Ra-ar.

I want my parcels.

I also wish my back would stop hurting. It's been painful for three days now and if it doesn't stop, I'm going to see the Doctor. However, I already know that the Doctor will merely give me the horsepills and so forth. They never actually check your back, because back pain is something I suspect they just don't understand.

I'd like a door on my spine, please, and I'd like to be able to open it and reposition or replace components as needed. This is the 21st century after all.

Stupid thing is, I'm sure it's hurting because I slept funny to make space for the cat, who appears to take up more space on the bed than another person would.

(no subject)

The power of LJ

As soon as I clicked send, the door knocker went. Korg KOT-401 Octave Module. Thankfully appearances were not deceptive; the new module which I got (which cost 2/3 the entire PME-40X with "in need of service" KOT-401 cost) is like new, no scratches on the plastics, no wear, no bend sliders, and all the sliders move smoothly with no noise. As a result - everything works as it should. That thing is thrash metal in a box.

I shall continue to search for parts to repair the one i have, of course, and perhaps I shall sell it or swap it for different modules. Selling it seems quite attractive as an option right now. I'm very pleased I have a working rig, though, as I picked up the Kramer, plugged it in, and played my little heart out for a few minutes. I've noticed that the more I mess with the guitar, I keep going for the string below instead of the 5th or 4th fret; I think I'm starting to get acquainted with the location of the notes on the guitar. This is a good thing.

Roland GR300 and 505 plus (frankly useless, monophonic) GR100 on eBay - reserve £800.... I think I should hold out for £600 for my setup really, but since I haven't had any offers. I might list it on eBay, but with a reserve of £500 since I'd probably be happy with that. I had a play with it the other day and it is still quite the demonic bit of kit, but I think the modified pickup has resulted in the loss of one of the control surfaces (LFO off/on). I have to experiment. If it has I can always put something in place.

Happy Birthday countb, btw! You shall be *pint*ed at the next available opportunity.

(no subject)

What a lot of fence.

Siani's fence arrived. So now I am waiting for all my Yamaha stuff.

Also, I spotted a rare card set for the JD800 on eBay from a seller I have dealt with before. They wanted 79 Euro, so of course it didn't sell. I got it for rather less (I will only pay up to £30 for a card set) - and it's the rare Accordion set. Perhaps rare for a good reason, but what the card sets tend to do is have a waveform set of samples of said instrument, but a patch card which is almost entirely unrelated - for example my drum sets don't actually have drum patches.

Considering a redesign of the studio where I can return to a U-shape layout. I'm wondering about moving the studio down a floor to redecorate up here, too. Not for a while though.

(no subject)

I go for a cup of tea and find a parcel has been left :D

QX1 and DVDs of old synth goodness. Yeay, much yeay.

The QX1 is bloody huge. I'll drag out some MIDI cables and stuff and try it once I've let it acclimatise. The floppy drive is a design I've never seen with a retractable eject button. I hope it doesn't expire. Light dent in the back, but overall looks pretty tidy.

Now to get back to work and put these DVDs on in the background :D

Why is it so hard

To find boxes large enough for the shit I sell on eBay?

Synth history DVDs - fuzzy, due to being VHS originally, but fantastic. Fairlight! Samplers! 128K RAM for £28,500!

Rock School

Heehee.

So funny seeing people playing the junk instruments I have lying around.

QX1 is a scary beast. I have it doing stuff, sort of, but I need to read the manual. So far it's robust feeling, but slow to respond to menu selections which adds a relaxed feel to programming. Wondering how to use the MIDI patchbay to best effect here, perhaps I can make it possible to patch the QX1 into the MIDI chains and enjoy the silly rigid 80s sequencing it offers.

Repeat function kicks arse, too. Almost as much arse kicking capability as saving your songs on 5.25" floppy disks.

News.individual.net

Nice drive to Kelso, sun out, top down.

News.individual.net appears to be dead. Not amused, but I suppose I'll live. Nice of 'em to put some sort of status page or something up.

Er. I'm sure I had something else to say, but I forgot.

Thrash cello, anyone?

Well, my neighbours and Absolute Twos won't be thanking me, but I pulled the cello out from the hiding place and plugged it into the PME-40X with new Octave V installed.

Fucking.hell.

A touch of distortion on the natural tone, 1 sub octave with a hint of 2 sub octaves, flanger cut back, analogue delay... and WOW. I haven't heard anything like that before. I like. I like a lot. It responds quikly and sounds like the grittiest, nastiest bassline you can imagine, but punchier than something contrived with a synth. There's something very evil about it, even with my pathetic playing (though it masks the odd bow-slide nicely).

The violin was amusing too, especially since something went click in my brain and I started attempting to play a bit of classical music on it (not well, I hasten to add, but well enough that a listener would go "Oh! You're trying to play such-and-such!"). I do like it when things click. Like when professional musicians say that they heard a nineth, and I'm like - duh? - and then I play something on the keyboard and go 'Ooooohhhhh! I get it!'.

Back to the cello - it's been a little neglected since I haven't had time to work on reinstating the tone/volume controls, got a little distracted with other things. I think it has more potential now I've heard this. I will do some more practise in the summerhouse if I get time to be sociable and in the sun.

Got Siani's Talking Heads laserdisc on eBay. w00t. I like this "bottom dropped out of the market" thing :D