Mixed Feelings

Yeah, as I packed away the Easel ready to return it, I was actually sad. It shows that it has made an impression with me and my quest to find a fully-working one must continue. I did a fairly in-depth write-up of the issues with the keyboard and even knocked up a video, which may help them understand why it begins to fail after being on for a while, at least here.
During the time I've had it, I considered lots of ways in which I could work around it, maybe replacing the keyboard with a MIDI module and then run some external MIDI - but the main reason I like it is because it is a complete instrument in itself. That's what I want, not some infinitely expandable amorphous thing. So I have a lead on a company who will build one and with a spec that's up for discussion too. I won't be able to comment here though as an NDA is involved.

Can't fault shop for their willingness to see me happy but wish I could have got a working one and spent the hols recording with it with Tim. As it is, made a start on video for the West Midlands guys. Tim filming, me talking shite. Quite hard doing something in a 10 min chunk, usually I'd not think about time.

In the meantime, I'm feeling like I need to treat myself to something and the Endorphin Shuttle System keeps coming to the fore.
Baby came, my back was sore but is getting better. Done novel stuff, relaxed with Iron Fist on Netflix (a cross between The Champions and Kung Fu). Have drunk. Currently listening to ELO at Wembley while drinking absinthe.

Very happy with these!

Heh

An old thing comes back

A frustrating and painful weekend. My vaguely aching groin and lower back pain burst into a full-blown painfest Friday morning as I took Jasper out. No idea why but it's Sunday morning now and I'm still getting sharp pains and dull aches combined. Pat reckons I have a lumpy bollock too, how marvellous. If still like this, I'll be trying to get past the 08:00 phone lottery they run at our surgery.

The replacement Buchla keyboard arrived and I fitted it, along with the CVGT1 module.

Spent Friday afternoon and a good chunk of yesterday putting it through its paces, boosted by lager and weed to dull the pain.

Thoughts:

Keyboard felt better at first, definitely more responsive to light touches. Even triggerered once without being touched.

Unfortunately the keys that used to stop responding (those around note 18) becomes unresponsive here too. New keyboard so what on earth gives? That particular F just seems destined to be a problem and it makes me wonder if there's something special about its voltage or ability to generate a trigger that is inherent in the circuitry. Made a complete list of the keys that always work and those that always start to fail. I don't think it's something I can solve, which rather annoyingly means I'll be going back to square one and trying to source one that works reliably. I dearly hope such a thing exists.

Another thought, helped by the CVGT1: It becomes a completely different synth with a normal envelope drafted in. Actually changes its character so much it becomes a bit ordinary, like an out-of-tune regular synth. Hmmm. On the other hand, adding an LFO from the Tonestar and having it modulate the wavefolding and AM amount simultaneously, a wonderful thing and somehow far superior to the handling of the Aux card.
BTW I'd been puzzling over something on the aux card for ages, thought it me being an idiot. It turns out that it doesn't always accept the physical position of its switches. Most notably the one saying that CV input comes from the banana jack. It seems to take 'pressure' as default until you flip it away from its correct position then back. Mad.

Ultimately, I haven't been able to do as much this weekend as I wanted. Can't visit my mum today cos of back, did a Buchla video explaining the issues, had some shortbread to ease the pain (which helped spawn a novel chapter I'd been struggling to start)

Docs this afternoon. It was agony this morning after feeling like it was getting better last night. Very frustrating. Baby coming tomorrow too for a couple of days, gonna be tough.

Christmas is looming, like a fat old priest smelling of sweat and tobacco.
oh tidings of great teeth-gritting

New week, poo, squeak

Well boys and girls, always save all your receipts. That's my wisdom for this week. Our new loo seat is splitting, which I noticed while shitting. Actually I noticed while peeing but that would have spoilt my wonderful rhyme. Spose it could have been: as I stand heroically to pee, a split in our new loo seat I see. Doesn't flow either, which is a disappointment when pee is involved. Anyway, I digress.

Am finally getting a new keyboard for the Easel tomorrow. Will be interesting to see if it behaves the same way, whether there are new ranges of keys that regularly fail, whether all is now well. I'm still considering the value of the aux card and may ask whether they'll take it back so I can purchase 3 eurorack modules instead (GTCV1 x 2 and A-141-2 or similar, probably a multi too) and make up a better 'aux card' myself.
Received some modules for review in a neat little Roland case - really love the case. I want one even though it is very expensive. It'd sit nicely and neatly behind the Easel.

Not much snow here but while it was around we went out and sniffed it.

Well, the keyboard replacement still hasn't showed up. That's another week of waiting for one to try and see if it works better. In the meantime, I started getting the 'sudden bursts of random gates' problem that others have suffered. What a crock of shite.
I've spoken to a few people who tell me why the BEMI version will never work properly and have been in contact with someone who has offered to make one for me - to a much higher standard than BEMI. I can't say much as I'll soon be signing an NDA (after which nothing, obviously) but suffice to say the issues I've battled with should be a thing of the past. I'm assuming the shop I bought it from will honour their refund commitment of course but that should be OK since I've complained pretty much from the start and only didn't return right away because they were supposedly trying to get a resolution. Phew! I ordered the CVGT1 too but that should still be useful. Eventually.

I should probably stop reading Alastair Reynolds. In the one I just started, it seems he's going to deal with art. It's like he's going over all the same themes I have, just from the point of view of an adult and a proper writer rather than someone who stopped progressing in his mid teens.

Easel info I found interesting

The problem with the keyboard is gate trigger is not strong enough and false triggers its a fault on motherboard depending on what version they use.  The bemi and roman clone that are wrong gate voltage and obviously bemi just copies not corrects.

Almost Friday and noodletime. Just had good chat with Easel shop who will still send me a keyboard to try (mixup but I have no worries about them being genuine) over the weekend. If I can get one that works I will stick with this one but if not, they're happy to refund. So we'll see...

Bad back seems to have come back yesterday evening and today. Alcohol to the rescue!

Today there was quite a lot of wheat beer and this

And so it goes...

I had a great idea to break my deadlock with the Easel - a couple of them actually. The first involved a swap for the Kinesthetic controller but using the MIDI input when I wanted regular playing. I did need some assurance the K didn't suffer from the same grounding issues. My other idea stemmed from this; the KMR website shows a base setup (case/LEM208) which you can build on - it claims to have MIDI I/O which is where I thought: why not just add your own MIDI keyboard?
I thought about this overnight and realised that the website's claim is nonsense. It doesn't have MIDI I/O, it just has a couple of sockets awaiting connection to either a controller or MIDI module. I'd got quite excited about the alternate system I was going to put together too, ditching the aliasing mess that is the aux card and getting another complex oscillator. Oh well, back to trying to get a working keyboard, or giving up I guess.

A compilation came out today for which I provided a track, 1 second short of the required time, so doing my usual 'not quite satisfying' thing.

This is it

We've been without our large telly for a week now. I'd like to say I'm starting to respond to my environment and come alive, but actually I'm just watching the laptop more, which is even less stimulating than Netflix.

One of my absolute favourite things is this: I get to a point in a novel where I'm stuck. So I have a creative day, record some nonsense  then, after a pipe and a few hoppy beers, launch into writing. Suddenly I get past the point where I was stuck and magically get inspired to join something up I'd been meaning to for a while. Simple pleasures, I know, but still. A thread sorted that was in danger of dying. 

Still no telly. Sob.

On the other hand

I've gone on quite a lot about the Easel lately, mostly fighting with bits of it or picking faults. But the whole initial analysis thing isn't ever the whole story. This is why reviews used to take me longer and longer. The other half is using it, making music with it, and in this respect, I'm enjoying it  plenty. It has some similarities with the Synthi for pulsing oddness but ca be made to turn melodic and even virtuosic. A second hand one showed up today - older model without the arpeggiator. Made me dig into this one all over again and record some stuff. It fits my palette very well and I only made a couple of cockups (getting hold of wrong slider on both occasions, have swapped a couple of slider caps around) but can live with that. A few shorter patch cables so I could see better would help too. Oops, almost slipping into grumbling again. And I'm keeping this one. Slightly sad that seller didn't contact me  to try and get my keyboard issues resolved but if banana leads ever come may have to ruin one to try.
In short - good session and shows that limitations suit me well in my advancing years.
Programmed 'tuned noise' patch on the KS4 because I missed a particular sound and realised it was from the Micron.
Thought for the day: when Babylon 5 is bad, it's really bad.
In the same way that I always recognise the SH-101, the Minimoog, the Synthi, the Perfourmer, the Juno6, so I recognise the Easel. That is a good thing.
Did this https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/diesel-aneasel

Oh yeah, Pat went out tonight so I did the Friday afternoon thing in the evening...

Continuing with the Buchla Music Easel

The cool set of videos someone posted on muffs would have helped me understand the pulser and envelope behaviour so nice work musicalfungus! Good that I worked it out myself I guess but shows this thing really isn't always intuitive.

https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2693394#2693394

Struggled some more with the Easel generally, reckon I  understand most of it now, even the aux card which will be useful. The keyboard is not responsive enough, especially the area around key 18 which seems very temperamental, notably after it's been on for a bit. Also the 'pressure' seems very variable - it doesn't seem to depend on how much of my finger is making contact but some random element I can't figure. Not good,
Apparently I should try using the ground connection which may make things better, may even make the tuning more accurate. Trouble is they fitted a banana jack for grounding and I'll be buggered if I'm butchering any of my precious supply just to make it work properly! Have ordered some more leads from CPC.

The replacement keyboard hasn't shown up and KMR have been silent - perhaps due to the onslaught of emails I sent about various issues. Still torn about whether to take up their offer to ditch the thing and get a full refund but that's a last resort.

Last week I expressed my frustration with the Easel keyboard in a video
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb4NUK0FoP5/?taken-by=smokyfrog

There's a long story about the envelopes, which I discovered after posting this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb656fTF9nv/?taken-by=smokyfrog

Short answer is that it doesn't work as the manual (someone really needs to write a better one, for the current machine, one that doesn't claim program cards come with it, that the MIDI is shite etc. etc.). A guy has worked out a fix so if if I keep it I'll get Tony to do something. Tempted to get him to replace the envelope with one that works traditionally and bugger the authenticity.

Obviously still not up to doing a longer review, been close to giving up but not quite there yet. Cos of stuff like this:

So yes the pitch tracking isn't perfect, the envelope is naff, the aux card aliases like a bastard and I still don't have enough banana cables, but it inspires me to play as an instrument, which a bunch of Eurorack modules don't and never will. But the keyboard has to work better than it does.
I got an interesting document about solving keyboard issues from Buchla but Tony has pointed out that the grounding instructions don't improve on the existing grounding, through the mixer. Another user tells me to play without shoes. Willing to try that. Also willing to try both a replacement keyboard and grounding if I can find a grownup to make me a lead. Will ring KMR tomorrow if they don't get in touch.

Oh and our fecking telly died. Same way as my mum's. Seriously, bloody Toshiba, shite! Annoyingly, I can't remember where we got it and searches for the receipt have failed. So we'll end up paying a guy to fix it (hardware, power problem, the Toshiba support guy easily identified, suspect he's heard it a lot).

Almost finished the (short) review I've been labouring over, another module arrived. Eek! Good one though, tried it and instantly bumped up the 'do list'.

No great pix lately, sorry. Took my camera this morning but it told me it was exhausted. Probably the Easel finished it off, which is understandable.

Begin with a 'meh'

Yes, the Easel arrived.

OK  I knew about the wobbly knobs and I knew there was no manual and an external power supply. I'd asked several times about the MIDI and specifically how to set the channel - KMR didn't know and failed to find out but thought it was some power up option maybe. Well, it turns out there's no option because the MIDI is basically pish. It even makes the MIDI of the Korg MS20 Mini (with its fixed MIDI channel) seem advanced and useful. Unbelievably, it's the 21st Century and I have a synth locked in Omni mode. Seriously. I've written to them asking when this will be fixed but it sure didn't get my off to a good start. I created this cool percussive patch and wanted to sequence from the P3, not a lot to ask I don't think!

I'm so glad this isn't a review! I ordinarily make notes - initial impressions I keep to myself.
Here's the list version 1. You'd think this was a budget thing, new, rushed to market.

Not good if you like accurate tracking - but listening to Todd Barton's videos suggests that this is a common thing. Paul L confirms his doesn't track perfectly either. The tiny trimmer isn't for tracking/scaling as I hoped; it's a very fine tune.
External power supply
I like the case. Feels good. Whole thing is smaller and lighter than the Synthi. Not as well thought-out though.
I like the use of colour.
Knobs feel cheap and they wobble, especially those on the keyboard.
Another user from muffs just informed me:
you can´t clock the arp and play MIDI notes at the same time.. it hangs... If you want to play notes youmust disable MIDi clock send from your device.. 
Keyboard's transpose buttons should have bi-polar knobs to set values methinks.
This is like learning synthesis again from scratch (a good thing).
A printed manual would really have helped. For the aux card too.
It's very easy to bugger the tuning by grabbing the wrong slider. Having a whole row of them is actually worse than the Odyssey since the Odyssey at least set coarse tuning apart from all the mod depths. Uniform layout seems to be against Don's idea of more than 5 controls together being harder to use. Thank heavens for the fine tune!
MIDI - it's omni mode or nothing. Fuck! Doesn't even respond to MIDI CC64 or pitch bend. Somebody really just couldn't be bothered here. Or worse, didn't understand MIDI at all. I'm seeing this more and more.
Envelope is odd. I still need to work out all the nuances. Nice and punchy despite just being attack and decay, with the sustain parameter and that switch needing some practice. Hate reading manuals on-screen but I will have to and soon.
The other 1/4" jack seems to be a (fixed polarity?) sustain pedal input. Useful for keeping the arpeggiator going. ##update - avoid as it seems to do odd things to keyboard triggering.
The arp is pretty limited (2 directions) but it does sync to MIDI clock at least.
Not enough patch cables, especially if you bought aux card. I need at least another dozen - and some that are long enough to go between the aux card and rest of the module. Three of the cables are instantly tied up connecting the keyboard to the main module - surely something that could have been normalised internally then overriden if necessary.
Afraid the reverb is not gonna be very usable - it booms when you play the keyboard, flick switches, touch the synth at all... Stupid design. BBD delay would have been better. Maybe I'll grow to love it for percussion duties.
Possibly the K version would have been better after all given the keyboard's oddness and the daft plastic bits in between keys. Synthi keyboard is actually better to play. The 'black' keys have sharp edges - sharp enough to cut if you catch them at speed. Madness!
The sockets are tight. But a pile of bananas wobbles and needs care. Stoner alert as could easily catch a tower of them and break something.
The aux card may have been a mistake. It's a lot of money for a basic digital oscillator and noise generator  but the voltage control over the envelope stages seems to be a good feature. Already made good use of that. Oscillator could still be handy as a mod source though, freeing the other (plain) oscillator. Alarming how the whole module pushes down as you fit the card though. And I'll have to be careful not to catch it and snap it off. Design cockup: it sticks up and obscures some of the controls - making is difficult to access the 4 switches directly beneath it. Still feel it's more useful than the program card but perhaps I bought in haste (and based on Todd's videos). Early days though and I may be singing a different tune tomorrow. Hard to really assess until I get more patch cables. For £800 they could have supplied a few with the card - ones long enough to reach the sockets on the module.

My impression after a couple of hours: they did not set out to delight, these chaps at BEMI. With the general quality and shitty MIDI, it almost feels like it's made with contempt rather than love. After just a couple of hours, if someone asked me how much I thought this would cost, I'd probably estimate between £1,000 and £1500.

I hope that, after our first stoned bonding session, I'll feel a lot differently. Dearly hope. Friday afternoon probably.

Fear not, I will do a more full review as I learn my way around it. In fact I'll hold off posting this until tomorrow's session as I'm conscious that I didn't really say what I did with it, what its strengths appear to be right away, the things I actually like (yes, there are some) etc. etc.

Today (Wednesday) was frustrating because I spent most of the morning dealing with plumber. Got a couple of hours in in the afternoon and worked through Todd Barton's example patches and reading key parts of the manual.
Discovered what seemed to be a problem with a key not working.  Apparently caused by my use of the sustain input to keep the arpeggiator going. As this isn't documented I'm going to have to find out if it's something to avoid. The socket is labelled sustain but perhaps I misunderstood.

Got a reply from Buchla admitting that it's Omni on but no commitment to make the MIDI fit for purpose. Still trying to get enough patch leads to work with. Suspect many people buy the program card and do their cabling directly on the app. I have hardly been able to use the aux card yet.
I did get some typical Buchla noises today thanks to the examples and some messing with them.

Full review still to come as I'm conscious I still haven't totted up the good stuff. I have not given up. It makes the 0-Coast seem even more impressive though. ;)

Easely not Weasely

OK, some of my friends have asked: why on earth did you opt for a Buchla Easel rather than a bunch of Eurorack modules with the same capabilities or more? I'm well aware of the options.

It's an easy thing to answer: I liked the complete/closed nature of the Easel and its simplicity. If we were talking about yet another box for modules, yet another open-ended system to be expanded forever, then I'd be totally uninterested. Eurorack is already occupying a particular place in both my studio and headspace. It's why I'm keeping it constrained and limited.

I started a 15 min selbstportrait piece. It initially seems OK but I'm torn between making it melodic and conventional and something more abstract. Got a little while to think about it though so perhaps a new instrument will inspire me soon ;)

The Data album is done. I'm happy with it, at least at the moment. Of course a sensible person would sit on it for a few more weeks but I'd rather get on with something new. Onwards and... onwards.

Here it is https://paulnagle.bandcamp.com/album/data

Theory now is that the Easel will be here next week having been sent last Monday. I guess customs like a really good sniff at stuff.

Reading an Alistair Reynolds with a very long-lived species not too unlike my Vaneer. Interesting that many of the same issues are dealt with, most particularly data gathering. OK, probably just a logical extension of an obvious idea but does make me think I'm doomed never to have a truly original idea. Especially interesting is a machine making transition to flesh - something I dealt with in 'From Beer To Eternity'. Oh well.

Easel here tomorrow! I even have courier tracking. Expect my next blog to be full of it. So to speak.

A splendid thing

Even though I was out of weed, an excellent Friday's recording session. Have a new 20 min track (cut down from 30) which I really like. Possibly needs a slight mix tweak or two but essentially sound.

Makes 'Data' a different thing if I include this rather than the iffy track.

Today I narrowly resisted sampling Seven of Nine saying: my alcove is malfunctioning.

Anyway, today I replaced a track from Data (wasn't quite thrilling me) with a cooler one.


https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/tinnitus

Continuing indulgence

I just remembered I was supposed to write something to be used as sci-fi voice-over for a track. So .that's this morning's quest. Still not sure my voice best suited to the task, may ask John. Track tempo appears to be around 72BPM so I'll try and make the voice fit that naturally.

Yesterday's creation was rather different than I expected. Switches from the Minimal Techno brief to the Chilled Meandering brief. Will see if today's is closer to the original idea.

Feel bad I didn't go see Harvey last night, just slumped in front of telly (watched 2 Black Mirror episodes I'd already seen) and achieved little. Nothing.

Thursday, great day! Fixed yesterday's thing (I think) and recorded something new that I like, with polyrhythms where the main groove is in fives. More beer, plus chilli and later, gin. Big fun day. Stoned and watching Baraka. Hardly original but joyous.

Hmmm. On reflection, yesterday's track is about double the length it should have been. Heh. Can fix. Second half is the thing. Will see what today brings. It's coming together

Today brung a groovy thing at 130 bpm. Watching series 3 of Black Mirror. At last the one I hadn't seen. Good day, looking forward to Pat coming home.

I might have a new thing practically complete: Data. That's it. Using Ciklon to drive the kick today.

Always very suspicious when two recordings have a similar shape. Just saying.

October ends, Pat away, working on some minimal stuff...

Did a minimal techno track and have a taste for more. Need to trim a few of the unnecessary changes from it (they inevitably happen during performance) but the core is there. Will keep to similar instrumentation for 3 more tracks of similar length (around 15-17 mins).

Yet another pic of 'the tree' - thoughts of an old friend led me here. This the best of the shot I took of it on Sunday. Enjoying working in b&w, really helps you think about textures and shapes differently. I like it a lot.

Wednesday, Pat away, drank beer, did a new piece at 126bpm in which the Perfourmer was behaving oddly so I dropped it. Piece too long at 20 mins though but will see what it sounds like tomorrow.

Pizza, watching some weird film I recorded Aaaaaaaaaah! (probably wrong number).
Very weird but so far engaging by its oddness and by Toyah. And by a guitarist who reminds me of Phil for his lyrical playing. Everyone is grunting now and I suspect it ain't gonna stop. Ah right, they're cavemen or something. The Missing Links? Feck... Googles it. Apes have suddenly and inexplicably taken over the bodies of humans. They don't seem to miss their old ones and have an apey old time. Think the shortbread helped. Noel Fielding also in it.

Oh, OT trigger conditions came in today. Installed, used to make the new track. Very useful indeed.

New legends popping up all over the place

Today I discovered that if I type in Musical Legend to facebook in capitals, I'm offered some self-employed chap called Laurent somethingorother as a substitute for the phrase. Seems very peculiar to me. Was there another (inter)national vote that went seriously wrong? Or can you declare yourself a legend then get facebook to comply?
Weirdness!

more of my b&w photos

One of my best Jasper photos :)

Analog Four seemed to die on me today. Replaced with Microsampler. Review modules sorted. Trying not to get too many though. Sudden glut. Recorded some stuff, might be OK. Couldn't mix as Logic had some weird display I couldn't shift.
Started new Alastair Reynolds and it's promising already. Good day! Well, apart from A4. 

Old friend got in touch, checking I'm OK after I cropped up in a dream. I confirmed I'm peachy and exploring retirement . .  . 

New Stranger Things today. Cool.

Oops

I did it again. Ordered the Buchla. It's gonna be 2 weeks. Also bought another Doepfer case. Definitely my last. I wrote that here so it's true.

Been taking photos based on some pointless facebook challenge. Some are below.

Retirement is obviously going to my head. Right through perhaps.

Still reading the KLF book. Finished the one module review I have and am now free to amuse myself for a bit. Today didn't seem in the mood for music. I failed to backup my Atmegatron, I did a weird sequence on the Synthi, programmed a sound on the Pro 2 and did absolutely nothing of consequence.

I'm now thinking the Buchla fits into my 'small, simple building blocks' philosophy that has been gradually developing. I dearly hope I won't want to extend it at all - Eurorack has that corner covered.
Looking forward to new Headshock sessions and new sounds when Tim gets back. And releasing some of our vast catalogue. The KLF book has some thought-provoking ideas about whether we even need to release anything, but I'm damned if I'm burning any ;)

Some chap posted a Buchla Easel theremin patch. Basically he added portamento then, when I expressed the vaguest of misgivings, said it was only a starting point. What can ya do?

Buchla Musings

Yes, I've been pondering what I'd get if I had a chunk of money to spend frivolously, on something expensive I wouldn't ordinarily buy. My first thought was Serge - but not so east to realise. Sounds fab but I don't really like the format and the boring layout. So next I thought Buchla, and went off to research the Easel. I had a head start since I've already heard the groovy stuff Paul did with his - and he really likes it, which is important too. The album Automaton was done mostly on one and it's one of my faves of his. The clear, sharp, percussive tones are really distinctive but of course it can do a lot more.

So I first off looked at the Easel-K with its amazing controller and dense panel to program the controller. Paul put me off though as he had one and found it a real faff, especially as you need another module if you're to store several different configurations. The regular keyboard would make it self-contained, I guess.

The Easel is a deceptively simple synth - just 2 oscillators, one of which is complex and the other can either be an audio or mod source. A single envelope, a 5-step sequencer, some random voltages, a reverb, pulser, not a lot more. I decide I probably want the aux card expansion - even if it winds me up to pay over £800 for a single digital oscillator and some extra CV control over the envelope. This shit is expensive - and not well made at all. Looks like they didn't even bother with a manual - the existing one is from last century but the new machine, supposedly, has MIDI. Worse, for your five grand (!), you get a synth with an external power supply. WTF!!

And yet...

Despite all this, if I had a chunk of money to toss away frivolously, it's still there at the top of the list. I like its sound, I've watched videos, I should probably go play Paul's again.

Friday afternoon came and went. Recorded some mad Synthi noises into the Octatrack, enjoyed them all afternoon. At the last minute I added a drum part and a sequence, totally killing it. This was the version I put on bandcamp for free download, only to take it down again this morning when sober.
You can always tell when the beer to weed ratio is too high. Subtlety is lost, basic crap tossed in. Fortunately, I did at least keep the original idea and can carry on with a few more Synthi noises replacing the ER1 and Pro2 parts. I appeared to have drunk all 3 bottles of beer that I bought, which is 1 more than I usually would. No wonder all I could do in the evening was sprawl in front of Sense8.

This morning I moved a ton of soil to our new patch - good timing as it is now chucking it down and a storm called Bwian is supposedly coming to blow at us. Continuing to read Voyage to Arcturus and wondering what it's all about, if anything.

Afterwards

This week is a 'starting things' week. OK, we didn't get far today thanks to the motorway being shut and all local roads congested so Pat and I came home and chilled instead of going to Longridge for a money meeting. She's (finally) getting her horse installed somewhere this week. So we can plan to take a holiday - something I've been pining for. Yes, even though my life is basically a holiday.

Started a module review - a good one too, or at least different enough to throw the cat amongst the Euro pigeons.
More Bogus Realities thoughts starting to solidify. Sorted the version thing with Amazon, who had been struggling to adapt to my idea of version control, or at least reconcile it with theirs. I'm leaving Bogus Realities at version 1.12 until I get reader feedback with errors cos otherwise I'll never stop making tiny tweaks (yes, I've said this before). Several people have generously compared my stuff with Douglas Adams but I have to say it's a shorter, more northern Douglas Adams, one with less intelligence, wit and drive. Still, I'm grateful people aren't just screaming 'turkey, turkey, squawk, squawk!' Need advice on getting reviews in order to kick off a proper sales campaign.

Finished an excellent book, Earth Abides, by George R Stewart. Despite being written in 1949 it holds up very well, could be the best of the 'apocalypse, it all goes to shit' type novels I've read. I haven't started reading Push Turn Move though, need some time before I do that after all the intense, eye-fucking editing.

Off to see John in Preston today, been a while so will be good to have a chat.

Friday -
it's either an afternoon in the studio or work on 'The Host Contract' which is the new BR that I've been wrestling with in my head. John thinks I should work out the plot in detail before starting. I think he's telling me my vague plots are not enough and that getting trashed and following the path doesn't work as well for stories as music. And there are probably those who don't think it works for music either. ;)

Didn't write, played. Part of today's recording
https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/general-ignorance

Amazon sent latest novel but printed an old version. I can see this is gonna run and run.

Synthfest

Synthfest was an absolute triumph, no other way I can put it. It's amazing to think I didn't get to any of the stalls around the wall on the main hall, so missed Teenage Engineering, Nord, Soundgas and even Rubadub, where I'd planned to get a new envelope module and possibly another case. I even missed picking up the General CV module from ES which was my only actual plan of the day. Typical!

I chatted to just about everyone though, even Rich Olpin all too briefly and I never got to return the coffee. Some people I failed to find but plenty I did and was delighted to chat to Gaz Williams, who is just as nice as he seems from the Sonic State videos. He also has good taste - bought an Atmegatron as I did cos they were selling them off.

In an act of stupidity, while clearing away some of the bedding used by the Danish guys, I kicked it through the loft hole and onto the hard laminate floor below. Amazingly, it survived with only a wobbly bass knob and a slight dent to a corner. And some of the personalities developed since I reviewed it are fabulous - really liked the Strings. The delay one was something I suggested - I haven't got the overlay for that yet as he ran out - indeed totally sold out of them. A lot of fun ahead.

Other than that 8-bit wonder, I loved the Touche controller and was most fascinated by the GR-1 granular synth.

Indeed, this was the only photo I took all day. Great UI and the kind of different approach that would, ordinarily, have had me baggsying it for review. It was nice to be asked several times to reconsider my retirement, and of course there's tempting enough gear if I ignore all the toy-town stuff for baby fingers. Trying to resist though. SOS very kindly treated me to lunch and then Kim treated me to a curry later - a really excellent Southern Indian one which we enjoyed along with Airsculpture. So far resisting the Cosmic Smokers gig offer, mostly because it's at the bloody scout hut and I really don't enjoy going there. Pete and I may do some recording again though, that'd be nice.

The book was received really well and sold well too even though it was much more expensive than I'd anticipated. A lot of hard work but the result is great, even if someone added an 'of' between my biog's phrase 'library music' turning it into 'library of music' - presumably they thought they were helping in some way.

Today I spent some time taking my coffee machine apart as it was full of compacted coffee - someone helping again, trying the random approach to operation. Sigh. I think it's mostly clear now but I realised that coffee-free mornings are not for me.

Bought latest Carbon Based Lifeforms download, another Tom Waits CD arrived and I ripped loads of ivy and strangly plants out of the garden. Good day.

Retired!

Monday
Yes, it actually felt like it today (retirement), even if I did get up early and send in a module review.

It rained all morning and I sat reading, without a care. With people actually reading my books now, and even sending feedback, I'm flushed with excitement and creativity. Also completed sniffing through Bogus Realities to highlight yet more errors that needed sorting. Sadly, I didn't start marking them from the start so have missed a few. Pretty sure I missed some because I didn't do it in a different colour, doh! So one day at least one more pass will be required. Anyway, submitted version 1.1 today and did almost nothing else. Hoping my ankle will improve soon, not been to gym for weeks.

My Irish passport application delayed because mum has lost (or thrown away) dad's birth certificate.
Apparently I need to replace my old pink driving licence. Trouble is the new ones have the EU flag on, something I'd love to keep but which I suspect will also need replacing once the fucking nutters actually drive us over the cliff.

Wednesday
Book update available - realised I should have added 'also by this author' or something similar.
Dawn here tonight, Tim here at weekend, Diana keeps insisting she 'must come visit', it's good to be popular.
Pat, reading the Daily Mail Online, tells me there's a giant rat in the Pacific capable of breaking coconuts with its teeth. Who says that organisation never dispenses useful news?
My driving licence is OK.
Got letter from HMRC refunding the UPS refund I already received. Don't wanna upset tax man so dropped them a line saying UPS already accepted their error, so chill. All this cos some stupid jobsworth wouldn't listen to what I was saying. Sigh.

Friday

I thought that I should really work on short stories and had a few ideas while out walking the dog. I could do a collection that stands alone but (my old idea) is part of a larger whole, telling a complete story collectively. This would let me deal with some clean-up parts of Bogus Realities and force me to be concise about it. We'll see how it goes. I'm starting to acquire too many sketches, ideas and general scraps to use effectively if I don't actually start something! I can only keep this stuff in my head for so long before it's replaced.

Oh well, it's almost time to consume the remainder of last night's Thai takeaway (green curry) and contemplate doing a half-decent recording of the little thing I started yesterday afternoon. Working entirely with the Octatrack at the moment, the A4 providing some simple support but I'm starting to ponder the idea of using the OT's MIDI half - probably a foolish notion - but the forthcoming probability thing seems to make it a better idea for driving a single synth, like say a Perfourmer, then putting it through the OT effects... I know, I know. I'm *not* thinking about more gigs.

I notice muffs is still down and they are being quite po-faced about the many suggestions people are making for more PC names for the forum. It always seemed to be some kind of adolescent sniggerfest stretched too far - and I say that having written the novels I have!!!
Anyway, over coffee, I knocked up some alternate suggestions of my own ready to contribute, but the fb thread got wiped. Ah well:

KnobNudger.com
CableCrackler.com
PotPootler.com
CaseCrammer.com
NerdNerdler.com
GeekFreaker.com
VoltCalculator.com
NoiseNurturer.com
FannyDreamers.com
TurtleHurtlers.com


OK, absolutely nothing worth adding. My photos from yesterday's walk are all shit. That 'definitely not smart' phone camera is the worst I've had and nothing comes out sharp enough to use. Arse! :(

Later, there was this: https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/thenewcascade

Heh Elektron love rekindled!

Yes, laugh if you must because that didn't last long, did it?
Almost no time after I thought of putting my Elektrons on ice, I powered them up so the OT could capture some of the cool loops I was making with a review oscillator. I pondered the best way to keep them and decided the OT beat the RC-505 on this occasion, plus the RC end of the studio wasn't powered up ;)

And here's a thing: I was fired up by the prospect of conditional trigs for for the original OT. As this will apply to loops too, it offers all kinds of stuff I always wanted from the OT but could never get - i.e. now I will be able to have loops that are forever properly different, not static, just because various parts of them may or may not play.

It's all good!!

My curiosity about Comic Con has been satisfied - £8 entrance fee to walk around some stalls and optionally pay to get the autograph of various people who have been in various telly series, in supporting roles. The young Hodor was there, the babe with the little pants from Primeval, Blue Lady from Farscape and so on. Most animated and friendly was Kryten, Robert Llewellyn, and least recognisable was Carolyne Munro, of the Hi Karate adverts in the 70s. A friend paid Xander our of Buffy £30 for a scribble, a smile and a handshake. He wore a hat indoors to show he was someone (or balding). Best parts were the people who came in costume, and the funniest of these were those who wore the costume but totally failed to get into character. At least it leaves the afternoon free to crack on with that module review!

Margaret took Jasper to some dog show and together they won the golden oldies award, or something. At 15, Jasper was the oldest dog there. They are now waiting to the end to see if he also wins best in show.

Sorry no Comic Con photos. I took my camera but somehow didn't feel inspired.

I updated the bogusfocus.com website today but it's still shit. I probably need some kind of app to make better ones as my method of doing it long-style in html is flawed unless I can remember any html - or DCF Script, as I tend to think of it.

Did I post any gig pix?

Church of Sound

Well, I'm planning to stop off at Picko's on the way over, been a while since we had a good natter and it seems daft not to call in as I'm passing. I decided that I really don't need to take the Synthi as, during this afternoon's 'connect everything to the gig mixer' session, I was hardly using it. Half the time, noises I thought were the Synthi actually came from the Lyra or the Microgranny 2 (admittedly I have some Synthi samples in there). Throw in the OP-1 and the effects and I can travel light and still do cool stuff for half an hour. Makes life easier.

Did not start any review stuff yet. So that's Friday and the weekend so it's ready for David on Monday. SOS came but nothing of interest in it for me. I wonder if they'll keep sending it.

POST GIG:

It went well, really enjoyed the playing and having proper control over the sound, being able to hear etc. Someone said they were surprised that I was the most experimental of the three, which is cool. Brill sets by Martyn and Peter, could have listened to both of them for hours.

One of Jez's pix - I think he did a room recording and some video which I'll look out for. Should have recorded it myself but good to let the universe have this one.
The drive down was awful - lots of waiting on the M6, rain, frustration. The return was worse in a way because part of the M1 was shut then the A50 was closed and there was this stupid detour I always seem to get plagued with. Got home just after 1am knackered. Still, Friday today and will get on with the module I have. Chatted with Stevo about him doing modular reviews, very optimistic about that and hoping he'll get stuck in and enjoy doing it. Picko played me some awesome music and blew my mind with his ideas about pulsars, aliens, Russians and just about every other topic he could cram into the hour and a half we spent together. Should do it again sometime, if it weren't for my dislike of driving.
Right, at least it won't take too long to put studio back together. This minimal thing is definitely worth pursuing. If COS were closer I'd happily do another, perhaps with a couple of Elektron boxes ;)

The Waning

Some heated (FB) discussion last night about the poor attendance for today's Awakenings (the one they wanted me to go along to 'boost', as if I've ever boosted anything ;) ). Most notable to me was the fact that most of the participants have been following our weird, restricted brand of 'EM' for many decades. Many of these people have pretty fixed ideas about what they expect to hear and will turn out for, which is basically 'more of the same'. No wonder our scene is still dying the Long Death.

This reassures me that my decision to wind down live performances is the totally the right one. Would have been lovely to go out with a few good gigs (the Cherry Red thing was a big disappointment) and I find next week's Church Of Sound a strangely appropriate way for my 'career' to fizzle away like an old, damp firework. A long drive to play 30 minutes of aimless noodles, all the while thinking of the long drive home. Can't wait! Have found a suitable video though so that's something.

Today I have the builder around doing our wall, looking half dead. While making him brews I must start that module review, consider how I'm going to seal under the library skirting board to keep the slugs out and try and properly solve the damp wall problem. Sure am looking forward to that 'retirement'!!!

A glorious sunny Saturday and I've mostly spent it sitting around. Thank heavens for the OP-1 - a fantastic little companion for sitting around with. I swear its tape mode is the single most inspiring addition and I've made a cool ambient backdrop just by randomly recording, sampling stuff off the radio, overdubbing, reversing, recording some more. Just wonderful.

Today was a good day. Visited my mum (lots to say), picked up Harvey's Source, assembled the new TV stand, sealed the evil slugs out, put the light back on, delivered (all the, oops) apples, didn't deliver book (as filed ambiguously), thought about gig and remembered my OP-1 tape contents, now at -24. Hey presto, gig sorted. Here I play mad shit over the top, loops, MG2 and whatever I feel like:
https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/cos_1

Will maybe delete tomorrow. Gig video done. Bookshelves to move back, more episodes of Stranger Things, life is good even if I was on the move and missed this chimney tip!

Oh dear, a while later and I can barely put any weight on my left foot! No gym tomorrow. Old thing, going over on it, thought I'g got away with it, you pesky kids!
Update: Pat thinks I may have broken one of the little bones. Drinking again, bloody madness!
Update (Monday morning) - can still not walk on it at all. FUCK!!!

Back to Berlin

OK, I've been 3 times now and have still to see very much of it. That's only partly because there's a great deal to see. Ferry was really quite stable but we drank a lot anyway before scuttling to a tiny cupboard to sleep! Anyway, Sequentix is now there, a German company, hopefully to flourish. If Colin's many ideas and plans work out, should be a few very interesting years to come. Still tired though and lots suddenly to do at home - including finding where the slug came in that Colin spotted! So today is all about pulling out bookshelves and sniffing for access points. Probably more work for our builder, assuming he ever comes back....

At least I've had a reminder on CVIO and have set up my tracking - sadly some variation between my many oscillators, even the digital ones. I guess very few people have totally accurate voltmeters. Going to put P3 away and get back into Cirklon, with a view to helping out more with general support questions and maybe even do a few more videos. First, a gig to plan and a backing video to make, and a trip to Ikea, and yet more stuff.

Got hooked on Stranger Things at Colin's so today I smartened up our TV and signed up for Netflix. More review stuff to do also, modules, and more to come. I know, I know, I'm a total whiner. Got a book by Stephen Palmer, fellow electronic musician, and this one is actually published. I intend to read and learn. Might even send him a copy of mine and ask if he'll take a look and offer any pointers. Cheeky I know but if I'm to improve it'll only be by people reading and commenting. At the moment it's all a bit of a darkish hole, which rarely bodes well.

Have finally got my ftp stuff sorted so I can fix the websites, or at least put in some useful links and fix the broken nonsense. Whenever I get chance.

Some other photos are in my iPad so they probably will be used for Instagram.

Right, can't be sat around here all day making virtual lists of things I tackle!