/330 - Home Again

There was a time that when asked what instrument I played I would say “Ableton.” Every project began and ended in it (finishes or not) and it felt so comfortable to use. It could do anything. I still think it can, but I can’t because I’ve gotten away from using it. My process has evolved into being only live (or live sequenced) improvisation recorded direct to a stereo master track. Production has never been my strong suit, but lately I have been thinking that maybe I should try again/try it differently. At the very least I’ll get some good loops out of it. Dusted off the material from one of the group collabs and had a go. New mindsets are tough!

/329 - Chilly

Quiet, but nice, anniversary day home with Ash and Emi. It was pretty cold and Ash has been feeling sort of sick this week so we just laid low, ate food, watched movies. I did get outside for awhile to finally finish installing the front storm door. It looks great and would have been done ages ago if I hadn’t made the mistake which required a lot of work and then rework to undo. Oh well. this is how we learn.

Cold, quiet, goodnight.

/328 - Wrapped

Tomorrow is our 5 year anniversary. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long at all. We’ve had so many awesome adventures and know there will be many more to come. Very lucky to have her and so thankful for all we share together. ♥

/327 - Still Headed Left

Nursing this idea along and learning how to make new sounds. The big idea is to have a sample player that can be triggered with gate/cv and midi, modulated, and run through effects. Not a lot different than what my desktop does these days! Still, the allure is there and it’s exciting to learn something new. Not sure what it is — I am definitely not new at synthesis, but modular has always eluded me and never quite done what I thought it was going to do when making a connection. It’s making more sense, but I’m definitely not able to guide the sounds like I’m used to.

/326 - Different Lately

We’re all happy that the woodpeckers are back a lot more regularly since we put the suet out. The hairy woodpecker comes around a lot more than it used to, even if it has to fend off the jays and doves that are typically camping on the platform feeder.

A few weeks ago I saw a large something land in the neighbor’s tree, about 20 feet from us. Managed to grab the camera and get a few shots through the window of this incredible peregrine falcon. Never seen one before, much less in our yard. It just sat there slowly looking around as all the birds made a crazy amount of noise. Haven’t seen it since.

The goldfinches disappeared for about a month, but recently returned in their winter plumage.

We have still been seeing the wren around here and there (and once I even saw a pair together) but he’s still proving an elusive capture. This day I saw him on the platform and when I moved to grab the camera he flew up to the roof to belt out a song. One snap and then he disappeared.

/325 - Left Turn Left

Dove back into VCV rack a bit today and it seemed to click a bit more. Made some interesting drones and thought some thoughts. It might be fun to build (or at least plan) a small sampling/looping, modulation, and effects rack. I dunno, famous last words and all that. I’m likely too capricious for such an endeavor and should stick with my software for things like this.

/324 - More Power, Wires.

New battery arrived (way early!) and it solved the issue with the Twister restarting. Didn’t have much time to make anything meaningful with it, but this is pretty great. (trying to embrace the mess…)

/323 - Mapping the Sounds

I can really feel the winter in the air.

Spent some more time with the iPad, etc today and pretty much confirmed the issue the the Twister was that it was trying to draw too much power. A high-current usb battery is en route to confirm, and it should also allow me to integrate norns. After so long of guitar straight into amp it's been really fun using these things for loops and processing. Also a great reminder that Spacecraft is wonderful. These sounds are mostly noodling while setting up channels and midi controls, testing and tweaking, listening and staring off into space.

It was a lazy weekend and I enjoyed it, even if I sh/coulda gotten more things done. Oh well.

/322 - Diversion and Refocus

I was poking around a few sample players this morning and mentioned it to a friend who said “if this conversation was reversed you would tell me about some awesome app I should try first.” YES. Rigged up this all-battery setup and found a lot of possibilities within things I already had. The only issue here is that my battery (under the ipad) doesn’t seem to provide quite enough power as the Twister keeps rebooting. I’d also like to add my norns but there’s another power issue I’d need to solve. Still — all a lot less expensive that a hardware sampler. It’s good to bounce ideas around.

(ps — it really seems like the camera in my iphone is getting so bad. Really trying not to upgrade, but having a good camera in my pocket is important. :/ )

/321 - Obscured

Pictures and drones of something and nothing.

/320 - All Together Now

All done, and they turned out pretty great! The stitching still isn’t the prettiest, but it felt awesome to sit down at the machine and be confident about what I was doing after all the practicing I did. These also probably wouldn’t have been my color choices, but these were what I had and after all I like them just fine. Wonder if there are white Grolsch grommets to switch out my red “straplocks.” Guess maybe I have to play standing up now?

/319 - Ready to Go, Sew

The last attempt at making an effective hot knife still didn’t work, so I slummed it back to exact-o knife and a lighter. Turned out great! haha The end design was refined (red was the tester, white is the final) to make it smaller, but also stronger around the strap. Feels pretty good now. Just need to sew both ends and thread it up, but ran out of time tonight. I’m a little worried that the webbing I have is too slippery, but will see how it feels once it’s hanging with the weight of a guitar on it. Fingers crossed for nice stitches and stable positioning.

/318 - Tuesdaze

Recorded a bit of guitar noodling from early this morning. Haven’t been feeling very inspired at the desk recently, but still taking the time to try and see what comes out. Busy day. Worked, hung out with Emily, took a walk, played in the yard, dinner, bedtime…

/317 - Clean Cuts

Attempts 1 and 2 to make a hot knife to get clean cuts on the nylon strap. Cutting webbing like this results in massive fraying unless the ends are sealed. The right way to do it is to cut and heat at the same time so no fraying occurs. The first attempt got hot, but the attachment bolt didn’t seem to transfer heat to the blade. The second attempt got the blade hot, but I think the razor edge is actually too sharp so there’s not enough metal contacting the strap at the cut point to melt it. I have one more idea to try and if that doesn’t work I might have to settle for a clean exact-o cut sealed with a lighter.

In the meantime I am still practicing with the sewing machine. I’m getting more consistent stitches, but my lines are still all over the place. It’s hard to concentrate on everything at once. In the end I know that I have all the parts and pieces to bring this together so one of these days there will be a sweet new guitar strap.

/316 - The Very Sunny Day

We got out and saw some family today after a very long time. It was good to catch up in person and Emi was really happy to play with her cousin again. Afterwards the 3 of us took a nice hike around Onanda Park with our cameras. Was surprised it was so quiet there today since the weather was so nice, but the quiet is always appreciated. I hope we get another handful of weekend days like today that we can all go adventuring together before we get into the real cold/snow. Emi and I noticed a few interesting sounds around there that she said we should come back to record so might have to do that together too.

/315 - Just Sew Sew

But getting better! Watched a lot of youtube tutorials and make some progress. Also made a ton of bird nests underneath, but think I figured that out too. Now if only I could stitch a straight line — Probably just use black thread so it’s not as noticeable. Also wish I could manage a nice even pace instead of the machine going into overdrive when I touch the pedal. haha

/314 - Walkabout

It was a beautiful day so Emily and I went for a walk at a nearby nature park with our cameras. Since she got it yesterday she’s been carrying it everywhere, snapping away happily. Since Ash recently got some film back it lit a fire under me to finish a few rolls I have in cameras. She got me the Sprocket Rocket about 6 years ago and it’s got the same roll in it from then. Finished it! It’s not going to be cheap to develop (panoramic and sprocket holes) so I hope that something turns out. I really need to be less precious about the things I shoot on film so it doesn’t take so long to finish a roll. (only a few more shots left on that roll of ?? inside the OM-1n)

/313 - Big Little One

Ash got a bunch of old film scans back today and this was in there. Love this kid so much. Happy birthday to the one who makes me laugh the most! ♥

Was cleaning out recent recordings and found this. Have really been enjoying #just playing guitar, but also missing processing and what comes of it.

/312 - Last Bounty

Emi and I collected probably the last bit of things out of the garden. There are still some unripe tomatoes, but not sure if they will make it due to the increasing cold. We had an incredible yield this year compared to last year, and it sort of scares me to think of what next year will bring! I’d really love an indoor greens garden for the winter, but in case you haven’t noticed I already have a lot of projects up in the air. Who knows, it would be a really great thing to have and maybe probably not as complicated as I think. (maybe)

Emily turns 4 tomorrow!

/311 - Rightside Up

Not sure how creative putting together a kids bike is, but the instructions definitely were. They seemed (no indication) to be guiding me through the assembly of 3 totally different kinds of bikes, each with different shapes, cables/connections, and attachments. Luckily the model we have is very simple so it was mostly a matter of lining things up and making sure everything was tight.

Emily’s birthday is on Thursday and she is going to be so excited! It’s weird how things like this make you notice the passing of time. How can it be that she is big enough and aware enough to be riding a bike like this? She’s more and more independent every day and I’m so proud and it’s so amazing to see, but it’s like I already miss her as a little person and she’ll still be little for quite awhile. Just the way it goes I guess.