Grit your teeth, Paul

It's good advice. Just discovered our house guest will be with us "just another night" so I will continue smiling like a halfwit and quietly snaffling the magic shortbread and working on my novel.

Which, I have to say, has reached a better, more complete conclusion than I thought it would. I amazed myself yesterday when I saw all the loose strands and their intricate twists just naturally finding their own way. It may not be a conventional way to write but it sure is fun. And it might also be the first novel I've written with a pseudo-happy ending. There's enough left over for the third volume in this series too but the arc back to FAF was so neatly done I guess I must have been thinking about it from the start. As someone once, wisely, accused: all your stories are the same story. Its true but, amusingly, not one person has correctly identified what it's actually about. Ho ho ho.

Have done no actual work, some minor, disinterested pottering. Still waiting to get my house back, relax and do some new music. Until then, fixed grin.

A picture of my mum's dog, in case you were wondering.

Winding up 2013

I may be doing it early of course but I'm starting to think I'll not do a lot more work this year. OK, there's a review to finish and another to start but they aren't biggies and don't feel like work.

I finally cracked the novel, kept pushing until the bits shifted into place and felt right. Even the earlier strands that seemed to go nowhere now do have a coherent direction, or at least as much as I require. I can see a good place to end this volume too, which will leave a book the size of the first to wind it all up. Must pester Tim to do the cover.

Of course I'm closing in on the first draft only. It may take a while before I can release it but the second pass or edit phase is usually fun.

The wind is getting wild today so I'm not sure how much I'll do in the studio. Always the chance of power outages. Mum still not right. Life! Have done no further library music work, even though I know I should. The novel tends to take over when the ideas are flowing, especially if I've been pushing against a blockage for a long time. Could be writing is very much like cleaning the drains, or mine is.

Harvey, great film!

Just wrote a twist even I didn't see coming. :)

Hell, I'm watching Nigella on telly and feeling very horny. Dreaming of sharing a line or two with her doesn't make her any less sexy. Down boy!

Peachy Monday

Yeah, a slow burner I suppose but the day slipped into place with two events: finally cracking the Blofeld editor (it defaults to Microsoft synth as its output on each startup) and doing my first proper work on the review that now feels under control.

The Blofeld is now full of mellotron samples - and better ones than I've had before, some really full of character that exceeds that of the Nord Wave, my Akai library and the ones I did at Martin's. Almost filled the Blo memory, might pack in those Lancet sequencer samples at the end one day but no hurry, lots to explore. Played the mellotron piano for half an hour without changing to owt else.

Awaiting client for video/music but lib happy.

Good day.

The fun part of being a professional composer...

... well, for a start it feels like progress when I'm doing stuff to a film, lining it up with cues on screen and all that malarkey. Very happy with Logic for a change. Apart from it crashing once today it has just done what was expected of it when I dragged in my film to the tune they want tweaking to fit. I was able, I hope, to do what was required which was move things around, mute some parts, add some new ones to suit the context. A good evening's work.

Back in review mode now having pottered a bit. Interesting my pal Volker has done some patches (and they're bloody good too) and I'm getting a fair idea of it, better than I had before. So it's all good.

Even got a short time in the afternoon to play with the Blofeld, define it to Cirklon, add a load of CCs for the filters and envelopes. I left the oscillators or it could get a bit unwieldy but I may add some later. It's probably Waldorf's best synth engine ever, not sure if I said that in the review. Sounds better than the Microwave (even the original one) but less fun to edit than either the Pulse 2 or the Microwave 2, I suspect I'll not tweak it so deeply, life's too short, but I do want to load it up with samples. Looked at Spectre but didn't start doing anything. Not so inviting after all. Diddly fee.

Right, I'll have an hour writing before I call it an evening. Still got mum's dog but went out briefly today. Fresh air good for her I think (mum, not the dog) and I thought her house way too warm, which won't help.

If I have anything else to tell you, it's slipped my mind. Here's photos of gear. Doesn't my hand look weird in the selfie? Not sure why but it's interesting all the same.

Rainy Thursday

Rainy but not bad, I have the afternoon to do some work if I can decide what work to do that is.

PRS breakdown was interesting - some of my really old tracks suddenly doing well, the top-earning one from Absolute at Wigan and it's one of the old new age things with native american voices in. Kinda pleased in a way. Synctracks doing better this quarter too, not just Ch5 serial killers (although lots of that) but more music abroad than usual.

A day recording Headshock yesterday made me realise I should've bought a decent mic years ago. Recorded all kinds of stuff and Tim brought his guitar and violin. Some good material I think with more arrangement required to really make it sing. Time though, will I have any today? Tempted...

Also a disturbing call from an old workmate about his wife, left me reeling and rather upset. Life eh?

Oops, I was bad and edited the Headshock stuff some, rather happy with the results so far even though I can see more work that would help. Now working on one of the reviews, actually the only one I can really do and even so I'm treading ground already covered. Hey ho.

Phew

Sent them in, with a few last minute mods. Big relief, they like them, two especially. And a two I'm particularly glad about cos they represent two extremes. Some alternate mixes are required, will have a go tomorrow top priority.

I indulged myself today, worked on novel which I note is almost 69,000 words. I'm going to finally do some chapter chopping and look at the various entrails and where they flip in the wind. I seem to have created a few branches and I don't know if they are meant to be loose or not. I should probably know.

Productive Week

And about time I recovered my mojo. Have done 5 tracks this week, so with the 4 last week I appear to be officially working again. No review stuff done though, the three things I have (two software) are not easy to start on. One is so dull I can't bring myself to start, another is a straight port from an iPad app and the last is a returning piece of hardware that has me searching for a monkey's paw trying to work out why I deserved it back...

Been doing financial stuff, signing up for an investment thing next week that should bring in some income to ease the fact I ain't bringing in much money. Pat is gonna retire next April so we will have to be sensible, but not too sensible I hope. Good incentive to work harder anyway.

May do another video today if I get time. A guy is asking about more aux events which is easy enough for me to cover - but at some point I really am going to have to learn about editing Ck patterns, which I've never done. I now feel I was wrong to push for having Ck patterns in from the outset as a lot of people seem keen on them and keep wanting more features and tweaks. I suspect the fun stuff (e,g, supersteps, multi-phasic patterns, handling on a pattern rather than bar basis and many, many more) will never happen now due to other pressures. Hey ho, maybe one day someone else will make a sequencer... given my exchanges with NI, I'm damn sure they won't be making my dreams come true.

Advertised my etherwave plus on FB but no offers. SOS ads next.

Logic has been crashing rather a lot lately. Perhaps because I'm daring to use some of the effects plugins I purchased. What a piece of shit it is.

I feel the urge to get a guitar but it's not to punish my ma.

Happy Friday!

Wow

Seems I'm inspired. Two tracks this evening and both seem good. Grey light of day may change my mind but I suspect not.

https://soundcloud.com/paulnagle/one-good-man
https://soundcloud.com/paulnagle/be-afraid

Good day, Pat finishing earlier which is nice.

Cool

Well, the new library liked the tracks, which is always a relief. I think I'd have given up by now if it weren't for Paul keep encouraging me. Looks like I can keep sending stuff to these guys, will have a go at some more in the week.

Recorded a quick and basic video about getting started with scenes to put together a song structure, on request of someone on the Cirklon forum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwFpTG3lyeg&feature=youtu.be

Got some strange grief from Pat for not hearing the phone ring in the afternoon as I was recording it. She left no message on the house phone or my mobile yet I was in the wrong for not being instantly available (this from the woman who frequently leaves her mobile at home). I dunno she'll ever understand how the music thing works. She also didn't ask to hear any of my new tracks. Hehe, I'm doing the "my wife doesn't understand me" routine! When, of course, she understands me all too well! :)

Had to go pick up the tile paint cos the courier got lost. Might have been able to get the roof done today if we'd had it yesterday as they promised. Should've ordered it myself as I'd have noticed it was in Leyland and therefore just driven there at the start of the week. Idiot! Also, was expecting a 5 litre tin and this is 20! Not entirely sure it's the right stuff as it's the same price as the 5l ones I was sure about. Ah bugger it.

Right, things to do, couple of software reviews to crack on with, some alternate mixes to do of the library stuff, probably won't get chance to do another tutorial vid today but we'll see.

Must've been a busy week...

It's possible anyway. I've been working on tracks for the new US library, have four that are pretty much finished. They may be actually finished but I just lack confidence they're absolute killers and know in my heart of hearts that more work won't make them substantially better. Will run by Paul later. Also finished the  biggish review I'd been doing and sent it off, then started two new ones (softsynths). I say "started" but that may be overstating it. :)

What else? I used my new Rode NT1a in a track - worked well but the track was eventually discarded. Did a little proofreading of Cirklon manual and played with new step input mode, pointed out a bug and one thing that's a bit wonky, but it's released into the wild now anyway. Step input poly and mono is really cool actually and even though a work in progress I'll be using it a lot. In fact, I have half-promised to do a new beginner's video today because someone's struggling with basic workflow. It really depends on whether I complete the library tracks and can get the video set up easily for a one-take, one camera quickie. Don't want to get into complexity as it's Friday after all.

Oh, I ordered an Arturia Microbrute. Dunno why really but the sequencer was probably reason enough. Have got a bit fed up waiting for the custom BS2 OS that adds the changes I need. I really do prefer non-programmable stuff so the SH-101's reign is not threatened. Speaking of which I now have the 101 through my Moogerfooger ringmod and it's proving a nice combination. Ditto for the Xone filter which is sweetening up the Microwave 2. Wouldn't mind another of those as it was also pretty effective on the Octatrack. Shame it takes so long to set stuff up on the Octatrack, I sometimes think it's only stubbornness that makes me keep it - I've put too much time into it to admit it's really a PITA much of the time. Rambling now, sorry.

Part of the pile of old cassettes I'd planned to transfer to the computer, project currently stalled as I broke my cassette deck!

Oh and I agreed to help out my mate's band as they're doing a full live version of Dark Side of the Moon. I guess I'll have to learn how to do "On the Run" on the Synthi :)

Friday, new delay, some plusses

Well a good plus being that the US company do want something. Paul once again directing and helping me along, he's really been great from the start. Believes in me more than me sometimes. Email lost or in spam filter but received now.

Roof tile saga continues, well it became a tile saga due to concreteish sticking of ridge tiles. Had to order the special paint, but also have to get a set of reclaimed tiles cos ours are so old you can't buy them new.

Played with the new delay, very good. Recorded some loops with it, I love the tap tempo and the dual delay setting brill, sound on sound recording also good, it has a very long 23 secs max.

This evening the sky is clear, we'll watch some telly, drink mulled wine...

Not a recent photo but it cheers me up to see it.

N1GI

Aye, not one good idea today although I laboured with three songs in Logic and even tried one in Maschine to break the monotony. So that's a shame. Trouble is I just didn't get in the mood, perhaps my dislike of large sporting events makes me unsuitable to write music for one.

SOS came today, just one review and two apps. News about Pat's tax code rather a downer. She'll be giving up her job sooner rather than later, which may mean I need to get one. Arse.

Novel seems to be energised again, still getting little details for some of the gaps I left with those large brushstrokes.

Got cheque from US publisher today. Similar to the usual and actually makes me think I should have done more for them. They got the real good CSI stuff and I'd love to do more. More up my street.

This evening I may work on novel or review, not decided. No sign of my delay, hope he remembers to send it.

New mic

Well, I don't buy microphones very often and I've been meaning to ever since our aborted violin recording. So I ordered the same one Tony had and which I used to record Mr Feng Shui that time, a Rode NT1a. I really do know nothing about these things so it's very possible something else would've worked better. The Roland delay should be here sometime this week too.

Today I attended to a few things with the latest review and fired up the "other review thing" just to have a first look. Even though I'm not saying what it is, cos of my "no spoilers" rule, I will say that my heart sank...

It's Monday evening and Pat works until midnight. I will crack on with some proper work. Library company wants some music on a theme a little out of my usual comfort zone, but then they always are. Nobody wants endless depressing drones, or if they do there's someone they always call on first. :)

Decided to sell the Copycat I got off Nick, just not using it as the sound is too dark and muffled and someone with skills needs to look at it. Passing it on same price I paid to a friend, as you do.

Good evening, shows what even the idea of doing some work does! Made very good progress on review, like the way it's looking and reading. Then worked on novel, fired on strangely enough by news that FAF can't be unpicked after all. Maybe it's just too darn layered, complex and ridiculous to tamper with any part,. The whole lot could so easily fall. Anyway, the various strands of Eternity Program suddenly feel more resilient. It gained a degree or two of reality, thanks in part to the magic shortbread. And beer. Tomorrow, I have some ideas for music to try out, another rarity. Shows I could still do something if I wanted, just a matter of attitude... silly old git! :)

jicarc04 squared roots and shared toots

Yes another silly title but what do you expect? :)

https://jointintelligencecommittee.bandcamp.com/album/jicarc-04-squared-roots-and-shared-toots

I should have had this out before but I've been busy. I look at the huge pile I have yet to even listen to and wonder if I'll ever finish. Especially as there is a LOT of Headshock material now stacking up.

So today I didn't achieve much except getting this out. Listened through Radiopticon 2.1 and now I think it's ready for a few more ruthless edits. It's still basically 70 mins long and I've done the main tweaking, tamed the acoustic guitar slightly. I really like the sound of that guitar and I think it works well. I also removed some of my overdubs because they were unnecessary. There's one mad rhythmic section I'm going to prune also and then it's just down to top and tailing each individual track and seeing what we have left. Pretty good for what's essentially one day's creation, one day's overdubbing and one day's editing.

Sent some review gear back today, one of which I'd like to have kept a while. Always the case.

Now I understand some of those emails and general questions "what synth do I need to make xxxx?" as I really want a microphone and have no idea which to get. Not a dynamic one is about all I know but next time I borrow Tony's I'll make a note of what it is and just get the same. ;) Would've been handy for the violin the other day, plus I need to get some cymbals and gongs. I think it's time Headshock branched out a bit.

No time for novel, should press on with next review although it's really almost written in my head. No use up there of course. Some interesting synths just cropped up for sale including Korg 700S which I do fancy. May not be able to afford it, or at least justify the cash which isn't quite the same thing. Should make more practical purchases.

Listening to Moebius/Plank and loving it. Have not done any work chasing library companies but I did make a lovely chilli. What, I'm supposed to make sense now? :)

Darkness!

A fantastic few days away in Galloway Dark Sky Park, reminding myself how awe-inspiring the Milky Way is.

Sorry, no idea why blogger randomly decides some pictures should be rotated. I looked for an option to rotate them but so far have failed to find it. Hey ho.

Now I'm back to light-polluted skies I should get some work done. One review almost complete, another in progress, the third not started. We recorded some more Headshock stuff instead, plus did some production work on "Radiopticon" which has a lot of good bits.

Reading Dave's book and it's every bit as good as I expected it to be. Poignant, perfect. He very kindly sent me a dedication insert and one of the Mike Moorcock inserts also.

Here's a pearl of wisdom you can have for free: there's no true random but plenty of random truth

HS Radiopticon

That was this afternoon. Very lovely and of the hour of music, the first at least is good. Blimey, almost wish we'd had more time.
Right, stuff to do. Almost finished one of the two reviews I have to do, makes it easier to take a few days off.

November's here

And still fairly mild, although we've had some heavy rain these last few days.

Michael Nyman was pleasantly odd, it was basically him, some simple but nice films, and a few sheets of his music strewn across the piano. He didn't say a word as he occasionally turned to face us, came out and bowed. Anyway, I enjoyed it despite the awful journey - fortunately he was almost late too. I bought a boxed set of three CDs, one of which is good, one naff, one excellent.

Been working on two reviews at once, not something I'd usually do but wanted to make a good start on both, plus both are proving to be fun. Always nice when that happens. The third thing that arrived I haven't switched on yet.

Meant to be going away next week, Tim also coming down to do some music so will have to juggle. At the astronomy thing got some posh new binoculars and they're really good - not the best optics maybe but great for stars and clusters. Contemplated flogging the etherwave plus, I still don't get on with that bass mod even though it sounds much better. Some days I can't seem to get it tuned at all and I've just lost interest. The Lostvolts will do me. Bought a Roland delay pedal with 23 seconds of delay. Well, why not? :)

Nowt else much to report, been busy but not done much music. Have yet to send the Tanzbar back. It sorta annoys me to have to as I've spent enough on it and who's to say it'll come back working properly after another journey.

From my walks this week, in case you were wondering.

My finest hour

If anyone asks, you can tell them I wrote it here.
"I once came across Enya, satisfying an ambition of many years."
I don't think I ever wrote a better line.
Which is possibly sad.

Somebody is buying my music online in great numbers. I can't help wondering if it's based on the playing of Twilight at the barn party. It's designed for those in a particular mood after all. :)

Made a new song with review kit tonight, excellent fun. What a life eh?

This evening I did this:
https://soundcloud.com/paulnagle/smileys120

The left will argue amongst themselves

That was the gist anyway, and it's true. I guess that makes the left feminine to the big butch right who always club together for their own collective greed.

Lots of talk on fb today about Russell Brand's interview with Paxman and the article in New Statesman. Sadly, predictably, the bulk of the discussion centered on Brand himself, even by those whose point was that Brand was entirely self-serving. He'd love the irony, the mischievous imp!

Here's the article:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution


Russell Brand walks into a bar shouting: quick, quick, there's a spaceship outside offering to take us for a once-in-a-lifetime trip across the galaxy.
The assembled elders looked up slowly from their real ale, eyes narrowing. The message sank in.
They roused themselves.
Then launched themselves - into a long and spirited argument about Brand and whether he was an appropriate person to make such an announcement. His motives were grievously doubted, his character was pored over at considerable length.
A dude pointed out that he had once met some aliens. He was pretty sure he had anyway.
Someone else chipped in on the same topic, recalling a film where a potato fondler travelled to space with peanut-eyed, grey-skinned dwarfs. Heads nodded like a landslide and several broke into song.
Who did he think he was, this bearded dandy, going way beyond his jurisdiction?
More drinks were ordered and thighs were slapped.
Brand waved but they ignored him. After a while he shrugged and left the bar and became the sole passenger on a trip to the Ring Nebula. Inevitably he began work on a script. Equally inevitably, he winked at the alien with the fewest extra heads and what he hoped were breasts.
The scene fades with Brand smiling at an imaginary camera.
Back in the bar, one of the assembled elders happens to peer through a window then upwards at the retreating lights.
"Guys...." he says.

-------------
In other news. Lots of new review stuff arrived. Had a good afternoon with one of them. Wrote to US library company. Saw Camel (brill) and going to see Michael Nyman next week. Failed to get to Hawklords or Here & Now. This weekend astronomy thing, synth thing, something else I can't remember right now. :)

Have finished jicarc04, will release soon. Very busy right now, which is good for me I think. Everything comes in waves, I've noticed, periods of almost inactivity then bursts of lots of stuff to do. I will learn to enjoy this oscillation now I've identified it. Less guilt about the quiet times. :)

Oops

So I tried the cake and - thank goodness spotted it was reasonably potent in time not to eat it all, quite. Lovely cake too, as always. The afternoon was very pleasant, did a track (needs work but sketch here)
https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/saturdayafternoonrainingoutsid
Then I noticed it raining, then remembered Margaret coming, wondered how, rang her. She told me she would walk from Bamber Bridge and by then it was torrential. Pissed and stoned, major guilt trip (afraid I opened some beer too, cake and track seemed to invite it). Rang Pat at work who was going to leave at 5 snuck out earlier, all my fault. Couldn't drive though, would be everything I always swear not to do.
This evening they went out so I had the rest of the cake, no beer though, watched Big Lebowski. Realised at last where I ripped off the sequencer riff from Blime-E. It's the song they sing in the middle where the dude does his routine, the condition the condition's in, that one. Ah well, so much for originality. :)

Oh, this morning I did the trees in the garden with my lovely saw. Brilliant fun, even got to talk to the nutty neighbour's wife, sweet-talked her (or tried my best). We'll see.

Tomorrow I have work to do, well the review that's almost finished to finish.

Awakenings

Well, a good gig I thought. Maybe more elements of chaos than I'd have liked but it was well-received and that's what counts. I have a sneaking suspicion I failed to connect a MIDI cable to my delay, which was one of my contributions to the chaos. They surprised us by asking for an encore, which we didn't have, so it was 100% made up on the spot! Pete held us together beautifully and when I couldn't hear my sequences I just played keyboards, which worked OK. Was very impressed by the little MS20 too and its keyboard didn't prove to be a problem, except I did have to watch my fingers rather than feel for intervals.

PRS is in. Not a great one but I think I expected that as I've been taking it a bit too easy and letting reviews fill my time when I should've dusted them off quicker and got on to more work. Starting tomorrow gonna do something! Wow, what a resolution!

Great idea to get a hotel even if I drank too much and felt rough in the morning. Nice breakfast though and good trip home. No sign of whatever that loud crack was either in the car or my gear... gonna take less if I do any more. Had too much I think, especially given the very short setup time and no soundcheck. Oops, moaning again. Had good chat with Duncan and a lot of Cirklon talk. Star that he is he packed my leads for me, saving loads of time and doing a way better job than I ever have. Must try and learn how he does it!

Swapped Dark Time for Microwave 2 so will get that going later I hope. Also an app review to start. Feel a bit knackered and may be coming down with a cold, very snotty. No, I've no idea why I felt that necessary to record either but I'm typing without thinking as my pizza warms up. Pat at work, don't think she had a great night without me.

A picture of some shrooms for no very good reason.

MS20 mini arrived

Funny isn't it, when you've been waiting for something for a long time and suddenly the wait is over? The MS20 mini arrived and, even though I saw and admired Colin's, I'm strangely underwhelmed. 

I already knew about the wobbly knobs and crappy keyboard, the naff MIDI spec and the minijack output but this one seems to have some calibration issues on top of all that. Probably fixable, could be a batch from the Vietnamese factory or wherever they tried. The main trouble is I just don't feel I need it or that it fits in anywhere. Envelopes aren't right for sequencing, keyboard not right for playing, everything so small I can barely tune VCO2 accurately... 

The Bass Station 2 impressed me so much that perhaps the gap was filled and I didn't realise. I dunno, it's probably just that I'm now skint and shouldn't have bought it. May pass it on, could return it I guess but should give it a good try first, get stoned, learn to love it. 

Tomorrow I'm horse-watching but hope to get time to sort my gig gear. Now thinking of taking the Perfourmer after all, it's what I'm used to. And the larger Behringer mixer. Do I need both sequencers? Do I need the Octatrack? If the Tanzbar shows up, I think I'll take that, just because.

 

Ahem

Well, it's been a strange few days. Can't recall what my last entry was but I discovered an MS20 mini for sale on Saturday and ordered it. If Korg do ever offer me one, we'll see but I waited long enough. It should be here tomorrow.

Tim and I recorded a couple of groovy things tonight, at least I thought they were groovy. Wonder what tomorrow will bring. All sounding good.

Did no work today and I suspect that will be the case for the week. Just a hunch. Got a new power supply for the Dark Time. I am tempted to keep it for use with the MS20 but Pete wants it and I am skint, so I guess that's that. Gonna take the Spirit mixer to gig I think as I need the channels. We'll see if Tanzbar shows up in time.

I find myself enjoying this a lot, a pal of Michael Hoenig's IIRC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HoljsO22qA

So I'm 52 years old

and still alive.

Late night last night, well half two this morning, which seems late to me. Spent the day doing not so much, pottered with some headshock material, bought an MS20 mini I saw at a decent price. I'm fed up waiting for Korg, but with yesterday's drum machine it leaves me transformed from flush to skint in two swift strokes. Will barely be able to afford that microwave 2 after all, doh! Tony to pay for the Freebass fix - great job as he replaced two knobs rather than one. Still doing sampling from Octatrack even though it's always harder work than it should be. Some days I think my life would be easier without it and I do question exactly whether it's been worth the massive investment of time it's had. Always the straightforward stuff is just as hard to do as the obscure stuff you'd rarely want to do anyway.

Lots of lovely birthday greets on fb, supposed to be going to eat somewhere tonight but Pat gone for a ride. Hey ho, sure we'll think of something to do. Hungry though...

This is a groovy effect achieved by overexposure on my phone (the "holding it to the ground then quickly drawing" effect). Well, I like it anyway. I guess you'd have to see an example of a regular shot of it. Like this:

See what I mean?

Have made some progress on Eternity Program, surpringly. I think I have a direction for it, at least for a while, certainly some ideas I want to follow to their conclusion. However inconclusive that might turn out to be. Heh. Anyway, happy birthday me. Wonder if I'll take the MS20 and Tanzbar to Awakenings gig?

The Last Day

http://paulnagle.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-day

I'd been meaning to release that, knocked up a cover I liked this morning, almost by accident and suddenly decided to put it out rather than the jicarc I had in mind. I'll sit on it forever otherwise. Not telling a lot of folks though, just let it out quietly and free, peter out ya know...

 Nothing much else to report, had a lazy, sunny day. Rabbits running free now, seem quite happy. Pat made the world's most awesome cake yesterday.

Preston and the Tringe

I'm not sure what a Tringe is but I know we've got one. As this is Preston it's a low-key affair, as evidenced today by the comedy/music show I attended. It's a good job my mate John invited a few friends as we three, later joined by a third friend, were the audience. The two performers and soundman worked well, to the best of their abilities and material anyway, their show having played already at the Edinburgh Fringe, apparently. Did I say "played" when I could have used the phrase "honed to perfection"? Played will do.

So the room was small, upstairs in a cafe. I quite enjoyed it because I set out to. Turns out you can do this kind of thing instead of sitting at home on your chair watching for the status updates on facebook to roll gently past.

The Tringe seems a very odd name for it but I doubt I'll find out why we couldn't have a fringe like anyone else. Or a twinge at least. Or a pringe. Maybe a ginge would be OK. There are more shows but I think I might not worry too much if I miss them.  Many appear to be in this cafe also.

Just watched a short film by Grace, the girl we met the other day at Brockholes. It was really fab and if you want to watch it too, you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7xcbXVJQQ8

see, I do care for my small band of readers, even if I don't understand what on earth you get from my (usually stoned) ramblings. No it's OK, I don;t need to understand. If I ever understand why I even write this stuff then I might wonder about the rest of the associated gubbins. You know, I think I just like typing and keeping a blog is a very effective form of procrastination. It might look vaguely like work as I sit here, gazing into space, my fingers running away by themselves. What else can I tell you? Had a late night last night, well Tony and I chatted until around two.

Had some ideas on how to progress my novel. I think it's time for a new direction for it as the one I'd planned seems now to need a few added quirks if it's going to fire me up enough to finish it. Just have to try it as whenever I try and do wild and unconventional I often have to wind it back towards sanity afterwards.

Listening to Camel live albums I hadn't heard before and really wincing at some of the tasteless keyboard playing. Remembering how tasteful Peter Bardens was and listening to these nasty sounds pitch-bent to hell...

Well that's it for now. Here's some pix from the last day or so. The  tree is significant to my little life as it's where it almost ended when I was a nipper.

I think Jasper doesn't like this time of year too much as we tramp around fields he's not terribly interested in.

Well

So I appear to be buying stuff after I've reviewed it. Bought a Dark Time sequencer and a Novation Bass Station 2 despite my previous rules about keyboard less than 2.5 octaves and the not-so-set rule about analogue synths and memories.

Spent more time with Minibrute and it really isn't for me. I'm a bit fed up of constantly tweaking the modulation amounts, the cramped controls and so on but I think it really dawned on me today when I wanted to change the MIDI channel. First I had to find some software on Arturia's website, then I almost bricked it somehow, had to reset the damn thing. Eventually I got it set to channel 5 but had gone off it a bit by then. I adjusted the aftertouch response, must tell Tim, and still found no way to use velocity - they should've done something with that by now!

Wonder if my MS20 mini will ever come?

One review complete, the other should be easy enough. Tomorrow I will work on my showreel. How many times have I promised myself that?

Saw baby Jack again tonight, cute little devil. Who'd have thought I'd ever like a baby?? Never saw one so small before...

Heh

Yep, that simple word sums up the day. Pat's got 2 weeks off work so we're going to take some chill-time ad get a few jobs done. Builder guy came round with cost of new ridge tile fitting and plastic edge tiles.

Not been out much. Worked on review that's almost done but just needs a bit of reformatting I think. Not balanced at the moment. Order a BS2, couldn't resist. Also borrowed Tim's Minibrute again. Some very good sounds out of it this evening, finding more of its strengths and weaknesses, usually in terms of the way values are scaled around the knob and the way CV is mixed and directed. May get one instead of MS20 mini.

Recorded some stuff with Tim. New review thing arrived and I crashed it within minutes. I think it's 48k-intolerant.

Talked to Dave today. Quite excited at the prospect of his book coming out. Steve working on his rewrite of FAF, glad he's still into the idea, I wonder how different it will be.

jicarc03

Yep, that's it.

http://jointintelligencecommittee.bandcamp.com/album/jicarc-03-whambam-spamjam

Here's one of the pictures I made for the tracks. It seems like a fun challenge to make some image for each track as it's uploading. Keeps me amused or at least distracted.

It's getting windy. Discovered some old stuff today, pix and videos and so on while looking for backups of JIC tracks. Got some video of Phil that we used for a gig in Leeds and also a recording of the gig we did at the Space Centre. For some reason I don't remember that too good, seem to recall we were a bit naff. Happens. :)

Just listening to one of the new CDs I found and it's brilliant. Mellow but lots of looping guitars and some familiarish tracks but very different versions of them. I need to somehow have an idea how many versions of each track there are .... nah, impossible amount of work! Wonder if I'll ever get all this out, or even the best of it. Today's is a good one though.

Another sunny day

Yes, the keep coming and I keep taking them and basking in them.

This morning I picked some field mushrooms, which I just had in an omelette. There were also this other type:

So the afternoon has been one of those blissful but pointless ones. Have listened to music, read some Wodehouse. Tell you something, the government should probably close libraries if they want to force people to become productive. I could just keep taking out Wodehouse classics and having blissful but pointless days until I was ready for my nappy. Which may be soon!

Have listened through the first CD's worth of last weekend's Ideation tracks. It's wonderful! I faded out one track as I knew we'd be putting the CD on then drifting off to sleep, I may change the running order so that one can fully develop. We'll see what Pete thinks. That drum machine sounds so bloody good though, must figure a way to get one sooner rather than later. No review work done today or anything resembling work. So shoot me. No, my US readers, this is a mere literary device and not a sincere request.

Just put on a JIC CDR that appears to be a two-parter and have something resembling drums in it. Handsonic methinks. Not totally sure who but I think it's Mr Mason as I think I recognise his, er, ding-a-ling. Oo, er, missus etc. etc.

Money Day

Well, two cheques turned up - from SOS and from my US music publisher. So yippee and all that!

Went to Brockholes for tea and cake then a walk around. The car park seemed to want to charge us almost £4 for the privilege so I'm afraid I absconded.

Glorious sunshine hampered my attempts to polish off the two short reviews although one is done, I  think. The other requires a little more time in the studio checking as the notes I've written as illegible. Off to see mum tomorrow to hear about the extent of her copd.

Briefly...

It's funny, given what a windbag I can be, that I like Twitter probably better than all other social media. Facebook simply sucks away your time and life. I seriously believe someone discovered they could get energy that way and our essence is being stored in some monstrous vat for use when the oil runs out. So anyway, Dave, my old pal and totally sweet dude from kernow has not only finished his book but it's published in October. Blown away he finally did it, the story he's always wanted to tell. Can't wait to read it!
Did some music for a play of it many years ago, still really like the poetry and music release we did, I wonder if he'd mind me putting it on bandcamp? Hell that sounds like cashing in! Mercenary git, heh.

This evening I pottered but maybe should've concentrated on doing reviews. Still, should have time to do a fair chunk of both and I wanted to get something lined up for the gig. Perfourmer might have a fault on voice 4's level pot, seemed to jump in volume on me a couple of times. That and the Prodigy keyboard issues slightly returning, some wrong notes when I actually hit right ones.

Splitting up gear across submixers update: think I like the split of weird/seq/percussion but may have to nick that Spirit mixer Tim's using and give him the Alesis. Need more channels. Using Tanzbar entirely as a module is awesome. All patched out to separate mix channels and totally sequenced from Cirklon with all the CCs coded in as track values, wicked! Especially as I took time to define tracks and patterns best suited to each. Going back to P3 for regular sequencing has been bliss though. There's nothing to touch it and I doubt there ever will be again. Simple but a great feature set. Doesn't do everything.

Put Eventide Space on "weird" mixer so there's that and Lexicon now. Better than dedicating to Synthi, it instantly proves.

Top Weekend!

Had a great visit with Pete, always so relaxing and straightforward. Shame he doesn't live closer! Started to get ideas about the gig, the combination of Cirklon and P3 really starting to work for me in ways Cirklon alone didn't. Have moved the Perfourmer to it and if/when the MS20 and BS2 arrive, they'll go to it also.
Solved my MW2 problem, just after someone of FB promised me one. If I'd thought in advance I'd have asked Pete to bring his up with him then I might have got into it for the gig. There's a 2u space waiting for it in the gig rack and if Novation ever do bring out a BS2 rack, hopefully it'll be 1u and will take the place of the MAM.

Have a good split of the submixers but can still make more improvements. Noticed that keyboard parts should really be separate and I'm wondering whether to put the V-Synth and SK20 and possibly Prodigy through the Yamaha desk. Moved a few MIDI routings around for efficiency and also to ensure Cirklon only delivers clock from its first output, which will be useful for live stuff. Biscuit is on that output but it is only rarely a synth so not worth worrying about.

This evening it's reviews again I'm afraid. But I've progressed the two shorter ones and could get one or both almost done if I knuckle down. Temptation is to listen to some of the music we recorded though. :)

Here's photos from the other day.

I Heart Huckabees

I really love that film, get more from it each time. :)

So today I realised that more and more I'm limiting my basic palette and extending my effects and manipulation. Heckaroony! I only just realised that's why the drum machine is calling to me so much. Not so many different sounds but all good.

Did a good bulk of one review today, sketched the other. Think I missed postie with new gear, will get tomorrow.

Played more JIC archives. Found another with Tony, from 2006 and one with Andy Mason. Both good.
Must book curry. Must do more work. Pat gone to bed, started dozing off half-way through Vampire's Assistant or Apprentice or whatever the film was called. Good, seen it before,

(I notice that when I'm stoned these entries become a to do list. Since I rarely look back at them afterwards, this seems rather sad and, at best, futile. Just sayin)

jicarc_02

Well, I should probably have waited longer but didn't.

http://jointintelligencecommittee.bandcamp.com/album/jicarc-02-chirpy-thumptums

Did I tell you the story of Bob and Geoff yet? If not, I should. Pat thought Bob needed a companion (actually he showed no signs of it). Anyway, Geoff is a little dwarf cutie, we thought it best Bob get to be alpha male. In a world where the alpha male humps any other rabbit he meets, that is. Poor Geoff just looked startled and we hoped Bob would get it out of his system. Not so far and we had to step in.

Pat can sort 'em I'm sure. He's Geoff a short while after his first meeting with Bob. Bob was smoking a cigar by this time and gazing blearily into space.

Started new tune, have 5 to master and upload but wanted to do more. Amusingly they want no vocal versions at all. Won't even get chance to show them the other tracks I have in preparation, it's almost like they don't want many tracks. Ah well.

jicarc_01

No thoughts for today (except "a sunny bank holiday, WTF???!!!"), just a link to the freebie download of the first of the JIC archives. No editing or tidying or ordering or owt, just a straight grab from a CDR made at the time. Future archives may receive some attention but this was such a pleasant surprise I wanted to let it free "as is". It's from May 2005 and there are parts I barely recognise or remember. I'm sure the archive will show there are a LOT of tracks we never did 'finished' versions of, and by that I mean "neatly performed from start to finish", or something. Actually I have no idea what it means. :)

http://jointintelligencecommittee.bandcamp.com/album/jicarc-01-the-missing-dimensions

There's a lot of Headshock material to listen through also but the JIC pile is, by far, the biggest.

Sun on a Sunday

Glorious day. I found some more pix of Phil and gathered together as many CDRs as I can see without really digging. There's enough to keep me going, way more than Headshock and after that my own stuff and Ideation trail far behind. Phil left me a lot of treasure..

... and if he'd got his way we'd have recorded even more. Maybe "record everything" is the best way - but only if you multitrack. Otherwise it's just so many frustrating might-have-beens. IMHO.

I put on one at Random, from May 05, and already it's wonderful. A dubby track with a weird voice sample. I'd forgotten about this yet listened to quite a bit at one time.

Colin left me a P3 and I'm so glad to play it again. I think you can forget the speed compromises over time as you're tempted by more features and other fripperies. In fact less functions but a good set - doesn't have to be perfect or exhaustive, in fact quite good to leave out something you have to devise cunning solutions to. Like the thing I did with Scenes in Cirklon/Octatrack that is really quite darn useful.

So why is the P3 still so cool? Only 8 tracks, limited? Small screen, only 8 fixed Parts...etc.
It's fast, really fast with those buttons - so much faster to hit several in succession than push a small round encoder. Playlists rule! Simple Part chaining works as you'd want. Have restricted it to Perfourmer, think they're perfect together so far. May include ESX sample tracks as yore, we'll see. Probably won't take ESX to Awakenings but interesting things done with the Octatrack might be fun. Can prepare all tracks for Cm in advance. That thing needs a pattern transpose option.

An odd Friday

Odd it was but we got through it. We were almost late for the funeral despite setting off in good time. The satnav took us to a closed road but we managed to get past that only to struggle with the idea that Cemetry Road is split into two and entering just a postcode and a random street number got us at the wrong end. We got there with a few minutes to spare and it started a bit late. Lots of people there, surprising number of family and as soon as it was obvious it would be a religious service, we headed for the back and maintained a respectful silence. These things are sometimes more about the family than the deceased and at least my t-shirt went down very well, Phil's mum asked about it so I'm going to get one done for her. We talked about doing a party for his party friends and of course I agreed to play. Will be odd playing to these guys without Phil with me.

So that was it really and I still feel, I don't know how to put it, dislocated. Probably the wrong word but maybe there is no right one. I'm gonna throw myself into work, which I can do as there's two new reviews suddenly lined up, plus having Colin around I was able to get the drum machine upgraded (and get some in-depth thoughts about its construction). I think the soldering is quite small and I might have buggered it up had I done it myself.

Colin left me an early production P3. It's fitted with a brill yellow PLED and it should satisfy my needs for a P3, plus we talked more about the alternate OS where the P3 can double as a controller for Cirklon and give the best of both worlds.

Pat's been doing lots of overtime, I really will be glad when she cuts back.

The seasons roll on and we're all in transit ourselves. RIP mate, you'll be dearly missed.

Under the Dome

Not an amazing invention by Stephen King but a device I used in my novel Future Art Factory, almost in passing really. Still I like SK and would even forgive him if he'd deliberately nicked the idea from me, which I'm sure he hasn't. The day he needs to poach ideas from me will be the darkest days of his writing career. :)

Sent review in this morning, still could've messed around with some of the wording for a while yet but it says what I wanted to say. I left out the cool info about the filter in the end because it seemed to overbalance it slightly. Sadly had to have a boxing session just now as they're going back for more pix so I'll have to wait in line for when one comes available for real. Hey ho.

Spoke to Utd Utils again about the leak. Told them it was repaired until their guys filled in the hole. I really hope this won't run and run as in theory they could keep digging it  up, saying it's up to us to repair, we repair it then they fill in again carelessly and the process begins afresh. I daren't mention this to neighbour Gareth who is the working-in-a-hole part of my "we".

No blackberry picking today as Pat really needs to relax before her long shift tonight. Yesterday's trek took it out of her and I dearly hope she won't be doing more.

Have secured a P3, old-stylee like my very first. Quite chuffed although will keep Cirklon obviously.

After spending a while working on Pat's Win8 laptop she still won't actually take a look at it but keeps going back to the old one. Ah well.

You can tell I haven't got much done today can't you? This evening is my long evening in the studio though. I will endeavour to make good use of it. Or bad.

Could work on getting The Last Day ready for Bandcamp. Could surf mindlessly for a bit. Tough choice.

This evening I chilled and recorded some simple stuff

https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/thelittlebarr

Well bugger me!

Obviously not an instruction our Russian friends would be comfortable with but I'm talking figuratively not literally Vladimir you big hunk of manhood you! Sorry, Pat's got athletics on and I'm feeling weary with the subspecies of the human race and their pettiness.

So this is strange. It seems I no longer need my lovely Yamaha mixer. The ADA8000 works a treat, so far at least, and I can monitor with the Mac turned off by simply saving the monitoring config to the hardware. There have been some issues with it not always setting the sync source back to ADAT after a power cycle but it's really fast to solve and not a showstopper. Blimey, something worked! Multi-tracking in Logic kicking along real nicely on my first tests at least, after I turned off software monitoring to prevent the weird chorusing.

Oddly, the Pro24 calls its digital inputs 5&6 which rather disrupts my naming of ports. Logic is supposed to let you rename the inputs but oddly they don't show up in the program after that, or at least they didn't earlier.

May be worth moving some submixers to make best use of them and the available I/O.

I can't escape the front room tonight as Pat's aunt staying with us and kipping down in library. Bob still with us, no idea when he's going back although neighbours have returned. Ah well...

Watched a good film today - Valhalla Rising. Looked fab and soundtrack was great even if film was a bit ponderous. Shit, bloody Harry Potter on again. Dare I slope off to studio???

Gone, the week that is

I'd like to be able to report a string of successes this week but sat at my laptop now nothing springs to mind.

Installed the Behringer ADAT interface today, haven't turned it on yet but I do have an issue with monitoring with the computer off. As it stands I've connected my four (!) submixers to the 8 ADAT inputs which should be inputs 5-20 on the Saffire. So I can still use my group inputs from the main Yamaha mixer as I do now.

Shame the Yamaha doesn't have track direct outputs like the little Behringer but maybe the inserts can work that way with a standard lead inserted, will investigate later.

This week I've not heard owt about the new tracks so next week it's time to make a fresh start. Or find a job. Or continue with the whole inertia plan. Colin's coming Thursday and I've decided to get another P3 as I've been pining for it too much. So many things I want to do feel slow and cumbersome on Cirklon, mainly due to the reliance on display and those encoders. Knobs are better, simple as. Still keeping Cirklon though on the offchance Colin gets round to the fun/clever stuff one of these years.

Here's pix from this week's walks:

Today we had a nice lunch at a near-deserted pub and picked more blackberries. Jam so far is fab. I'm relaxing with Baumann/Koek and some beer. Dear old vinyl.

Made a joke mockup of potential new album cover. Still deciding if it's worth releasing my last solo album.

Ho ho. Should work on novel. Can I even remember what it is about?