jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

ys, I udnerstood it, although in part 1 I ahd to refer back to my handbook of acoustics for help at times, but mainly it was quite clear.... by the time I read it the stuff in the end on computers was quite dated and I don't think I finished the book.... but the stuff on psychoacoustics applied to electronic sound generation was a big influence on me as a synthesist. I used to buy up every book I could find at sued book stores n these subjects.... used books tores, remember those?

EDIT: for reference, I worked as a recording engineer for many years in the last decade and I'm very sciencey about it. I also build stuff for fun. From pedals and simple preamps to whole tube amplifiers. I'm not an EE, but I can read a schematic and quickly get what's going on and I can solve and apply all of the college algebra needed to voice an analog circuit for music. So Dr Howe's book was in my wheelhouse and I remember really enjoying it.

I've really been picturng myself isolated in the scottish highlands lately.... current events make the nmiddle of nowhere look like somewhere to be

PERN!!! the THREADS!!! get on yuor dragons and ride motherfuckers! or better still, teleport and go back in time!

I just cherry picked all the best story arcs of enxt gen recently, went by alien race or topic starting with the borg.... I get it

and I knew you played D&D, no one who loves prog rock can resist dungeons and dragons.... LOL

whoa, 2 great choices

I don't know if anyone did this too but I went for it. I loved season 3 and I've done soem tv work for documentaries so I thought I could pull this off. It was much harder.... wow. I found out about it a little late and had 10 days left to do it from scratch. I buckled down, sat at the piano and thought about theme and stlye while I warmed up my synths, then I broke out my son's kiddie percussion and plastic toy uke.... and I FINISHED IT! Last night. Entered with about 20 hours to spare.

https://youtu.be/jfTShWk6emI

praise and criticism alike appreciated.... I really put my classical hat on at times, stravinsky and wagner especially but with a heavy referential reverence for wendy carlos' clockwork and shining scores as well as tomita's planets and of course blade runner. mmm blade runner. It just felt right to go with that switched on back sound, especially at the end. Its not done anymore and should be. Particularly for robot shows in dystopian futures.

1. Bob was a gracious and friendly guy. I got to meet him as well as Dave Smith very briefly at a NAMM show in Annaheim in my 20s. I wish I ahd synths with me to get them signed.
2. you studdied with Howe? I own that book! Its somewhere in storage with the books I don't keep on shelves all the time. No joke.

neil young's old black has a switch to send a straight wire past the volume and tone pots for example... a stock fender esquire bypasses the tone pot on the 3rd switch position.

okay, LoTR? no comparing. Invented genre PERIOD

But as far as pure writing technique and randomplot twists like actual history? Got was satisfying to the history buf in me whereas LoTr satisfies the mythology buff. Scratches 2 different itches. I'm a guy who reads lots of straight scholarly history and also enjoys a good hsitorical fiction doorstopper like Pillars of the Earth, anything by Bernard Cornwell or the criminally underrated Masters of Rome, especialy the first man in rom and the grass crown. Whoa. Witcher I have not read but might kindle it when I finish this doorstopper bipgraphy of Oliver Cromwell I've been reading aloud to my son before bed.

But over all I'm not a big fantasy fan. I read a song of ice and fire very late because I'm just not the AD&D in the basement listening to Rainbow albums type of musician. I don't keep track of Tor releases. After season 1 of the show aired my wife (then mercifully living, unlike ned stark) had to prevail on me to give a few episodes of the show a chance and then read her copy of the 1st book if I liked it. The people whoa re into hardcore fantasy? Different type of nerd than me. I'm really a scifi guy. More that type of nerd. Azimov, Heinlein, Herbert, Card (and all the other great from pulp to present) and most of all Philip K Dick, Burgess, JG Ballard and William Gibson. Yes I used to reread all 3 neuromancer books every year as an act of religious devotion... I haven't in a while and now I have the Chiba City Blues LOL.

So as of finishing season 3 of Westworld where it goes full on Cyber Punk with all the deep AI psychology insinuating itself into human affairs, sociological musings, pseudo apocalyptic future history, man vs mahcine and yet reliant on said machine plus the generally oppressive dystopian malaise (here updated for the 21st century in an all to recognizable form)? I feel Westworld shames all these fantasy shows and finally picks up the torch from BladeRunner (although the bladerunner sequel was shockingly good and manages to do far more justice to the source amterial than ridley's original for all its power). I also enjoyed altered carbon on netflix, season 1 more than season 2. Watchmen was of course excellent but its more of an alternate hsitory than a future story and, well, superheroes. Love 'em and ahte 'em. Its respect for the original source material compared to the patchy film adaptation was a relief and Trent's score was bang on perfect and really badass even without the imagery. But Westworld. If you have not watched it, do so. All of it. Yes Season 1 is very much a deeper version of the Chrichton film. Just a warm up for Jurassic Park with robots but it morphs into soemthing ore akin to his noval the Terminal Man before becoming the Nuromancer. There are even strains of John Carpenter here. It hits most of the right notes and shames all these sword and sorcery epics as viewing just like Neuromancer's terse and direct style obliterates the scifi that came before while absorbing and homaging everything that was previously great in the genre.

witcher was not as good as early game of thrones but better than later game of thrones. I liked the nonsequential storytelling a lot! All in all its like GOT meets kung fu.... with some of the earthsea books thrown in for good measure.

so is anyone else doing spitfire audio's westworld scene scoring contest? I'm wrapping up my cue this weekend to submit, put my cover song and industrial song on hld. Its been challenging but lots of fun. It kinda late for anyone to jump in as the deadlne is in a few days, but its worth just DLing the clip to fiddle with. I've enver worked on a drama, just documentaries. HARD.

set oscillators to staggered squares/pulses....

you may not be messing with your tone and volume but your tone and volume are messing with you.... removing those pots and the tone cap will change your treble response and output as even at 10 they are introducing resistance to your pickups.... but if you want to go for the bad religion it can be done, the wiring changes will vary a smidge based on where your tone and volume are in relation to your pickup selector (if you have a pickup selector that is). You will basically desolder the pots and replace them with straight wires to the pickup seletor or jack. Should take longer to heat up your iron than to do the work.

Lots of people have tried this mod, most put the pots back in, at least the volume pot.

amendment:

if we're talking bulding is on fire and it doesn'thave to be a guitar or bass I would try to save my 1962 AC30 first followed by my 1980s Prophet 600.... then go back in for the SG. I might grab my frankentele or my silver les paul while grabbing the SG. I don't love them as much but they're harder to replace being a 1 off homemade guitar and a very rare model of Gibson. Not particularly valuable, but you don't see ones like mine so often.

But yeah, my desert island, die rescuing it piece is really the vox, hard to replace these days for what I paid and I've never heard another one of that era that sounds just like mine. Even other ones with the Haddon transformer set and thebass value caps and resistors at a few key points. Mine is particularly spanky and clear even at 10. And I have a lot of emotional baggage with it. It has stories surrounding its adventures.... its caught fire.... I've lovingly maintained it for I want to say 18 or 19 years now. It wasn't my 1st 60s amp. It wasn't my 1st really professional big-venue stage amp even. I started on an ancient pricneton reverb as a kid and had been collecting marshalls since I was 18 prior to springing for the AC30. But this was the amplifier that I plugged into and went "holy shit, I love this! that's my sound." No control fiddling (there aren't a lot of controls anyway), just bang, warmed it up, turned it up and was happy with my tone.

If my house or the studio in philly caught fire I would be so fucked though. We're talking closets full of instruments and gear. Old guitar speakers, studio monitors... Can't save it all.

my favorite SG, just a heritage cherry Gibson SG standard from maybe 2005? has a few little mods like T-top pickups from the 70s and some pot upgrades, a treble bleed on the neck pickup volume control I think. Nothing special but it plays and I love it. I went through piles of SGs for a year before buying this one. It has a particularly good unplugged resonance that you don't run into that often and the neck feel is just right for me.

I've got the SSL2 as I couldn't wait any longer for the SSL2+, will probably get one of those in future, and pass my SSL2 onto someone else.

thanks for the great review above... I'm no longer regretting the wait for my 2+

slightly more awesome than nitzer ebb

DAF! Almost as awesome as 242

everything on ehre is like the pirate code....more of a guideline

my take is that if its a general piece of gear like an itnerface it can go in general, but I don't know what anyone elsethinks.... we don't move psots anyway

I made a red specialized strat, recommend it

waiting for my 2+ :-( preordered months ago :-(

and it woulda be fine to put this in general.... tis is a very general piece of equipment.

I beleive ther's another option for replacement chips, I forget the company name.... they're more mom and pop. They started with the jupiter/pre-106juno filter chip and then branched out to 106 voice chips that don't get melty with red goop and fail... and I think they do some Curtis and SSM stuff too.

You've hit the nail on the head. This is definitely all part of the synth being fully accepted as more than a novelty or niche instrument... you can see it happening just like the knockoff strts and pauls from the lawsuit era. Of course it opened up with early analogs just like no one was cloning les popular models of guitar right away. Novation really opened it up by bringing out the first mass market monosynth for everyone when iw as a teenager. Soup up a wasp and there's the bass station. I love novation by the way. Anyway. You're onto soemthing. But like tube amps being the other half of a rock guitar sound and classic models being cloned and updated ad nauseum by corporate megaliths and boutique shops alike, synths will be a slower burn than guitars. Its cooking now but boy did it take a long time.

Remember after house and techno had gone global and you just couldn't find an affordable analog synth anymore, not even a clunker model in beater condition? And new ones? You had to settle for a nord, jp8000, ms2000 or virus for awhile.... novation stood alone bringing a reasonably priced all analog monosynth to the masses.... whats crazy now is have wave memory/table and FM are finally being appreciated by a wider audience and brought into the 21st century.

behringer actually makes the new curtis chip clones themselves.... not just FOR themselves either. Cool Audio supplies technicians, entusiasts and actually other synth companies! Curtis's widow has given Uli a raft of shit in the press but from a legal standpoint its her own fault for letting the patents expire after he passed away. That's neither here nor there, just saying Uli's cool audio wing already makes gobs of SSM and CEM filter, oscillator, VCA and synth on a chip ICs. Slapping together a bunch of them in a chassis you developed for another product? I want the price point on that monopoly to be LOW LOW LOW even by behringer standards. And Is till wanna know why the pro 1 doesn't come with a keyboard. It just sorta bothers me. I know techno guys and vince clark loved them holding down the bassline via CV, but they're eminently playable too. I eman, eyah ic an hook up a keybaord, but altely I'm back to liking an integrated isntrument if I'm going to play. I just feel all warm, fuzzy and in touch with fully realized isntrument and not a device with a human interface plugged in. I sued to be way different, but that'smiddle age for you!

yes, you get it, Mike. Good example. :)

For me, personally, I've spent the last 10 years wanting Mono/Poly, and if this clone launched with a totally different look and layout than the dream I've had for so long, it would be a tougher sell... but this new Monopoly has a similar layout, a decently-large-enough form factor, it sounds the part thus-far... it's likely 25% of the price of a well-preserved original, plus it has midi, connectivity, it checks off a lot of boxes...

all that with 1 comment.... this is just a mixture of existing stuff they've already been doing. Its built on their "poly D" chassis which is in itself a moog voiced mono/poly rip off, 4 paraphonic oscillators? yup. I want to say that korg used CEM oscillator chips in this one (which they already reissue as cool audio) and I think it shares the SSM ladder filter chip of the poly6 (which they might reissue too, I forget). So not a lot of R&D here. It should be hella cheap. That said I've enver been a big fan of the mono/poly. It sounds good but I'm not a big paraphonic fan (although for the 200 bucks t cost me I don't know why people hate on the poly800 so much, served me well for years til I sold it)... and then the unison sound? Its cool but I tend to want odd numbers of oscillators, I dunno, its neat. I can just tell why Uli picked this one. No R&D needed apart from some gains taging and power supply mods to thepolyD. Now a poly6? That I'd talk about. Its such a specific sound and limited engine that the asking prices are ridiculous, but man does it sound good. If I could get one for udner a rgand? Uli you get my money. Just don't fuck it up like the junomind.

Anyway, to bring it back around, the Juno 6/60s sound amazing. Nobody has launched an analog clone that captures every aspect of that sound or UX yet... which is why Jim is hunting, and why I'm probably going to drop hundreds restoring mine.

yeah, sometimes its a hassle, I think one of the oscillators on one of the voices of my Prophet 600 might need love, just one.... there's one that's drifting way more than the others and you'll have a nice analog, drifty chord going and one note will occassionally be way out. Its a hassle but I'll deal with it.

There's something about the big and sturdy feel of these early 80s boards that's really inspiring too. They're substantial. The new stuff, even like DSI stuff, just doesn't feel as robust in your hands although the feel of synth keybeds has come a long way LOL

Be thankful you're able to get great joy and results you love from a version of the Juno design that doesn't require hunting for parts, DCB-2-MIDI converters, and expensive tech bills. :)

ROCK!

Fight it, brother!

My unsolicited 2 cents: If you're going to give into temptation, do it for a very clean example that would be easier to flip for crazy money in a few years... .

you're right. if I have to have an original juno6 like I've wanted since I was a teenager I should hold out for a good one... I think what Mike Byrd misses with me is that as a kid I took it in my head I wanted certain thigns and said I would get them one day and that day has been here for the last 20 years as I acquire stuff here and there. If a perfectly good reissue is available like the ODyssey full size? Cool. If not I'm looking at old stuff.

To me, the Deepmind is like if someone made a reproduction of a '57 Stratocaster, but added an LCD screen on the body and shift buttons next to each knob... it's a different beast at that point... a better, more versitile, more useful kind of different for some, a distracting kind of different for others.

great points there

I always feel like people who went with a modern homage (not direct clone even, but like a custom classic ac30 with a lot of modern conveniences but a phoney solid state trem/vibrato effect versus say a 62) of a vintage piece they're always jumping on vintage threads to tout it on all the different music boards and groups almost to continue to justify to themselves that its every bit as good as the old piece (this is not directed at you MikeByrd, just general musings because I get this a lot and have been accused of it when I stick up for new stuff).... when the question is really, "is it good for YOU?"

EDIT: I can say the deep mind was not good for me. It didn't provide the experience Iw as looking for on a couple of levels, not just sonics. I can also say that my prophet would not be right for many people. Yesterday I had abitch of a time keeping it reasonably in tune while recording because it was a chilly day and no amount of warm up time seemed to make the VCOs temp stable because the temp in my house was allover the frickin' map. But to me it was worth it. I like it a lot. its not just modern stuff I'll look down my nose at. I've sold on a jx8p lately among other things. Didn't like it... very desireable stuff. I love my prologue though, kinda pedestrian. Its more like "this does my thing the way I want it to."

I want a 6, dfferent synth. The deepmind is to my ear a budget 106 (well, more like a budget jx3p with a mod matrix and digital fx, depite behringer's claims to have been 'inspired by' the earlier 6/60/jupiter8 filters... oh, and elts not talk about chorus, lets just not)... but the 106 was a budget 6/60 itself, everything downgraded to make it more affordable for people looking at a first syntheizer. The 106 is awesome for its inclusion of midi stock, but if you ever just play one next to a 6 or 60? no contest. 106 is the poor relation sonically. Let me preface this statement by saying I am not trashing the deep mind or bhringer's R&D team, but I wasn't that knocked out by the deepmind I tried abck when it came out, maybe if I spent more time with it. Generally I know if a synth is for me in a few minutes, but after hours I wasn't reaching for my wallet. Nope I'll either break down and buy this juno6 or wait awhile. I can swing it, its just hard to rationalize the purchase. I already bought myself an 82ish SCI Prophet 600 for my birthday (2+ months early).

.welcome... I've been known to build some pedals... and tube amplifiers.

it feels like this and me and my son are in the car

https://images.app.goo.gl/aLBCZvav4j21M5W96

figures, now I get offered a beat but functional juno6 for the same money as the 600... I wouldn't get rid of the 600 for all the facemasks in china, but I want that 6 too. I keep catching myself rationalizing another purchase before bed! NO!!! Must resist the G.A.S.

.my copy of the virtuaoso pianist suggests you set your metronome to the lowest setting it has to start... I still haven't gotten past like 80bpm on those exercises....... Thanks god for sequencers

I'm trying to take a 2 or 3 day current events break but man its hard to avoid this clusterfuck!

.everyone still healthy and safe?

I've been telling people this stuff for over a decade.... but it takes rick beato to sell the world on the truth.

thanks, yeah its great

nice!

PS I dated a girl named Mary Berry in high school. Around 1996 or 7. You can't make that up.

as far as I know someone eventually married Mary Berry but then she was no longer a Berry assuming she took his name in the time honored sexist tradition. So Mary is no longer a Berry is she?

new old music... my 1st session with Trash Godz, improvised live. I'm Keys. Bass is M. Ethyl Glycol, Jordo on electroic drums, Aliester sound manipulation, grain table and circuit bent stuff, Steve Psylk guitar. Mixed by yours truly from the live recording at the start of quarantine. Video by Lord Aleister.

https://youtu.be/eFVK4rSwlGQ

wound up with a GliGli modded Prophet 600 for a steal and I'm really happy with it and don't regret letting go of the Juno. I think I'mmore of an SCI and Korg man

its a Burns... longhorn? unsure. Not a big fan of Burns. Great pickups though, the infamous trisonics used by Brian May. Those don't appear to be trisonics on his guitar though. They're something else. Its definitely a Burns though.

yeah, if you can't site read a little then start withthe kiddie book, it'll walk you right through the basics connecting your fingers to the lines and spaces.

if you want to learn right try using the best kid's book out there, John Thompson's "Teaching little fingers how to play"

an adult will speed through it but will come out with decent handposition. I never learned properly though I've been playing for years and going through my son's copy so I'm prepared to help him with HIS lessons has made ME a better player. After doing the kiddie book real fast and feeling confident that your hands will be in the best places to play efficiently a good book to try is Hanson's "the virtuoso pianist"... my dad turned me onto this one and the "flying fingers exercise" nature will appeal to a guitarist.

I would check youtube to see if anyone's done guided isntruction videos using these books before looking for anything else.