Noisetheorem

Born at 3:32 PM this afternoon. 7lbs 14 ounces and 21 inches long:

http://picasaweb.google.com/noisetheorem/TrentLucas20090624?feat=directlink

Its been a very long night. One of many to come. Mother and baby are fine and doing well. Dad…not so sure yet.

Leave it up to Ableton to screw up something as simple as MIDI step note entry.

the point of step editing is to have your hands on the keyboard, and have it AUTO STEP AS I PRESS KEYS. not PRESS AND HOLD A KEY AND THEN HAVE TO HIT KEYS ON THE PC KEYBOARD TO RECORD THE STEP.    Totally defeats the purpose. It also makes step recording with a drum pad controller near impossible (which gee I guess NO ONE ever does that EVER)

Do sequencer developers EVER look at how other software/hardware works? I mean…Its not like nothing has ever done this before.

I was so excited this feature had been implemented and not to see how poorly it was done is just shocking.  Its actually kinda SAD that this feature is still missing out of any major program, but alas…Live and Reason both cant get a handle on this.  What the hell?

This procedure is not innovative. Its crap.

Of course, I guess they had to leave out something obvious to make me long for Ableton 9.  Fuckers.

Next week, I am going to be in Germany and I may just have to track the bastard down who thought of this implementation and slap him with a rotting fish.  Or something….ARG.

I am so absolutely exhausted and hyped. Two conflicting states I pray this cup of coffee will address.

Yesterday, we played our first show in Chicago with the new band.  Its been a long time since I played in my home town, and a lot has changed (and a lot hasn’t).  I am way to tired to write up a full point by point of how the show went, but Ill just sum it up as it was a great time.  Everything went about as spot on as I could have hoped.  I even remembered where to come in on the song we only practiced once on Monday.

Sean got a couple of his friends to do some professional video of the show, and as soon as he posts it I will link to it here.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us.   The promoter was impressed with us, and we will probably get another Chicago show later this summer.

So, just to keep it straight for myself, I am posting my gear wish list.  Its for no ones consumption but my own.

1.  Korg D888 - Basically, for recording band practices.  This unit is ideal, and actually cheaper than getting an 8 channel interface for my laptop.

2.  Ableton Live 8 upgrade - a million reasons I want this one.  Well, actually just two or three - but they are a BIG 2 or

3.  Native Instruments Maschine - Yeah, watching the videos…I fell in love.  Better than an MPC, and somewhere between FL studio and my Korg Electribes in complexity

And..that’s about it right now.  Not a very big list.  But first, I need to pay off the Omega 8.  That’s concern number one.

It seems like my studio is ever shrinking these days.  I am now considering on selling ‘the old stack’, which is a rack I have filled with some gear that I keep more for nostalgic rather reasons rather than their actual utility.   This rack includes a Yamaha TG500, TG33, Kawai XD-5 and an EMU E64 sampler.

When I look at that list, my first thought is, of course, that there is nothing in that pile that I cant do with other items in my rig. Hell, the M3 pretty much covers all of that all on its own, and then some.  So why keep it?

Pure unadulterated nostalgia.

The first CD I ever produced was basically built using those pieces (though not these exact ones).  The TG33 was the first synth I ever bought right out of high school.  The SY85 (the keyboard version of the TG500) was my first really great workstation.  The XD-5…well, I got that as a bargain close out way back when, and its always been surprisingly versatile.  The E64…It completely changed the way I made music, and I still use essentially the same methodology today.

But I guess its not just nostalgia.  The fact is, that stack is pretty worthless in the grand scheme of things.   I think I could probably see, maybe $300 for the whole rack.  At that point, it almost makes more sense to just store the stuff until it becomes sought after ‘vintage’ gear.  Yeah, that’s gonna happen, right?

And then there is this.  Some day, my son may want to play with some of my gear.  Maybe Ill get him a nice (cheap) SY85 to sequence on and toss him that old rack.  Yeah, he will probably not understand why I don’t just do EVERYTHING inside a computer, and why I bother with this big pile of junk….but whatever.

So I am not selling it.  The net return on my investment wouldn’t be enough to justify the eBay fees.  So there.

(of course, if any of my kind readers were to offer me $500 for the whole lot + the 6 space SKB rack they currently inhabit….I’d probably change my mind.  I am such a chick when it comes to gear…)

Ok, so one of my bandmates and I are thinking of doing a Live PA kind of set, just to jam around with and possibly book a show or two (if we dont royally suck - a definite possiblity).  Being a DJ, his rig is pretty much already sorted - a couple turntables, a DJ mixer and a laptop running x-wax and renoise.  He also has the odd FX box for adding some other sounds and mayhem along with the loop processing.

For me, the decisions is harder.  While he would be mainly tasked with making live beats and processing them, I’d be charged with the more musical side of things - and that leaves me at a loss.  I do *not* want to fall back on the M3.  Thats just not fitting to the form.  My first thought was immediately a laptop….but running what?  How will I interface with it?  How will I control it and make it (at least look) dynamic?

Honestly this is the first time I really wish I had kept my monomachine.  Its MIDI step sequencing  (its instant note access - press a step, press a key to program it) would have been ideal for this.  Thats gone..natch.

I am thinking that this may be the perfect opportunity to bust out Kore 2, which I have used a whole of three times since I got it.  That would give me, essentially, all the synthesis I could need for this.  I’d have great samplers (kontact/battery), great synths (massive/FM8/Pro53/Reaktor) and a high resolution control surface for it (I have the original Kore controller, which could also handle external audio/midi duties).    I could also install just Kore 2 on the machine, and then use my desktop (which has the full version of all the plugins installed) to create the sets.

What to host it inside is another problem.  Kore doesnt have any kind of sequencing capabilities (at least that I know of) so I would need something else to trigger the actual sound.  I have a choice hear of Fruityloops  or Ableton Live 8.  That is a very hard choice.  I could, I supose, run both and use rewire..or take advantage of FL as a plug in to ableton (though that didnt work last time I tried).   hmm..decisions.  I guess ill just have to give both a try and see.

So what does the interwebs think?

On the train this morning…I sneezed.  Having seasonal allergies, this is something that often happens.  I sneeze maybe once or twice and then its done.  I do my best to not to sneeze on or at anyone and its all fine and good.

Today I sneezed and 4 people got up and changed cars.

I HAVE FUCKING ALLERGIES PEOPLE! I DO NOT HAVE SWINE FLU!!  DO I LOOK LIKE IVE BEEN TO MEXICO???

Panic about disease and pandemics really pisses me off.  All you need to do is look at the numbers to realize this is just something to distract us from all the other bad news out there (and getting us to over spend on medical supplies and services).  In a normal flu season 500,000 people WILL DIE of the common flu.  The current swine flu outbreak: 8.  EIGHT FUCKING PEOPLE!!! ITS A MINOR FUCKING RISK!!!!! Remember a few years back when we were all supposed to be DEAD from West Nile Virus?  WELL WE ARE STILL FUCKING HERE!

Yes, I know a child died…and that’s sad….BUT LIFE SUCKS LIKE THAT SOMETIMES!

But today, also, Swine Flu hit home.  My Network Admin decided to take a couple days off because he has been showing symptoms.  And *thats* what this is really about:  Another excuse to stay home, sit on our asses in front of the tube and stuff our guts with Cheetos and corn-dogs (while wearing rubber gloves and a face mask).

So everyone relax..wash your hands…take some zync…fix a double martini just FUCKING RELAX.

Ok, so I am not selling the Omega 8.  Thank you to those that told me I was making a mistake.  It would be a total boner move to part with it.

Just wanted to post that.  Back to making tracks.

Very reluctantly, I am putting out the word that my Studio Electronics
Omega 8 is for sale.  Its in very good to near perfect condition.

Its got the full 8 voice cards, though it only has the stock Moog and
SEM filters installed.  I have pictures I can send upon request.

Priced to move.  Please e-mail me for price and shipping info.  Item
is located in my studio in the NW suburbs of Chicago.

I have lots of references, e-bay, paypal and from various online forums.

I have to admit that I really like Milwaukee.  Its a nice city, a bit more laid back than Chicago and maybe just a little bit less full of itself.

On Friday, my band got to play a show there. It was a benefit concert/battle of the bands for the Brew City Bullies club, an organization that rescues abused pit bulls, while also trying to educate people about the fact these animals are not bad by their nature, but rather its humans who train them to be monsters.  I have personally had some interaction with Pit Bulls, and while they are definitely intimidating in appearance, they were actually very loving animals.   Once I was introduced to them by their owner, they knew me as a friend and I never felt threatened.

Anyway, the show was probably the best we had played so far.  Our set was very tight, the sound was *excellent*, and the venue was super cool.  It was the American Serb Hall.  They apparently have the best Friday fish fry in town, as evidenced by the fact they actually have a drive through and had cars lined up around the block.  Next time I am in Milwaukee, I am trying the fish fry.   They also had a full bowling ally and an ice creme vending machine.  Now THATS a venue.

The one big negative was that I lost my USB stick to the Korg.   I only had one project on there I hadn’t backed up, and I did track the audio for that project already, so its not a *huge* loss…but I am still miffed.  When I started using USB sticks and SD cards for storage, I always had the thought in the back of my mind that these new smaller more ‘convenient’ media types were just begging to be lost.  Well…guess I should listen to my guts a bit more.   I am now using a big 320GB hard disk for my projects storage.  That should be just a bit harder to loose…

I guess I could write more and go into more detail, but it is early on a Monday and I am tired this morning.   Dead tired.  I think its the snow (yeah…freaking 4 inches, and its April….LAME).  At least I didn’t have to drive in it.

I need to finish this and another cup of coffee and then start working.

Oh, and I have video of the show posted to my face book. We will have it up on myspace as well later when Sean gets his router problems worked out.  For now, we have three on YouTube.  Search YouTube for ‘Short to Ground Milwaukee’ and they come up first hits.   I am way to lazy/tired to go link them for you.  You have fingers.  Type.