Survived Solfest. A bit grey and windy in places but good music (finally) on the Sunday. Surprised how many Stranglers tunes I knew. Indian Postal Service and Bongoman both excellent but only got 30 mins to play - WTF??!!

Now, will I survive Portugal tomorrow? :(

Solfest weekend

It's raining.

Quite heavily. One year, just one year I'd like a completely dry and sunny Solfest experience all the way through.

Did a reasonable mix of "feelin the love" today and uploaded, will see what Liz thinks. Margaret's vocals excellent, don't think I've done them justice yet but getting there.

Before Art there must be Time and Space

Finally I have my third wise saying. Nowt to stop me forming a cult now. Whooppee.

To remind you, the others were: do good shit and love is all you need or something like that. Hehe.

Anyway, two tracks this evening - one "let yourself go" based on a sample I've used before. The other was the more finished version of I feel love. Must get Maggots to do the singing.

Well well, Saturday here. Must pick apples. Finished a track yesterday I quite like, Christiania, started a bit housey but went dark and stranger than I think library would like.

Two good nights of freedom so should get the Tutti review done and more music too plus transferring tracks into Octatrack. This evening I may go for a curry with Carl and Dan, in fact, sod it I will!

Listening to Andy G on the radio doing an Inkey$ special. Nostalgia eh? Reminds me of the early 80s when everything seemed possible. Maybe it was but it needed someone able to grasp the possibilities and that someone sure wasn't me.

I had a great day making real electronic music - in the style of Conrad Schnizler. I seriously think I may do a whole album of this stuff, it's inspiring me! Used Cirklon, Octatrack, Synthi and Eventide Space. I think I may stick to that lineup for more.

Don't want any more days like today. Said farewell to Murphy. Glad Pat wasn't there though. She remembered, later, today is her mum's birthday.

I sent off two house tracks, called shine and together, seemed to think later I had the titles the wrong way round. Not doing anything tonight except consoling.

Have started 4 "cafe del mar" type tracks, must get one actually finished.

Horse to be put down Friday. Not looking forward to that. Hard to write euphoric dance music in this mood.

Almost completed Octatrack review. Struggling with wordcount though, can get there but not saying everything I want.

KX8 working fine, have setup buttons to do what I want also. Manual doesn't make clear but they send notes and on a different USB MIDI port. SO you can identify and use those specifically. Sorted.

Bloody rain. It must be August just prior to Solfest.

Great night jamming with Octa, really can do magic with it now I've set it up. That's the key. It's not yet the instant jam machine cos of the gaps. But prepare some stuff, which I wanted to do anyway, add a couple of 303 clones, could get the whole thing in a single flightcase. Hehehheeeehehe. At last: option not to sound shit BUT still no laptop. Philosophical win! Nutter!

New track too. Used that Octa loop, can do a lot more of that. Like having Ableton synced to Logic.

Possibly two new tracks actually.

Pat not too well today, thinks her medication needs adjusting, very weak. Went out for a meal even though she seemed too tired but she didn't eat much. Early night poor thing. :(

Today new cafe del mar stuff started. And another tune I'm calling "He's Spartacus", although that may change.

Let's hope for a better day tomorrow

Oh dear. I just realised the KX8 doesn't have class compliant drivers. Bugger. I really should do my own research. Octatrack review coming on well, no replies from Elektron yet, maybe my questions were too much too soon. I do have a tendency to do that. Or do I have a tendancy? Nah, dense, that's me.

It's Wednesday already! I must do something soon. Maybe write some music, there's a thought. Having too much fun, that's my problem. :)

Got a CME UF6 keyboard from Dave today, very kind. Not class compliant so will try out drivers and hope. Looks nice though, hopefully will do the job. Must dump that M-Audio. This evening will try and get it all working.

Some bugs with Octatrack related to Arranger it seems - my lack of trigs/plocks isn't isolated. Hope to hear from them soon as I do need to start writing out all my notes.

Still waiting for KX8, guy said it could take until Aug8th for cheque to clear - wish he'd been into using bank transfer.