Some theremin, some simplification, the Octatrack pushed aside once again

I know, I know. It's weird because on Monday I did four Octatrack patterns that sounded great and I was planning to do more. Tuesday came and I tried to make the same patterns sound good again - and failed. Whatever Scene thing I did, I couldn't replicate and I got fed up and took it out of the system to show my annoyance. It made me think of further simplifications.
Today (Wednesday), I recorded a theremin part for the new song - the one I did the awful key messing in but which has become this brilliant thing because of Don's bass line and Dean's lyrics. Anyway, Dean made my theremin playing sound better than it was, the hero! May try some of my Night of the Demon samples on it.

Cold persisting. Tried some Albus oil which seemed to clear my nose a bit. Fed up that the only exercise I'm doing it coughing. Was gonna visit Paul but didn't really want to pass it on. What a crock.

Cold still fucking persisting. It's Saturday and I'm meant to be going out to see Mick's band play in Preston. Dunno if I will though.
Novel going well at the moment, largely because I've solved all the problems I had with it and just have a few scenes to write that shouldn't be too difficult. The ending has matured somewhat and I'll jot it down fully soon. In back-combing, I'm going through the fantasy short story that slots in rather well. I don't mind cranking up the Harry Harrison for that as it fits in. All the parts that seemed faffy or complex I've edited out. Anything laboured or drowning in adjectives has gone. I'm happy.

Nic Roeg died. So I wanna watch this again:

Jeez it's Monday and I'm still not great. Cracking on with novel is helping keep my mind occupied though, reaching the fun end stages where I've sketched out the start of the three last strands I'm going to run, ready to pick up on any as the mood takes me. Have formulated the Rules for Godly War, lifted a bunch of stuff from the I Ching and even managed to weave in some Brexiteer levels of stupidity. In another week I should have my first draft, which is a lot better than previous first drafts because this time I back-combed a number of times to get everything lined up. Still some editing to do, some chapter quotes to position, some other minor tweaks but essentially it's nearly there. I have one scene I'm not 100% sure which way it will go yet but that will just happen out of momentum (and a bag of smoke).

Started a new track in which Don sent me an mp3 and I overdubbed a sequence and melody. Could probably have done it better if both my ears were working but no guarantees.

Did a 2019 calendar too. Didn't have such great pix this year though.

Not well but stuff ticking along

Pat's been really ill with a bad chest infection. On antibiotics now and slowly recovering but not there yet. I have a bad cold but resisting getting more. Seemed to go downhill after dropping mum off at private health place yesterday.

Got through the next, hopefully last, roadblock in After Life. I knew the ending but not quite how I was getting to launch into it but now it's clicked into place. Might even be able to tie it up in just another 20,000 words or less (hopefully). Depends how many ends I ultimately want to tie up. Very happy with fantasy section, even though I still have that battle to write up. I may do it at the same time as the other one and do some fuckery between them, we'll see. Don't want to add too much complication at this stage.

It's a week later and I have done very little but fight this bloody cold. Some nice new concept stuff for ANT - the guys doing their usual creative marvels and me sitting grinning on the sidelines like everyone's favourite village idiot. Been working on After Life, went back to start in order that I fully understand it before writing the next section. Some edits leap out as needed but in general it's working well.

Today I plan to do some studio stuff. Turned down a gear review, asked to do one though as Duncan has been telling me for some time I'd like the Deluge. Has to be better than that other thing I've had a while and still is as mature as a spotty teenager with its hand down its pants.

Another little move-around

I decided to retire the ER-1 for a bit and move the Biscuit to the cue output of the Octatrack. Then I could bring back the TT-606 as it seems so much more suited to individual output processing than the TT-78. Yep, I now have both going into the same mixer, this time using just the single output from the '78, which is somehow right. Maybe it's just how I remember my CR-78 but the single mono drum box idea works well and I think about it in a different way.

Processing OT tracks via the Biscuit is good too. I really should have got Denis to do that mod for me allowing me to bypass the bitcrushing sometimes and just use it as a filter. Good I can record the processed cue output right back again.

Had to move the analogue delay to its own mixer channel also, just so I could EQ it a bit. This turned the Lyra and its long effects chain from stereo to mono, but that's actually a good thing too, tames it slightly.

The Odyssey, despite Korg's cockup, sounds great. I'd still maybe have wanted the keyboard version had I known of the issue but no great worries. The PPC on the module is shit too, total waste of time.

Sunday, difficult visit with mum. In the evening went and hung around a fire, found a large, fat frog on the pavement as we walked home. Popped it in the garden near the pond. Pat went to bed, her cold finally taking over. I polished off the fantasy section of my novel, although there's a battle or two to write when I'm in the mood.

ANT stuff sounding awesome. The question of what to do next follows naturally on. I think it's bedtime.