Thursday, 10 September 2026

September is here

 And we started industriously with the final move of stuff from mum's, visit to solicitor and then I trimmed the spiky hedge near the garage. Got the idea to do a frog album under the name Smokyfrog since I never really did use that and there are some lovely frogs to inspire. We'll see if it happens. Gong Unconvention II in Glasto in November, really should go to that. Will see if Tony fancies it. 

Feel as much like sleeping as going into studio today. Played Atrium. saved setup 1 again as MIDI with SQ1 doing some chuggy sequencing timbral FX turning chords quite sweet. Next there was a cute melody one in slot 2 where I had only the very bottom end of the sustain slider turning the LFO manic, which sent all kinds of other things into flurries too. Quite a creative patch, should probably save it. 

Wednesday, did my good deed of the day by taking Margaret to clinic. Afternoon was a quick update of RND - still doesn't seem to respond to the CC9 on channel 1 for setting a scale and so on but does respond to the individual level controls and reverb. Using it via USB on the MPC which also powers it and sync seems fine that way. Pressed the button quite a few times and wasn't impressed once. Guess you need to be in the mood. Played with Atrium a bit, saved my patches after testing the MIDI one still plays as it did. Must explore MIDI clock sync on that sometime. Was going to try the online thing as I've agreed to do another MR online performance but it was too complicated in the Light Studio so will try in the main room tomorrow, or Friday. Thinking my 5 Atrium saved patches could actually be just 5 starting points with different scales in them. Noticed the MPC has pages for all the CCs but instead of having them as numbers they're all the default ancient MIDI spec names that absolutely nobody uses. May get my default song to set them up better one day. Did at least update my template for a RND access to each channel. 

 Thursday and I was up very early dunno why.Strange dream about being at the top of monumental brick staircase and it being too steep to attempt. Weird huh? Tested online performance thing and it was OK as far as I can tell. Seemed easier than I remembered once I re-enabled all the cameras and audio input. Haven't yet worked out how to download the videos I made to check audio properly. Pat took Margaret to eye clinic and ended up upset with her again. Margaret says random nonsense and Pat can't seem to stop herself from rising to it emotionally. Tried to tell her she was doing great and gently correcting her is the only way but not to get so stressed about it, treat it like a care situation, like if you were working in a care home. I dunno what she expects me to say but keep getting wound up is not sustainable and Margaret is not going to improve. Sigh. EMOM tonight. Wonder if I'll go. Just want a peaceful life but seems a long way away sometimes. 

Had a minor breakthrough with Liminal Entity. After (successfully) testing the OBS online thing I sat and worked on the chapter I'd been stalled on (18). By adding an extra layer and a hint of what's ultimately to come, the chapter gets more gravitas and inner logic. It changes a few things and sets up furher changes but I'd been planning that anyway. Just shows what even a small bag of smoke can do really.

Later, Margaret rang. Another fall. Went round and she seems OK but we can never really relax now wondering if the next one is the big one. Hmmm, she had to go to hospital after all. Well to wait on the ambulance for hours until she was admitted to wait in a corridor. Evventually they discharged her due to no beds and no chance to scan her until Monday. 

Saturday Tim and I noodled a bit, only a bit though. Sunday it rained in the morning. Then Jan & 1 went up Beacon Fell, which was lovely. Booked hotel for the Unconvention - got it wrong first time (2 months out). 

Oh yes, Bernard Szajner died. Was hard to respond online as it was reported by Narc Jerkins, who (of course)  included a plug for one of this albums. Had some nice exchanges with Bernard a few years back as he was looking for gigs and interest in some new music. Sadly he wasn't so interested in talking about his earlier, wonderful work being a proper artiste and all. 

On Monday I played with the Atrium. Tried some clocking of LFO, Delay and Contour and made some groovy wee grooves. At one point had an acid squelch from it, and still find the three band pass filters can be too subtle in many cases. I think I'd like to hear a big swooshy string pad through them but yet to manage owt like that. Still madly addictive. We had Margaret here for a few hours - somewhere different to sleep. 

Tuesday and I did a small reorg, not complete yet. I want to put the Casio piano into my Cirklon setup even if it means swapping it with a main synth. So far I moved the V-Synth back to setup 1 so its D-beam is not obstructed. Sys8 is temporarily in setup 3 there because I don't trust the Super-6's velocity, I need another solution but it isn't obvious yet what it is, will try the hub on thursday (walking tomorrow), plus want to test latest Cirklon additions as progress continues apace. Pat gonna be away three days - Fri-Sun so should take full advantage if I can. The ODD-1 will probably arrive. Busy, busy. 

Thursday and no sign of ODD-1. Had lovely walk at Settle yesterday in the sunshine. Now just listening to a lovely album by that Ludowic bloke who plays the trautonium so beautifully 

Today I am cooking that Japenese steak recipe and hopefully spending time with Atrium - hope I didn't upset the designers for asking about the three bandpass filters, trying to understand why they sound so 'meh' - and no, I didn't put it like that. Wrote to Inmusic again about my problem and still no response. Maybe they laid off support in favour of an AI that ignores you instead - cheaper I guess. Well, until the AI raises its fees. 






If all goes well I have a few days to myself starting tomorrow. OK have to sign contract in the morning for mum's house but otherwuse, time to do some music!






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