Synthfest and associated fun times

 Tuesday before was wasted really. Hanging around all day to go for short meeting with money man and raining and whatnot. I couldn't summon much energy for owt. Did try that camera that Adrian recommended, seems fun. Tomorrow I will try to get to pub with Tim and Thursday may even get some studio time as Pat's driving Benji back. Quite why she has to do all the driving is beyond me but I think they'd just leave the wee beastie here otherwise. 

Thursday and I had my flu and pneumonia jabs with a shingles jab scheduled for november. Messed with Atrium and was gonna do a mix of the gig but the interface of Audacity 4 defeated me. There was an update to the MPC but most of it seems related to the Arranger and no mention of fixes for any of the bugs I'm waiting to be sorted. Will try it after the weekend to see if they've fixed them quietly (suspect not). 

Some snaps from the new camera - love it. May take it to Sheffield. 

Synthfest was good. I'd been well chuffed by the generosity of SOS bossman but turns out he must have mitsaken me for someone else as he had no recollection of our email exchange. And since Eddie was left at home due to something a bit worse than sciatica (sorry forgot its name) then I was almost without a place to stay. Fortunately he sorted it for the Friday night and I drove home after show rather than grovel for what he'd agreed. Shame really as I could have got a day pickup from Nick Smith and Tony Allgood. SOS writers' luncheon was nice but - again - I really should have gone with Pete to noodle bar. Saw Dean and finally chatted a bit with Bob of 3rd Wave fame, can tell Jason I at least met him. Spoke to Tom about Easel Command basically thanking him and saying I knew what Buchla were like in terms of being unhurried for delivery. Liked the Arturia Minifreak 49 but didn't buy one. Actually ordered (on Sunday) a Strymon Clouburst having been talked into it by Paul White. Lots of good stuff and good people to hang with. Went for monster meat meal with Mike Gorman and Starsky Carr and Mike's mate who plays the trumpet but due to my old man brain I've forgotten his name again. Saw Nick Rothwell, Kim, Diana, Dean, Dave Spiers, Keith, Tony, Nick, Chris of MIDICake, Tom, Simon, all the SOS crowd, Paula, Rik, Matt, D-Man, George, Damian, shit running out of names although plenty faces remain. No Nick Batt or Gaz this time. Oh yeah, saw Lektroid, John D, Steveo, Andy F, some guy who said he knew me but didn't see again, Chris Cabbage, more, more. Talked a LOT. Missed Cabs talk due to talking myself. 

Gonna assemble a list of eurorack modules to sell and find out which, if any, Matt wants to keep as he's had them for ages. Horrible rainy Monday here, Cloudburst (pedal) arrives this afternoon so may spend morning on Liminal Entity after a long layoff. Gonna start again I think and see how it flows.

The MPC track I did yesterday (Sunday) was interesting as I think I found a way to use the RND, grabbing random bits into a drum program then triggering them into clips. The long audio clip thing is only ever gonna work if I create blank short empty clips to switch to because the only way you can end one prematurely is to start another. They still didn't fix the slider to ext MIDI volume big either. No idea what is fixed in terms of my needs. Anyway, gonna use drum programs and trigger things that way and see how that workflow suits me. 

The Cloudburst arrived and very nice it is too. Seems to add a tasteful chorus on top of a shimmering reverb turning pretty much anything into the echoes of a symphony orchestra in a large space. Tried the Atrium through it but I think its middly tones are less suited than the Reface CS I was using to control it. And now, almost by accident, I seem to have made the perfect small ambient setup of interesting things. The Atrium continues to go through the multiple delights of the HX One then to be captured or further processed by the SP-404. The Reface now acts as sound source as well as control source, going through the Clouburst to create these dense washes. Even used the looper in the Reface for a bit and the SQ-1 to add extra movement to the Atrium. Those together feel like a complete and powerful system that's both hands-on and able to go into lots of places. The distortion algorithms of the HX work really well with the Atrium although I doubt I'd use those for ambient (!) - the stereo looper in it is nice though, although I noticed the loop decay isn't as smoothly achieved as the DD-20. 

Recorded a wee ambient thing today (Wednesday) using this setup. Hard to fault it actually. Sure full-sized keys and a sequencer or arpeggiator would be nice but the CS has such a nice easy layout and FX that, through the Cloudburst, just makes so much sense for this. Switching the Atrium in and out of MIDI mode to play it then colouring it with the HX and adding whatever FX I want from the 404 gives a vast range of tones - and I can capture into the 404 if I want. Must stop accidentally hitting the bottom pad though for skipback recording as it's not really needed most of the time and maybe the looper mode would be more useful. Would be a lovely setup for a church or other space where just gentle tones are required. 

Tonight it's that thing at Darwen with John. Gotta take him home to Longridge afterwards, which rather takes the shine off it. Then it's Holme Fell tomorrow with Tony, my turn to drive. Looking forward to a chilled Friday though, missed it last week (and needn't have!). 

Hodge Close pix (I took a lot)

Traitors ended on with a rather unlikely two episodes that suggested, to me at least, that someone had had a whisper into a clueless ear of where to start looking. My Friday afternoon was fabulously chilled and I'm listening to the results as I type this. Still dealing with the repercussions of our 'decision' to turn the water off at mum's. Pat was sick overnight - from both ends. One of those things she suffers from from time to time. Wish we knew why. Means she's missing her horse sesh this morning too, poor thing. 

Not sure if I'll see Tim today as his lady is here visiting.