notetoself.net

it’s hard to concentrate on work and school

but this station helps me focus. http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh200531185537022814
and sometimes it just puts me to sleep.

somewhere over the rainbow backwards and forwards

tara busch is also a synth godess. in my next life, i’ll be her oscillator.

oh man, i have johnson envy.

it’s battery powered!

i really do want an old casio. i like the 4 bit sounds.

i’m pondering getting a mac

for so many years of my tech-aware life, i’ve heard the term “mac user” as negative… like a baby user that needs it’s hand held. after OSX, the system seems more robust and flexible. besides the general intuitiveness, it should allow me to satisfy my tweaking fetish. i’m becoming aware that there are apps for most everything i would want to do now, but, of course, the driver development for mac is still generally second priority to windows, and i might not be able to use all my peripheral toys.

i’d been looking for a non-partisan guide to mac for “power users” so i can apply my knowledge of other systems and just learn the new names and paths that are used for mac. this link seems to be what i need, but i’m only part-way through. http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx.

so, before i actually go buy another $$$ toy, i’m putting together a list of pro/con to making the “switch” (or rather merely adding mac to my electronic farm).

what reasons mac might work for me?

cons

i’m just rambling on, but i’ll come back to this to reexamine my motivations. my next system will either be a grey cheesegrater or an audio-studio optimized PC.

analog wins today

my old ARP Omni-2 sounds really good to me. i’ve been playing with new synths alot for the past few weeks.. mostly just listening to the preset patches and doing some basic tweaking… and it wears on my ears somewhat. most of it hasn’t been inspiring. i just found some samples of my old ARP (which i sold on craigslist for less $ than the audio cables i use on the new synths), and the sound is more rich by a level of magnitude. it was pure analog with lots of noise from the old, dirty circuits. the sound was more complex, warm, organic and tangible. each development in modulation sounded more like experiencing a sunset over the pacific than merely seeing it in a home theater as a wireframe 3d animation like my virtual analog synths produce.

damn.

an old friend dared me to do it

this song was something i played 15 years ago at christian “fine arts festival”. don’t judge me.

the jigsaw of electronic audio synthesis is coming together for me

it’s at that point in putting together a puzzle that there are enough pieces connected that the speed in placing the rest is logarithmically faster. i’ve got LFOs modulating my FM noise and filter resonance overdriving my oscillators.

this pretty toy comes in on thursday.

PCM audio

this is fun. here’s the PCM signal from my computer’s digital output. it’s nice to watch it flowing by, knowing how the signal is decoded. looks nicely non-distorted too, but the scope isn’t high resolution. someone recently told me that, across the sciences, a wave is a wave is a wave. the understanding that i gained of signal distortion and types of data transmission from some semi-advanced wireless networking classes is rolling over to analog and digital audio. next, i’ll compare the signal output from a cheap and expensive DAC.

synthiness

the pendulum of my attention seems to have swung back to synths for now. i’m focusing on learning FM synthesis now, and i’m thinking about putting together a modular system (although i have no XP with that yet). there are some diy kits for modules, and i am also learning electronics at the same time….. probably a good way to go. the nord stage synth section will do for now along with various VSTs. i have a PC based oscilloscope coming in next week, and that will give me visual and numeric reference to the perty sounds i’m making.

all my building projects and geek hobbies are taking all my time. that’s ok. i’ve had enough social life for uhh… a lifetime. the coming of spring will probably undo all that focus, so i’m just going with it for now.

the kewlest DIY synth controller i’ve seen