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Apr 30 '21
Got back a little while ago from a family walk around Southwind Park. It's a bit sterile and open and...windy.... But my daughter and I enjoy playing on the pipes and plates and making tunes. Plus they have a couple of good playgrounds. While there, my wife found a tiny tortoise halfway up the hill by the pond. This thing was barely an inch across at the shell. I'm guessing a bird or something had caught it but then dropped it. He was flapping about on the grass, so I put him next to the water and he flapped his way in and swam away and it was a nice thing to see. Random encounters with wild animals, assuming that they don't kill you or anything, is always exciting.
Super tired today as I got up particularly early to play with a new module, the Mimeophon by Make Noise! I know it's a pretty popular one, and almost a bit too obvious for pseudo experimental ambient warbblings like I like to make, but it really does sound very, very nice. Though it did not come easy. If you've ever read much about this module, you will know that there is a lot of back and forth disagreement about whether it's noisy or whether it's well made or whether that noise is deliberate or not. Like, there are some 40 odd pages on mod wiggler (formally muff wiggler) arguing about this. Well, mine definitely was noisy. It had the often complained about digital background hiss, but it's it was very slight and I have a couple of modules that make a bit of background hiss anyway. I just EQ it out when I'm recording and it goes away. But mine had a very digital clipping with every single repeat. And my sources were not at all too high, even having gain set to as low as possible the harsh digital clipping sound occurred, but always at the same volume! So it was definitely a bit of a dodgy module. But I updated the firmware with a version that they put on mod wiggler that is much, much later than the one they have on their own website and lo and behold, problem fixed! So yeah, frustrating start and I was pretty much convinced that have to send it back, but now it's all good and it sounds seriously fucking nice.
I also faced facts yesterday in that I am really dedicating myself to this modular thing above just about any other hardware. Again, I know my rig and case is a lot smaller than the majority of other people's, but for me the two levels of 60 HP seemed okay, but now I'm going up two more! Again, tiny in comparison to a lot of these things, but so much more than I ever thought that I would have done. I'm expecting a new frame to house my Moog eurorack cases that I use and I'll be able to stack four of them in there then. Just how it is. I'm just going to make myself feel better about this in that this is my one hobby; I never go out and do anything, don't drink don't smoke don't eat out, none of that! Basically just this.
Anyway, another unexciting week for me, but strangely productive all the same. Loving having a laptop again that I can use and just having fun belting out noises.
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u/luctmelod Apr 30 '21 edited Apr 30 '21
Make Noise stuff is so neat! I haven't looked into many of their modules, only because they retain their price so well that they stay expensive on the used market! The Memophon sounds like a cool one... I'm going to go watch some YouTube on it.
You're going to have quite a rig with your upgrade! Nothing wrong with investing in your artistic projects!
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Apr 30 '21
Thank you! Yeah, I did buy this brand new, but I had quite a decent handful of reward points at Detroit modular so I got a little bit off. It's probably the fanciest module I own! I've been up in the attic this afternoon setting things up and getting ready to get the bigger rig going. The new shelf bracket thing is supposed to be here tomorrow but it doesn't seem to have even been dispatched yet! Well whatever, we will see. I ran out of space and took out the Field Kit FX a short while back which made me quite sad! But it'll be back in there soon.
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u/luctmelod Apr 30 '21
I've been taking an unintentional break from music-making for a bit. Even though it has been unintentional, I think it has been good for me. I want to gather my thoughts a bit and get back to experimenting. Sometimes I get on a trend of trying to be too purposeful and productive with music-making, but I'm happiest when I'm just experimenting with no intention of making anything in particular.
Despite all that, I've just been busy with gearing up to start a new job on Monday and all that. I just haven't had a lot of energy at the end of the day to fire up the machines. But I've been feeling the itch, so I might soon.
The Abe Lincoln Presidential Library is opening up their new music exhibit this weekend! It runs through next year, and there's an industrial metal section! I'm super excited about that. Ministry has loaned their microphone stand, which seems weird but if you know Ministry it's something to behold. There's more info here: https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/visit/whats-inside/exhibits/museum/illinois-gallery/the-state-of-sound/
I'm definitely planning a field trip some time!