomorrow which rather scuppers my planned curry night with Carl and Dan. Hey ho.

Sam won his journalist thing - which is pretty damn awesome! Don't think he was expecting it but now he's in some bigger national thing. Could go all the way, the boy done good. Bet Dawn chuffed to hang with the celebs. :)

It's going well, really. Three tracks into the new "forensic" project and having fun doing it. Not entirely sure what the boundaries for this one will be although M suggested from the first track (Sicko) out as far as the two new ones (the miracle of science, the evidence).

Probably need some new sounds, just as soon as I get a better handle on what I'm doing. Started a new one today (chemistry) but we'll see if that gets too tuney, it might.

Got first taste of Cirklon's realtime record last night. Man, this is gonna be so awesome. Totally a new realm, especially if the aux stuff works out too. Drool!!

Started something last night, might have too many changes for a library piece and quite a lot of strange tonality, backwards pianos and suchlike. Amusingly, I started watching CSI and soon noticed backwards pianos appear to be ubiquitous. I must either remember it somehow or my instincts are sharpening.

Recorded the last part of Alien. Not seen Sigourney's little pants for a while, feel I need a refresher.

Stupid hour back clock thing. At least it gives me more time to walk the dog before seeing mum. Will work on Cirklon and forensic stuff tonight, think I could combine them.

Good Friday. Had email from M asking me to have a go at some investigative/forensic type music. In the afternoon did a track (Sicko), which he liked. Lots of ideas for the kind of stuff to do, plus gonna watch some of those US shows that I usually avoid. For research. M said some encouraging things, pepped me up.

Cold still not really gone so reluctantly decided not to go to Kulu. Sorta pissed off but can't really risk setting myself back- or bringing back a cold. This one has laid Pat and me down for days and we can't afford another bout. Shame, lots of people going I wanna see. Must book those castle tickets.

Ordered Departure From Northern Wasteland and Exile on Mainstreet from Amazon. Can't find my original Departure and want to hear it again after meeting Michael.

Put a showreel online linked from my main site. Even added Sicko to it since it's very different to the rest. Will keep the best 20 tracks up there, uses the same played the JIC used but it seems OK.

Cirklon beta chat now three-way. :)

Cirklon makes good progress today - new editor looks very good, graphic slope thing is ace and solo now enabled.

Working on showreel stuff, putting together best or most varied tracks to represent what I can do. Then I have to make a webpage for it...

OK, getting the tracks together is done but doing the website - and doing it so it doesn't look shit - is proving trickier. I especially want to disable the right-click "save as" so it's just a player. Must try to work out that one we used on the JIC site, that might do although I didn't like the format very much... it's a start though.

Full of a cold so went back to bed. A lovely day, frustratingly enough but no energy.

Taking out my crotchety misery on emportal, continuing to prove the "empty vessels" theory. I know I shouldn't but what the heck...

Baffled and frustrated why I can't render my latest video. The output from one of my cameras just comes out black every time, even though on the preview it looks great. WTF? If Sony Movie Studio actually came with a decent manual I might have learned the damn thing but as it is, I've no idea where to start. Feck!

A cold is setting in, nowhere near as bad as Pat has it. Walked into Preston yesterday afternoon and wondered why I bothered. The place is like a twitching corpse, minimally animated by brightly-coloured, short-lived maggots. I can't see any point in ever returning there again. And to think I could, at least, occupy my dinner hour each day with wandering about; now I can see nothing about it of value - even the library seems run down and lacking in anything worthwhile and Waterstones appears to be full of celebrity "autobiographies" for the lovers of X-Factor and Wayne Rooney. The computer section has shrunk to be a collection of tips for people who have stolen Photoshop and want to know how to use it. There were no books at all on Sony Vegas/Movie Studio for those who have bought it and want to know how to use it... Amazon, here I come. Again.

Later, trimmed the girls. Stalks were stiff but not sure they actually dry enough. The old impatience eh? New Cirklon OS with a few tweaks such as copy/paste and an embryonic sculpt of lengths.

At least I decided the selection of tracks to draw from for my showreel. Didn't do much else though.

Pat working until midnight tonight so I have time to work on something. I think I should do some decent arrangements of the songs in Cirklon, no point waiting for Colin to add all the arrangement tweaks I need, he has other priorities methinks.

Phil suggested he's an ideal man for construction to relieve the load so I passed that on. Sure it could be a good arrangement. Anyway, studio is waiting and if I don't go up now I'll end up wasting another night in front of the telly like a total lemon.

Devil's Backbone on Film 4. At last!

Friday

And it's a nice enough one. Still bimbling around aimlessly though, which isn't good. May wander into town but dunno what for. Seem to be treading water this week, can't seem to get started. Perhaps it's cos Berlin's over now and I don't really have anything significant on the calendar. Well, Kulu next week and potentially the castle tickets to get. Will go see Phil tomorrow, must try to get my Moogerfoogers back too. Not using a whole load of stuff - should I flog some more of it? Maybe the Microsampler to Tim as I ain't doing owt with it. And how many synths do I need to sequence with for goodness sake? Do I need those Creamware jobbies?

Enthusiasm, wherefore art thou?

At least Pat's all-clear was good to receive yesterday. Obviously meant a lot to her (and me) even if delivered by the least patient-friendly doctor we've encountered for a while. Still, onwards and upwards. Might take Jasper out again. He always appreciates that.

Lethargy

Started the day with good intentions, registered some works with PRS and agreed to do review some fun new pieces of kit. Then lethargy set in. Going to see the doc with Pat this afternoon, hopefully for the sign-off.

Colin busy soldering so I'm holding back on the flood of ideas still pouring forth. The TBI list is pretty large already and I should let him decide the priorities more now the gig's done and I have no real hurry. Already talking about a few more live outings next year than this, although not sure I am gonna want to keep playing gigs unless they really interest me. Would be more fun to get together with Cosmic Smokers for a weekend of recording and drinking beer. Picko talking about an Amsterdam trip, which could be a nice place to have a good old chat and decide if we want to gig again.

I need to get my showreel online and impressive then chase a few library companies. Would also like to tidy the noodly part of the studio and slicken it up, but can I give that much priority?

See how I can write plenty of shite when I ain't doing anything interesting?

Setup gear again today, installed new OS (all peachy), Colin busy soldering so I won't pester for more updates.

Harvested the girls today. Was asked to play Bearded Theory, considering. Dropped line to Picko about maybe doing Electric Circus although not sure I really want to go to the hassle. Mind you not sure I wanna do another festival either...

Phew - back from Berlin after an awesome few days of music, beer, food and friends. Cirklon behaved well, everyone played a blinder, Vic's a genius and I met one of my heroes, Michael Hoenig. Funny how the best experiences get the shortest blog updates eh?

Berlin bound

Probably the last Cirklon update pre-Berlin. A few hairy moments while I got my data all happy with it. Card load and restore working too now and back to 32 tracks. Some slight tweaks too such as the scene page toggle so I'm optimistic.

Will have a quick spin through all songs to make sure they sound as they should (some don't but seems to be superficial changes in some tracks' mute status). Then it's backup the Proteus and take its sysex along with a Fantom XR backup card and start to pack up. Aim to be at airport by 06:00 or just after.

Looks like the gear I'm packing into my suitcase weighs 13.5kg without leads etc. Cirklon will go in hand luggage *but* only diagonally. Here's where my memories of that special small P3 come flooding back.

Glorious Sunday

A clear blue sky, mum's back feeling a bit better, all is good. This evening I shall work on the set, made great progress yesterday - Cirklon shaping up really well actually and just starting to hint at the vast potential it has. Colin's a fecking genius but I don't want to get him too used to that idea until he's done even more genius things. But I can see where it's going... :)

Edit: a good evening's (drunken) work. I now have 6 songs that I've rated good or excellent with a further 8 in various stages of assembly, all with some highlights, a couple capable of full-auto-playback. Should be more than enough. A few are even in Cm and I've left off the keys most folks seem not to like. Today I'll program a few patches on the Fantom for general playing, do backups of the Fantom card and generally have a last run through, make sure I have good names for patterns/scenes/songs to help me out. Rating scenes and patterns also a good idea. I might knock up a generic "jam patch" with 32 different sequencer patches/effect combinations on the two main synths ready to go so I can demo doing something from scratch. Berlin here I come! Might be worth starting the set with just a Cirklon solo piece...

Life is good. Production Cirklon (now 64 tracks) looks fantastic, very nice and especially beautiful under UV. Some tasty little OS additions including visibility of pattern length (including bar repeats) against global bar. So a good couple of days. Colin way better than me at knocking up simple, groovy stuff, I notice.

Right, walkies! Then this afternoon I'll start working on my tunes for next week.

Hmmm good day. Went from 16 to 32 tracks. Went through my existing songs and defined a bunch of new sounds for the extra channels. Now all I have to do is arrange them properly so they're playable.

Also, humbled by the many messages (58 so far) of happy birthday on fb. I am resolved to take more notice of such things in future. It gave me a kick so I guess it does for others too. Blimey.

Colin and Tony here tomorrow. With my production Cirklon. Sweet.

Lovely blue skies today, Pat's last herceptin. Thank heavens!

Cirklon OS due later so I'm getting as many chores out of the way so I can concentrate on it. Could be the day to get my lawn done for the last time this year.

Did three tracks last night with Wally in mind, the first probably the closest in tone, the second the most interesting track (catchy) and the third seems to be a variation on "Grandfather's clock" which I have thus far refused to name "Grandfather's Cock". See, restraint setting in.

In a kind of limbo awaiting Cirklon track upgrade OS. Don't wanna push Colin as I've done rather a lot of that (and still more to do) so having a go at the Wally theme/tune. Not happy with it though, haven't quite got the feel I want - the tune seems to be veering towards the oriental which isn't what I intended.

Got a load of shrooms today. Hopefully they'll dry properly this time, have been more careful.

Over a week until Berlin but I guess I'm cutting it short for Cirklon in several respects - must work on tunes. Can't keep holding off for more tracks after today, will use scene overrides to achieve what I want where possible. There's a sorta frenzy about ex-TD members attending that has totally erased any interest in the actual performers (us) it seems to me. A bit surreal but then that's what these things are like. I'm imagining the jams perhaps not so great this time because everyone's gonna be thinking about their gig spots and saving the best stuff for that. We're gonna do the whole mellotron thing before the two acts that follow us use all the same sounds etc. Naughty eh? Really not sure how this one will go.

Sunny day...

Pete's headed for home, shame about his computer thing but a very pleasant visit all the same. Agreed to alternate sequencer tracks live rather than combine them which should work well I think. Some nice ideas about things to do in the set.

Right, walkies :)

Practice didn't go too far yesterday, computer problems for Pete and lack of prep for me. Need for more channels on Cirklon pressing - so I can have some part set up to play. Colin working on it and seeming confident he can make a change soon. Which is amazing even for him. He's talking a change from 16 to 256 tracks (top secret, good job only I read this blog!).

Today we will make more progress.

Would love to know where my OSX system disk is.

Uh, last night's curry making its presence known...

Good day, found lots of shrooms and later went to watch Phil fly his planes. Very impressive stuff - he sure can make it do clever things.

Last night I worked on a few of the "not quite there" tunes in advance of Pete coming next week. Will do more on Monday night. Review is almost there, just a few phrases are ugly and a few low quality paragraph starts and vocab can be improved. I'm hopefully in a position to go see Mick's band tomorrow night though.

Completed "Earth Dreams" for Abs, posting data DVD this morning. Review going well, may even be able to go to Mick's gig on Sunday. Good discussions with Colin over Scene Chains and an extra 32 tracks, hoping I'm being persuasive enough.

Pete coming next week, gotta sort when (and tidy up!)...

Even got a spot of DIY done yesterday, including fixing that gutter (inevitably it rained later so dunno if the sealant fully dried) and getting Dave round to look at trees. Today I'm helping Les's pal with a broken multitracker, although I've already told him what's wrong he needs me to see it for myself. Hey ho.

Cirklon took significant step forwards with the introduction of the instrument fdac. Has opened up lots of arrangement possibilities. I need a few things still for Berlin but we're getting close. For my needs anyway, I know Colin has other priorities such as the card file system. Bless.

Got most of my first review draft done, also got an interesting snippet about the 303 filter I could work in maybe. Always wanted to nip that 18dB thing somewhere, a bit like in QI where you answer the obvious thing and the light flashes cos it's actually not so...

Abs2 given thumbs up so starting on the edits. Not totally sure what title to use, either Earth Dreams or First Breath (or something else) seem workable, will see what Mike thinks. I think I've settled on the track titles now and have created logic versions of each edit I'll do.

Pat working until midnight (getting a bit too often this I think) so I guess I have time. Will do edits this afternoon, review tonight (unless Colin sends new OS over).

Managed to get SokkOS loaded into Xoxbox which is good as it gives me more to say.

No reply from P.Origo (again) so I'm starting to think that's gonna go bad. Wasn't happy initially after they "lost" all those Headshock CDs and really didn't seem to give a shit. Will I ever learn about dealing with these folks? Anyway, their "agreement" (the one that talked about regular statements!) says I can get my CDs back at any time. Well, assuming they reply to my emails that is...

Well, we've reached Friday morning and I'm knee-deep in the Xoxbox review having completed all tracks for Abs2. Been trying to get alternate OS loaded with lots of pratting around with COM ports and shitty toytown software. Given that the review is gonna have plenty of words (I've already banged in a lot of notes) I probably don't even need to mention the alternatives but I want to try it for myself.

Anyway, easy day today I think. Cirklon sysex via USB looking good and fast too, which will help lots. Those full dumps were taking a long time. Hopefully will have something to test for the weekend with new fdac per-scene functionality so I can work on my intros and outtros. Then I'll start pestering for scene re-ordering. :)

Um didn't manage to get started on a new track despite trying. I did at least get two Xoxboxes for review and fortunately not too much to get my head around other than how to upgrade the OS. A very arcane method that has so far defeated me, but there's an OS I really want to try if I can.

Hopefully I'll get it written and still have time to do the last new age track and work on the Berlin gig. Oh, and the Superdupernova if that comes. Busy, busy. Berlin's definitely starting to look "interesting" which makes it annoying we're missing the Monday. Duh!

And will Cirklon be ready?

Edit: I did, through sticking at it doggedly, produce a track that I rather like in the end. Titled "Ether" it's light but has a lot of subtle stuff going on, tinkly, ghostly piano and celeste, lots and lots of pads added with a very light touch and a sort of ringing metallic solo part. So that, with a few more tweaks and general evening-up work, makes 12 decent tracks I'll get on a CD so M@Abs can OK. With luck I can get the project completely done alongside any review work and Berlin prep in the next month.

Right, gotta look for a tuner and some lightweight racking next.

Hah blog gaps are when the fun stuff happens

It's true. I don't have time to blog if I'm doing cool stuff, as in this case going to Barcelona, having a great time with John, meeting Isgar and Michel and being in a lovely city during perfect weather. No way I'm gonna write it all up here. So we'll skip past it with just the thought that both Isgar and Michel are inspiring human beings in their own way and I hope we'll continue to be friends.

Pix at http://www.flickr.com/photos/soft_room/

although didn't get any of Isgar and Michel.

Just had curry with Carl - excellent and included a new dish they did for us that isn't on the menu. Nice too, dry, minty and hot with a dusky almost Jalfrezi taste. Things looking good for Carl and I really hope his new project works out, looks like it could. :)

Today didn't do a lot but potter; Tim came round which was pleasant.
Oh, went to Gong yesterday in Manchester with Tony. Excellent as usual. Those guys still have what it takes - and some!

Hehe impossible to sum up Barcelona in a paragraph but I did. Weird.

Shit, that bloke off Torchwood is on the proms! WTF???

LOL, last night, after hopefully calming down the Facebook interchanges, I laughed my tits off at Tim Minchin, especially his song about keeping an open mind. :)

Fantastic walk today, saw a bunch of deer who were totally unafraid of me. Later, painted the shed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soft_room/4955027662/

Got a spare 10 mins while my Fantom XR loads up. I daren't put any more samples in it even though there's tons of space left. Anyway, ample time to hammer in a blog entry. Can't be arsed with new age stuff tonight so gonna mess with Cirklon sequences and see if "Song 13" is as good as I thought it was. Very unusual for Pat to comment on a tune from the hardware side of the studio.

Having an odd Facebook conversation with a guy whose principle frames of reference in life are Star Trek and Uri Geller. Hope he never hears "Eaten By Pigs"! He's ranting against Richard Dawkins. Only other person I know who does that is John and his is a purely religious reaction. I dunno what M's reason is. Ah, Fantom booted, over and out.

Yesterday I finished, or damn near finished, a new one with lots of persian santur in it. I think it's OK but time will tell but that makes 11 new age tracks now. If I start another today I'll be well chuffed - I think the collection needs something largely ambient, maybe with echoing piano and lots of space. We'll see what turns up.

More sunshine so I'll take advantage and get on the hills again. Life is good and each day I pinch myself to make sure it's not a dream (although a better test is to turn the lights on and off). We're both ready for Barcelona, hope the Natwest didn't bugger things up by changing the credit card - the one I booked the car park with!

Still no progress on Cirklon's important (IMHO) ability to use different instruments per scene. Even just a channel override would really help but I don't want to be restricted to the same 16 instruments for the whole song. Having 16 tracks only is fine but I need to be able to vary what each one does over the course of a song. Poor Colin must be desperate to get on with the features he feels more important. I also really need the instrument's CC control - initially for the mixer but also cos the synths I'm taking to Berlin won't come to life without external control of this type and I'll probably struggle otherwise.

Will I get a production unit in time? Dunno, Colin heading for Italy for a week so time getting tight...

Lovely sunny day so went shrooming. Didn't get a lot but had a great, long walk. Later I polished "lotus" which is gonna be OK. Needs shortening and some other refinements but adding the rappy voice was a good idea. Something fun coming for review.

Should I get a guitar tuner for the Lancet? Don't want it to sound like an old analogue in every way!

Sunny Solfest

Great weather, lots of sunshing, warm evenings and just the occasional cold breeze to remind us not to get too complacent. Pat struggled with a bad cold on Friday, started as we began to travel north. She tried to shrug it off but it was a stinker, poor lass. Despite this we had a good festival - the hotel/day parking idea definitely paid off though, will do that again. Saw some great stuff - Wailers were superb, James too although didn't catch all their set. Missed quite a bit but felt bad leaving Pat in Hotel so cut some days short. Shroomy time on Friday and good to see kids, even if they attacked me constantly in my orc costume. :)

Back to a pile of email and a week to work before Barcelona. Hope Jasper OK as he'll be going back there soon. Must press on with library stuff this week and with Cirklon. Hopefully all "save" issues resolved now to Colin's satisfaction. So we can progress to stuff I'm gonna need soon for Berlin. As to whether I'll have a new chunk of hardware to take, we'll see.

:)

Things looking up generally, the sun appears to be daring to consider a bank holiday weekend's shining. I shouldn't tempt fate though. Working hard for Berlin, cramming a few more samples into the Fantom. If the Roland guy ever gets back to me with my other queries I'll ask him about loading times cos we're up to almost 10 mins now and I still haven't filled my 256Mb. I can't see how anyone would use 512Mb with loading times so slow.

Shoulda driven to Workington today to look at a grave (!) but when I got up Pat wasn't in great shape after yesterday's treatment. So didn't go, hope mum not too disappointed. Felt bad but what can you do?

Didn't do much other than think about Cirklon pattern saving.

Contemplating starting to write a "Cirklon Diary" or possibly a "Berlin Diary" of the next month or so. Not sure I can spare the time or whether it would be of commercial interest as it'd be a combination between my observations about Berlin, the Gatherings in general and the progress of Cirklon as it enters, I hope, the intensive phase of development.

We'll see but I may start adding notes here to use if necessary.

Off to see Les this afternoon in hospital but have a few hours to work on something. Of the New Age stuff I now have 9 tracks that are OK, well one is "filler" so that will probably turn out the most popular. Hehe.

Les just rang to say "don't come today". Hope he's OK.

Still a bit down today, the shine of Berlin tarnished for me. Will see if gloom lifts. Going to Chipping tonight which may cheer me up (Chipping isn't famous for that) for a bit of a sesh. Hope skies clear.

Started a track today but it didn't really move me. With Solfest next week I don't think I can get enough tracks completed in time so easing off and trying to make each one better. Well, that's the idea. Well of inspiration seems dry.

Hmm, may not go to Chipping as there's a party first which I don't really feel like. Will see later.

Hurt my hand punching the stand-up bag. Must remember I have weedy wrists not designed for much stick.

Wet Friday

All days bloody wet really, July and August really pissed me off. Solfest next weekend too. :(

Started something that I think will be OK today. Not a classic but then what is? Not a very productive day though.

We got a shed, quite large and a far from attractive addition. Hey ho. This laptop getting very hot, doesn't bode well.

Just heard an ugly rumour about Berlin. Will I make it through without violence?

Finished one and started (and almost completed) another. Productive day but no Cirklon testing, so will do that tomorrow. Lovely afternoon and I picked loads of apples off our tree. Then forgot to ring Tony and offer him some. Must try to catch him tomorrow and offload a few, they're delicious!

Um, sorta got into reading Transition today rather than making music. Finished it - very good - so may get back stuck in tomorrow. Hey ho. :)

Saturday was better, got a track done and quite nice too, plus started a new Cirklon tune also. Ching!

Not as good a day today, house full downstairs, waiting for them to go away so I can get on with my ambient mush. Started a potentially decent flutey one.

Good day, two new tracks I like and one filler. With the previous Vangelissy one that's a good start.

Worked on Cirklon Song 1, added the V-Synth samples chopped for individual triggering and made into multisample. Don't get all the V-Synth timbral shifts but adequate. Track started to get a bit funky. Gonna have to do something about getting all levels right at some point, which probably means getting the mixer I'm gonna use into the picture soon.

So a good day. Pat worries over her loaner all gone, the lady seems a decent sort. Thank goodness. Ordered Iain Banks and noticed new M Banks in hardback (a Culture novel!). Excellent. Ordered Mac book also, have to learn the damn thing.

Lovely, now I have two library companies wanting tracks. So that's me occupied for the forseeable. Cirklon coming on well too.

Cool, the guy I did the "movie snippet" tracks for wants both a new age one and a dramatic one. I know he's a small library but at least he's keen. Added to the 10 tracks those other guys want should keep me busy for quite a while and get some good practice in.

This evening I'll concentrate on the Lancet review. It's pretty much written, an easy one thank goodness, so I may spend some time taking stock of the tracks I have already got in progress and seeing who gets what.

All good stuff really.

Heard from one library, they want 10 tracks. Will have to agree a genre but should be OK. Not that I expect to make much money from them as they're royalty-free.

Accounty bloke tomorrow, hope he's working wonders for me.

Will be looking for the aurora tonight.

Funny day. Thank goodness the cat's going (any minute, we're counting) and we can get back to having windows open.

Review going well, got the bulk of it written just needs polish now. Berlin dates changed (!) so thank goodness we didn't book flights yesterday. Still, should mean I can go to Kulu party.

Didn't do much musically, pottered with Cirklon but waiting for tweaks now. Sometimes I bombard poor Colin with all manner of disorganised ideas. He's amazingly patient considering I never really shut up. I think he's back working on PCBs now as he needs to do that also. I should do some tracks but sorta stuck what to try next to impress the man. Could be I will have to go in for some big theme stuff, even though Paul says tunes are out. Don't know what else.

Good day despite my tracks not being hard enough for the big dollars. Dumped Cirklon sysex spot on first time. Colin able to successfully reload. Did new track with the mini rig, sounding good. Did some Lancet samples into the Fantom too.

Later worked in the garden, which was nice.

Sent new tracks but they're still not quite there, no clue as to what I need to do other than make them worth $$$. Review coming on well, heard that FM had already had it, which is depressing. New Cirklon OS with sysex dump capablity. Will lose myself in that for a bit plus try to get the Berlin flights booked.

New track sounding very dramatic, will run it by Paul when he gets home and maybe do another today. Continuing to put samples in the Fantom, I seem to be working on the principle it'll be useful for Berlin and after that we'll see. Tried adding the Doepfer Dark Energy to my gigging rig but it just didn't fit in sonically. Let's hope Zira does. If not, I have enough with the two modules, especially if I sample some more sequence material.

Went for curry with Carl which I'm feeling the morning after let me tell you. Jeez.

Good day - Evolve Mutations (1&2) arrived and I did a track using some of the thundering drums, it does have the right ingredients especially combined with Alchemy's gritty complexity. This evening I shall retire to more Cirklon and Lancet and Fantom noodles. Now I've got over the disappointment of the lack of synced loops (Roland guy may still come through for me but he's gone quiet today) I can concentrate on filling the RAM with all manner of samples. Might look at getting the Mellotron brass in there and see how easy it is. Could be worth looking at that Chicken Systems translator thing and see how that works for changing EXS samples to Fantom ones.

Pat working midnight until 06:00. Couldn't take scooter today as battery was flat. Sorta annoying as we've already sold it but bought a new battery anyway.

Vermona Lancet arrived today, new Cirklon OS too so a busy day combining them and using the Fantom XR. Roland guy offered to help so maybe he can suggest some good stuff. He sorta mentioned he was working with OMD and Howard Jones, implying that little me should be no trouble. However, it made me wonder why those guys weren't able to use it themselves. It sounds ace BTW but I don't think I'll be able to get my loops into it as it doesn't seem able to change tempo, as well as the problem that when it hangs you have to turn off.

Considering taking Microsampler instead actually as I can fill that with loops and it's easy!

Cirklon, Proteus2000, Lancet, Zira, Timefactor, mixer(?), Monotron, Microsampler (or ESX?)...

Didn't do much of note today. Worked on more Fantom samples, such a slow and tedious process though. Starting to think I made a mistake getting it and some simpler alternative would have been more pleasurable to work with - Proteus plus Nova perhaps. Ah well, too late to worry about that now.

Dark & Dangerous: worked on a new track, needs a better drum loop but I'm putting in some orchestral surges and crescendos I found. I must try to find someone to flog some music to before I get engrossed in another review. That NI thing should be here soon and hopefully that will help but the rhythmic thing is gonna be an issue until I either get a dedicated drum thing and play it myself (Alchemy has inspired me there) or buy more loops...

Ho hum, tomorrow is another day. So they say.

Pat gave a talk today to some cancer women about wigs and they want her back to do more. Is there nothing that woman doesn't excel at? :)

Ace night. Made up for last night's loss of studio time. Did a new track entirely on Colin Fraser's creation - a different Colin Fraser too. Heh.

Different Sunday

Went over to Sheffield for an audio visual thing - pretty good, saw this cool version of Vincent Price's Last Man on Earth with a new soundtrack. Other highlights were a Synthi (thought at first it was samples as the wibbles didn't seem sympathetic with the music) and the Abstract Film Orchestra - would love to see them again. Didn't make it to the end as was very tired and conscious of the long drive home. Missed Skywatchers which is a shame as they sound good (note to self: order CD). Sheffield was heaving, lots of dazed young totty wandering around, made me feel quite old. Mind you most things do.

Got Microstation review off this morning after finishing touches.

Les going into hospital today, he's quite worried.

Right, best press on and do some music!

Not so funky Fantom

The Fantom XR arrived today. Oh dear, Roland what are you thinking? The display is awful, the editor not massively better mad USB implementation - Clavia and Korg can do this but Roland have no idea, it seems. Very long-winded and you have to perform writes on the unit itself BUT my multisample after power off was NOT the same, no idea how; well I do but I'll try and use it 'simpler' tomorrow; sample before I multisample; create a rhythm set and see if that's easier and avoids all that stupid base key thing and that tiny triangle.

BUT(2) a happy accident. The other multisample, my very first one I'd forgotten about, that one has loads of wrong transpositions that are really good. All the SH-101 stuff at its extremes makes a hell of a cool "kit". So I am optimistic in the long term. Could only get 256Mb DIMM but that'll be plenty. The Nord Wave only had 180Mb and I ain't filling this with mellotrons! Gonna be Synthi though.

Cat arrived today, cute thing. Just grabbed it as it climbed my ladder.

Cirklon OS took decent step forward today.

Got two extra sound sets for Chameleon - very kind of those guys, brief test sounded excellent too. And I can set the low keys to select new snapshots (shoulda read the manual) which is wicked.

So all is well. Didn't get round to going to Paul's.

Pat has a cold poor thing.

Funny day, worked on a couple of tracks, some good pointers on one from Paul (de-Shreeve it!) which I'll address tomorrow. Bought Chameleon despite them not replying to my email about the envelopes and also asking if there's a waveform step function like the V-Synth. It does have some great V-Synth qualities though and I've used it already. Also bought Native Instruments Evolve Mutations (1+2) - Paul sure knows lots of the top softsynths. Decided not to blow all my cash on laptop but buy some decent things for my existing machine and let the hardware do the gigging. Smaller PC laptop may still be useful though to cut down on carrying modules. Just not blowing two grand on a Macbook.

No work on review today but discovered the arp edit part and took some screen captures.

Went to Chorley and saw amazing rainbow and spectacular sky.

Some good Cirklon ideas hatched.

Lots of rain. Meant I didn't manage an afternoon/evening quietly working as Pat stayed home. I really must work out how to write music when not alone in the house, not sure how this little block arose. At least the review is going well, just need to get the opening bit done, trim some of my more caustic comments and find out where the arpeggiator editor pages are.

End of our street almost flooded again.
With no musical progress I suspect Mars may think I'm not bothered doing some tracks in the style of that last one he sent. I want to but struggling to get going. Would be easier if I had a proper brief to work from rather than this hope that he'll be impressed and want me to do more.

Looked at Alchemy. Seems ace - some very V-Synth functions although envelopes seem "typical digital" (start at zero). Have asked about that plus about stepping through samples V-Synth style using the arpeggiator. If it can do that I'll buy it, I think.

Seems my packages have reached Chorley which isn't too impressive for a day's travelling.

Funny day. Nord Wave/KS-Rack and Drumstation picked up and on the way to the emerald isle. Old buddy came around for a visit, lots of reminiscences. Helped Les pick a new car. Should make progress with Microstation review tonight.

Police were at the end house today. Trailer trash strike again. Much shouting, several white vans. Wish they'd move. Really wish they'd move.

Rainy days suit studio work nicely. Been pottering with Cirklon - still not making mega process cos I have to keep manual track of which patches each song uses - but it's definitely shaping up.

Sold Nord Wave, KS-Rack and Drumstation in one go, which means I can afford my Macbook Pro. Of course now I can afford it I'm agonising over spending such an amount on a mere computer. Do I actually need it given the number of gigs I'm planning to play from now on (not many)? Is the 'backup idea' truly worth spending two grand on?

Have had my faith in MIDI hardware shaken by the timing sloppiness of the JV-2080 - so the single "do all module" could be a pipe dream. Closest to that is still the Proteus.

Just think, if I'd thought about all this earlier I could have kept the Two Voice. :(

Although old stuff has little value to my work other than for sampling, it still calls to me more. Maybe I should spend half on something cool and the other half on new softsynths (Morphestra, Alchemy come to mind) which should help my library work. Sigh... I'm so indecisive.

Or am I?

Off to see mum today and find out the latest about the trial, the scary dentist bill and other tales to make my hair curl.

Review going well, have almost a first draft done. Still wondering about the "top secret" synth.

Chucked it down last night, started to worry it would reach the front door. Next street flooded and water in folks' houses. Not good, drains inadequate. Reckon it's time people started taking the council to court for allowing too much building to be done and therefore putting homes at risk.

Will work on Microstation review today, have got all manuals and software now. Spent yesterday just playing it and exploring the sequencer. Contemplating a Macbook Pro direct from the States as prices much lower - what's the catch??

Ugh, early start this morning after a night of not a great deal of sleep. Synth DIY went well and involved the usual beer/curry/babewatching. This time I had a nice tour of the place too and was very impressed by Paul's new synth and the super-tightness of drums triggered directly/simultaneously from Cirklon's analogue bus rather than via MIDI.

Today must throw myself back into work... and start to make decisions about Berlin. Including looking for flights. First, horse stuff to do as farrier coming and Pat at hospital.

Funny sort of day. Nice walk with Pat in the morning and confirmed the Berlin gig - so I now have to do some work for it. Which means some kind of laptop thing I guess.

Pat got a call from Maureen - apparently she's been in hospital for a week and spoke to me last Thursday telling me and that she'd had a minor heart attack. Rings a vague bell that but Pat says I didn't even mention she'd rung. Possible as I was "working" and possibly failed to appreciate the gravity of the call. Oh dear. Wonder if I wrote owt in last week's blog? Must look...

Colin and Tony here tomorrow ready for Synth DIY. Hoping Colin will bring his guitar and we can record some stuff. Also thought of possibly getting Bill to play.

Painty

Started a painting today. Probably more organic than ideal for the lady in question but it's entertaining me and it could be a practice run for hers if it ain't what she's after. Weird being paid to paint so best I just do it and then see if it's OK.

I Monster playing in Sheffield soon, must try to be there. New discovery but good.

Funeral tomorrow, court case postponed today, looks like poor A has another op to come.

Heh

It appears to be Sunday. Didn't get hold of Dog yet but don't want to hold off doing those tracks too long.

I've got about 4 new tracks in progress, two at least should be for the "dynamic" collection.

Didn't get much done yesterday. Wrote a "Sounding Off" - my usual "things were better in the old days" sorta rant but without much venom. Guitar/Drums stuff arrived but I didn't get into the studio, maybe today.

Off to see some head honcho in the Caring world today, not entirely sure why but a free lunch was mentioned. Dearly hoping I'll get into the studio later although Pat wants some help opening a gate so she can go riding. Might grab a couple of hours late afternoon/evening. Dearly hope so!

No word back from V about what he wants from me in Berlin. Don't want a repeat of Croatia where I prepare loads of stuff but don't get the opportunity to play it. May as well go with nothing and jam if that's what he wants. Still undecided on laptop - know it's probably the way to go but the laptop I want is so expensive and seems foolishly extravagant.

Seem to have today off Les as we're doing this meeting on Wednesday, presumably Laurie thinks we're a star turn so will try not to let her down.

Got a decent mix of "chugger" yesterday, Tony's guitar did the trick nicely. Awaiting drums (have ordered a rock drums CD and guitars too).

Made the mistake of watching my first world cup match - more of a mismatch really. England deservedly crashing out.

Very hot

Really should have gone to Glastonbury. Hope Harvey went down a storm.

Tony came and did some chuggy guitars for me. It was very hot up there.

I'll see what I can do with them tomorrow but think it could be OK. Now I want better drums though.

Pat working until 8, then Dr Who and a salad plus a bottle of wine; simple pleasures. :)

Tomorrow supposed to be hotter still. Brilliant English Summer at last.

Thank Heavens For Wavelab

Awesome programme; its batch processing is so incredibly fast. Have converted 96 files into 16 bit 48k wavs, 320kbps 48k MP3s, 128kbps 44.1k MP3s and all like greased lightning. Well, 10 minutes for the lot give or take.

Now to get the files onto DVD and in the post. Then "mad guitars" for the rest of the day...

Ah well, my own fault for introducing the concept of "voicefree" mixes, having managed the much harder task of having voices accepted. However, it does make sense to explore the broadest possible uses. Just means more work doing more bounces and conversions... hey ho :)

Logic crashing again, just loading in songs this time. A random thing though which is really great.

Solstice

Well well, another lovely summer day (the longest of the year too). Sent off the new CD (A Different World) with contracts and all cuts etc. Sold EX8000 to a nice guy from Accrington. Cash totting up towards laptop, could be I don't have to sell the Nord after all. No worries either way.

Gonna try to do the heavy metal guitar thing now and see how far I get with that. Feel a great urge to laze around, I'm really not designed for heat.

Cool, heard today my first US CD is going live soon and am just completing the edits for the "A Different World" one. All good!

Have advertised Nord Wave. Could be a foolish thing to do but with the cash I can get a decent laptop which will run all my mellotron samples and enable me to do proper gigs without carrying piles of hardware synths.

Noodling along. Did edits for 5 tracks, tidied up all the crap from the hallway and that middle room to hopefully cheer Pat up. She's still down from the whole loss of bottle thing with the horse riding.

Another sunny day and I enjoyed it lots. SH-01 being picked up tomorrow plus I got commissioned to do a painting and agreed to meet some of the SOS gang at Synth-DIY next month.

Dropped a line to a new library company touting for business. May try DW again too cos they're where the decent cash is.

Weird, thought I posted something yesterday but apparently not. Didn't get owt done yesterday though so no great loss. Sunny again today, must be more disciplined. Doing the 30 and 60" edits for Absolute and more Cirklon testing. And finishing oiling the decking.

Gosh with posts as vital as this I can't imagine why I wouldn't return one day when writing my autobiography!

Field Day

Well, I think we've had the best of the day. The sun's disappearing into hazy cloud and there are the sounds and smells of barbequeues being had. I believe there's a football game going on, perhaps at this very moment.

Was nice to see Longridge Field Day after so many years. Had a brief chat with Harvey, Dave H, Robert but it all ended too quickly. Could easily have stayed but didn't. Pat's working until midnight, helping out again. I'm starting to wish she could drop that job - or at least just stick to the hours agreed. Alone again, naturally. You tell 'em Gilbert. I could work on the SH-01 review. It's pretty much done; Roland didn't come through with any answers so I'll be a little careful with some of the wording. I hate to speculate but what else can I do? Ah well.

I have a bit of an urge to just play with the Synthi all night. Can't be bothered with telly, not gonna touch those tunes again until Monday when I start the edits and Cirklon still ain't quite progressed far enough to really do what I want on it. With stuff out of the box, so many variables that I'm starting to think perhaps one or two multitimbral modules is the best way for structured stuff to play live. The idea of instrument sets seems a good one now.

Rambling and not even stoned yet. I think I may remedy that next though. Then we'll see. If I do the review tonight I get tomorrow off. Coulda gone to that festie thing after all. Harvey's playing Glasto too, which is excellent. He mentioned having four tickets, almost wish I could go. Hmm.

Wonder what the point of this blog is. Am I ever gonna look back at this and remember anything of the day from it? Mum's sore arm, apparently she was mad at us going for another drink. I wish this condition would clear up and she could drop the steroids.

SH-01 review going well - an easy one to write thankfully. Two new tracks also making progress, I think at least one will be good, possibly both. That will leave just one to complete this project - then it's just a matter of all the edits and mp3 stuff.

Concentrated on SH-01 review and have now started writing up my notes. Also got a new track "Come On" which is possibly my first porn soundtrack. It's quirky but fun.

Pat still suffering after her walk, will see what she's like when she wakes this morning.

No Les today, he's on hols, so a bit of freedom today. How shall I use it?

Anniversary meal with Sam and Dawn. SH01 arrived plus started a new tune that's definitely promising.

Good day

I know all days can't be like this. But how cool is it to be sitting here drinking Guinness, smoking my pipe and making tracks I'm actually rather proud of - and that's my job??!!! The track "More" is really rather good even if I did have an earlier fear it sounded a bit like a Vangelis track (can't remember which one).

Fab sunny day, walked the dog, cut the grass then smoked some. Hah!

Fab Day

Lovely sunny day. Two tracks coming along nicely, February 13 and More. Pat working midnight until 06:00.

Mum's 70th, had a nice meal but poor Pat couldn't go cos work screwed up her day off. Mum on fine form, Lisa happy with her new job and Uni results, all good. Staying home with Pat Sunday morning rather than going dog walking. As it's a bank holiday I have an extra day for my review although will try to get it done tonight. Fortunately not a hard one to write.

22 Years

Wedding anniversary. Went to the beach, which was lovely. On the way back there were massive roadworks and I went up a one way street the wrong way. A police car was waiting there, idly totting up the cash like a malignant spider. Cost me £30.

Got home and that horrible cat had had our garden blackbird.

Felt lousy all day with a cold. Didn't do any work.

Thursday's the weirdest day of the week. This one sorta drifted by. Had a bit of a headache and a bunged up nose. Last Saturday still paying me back perhaps. I worked on the Monotron review and it's taking shape now, fortunately an easy one to do. Intend to do more on it tonight which will leave me with a day off tomorrow for our anniversary (22 years, howabout that?). Gonna go to the beach as long as weather not too bad.

May hear about Jasper's jump tonight, hope the boy gets one.

Discovered the RG s/ware only does major and minor keys. Happily they're keen to add a new envelope mode, positively enthusiastic after a bit of playing. Lovely, result!

Progress

Well of sorts. Trying to push the envelope and making progress in tiny increments. Offered another workaround for Omnisphere involving the sustain pedal. This sorta works when I get the coordination right but isn't entirely the same due to the effect on glide and, well, it doesn't sound instinctively "right". I may just give up. Gave them a potted version of Tony's explanation of what capacitors do.

Two tracks going nicely, once almost right, the other not so far behind. Just the final polish touches needed.

Looking like a cooler day but still pleasant. Last night finished "Sleep" bar a couple of small tweaks. That makes 6 tracks for new project so far. Talking to Predator's coder guy, very receptive to ideas and I dare to hope I may get my analogue envelope behaviour yet. Spectrasonics gone quiet though. I can only hope he has read my emails and twigged what I was on about. Maybe he's coding vigorously right now. Fingers crossed.

Dreadzone

They were excellent, quite a small venue really but a good crowd, great performance and very hot!

Danced my stupid ass off all night and then came back and we had a sesh which was all rather lovely.

Today is hot again so will get into studio this evening and do something. Monotron coming early next week, yay!

Fridays Rule!

Top day. Sunny. Spent most of day in garden drinking cider. Jonathon from USA (I suppose) didn't ring. I got a couple more Logic crashes with lots of mentions for Spectrasonics. Sent the crash logs off and suggested I may have to do a Youtube video of envelopes or maybe an oscilloscope shot of voltage output of an envelope through its various stages including during the release phase when a new long attack note starts. Spoke to Rob again about it (and praising that ace arpeggiator just used in wgo) so hopefully he'll take a look.

Started track "What's Going On?" which is gonna be ace. Alas it had crashes so I only got the start done. Audio cutting out and I suspected desk but I think it's now Omnisphere in one of its pre-crash states.

Mmmm

A good week. New tracks coming through, downloaded Tonehammer's Emotional Piano (nice) but broke Broadband limit so it took ages. Also got another Movie Dialogue download so hope to now have enough to do my project. Just need some decent beats.

Gonna be hot in next few days. Hot in that studio.

Sweet

New tracks went down well and I've got the go-ahead to do a CD of this sorta stuff. Excellent fun!

Pressing on with sequencer review, got most typed up now so just need to refine.

Lovely day so didn't do as much work as I might. Wonder what a lovely summer would bring to my workflow?

101 day

Sampled my SH-101 today, getting a bunch of percussion noises out of it.

Later I pottered about with the review, quite pleased with how it's looking now I have an angle on it, selling the simplicity. It's the only approach that makes sense because that way the instrument makes sense.

Crash!

Jeez I'm fucking sick of Logic. The latest crash was, inevitably, when I hadn't saved for a while. It's like I'm gonna have to save after every couple of edits or be at risk of wasting my time!!

Finished two new ones, well one needs some kind of theramin or ebow section, but I'm pleased with both. They are "No Magic" and "Beyond Known Space". Will see if the other library likes them and the use of samples is OK...

Aah. Got some movie dialogue stuff downloaded and used in my twee pop track. I think it works. Started another with aliens which has headed inevitably towards psy.

Must work on review tonight.

Well, whatever I did yesterday I didn't do today. Sequencer working OK. Hopefully that's it but I asked for another just in case. Only have just over a week to write everything up now so thank goodness it's not complicated.

Started a tune that might be ... OK

Started on review. Some glitches suggest possible fault in review unit. No music done today. Not much of anything else either. I've managed to type up most of my review notes anyway.

Pat's herceptin day so she'll be feeling poorly the next day or so.

Yesterday made wibbly noises with Tim. The best track was the one I failed to record thanks to forgetting to arm the tracks in iLogic. You hit record and it pretends to record but doesn't record anything, doesn't mention it at all. I really must investigate alternatives.

Well well, Pat drove back from Rivi this morning and reckons she's now fine to drive. So she's driven to work this evening too. Wotta gal!

So I should start on the sequencer review this evening, fortunately should be an easy one to write. May even check out the tune I started the other night (after the long painful extraction from the Microsampler) and see what I can do with it.

Hey ho eh?

Election non-erection

Well, nobody really won, everybody kinda lost, Brown will doubtless continue his clinging and Cameron will continue his cloying. Let's just hope we get some electoral reform out of this mess so that, in future, there is a chance that every vote counts.

AS Europa arrived today for review. I like the look of it, should be a fun afternoon.

Accountant bloke at 11, Duncan's BC8 to return, must send CAE number to Mars...

More crashes

Starting to think it's the new Omnisphere update causing my Logic crashes - the dumps seem to mention Spectrasonics an awful lot. Hey ho.

Sent off what I hope are my final four tracks today. Two were done and two I did a last polish of - the very last is a little odd but I sorta hope to sneak it through cos it's interesting.

Predator box arrived and it was a bit of a pain installing it but got there in the end. For some reason it thought I had an early version of OSX and wouldn't be convinced otherwise. Stupid thing. Anyway in the end I put the activation code into the elicenser and it seemed happy. The box was empty apart from the CD so next time I won't bother but will do it online.

**

Awesome. Last four tracks accepted. Will get edits done ASAP then it's onwards and upwards doing more.

Tempus Fugit

From 07:00 until around 16:00 my day was occupied with chores. Hey ho. Didn't get into the studio at all.

New sequencer coming for review, hopefully by the end of the week.

Really need to get those final tracks done. Could also do with the Predator box I ordered, wishing I'd gone for the online version now so I could be up and running. Logic crashes with any instances of the already expired demo. Hey ho.

Another Logic Crash...

Another day of little achievement. Down to just 4 uses of Predator demo already! Would help if Logic didn't crash. Anyway, despite its envelopes I ordered a copy. Might have been daft though as ordered from Time&Space for the nice box (probably still no manual!) and it'll be bound to take a few days, leaving me with a non-working version until then.

Didn't, in the end, take to Zebra, prefer ZebraCM. Fave of all is still Strobe for its analogue qualities but wish it had integral effects like Predator, and oscillators that can have fixed phase.

Right, best get to bed. Up for horsing in the morning. :)

May order a last set of ethnic samples to finish my last track. Or tracks, not sure about the latest persian one cos it's a bit similar in ethnicity to some of the others (and a bit strange). Just gotta find a country I've not pillaged yet. :)

Running around Saturday

Did Murphy, walked Jasper, got Dawn's parcel off to her and in the afternoon I pottered with Predator, explained the envelope thing in a bit more detail.

Thus: An envelope generator is basically a glide circuit.

The glide circuit only has two parameters - target level, and rate.
When the gate is off, the target for the glide is zero, and the rate is the release rate.
When the gate is turned on, you enter the attack phase.
In the attack phase, the glide target is maximum, and the rate is the attack rate.
When the level reaches maximum, you switch to the decay phase.
In the decay phase, the glide target is the sustain level, and the glide
rate is the decay rate.
Now, if the gate is off, and the level is falling to zero (release), a new gate on will re-enter the attack phase.

All this means is that the glide target and rate change to maximum/attack. You do not want the current output level to suddenly jump to zero, in exactly the same way that you wouldn't want glide from one note to another to instantly jump to a note it hadn't yet reached, before starting to glide toward a new note.

The gate input can only change the selection of which rate/level are set on the glide circuit. Gate should never directly influence the output level of the glide circuit.

Anyway, started a track using Predator (gonna buy it regardless of envelopes, still have synths whose envelopes do work like an analogue). The track is kinda different, just an embryo so far.

Tonight there will be telly. Tomorrow, something like today... :)

Envelopes still not licked

Playing with some of my virtuals today and only Strobe comes close to proper analogue envelope behaviour in mono mode. They all do this weird restarting thing on long attack/releases where the envelope level never gets chance to accumulate. Sounds very un-analogue. About to buy Predator and have asked for an enhancement already. :)

Clavia never listened so the Nord Wave never got fixed but full marks to Access who did.

Reckon the Synth Squad stuff is my fave overall. If only they had built-in effects rather than that separate bit but I guess I need to learn that.

Didn't do too much today.

Hmmm

Flogged my CS01 so gonna spend the cash on either Blue or the full version of Zebra. Think Blue wins for the number of supplied patches and for its wavetable stuff, more versatile methinks.

Yesterday's three tracks have one good one, one that's OK and one that's just plain strange. Good mileage from a bottle of Californian red.

Hopefully Pat gets out today. Right, best find a box for that CS01.

Op day

Op was supposed to be 13:00 but they keep putting it back.

Doing bits of things in the studio, edits really, easy stuff I don't have to concentrate on massively.

Duller Morning

Held off going out for a walk this morning, thought I'd help with Murphy again so Pat's nice and confident I can do everything. Later I'll see if the two tracks I started last night are going anywhere... :)

Wet Sunday

Well, adding water to the ponds worked its usual magic - it's been raining heavily overnight. Hey ho.

New shortbread still doesn't seem strong - maybe special ingredient ain't so potent. Hey ho.

Lovely bright start to Saturday; off to get practice getting Murphy out of the field this morning.

Went to Top Wok last night, served by a very short gonk-like person and the usual "eccentric" approach including dreadful music... food was good though.

Think I finished the "island" track yesterday but the aus one still ain't right. Should maybe leave it a while and see if better sounds turn up with the MOTU collection, assuming they ever get it right and send all the DVDs.

Finished aus track too, included some rather weird chord stuff but I think it works. Will send three to Mars in next day or so. If OK that's 16!

Other things, put water in pond and chilled with some cider. Felt very good indeed. Oh, made some shortbread.

Lovely day yesterday. Consoled myself for missing Barcelona by taking a day off. Long walk in the woods, glorious. Today I must get into the studio though and do some tracks.

Discovered Rapoon and still enjoying I Monster.

No sign of MOTU Ethno Instrument 2. Approached another library and talking about what sort of album to do for them. I think I told them I was equally good at everything, which is true in a way. :)

Had a bit more lunging practice and had to go up a second time to catch Murph as he didn't want to come in. Naughty horse. :)

Got two tracks in an almost complete state - a polynesian one (about forgetting your parrot, hehe) and an aussie one, with some hakas thrown in cos I was struggling for aus instruments.

Two Voice has gone (sob). Why do things always sound so wonderful just as they're about to take their leave forever? Hey ho. Guy who took it gave me a brilliant CD - not what I expected either. I gave him one of our old ones in return (might even have been the last Excession, doh!) but I wish I'd had something better.

Back to making library tunes for the rest of the day.

Hey ho.

Easyjet seem to say tomorrow's flight is on. No way I'm gonna go with all the uncertainty and with Pat's op on Tuesday. Would be nice not to lose the money. I feel another "hey ho" coming on.

Nothing much happened today. Must get a screen dump of the Kaossilator Pro s/ware for review.

Will I be flying to Barcelona on Wednesday morning? I really don't know but was resigned to not doing. What I can't afford is getting stranded there so even if the flights are on I'm not sure I'll go. Sigh...

Sunday and I could really get used to this lack of aircraft overhead lark. Must work on some SOS writing tonight, including trying out Andy's perfect note trick. I'd prefer to work on doing a track entirely with the Synthi and Microsampler though (edit: tried, got nowhere).

Why am I finding it so hard to get started today??

Wrote a rambling piece that seemed to be one long blob incorporating much of what I was gonna say. Hadn't thought of doing it as a complete narrative but perhaps that's an idea to explore. Will look again tomorrow and see whether it really works or if I need to rethink.

Ash...

Three more tracks accepted, all uploaded - so that's 13 complete.

Looks like my Barcelona trip could be screwed by volcanic ash. Still nice to have plane-free skies.

Another lovely morning, walkies time. :)

Afternoon spent in kinda limbo cos I may have to go do horse later.

In the end didn't but it scuppered plans to chill with Tim. Made the most of it and simplified "turkish delight" even though it meant removing the cool string part in the simplification process. Reckon that's 14 now.

Best pull finger out - 4-part series on making noises with synths to write, have to crack on with those tracks - chase David about Ethno Instrument 2. Barcelona next week too.

Busy, busy. New Cirklon OS finally gets a song mode I can use - still pressing Colin for workflow tweaks but reckon he's nailed it, or almost. Much more to do but finally starting to feel like something I can do entire tracks on. Want to be able to do the kind of super-fast song creation I could do in KCS as it'd make a good demo vid.

Right, walkies!

Idle Monday

It was sunny. So I didn't do owt except read a book and lounge around in the garden. In the evening I worked on another native american one, sanitising the earlier "peace pipe" a bit.

Saw Les and admired his Rome video. Got car through MOT. Just boring life stuff. Must've done something else but dunno what. Pat had lovely ride on her horse. Jeez aren't diaries totally tedious??

Lots of running round today. Went round Knowle Green Bottoms, been some years since I went down there. Noticed that Bridge House is directly downhill from Myers Farm, not sure I'd seen that before.

Then had to go to hospital to pick up Nellie. Betty from across the road not expected to live long, saw her briefly and she did look poorly. One of her brothers was drunk so unable to go, the other in bed ill after a fall. Don't get old!

Then took car for MOT and walked back with Jasper from Leyland. Now it's evening and I've some studio work to do. Have sketched some ideas for series of articles for mag, not sure it's substantial enough though. Could be a real monster but dunno how to play it, especially as I am rather busy and expect other review stuff to come along also. Hopefully the MOTU thing before not too long.

Synthi calling but I must resist and knuckle down. Hey ho.

Later. Confess I am rather enjoying writing music for other people. Too long writing just for yourself is not healthy because, deep down, you know it's pointless - rendered even more ephemeral if it's your only output. Funny old business. Should've done this years ago.

Right, completed all of the underscore/stinger and 30" edits for all 10 tracks submitted. One or two are a little boundary-pushing in that they have partial melodies low in the mix cos otherwise some parts would be just kickless percussion and thus rather dull.

Sunshine!

Wouldn't you know it, the first day I have a few hours to work on tunes it's glorious. I mean, really nice. It would be criminal to spend the afternoon in a moist and shady studio yet I feel I have to. Even if I only do the underscore/30/stinger jobs on the three last tracks I did. Oh and produce the masters of course.

Breached my 10Gb limit last month - BT never sent any warning I was getting close which is a nuisance. I suspect it's uploading not, as they say in their email, downloading. Must ring them sometime and try to see what can be done to improve things.

Also must put down some ideas on what I'd include in a series of synth articles that's been suggested. Sunday night I'll do that.

Today I got blank looks in the pie shop when I pointed to one of their signs and asked if anyone, anyone at all, could tell me the correct spelling of the word pies. Despite all claims to the contrary I can't believe that kids are getting better educations (or should that be education's?) now. Makes me feel very old to think this way so I shall stop.

Snotty Thursday

Seem to have picked up a minor cold. TVS sold and looks like I've bagged a Synthi AKS. Wooo. Lord Mandelson's Internet Snooping Bill gets rushed through parliament along with other deeply-thought out legislation like protection for the Dodo, the making illegal of chocolate, the new speed limit of 24.6 MPH on motorways and, most importantly, the new law that compels everyone in the country to buy at least one daily newspaper, punishment for disobeying this last one to be "at least death".

So we're making great progress out of the dark ages.

Useful days talking Cirklon song mode, got my LEDs dimmed a bit, SH-101 turned out not to have a fault. Lots of my SOS ads seem to be generating sales, fingers crossed they all come in.

Um, today appears to be Monday. So that's good. Not Good Monday though.

Reworked three of the earlier tracks into streamlined versions. OK so this compromises them musically a bit but it ain't about that. Remember?

So will send them off and see if they're OK. If so, could be others to rework.

Colin's tomorrow, just the one night though as Tony needs to be back. Will take SH-101 for fix and Cirklon for LED adjustment.

Gonna sell some stuff, including the TVS.

Plodding through tracks creating underscores, stingers and 30" edits. Not too bad actually although some of those stingers are tough to fit into 8 seconds. Three more to do before I move on to making new tracks.

Curry tonight with Carl and Dan, lovely stuff.

And so it was. Top food and good to see 'em. Dr Who. Well, I'll wait a little. First episode felt almost like a deliberate "Steve pretends he's Russell" kinda exercise. Assistant is fit though. We'll see if the youngster can pull it off. Reckon an elderly professor sort woulda been better though. Like Ming Campbell but with personality. Patrick Troughton, we miss you!

It's been another grey and wet day. Finished the new track but diverted for a couple of hours to write a quick news item for the mag. It involved me watching that scary Roland video again.

Pat working this evening so I'm gonna see if I can get another track started.

Wet Tuesday

Meeting with money man today, gonna get him to do my taxes. Then saw Les who lent me a hi-fi amp so finally I can play my LPs. That speaker working too so my soldering must be OK.

Worked a little on a track this afternoon, a mad mix of howling orientals, drum and bass and Kraftwerk. As Paul says: how can that not be used??

Best news of the day: secured MOTU for review, which means I get to really try before I buy. Got the email just as I was reading my credit card numbers to the guy at Digital Village too! Managed to halt it, all peachy and no hard feelings, especially as it wasn't in stock.

Monday and zilch

Got review off this morning. Otherwise did nothing much today except help with horse. Have decided to buy MOTU's Ethno Instrument 2 despite it using yet another fecking dongle security. Hope it'll be enough for this current project but I expect to keep haemorrhaging money.

Was Pat's herceptin day. Money man and Les tomorrow so let's hope I get some time soon to work on music.

LPs and fungus

Got a deck, decent one too although coulda probably got something OK from the bastards at Richer Sounds. Sod 'em though.

Now I discover some of my albums have little blobs of fungus. Have to fix one of the old speakers though, hopefully a simply solder job. Great listening to the old albums again though. Hope I didn't bore Tony too much with 'em last night.

Ran into Matt B, hope to hook up next week.

Got new phone, very posh touch-screen thing with camera and video camera. Accidentally dialled Pat several times while out walking, must read the manual.

Today (Saturday) I should do final review polish, solder speaker, perhaps start a track. No slacking boy!!

Friday again

Looks a better morning. Finished the brazilian one yesterday - it got more ethic at the start so not really sure what flavour it is now, the sorta indian guitar noise and those crazy mandolins... also redid the old ambient china one and simplified it. We'll see if enough.

Practically completed the Kaossilator review, it's the right length and says everything I want. A little tidying then it can go.

Today I shall take it a little easier but try to get at least one new track started.

Well well, it just goes to show you can never work folks out. Of the three tracks sent, the gamelan one was "good but not for this", the afro-celt one was spot on and the brazilian one needs more worldy stuff at the start. Weird that the afro celt one was added to make up the numbers! Had the formula explained to me - then when I think about it realised that the one track that DIDN'T conform to it was the afro-celt one as it has an intro. Also, some of the other accepted ones really don't have much world and certainly not right at the start.

Consistency would help but I think I'm getting the picture and starting to understand the mentality that goes into this process.

Long chat about scenes and workspaces with Colin. Seriously think this baby is gonna be wonderful but needs to move faster. Like me with the library music.

Finished two tracks yesterday - the "minimal techno" one, which now has japanese school kids and gamelan to add to the brazilian voices and rhythms. Does it work? Will send later and see. Also completed the catchy Brazilian beachy one I'm gonna call Sundance (for now) - better than my working title of Soapy Sophie. :)

Logic caused me some pain. Not the crash but the weirdness with the muted tracks that eventually led me down the path of working from one of the backups, which then didn't do new backups and I somehow lost over an hour's cool sequence work that isn't quite as good now I've recreated it. Did I mention how much I hate that endless "do you want to save?" question that dulls its power through repetition.

I MUST get that review into shape today.

Disappointing day yesterday as I got very little done. My precious Sunday evening lost the first 2 1/2 hours as Phil was here with his broken-down car. Somehow after that I never quite got into the review rhythm. Made small inroads on one of the tracks I'd been working on but that's all. Should take Phil's advice and get some financial advice I guess, especially when it comes to claiming back tax as this year will be a cash-light year. At least mum's back starting to improve. Noticed her face getting round with the steroids though.

Today I have Les this morning and we'll see what this afternoon.

Rainy Saturday

Didn't do a great deal yesterday. Progressed (slightly) the track that sounds a bit Sophie Ellis Bextor (did I rip the guitar riff off, dunno?) and thought how I could do the minimal techno one to be more worldy - need some Japanese female voice samples in various pitches. Didn't tackle the afto celt one but instead played with Cirklon. Managed to lose about an hour's work somehow, still can't really get started on anything with it yet. Missing my P3.

Installed Virus OS4 and Logic 9.1.1, that latter fixing my hanging note problem with compressors using sidechains.

Words fail me...

Persuaded American guy to translate ASAP into an actual calendar date. He said the deadline was March 21st. He told me this on the 18th. So that's the kind of consideration I'm gonna get in this exciting new world writing music.

Had I known on the 6th March when I got the brief, I'd have panicked but had a serious try at it. Did another track yesterday that's almost right but as there's no way I'll have 20 done (including stingers, underscores and 60" edits) by the deadline I'll ease up and enjoy today's sunshine. May even visit Tony tonight...

Mmm

Managed two tracks today, both decidedly simple and focused I hope. Knackered from screen staring though. Pat working until midnight.

Sent to Mars with fingers crossed and also the native american tommy one that I also simplified.

Dentist on the Ides of March

Phew, all OK.

Pretty much finished the Afro-Celt one. Can't get the damn tune out of my head either. Grrr. Didn't do much else except get my deadline for the Kaossilator review. Have sussed it out, not too hard.

Oh, DW finally replied (must've been my cheeky 'anniversary' email). They said they're already packed in "my genre" but have passed me onto some other library. Wasn't even the main man who wrote so so much for Paul's pulling power. I guess his idea of sticking to one theme didn't work out too well either, but at least I got a load of similar tracks out of it that I hope to find a use for. If not, well, I like 'em. Could extend into a full album darn easily if there was any point at all to bringing out an album these days.

Carless Sunday

Well, Pat's has a potentially dodgy airbag so she's using mine. Mum's back still bad so she couldn't go out far anyway, which is worrying.

Must progress Kaossilator review today - have the nice long Sunday evening to myself to work on it, Cirklon this afternoon I think. At least the Korg's easy enough to use and to write about but I'd rather be working on new tracks, now my ears have been opened. All these years of hit and miss production eh? Sigh...

Dentist tomorrow.

Nice one Mick!

Can't thank Mick enough for yesterday's studio checkout. Feel I'm hearing my mixes ten times better just for the simple lesson of mixing louder. The bits that clash and grate aren't so bad quieter of course so I never really felt them - think Mars did me a real favour.

Going through all recent Logic songs and applying lots more thought and care to them. Maybe won't make any new stuff until all those are as good as they can be. :)

Sunny Monday

And I'm in a darkened studio. At least the review went off and seemed OK to me.

Now to start on the first big library project. :)

Woo

Most excellent day. Contact of Paul's from USA has a project that seems tailor made for me. The track I started last night is sounding good and also beginning to make something of the funny sideband test one. Not sure how but it's got something I could work on.

Fab walk this morning with Jasper. So a good day. Maybe Tim's green helped it along too. Now, curry with Carl beckons.

Another Sunny Day

My blogs these days are about as interesting as Eddie Izzard's Tweets. The sun broke through the morning fog and I can see myself chilling through the afternoon although I do feel rather like making music today, time to pester Colin for an OS update which is a good excuse to switch on the hardware side of the studio.

Pat working this evening so it means I have more free time to write tonight. Can life really continue as good as it is now?

Glorious Sunshine

How on earth am I going to convince myself to ascend into darkness today when it's such a stunning day? Had intended to do the final polish of the MiniAK review and do two sub versions of African Gold for Yooka, but the sun-drenched conservatory is calling. Going up in the hills this afternoon to do some horse walking.

Simple pleasures rule. :)

OK, sub versions aren't that easy - not getting exact 30" mixes anyway. Let's hope a second or two's leeway works. On the plus side, had a second track accepted, the one Pat really liked.

Tum tee tum. Didn't do much today except agree to beta test some new hardware, upload the psy track to hopefully be used by Yooka and return that Eventide Harmonizer I've had sat around for ages.

Played the Manikin Memotron (I think that's what it's called). Three mellotrons in one room. Hey ho.

Over and out.

Sunshine!

Trying to fix laptops today. Went to carvery with Les and his father in law so the day kinda drifted away from me. Lovely sunshine and idling through the afternoon, cider, FSOL and a good book.

Later, had another tweak of psy track, now called Carmaggeddon. Reckon I need Andy M to help get it right though; good advice from Gareth.

Tiddly pom.

Saturday mostly involved getting that psy track started properly. It seems to have acquired the title Psyonic Woman but still needs proper organisation, some decluttering and some proper production work. Also really need Andy Mason to listen to that sequence cos he'll know if it's something I've heard and ripped off. If he reckons it's original I'll bring it higher in the mix. :)

Having got bored with that Terry Goodkind thing about The Seeker (it started well enough but after the third episode you could see the formula and no way could we endure 28 episodes or however many there were), we turned to the film 7 pound, which turned out to be good.

Colin doing mighty things with MTC.

Progress

Rainy day so didn't walk out very far. Betty across the road fell (again) and this time broke her hip. Pat went with her to hospital and I was on horse duty. Didn't get much review written but did manage to get a decent start made, helped by answers at last from Numark.

Good news then when I got email back from Yooka to say one of my tracks has been accepted. No word on the other two but one success is good enough to start with. It was the last one I submitted too - I personally thought it the second best of the three. If I don't get owt back from DW then I at least have five other good tracks to use. Best work on more. :)

Hoping for quiet night in, once Pat back from hospital. Holding off on my Friday afternoon red wine in case I have to drive and pick her up. Have cooked a lovely bolognese though using up those weird mushrooms Pat did. What possible value recording this will be to me at any point in the future is unknown. If I was gonna keep a diary, this is a very weird time to start...