New dice, more sun, a death and a near-death experience

 I ordered a set of D&D dice as I've completely given up hope of finding mine. I'm sure they'll turn up now. As I now have a setup per mixer (one just happens to share a sequencer) a four-sided dice should be ideal for choosing which one to use. I may think of uses for the other dice too, having picked a nice-looking set - seems things have moved on a bit since I last played. 

It's Saturday and would seem to be a great day for sitting drinking beer in the sun. Tim's in Wales though so I suppose I'll play music and try and work out why my novel's heroes have ended up in Scotland, the exact opposite direction the quest demanded a few pages earlier. It seems we aren't done with Hell's Project Managers after all. 

Started the morning with a bunch of vinyl - Acidrockers and Cluster so far. Seems to me that Headshock should put out something on vinyl. I mean, we've done cassette so why not? Oh yes, cos it costs loads and makes no sense given postage costs too. Still, it's time to get some of the fab new stuff assembled! Which means sitting in front of the computer (assuming it still works). Ah.

Well it seems the DRM-1 really is dead. The Virus, too, started rebooting today if I sent it too many MIDI notes to play. I wonder if that dead DSP is finally spreading its influence? Despite this, I recorded a thing that has promise - this won't be the last version but it's something to listen to. Had to be creative with the drums, meaning I dug out some random Proteus noises. 

I didn't just go down to 16 tracks because my DRM-1 died but for clarity in my new bisected Ck area. The only slight oddity at the moment is that they share a BlackBox and so when the Spirit mixer is on, the Behringer also need to be - so I can route audio without having to keep unplugging. I moved the TimeFactor to the Spirit mixer, breaking its long-standing partnership with the Perfourmer (I used the pan control to fade between the two delay halves). Now I have Space and a DD-20 on that mixer, accommodating the Synthi, MS20, Euroboxen and so on. I can tell what sort of stuff is going to emerge from that corner! The ER-1 can provide beats for both setups, at least for now. Given the flakiness of the Virus, I'll be boxing that up and probably bringing the Blofeld in in its place. Shame as it just delivered a wonderful PPG noise - fortunately one I have made a similar version of in the Blo.  

Bank Holiday Monday now. Waiting in for the Gousto man, Pat painting her stable and I'm thinking it's cooler today and therefore will be pleasant fixing a final few things at the 'Minimoog end'. Colin added some visual help for long patterns yesterday and I've nagged him about a few other missing features long overdue. I should probably give up on playlists, let alone my more advanced dreams of conditional dependencies and actions.

A Sunday of mostly Vangelis

 Sunday and an odd day. Took Margaret to the hospital - she only told me it was a different one (Chorley not Preston) when we were en route! As I wasn't visiting my mum I was torn between noodling in the studio and writing - writing won. Maybe because I wrote sober and unstoned, my hero got badly bitten and is now in a coma. So we'll be heading into uncharted territories now. Been listening to Vangelis all day, have just popped on some Black Dog for a change. 

Next week I think I have chores to do - more garden stuff and need to give some thought to the front door flood defences. No walk, I think, as Tony is dog-sitting, so will have to resist slobbing all week and not going for a long walk. 

Tuesday afternoon I wasted an hour and a half on my Cirklon setup. Realised I hadn't powered it up for quite a while and made myself tackle it. Somehow I screwed the DRM-1, or at least did something so it would no longer respond to notes or trigger from its trigger buttons. The MS20 corner isn't inspiring me either, mostly because of the Eurorack box I think - it just sits there like some malignant dwarf ready to kill any ideas or creativity. I will need to have a good think about what to do and whether I even need that setup at all. Time to strip back to something as straightforward and appealing as my Digitone/BB and Octatrack/BB setups. 

Decided to wallow in nostalgia and ordered some Ron Berry downloads from his (rather odd) website. No idea what happens after Paypal takes my cash though - if he replies to my email I shall extol the virtues of Bandcamp. I guess if he's died in the meantime, he won't be sending me the userid/password(s) necessary. Oh well...

Got the downloads from Ron - one old and one new. Nice to be in touch again. Today I worked out, I think, why I use my Cirklon setup less than the other two - it's because when I use the other two I almost entirely ignore them until I want to bang in a simple groove or sequencer. It's all about interacting with whatever instruments are there and recording. Cirklon demands more attention and therefore the whole process falters. I'm hoping the little move-around I progressed a bit this morning will help, giving me a Cirklon area where Cirklon isn't so important - until needed. I will also look at throwing out a few instruments too, the old ones I've had in the system for ages (e.g. Proteus 2000) and unplugging the Minimoog CV/Gate and just playing the thing. Might even go down to one mixer, if I can arrange the effects and looper I want. Same desk as my Digitone setup so it should support the Eventide Time Factor, Space and another DD-20. Thinking out loud here. 

Friday tomorrow but could be another hot one. 

Sussed it! The issue with the Cirklon setup was so obvious I failed to see it. Namely, that it is the only setup with two mixers. Not only is the routing more complicated, sometimes confusing; the fact I have two sets of instruments going at once slows me down. I more enjoy using a few versatile, tweakable instruments than a mountain of options. Not sure I can ever go back to loads. 

I know what's wrong with this one and will sort tomorrow. 
https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/titesoar

Oopsy

 Friday worked well. New thing emerged, better than yesterday's thing. No don't click I've already deleted it. Sober Saturday listening. Actually the second version worked better but I still think it needs a third crack, or to be left. Off to see mum this morning, maybe Tim will fancy doing something this afternoon. I know it's wrong of me but I was secretly pleased to see how old and broken the Jenkinbeast appears in one of his videos, like Mark E Smith's crack-smoking grandad. 

Will get the latest Uhtred book from my mum, number 12 of 14 I think. The gist of each is that Uhtred kills his enemies, in case you were wondering. I found myself extending a fight scene late last night, after Pat had gone to bed, which is probably inspired by some of the sword play. Not quite sure how but I think I allowed my hero to get bitten and it seems I lost one of Hell's Project Managers too. I obviously allowed the lizards to set up a darn good ambush but it's going to mean a diversion now. Oh well, not doing the plot thing this time so we'll see where it takes us. 

Headshock on great form today (Saturday) - got something special from a boozy, smoky jam. DFAM and Soup starring. Some Mellotron. 

Well now. I might work more on novel this evening, if Pat goes to bed early. Had plenty of single malt so feel like writing. ;)

Friday again, the 13th Tim reminds me

 Listening through a selection of the new tracks and trying to find some kind of narrative or identify the kind of material missing. Really liked one of Tim's 'old chemical' pix - indeed I thought it was a painting. Would make a great cover for something. 

Yesterday the maintenance kick won out - only amounted to going round the house perimeter sealing the gap between house and concrete, already thinking about winter and heavy rains. The new airbrick covers seem to work - surprising considering how they are attached. Just need a barrier for the front door/porch now, which I think I'll have to make myself. Tony dropped round to tell me about his new van - good job we didn't go walking this week though as the M6 was closed for several hours yesterday, yet another big crash around junction 32/33.

Some phone shots from my walk up Tockholes (Thursday). Almost makes the image of a seal in the watery one, lucky bubble catch. Very weird going up there without Jasper though, some days it's still painful. 

Sunday now, listening through several versions of 'Shantung' that I recorded and realising none quite hit the mark. I thought the best was when the Zoom filled and crapped out but that's not right either. Giving up and will start something else - can't force 'em through if they don't want to come. Today I have to tell my mum I can't come next Sunday as taking Marg to hospital. Will do another day instead, prob Saturday. 

Had a weird dream last night in which I was in a shop looking at a slimline new Virus synth (with 39 keys!) - looked like a cross between the Gleeman see-through and that new ultra-thin 101 clone. Just shows I'm no better at directing dreams to go where I want. 

Monday, weather turned a bit grey. Not sure what I'm up to this week yet. Have a feeling I should find a way to start using my middle setup more. Have barely touched that MS20 since I got it. 

We walked on Wednesday but it was a bit grey and couldn't see a thing from on tops. Shortened walk but still managed to do one weird loop. Good old us! Tony's new van jolly splendid. 

Thursday and I did a thing so all peachy. Wrote more of my 'feathered serpent' fight scene, hopefully got it right. Friday tomorrow so here's a few shit pix from yesterday:

Bandcamp Friday

 We have a new EP out. 

https://anothernewthing.bandcamp.com/album/memory-alarm-ep

I think there are videos too. Yes, here's one and another

Those were some of the photos from John's visit. It being Friday there may be more nonsense posted later, we'll see. Had nice stoned video chat with Ann and her chap, all very pleasant. More nice Super 6 stuff.

This was today, possibly not the best version I recorded too.

The 'gas giant' album still not moving - quite amazing that this one is still waiting for artwork but nothing I can do as he's on a new project. Frustrating and no idea how long it's going to take.

Thursday again. Not many people interested in the EP, perhaps because you can only squeeze a tit so hard before you no longer get milk, also possibly because Memory Alarm wasn't one of our better songs. At least I think the idea of keep doing more EPs seems to have fizzled out, which should save some cash in getting videos done. Will try and knock up some noodles for Don and see if we can come up with new material. Anyway, Lined up to play on this glorious sunny morning I've got Hannah Peel followed by Vaughan Williams. Then a short walk in the woods, a visit to Sainsbury's (to see if the good sushi man is there), followed by either a studio afternoon or some house maintenance stuff (I think I know which will win that contest - unless it's hot up there).

No Lakes walk this week with Tony as he's sorting his van.

I sent my wishlist to Udo, along with suggestions how user config tweaks could be made without compromising the UI.

Listening through my recent tracks I almost have a new thing. Not that I need one.

Remix done, Super-6 is mine!

 It's Sunday evening and Pat's watching the tiny bit of Olympics not sold off to the highest bidder. I just played back what Dean did to my latest remix - as always he turned it into gold, using some bass guitar from Don and some new chords, groove and arrangement. I was not sure of its value before but now I'm chuffed. 
Taking Marg to hospital again in the morning, this the 4th appointment so far. Pat tried to book an emergency appointment for her too and the best they can do is August - 2022. Hopefully I won't miss delivery of my Super-6. Also hopefully it won't be so hot I can't get in the studio...
Right, got a 500 word thing for SOS to write...

Tuesday now Spent the morning with the Super 6 just in case it warms up this afternoon. Easily the most inspiring synth in a very long time - like having a modern Jupiter 6 but with a whole new list of features to learn and exploit. I've been making loads of new patches to replace the factories and appreciate a few little touches such as the very logical way you can compare any patch with the current edit buffer. The sliders are starting to ease up a bit but some of those grey selector knobs feel a bit wobblier than I'd like. The filter FM sounds fabulous and I tried out the weird Nick Batt-inspired LFO waveform thing, which has potential. Would love to change a few things of course - the switch thing I've mentioned elsewhere but also I'd prefer the DDS2 tune to be a fine-control more than its current wide mode which isn't always easy to find zero with. Have asked Ben if I can get on the testing/ideas collective. 

Weirdly, I just 'found' a long jam from February this year that has some darn good stuff in it. I'm not even sure which part of the studio I did it in but I was obviously in a good mood. The fact it's called '2021_feb11_work1' suggests that it was recorded into Logic and is possibly Cirklon-sourced, at least this seems consistent with the instrumentation. Ah yes, just heard some obvious Perfourmer and I think the drums are DRM-1. Double-weirdly there's a 'work2' from the same day, where I appear to have shifted to the Digitone end - it's all odd sequences and granular wibbles. That must have been quite a day!

Friday today, am anticipating a glorious, indeed Super, afternoon. I've already rewritten the first 64 patches and have started on the second half. Hardly used the sequencer or arpeggiator yet - feel there are some usability improvement to be made there but apparently some are scheduled for the next update. I've been added to the beta list so hopefully will have input in future. Yesterday I recorded a few more ambient noises into the BB using just the Cosmos and the Super 6, all jolly lovely. I need to start jotting down review notes on the Cosmos now I've got my head around it properly. 

Hmmm it's another week, month, whatever. I should probably have started a new entry but then again wtf ;)
Monday went for a walk up White Coppice. Wednesday Hardknott and Harter Fell (bloody hot and we got lost coming back down). 

Lakes pix

Oh, John came on Tues and we drank beer and pottered in the studio. He took some photos but I think I've posted enough already. That dreary Michael Johnson keeps popping up on sporty programs; pretty sure he'd never be given a job at the Samaritans...

New EP out tomorrow. Will post links and vids and stuff all over the place, no doubt.