RPM 2012: Year Of King Richard
Occasionally, between the software, traveling, work and more work, I get a rare opportunity to play the drums. The call usually comes at the end of January, and has become the most welcome distraction in February in years. It’s The RPM Challenge In February 2011, Tim Alexander asked me to "play on a few tracks" [...]
Casio MG-510 Midi Guitar
Back when I documented the repair of the Casio PG-380 MIDI Guitar, I had no idea that this post was going to dominate the traffic patterns to my little home on the web. Fully 1/3 of all visitors to this site come to that post, asking questions, posting comments, and requesting repairs. One request I’ve [...]
Coffee Sack Sound Baffles
Several years ago I began acoustically treating my studio for recording drums and mixing. I did some research and pricing; it didn’t take a spreadsheet to discover that acoustic paneling was both overpriced and hideous. I searched some more and devised a solution that was both economical and classy.Acoustic paneling is simple stuff. You get [...]
Is it Avant Jazz Industrial Noise? No, It’s STFUnity.
Its not jazz. It’s not fusion. It’s not electronic. It’s not industrial. I don’t have a word to describe what happened when musicians of very different backgrounds got together virtually to create music. I can only call it STFUnity. Finished while I was on holiday in India, STFUnity is what happens when an anarchist saxophonist [...]
The RPM Challenge and The Power of Constrained Creativity
It seems like there is a time-boxed challenge for everything out there on the internet. For writers there is NaNoWriMo, for moustache growers there is Movember. Game programmers have Dream.Build.Play. If you do it, there is a challenge for it, and if there isn’t, you can create one. I’ve always wanted to get involved with [...]
Ring Modulator: Prototype to Final Build in One Ridiculous Step
If you’ve been to this site before you know that I’ve been building a ring modulator for Bill Graham to use with his Rhodes for the better part of a year. If I had enough time to do it right it’d take me less than a week, it’d be stable, and I wouldn’t be worried [...]
STFUnity, GOLSequencer, and a Month of Home Repair
Well, it’s been a while so a big rambling update is probably in order here: First, the wife and I made the decision to go ahead with a kitchen remodel we’ve been planning for several years this last month (May). I know the last time I posted was March, but April was busy for other [...]
Ring Modulator: Prototype Take Two
About a year ago I posted an article about a Ring Modulator prototype I had created using 2 audio transformers and some matched diodes. The design was beautifully simple, and I may return to it someday, but it had a number of shortcomings. The circuit I started with would have needed a preamp for my [...]
Making Sense of The Performance Rights Act
This weekend I tuned in to a major radio station for the first time in a very long time, and was greeted with an advertisement I didn’t expect. Instead of load local car salesmen or a screechy techno beat inviting me to a night club where ladies get in free on Tuesdays, I was implored [...]
STFUnity: GOL Sequencer Bank, Sound Design, and New Music
I’ve undertaken a new musical collaboration with a very eclectic (and eccentric) group of guys called STFUnity. The project for me started when Bill mentioned putting together a completely virtual collaboration between he, Jason Blain, and myself. The idea was that rather than the traditional setting of getting a couple musicians in a room, rehearsing [...]
