A week of (partial) freedom

 Yeah, partial because I still have Broc to look after. But it'll be slow and chilled and hopefully productive. Haven't decided about food yet but will go to RK maybe Monday to stock up. May get a curry from Sangham tonight and get enough for two days. Start as I mean to go on, eh?

The new Hannah Peel album is fabulous. 

MPC thought: although it's possible to do entire tracks on it, the world it makes you inhabit is very small and less than optimised for working fast and smoothly. It's not as fiddly and impossible as Eurorack but so many aspects of operation could be streamlined - assuming the developers actually used it. I think this is the problem with a lot of modern gear.

Saturday was good. Video call from Pat and boat looks good, wished them well. Useful studio noodling, abandoned MPC for Cirklon and then moaned about how Cirklon has lagged behind in terms of what you'd expect by this stage of the 21st Century. Recorded a thing that has definitely thingness to it. Solace. 

Sunday went to see Jan and visited Dave's wood.

Bank Holiday Monday and I can't see myself going anywhere. It's very hot and I doubt the attic will be habitable. Should at least have a think about what I might do at Wednesday's EMOM but will probably just have a beer and gummy kinda day. Listening to old JIC jams and wallowing a bit. 

Monday got too hot in studio around 14:00 so gave up. Have a thng I could do at EMOM though, a single track, work in progress but if I took a keyboard I could probably jam in the odd bits it needs. Tracks already set up after all. 

Back to listening to JIC. Phil had some CDRs I may have lost and some good stuff on them. One I must do something with. Several maybe. Might upload first and invite people to edit or finish the various tracks. All quite minimal. Next one (in time order) also good, early versions of some tracks better known, perhaps a late version of an older favourite. Remember how I hammered that P2K.

Tuesday was 33 degrees and Brian's funeral so not much done. Tim came and we talked about EMOM. Hopefully it's cool enough Wednesday to have a jam and decide what we'll play. Gonna order an air conditioner just as soon as I sort which room and window attachments gonna be needed.

EMOM was a laugh. My first MPC gig and also first battery gig. Some lessons learned but went OK. I let my hair down, forgetting that I'd just had Pat trim all the ends - so it's a rather bizarre Cousin It vibe going on rather than the Jesus I was going for. Heh.

Thursday didn't feel like a lot so had a Synthi and Cric duet day. Recorded some cool shit (I think) to progress tomorrow, unless baking. Still have nor ordered aircond but must, really must. Did more cool stuff with those Cric envelopes, endless fun there. Sequenced it and the Synthi from the A4, got some odd loops. Simple pleasures.

Friday here and there's a new Bored of Canada album, which I'm playing as I type this. Seems good on first run through, possibly a bit too much of the old voice sampley nonsense in places (for my tastes these days) but musically sound and definitely up to their usual standards. Can't see why the Guardian were so down on it, the po-faced bastards. Or bastard; just one guy I expect. It's cooler today and I took Broc to Bunny Corner, which made him happy. I'm really enjoying the quieter mornings - without all that frantic barking that occurs every day (goodness knows why) as I'm making breakfast. I guess it's just a habit Pat and Broc have acquired for some reason - but he seems quite content without it and I surely am. Not wasting bird seed either as I put out enough for the day then a small top-up later if needed but I let them clean up themselves so I needn't go out later with a dust pan and brush. Simples, as some stupid TV advert would doubtless say. Oh yes, agreed to do Awakenings with Pete. Worth it for the music we'll make even if I hate the drive.

Seemed like a good day

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/track/ambient-death-throes

Berlin here we come

 OK, here I come. Probably won't post this until after I get back of course. There may be photos by then.

Sunday today, didn't do much except (finally) reflash that GR-1, which I've been meaning to do for yonks. I'll also try and use the latest firmware, including shutting it down properly, assuming I can acquire the habit. Bank Holiday tomorrow but I think family coming for kitchen admiration and dog walking. 
Monday, bank holiday, pleasant visit with Dawn & Chris then Jan & Lisa. Watched snooker and generally lounged around. Meant to plan the trip for wednesday but didn't. Only really need to note the station to get to from airport that's nearest the hotel so not exactly precise planning. Should also find a bag and check it fits the Ryanair requirements. Tomorrow...

Did Superbooth. To actually write about it though, not sure I have the time right now. Today (Tuesday) we took Margaret to Blackpool and she's got a date for her op (June). Yeah bit busy for blogging, sorry. 

Superbooth summary: lots of gear. Some sounded great but had naff UI Some had some great ideas and innovations but failed to move me sonically. I was most drawn to the Fzzbillion pedal I'd seen before but still haven't ordered one. Failed to get a definitive answer on the Easel Command / vactrol offer and so have still not ordered one. Awaiting Odd1 for review, which promises to be interesting. Liked the Beat Friend but at £500 doesn't feel like an impulse buy. The RND might be but not available yet. So much stuff but what I really need is time to play with the stuff I already have.

Where am I? Well, a few days off Pat heading to her cruise. I agreed to do the next EMOM based on the idea Tim and I could take stuff in on the bus and make some shit up with whatever we take. It could be a week of lots of studio time but we'll see what fate throws in my path. I'll either take MPC or the S4 and maybe a BlackBox loaded with whatever takes my fancy.

Spring is springing

 Yeah, well, it is. 

Kitchen should finally be done this week. Solar panels will be next. Was gonna play EMOM but no slots apparently so my idea of taking a bag with the Reface CS and S4 and making shit up will have to be sometime else. Was looking fwd to Tim's acid noodles though. Gonna go anyway. Seems like April is pretty much done with. 

Seems AKai have fixed the Running Status / Active Sensing bug I reported - will try it tomorrow and hope!

Friday was a good one. Started a track on the MPC to test the fixes in 3.8 - can finally use my System 8 keyboard with it. Must try the JD-XA as that was my first choice back when the MPC arrived. Recorded a piece on the Osmose too as I was itching to play it after so long. Made toast in the kitchen for the first time (Saturday). 

It's Bank Holiday weekend so the weather has turned a bit grey. I can cope with that. Pat off to Llandudno tomorrow for the day so another early morning taking her to pickup.

The Great Kitchen Hack!

 Starts... with ripping out the old one. We'll be coping somehow but no music making for me except on MPC I guess.

Well, taking it out was quick enough but nowt will happen now until Wednesday when electrician comes then nothing again until next week. Kitchen arrives thursday or friday so maybe he'll come and do a bit but doesn't sound like he's in a rush. Floor can't go down first now because of pipes or something. Personally I'd get it done and just only do up to pipes as that's all still gonna be covered up. Took Margaret to Blackpool this morning for her CT scan so hopefully will learn what they can do (it anything). Put MPC back upstairs. Seems I'll be able to use studio after all, at least until next week. 

A pleasant tuesday in pub with Tim. Talked some good shit, made some good plans. 

Did some work in kitchen, Pat doing some painting, me filling holes. Broc ran through the paint tray twice, which was far from ideal (!). Delivery of kitchen tomorrow morning. Hope to have time over weekend to fill remaining holes, file the filler flat and generally do what I can before the kitchen install starts on Monday. Hopefully by this time next week things will be almost normal again.

Friday I recorded some ideas for Oojami - a song he'd been working on. I fired up the Minimoog and it sounded great. Unfortunately the mixer confused me in my stoned state and I got one channel of stereo rather than a mono input on the MPC. Using it worked fairly well though although I need to learn to record in various parts rather than always from the start. Trying new stuff stoned probably unwise. Then recorded a couple of my tracks in progress, making sound improvements by compressing master output and making more intelligent use of buses and Q-Link knobs to keep control. Will update my default/template song soon when all the ideas come together. 

Did this

And back to...

 After Scotland, back to life with a bump. Sister's broken foot means she can't walk Izzy or do any of the stuff on mum's house that should already have done imho. Lisa currently can't do owt cos of her boob update and, of course, it's finally dawned on the pair of them we need to move mum's house or it'll start costing us...  anyway, getting an estate agent to look and we'll go with whichever offers the best cut and impression. Then we'll have to clear it all out. Have to go sort Les's computer too and Pat's ankle is not getting better. She's finally realised it needs a professional eye but, of course, you have to play the 8 o'clock shuffle at the doc's - and there's only one slot per week, this one already all used up. And so it goes. I'll need to walk the dog so she can rest a bit.

Well, that was my brain dump to bring March to a close. Well, another day to go but one I doubt I'll get any studio time. Did a little Cirklon checking today for the new gfx and it's looking good. However, what I really want is to play the Osmose again and play the Cric again and see how my V-Synth fits into setup 1 as I put it there and haven't powered up setup 1 in ages.

Tuesday, walked Broc, fixed Les's computer, tried the latest Cirklon firmware and its fab chord mode - sent a list of chords to add but not the inversions, which could be a second aux. Tomorrow it's estate agent day, gutters and Izzy. Seems the money is "on the way" but I bet it will be after financial year end, the feckers. I dearly hope I get a lovely Friday.

Oh and it seems my ME80P issue was a dying input as I switched them and all seems OK today. 

Got estate agent round and valued mum's house, now to get agreement amongst fam who to go with. Money came through from investments anyway. Hoping for a day in studio tomorrow.

Thursday, recorded good stuff esp last mix. Noticed mic still on as usual (!) Solace, a name generated by Cirklon. Minimal use of new chords but some. 

Well, it's Friday (Good) and the last of the investment money came through. Fam now wanting as much as poss for house rather than get a quick sale so going against advice of est agent and asking the valuation of another. Quite why we didn't use that other is unknown. Anyway, just updated my SP-404-II and, of course, Roland still haven't done that one useful thing - remove the pointless BPM that keeps leaping back onto the display, which could otherwise tell you something useful. After yesterday's productive Cirklon sesh I wanna hear the MPC song I started in Scotland and see if I can do owt with it. Soon the house will be in turmoil as the kitchen is ripped out so the studio may be out of bounds or at least not a refuge I can go to freely.

A nice bank holiday weekend just ended. Only a week before kitchen ripout begins and life gets paused a bit. Shame as yesterday I had a good sesh with setup 1, V-Synth sounding great and fitting in nicely there. Struck me that the old setup 4 has now spawned setup 5 based around the MPC. It could take the JD-XA in it and be an Octatrack/JD corner quite easily. Today (Tuesday) I expect to hear from estate agent and may just enjoy a day basking in the unexpected sunshine. Need to book train for Berlin. 

Had that old nagging idea of getting a Buchla Easel, which happens now and again. Would be more sensible to get the Command Station (correct vactrol needs verification) I suppose to save space but it's the whole instrument thing again. Main issue might be that Buchla don't seem to have modules in stock, say they just make them now and again, which doesn't bode well. I should restrain myself, at least until after Berlin. 

Wednesday took docs & key into estate agent, walked Izzy, didn't see Jan to put my idea to her. Probably a no-starter anyway. Another lovely sunny day. 

Some MPC work Thursday & Friday, nothing earth-shattering but good practice and made one long arrangement for possible further work. Next week it'll be mostly MPC as we're starting the big kitchen replacement. Saturday we cleared the garage, mostly and Jan/Lisa started on mum's bedroom. May not go to Longridge tomorrow as we need to totally clear the kitchen. 

Oh yeah, the MPC still crashes and gives bugger all useful information when it does. 

Nice view from my walk with Izzy...

Bonnie Scootland

 Yeah, drive didn't feel so bad this time. Must be getting used to it. Monday, Tony dropped his camera into loch. At this stage seems he got lucky and it's still working, although he was two others with him. I'm now getting better shots with phone than camera. 

Nice on Thursday as we found a cool wood with a stream and reflections and so I made a movie, at half and twice speed, later discovering the amazing artifacts of freezing frames. Anyway, lots of good pix today and maybe film to set to music later. 

Friday possibly best day of all. Some lovely pix anyway. Tony's camera is buggered though.

Just the long drive home now..