The Dreaded Lurgy & Draft #2 finally started

 Or is it lurgi? Anway, Pat brought it back from Crufts and I eventually succumbed. Fortunately I was spared the shit and vomit but did spend all Wednesday night fighting the vomit and the following day in bed weak as a kitten. Are kittens actually all that weak compared to, say, baby dormice? Anyway. it's Friday and I was feeling OK until I ate some chocolate, now I'm nauseous again. 

Wednesday was walk day this week - and we had snow. I was already starting to feel weedy though but struggled through. Got some more old pix from Dave Holme, which I didn't even know existed. Anyway, taking it easy today but hope to get into studio. Jack Mcc has done me a CDR of The Amazing Adventures of Ludwig Eartrumpet, so I think I'll get a cover done and put it on bandcamp. My original cover was a bit shit - a photo taken by Chummy in Paris of a naked lady statue groping my balls. I'm not sure if was funny even then. 

Bought a Terry Riley CD while stoned - it's nothing like the fab stuff of his on Youtube so more fool me, the guy has range. I thought it was all sweet, repetitive, simple stuff but this is faffy classical nonsense. Hopefully I'll appreciate it better when I feel more up to it. Also bought this African thing which is modular synths and rhythm, which is fantastic .Afrorack it says. Like as if some cool drummer played along with Conrad Schnitzler. 

Well, on Saturday I did a (sober) track of Osmose overdubs into the BB and it came out pretty well. No point linking to the soundcloud version as I'll probably snot it soon, especially as I need to do a less rushed final mix. 

Oh and I've started draft #2 of the novel finally, deciding that keep pratting with the ending wasn't helping me - I can work with what there is and get down to making the whole thing better, whatever that means. It means the book exists, no matter how flaky and wonky and holey, so that's something. 

On Sunday I didn't do a lot, visited mum, yet another conversation about her will that felt a bit like a negotiation, very peculiar and unsettling. We're back on Netflix again but probably not for long as it's gone up to an eye-watering £10.99 a month. Oh, and the fucking car tyre went down again. 

Did I mention I put out another old casssette on bandcamp? Not a personal favourite or one people ask about but what the fuck. 

Turns out the tyres going down a bit is normal, gonna buy my own pump to keep in car. Still working at the Terry Riley but really want to get some of that lovely stuff I heard, if I could just tie up to a release. More people have bought 'Ludwig' than I expected, give it's free. 

I've often thought that, if my legs were slightly longer, I'd be taller. I wonder if there's a surgeon in Turkey who can do that for me? All the answers are out there, apparently. Mind you my pants wouldn't fit and I have several pairs I've worn in already.
Hey ho. Rainy week, it looks like. Decided (again) against going north with Tony. 

Wednesday after a few busy days running to Blackburn hospital with mum, hoping she's home today. Will need Pat to come and bring car while I wheel her down to front as it's a very large hospital. Tony A also taken in ambulance, he reports on FB, so all go.

Naturally it's now that I'm in full on novel mode, going through the chapters and smoothing, rationalising, adding context and location, generally making the order better. By the end it will be a readable thing for others and, of course, I'm feeling hopeful it'll be great.

I bought a new Eurorack module!

 I know, wild eh?
Joranalogue Receive 2 - Line Input Module (in case you were wondering).

I decided I needed a better way to get the MS20 and Synthi (and Lyra) into the world of Eurorack. Even if they're going right through or through some Eurorack processing, they can go into the Erica mixer, which would mean I no longer need the Behringer RX-1602 in the signal chain. Sweet. 

On Friday we had snow and v3 of the sp-404-ii dropped. I got stoned and did this

Had curry now stoned again and watching Terry Riley on Youtube. Pat went south for Crufts this afternoon, which surprised me as I thought she was going tomorrow. Could be a stoney niht. All good. Was too, watched Godzilla vs Kong and it was just peachy. I'd guessed they'd get together to sort out Mechagodzilla and so they did.   

Excellent sesh with Tim on Saturday, my Zoom card filled during my recording. Sunday was a chance to try the new module - working well, triggered the usual move-around but this time dropping modules I'm not immediately using and leaving a few gaps (noticed case 2 quite warm inside so some venitilation needed). Paul D brought Marbles back so I slotted it in along with Angle Grinder, dropping the Tonestar and a few others I'm not using right now. He left me some beer and some artwork, which was ace - hopefully we'll get together for a jam at some point. 

Setup 2 looking and feeling real nice.

I remembered how sweet the Lyra sounded through the Wasp filter - I'm also giving it the NightSky treatment at the moment, tuning the synth and reverb together offering lots to explore. Synthi doing some amazing booming after just a few pin swaps. Will play some more tomorrow. Ordered two new SD cards as noticed my Zoom H4n also nearly full. I think I also need a 'performance' MicroSD with all my best stuff since the start on for easy recall. Course the early ones won't have the tempo in the name so it'd be a PITA, OK I'm already talking myself out of the idea. It ain't like I have any performances lined up. Oh yes, continue work on video camera, try going live on Twitch TV and see how that handles...

New video camera/webcam and a walk

 Yeah it's Friday and I had mixed success with new Zoom 8Qn. Hopefully tomorrow will bring new leads and I'll stop using the headphone output for recording. Got OBS and Twitch TV working after a fashion but laptop gets very sluggish. Tomorrow will try just recording a film and seeing the quality. Youtube sound was pretty flaky though so also need to try wired network thing.

Saturday evening and it's been a good one. Tim and I worked on stuff that went with some of his MPC patterns - Cessange was the thing and it had some weird, disparate elements that we threw together cheerily. Now Pat's gone to bed with a possibly nasty cold and I'm watching a 1950s apocalypse movie while working on my novel. As you do. Tomorrow I get my footscan. 

Footscan says I don't have a neuroma so back to square one with the old sore feet lark, not happy.

Monday I tried the wired network connection but sound still not good - I think I need to sort that before doing anything else, so tomorrow I'll try to use the camera as a regular video camera and see where the cleanest sound comes from. Must admit I'm already a bit weary with the faffing around but other people cope so why not me? It always takes away time and energy from making music.

This cropped up on Facebook, made me smile.

Oh and I got every classical music question on University Challenge except the Gounod, showing a composer I know almost nothing about. Those Schubert string quartets finally pay off. And finally we got frogspawn yesterday, not a lot but some at last. Will need to really clean that pond this year. 

Tuesday, tried a regular video and both picture and sound were good - the MOV was a nice clean acceptable thing, so a small victory at last. Webcam needs sussing but at least I know everything is going into the camera OK. Walking tomorrow as weather meant to get snowy on Thursday. Just watching a very silly film (Fiend Without A Face) which has these stop-motion brains scurrying about, Some good quotes though but sadly I missed most of them so may need to record it at some point in the future. ;)

Pat expressed concern that doing Youtube videos was a security risk. Guess she's right but then so is almost any online presence, studio photos etc. etc. Got me worrying though. 

OK we walked on Wednesday. Thursday I did a short video to try a narrower field of view, tomorrow I shall have a full-on Friday experience!

The predicted megasnow not causing much grief yet. 

Biinbi and some grandparenting

 Perhaps due to increased focus, I did a new track today, not quite developed as far as it can go, but pleased with it as a thing. Tomorrow William arrives and goes back Thursday. 

https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/ck-biinbi-99

Friday now, yesterday's walk was great - Tony struggling a bit and I think it's down to his very heavy backpack. He thought I'd been secretly training and it was true I felt very good on the way up. Later my feet and ankles started to hurt but that often happens on a sharp descent these days. Today I plan to have a pleasant afternoon maybe working more on the track I started on Monday or going back to my beloved Osmose. Is it too early to call it beloved?

Where was I? Friday the old 505 died - a burning smell too so dunno if that's one for Tony or not.
Well, Saturday Tim and I did Coolarty - and it was. Sunday I went to RK with our Janet and farted like a bastard in bed (apparently). Monday I did an ambient thing I called Chuffy Finknotl putting the Osmose through the Night Sky then into the Cosmos. Celestial stuff eh? Currently listening to a Field Lines Cartographer gig recording and thinking how much like one of my Friday afternoons it is, so I guess there's hope for the younger generation after all ;) ALso on Monday Roland were in touch about the new 505 and payment - spooky!!! I tentatively suggested I might like another, thinking that I dunno about repairing the old one but I could flog it if I do get it fixed. 
Tomorrow my new spotlights are due so I'll replace that neon tube finally. Tim and I may go to pub,

Back to the Lakes, Osmose Update, Switcher Pedal

 Fun couple of days. Finally got back to the Lakes for a good walk - Tuesday was supposed to be the only decent day but actually Wednesday, as I type, is pretty lovely. Missed walking with Izzy and Broc yesterday but Pat and Janet seemed to do OK without me so good for them to bond a bit, hopefully. My feet a bit sore today but otherwise I'm fine. 

I deleted that Jim Kirkwood stuff - skimmed a few more and it was just all too much. I chuckled through a Mark Shreeve interview in which he declared his disdain for music written about pixies. At the time I wondered if he meant me but it certainly applies to Jim's entire output, as far as I can tell. I should have stopped writing about Hobbits and moles and remade Rubycon instead, heh. Seriously, I wonder what that version of Marke would have made of the first Redshift album? 

Wednesday I updated the Osmose and the silent patch (Choir Additive) now works - nice too. There's also a tool for backing up and restoring user presets, so I now have a copy of the hundred plus I've compiled. The thing is sounding and playing great - tomorrow the switcher pedal arrives so I can seamlessly route the Osmose to either the DD-20 or Cosmos. That way one looper won't pollute the other as things get dense and crazy enough. Listening through the Field Lines Cartographer album I got again and it's growing on me a bit. Dismissed af first because it was a bit like those days when I first got the DD-20 and had stuff decaying forever in it. Which I then realised I still do to an extent so should love it more. All that echoey, loopy mulch tha could be quite engaging if he made it more musical but I should listen to more albums as the one I bought might be a lesser work, god knows I've released plenty of those myself! ;) Sold more albums so bought some stuff from Cosmonauttransfer which was really good and someone else, Phantasmasomething, which was not great - very annoying vocoder all the way through. Got more recommendations too which I'm working through - Hypnotica (seems good) and Portland Vows (not listened properly yet). Pascal's releasing tracks in large numbers, all individual rather than albums. 

Hahahaa... when that magic shortbread kicks in five hours after you took it and after you'd given up on it. So instead of when in the studio playing Osmose, it's watching telly with Pat and wondering if she's noticed. Challenge set!

Right, it's Saturday and I'm hoping to sneak in a Friday afternoon-type sesh. Spent most of yesterday driving for a one hour Vivaldi concert by four girls, one of whom was pretty good. There were botanical gardens too, basically rusting Victorian greenhouses full of dead or dying plants. I'll end this important entry with some photos then get myself going. Next week I hope to order the Zoom camera but only if I can get the lighting sorted - will ask Tim for ideas as I plan to replace the horrible strip light with something better and he's far more into such things than I.

February and Bandcamp Friday

 Should I put out the THC album or wait until Paul can do it on Sunday?
Listening to over 1Gb of Jim Kirkwood, which was a free download. Not familiar with his music so probably unfair to judge after a few mins - but I'm gonna anyway. I think he sounds a bit like I might have if I stuck to my style of the late 80s or early 90s but refined my arrangements, didn't use weed and avoided other musicians to make it richer. So far I like it a lot, although some is very dense and over-orchestrated. Yeah, needs more space. OK revising opinions - some of it is unlistenable and he does that solo noodly vibrato synth we all used to back in the day but don't anymore. Oh well, 1Gb to free up I think. Will try more of it before I decide as anyone who makes that much has to have something worth hearing.

Friday tomorrow and I'm fancying more Osmose rather than my usual dice roll. 

https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/dt6-kratko116-2

Finally back to walking this week. Saw John on Monday, hopefully Tim Wednesday, Tony Thursday, what larks! Today (Tuesday) I sorted that second file of Osmose firmware update but it still didn't fix my additive engine. I also managed to wipe all my user presets, which is slightly annoying but not unexpected. I have, however, found an online repository of Eagan Matrix patches, and have loaded a dozen or so to try. There needs to be an Osmose-specific place though as many don't scale right, which I guess is a good place for me to start digging deeper into the matrix myself. Howard has started and produced an electric piano so I'd like to get going also. 

Tim found a really evocative photo he took in the park of me and Jasper, really poignant. 

Wednesday we went to the pub, it were grand. 

Sober Saturday Deletion, Endless Music Excretion

 Yeah, yesterday's noodles were an indication I was more than moderately drunk - one of the difficulties of coping without weed. I think I should chuck that manky shortbread too, not doing anyone any good. Anyway, deleted the shite I made yesterday, hope to do better today with Tim. I should probably not have done the dice thing and concentrated on S3 as it was newly setup and ready to go. My bad, as I think someone illiterate might say. 

 No Tim yesterday, he's got a cold, Tony Allgood tells me he's got covid and is really rough so may be a while before we catch up - very curious how he gets on with the Waldorf Iridium keyboard. Anyway, I rolled a '2' and added some MS20/Synthi to Friday's lame efforts, did a wholly ambient mix and now listening. It's better, but then my taste seems to run to ambient more often than not now, making it a weird decision to buy that RD9. The 404 fitting nicely into S2, processing and optionally sampling the output from the MS20/Night Sky and Synthi. The Behringer line mixer probably overkill for the job but it works so will leave for now. 

Sunday, went to mum's to solve her virus problem, fingers crossed it'll stay sorted. She in a tetchy mood, perhaps due to nurse telling her oxygen won't help - must have taken something for her to get in touch. Back tomorrow taking her to docs for another blood test. 

United Utils came to send their machine down to hack tree roots - had to go out so will check with Rachael/Danny later to see what they said. Pat's birthday. 

Can't decide whether to work on novel today or play the Osmose, may have to flip a coin as there are no two-sided die, heh.

Monday took mum for blood test, she was really struggling after the short walk from doctor's door to the car, gasping for breath, gulping for it more like. Later I planned to do some music but ended up tidying the pile of CDRs in the studio to free up that metal shelf for the Odyssey and storage space for currently unused stuff. Found some interesting music to explore including quite a lot of Binar/STDM - jams and unreleased tracks. First one I picked to listen to sounds excellent so there's a few hours of exploration required. Update: lots and lots of good stuff, some of which is released I now realise but a great deal isn't. Of the released stuff, I think there may have been tweaks and overdubs but these are the raw jams. Actually the raw jams might be a bit better than the released versions as they aren't quite so packed with samples and cleverness. 

It's been a good week musically and it's only Thursday. I did a cheery thing in D that has a tune I keep whistling, so a good sign. Then Tim and I knocked up 'Rupert' which was a full on Krautrocky guitary thing that we both did decent mixes of. The perfect mix is still to be done, as always, but all good. I might do something later. Installed Pat's video doorbell which I suspect will be a PITA but we'll see. Proper answer is still to fix that blind that I broke and sellotaped up again.