A Day Out

Yes, although this week started with a Bank Holiday, I also took today out to go visit a pal, see his synths, have a good old chat. Got chance for in-depth looks at the Korg Kronos, Roland Jupiter 80 and the Little Phatty. There was a D50 there too and probably the thing I'd have been happiest playing.

Good feedback from new tracks from a man who knows this stuff. Gonna do more before submitting. I know that looks like procrastination but hey, a lot of what I do looks like that. :)

No reviews in at the moment, which is good for work time. Gonna sell a few things I'm not using, the usual purge because I'm getting too much. Was offered my OT back but resisted. Really have not missed it and the RC-505 is doing most of what the OT was doing for me and better/easier. Some of the loops I've made of Cirklon playing various PCM synths using lots of tricks (and SMF import) are really quite wonderful and I could see the OT hampering rather than helping. Would still love a 3 octave do it all synth like a knobby Blofeld or cut-down Nord Wave, if such a thing existed. But my little live rig is looking good, especially as I make more and more A4 patterns/projects.

I can't stop snapping groovy gravestones eh?
Must buy Paul's Juno 6, silly though that probably is.

Today my box set of Vaughan Williams arrived. I must admit to being disappointed by how many symphonies are polluted by the human voice whittering on about something. I blame Beethoven.
Still, some awesome stuff so far. That said, I'm listening to Big Smith Stays In Bed by Stephen Cadman, a favourite from the 80s that I still have on cassette (although managed to find a ropey MP3 someone did of it).

Simple pleasures! Oh, our thing got reviewed. I never really understand these reviews but I smiled anyway.

http://synthsequences.blogspot.ca/2014/08/aeromancy-jam-sessions-vol-2-2014.html?m=1

Finally, if you've a spare 2 hours, here's the gig from Finland. I don't think I'll bring myself to listen to it but the visuals look nice. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtxwfL6cfyE

Novel published, one day I'll get an editor...

Actually it's not so bad, having released 'From Beer to Eternity' someone who is a proof-reader very kindly offered to proof it for free. So the current version on Amazon won't be the last. Alas, struggling to understand their update process that appears to allow me to upload edited versions and claims they are live etc. but when people order, they still get the original. Working on that.

Anyway, here's the cover, thanks to Kimmo

I've paced myself for work this week, which means the three reviews I have to do before the 18th have been pretty much complete for a while but I tweak each slightly now and then, not quite finishing them. It's an excuse to mess around really. Another.

Have been playing with Paul's Juno6, it's actually exactly what I need in a tweakable poly and a great partner for various effects. May sell some of the other unused stuff and buy one/it. Spent time doing new sequences in the Analog Four, still frustrated by its limitations of copying  patterns seamlessly during play, essential for me but woefully neglected. I really love working with the little box stand-alone in headphones, developing sequences, tweaking sounds, making variations. Now I have a finished project, it's so easy to just go through each bank, wiping all patterns, starting again from the kits there with their performances set up. Having a known starting point is great and I'm programming some cool sounds. Does make me think how brill the keyboard version would be. If they ever change the design so the keys are protected, I think I'll get one.

Finished Breaking Bad. Possibly the best TV series I've ever seen. Will stay with me for a long time as a mark of quality.

Taking it easy cos it's Friday

Hey, I know that taking it easy looks a lot like my regular service but trust me, there are subtle differences. More beer, for a start.
No swimming today cos Pat's doing her visiting the dying thing. So I may get up to mischief in the studio, about time I did something.
Tim still no time to work on cover for 'From Beer To Eternity' so in my stoned state last night I asked one of the Finns, Kimmo, who did the fab cover for the CD I really like. Dunno how much he'll charge. I also started sketching my own version but it's too literal, just not good enough. I need someone who really knows how to do this stuff...
Of the 3 reviews I have to write, one is done, one almost done and there's one to start. Using my pacing method this work could be stretched out another week, although I should write some music using all these new samples/instruments. PRS will dry up eventually if I don't keep producing.

We're still hooked on Breaking Bad. Finished series 4 last night and, though it was late, couldn't resist doing just one ep of series 5. That really is one of the best things I've seen and I know everyone says it. I think quality counts, something I've never quite achieved with my own music and, let's face it, it's too late now. Hey ho. :)

Laptop's hard disk replaced, lost lots but they recovered the docs and pix. Will check old backups at some point to see what mail can be found but started with a clean slate. So I lost lots of addresses and useful emails. Hey ho.

More coffee, I think.

Back from Finland

OK, 9 days was a long time to be away from Pat and I think both of us are getting worse at putting up with that. Karelian Skies was a musical success, had a groovy time with some fab musicians as expected. Rather too much focus on practising for my personal tastes and consequently saw very little of the country. Still, such is life, didn't want to be the moaner so toed the line. Anyway, it turns out they have lots of trees and lakes. :)
Feeling tired but content. Now back to work. Well, tomorrow.

While there I had some time to assess both the Elektron Analog Four and Studiologic Sledge in a live environment. Here are my thoughts:

Sledge 
Pros 
Large and well-spaced knobs
The colour is fab (some will disagree)
Infinite reverb
Wavetables
FM is kinda wild
Wheels feel nice and keyboard acceptable
Three oscillators and three LFOs
Loads of patch memories
Superb octave switches
Some great Wavetables even if poorly documented. Actually make that 'not documented'.

Cons
Delay is pretty shit and glitchy
Steppy bi-polar env amount - really annoying
Sync sounds nasty
Lack of aftertouch routing
Gets louder in mono mode
Velocity routing fixed and rubbish
Arpeggiator key-synced and no latch button
Would prefer faster and more extensive modulation destination selection. Would replace 10s hold with general hold for notes and arpeggios.

Summary 
Would happily have one for its playability and versatility even if a few bits are poorly-implemented, steppy or nasty. It's controls make it and I love the colour, especially under stage lights. Have programmed some patches on it I really like and in a very short time. 

And...

Analog four needs:
Mutes per pattern with half-lit track led for tracks containing trigs
Ability to do a fix of transpose, rewriting all note data (note to self: check it can't already)
Track activity display
Don't disable the screen completely in trig mute mode, it's stupid!
Disable pattern select timeout (grrr!)
Improve live pattern copy to work in all modes seamlessly

Improve multiple trig copy
Different clock divisions per track
Naming patterns and banks (oh, please!)
Common mixer per bank rather than per kit. If enabled mixer can work at bank or project level or as now. Without this you can't safely reload kits and you have to stick to one kit per bank/song or risk total fuckups between pattern switches.
Note repeat as per Analog Rytm
Trig mute to apply either to notes, parameter locks or both, choice at bank level
Pattern resync without having to load new one then reload it