New authors, some free time

Well, I struggled through Sheri S. Tepper's Grass wishing, all the while, that she had smoked some before starting. Still, I got to the end - but I won't be ordering any more of her work. David Brin, on the other hand, has begun well and I'm already much more intrigued than with dear flat, slightly sweet Sheri. See what I did there? Well, I wrote in cliche for a start. Next I'll be saying someone 'smashed it'.

Where was I?

Here, as always. Listening to some Nitin Sawhney, drinking beer and contemplating doing a module review. My Euro adapter thing arrived - so all those weird bits of gear with euro adapters can sit in it as if they were really in Europe, as opposed to this grim and angry little island obsessed with self-harm. Oops, I go all Brexit Crazy whenever I visit my mum. It's Sunday you see.

I think I have a few days free coming up. Should have thought about the video for those guys in Birmingham but haven't. Will wing it and see how it goes.

Don's new song is rather good. My modular sequences work well so it'll be interesting to see what Dean adds. I had an idea for a melody but left it off to give them more space. And I still really like the vocoder one, more so than 'Memory Foam' which is the one song out of everything we've done that never clicked. It'll doubtless be the one that earns us our immortality and hysterical devotion of old people who are missing Last of the Summer Whine.

But I digress.

Right, beer and modular noodles. Or beer and the little stand-alone setup. Decisions...

Monday. Strange. Almost fell into the online discussion thing with a rabid Brexiteer. I managed to get out before I wasted too much time by asking a simple question: which leaver minds have most inspired you?
Turns out to have been a clever move on my part as the answer included David Davis, James Dyson, Tony Benn and Margaret Thatcher. I kid you not. There was obviously nowhere sane for me to go after that.

Last night I solved the first of my problems for writing a time travel novel: I worked out how time and space really co-exist. Turns out Einstein was quite wrong, the silly old duffer. Anyway, it allows me to fit my skeleton plot around something so I'll start fleshing out the characters in my head. I'm starting with a couple of Time Ladies, an evil assassin and a Jeeves and Wooster-style pair of heroes, all of which I hope will develop personalities of their own once I start writing. I even have a title that I like, already!

I finished the first third of the David Brin and it's ... OK. I've started the next chunk but it's not really doing it for me. Still, of the people reading my novel, I've had only a handful of lightweight comments so I guess my writing isn't captivating anyone either. Maybe I'll keep music and writing to myself in future. Family meal type thing today. Mum still sounding a bit off so it may be fun. Can't fecking wait.

Studio B takes shape. Bought grey import Zoom R24 from a dodgy place called tobydeals.co.uk (a Hong Kong company in disguise). Octatrack not really fitting in there like I hoped it would. I've spent so long trying to make that thing fit somewhere haven't I? Time to put it in a box for a while.

Cold drags on

Yeah, it does. I wake up each morning with my eyes full of the gunk my body is expelling, I cough up a few green jellyfish and my head rings like the inside of a belfry. But as the day progresses I feel OK, weak and listless but OK, and then in the evening I start coughing again. Rinse and repeat.

Still getting slugs in the house. Gonna have to go around everywhere there are holes into the gap beneath the floorboards and seal them all. Not today though. Still writing, feel I'm perhaps 10,000 words from the end. I thought of a clever shift too, a fitting ending for my long-suffering female lead character who never got enough good lines and basically got shit upon throughout every novel she's appeared in. I'm very happy with this one, as I may have said before. Will need to start thinking about how to get a cover done, how to represent a mountain-sized tree presiding over the Elysian Fields, a Heavenly courtyard, a magical river and rainbow bridge without it all seeming a bit cliche. Getting the scale to look right is going to be paramount. Aiming for a 75,000 word paperback even those with no attention spans can get through so a pretty cover is essential.

Have not done owt with the 2 review modules I have. Well, I've played with them (good, fortunately) but not written a word. Barely going into the studio at all, except to do a few recordings for ANT. All I do is sit around being weedy and writing novel. Oh well.

Wednesday, may have spent too long writing but the winning post is drawing me. A lot of what I've written is unrefined but gets from A to B. Almost at the end but forcing myself to stop.

Wow, it's been some time since I started this entry!

Yeah, still done pretty much nothing in studio. Starting to tidy and clear out the other half as much as possible and maybe make a little setup in there of small boxes. I even ordered a Zoom R24 to serve as mixer and to record anything worth recording, loops and shit.

Mum has been wonky again. The usual: refusing to drink, getting kidney infection, raving down phone. Can see it's gonna be a long winter.

Have sent copies of novel to about a dozen people. A single comment back so far. I must really be working the magic.

At least the cold is pretty much gone. A last few coughs and my ear is still bunged up and whistling like a bastard, otherwise OK.

Fascinating PRS this time - not tapering off yet and all my top earning tracks are the new age and melodic ones I did quite early (and which always do well in Japan and New Zealand for some reason).

Some theremin, some simplification, the Octatrack pushed aside once again

I know, I know. It's weird because on Monday I did four Octatrack patterns that sounded great and I was planning to do more. Tuesday came and I tried to make the same patterns sound good again - and failed. Whatever Scene thing I did, I couldn't replicate and I got fed up and took it out of the system to show my annoyance. It made me think of further simplifications.
Today (Wednesday), I recorded a theremin part for the new song - the one I did the awful key messing in but which has become this brilliant thing because of Don's bass line and Dean's lyrics. Anyway, Dean made my theremin playing sound better than it was, the hero! May try some of my Night of the Demon samples on it.

Cold persisting. Tried some Albus oil which seemed to clear my nose a bit. Fed up that the only exercise I'm doing it coughing. Was gonna visit Paul but didn't really want to pass it on. What a crock.

Cold still fucking persisting. It's Saturday and I'm meant to be going out to see Mick's band play in Preston. Dunno if I will though.
Novel going well at the moment, largely because I've solved all the problems I had with it and just have a few scenes to write that shouldn't be too difficult. The ending has matured somewhat and I'll jot it down fully soon. In back-combing, I'm going through the fantasy short story that slots in rather well. I don't mind cranking up the Harry Harrison for that as it fits in. All the parts that seemed faffy or complex I've edited out. Anything laboured or drowning in adjectives has gone. I'm happy.

Nic Roeg died. So I wanna watch this again:

Jeez it's Monday and I'm still not great. Cracking on with novel is helping keep my mind occupied though, reaching the fun end stages where I've sketched out the start of the three last strands I'm going to run, ready to pick up on any as the mood takes me. Have formulated the Rules for Godly War, lifted a bunch of stuff from the I Ching and even managed to weave in some Brexiteer levels of stupidity. In another week I should have my first draft, which is a lot better than previous first drafts because this time I back-combed a number of times to get everything lined up. Still some editing to do, some chapter quotes to position, some other minor tweaks but essentially it's nearly there. I have one scene I'm not 100% sure which way it will go yet but that will just happen out of momentum (and a bag of smoke).

Started a new track in which Don sent me an mp3 and I overdubbed a sequence and melody. Could probably have done it better if both my ears were working but no guarantees.

Did a 2019 calendar too. Didn't have such great pix this year though.

Not well but stuff ticking along

Pat's been really ill with a bad chest infection. On antibiotics now and slowly recovering but not there yet. I have a bad cold but resisting getting more. Seemed to go downhill after dropping mum off at private health place yesterday.

Got through the next, hopefully last, roadblock in After Life. I knew the ending but not quite how I was getting to launch into it but now it's clicked into place. Might even be able to tie it up in just another 20,000 words or less (hopefully). Depends how many ends I ultimately want to tie up. Very happy with fantasy section, even though I still have that battle to write up. I may do it at the same time as the other one and do some fuckery between them, we'll see. Don't want to add too much complication at this stage.

It's a week later and I have done very little but fight this bloody cold. Some nice new concept stuff for ANT - the guys doing their usual creative marvels and me sitting grinning on the sidelines like everyone's favourite village idiot. Been working on After Life, went back to start in order that I fully understand it before writing the next section. Some edits leap out as needed but in general it's working well.

Today I plan to do some studio stuff. Turned down a gear review, asked to do one though as Duncan has been telling me for some time I'd like the Deluge. Has to be better than that other thing I've had a while and still is as mature as a spotty teenager with its hand down its pants.

Another little move-around

I decided to retire the ER-1 for a bit and move the Biscuit to the cue output of the Octatrack. Then I could bring back the TT-606 as it seems so much more suited to individual output processing than the TT-78. Yep, I now have both going into the same mixer, this time using just the single output from the '78, which is somehow right. Maybe it's just how I remember my CR-78 but the single mono drum box idea works well and I think about it in a different way.

Processing OT tracks via the Biscuit is good too. I really should have got Denis to do that mod for me allowing me to bypass the bitcrushing sometimes and just use it as a filter. Good I can record the processed cue output right back again.

Had to move the analogue delay to its own mixer channel also, just so I could EQ it a bit. This turned the Lyra and its long effects chain from stereo to mono, but that's actually a good thing too, tames it slightly.

The Odyssey, despite Korg's cockup, sounds great. I'd still maybe have wanted the keyboard version had I known of the issue but no great worries. The PPC on the module is shit too, total waste of time.

Sunday, difficult visit with mum. In the evening went and hung around a fire, found a large, fat frog on the pavement as we walked home. Popped it in the garden near the pond. Pat went to bed, her cold finally taking over. I polished off the fantasy section of my novel, although there's a battle or two to write when I'm in the mood.

ANT stuff sounding awesome. The question of what to do next follows naturally on. I think it's bedtime.

Dopey stoner online.. buys Odyssey, realises Korg cocked up (again)

Yesterday I felt like tackling a small anomaly in the novel so I had a wee smoke. The novel kink was quickly ironed out but then... the next thing I knew I'd ordered a whiteface Odyssey module, because the idea had occurred a while back and I never dealt with it.

The following morning I was pondering what I'd done and noticed that I'd paid £50 more than I should have. So I cancelled - Signal Sounds are pretty good to deal with BTW, you can mess them about and they're still lovely. Now, however, instead of ordering the cheaper one I saw, I'm thinking I could save even more money by not buying it. Tim's real Ody is here and I don't play that, so it may not be essential after all..

Just got contacted by the British Library Sound Archive, requesting some of my music. Apparently they have some of my stuff already but want more. Something to play to cockroaches after the apocalypse or something.

Ahem. The Ody saga continues.
A pal sold me a s/h Ody whiteface and it arrived yesterday. Today I tried it out and discovered why everyone is discounting them so heavily. Korg cocked up. Again.
1) Korg implemented a bodged means of setting single triggering active which, perhaps due to their leaving the LFO reset behaviour of the original, means you can either play legato or have the LFO work but not both. Using their prescribed patching technique (which presumably nobody tested) means the LFO only works when all keys are released. Shame no review looked at this as closely as, say, the Behringer Model D.
2) this one has a noisy slider. Bugger. The quality of all sliders feels poor to me, can't see them lasting long. As I was planning on getting the LFO reset fixed I guess that needs looking at too...
3) Despite my misgivings it sounds really nice. Having all 3 filter options is fab, my fave being the 3rd but all sound good. HPF doesn't seem to do a load over much of its travel, must compare with Tim's.

Summary - Korg could have done much better. The sliders feel cheap and the MIDI is half-arsed. I doubt I'll ever use the PPC as it requires a huge amount of pressure. I suspect Behringer will do the job with more thought, as they did with the Model D. Weird/sad to admit that but Korg seem to have blown their original "we're a big company doing analogue again" vibe. I guess I never forgave them for the Minilogue/Monologue digital envelopes.

Friday coming, hope to indulge myself in music and writing. Almost finished the Marbles review, just need to make it slightly shorter - as usual I've gone on a bit. So much to say though and what to trim?

The Benjolin arrived, or was it the Banjolin? Anyway, it's pretty cool but I spent most of the day on the Ody, which sounds great. Oh and the TT-78 arrived and that really rocks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpZi9gbh8tB/

Curry Satisfaction

Yeah, I got the curry desires which weren't satisfied last weekend in Sheffield. Finally sorted them this evening - but it was a strange encounter with my only openly Brexiteer friend. We simply didn't discuss it or I think it would have been like when religion comes up with a certain other friend. Jeez. Very weird.

I can't help wondering if that's going to be the way of it in future though. Epic self-harm is brought about by misinformation and belligerence. Instead of dealing with it, sorting out the details and ramifications, we don't discuss it at all.

The curry was nice though. It's Monday morning and I've just bid it a fond farewell. Trying to get in the mood to go to the gym but the mood eludes me.
Things to do this week: fix Les's studio problem, check mum's OK, see John for tea and cake, get some shrooms, tackle at least one of the trees in the garden, do the Marbles review, start the Medusa review (assuming firmware update comes).

The last photo from a session we did just off the motorway. I say 'we' but I didn't participate. There's probably a link somewhere from Divkid's Youtube page.

I didn't talk about Synthfest did I? Well, in short, it was fab. I got to play a Grandmother and realise I don't need one. I would probably have bought an Odyssey desktop but they didn't bring any. I was left with a desire for a GR-1. Saw Dean's band and they were fab, hung out with some cool people and talked until my voice was a croak.

I realise that's not much of a summary. Oh, it was weird driving Kim's left hand automatic there and back but not excessively so. I probably grumbled about the traffic cos that's what I do.

Odd & Odder

Wednesday. Yeah, an odd day. First I noticed I'd forgotten to pay last month's credit card bill and then I was proved wrong on a spelling matter (faun, fawn) after a visit to a museum in Bolton. I will console myself this afternoon by polishing off some review stuff, or at least progressing it.

Sunday evening and Dean just sent through a new track that absolutely rocks, I love it. Different from the others perhaps but equally marvellous. I don't know how they do it but makes me very happy.

Did some housekeeping stuff - sending dry individual drums from tt-606 for another track, messed with review gear and did a few nice patterns, made copious notes, did simple test of a module with poor tracking to hopefully demo to creators. Used the not-exactly-perfect tonestar as reference.

Novel 'fantasy section' begun. Have most of it in my head, might need a writing binge to get it out in a short burst.

It's all good!

Morpheus almost fixed?

In one of my long-term projects, I thought I got the Morpheus working today. Fitted new battery, explored the diagnostic menu but kept getting MIDI failure. Thought that perhaps needed an out to in connection though. It was giving MIDI comms errors on the V-Synth when using its thru, suggesting the Morph's MIDI in was suspect (I'm guessing the thru is hardware but should verify).

Anyway, have got it working - but I remember my initial errors were MIDI-related, with it crashing when I played too many notes. Will do some tunes with it and see how it goes - but would be sweet to have it fully operational. Sadly I failed to back up any of my patches, many of which used poly AT. Oh well.

Should polish off a review or two but I have some novel ideas to progress.

Well, the novel ideas went well. I'm now much further ahead and ready to go back and comb a few chapters in order to progress. Good how things I had previously hinted at are coming through, almost as if there was a plan. I also managed to combine some LOTR satire with some social media nonsense and end up with a coherent version of Hell.

New tracks with Don and Dean, sounding fabulous. One of my original sequences badly recorded though, some bleed from one of the aux effects (I think) but fortunately Dean can fix anything.

Cirklon testing going well. New feature slipped in today that finally nails the Steve Reich thing and does it with rare elegance using Track Values. I think this update is gonna be a killer.

Seems the Morpheus not totally well. I'm getting some strange noises from it if I use its MIDI thru. Think it's going to have to go to Tony but may well be a goner. Replacement could be a second Blofeld, we'll see.

Hmm, can't even remember when I started this entry. Lots I could add - album progressing incredibly well, watching the art of production and seeing there's more magic in it than Ali Bongo's underpants.

I was persuaded to do another full length review. Actually it didn't take much as it's a thing Howard dragged me to see at Superbooth cos he knew it was up my street. Must get those Erica reviews done and I think I promised one of the MI ones too, although it has to be said I've promised it before. Time, where is it going????

Yep, it's that time of year again...

Cirklon Days

Well, I have some more tracks to do for Don and did a couple today. Really digging into Cirklon patterns, something I've not done enough but for drums really enjoying them. New loop functions are handy and discovered it does a 'double & copy' which I'd never seen before. I should do a song-making video with some of the examples of scene-length patterns with the drums done specifically anticipating the next scene or playing a hit just once at the start. I have my Ck in permanent P3 Chain mode but want it permanent.

Two tracks finished, one is structured and the other performed - actually the other was done just as I was about to power off - decided to do a quickie putting the first ideas into action without thought. It's basic but has something, may refine tomorrow afternoon when getting hammered.

The new mixer is fab. Hadn't quite realised that the Control Room buttons not working meant the level LEDs also don't work, but coping fine. The extra auxes put to good use - instead of devoting the DD-20 to Blofeld it's now on Aux 4. Aux 3 is the internal effects and much better than the later model, weirdly enough. There's an ambience reverb I like and a couple of others I'll use. Extra bonus is I realised I can put the RC-505 on a bus and use it as an effects unit as well as a looper. Works a treat. Might be nice to use a bus output at some point too but we'll see how it goes. The two tracks I recorded today sound good. Still loving that TT-606 - just what I needed.

Jasper seeming pretty happy today. Waiting for lab results and hoping he's OK.

Autumnal

I admit to being excited about the current project with Don and Dean. Ordinarily I don't voice my excitement but this material is sounding so good I want to shout about it already. My simplistic sequencer patterns become magical songs once Don works on them, and they edge towards masterpiece territory when Dean gets his hands on them. From humble beginnings eh?

Tomorrow I'll be starting a new one, enthused and eager.

I started a 7 day b&w twitter challenge. Not my best work but mind on other things.

Well, it's been a good week. I finished the Erica Drum Sequencer review, made real progress with Cirklon patterns thanks to the new loop function and ability to set odd lengths at last. I also got past a sticking point in the novel which should sustain me now, although I'll have to rework a lot of the material I'd sketched out for the final third. Happy with how it's all looking, even if it got rather serious and will probably keep getting darker now until the end. It's also a proper ending to Future Art Factory, which I doubt many will see coming. Many isn't a word I can apply to my readers, of course.

Jasper is off to the vet tomorrow. Slightly worried as he's old and we didn't really want him knocked out, but no way to avoid it. I think more teeth need to come out and his nose needs looking into. 

Now I'm working with the improved Cirklon patterns I'm starting to think of interesting MIDI polysynths again. I have plenty of Euro now, enough to keep me going for a long time.

Summer's End

OK not today but in a day or so. Actually the sun seems to have returned, which is just as well as a builder is 'speed-pointing' the whole house. It's been a messy business though as his Henry died and was unable to suck. Hughie next door is away but I know he'll be unhappy when he sees how much dust has sprayed onto his walls - will try and clean some tomorrow if we can work out how.

It'll soon be shrooming season, perhaps already. A task for weekend methinks.

Cool box of modules turned up today from Erica Synths, spent a short time getting acquainted but looking forward to much more over the coming days. I really like the box too.

Oh, the book is done. I got up at 6am the other morning to do a last quick read through as much as possible. Spotted a few last minute things, relieved to have Diana on board as she is far better at that kind of thing than I am. My contributions were minor this time but the result will be absolutely fine and probably more generally popular than the first one because of the subject matter.

Slug problem in library persists. Some trails evident on Electribe this morning. Not happy. I guess the pointing won't fix it because they're getting in somewhere, the feckers.

Good Ck update - my shortcuts now apply to Ck patterns too and Colin has finally tried and likes them. Hopefully the start of adding more of that kind of thing. New beta has a couple of useful features but Colin clearly needs a proper master keyboard.

Almost nothing happened today. I sussed out the Drum Sequencer though, progressed the beta, replaced JV-2080 battery and cleaned Hughie's wall. Fair to say it's probably not a day I'd store away in the Golden Vaults but then again the sun came out, I had a nice walk with Jasper and Pat made some lovely pasta/sausage/pesto creation for tea (which I overindulged in). The tuner arrived, which should mean I don't struggle so much to tune the modular. Still seem stupid that so many modules just have these large tuning knobs that are only good for goofy sweeps and which half the time I try never to touch.

Tomorrow is unlikely to be a traditional Friday as I reckon the pointing will take most of the day. Will work on review instead and play with Cirklon.

Some modular tips and general old man moans

Well, the work on the modular book is almost complete, just tweaking an interview this morning before my Friday afternoon indulgence. I wrote some tips at the outset, just in case they were needed, but seems they won't be. Mine are more generic than those appearing anyway so I'll paste them here for no very good reason.
I also just knocked up a sort of P3 Playlist discussion document that I should put somewhere too, since the potential of playlists seems to have passed most people by.
I bought another bandcamp download - from a guy who has got 'Michael Hoenig sequencing' nailed. Unfortunately, he forgot that Departure From The Northern Wastelands was composed, varied and had a lot more going for it than simply repeating the formula on 4 long tracks. It's rather headache-inducing but arguably as interesting as 'Early Water' ;)

Can't decide whether to make today a 'program the Blofeld' day or more explorations of Marbles and Stages.

Oh, I cancelled my Moog Grandmother. They are now saying another couple of months and since I paid up in May, thought I'd get the money back and have it sit in my account. I may eventually get one but then again I may not. Nice to see Gordon's review as being the only one so far to make a point of mentioning the filter being different. He did the usual Keith Emerson thing, of course, so I still don't know if I could do TD-type sequences with it. Enjoyed reading reviews by Simon and Rory, means I can happily slide into the background and not leave a gap. Splendid!

A pleasant day droning produced this on the Synthi, Perfourmer and Morphagene:

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/track/without-music

Modular Tips #1

Creative use of panning
Remember that panning need not be reserved for moving audio around the stereo spectrum. It can be a means of moving it smoothly between different processing options. A panning module with a CV input will allow you to use dynamics, an envelope, randomness etc. to determine the processing your signal receives - and simple ideas such as morphing between reverb or delay are only the start.

You can never have too many...
Envelopes - especially if they have a complex or voltage-controllable shape. Try triggering them randomly, sparsely or in quirky patterns to modify tone, generate sudden flurries of modulation or unexpected accelerandos of delay time.
After a while you might consider planning more complex trigger conditions for them, varying their gate lengths or nicking the Krell's technique of randomizing envelope times. Envelope-sourced pixie dust is usually less predictable than the LFO-sourced variety and can generate pleasant surprises to punctuate any manual performance or sequence.

Re-use modulation sources
One of the great temptations in a growing modular system is to use all your modulation sources most of the time. Yes, you can add movement, unpredictability and wild variation if you patch in every LFO you've got. However, this can have the same effect as filling a pallete with every colour then pretending you really wanted another variation on 'filthy brown'.
Fewer modulation sources creatively spread around (e.g. inverted, attenuated, multiplied and generally repeated) can add clarity and identity to your patches. Knowing when a patch is 'done' keeps the brown at bay and is a true sign of modular mastery.

Floating Multiples
I bought too many of these once then realised how useful it is to have lots around. Not only are they always in the right place, unlike regular multiples, but they serve as brilliant cable extenders. Having a lot of them means you can almost treat them like stackables, those ununsed holes want to be used. Helps with the previous tip.


Which leads to...

Use fewer modules but interact with them more.
It's wonderful to spend an afternoon patching up a monster drone to evolve over several ice ages without being touched and without repeating - let's keep doing that, obviously! But hands-on interaction and resistance to over-patching leads to a better rapport with your modules and a deeper grasp of their range and personality. Then, when you do turn to external modulation, you'll have a more instinctive grasp of what to expect.

Finally...
Remember: for the price of a 4-channel Eurorack mixer module with token CV control but limited functionality otherwise, consider buying a decent 12-16 track external mixer with EQ, multiple auxes and buses, maybe internal effects and, of course, large friendly sliders. One day someone will make one that's fine-tuned for Eurorack levels and connectivity.

Plus

Try things that make no sense.
Like electing Trump or voting for Brexit. Admittedly, you might be speeding up the Global Apocalypse. But maybe after all the pain something good will spontaneously happen that those cautious, boring, whining, sane people never predicted.

More Marbles and a (crap) multi-envelope module

Further Marbles exploration shows it's not ideal for melodic stuff, at least in terms of dealing with a supposedly-tuned VCO and then trying to work out what notes its scales are playing. I've been sending notes from the Keystep to its scale recorder but after that I have all the usual oscillator tuning mystery. Will have to bite the bullet and buy a guitar tuner or something. Did consider a module for it but my 3 main boxes are getting quite full now.

Went to the Modular Meets, which seemed fairly quiet and there wasn't much stuff of interest. Bought a Malekko envelope / LFO module which turns out to be software and 'rtz' so will be sending that back if there's no fix. I knew I should have waited for the Quadra to come back in stock as it really is a great module - and it works properly. Cant find any of the new Doepfer A-140-2 anywhere which also looks useful.

Fortunately I wasn't tempted to offer to play a modular gig. Thought I might have been. ;)

Got some days by myself next week. Debauchery would be nice but I don't expect any will come my way. Should get some music and novel writing done though.

Well, Malekko didn't bother to reply to my question so the thing went back and I ordered a Stages instead. Olivier confirmed that it worked properly but of course I should have just trusted him as he knows what he's doing. Getting towards the end of the P&T book and will be glad to no longer squint at this laptop - bloody iMac didn't even last the duration of the book edit. I'll try and fix it but not much urgency now as the time I really needed it coming to an end. Oh well.

No more modules for a while, OK?

Just got a new production mix from Don and I love it - has some Minimoog from Dean too, I could gush.

Stages - great module!

Text from Pat... apparently little William has 'found his dad's dart gun and shot me in the eye, point blank range.'

Polystylism and other obscure parrot jokes

Radio 3's composer of the week is Alfred Schnittke, a modern composer I'm really liking. He has this cool way of throwing in everything he can think of without any real care to make them sit comfortably together - yet they do. Really inspirational stuff - and properly varied.

Time to order a few I think.

I forgot. It's later now but I'll try and remember. I did order (and just received) a Mutable Instruments Marbles. From the very brief mess with it, without reading the manual or knowing what anything did, I'm already hooked. Just my kind of weird shit, has the kind of 'life' that modules such as the Marble Physics does. Funny that. May do a video tomorrow. Here was yesterday's

I may release an album tomorrow (or today if I like the rip I just did). Problem is that the CD format where tracks blend together doesn't work so well for individual tracks like bandcamp. Maybe I should include a high res mp3 copy of the whole thing too, I think you can.

Our Lakes weekend was lovely, although too hilly for Pat (I picked some stupid walks).

OK I put it out but I might not tell anyone ;)
https://paulnagle.bandcamp.com/album/hiding-in-plain-sight

More heatwaves and other global meltdowns

Good job I'm not of a biblical frame of mind, could easily see this as the beginning of the endtimes. That will kick off for real when BoJo becomes PM. What a crock.

Yesterday I did a drone.

Today I went to the dentist who, inevitably, decided I have to come back next week for a filling. So that's another £100 plus. I sure miss my old NHS dentist.

It's hot in the studio So hot I go nude, you know My laptop fries eggs And nads, thighs and legs But beer, blessed beer a cool friend, never fear it's on hand giving succour Ain't Brexit a fucker?

My usual Friday afternoon, deep in novel writing when Pat starts asking if I've put the car seats in. Apparently she bought some, left them in the car and I'm failing by not going out in the stupid heat and farting around with them. Having a partner with absolutely zero interest in any music or words you write can be refreshing but just sometimes, even the most basic awareness would be lovely.

I see I started this blog some time ago but my enthusiasm for it petered out.
The thing with retirement is this: things which were once deemed pointless and a little bit sad are now your meat and veg, the very essence of your being. While things that once you found so jolly well vital to life, the universe and everything are now revealed as the ephemeral nonsense they always were.

Makes you think.

Today I spent some time alternating between my love and hate of the Octatrack, and struggling with the DSI Pro 2, attempting to understand its occasional lack of tightness in its synced delays and its abject refusal to pay attention to the Tunings.syx file I keep sending it. The tunings file should not be giving me a bad temper. Well-tempered it offers, followed by a long, mysterious list of numbers, all of which cause the synth to squeak like a politician upon challenged to produce a Brexit plan. Anyway, I have discovered that the Pro2's delays do sync well enough, mostly and that my earlier idea they struggled with integer BPMs was a red herring. But it is getting lost in a way that my other delays don't - and all I can say so far is that when I stop and start the Octatrack (the clock source), things recover. The delay on the Analog Four remains fine all the time though.
I spent some time programming new sounds and, as usual, hating the envelopes with their stupid linear decay. Yes, I could spend even more time, modulating the decay times with something to try and make them behave like normal envelopes, but in the end I revert to pads, solos and general weirdness and distortion, where snappy envelopes don't need to be involved.

I was going to use the MIDI sequencer on the Octatrack a bit more. Seemed promising at first, but of course Elektron's and DSI's ideas of what constitute a Bank Select MIDI CC are entirely at odds. Both appear to use a single value, either MSB or LSB, and so having the OT set up the right sounds for the sequence is going to depend on starting manually from the right place. Ah well. It's times like this I wonder why the hell I don't just stick to Cirklon, and to which I have no suitable answer.

The dentist hurt me, in almost every way he could. He failed to criticise my shorts, which was the only blessing of my 08:25 appointment. I now have tiny brushes to poke through my teeth since I'm such an abject failure at flossing. And since that was my second abject of the day, I'm going to go and perform the 'bagging dog shit' ritual, one which has been rather challenging of late given we're in one of Jasper's crop-spraying phases. I dearly hope it's a phase.

Let's see if I can finish with a photo

Sorry, that's all I got. I'm never much inspired by the beach.

Incontinence & suchlike

A slightly odd week really. Been seeing lots of Grandmothers loose in the wild so chased my pre-order (made in May) only to be told it'll be 2 months before mine comes. A little later I see a couple of them pop up at Music Matter - so what gives? Also hearing a few worrying things about quality of power supply, all of which makes me wonder if this retiring from reviewing is such a great idea. Used to be ahead of the game, now behind it.

Wonder if this Instagram link works?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Blc-Siihf6G/

It was a test at doing a video longer than 1 min, alas didn't turn out to be as inspired as I'd want. Did a straight recording just after that worked much better.

https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/2018-jul20-ambientjam

I like the sound of the TT-606 anyway. Arturia have a new small analogue drum machine that sounds rather good.

Here's one of Tony's awesome pix (my tent in the foreground)

Today I'll look at some more cars. I think I've seen one I liked (it does almost 80mpg) - diesel but seems quite low emissions and only 3 years old.

Novel has reached another of those points where I need to push through the tangles. It is all coming together nicely though, tying up a lot of the loose ends I've deliberately left dangling from the very first one. Not that anyone but me will ever notice, of course.

I bought a new car today and instantly started feeling like I was letting the old one down. In other manly news, I beat a rat to death with a spade. The new car is a cool colour of dark purple and it only just fits in the garage (they let me try). Only just.

Week of wonder

I wrote that header on Monday after a fab afternoon's playing and recording (almost 18 mins of cool stuff). Will doubtless have to go see mum this week and faff with her Humax but determined to do more good shit. Am verrah stone, in novel mood.

Listening back, top hole! Drinking the posh gin and thinking a week of more good shit ahead.

Wow, got drunk last night, slept a while on the floor which has not helped my back today! Anyway, like the new stuff and first track fits perfectly on new album. I think it's done now. I swapped the fast, short, catchy tracks so they kick things off and slip into pondery aftery. It flows really well now, the best thing I've done in ages. Running order making huge difference, should possibly think of offering it to someone.

Novel today. Sorted mum's Humax again, well fingers crossed. She bought a new one cos the channels weren't filling up fast enough. Yes, that's the way she rolls. Weather slightly cooler so pleasant to work, for hours, getting drunk and writing.

Well, the replacement Humax is going back and she wants her old one. I can see this saga is gonna run and run. Today was disappointing in that (i) the TT-606 arrived but developed a fault within a couple of hours (ii) I loaded an old Octatrack project only to find it has forgotten all the samples allocated to it.
Sigh.
I did back up the OT but can I actually be arsed faffing around with it? Contemplating putting both Elektrons out of the way and leaving that table for little boxes. Will have to replace the TT-606 as several buttons have failed, how fucking annoying! So that was my day today (Thursday!). Pat back tomorrow, baby staying over again (of course) and I'll probably have to go and faff with Humax boxes cos my mum is incapable of doing any of it herself, even down to replacing one identical box with another in the same place using the same leads. I will be sighing more.

It has not been the week I'd hoped for.

Signal Sounds were brilliant to deal with, sorted out a swap with replacement on Friday and I had a lot of fun with the 606. Still tempted to get the 78 actually, that's how much I like these little things. Also helps you can transfer patterns from one machine to the other.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlNqcqugd4c/

Didn't record much with it but took the Tanzbar out, which instantly felt like the right thing to do. Had I kept the Tanzbar just for its kicks I'd have kept using them and lost the coolness of the TT kick, which isn't so huge and solid but sounds like a drum machine. Oddly though, it didn't sound as good through Tony's delay as the Model D does, so will be sticking with that setup a while longer. May archive a few pieces for simplicity - the ER-1/Biscuit/Restyler, all of which add more complex elements. Hopefully the Moog Granny will be here in a week or two.

And the novel is coming on well. Have got the two strands nicely organised now (just need to interweave the chapters) and the writing is snappier - a bit more like my old 'Neville the frog' material in its throwaway glibness.

No, I didn't take that pic but I like it all the same...

Tally Ho!

Isn't Tangram wonderful? It's mellow and sweet like a dormouse in cotton wool or a Disney virgin covered in buttercream. Anyway, I got past my novel knot and realised it wasn't so bad - I'd done all the groundwork it was just a matter of writing it, fairly straight, and it's fine in one go.

Should help with other aspects of the story now. Was no need to worry overmuch about the tone, just kept from getting too Stephen King about it.

Studio too hot today, tried and failed to hang out there. Next week may not be one of much music but perhaps it'll be cooler. Can work on novel instead, yay!

Posh bottle of gin arrived today. Alas we're baby juggling today and tomorrow so I'll enjoy it once I get some quiet time next week. Kid's like a frantic perpetual motion machine, has the attention span of a gnat. Even at not quite three could probably do David Davis's job and run his department better than the man himself. Apparent Brexit is back to some bizarre cake and eat it strategy, presumably intended to be rejected so we can sort out the blame early. Odd though to handpick a bunch of people for roles and then take 2 years to reach agreement with them, leaving approx 3 months to test those agreements on the EU. Masterly really. Oops I'm doing politics again.
Update: LOL DD resigned - what a farce from start to finish. If only we had an opposition party right now eh?

Finally said bye to family, and just as I was about to treat myself to a coffee, mum rang with yet more Humax calamities - now trying to decide whether to ditch new one, replace it with something else etc. etc. Wanted me to go right away and help, even though she doesn't know what she's doing. I give in!

I'm going to lock the crazy world away today.

Started reading National Lampoon's Doon yesterday and decided to borrow some of the flippancy for my 'Nobby the fat wizard' back story in the novel. Makes sense as I basically learnt writing from reading Bored of the Rings ;)

Right, it's Monday morning and I'm signing off. If the world ends before my next entry, it's probably not my fault. I can see the theme of assigning fault becoming big over the coming week.

A week of quality studio time ahead...

Yes, I'm home alone from Mon-Friday next week and planning on getting a lot done. Will be nice to have a whole week with fewer chances of disasters, mayhem and stress. Today's concerned a bald tyre Pat had just spotted and which required urgent replacement on the way home from her weekly volunteering stint. Alas, she phrased this rather differently and it ended up being me apologising for not securing an appointment today, thinking tomorrow would suffice... Oddly, instead of tomorrow she opted to book it for after she comes back.

Took some great shots in the Trough of Bowland yesterday. Here are some:

Well, the weekend before my week of chilling won't be quite so chilled - we're left holding the baby both days (!) Alas this means I'll probably miss the England match on Saturday as we're taking the wee lad to the field day and I couldn't really send Pat by herself. Gonna be hot and he's a lively fellow. Still, I can grin and bear it for a weekend, content of a switch to life at glacial pace afterwards.
Plan to do more of the new sequency album and generally spend time with the modular, which I've sorta neglected due to studio heat and reviews. On a good note, have mostly written up my thoughts on Magneto so all I have to do now is be sure I like the writing.

Phew, still hot though. I'm drinking lots of beer (and hoping my new gin will show up for next week) and listening to lots of music. Don't feel especially creative as I am stuck with a novel problem I must solve - how to include a fairly horrific explanation for the whole series while keeping it light. Something will pop out I'm sure, once I have hours upon hours without interruption.

Don is doing great things with our tracks. I hardly feel I can call them ours given the amount of work he's done compared to me. Rather exciting though.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk2h4hyAdvJ/