A day being an Old Fart

So I went to Blackpool, never one of my fave places, to a festival of 'experimental music' called Other Worlds. A pleasant train trip and quite sunny so all good. I guess I went without much prior knowledge, knowing only that Saturday was sold out so it boded well for some interest. I took a few Headshock CDs in case it was the right kind of experimental and we might want to play there next year. You gotta admire the optimism.

I had printed a map of the various venues, not apparently of any use on the Friday. By a process of elimination I found the one that was open but it turned out the printed start time was wrong. These things happen, still keeping with the optimism. With an hour to kill I bimbled down to the pier, had a beer, took some pix with my phone. Aimed away from the people and the shabby buildings.

Anyway, I arrived at the venue, got another beer (to get in the mood) and, eventually, it started. The first act was a bunch of earnest beardy youths making dischordant drones. Not totally bad, I thought, if a little aimless and structureless. Process sorted, performance to work on, is how I'd mark it if I was being a glib-arsed critic. Next up was a girl with a flute and a looper. It started pleasantly but then seemed to last forever. I got more beer and, looking around, started to feel a bit out of place. Noticed, belatedly, that the majority were young student types (beards not optional), or perhaps these were other acts for the weekend checking out the competition. Reading the programme and getting the general tone, I started to ponder the possibility of catching the early train.
The plan had been, had the music turned me on, that Pat would drive to pick me up but that seemed increasingly unlikely when, third, a bloke in a red wig carrying a red plastic hand arrived. He pretended the hand was strangling him and pretty soon I wanted to help it. He was armed with an ego, a glass of wine and a backing track. I began eyeing the visible exits. Then trying one. I didn't leave any of our beautiful CDs behind.

Speaking of which, I got a free CD on entry. I played it this morning and it left me hugely relieved I'd wasted only one day. I could be totally wrong but it suggested there'd be more pretentious shite. I suspect journos from the Guardian, Quietus etc. would have loved it all whilst stroking their respective beards. Mind you I think they'd love Headshock too so I'm nothing if not delusional. I predict these acts, some of them anyway, will turn up on the Culture Show being feted and admired. When they do I'll die a little inside, more sour grapes from an old, failed artiste who can't recognise new talent if it drones for an hour under his nose.
I wanted to discover something new, different and local and I maintain I'm not jealous of people with real talent. I know quite a few. Speculating further it may be that it's my old preference: music for the heart over music for the head. I prefer not to write negative stuff yet here I am getting it off my chest so I don't have to say it elsewhere and upset anyone. After all, if asked for an opinion I'd have concentrated on positive things because what do I know? Very, very little, it seems. And less by the day.

Pottered in the studio today, did some nice percussive sequences on the Analog Four. I seem to be doing mostly percussion and pads these days, sequences kinda not making me happy, at least conventional ones. Hope I get the vibe back before the Binar gig or it'll be a strange affair. Stranger.

The Laziness Rant

Yeah, I know, a bit rich coming from me...

It struck me recently (OK, today) that what we old codgers have long interpreted as 'dumbing down' isn't quite so straight forward as it seems. People aren't actually more stupid after all, but I do think they're lazier. Furthermore, I think that social media, forums et al are fuelling the laziness. How often have you seen a really basic question posed on a forum that's really badly phrased, containing only a fraction of information or almost no evidence of attempts at diagnosis? Now I know we don't all share a common language and some people have very little experience, but (and here we descend to sobbing nostalgia) in olden times you very likely had to solve those technical problems yourself. And it took a while so you remembered what you tried along the way. If you were really lucky you could call on an experienced pal who could come round and tell you how a compressor worked or why your MIDI module is ignoring notes from your master keyboard. Imagine those days of prehistory when you had to write a letter to a manufacturer, or ring a tech support guy and talk through your issues?

Now what seems to happen is the moment anyone has any kind of issue, they ask the world for help. Total strangers, many with even less experience, many very happy to advise at length regardless. If the answer fits, the knowledge is applied and the asker moves on to the next hurdle. Nobody learns much because nobody needs to. If you don't remember where you found the answer next time the problem arises, ask again. Of course, lots of misinformation will be spread. So wrongness will fill those server farms alongside the good advice, but hey, it's only data, who cares about its quality?

Aaaaah.

I'm starting to feel better now. That must mean I have, amongst my own wrongness, made my point.

I'm committing the same kind of crime in a way because I could make this text more concise, could explain myself better. I could add more examples, diagrams, humour. It'd probably take me a while though and I have a new delay I want to try out in the studio. If it doesn't work as I expect, I won't be asking any questions online. At least not right away. You see, being old I've gone through a load of head-scratching - it's amazing I still have plenty of hair! But the scratching has helped me pick up a few skills (even if I still don't know how a compressor works). BTW one of the most important rules I ever made up was this: Make up your own rules. Don't feel obliged to stick to them.

With this much hypocrisy I really could have a life in politics.

Yesterday I began the awful task of picking through my last novel and simplifying the plot. I think I'd like to do the same thing for my life, but I realise there's far less scope. After all, if your life involves sitting in a chair and either typing or playing a keyboard, there isn't much left to trim...

Happy Easter y'all. Our rabbit Bob got himself wet deliberately this morning so we'd give him a blow-dry. See, I can even do topical. Here he is blissed-out while Pat lets him have it.

Back from hols, eager to start work but....

The 'but' is that my nasty distortion problem hasn't magically healed in my absence. I'm still not entirely sure what happened but I think I got some horrible feedback through the Focusrite soundcard which broke it somehow. I tried to pretend it was OK yesterday as I really wanted to get some work done after 2 weeks in Lanzarote being idle but it ain't gonna happen.

Paul has offered me his old RME card at a very generous price and rather than go with another Focusrite I think I'll take him up on it. The Yamaha mixer, redundant for ages now, can probably go. It's a shame cos it's superb but I'm all about sub-mixers these days and using it for just 2 channels for the monitoring level from the Mac is, frankly, mad. Will also check whether the Focusrite is repairable.

I may drive over today and get the RME, just have to check on the ADAT interface which seems to have a different shaped connector. Had planned to do a bit of novel-fixing since it's Friday and officially a 'play day' but need to get this sorted so I can work next week.

Ah yes, sorry to anyone who bought 'From Beer To Eternity'. Really, I apologise. I tried to read it on holiday and realised that people who have been struggling, usually people for whom English isn't their first language, are quite right - it's incomprehensible. My policy of explaining the stuff that's irrelevant and skipping past the things you need to know has been a disaster, plus the story is completely unbalanced by the (last minute) grouping of chapters I performed, plus the expansion of certain less relevant areas at the expansion of the real meat. In short it needs a very thorough edit, of the sort one would have if one were a real writer. Real writers use 'one' so I apologise for that too.

So what I'll do is make it free when I redo it, hopefully at the same time as Liminal Entity. When this mythical time will be I dunno cos it all takes time and I have to work. Darn!

I have still no real idea what I'll be doing at the Binar gig or even the gear I'll take. It'll be true spontaneity based around random contents of the Electribe and Analog Four, that's all I know right now. I suspect Elektron might not do much to add the different track speeds in the Analog Four anytime soon so I'm stuck using that for chords running at 1/8th speed. Tried doing sequences with the arpeggiator on the CV track but it really isn't very satisfying and I'd rather use a stand-alone sequencer if it can't be made to work better. Either the P3 or possibly the new Arturia will be handier than trying to sequence on the stuff I'm taking, assuming the Arturia handles well. Hope to see that in a few weeks, fingers crossed.

I don't think we'll do a Canaries break next year. The hotel didn't impress me quite so much this time, which is probably because you shouldn't do the same thing year after year. Weather wasn't as good either, a few cold days and rain. Bloody pilot stopped off on the way back to refuel too, and pilots really should not do weird things. A UK holiday for us next time, if Pat will go for it.

So, some random snaps just because:

Throat cooked, keys lost, curries eaten, volcano mildly erupts

Phew, survived. Very impressed with the drum mux and Pearl module, a limited range of sounds but sounding so meaty and punchy who cares? Have a tweaked OS with a basic temporary version of ensembles that actually gives me 90% of what I wanted at a stroke. Awesome! Talked UI, got some points across amongst the haze. Another lovely visit.

Decided to get a few jobs done on the Mini. Foolish but may as well have it exactly how I want it, which includes changing the mod source knob to a mix between the LFO and VCO3, with the switch now to concentrate on switching between noise and the LFO.Pitch bend will now work only on VCO3 when sync is off, giving me the change to control mod depth and rate from a convenient place. If the rumours about a remade model D are true, the thing may be less valuable 'as is' anyway. That's my excuse and it sounds flimsy as I type it.

Have just transmitted the headshock track for the compilation CD and am listening to a prototype of  the new album with that track as last up. What a life eh? Must finish that review tomorrow plus work a little on the new beta I got for the you-know-what.

With an hour or so this afternoon I cleared out some samples from the Volca Sample and added a fair selection of the ones I made with the MS20M. Still a few conventional drum samples to get rid of but I think I'll make some very specific percussion noises with various synths to slot in. I think the DRX-1 might have gotten under my skin. :)

While the Mini is away the Prodigy has returned. I'd love to fit that in all the time but it's either/or at the moment.

UI Brainstorming

Gonna have Colin and Tony here for a few days, an excuse for a curry of course, well two. Reminds me I haven't finished the text I was doing for the website but most importantly I need to get together my ideas for UI improvements, especially for the track view, and persuade the man himself. I think he knows things need to change but I hope to avoid the idea of democracy that can happen when you start to get a lot of users, each pulling in their own direction. That ain't how a great instrument is made, and I could offer some examples but shan't (on this occasion). One thing I have to have is faster, clearer navigation or the P3 will have to come out of its box.

Fortunately I made some notes although being hand-written I'll need to try and work out what the hell I wrote. I have some Minimoog mods to get sorted also, may as well try and get my modulation issues sorted and the LFO better integrated. Plus, as I've no use for pitch bend, it should have a new non-sync function, which will be to vary the speed of VCO3. Hope I'm not asking for too much.

May go over to visit Paul and admire his massive Arrick, all depends how drunk/stoned we get on Friday.

Dean has mastered our track for the Edgar compilation. It sounds great so must get that off soon. We also have a new Headshock album almost complete, with a few things I want to fix still but the core is there. Will get Dean to master the rest of it cos basically he's a genius. Noticed my old Two Voice in their latest video, glad it went to a good home.

Have a set of 'urban supernatural' tracks almost done, I wanted to do one last one so it's a decent collection but drew a blank of my weird piano piece today. At least I did something I like but it's not going to be suitable, too much melody which so often happens.

Managed to snatch a bit of time on novel, even did a preliminary cover after a few beers.

I have cash for a new synth but nothing is quite grabbing me. I should play with Paul's Serge again as it's the only thing in ages that really caught my ears as different. A new effect or two might be wiser. Keen to hear what's coming from France.

Been a while

Which obviously means I've been busy - true. Recorded lots with Tim lately, the track Electronic Meditation should go to Dean for mastering soon. Today's stuff sounding excellent at the moment, moved the CS30 and Microsampler into the 'ambient' submixer with the DD20 and its looping. Have cabled Erebus in CS30's place in the sequency mixer. Taken ESX-1 out of the equation for a while, the Volca Sample doing interesting things.

Sorted Tim's submixer positioning and cabling, got levels pretty good, sub/main mixmatch compensated for as mucha s possible. Over an hour's good recording, at least it sounds pretty sublime so far.

Here's Electronic Meditation BTW.


And some pix from recently just cos I like 'em

I continued to be impressed by the Micromoog, it just sounds different to other things. Like the Microbrute too.

A4 is now a chord sequencer and very good at it too. I no longer need to bother setting up performances since one track doing chord with one sound is easier to control by flipping around the menus. Each time I feel like it I record a new chord sequence into whatever bank, with bank A being Am, B being Bm etc. All patterns run at 1/8th speed, recorded either in realtime or from Cirklon where I might have created the pattern in a variety of ways for extra spice.

Almost finished a new batch of library tracks, new Headshock album almost done, stuff from the 80s for a compilation album (will take Paul's advice and widen it and boost the bass).

Yay! I am quietly drunk but content. Whatever else I planned to write is forgotten. Hehe.

HNY

Sorry, I've been busy. Still am really but today was noteworthy for me, and let's face it I write these entries as a kind of diary.. anyway, the new machine, which I should talk about once the review published so I don't get accused of spoilers, anyway the new machine as taken over much of the A4's sequencing duties. Leaving one analogue voice triggered by the A4's CV/Gate but even that may be unnecessary given I could sequence an analogue synth direct from the new thing... actually I mostly use it because it's there, not because I need it.

So the Analog Four is now doing lots of pad duties. Turns out it's rather good at that. I have a 'chord' project with each Bank a key, so easy to know what to go for for any tune. I have 16 patterns x 4 for chord progressions. I have so far used track 1 recording my chords into that. I could arpeggiate them if I fancied too and messing with a single patch means I needn't worry about setting up perf stuff. With pads I like that it would change each time I play it. At 1/8th speed the patterns are lovely and long and developing and I have two songs that sound awesome before I even play a note. :)

Things feel like they're coming together. Two tiny boxes, a keyboard and a small mixer and I'm sorted! Should sell some stuff I don't need.

Asked the German EM award guy if there was a category for 'we forgot you exist' :)

Heh so that's that. Could spend the afternoon playing but must work, lots of reviews to do.