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My beginner notes on electronics, synths, music, and underground streams
connecting them all.
12 February 2022
As cliché as it is, where does the time go? For whatever reason I constructed a mental hurdle to write in this journal, though (of course) the technical solution took about ten minutes to set up (Emacs with tramp into tilde.team). I guess part of it is that I wasn't engaged with Gemini lately, switching OS's and not re-installing Elpher. But on all other counts I value journaling, and maybe avoid it with a mistaken idea that it's tedious. When I'm actually doing it I don't feel that way.
Musically a lot has changed in the past year! And I'll try to give a quick recap.
When I left off here last February I was deeply into Wren, which I had found searching for software modulars. I don't recall exactly why I was looking for them; after learning about Orca (which I guess I discovered browsing 100r) and trying it with LMMS, it didn't take long to start with Wren. I think I might have heard about VCV Rack first, but it didn't work on my laptop because of OpenGL (this was when I was still running Windows).
Getting into synths, I started watching a lot of YT videos and learning about gear, and idly considered buying a hardware synth. But I was sort of against it, thinking I should just use Wren or some other software at first.
At the same time I was browsing Dusty Strings daily (which I had been doing since around the Summer of 2021), because I felt I was ready for a better guitar. For a while they had a 000-15m new in stock, but I didn't feel comfortable going in-person to try it, and eventually it sold. Fast forward to early May, and one popped up used, At this point I was vaccinated and DS was doing in-person by appointment, so I jumped on it, tried out about five guitars including the 000-15m, and bought it that day (though at first I liked the Seagull Folk better!).
About a month before that I had joined lines, which I had been reading before because of the Orca thread, when someone posted a Wren topic. Through lines I learned about Norns, which became more and more interesting, and when stock of it returned in June I somewhat impulsively ordered one. I figured I needed some kind of controller for it, and for fun and to save a little money I ordered the Adafruit NeoTrellis kit too.
So basically I bought an expensive guitar, and then promptly started buying electronic music gear...well at least I could play the guitar into Norns!
I hadn't totally gone off the deep end at this point though, because I avoided buying the DSI Evolver that showed up on Craigslist that Spring. It's kind of strange how certain hardware strikes your fancy and others aren't interesting at all, when you haven't even physically seen or tried any of it. Nevertheless I was certain the Evolver was for me. Something about its described strangeness, flexibility, uniqueness, spoke to me.
Meanwhile I was starting practice on guitar with the Lead Cat beginner book. It began well but I only lasted a few weeks; I went on vacation and when I came back practice was over. Of course I still play daily, though I'm much more likely to pick up the Giannini. I think my mind is revolving back into a practicing mode, and it has a lot to do with yet more new gear.
I know I said this would be quick, but hey, it's my journal right?
After switching OS's I had a go with running Wren on a new to me PC (bought around Christmas time after an eight something hour compilation of Emacs on Windows -- I'll try not to wander too far from the topic here), but it was more of an experiment.
At this point I was spending a lot more time with Norns. I picked up a preamp, needing something for miking my guitar. The logic (ha!) of another musical voice to accompany Norns made more and more sense, and conveniently I also had found Patchwerk's used gear shop. Lo and behold, another Evolver appeared, and I bought it pretty much instantly in somewhat of an out-of-body experience.
On a sidenote, during that Spring I found cb's Noisecloud while searching for a Soundcloud alternative, and that watered the Fediverse seed. I think I was already following a couple of people, and adding a few more made getting an account more appealing.
So now I had Norns and the Evolver, and with a guitar setup it was a short step to a mixer/interface. I'm sure browsing lines trade daily didn't help if I was trying to avoid consumption (which I guess I wasn't). And naturally I soon realized how great it would be to have a polyphonic voice in the mix. A month and a half later, I got the NF-1m from lines trade. Why the NF-1m? Again, like the Evolver, something about it clicking with me, though it's all very abstract of course. Now that I've had it for a few months I like it overall. It pairs well with the Evolver, the interface is good. I'm not as happy with the output -- the sound is good, but it seems a little more delicate when over-driving it, unlike the Evolver which is kind of a beast. Maybe it has to do with an analog vs digital signal path? I don't know if there's an analog or hybrid polyphonic synth with the NF-1m form factor and price.
Playing the synths, and some new apps like Koala, I was into the idea of getting some kind of controller more expressive than the NeoTrellis. D happens to have an Akai 249 which he never uses, but I was already a little pressed for space. Somewhere I found the Linnstrument, I guess either lines or YT, and in the back of my mind I had the idea I'd get something like that 'eventually'. Funny enough I just saw that I emailed PAE a link to it six years ago! I wonder where I saw it?
Well, 'eventually' turned into 'next month', and I've now had the Linnstrument for a couple of weeks, and it's great, basically. To return to what I said about getting back into practicing mode, because the Linn makes it easy to see note intervals and keys and so on a lot of music theory now makes sense or just seems more natural to understand, even though I've studied that stuff before. As a result I'm practicing basic things a lot more on the Linn, and I'm feeling the pull to do that on the guitar as well.
On a practical note, I finally needed to get off the floor, though that was easy and worked well enough for half a year. I'm really happy with how I organized the new setup.
I could say more, but there's the old saw about leaving off when you have more to say. Maybe that will be a reason to journal more? We'll see.
wakyct@tilde.team
