Some days alone to play, write and, well, drink I suppose.

 Yeah it's Friday, signed contract for mum's house and preparing for my studio time. Didn't manage to go for weed but will cope I think. 

It was a good day. Worked on a new track, also in Fm, and used the Casio piano a lot. It really works well in its new place and it's just what that setup needed I think. Seem to have recorded a few things, all of which sound pretty good. Today (Saturday) I'll do more and perhaps put them together in Logic. 

Seems like Saturday was good

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/album/spegifo-nunc-taters

Stoned Satyrday night and watching Fackham Hall which being stoned helps. Its writ by Jimmy Carr and today I'm in the mood for it. I didn't get much beyond half-way through though as just wasn't stoned enough. Sunday went to see Jan and then cleaned bathroom, listened to recordings, made bolognese...

Sunday and Pat home in a few hours. Occurs to me that some of the best stuff I've done in a while exists, currently, as recordings into the 404. The Atrium continues to captivate. May ask why they don't let yuo store gestures as thet really make a patch - your little personal recording of parameter tweaks.

had a great sunday in studio playing with atrium

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/album/spegifo-nunc-taters

Pat home soon and I made a nice bolognese

I'm thinking that, in future, I should specify nuns, don't you agree?

September feels like a return to form. Musically. No sign of the Odd-1 yet. 

Got phone screen replaced, supposedly a genuine Apple part but I think cos the guy nicked it out of a phone he had in the shop. Oh well. Jan got hold of David who will provide invoice for gas work. I will contact carport people once solicitor gives me the details I naively left with them thinking they might do something (other than repeatedly ask the same questions) for their fee. Installed Margaret's bed and I think I'll do a bit of gardening now as it's forecast to rain tomorrow. 

Sill no reply from Inmusic about my problem. I suspect I'm not going to get one. 

The week progresses with more of the Margaret saga, gas fire/boiler service and general lethargy. It's hard to start on anything with the constant fear of interruption and I'm wondering what happened to that Odd-1 which I expected last week. I should probably start thinking about firing up the MPC again to remind myself of the bits and pieces I have prepared for the gig but I'd rather play the Atrium. Seems we have everything the solicitors want now except for David's invoice, which I hope will arrive today. Then we can finally get a date for exchange of contracts. That would be one big thing sorted at least. 

Tuesday and I had no mojo at all. Tried some video of Atrium but the camera swap still not happening. No idea why not but fed up with it. Fired up the MPC but was not inspired at all. Using its clips as it stands is utterly useless if they're audio clips - no wonder InMusic never got back to me. Tried the RND thing but got yet more shit from it.Seemed like such a good idea but, in reality, it's boring as hell and I wonder if 5 presses should be enough, or 50 or 500? 

Rainy Wednesday awaiting a mystery delivery from Croatia. Chased Source for an update on my Easel Command and told "next week" which, if it happens, will allow me to use it at the gig. Which would be great actually. Should try and solve that camera switching thing and see if i can get the Sys8 USB driver loaded on my elderly Mac. Admin and faff but necessary. Update: Sys8 USB driver doesn't go far back enough for my Mac OS. However, MIDI works but only when I set the SYstem 8 to transmit on channel 1 as quite a few plugins insist on that (!). So it was working the other day when I needed it I just assumed Logic would rechannalise - dopey moi! Gonna leave camera shite to another day though as there's a Cirklon OS to try.

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!

Atrium joys continue as Summer draws to a close

 And I still haven't connected a MIDI controller to it, although I plan to try that soon. Similarly I'm not 100% sure which FX processor best suits it but may try the 404 again but making sure I get rid of that granular delay from my base set as the crackly nature of it annoys fairly quickly. HX-One possibly still tbe superior option though so more experiments needed.A single effect probably cleaner and simpler and the HX has some nice distortions that, I noticed, sounded really good when flicking through yesterday. 

Monday and the painter guy is doing the front room - hardly seems 5 mins since it was painted last. Anyway, I didn't get chance to try work through my MPC issues but I think towards the end of the week it's meant to turn rainy so should be an opportunity then. Must get together with Tim too and see how he's doing. Missed my sister this weekend and forgot to remind her Pete was here and I wasn't coming. Seem to recall next weekend is clearing mum's house time so t's all go. Hmm, car service tomorrow. Garden needs my attention. The usual. 

Thursday was great. Realised MPC does record MIDI notes when Octatrack is master so what's the Tonverk doing? Worked on P3/JD banks and pleased with what I have and there are tracks on the MPC for things I can play. All good. Recorded some nice Atrium today - into the SP-404. 

Going to keep filling that 404 as it's absolutely perfect for this role. Saves worrying if Blackbox will have an error with recording.

Friday's here and I'm raring to, well, to have a repeat of yesterday's explorations. Reading a bit more on the Atrium discord channel, seems there's still lots planned and to come. Will try and learn what I can in advance of adding more to it!

Good day, Stuff on MPC and Atrium then Osmose end. 

Bank Holiday weekend winding to a close. We cleared mum's house, apart from garden stuff which we'll get in week. Solicitor to sort also but hopefully nearing the end of all that. Recorded more atrium stuff but need to arrange which I didn't get round to doing. 

All in all, not a very productive August but one or two things of note and lots of sketches and general pottering. Obviously main thing was having Pete here and sorting what we're gonna play at the gig, or if not what exactly then the general idea. 

Still no reply from InMusic after promising to review my video. Sorta disappointing but I should not expect a fix anytime soon, I guess.

A proper photographer would've waited for a sunbeam.

Pete coming, should be preparing for our recording session but messing with the Atrium instead

 Oh, and doing a video for Akai explaining why the MPC clip handling is shite

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5hpjV5jY4gM

And recorded some initial noises learning the Atrium

Pete here tomorrow

Quality Friday. Did not get past Atrium to the MPC Ah well. 

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/track/atrium-addict

Pete here and set up Tonverk, looking forward to hearing it in action today. Had curry and my guts are quite confused this morning, almost as if they had forgotten what curry was. Good day Saturday, Pete getting great stuff from Tonverk, MPC misbehaving in that it refused to record MIDI notes while synced to MIDI clock. Some odd shit with the KSP as hitting record on that briefly lit the record on the MPC unlike the MPC itself. Will have to work through that in the week but we'll sort the gig either way. It'll be great. On Sunday Pete sampled a few things to increase his TV collection. He didn't need the Behringer bt played it and it sounded great - just what you'd want for those TD sequences. 

And I'm still in love with the Atrium. Wanna keep playing it. 

Alt fault Atrium Incoming. Oh yes, and ideas are more important than coding (!)

 Yeah, a somewhat radical (and quick) decision given how much I've enjoyed playing with Alt - but one of those small, crappy knobs starting to fail already robbed me of confidence in it, plus there's the on/off envelope thing that will always grate. Rather than get a refund, which Signal were happy to do, I decided to try an Atrium instead. Not quite the same in terms of drone/arpeggiation style, filtering or just simplicity of patching and interaction - but with its own moving, grooving thing going on, assuming I can live with the sparkly lights in my darkness. May need to put it in the brighter half of the studio just because of that. Anyway, that's what I went with and, in theory, it's coming tomorrow. You may think me bonkers and, right now, I couldn't disagree. Time will tell how nutty I am and whether I can master the thing before Pete arrives on Friday!

Did a fault report for the MPC about the bloody annoying way long audio clips are handled. If they ask for a video I have a few on the phone ready. 

Aye, Colin is now in love with an AI code writer, and has declared that coding is now irrelevant but ideas rule. Golly! So I should expect a revision of the Cirklon history, presumably written by an AI too. Won't hold my breath though. 

Oh yes, Colin asked his AI friend to create an image of me looking happy to have playlists in Cirklon. Then added "when stoned". Hoho. 

Wednesday was a great day with Atrium, feeling my way around and cocking up a save of a very cool thing (did record it though). It's a real instrument, feels that way already. RND turned up but didn't immediately sync to MIDI clock.Duncan advised analogue clock and that is working - not so easy getting good loops on MPC as it is on BB though. 

Insta

Hopefully a full-fledged sesh tomorrow. The stuff I've grabbed from RND already useful and once I bring in Atrium, reckon that'll do as my gear for gig.

 

Glasgow here we come, MPC crashes are back and Alt has a fault

 Well, that's Tuesday and today's still Sunday. I spent a wee while today loading up some of the new P3/MPC songs for further work. Good results by keeping the track count low, building stuff into my base DRM kit then adding suitable effects and learning to work around the bug where you don't see anything visible on a long-playing audio clip which is running its full length before ending. 

Got the Real World rough mixes to listen to. Listened through a fair percentage of them.

Went to Glasgow and it were grand. Train was late so got compensation. Drank whisky picked at random, dunno whose instincts got the best but all tasted nice. Took a photo that only caught half the bar but you can see just how many bottles we had to choose from....

Took Izzy back, had a walk with Jan up Jeffrey. On Thursday Rob came and worked on kitchen. He's back tomorrow morning with plumber to finish. May get a Friday as it's supposed to be cooler. As expected the car service light came on. Not sure how many weeks since MOT but it always happens - gonna take it elsewhere for the service to see if cheaper. Didn't hear back from Pascal so he may be upset I missed his call Sunday. Was meant to be Pete here this weekend but we're really not ready and the guest room is still full of shit. 

RND is coming although no actual shipping date given, just that they received it. Fancy doing a gig with just that and Octatrack, making shit up against whatever it generates. Then again fancying doing a gig and being bothered to leave the house are so often very different things.

A good friday. Did a new MPC track with some interesting shit going on. In Cm so usable when Pete comes. Will do some work in Logic tomorrow I think, beef it up since I was hearing with the rather good Zoom compressor on. 

This arrived. And was well received.

One of the Alt's small filter knobs is crackling. Not a good sign. And I don't think there are any others around to replace it with. Bugger. Oh and since 3.9.1 the MPC has definitely been less stable. Yesterday's thing sounded good but as recorded into Zoom with compressor on, is actually very quiet so I'll maybe need to leave that off. Live and learn.How I wish that were true.

 Weather seems to be cooling off at last. Very welcome, had best night's sleep in ages last night. 

August is so often a sad month

 Don't you think? It's the last month of summer and, in theory, one of berries and apples and the nights drawing in. We've already made jam in July though and our apples are looking pretty good, what with all the sunshine. This week's meant to be hot again so hopefully I'll still get some time to think about preparing some material for when Pete comes. Pascal has been in touch and wants to do some collaborating too, so that'll be good. 

It is Monday and I was up early walking the dogs. It's nice cos you then have a better chunk of the day, although Broc was holding his leg and not looking well as we got home, something I've seen once before. Ongoing Margaret saga I won't bother writing here as my blog's been miserable enough lately. 

An excellent day. Tim's P3 driving the JD-XA gave me instant sequences - even sent patch changes that worked so I was pretty much ready to start. I remember starting a few things when I thought the other P3 was wonky. Anyway, now have three starter songs in Cm so the Ideation prep done and to be developed and embellished when Pete here  Added P2K for MPC to sequence then the MPC can do a few bits on top of all the MIDI and audio loop grabs. P3 fixes everything. I can grab the P2K noises for the gig to save taking it if necessary. 

Tuesday felt a bit limp and I trimmed trees until the garden bin was full before having another Alt sesh. For a good while it produced nothing but mulch and I repinned the whole thing a couple of times in search of inspiration. Then, just as I was about to power off, it began producing this sweet and magical melodic flurry. I captured it but it made me realise that it's far less about the connections than it is about making very subtle changes to the movement speeds and depths to stimulate the arpeggiator. Compared to all my other synths, this one stands alone for insisting on the tiniest of changes and listening before doing more - not even the Synthi is this detail-obsessed, although it's the one that comes closest. I did some stuff on the Cric too, just continuing to explore the patch with the envelopes passing on to each other which is still yielding delights. 

Wednesday and I got a short MPC sesh in trying out some new P3 patterns along with the same formula of JD-XA and P2K. I also notice pervasive aftertouch between the KSP and Minilogue XD. For the time being I set the XD's init patch not to respond to it but I need to do a proper analysis of the KSP's output and possibly report it as a fault. I really wish they had made it with a better quality keyboard, as I do the XD itself. Cheap shit plagues us all. 

Quite pleased with that action shot from this morning.

Also quite pleased with Friday afternoon's creation, again using Logic to refine slightly. 

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/track/three-pins

Doing round robin stuff with Cric, Alt and Synthi, which seemed a darn good idea. 

Cyma Forma Alt ends a patchy July on a high

 Monday is the day it arrives and I've already sent an update request. All this stuff with the envelopes led me to believe the buttons could trigger the new envelope modes - but the manual says no. For some reason only via MIDI and the arpeggiator do the envelopes kick in. Wtf? So while I was asking for stuff, I requested the LFOs change from square to triangle from saw to triangle, like the MS20. Never liked square waves as modulators. Possibly can't do though as the LFOs are analogue.

Tuesday and hopefully I'll get some time to play with Alt. As out chap didn't come last night getting Tim's help to move settee back into front room. Pat has noticed the hall and front room flooring are different so she wants the hallway one replaced... it never ends. It's EMOM tonight and I did briefly consider playing with Alt but as I have yet to properly have a go, that seems a bit silly, even for me.

Nah I decided to stay in after a few beers and a baggie with Tim. I like the Alt very much though. Did this as my first captures. https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/album/alternate-title It's NOT an album.

Today I explored Alt's MIDI, which was less fun than yesterday's bout of just playing it. Setting envelope values will probably work if I use Cirklon's Track Values and maybe sending a chord on channel 4 will work well too, as well as using channel 3 to transpose. Tested the envelope follower and so-called Buchla modes too but limited appeal for me. Tomorrow back to regular playing as that seems more natural.

Thursday was an excellent day with Alt, recording then starting a Logic song with some arranging to do and overdubs. Added a few gongs and big boomers too and will finish tomorrow before I get stoned. I'll have a longish piece of drones and shifting textures of a very particular type. Already have ideas for what I'll add in the three remaining bridging sections. 

Well, I ended the month with this. So I got a couple of decent things in July after all when it seemed like I'd get nothing at all. Used Logic again. 

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/track/a-long-way-off

The ongoing process analysis & Cirklon Battery Replaced

 Yeah, I seem to be stuck in a cycle of being unable to do much because of my breaking down of how I do things. Not healthy but also not good to be stuck in the aircond room just because of the fact it's cool enough. Today the Kenton MIDI Thru was randomly powering off and no idea why. Have removed the RD9 as I was really getting tired of its sounds. The TT-606 is simpler and fresher so it's that plus ER-1 at the moment with the Arp and Wavestate still doing backing. The advantage is that both Arp and Wavestate allow per-pattern MIDI channel assignments so I've been playing with that. I do miss having the KSP run the Wavestate but I might assign the Proteus to it at some point, even though I'd prefer the (dead) Morpheus. Oh well. Hopefully it'll get cool and I can use setup 1. If not, I'm going back to MPC and just work on some material. 

Things I'm bored with now include the GR-1. I have tried to like it since the revamp of its menu/save system and just pine for how it was. Naming stuff is a PITA and saving stuff seems way more complex than the simple shift and perf combination of before. Navigating to a menu option before you switch off is also annoying so I may sell or swap it. Tested recording the Zoom and transferring files via USB and it does record muted tracks, which seems daft, plus you have no option to gang tracks 1&2, 3&4 as stereo - they're always mono. Doing anything on Ableton with the files is also a drag compared to Logic and its large screen and familiarity. I've tried but don't like Ableton either. Too old for change?

Anyway, that was Wednesday. I filled the garden bin so not entirely wasted the morning but the afternoon faffing in the studio felt like I was searching for something I'm not sure I need to find. My cold still present but has entered what I hope is the final dry cough stage...

Thursday started well, although felt weak after walking Broc. Was gonna make tea, the jambalaya, but Margaret was wailing in her flat about the door and basically lying on the floor making it quite clear she's losing it. Pat brought her home but she's struggling to walk (fall yesterday) and gonna try pain killers. I fear she may be back here again but it's also clear she can't continue where she is. Anyway, abandoned simple MPC sequening JD-XA setup as it wasn't really very inspired. I hope it's cool enough to play the Osmose tomorrow. And I don't get called away for some emergcncy or other.

Yeah, new battery after 4.5 years. Hopefully this is a good one - will check its voltage when I power up later.

Well, I played the Osmose and made this by recording drectly into Logic then editing rather than recording more. Further editing can still happen.

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/track/abstraction

I fired up the video camera also. For some reason it split into two.

Oh, and for reasons (I'm not totally sure why but blame Jez Creek), I ordered a Cyma Forma Alt. I think it was the software update that swayed me as t gives proper envelopes (something I always wanted on the Lyra), plus the fine tuning and scales. I had dithered the day before and lost the slightly cheaper one at Juno but got what seems to be the last available anywhere from Signal. Reasoning was I'd saved money on the Easel. 

Saturday and Tim's not here, his lady is with him so I may get a studio day after all. 

Well I did and spent some time on setup 3 moaning about Cirklon to Colin. I think he listened and proposed a couple of visusualisation possibilities for my overdubbing into long patterns issue. My recording was shorter than yesterday and I did not go back and sort a few of its issues. Shows me my new idea of how to progress is sound. I will leave this here to remind me of the two paths.

https://wilyepeyote.bandcamp.com/album/subtraction

Sunday the guy's meant to be doing plywood ready for floor sorting tomorrow. Really ready for all this to be done. My Alt is arriving tomorrow also so it'll be headphones at first unless guy finishes floor in the morning.

Where to go from here?

 It's the question I've been asking myself since being exposed to a real studio and skilled professionals who played sober, unstoned and note-perfectly whenever called upon to do so. Should I be drawn back into the DAW world in order to raise my game or is there some other way? Does it really matter if I enjoy pootling about as I always have? Half-way houses include things like the Zoom mixer that records all its inputs, all of which eventually takes me back to a screen and mixing and producing. Or maybe I do it that way and only go back and work on the jams that have promise, which yesterday's didn't (now I give them the sober Saturday play). Still not unhappy though because I was working again and the air conditioner made it possible. Using the TT-606 as master clock is probably only a short-term thing though, will probably put Octatrack back or some other simple clock source. Or maybe that's where the DAW belongs... 

Yeah went back to OT. Now looking at a mixer solution that will incorporate multitrack recording and therefore replace the current Behringer mixer and the Zoom R24. 

Decided on a Zoom L6Max. Even if it doesn't prove my ultimate solution to rule them all, it'll do nicely as a small recordable mixer for live and I'll initially use it in place of the R24 and main Behringer mixer in that room. It wIll free a load of space and give me the power to record as and when I want, even using it as a muti-channel input to the laptop with my Live setup. The R24 can move into the other room and be a mixer/recorder for the small corner setup maybe.

Probably more important though is how much my process changes or indeed can change. A lot of my improv stuff could already be done to Logic and refined yet I rarely do. Gonna have to think a lot about the gains and costs - and even if I want to work more sober/unstoned just to produce music with supposedly fewer obvious flaws and generally better production values. I mean, who am I doing this for?

A quality Monday combining MIDICake Arp with Wavestate. Sending all tracks to global track then splitting each part by velocity of key range proving most excellent. 

Tuesday I tried the Zoom - wow it's tiny! And does indeed seem to do its job and all outputs available to Ableton - so I may not even need its own recording but do selections on Live as multitracker. We'll see how it goes.

My tree still looking good

Did quick test of recording direct to card and then to Ableton with the Zoom as audio interface - good in that mode I can easily choose which inputs to use for recording. Haven't tested yet whether the L6Max records muted tracks. Would seem silly but who knows?

I think the L6 Max is gonna work out very well. I dithered before buying but it has freed so much space in the studio it's worth it just for that. Felt a bit rought today though so didn't do more than a few tests. Got poor Becca's cold, so I have. 

Real World

 Wow what a place
OK, wish I'd not brought the MPC.It's not fast enough for this kind of thing but fortunately I did bring the Octatrack. No room for the DFAM and Grrind yet but will take one of them in today and squeeze it in somehow. Will search for a few decent sounds in the MPC and get tracks ready to play. 

Tuesday now, just today and tomorrow to go. Yesterday I sorted my Easel Command deal, which made me happy. I also played grand piano on a track (very simply) and squelchy synth on a reggae track as well as some weirdness to Andy's track (which I got lucky recording since I cocked up the monitoring and did it without hearing). Overdubs and tidying/arranging today. The girl Becca is incredible - not just as s singer/song writer but as a pianist. Predict she'll go far. 

Thursday and I'm home - drove back last night in the fractionally cooler air and made good time cos roads were quiet, probably due to England match. Lots to process but I'll come back to that. Meanwhile, the last of the photos

OK, up early on Friday morning. Yesterday I installed the air cond and hopefully secured the window fitting - may need a pipe extension yet, we'll see. Does seem to really do its job, so hoping for a proper test this afternoon.

Back to RW and I woke with some thoughts. 

Really wish I'd had time to prepare a song for everyone to work on. I think that'd have made a big difference to how comfortable I felt amongst all those people who could play so well. I also think that for the kind of music being worked on, I needed to try and fit in with stuff not covered well already. My grooves were a bit pointless given how good the two drummers were and there's no denying the MPC is just too slow to use in that environment, its synths just not interesting-sounding in comparison to the magic Otso was able to summon whenever needed. The Octatrack was OK but, again, I was making up patterns from scratch and as everyone was basically ready to do a take all the time, the fact I only heard my patterns for the first time when I faded them up during recording was too seat of the pants, even for me. Some things worked, others didn't. Having the Trigon-6 saved me from being completely unable to play owt and I guess a few synths of my own plus weird shit like the Soma Pipe or other distinctive instruments/FX would have given me more scope Even something I knew well like the MS20 would have been a godsend. Anyway, I muddled through and learned a heck of a lot about how these things work. If I were invited again (by no means certain), I'd do it very differently. Oh, and working with headphones, doing my own mix of every performer (including myself) totally blew my mind and took several days to even get close to hearing properly. With my back to the Protools display I had no idea of my levels compared to everyone else so had to work basically deaf and blind. So yeah, I don't think I represented myself too well, especially as I couldn't hear the Octatrack loops at all until given a MIDI start command, which only happened as we were about to start recording. No idea what everyone thought of me but they probably put me down as a bumbling amateur, which is how I felt sometimes. Fortunately they were really nice, kind and supportive cos they're lovely people. I confess I'd like to do at least one more so I could bring something to the table - sadly all the Margaret stuff in the lead-up, plus the bloody house renovations totally screwed me. Oh well. 

 

End of brain dump :)

Woke this morning with Becca's soft piano tune going round my head. No idea what I'll do musically today except it'll be in the cool part of the studio. Oh and PRS was down so any gear treats I get to console myself will be minor - an FX pedal or something (maybe the Soma Warp or Strymon Timeline MX). And since everyone plays for 15 mins at a trot without changing, would definitely take the RC-505 looper so that I don't go insane trying to match that. :)