Streichfett & Micron arrived

So the last few days stuff arrived and I started pottering. I also sent off a review this morning so I can chill for a day or so, which is handy as Tim is down for a few days. New Headshock material imminent! Been looking forward to recording with some of the new stuff and also getting Tim's mixer situation better.

Streichfett is brilliant. If I were reviewing it, which sadly I'm not, I'd probably offer the thought that it seems a bit lacklustre at the top end and also the clipping that occurs with certain phaser settings. I've reported this though so chances are Stefan will sort it out. Will send him a sysex dump soon but as I added the CCs to Cirklon, I can reliably say what values cause the slight distortion.

Anyway, I really like the idea and the execution. Each part can be addressed on its own MIDI channel but I'm not too bothered about that, I'm just into playing it. Had I my way I'd have had the ensemble as a variable depth like the Godwin but it's on/off. The animate function adds LFO motion to the voice transitions, which is sorta nice. Some of the vocal swooshes are good too, especially with the ensemble switched to chorus. The clavi is also very close to the samples I sent, possibly still that lack of top end shine but it's gonna be fine for live etc.

I have that and the Micron going through the Repeater as I'd run out of mixer channels. I may look at putting the Waldorf into the Micron's inputs and counting them as a composite instrument. I doubt I'll edit it extensively but will start with a few patches and spend time getting them as base patches for quicker tweaking later. Unlikely I'll ever use the rhythmic stuff or the multis.

The Micron was well-packed but does have a couple of issues. The power input is flaky and it reboots if you disturb the cable while it's on. The transpose up key is intermittent. Guy didn't mention these but maybe I'm just fussy. I hate to sell anything that isn't 100% but spose that's not a universal attitude. No manual either so I'm reading and reminding myself. Enjoying the freerun envelopes again, one of the cooler features. Installed the latest OS, again why don't people do this? God I'm such an old woman!

This blogging thing is quite theraputic. Just like a diary I'd throw into a drawer.

Sent in a dozen space drones. Got new thing for review, should be quickie and it's one of those things so close to being brilliant it's driving me mad. OK, madder.

Another night of poor sleep last night. Pat has passed on her insomnia to me, bless her.

So I weakened and bought a few things...

It started innocently enough with a new 10u rack. I was thinking I could take out the 7u one with Cirklon/P2K/MW2/VF-1 in it. Seeming like I probably will keep Cirklon in one place so the 7u giggable rack could have a few different things in it, such as P3/Radias/Freebass/rx1202. As always the Radias is a pain but gonna look into the possibility of doing flat cables, power supply is the worst there but Tony will help.

Having started spending on a small scale, I bought an Alesis Micron. Had always wanted a 3 octave keyboard that was as neat as possible and also made noises. More knobs and a USB output would've been the icing on the cake but I don't seriously see myself ever using the iPad seriously on stage. Maybe if I ever settle on a docking station but nothing really impresses me there. The Micron was the price I'd set myself to pay if one ever showed up, although it was in London so there's postage too. Hoping the main encoder ain't a dog as I recall that worrying me when I reviewed it. Still, lots of people are coping with that so I can too. Looking forward to programming some big drones, long envelope whooshes etc. plus a set of my usual sounds. After that it'll probably go the way of the Blofeld and just do the same noises most of the time. :)

To round it off I went for the Streichfett. I've almost bought one a number of times and was waiting for the SOS review just to see what it said. Got fed up of waiting, which is a pity. So many people are ahead of the mag now, it's like when the reviews do come out lots of my mates have already given me detailed reports. We should be faster!

Went to see Hawklords on Thursday night, guys were on good form. Alas I got quite drunk, went off with some folks from my home town and ended up quite ill. I really am too old for this. Wasted all day Friday feeling ill and sorry for myself. Pat gave me exactly as much sympathy as I deserve.

Still no weed. Having lots of dreams as a result.

Spent the afternoon playing in the studio, everything sounding good. Will be ready when Tim's around, hopefully soon. Lots of things I want to record with, the Mini doing its thing, the CS30, the Juno. His new mixer should have two buses so we can give him two separate stereo channels. Will remove one of the Yamaha sets as I really don't use it. Should sell that desk really, it's so big.

I now have three new A4 projects full of stuff to play. It's nice to return to them and gradually tweak and improve each one but knowing they'll be the same next time. Never really had that with the separate sequencer/hardware, mostly because I constantly overwrite all my sounds. :) I've rewritten the first 16 Radias patches about a hundred times, never actually listening to any of the others. Dopey oi!

PRS and more plodding on...

So again I was pleasantly surprised by the PRS payout and feel like I should knuckle down and do more tracks while energised. The split this time was about 50/50 between overseas (IIRC Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Norway and the US) and UK TV, mostly channel 5. I'm getting a lot of play on a program about horrible neighbours and we even tried to watch some of it last night but it's way too depressing...

Anyway, this morning I began the day musically. I watched a girl bounce her boobs to Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik then I listened to goats performing the theme from Game of Thrones. Who says social media is killing culture?

I'm back from walking Jasper now, resisting the urge to check the many photos I took of autumn leaves. Cumbria had some lovely aurora last night and I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever see it myself. Will have to get off my arse and hit the M6 one night I suppose but that's a bit random.

Sent in a review yesterday, started another which is going to take some reading up but I've made a start and have some patches to develop. Alas, Mozart's 10th piano concerto has just popped up on radio 3 and it's one I'm not familiar with so I may just have to listen. I don't know many of his early symphonies either but it seems he took a while to master the form. Mind you if Beethoven had died at 35 he would have been just another promising young man. And if Schubert had lived as long as 35, what works would those extra 4 years have yielded? Deep and important questions while I drink my morning cup of tea.

The fact I'm writing a blog seems to indicate procrastination. Again. Ah well...

Time for a random picture to round off.

Recovering from birthday weekend...

Getting old... too much drink but a pleasant weekend with family. Taught squash by my sporty stepdaughter and was doing reasonably well until I got the ball stuck in the ceiling. Too wild with excitement at participating in actual sport. Had nice walks in woods with Pat, saw red squirrels, swam around quite a bit and ate good food. It's all good!

Got my last batch of tracks accepted and sent in, reviews to do for softsynth and some more iPad synths, so plenty to get on with. Good after a lull. Weather turning, think we've had the best of the year, but a fab year really, no complaints.

Someone actually finished my novel and appeared to think it an improvement on the previous one. Maybe I should push it more but want to get the third one done then release the whole thing as one, which I hope will click with people. Otherwise, wtf...

Phil would've been pleased...

My old pal Phil Smillie would have been so proud to know how well 'In Session' is being received. I'm kinda choked myself as we could have put this on bandcamp ages ago, while he was still alive. Of course you never know do you?

I have already chosen archive05, which is one I'd thought of before. A CD actually labelled 'embrace the chaos'. Will leave it a month or so before putting it up though, feel I could be releasing too much even though it's free.

I'm doing a few app reviews at the moment, a decent batch too that I'm actually enthusiastic about. One of the frustrating things about jotting down notes into a blog like this is I can rarely say anything related to the reviews and when I do it's vague and meaningless. I'm sorta proving my point here.

Anyway, I bought the USB/Lightning adapter for my iPad Air but I'd still love to find the perfect keyboard/docking station setup for all the cool synths I now have.

More lovely weather, if only it could stay for the weekend in the Lakes with Pat, Dawn & Chris. I have packed lots of beer and bought a bottle of single malt.