Podcast and odds and sods

I didn't pick the tracks but I quite like the collection. Seems to be more coherent than a list I'd have picked. It's a collection that highlights my Berlin roots I guess, which is fair enough.

It is further evidence that I am better in collaboration than solo.

https://www.mixcloud.com/DrExistenz/electronic-oddities-47-paul-nagle/?play=fb&fb_action_ids=354251594971674&fb_action_types=mixcloud%3Aupload

Thought for the day: thoroughly exploring a small setup is infinitely more fun and worthwhile than simple plate spinning. Why did I not dare this before? Actually worth a mention here that I always work best when I am deprived of resources. Splitting studio into sections or identities makes so much sense. Amazing it took editing my own novel to see that. Heh!

https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/aitches-and-spleen

Pootling along

A landmark of sorts, I'm exactly half-way through the edit/rewrite of Future Art Factory. Ruthlessly deleting (most of) the embarrassing parts is proving to be energising. Even enough to put the new novel to one side mentally. I think writing Bogus Realities has helped a lot. Amazing to think I started FAF in 2003. I also wonder if anyone will ever suss what it's about?

Things going well generally. I have a week alone soon to get lots done (I hope) and have more ideas now than for a long time. Must have been getting in a rut.

Swapped my CS30 for a Pro2. Very happy too. The Pro2 has a jittery knob which I'll have to get sorted sometime. Hope I get time to learn it properly soon but what I've discovered so far is very promising.

Poor Jasper has blood dripping from his willy. More arse troubles apparently. Antibiotics but other things can be done if that doesn't work. Vet says he's in good nick for 15yo and puts it down to keeping his  bollocks. Hasn't helped me...

Typical (ambient) recording session.

Tim in full flow lit in Kryptonite - sorry Aira - green. Less ambient.

Sunny weekend of beer and noodles

Sunday night, another drunken video. This was before the shrooms kicked in!

As a contrast, here's some of the last batch of library tracks I did. I really must do more - and hope to have time soon.

http://ht.ly/eRHg30adA11

I'm about 25 chapters into the 6x9 version of Future Art Factory. It's taking a while because I'm not just reformatting I'm tweaking. And by tweaking I mean editing, deleting the most cringeworthy phrases, improving the language. Seems I've learnt a lot since 2003, which is actually a good thing I think.

Must knuckle down to reviews I have in. Taking too long cos it's sunny.

Swapping CS30 for Paul's Pro2 this week. May seem a foolish thing to do but I think the Pro 2 will be more of my type of thing. We'll see anyway.

Probably not my most exciting set of pix. OK, scrub the probably.

Is it that time again?

Well, I now have a complete Octatrack/A4 combined project with banks A-I having something of value in. The last two banks, as they break my 'bank=key' rule, are noise or percussion and select percussion patterns on the A4.

Here's a brief part of Bank E.

I am now going through the OT adding program change events for likely ES2 patterns since it's a small thing and easy to include. Throw in a DD20 delay for the Lyra or 101 to do ambient bridges with and I think that's my gig sorted. Won't need the KS4. Actually, might swap the 101 for a DSI Pro 2 as have agreed to swap my CS30 for one with my pal Paul. Everyone says I'm nuts and that may well be true, it's been demonstrated before today. He'll do better stuff with it than me, it is more a player's synth than a funny noise synth. Look, I'm making excuses to myself even before parting, quel idiot!

Pat was away last night so I had a few drinks and made my little vid. Alas, I turned my phone off overnight and my mum tried to get in touch, not feeling well. Darn! She didn't ring Pat knowing she was away too so was proper miserable this morning.

More review stuff arrived Friday, never seems to end these days. More fecking clones. Retirement can't come soon enough!

Here's a crap picture of some frogspawn. Afraid I've not been inspired lately.

Posh new Elektron stands

Well, I like 'em.

And some vids. The UV doesn't reach from the studio's other end though so you can't see my glowy knobs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fSAjn20Tq8&t=3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV28PFYWn3M&feature=youtu.be

That's about it really. Got less done today than planned. I've so far done 17 chapters of FAF editing. The job that never ends ;)

Tomorrows Whirled

Yeah, that post header looks like a failed album title. My week has been one of hospital visits and far less work than I planned. And by that, read basically none. I did a fair chunk of the Morpheus filter review but that's pretty easy to sit and write. Have yet to finish it though. Sequencer review has to be parked for a bit as a new top secret, quick turnaround synth gets top billing. It arrived today and I've been learning it by programming as many patches as possible. No spoilers here, obviously.

So what with visiting my mum, I have not worked on either the FAF print run edited version nor have I touched the new one (except to note down a few of the ideas I have for it in much simplified form). All the characters are shaping up in my head, I have most of a plot, a few sub-plots too. Alas one of my names turns out to be nicked from Dr Who, thought I'd heard it before but thought it was just one of those 'periods' like the Jurassic, Cambrian, Permian etc. Oh well, I'll think of another.

Aim for next week - to go to the gym more than once! Might chase guy about my Elektron stands, had vertigo today from leaning over a lot yesterday. A chasing week - pension guy, you are in my sights. Again!

Monday now and the world keeps on being bizarre. The lead story on the news, going on for ages, is that some film got announced as winning an award, then the mistake was corrected. To me this is the biggest non-event ever but to the BBC it's an excuse for endless speculation, wibble and rambling nonsense. Stop the planet, I want to get off!!

Oh and I have a track on this rather fun podcast. Some great stuff on it, mine perhaps overcooked - an Octatrack improv based on my China recordings.

Another post about the Octatrack

Did I go on about this already? I was experiencing lots of 'mem full' problems with the Octatrack and downgraded to 1.25E. Now I get less - but not none. The trouble with the OT, apart from the massive time suck it always performs on me, is that it is clearly obtuse enough for enough of its users so that proper bug reports have never been filed. If they have and there's reproducible errors, why the fuck is it 2017 and this thing isn't rock solid?

Today I think I will trim a lot of my samples to try and get more for the live project. I can't record long static samples straight to card and am filling the flex memory far too easily by just trying to act like I would with Logic. Ultimately I'm not going to be able to do without the RC-505.

In other news, there's a cool poster for the gig

Pleased that Basil Brooks asked if he could join me, bring his Synthi and make some noises. That should be great fun  - I'm sure it'll work out better than the last time someone guested on Synthi!

I'm adopting a new rule too when working with the Elektron stuff - going back the following day as my first action and verifying everything plays as it should. Yesterday I got a brief time (before a visitor stole my afternoon) to listen to Saturday's thing - and one track of the A4 was wrong. Turns out that in all but 1 of my patterns in bank G, this track was doing nothing useful - so I replaced it with a synthesized kick. Of course pattern G01 did use it properly and thus my intro was screwed. 

Had to recreate patch, store it in my sound pool and call it as a sound lock in that first pattern. This kind of thing is going to keep happening. I still wonder what kind of mentality is behind such nonsense!

Anyway, this was part of my noodlings...https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/bankg

It has the right warbly whoosh at the start :)