apparently it's new year's eve. Last night we went to a gourmet night where at least the prices were recognisably gourmet-style. Even though it was supposedly french cuisine I confess I was surprised to encounter french fries and onion rings. Still, enjoyed it all the same although hoped for a little more flavour. Or some flavour. Maybe I lost all my tastebuds?

Today I registered the tracks of Twilight on PRS. I'm vegetating slightly, listening to some Spyra and pining a little for the Ricochet Gatherings. As I have the Octatrack I could finally, belatedly, compete with the laptop-squinters on even terms. Funny how when the gigs dry up I am at last able to do something that sounds slick and polished, even if it ain't quite so much fun as spinning plates with no safety net...

More coffee, I think.

I think today was Thursday. It rained.

Not doing a lot today, have got 12 songs into the Cirklon/Octatrack embrace, could keep going but that's the principle established. I should maybe do more fleshing out of patterns now, but somehow my heart's not in it. Not sure how much time/effort I want to put into the live side of things given there really aren't many gigs going and they don't pay either. Should concentrate on the stuff that does. Or hopefully will, a subtle distinction!
Will I get drunk again this evening?

Hmmm CD Baby not working out so well yet - keep being told "won't buy cos only mp3 quality"... sigh. Odd that a company called CD Baby doesn't offer CD quality audio when you come to think of it...

Maybe shoulda stuck to Bandcamp. Would have if they had only agreed to the idea of not fully previewing every track. It's as if they want your stuff to get pirated... moan, moan. Feeling rather delicate today.

It's chrimbo. Didn't get much done yesterday, felt I probably shouldn't creep off to the studio so sat around while Pat and her aunt did a jigsaw, Dawn read a book, I sorta treaded water. Hope to get up there today for a bit to continue my Octa habit. Now I have a system I've already thought of a way to improve it - won't populate so many slots in future in advance cos you can't read the fecking file names on the Octatrack list.

Nice afternoon doing more Octatrack/Cirklon songs, have worked out a pretty decent system now, still a few glitches related to having to wait for Octatrack to switch patterns and therefore be able to trigger a new set of samples. Have requested that slot selection be a MIDI CC or do-able by note (over the full range of MIDI's 128 notes) as opposed to chromatically, per track, would mean I only ever needed one part, could forget parts really.

Album released today, haven't thought who to tell except the usual few places. Still, typical really. :)

Fecking CD Baby spent a couple of days sitting on my audio before telling me they deleted it all and can I reupload. No info on why, just give it us again please. Sigh. I do have this special gift eh?
So I extracted it from the CD rather than use Mick's wavs - extracted files are smaller so I wonder what he did? Still, maybe CD Baby use some odd proprietry s/ware that is over-fussy. Shame their website is so bloody slow though. Moan, moan, I know.

Had a day playing today. I always make less progress with the Octatrack than I expect. Not sure why, maybe I try to do too much with it or just don't have a system yet, no idea...

Hmm so where was I? Busy day today, I'm uploading the clubland tracks tonight despite some vague and frankly contradictory comments. Hope the results are good, I've done my best anyway. I wonder if some mastering Mick-style would have helped, I think I should go watch him and see what I can learn. Anyway...

Waiting for CD-Baby to tell me my album is live and available on iTunes/amazon etc. Decided to do it myself as that record label dude seemed a waste of time in the end, or maybe he was misinformed or just amateurish. Anyway better not to give away 20% unless it's damn well worth it.

Should get some time tomorrow to relax, have been pretty hectic lately. Want to try and wrap up that review that's almost complete though. Clear the decks and all that. Must be something else I have to report but of course this isn't the place for the deep stuff. I sorta wonder what value looking back over these could possibly have. If none, why do I do it?

Got mastered album today, Tim sorted cover text, just have to decide who to release it with. Was gonna go CDBaby but then a chap suggested his record label might wanna help so I've sent an mp3 of the whole thing. Decided that bandcamp don't deserve it cos they ain't interested in limiting the previews. You can do that on vibedeck but not sure that's worth the effort compared to better distribution possibilities. We'll see.

Mick did a good job I think. Doesn't sound totally different either which is a relief - but will go listen in the library tomorrow. He's done a nice job with the loudness though, better than I would unless I used that hooky version of Waves, nah not even then, be honest lad!

No work done today, meeting in the morning then Emma from volunteering afternoon then faffing generally.

Survived the castle party. Seemed to spend most of my time looking for somewhere warm and pleasant to sit, listen to music and trip. The chillout had become a frenzied and noisy place this year and I totally forgot to go look downstairs after an initial foray. Maybe I'm getting too old to appreciate it but the acid was nice and the peyote interesting.

castle party weekend! :)

Good day, sent off two african tracks done pretty quickly. I might get time to work on that other synth tomorrow as current review ticking along nicely. Blimey, I'm organised. Have to get costume for Saturday yet, no idea what - something cheap.

Good day, polished off "Wintermute" and did "Android" for Carl. Liz suggests more African ones so will look at doing that tomorrow. Made progress with Monotrons review too so all in all a productive day. Didn't get chance to ring Dave Hill though, which I shall rectify tomorrow.

Didn't get much done yesterday as blinds man was here through the afternoon. Snatched an hour or so in the late afternoon then another hour in the evening to work on a tune that had been going through my head. Didn't get much done for that christmas radio thing, couldn't find my mic and then I got into the track for Otamate, a kinda drum and bass thing inspired by an old track of mine called Winterhaven.

This evening I want to try and concentrate on the Korg reviews, get them well started . Even if it means no music gets done. Don't want to lag behind there, especially with two other analogues to do. Castle party next Saturday and usually it's hard to focus on the Sunday night when I get back so the weekend could be a work writeoff. :)

Groovy, got first payment from US library, not a whole lot ($200) but it's a start.

Good day, sent one track off and made a good start on another, an Egyptian one. Finished programming the Fantom, hopefully it'll be what the guy wants. I won't be glad to see the back of it though.

Made some progress with new review synths, fortunately very easy to grasp and writing shouldn't be hard. Octatrack new OS due and finally can have tracks of individual lengths. Yay! Gonna wipe Cirklon and set up my ultra-streamlined box of gigging tricks based around Octatrack and the absolute minimum of other gear, probably Proteus, Radias and something nice and analogue from Vermona.