Some (relative) freedom, playing live and going to a gig

 Yeah, that kind of week lies ahead. I have to wait in tomorrow for the non-RoHS compliant part for the Easel and then I'll walk the dogs and go to RK Dining for some vittles. The afternoon will be Tim and I getting our shit together for the thing at the Ferret. I think Wednesday is the free-est day as Thursday is mum's birthday and Lisa is doing a thing, Friday is Penguin Cafe in Kendal. Pat & Marg home on Saturday. As always I'll try and make the best of things. 

Well, the gig was ace. Think Tim did really well considering the time he'd had to prepare with the EMX. Could be worthy of release.

RK Dining was a treat this morning - got three meals and sides then they gave me two more dishes for free as they were left over from a banquet that was cancelled. Yay! I'm gonna be an even fatter bastard. 

Today will test the VCX a bit and continue with the Easel.

Oh yes, Penguin Cafe were wonderful. Woulda some of their own stuff rather than wall to wall PCO but shouldn't moan. Got back just before midnight and dogs were OK, although Benji had peed (didn't see until following morning).
Continuing S-4 testing, or would be if I could still do the thing I've come to rely on doing. Now fighting to retain the functionality that made me buy (and recommend) the thing in the first place, which is hugely frustrating. Fitted new LPG and noticed the reverb not attached by all 4 springs. Then made a fool of myself by thinking there was reverb even when it was set off, forgetting I'd swapped the FX around with the Osmose and that its HX-One was set to reverb. Made notes on the VCX, got the SH-101 and Morpheus back from repair - 101 sounds fab, not had chance to try the Morph yet. Studio feeling somewhat cluttered, Jupiter is back so will move the Sys8 around and park the Wave until the Easel goes (yeah, would love to keep it but just can't justify the outlay). Haven't walked this week, maybe next week but will have to take Broc as I'm alone again. Haven't done any decent music in a while so really want to get something going for this Friday afternoon. Tim away in Bulgaria so Saturday will be free for something, not sure what. Maybe the OT studio and have it sequence the Morphy, see how it holds up. Haven't recorded anything personally in there for a while. Or in setup 2 come to think of it. Cirklon's sequencing the 101 at the moment though and I fancy giving that a go too... decsions! The Graham Massey gig tomorrow too. 

Exploring Live (a bit) then Superbooth!

 Yeah, Live Lite came with the MOTU interface (as well as Performer). I like the simple, clear, scalable interface and the fact I know it already, a little. Did a small experiment today with some audio taken from the BlackBox, just arranging it and playing with effects. Seems it will serve well. Since Cirklon is still where it was 15 years ago, in terms of arrangement anyway, I reckon I've waited long enough and should find alternative ways forward. Tuesday, installed full version of Ableton. May look at some of the packs that come with it but not going to rush into those as there are too many.

Friday was a good un. Updated the Osmose and recorded some stuff with new sounds. Need to do an actual arrangement of it, get the levels up and so on but all good. 

Superbooth was a wonderful week, even if I should maybe do it slightly different in future so I can see more of the gear/people. Getting Colin & co out of the apartment each day was a slow business...

Hmmm since then the Easel has arrived and we're down to do a spot at the local EMOM so I should probably wrap this up and start another blog entry. 

April sun & showers

 I'm generally getting in the mood for Berlin and pondering any gear I want to try there (the Beetlecrab Tempera is something I'm still curious about, for example). Would like to talk to the Osmose guys and see what they're up to and a few others too, but mainly it'll be about the people I guess. I wonder if a new generation MPC is around the corner with a bigger, snappier, better-used touchscreen? I used to hate touchscreens but there's probably no better way to do a DAW-like interface in hardware.

Tree & Leaf arrived. Not cheese-free but hey, of its time. 

Fridays music had its moments, Saturday with Tim wasn't bad either. Didn't sort out new recording stylee but moving towards it. Setup MOTU's Performer on laptop along with new audio interface (M4) - did basic test but not sure it looks great on small screen. Setup Live Lite 12 which looks better so may try that, initially with arrangements of some BB recordings, which seems a good way to work. Maybe. 

Easter, sunny, off to see mum. A far cry from 2 years ago...

Hilarious - Synthi behaving itself AND the P3 too, the lack of MIDI output seemed related to connecting it to the Vermona MIDI/CV interface. So I'm basically going to Tony's to get Tim's Jupiter fixed. Oh well, it'll be nice to catch up and will get Tim to go get it when sorted. No worries. Oh, Ableton is much easier than Performer, clearer too - but dragging the audio into tracks produced clips of varying lengths so maybe I need to do something else. 

Feeling deflated this morning (Wednesday) as Walter finally met a marauding cat. Looks like he put up a fight. He'd been doing so well too, had even managed to get on the fence yesterday. RIP Walter. 

Friday was an odd day, slept on the settee for some of the evening, not entirely sure why. The music was a mixed bag with the weirder parts being the best. Saturday Tim came with his Machinedrum and Monomachine - sounded great and we recorded them separately. 

Hey it's almost the end of April, Berlin soon! Oh, I bought the Behringer 2-XD but am sending it back as it's a bit cheap and nasty. The MIDI doesn't work properly either, although maybe only for me. I think I've probably bought enough of their gear now and if the race is on for the bottom, I should be wary of getting any more. 

Stuff updated

 The most important of which is MIDICake Arp, which goes to V8. It still only has 8 chords for all pattern banks to share but at least now you can store up to 12 chains - with up to 32 links, each of a length you specify. Not all numbers are available - so no wacky primes or owt - but it's a great step forwards. Now you can have a chain running, switch to another and then manually load different patterns as you go. I had a great day with it anyway. It has some other stuff but less relevant to me as my "chords" are just note pools. Suggested a few display improvements - e.g. showing the chain progress rather than the somewhat pointless BPM and chord name (custom, all of mine so a bit tedious) and key (which is shown already on the actual keyboard). Anyway, he's been great at doing the updates and considering further ones and Arp has evolved into a very useful little jamming tool. 

The GR-1 got a fix update so should now be better for performance naming slots and so on. The other update I can't tell you about until it's official - and anyway, it doesn't work yet, for me. 

Friday and Pat just headed south, back tomorrow. I note that RK Dining is open at 10:30 so will head down there and stock up for tonight so I needn't go out for a takeaway. Yay! We will see what emerges...

Saturday again. Good week. Sunny. Hence not looked at blog. 

Mick did a remastering job on Lore, much happier with it now. That piano always set my teeth on edge and now it doesn't cos Mick snipped it out. I put it out and invited people to re-download (included the first edited track as a bonus in case anyone prefers the CD version. All good. Friday's track isn't bad either so the fact it's been too sunny to do owt since is fine. Tim and I drank beer on Saturday and absorbed some rays. Next week meant to be nice too and we're going to see Mick on Tuesday. What fun!

Great seeing Mick, must do it again soon. Decided not to walk tomorrow after being in too much slow traffic yesterday. Want to do some S4 beta testing. Will walk with Pat & Broc in the morning.
PRS day - another good one. I am constantly amazed by this and wonder what's going on that it keeps giving. Berlin soon so should get a new carry-on bag. 

The Ides, innit

 The fifteenth, which is today, Saturday. Yesterday's music was fairly inconsequential, had some moments but didn't hang together perfectly, which seems a common theme when working with my Cirklon setup. The Uno synth sounded great, as always, and I liked some of the Opsix parts but generally there's a lack of cohesion that I don't get with the Digitone setup. It's always the sequencer parts that make what I do in setup 3 suck. Added Tim's P3 to setup 1 to replace mine, which is throwing a wobbler. Replaced the battery and I guess I now have a completely blank P3 to start working with. Could be fun. 

I notice that Oojami tagged me in a gig happening in May, I wonder if I'm supposed to be playing and what, if I am, I should do about it. Oh well, sunny today and no Tim; Tony has gone to Scotland for a week and I intend to use the time foolishly.

This was part of Saturday's thing. Kinda simple but pleasant. Like me.

Tuesday and glorious sunshine. I have a book to finish and Margaret's mobility scooter to deliver but, otherwise, feel a sense of freedom. Should maybe do more Cirklon testing but as he's released the beta to the wider community, feel less pressure to do so. Plus, there's nothing been added that I particularly need yet. 

More 'Bogus Focus' - quite interesting
https://ploum.net/2024-03-18-lost-focus.html

It's been a lovely sunny, relaxed week and tomorrow the weather is supposed to turn a bit, which is perfect for me given it's Friday and I'm feeling the urge to do something. Today I walked with Broc and it was lovely. 

Boing!

 Yeah, March, Spring, spawn (but not in our pond yet). Got modular track done and sent off. Did a second mix which is shorter and maybe useful for something. Cirklon testing to do, weather bucking up (so that spawn is already in peril in some ponds) and feeling as optimistic as world events allow. 

Pix from Wednesday's walk. Thursday was lovely - was meant to get to Tony's and have the car window sealed but he went for a nice lunch and then I had the Openreach guy to deal with, thankfully sorted now. Had a chippie tea and it bloody well rained in the evening. Good for the frogs - meant to be wet tomorrow too, but as it's studio day, I'll cope. 

Friday I did some random stuff, far from perfect so dunno how long it'll stay on bandcamp. There were some good bits. Oh and the frogs arrived and we have a lot of spawn now, phew! Each year they are so much later now, hate to think of the journey they must take. Saturday Tim and I sat out in the sun cos, well, who knows how many more sunny days there will be? And now, Sunday, preparing to go see mum and see how she is this week. Dunno if I should try and see what John/Andy/Rick are up to, if anything, on the project or if that would count as pestering. I suppose that's the thing with other people, they work to different timescales...

A perspective from the past that's shockingly apt right now. 

A good walk (Thursday) to Whitbarrow.