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.