Last week of autumn

Well, it gets difficult to think of new headings for each entry.
Today I went to visit mum, having missed her for a couple of weeks. She's pretty perky and active, which is good for this time of year. Later, I didn't set the gear back up but did listen through the gig. Was surprisingly polished, or at least error-free and competent-sounding. Maybe I should have had a light and melodic thing in there rather than two Berlin type sequences, but it works as a whole. There's some annoying drop-out on the left channel of the recording though; I ended up copying parts from the other channel in Wavelab. Probably not good enough to release but then again it doesn't really add anything new/fresh to my catalogue anyway. (Stuck quietly on Wily E Peyote's bandcamp so I don't lose it).

Tried a few alternate knobs on the Minilogue xd - the Mutable mid-size ones fit and turn well enough but my favourites are the creamy ones Vermona use. Will see if Tony has a selection I can try, he probably does. Not entirely sure the Minilogue is an ideal live synth after all though - something more direct and simpler might still suit me better. The SH-101 really does piss all over it and it isn't a huge amount bigger.

Still wading through the Orville but it's not really holding my attention. I think it should either add some humour or some sci-fi; right now it doesn't seem to quite know what it wants to be.

Tuesday.
I did a nice drone today with the Pro 2 and Minimoog. Just playing back and it sounds fab - big and lush and faintly spooky. Inspired by gong dude from Sunday, no doubt, although I resisted using the two notes he was using thus maintaining my absolute originality.

Ordered a load of knobs, in three different sizes. I notice there are red and blue versions on some of my modules, which might be a cool swap-around too.

Thursday.
Just reading about an 'analog synthesizer' that's been updated to version 2.0 of its firmware. Funny old world. Oh, I weakened yesterday, fell for all the Black Friday stuff for the first time. I ordered a half-price Novation Mono Circuit, which is most of a Bass Station 2 but with the addition of a pretty coloured grid sequencer and the dropping of the too-short keyboard. Seems like a fun thing to play with, but we'll see. No confirmation from them that they got my order though.

Took Jasper down as far as the river yesterday - first time in ages. He was proper lively* too, tail up and leading all the way. Absolutely brilliant to see, given he's 18 and a half. I add the half these days because I feel he's earned it.

* I originally wrote 'perky' then remembered I'd described my mother that way earlier.

I note the signs that used to say 'Preston Junction Nature Reserve' aren't there any more. All that will be left will be a narrow strip of silver birch sandwiched between two cat-infested, rubbish-over-the-fence-dumping, tree-hacking housing estates.

Friday now. Mono Circuit arriving this afternoon but too late to be absorbed into my drunken/stoned festivities. New knobs may come today, we'll see. Anyway, I did a thing yesterday which was initially just a quick 'P3 meets Digitone' sesh but since I'd powered up the Mac, I recorded two ambient pieces (mostly Juno 6 and Lyra through FX and looper) afterwards. The ambient stuff was great, at least it sounds that way to me now in the cold light of day. I can hear changes I want to make in the P3 patterns - a few notes tweaked from the bass will totally transform it.

I think I may be down this end of the studio again today.
Mind you I really should fit that 'Pico RND' module I bought to fill the MN case, then, by the time it arrived, realised I didn't need it. How many times do I need to tell myself: buy no more modules! I already have more than I need. Thinking now that the MN case would be best as an ambient noise and weirdness generator, plus FX processor for other stuff. Sequencing, if I'm gonna bother doing it, is more fun with regular-sized instruments where I'm not terrified of grabbing that large coarse tuning knob (actually did this in gig but fortunately it was the Plaits and I had marked '0' in felt tip so could get back).

Right, time for another coffee, or perhaps another shit. Decisions, decisions...

Gig in a gin cellar

That's coming up on Sunday. I'm just going to do what I usually do these days in the standy-up studio but trimmed right back to OT/modular box/Minilogue xd. Was half-contemplating taking OP-1 too but probably overkill. Definitely overkill.
Got another offer to swap Pro2 for a JD-XA but now not so sure I want to part with Pro2. I've done some cool patches that I'd miss, especially the para ones. Might see how much cash he wants for JD as it might well suit me more than Hydrasynth, whenever that comes. The new Espresso or whatever it's called, seems to win the expressivity stakes, but at the expense of having the synth engine immediately accessible. Synth engine seems very powerful though. Update: I pre-ordered one. Yes, I know.

Where was I? Oh just bing-watching Mr Robot - kinda depressing and disorientating. Music's good though. I eventually gave up and bought series 1 of the Orville. It's a fairly humourless Family Guy meets Star Trek but I'm told it gets better.

Pat just rang having narrowly missed a big accident on M6 and then witnessed another soon after. Scary shit! I worry when she drives, especially at night, there are too many nutters out there. I had a close call the other day going to meet Gaz, when some twat in a pickup truck tried cutting in on me where there was no space to do so. I'll fret now until she texts to say she's there.

Sunday now. Gig went well. Not sure how long I played for but hopefully recording worked. Really enjoyed the gong part of the gig too, in fact both of the guys were excellent. Glad I made myself go out and do something, should do more. Girl wanted a CD but, of course, I hadn't taken any.

My thoughts were that I'd have preferred the SH-101 to the Minilogue - damn thing hung on me and had to have the plug pulled (power button didn't disturb it one iota). I must replace those fecking black knobs as everything just disappears in low light - idiots. Also missed my P3. Somehow doing prepared sequences on the Octatrack doesn't feel immediate enough for me compared to a P3 with its twin rows of proper knobs. Octatrack was good as a mixer and loop launcher though, even though I forgot half of what I wanted to do. Also the free-running tracks aren't as useful as I thought because I have to remember which pattern launches which sample - easier to just launch as usual then delete the trig once it's fired off.

Loops, poops and unsightly droops

Yeah well, it's frosty today and we had overnight vomit to contend with. Not sure if we ate something or caught something, but Pat woke around 2am throwing up and, once awake, I felt pretty nauseous too. Mind you that could just have been my reaction to the spew noise. A good excuse not to go to the gym anyway.

What's been happening, you might ask?
Well, let's see. Sunday I went to Lancaster to see Erland Cooper. Attempted to go by train but that turned out to be foolish dream as trains don't always bother on Sundays, leaving me stood around for an hour in the cold before I gave up and drove. Saw Mick too, rather briefly, but good to catch up. Gig was brilliant - support band were two girls called Ava, one of whom joined Erland in his string quartet. With Minimoog, tape machines and loopers, it was a superbly mellow performance soothing my train anger considerably.

Oh, and before that was the Gaz Escapade, involving a small and leaky boat, two Octatracks, and industrial quantities of weed. Judging by the project I saved, it was pretty far out stuff that we recorded and filmed. I have no idea if Gaz will be able to make anything interesting out of it but I'm hopeful. Sounded mad but good at the time. Some good anecdotes and fun, even if I'd have preferred enough space to get my modular out and use it for samples and sequencing. As it was, we sampled a few sounds from Gaz's Stylophone (the new fancy one that spits like an angry cockroach) and grabbed random things from our own sound libraries.  Surprisingly it turns out I was better at the 'man task' of keeping the fire going. Twisted Firestarter or what?

This week I am preparing for the Deep Listening gig on Sunday, or in theory I am. It's pretty cold in the standy-up studio today. My plan is to play for approx 30 mins and do very little except sound FX on the modular, processing on the Octatrack, sequences via the Octa/QMI2/modular. Just taking my Makenoise case and the Octatrack, which will serve as mixer, processor and a source of random loops, noises, pads and whatever else I can think of. I have Friday/Saturday to do some new patterns cos Pat's away doing shopping with Dawn.

Still feel a bit icky. Might go back to bed.

Bad start to a good day

Well, a bad start in that I dislodged the vacuum cleaner which slid to the ground, slicing off my new wifi extender and ruining it. Then I faffed for ages tuning various modules to make a set using Bloom. In the end, I simplified by adding the Vermona Quad MIDI interface and sending the notes from the Octatrack. Makes sense since I'm using it anyway for mixing and effects.

I might try moving the Digitone to be controlled by the P3 for a while, swap them over.
Anyway, sorted out a single pattern and some FX transitions that could easily be the entire gig on the 24th. Still might try and get the Morphagene into the case somehow, might be possible to drop Clouds and add the Pico DSP, freeing space that way. Then again, Benjolin through Clouds was doing some wild shit today! My entire setup will be: Octatrack/Modular/A4 with a Keystep to enter notes or play selected tracks.

Ordered some right-angled leads so important parts are more accessible. Modules all over the place though, I spent time cursing sliding nuts again.
Think I  might take the portable modular next week to jam with Gaz.

Good day, noodled idly.  with Octatrack and modular. Go well together.

Busy busy

Well, I have been. Yesterday I did a quick new track for a Concrete compilation on behalf of the Labour party - I did it in Berlin style and called it Entrenched Positions. While doing it I was bugged by the Odyssey's LFO reset so when I went to see Tony today, I took it. He very kindly sorted it for me on the spot, then replaced the Octatrack encoder - so I'm ready for the thing with Gaz next week. My Synthi is getting a few mods too. Well, why not!

Some person who had owned the Ody before me was of the view you should squirt stuff into sliders, so there would be a sticky residue for ever more. I really wish people would not do this! I hear it so often and it's always wrong. 

Oh, and I agreed to a gig on the 24th. One of those Deep Listening things. Might do something on the modular - seems like I should since I bought that portable case!

Shall I put the colours back in the conventional way, or not?
Tomorrow I'm off to see John for a good natter, leaving Friday to exploit that free-running LFO and OT, or maybe just to get hammered and noodle. At some point I should think about next week and whether to take other stuff than the OT - something to sample probably.