• Made some progress on the MIDIbox SID – I did some more work on getting the enclosure(an old 2U satellite receiver) ready and figured out the next batch of parts necessary to get it completed.
• Did a serious revamp on the Arduino Sequencer last night – it now has a power switch, start/stop switch, and two indicator LEDs (built into the start/stop switch). I also attacked the code pretty extensively to account for these new features. It still needs some tweaks, but once they’re done I’ll post the code here.
• More-or-less finished the Arduinome I’ve been poking at since January (longer if you include parts accumulation- I got the unsped shield & MAX7219 over a year ago). It still needs a little mechanical work- it as yet has no base, and no hole for the USB cable, but it’s pretty much together and usable.

Still plenty of other backlog to clear, and reissues to reissue.

I leave you with a video of the Arduinome in action:

There are three bonus tracks which are only available if you download the full album. Here’s a preview of one of them:

Not so übercoolische by glacial23

There’s also a text file explaining how you can get the .xm files for the tracks I did in MilkyTracker – I’d embed them in the download, but Bandcamp doesn’t support .xm files…

The next one is going to be a double – GLAC-7 and GLAC-11 (both basically singles/EPs, so why not combine them?). For those more into the noise/experimental material of more recent times, we’re getting closer.

2. The reissue of GLAC-5 (33 1/3) is coming next (I’m going by catalog number). This has led to “Operation De-Jank the Plugins on my Laptop.” Since recording that album in 2008, I’ve switched laptops and not all of my plugins migrated gracefully. I took some time to actually go through all of them (at least, the ones that were recognized by my hosts) and determine if they were usable, unusable, or outright crashy. My Pluggo folder went from 118 to 33, and the broken AUs that kept killing GarageBand were all tossed out. I’ll probably do a second pass eventually to get rid of stuff I don’t really use. The next steps are to figure out if any of the session files are still in a weird state, and if so, fix them by either re-downloading a missing plugin or making the version of the song on the reissue a remix with a different plugin. If nothing else, this exercise reminds me why I like hardware instruments/effects now

3. Since I’ve been reorganizing my studio, I’m starting to think about getting a “real” multitrack studio interface. I’m right now leaning towards the Tascam US-1641, unless someone steers me away from it in the next few weeks.

4. A few folks have checked out the GLAC-2 reissue, which is cool. I’m keeping an eye on statistics to see what’s working and what isn’t.

5. Lastly, a show announcement! I’ll be playing at Bela Dubby in Lakewood again on September 29th, along with Arsonist’s Prayer and Darger who are both embarking on a big tour, as well as some others.

This morning, I check my usual news sources, and find out that UVB-76 has made a rare voice transmission.

Now I just have to figure out if “93 882 naimina 74 14 35 74 – 9 3 8 8 2 nikolai, anna, ivan, michail, ivan, nikolai, anna, 7, 4, 1, 4, 3, 5, 7, 4″ is a positive or negative review…

The first of these reissues is the GLAC-2 “A Glacial Sampler” EP from 2003. Originally issued as an 8 copy sandpaper-sleeved 3″ CD, it was modified and reissued online in 2005. I’ve now added the full versions of Oscillator Drift and Phase Lock, as well as a leftover from the Phase Lock session called Out Of Phase. The album also now available in whatever format you like, instead of the old 128kbps MP3s from before (thanks to Bandcamp!)

You can grab it here or just get it below (provided your browser’s cool with Flash):

Title – Artist
4jg – The Human League
Dazzle Ships (Parts II, III & VII) – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Deep Space CB Transmission – glacial23 [Yes. I played my own stuff ]
Okno – Static [from the Public Spaces Lab "Number Stations" compilation]
Video 586 – New Order [from the Touch Records 12" - this was the only vinyl I ended up playing- the DJ booth was in need of maintenance...]
Flying Turns – Crash Course In Science
Celeste – Xeno and Oaklander [This got the first "What is this?" question]
Eisbär – Grauzone
Sun Flight – Silicon Teens [This led to a request for more Silicon Teens. I thought I had more, but it turned out I was wrong.]
The Cabinet – Das Kabinette
Mary – CTI
Hot on the Heels of Love – Throbbing Gristle
Me And My Rhythm Box – Liquid Sky soundtrack
Like I Am, Comme Je Suis – Unovidual
Black Mask – Cabaret Voltaire
Metal – Gary Numan
Goodbye Horses – Q. Lazzarus  [Apparently mentioning that I play this track in sets got me this gig. I wasn't planning to play it, but after hearing that, it kind of crept onto the playlist]
Hollow Promises – Smersh
Men In White Coats – Oppenheimer Analysis [At least five people were dancing to this. Kind of blew my mind.]
Idéal Présent – Performance
private plane – Thomas Leer
Slow Motion – Ultravox
Seconds – The Human League
Lemonsweet (Disco version) – Bagarre
Problèmes d’amour (Demo) – Alexander Robotnick
Sleeper In Metropolis – Anne Clark
Cardboard Lamb – Crash Course In Science
[I think this is the point when J. Guy Laughlin & Mike Forbes played in the bar, so I had to stop for a bit]
Glowing In The Dark – Experimental Products
Vector Space – glacial23
Benzin in Berlin – Andi Arroganti
Looking From A Hilltop – Section 25
Hurt – New Order
[At this point, Emeralds went on, so I went in to see them. I left the playlist running, but it got faded down at some point. Dunno when.]
Spectral Sequence – glacial23 (yeah, more of my own stuff. I actually intended for this track to go on before Emeralds, but I timed it wrong…)
Loss – Ike Yard
24-24 – Cabaret Voltaire
Tempusfugit – Tara Cross
Separate Our Hearts (Furse’s Acidisco Mix) – E.gold
Beating Heart (12″ Remix) – Section 25

oozitron: TR-808 (running through a Malekko B:Assmaster pedal), modular.

syncretism & Donald Crunk: Evenfall Mini Modular being controlled by a Frostwave Fat Controller (I think?)

me: x0xb0x

I just stuck my Tascam DR-07 near one of the monitors and hit record. It’s a little unpolished, but fun.

Download it Here.

Some thoughts:

• I really shouldn’t have played with the new Tom Oberheim SEM. I want one now. I probably won’t get one unless Tom Oberheim releases a kit (and that seems unlikely), but man that was cool.
• I also got to play one of the first 50 original Minimoogs. Very cool, but luckily I’m not feeling the draw like I am to the SEM – maybe it’s because the SEM is sort of affordable, whereas a Voyager or a used Mini is quite a bit out of reach. I’ve got my MG-1 – it’s Moog-y enough for me
• I also really liked the Jürgen Haible Living VCOs. That’s gonna go on the to-do list soon.
• I also really need some more sequencers. I’ve already got some ideas in the works, but just need to execute them.
• I think an STG Sea Devils Filter PCB is in my future as well – how can I turn down Doctor Who related modules?
• I kind of liked the Vermona DRM1 MKIII – I think its layout is going to influence the Bass++/other electronic percussion unit I’m going to build.  I like the “all the per-voice characteristics in a row” layout, though the Mega Percussive Synthesizer is way more complicated than the Bass++, so that may screw things up a bit. Gonna take some thinking to get that one right.
• Lastly, I really, really need to de-jank a lot of my DIY gear. It’s mostly pretty good (and improving, I think!), but there are a few things that have moved from the ’slightly irritating’ to the ‘really bothering me’ stage. In particular, I really need to re-do the power wiring for my MFOS modules (they were built early in my modular,use the MFOS ‘let’s not use a standard power connector’ thing,  and I used solid-core wire instead of stranded, since I didn’t have any 18-gauge stranded wire at the time. They now pop out of the crimp connectors with alarming regularity. That’s gotta be corrected.), tune the resonance on my LPGs (nasty self oscillation occurs at about a quarter turn), try to fix my remaining x0xb0x issues, and lastly, do some kind of serious surgery on the Arduino Sequencer, since it managed to fail *again* this year.

In other news, the prototype of my Arduino module moved from breadboard to a protoboard relatively well. It’s powering up from 15V (which worried me a little bit), though the DACs don’t seem to be working. I’m guessing it’s something simple. Will probably debug as part of De-Jank-a-thon 2010

Coming soon: A revised project list (including work to be done for De-Jank-a-thon 2010), and maybe some other news of import.

I’ve got this SoundCloud account, and for the next couple of weeks I’ve got tons of storage there (the RPM Challenge did a promo code thing with SoundCloud, and that promo upgrade expires on the 22nd.)

So, I’m actively requesting samples to be used on a future project. It will come out later this year, as part of my one release per month schedule. The exact timeframe and scope will depend on how much material is submitted – if I get ten seconds of stuff, it could come out this month, whereas ten hours gets us some time in late December…

All you have to do is go to my SoundCloud dropbox and upload a sound file sometime between now and March 22nd, 2010. That gives you about two weeks.

If you send something, you will be credited on the release that comes from this unless you specify otherwise(i.e. in the comments, state “DO NOT CREDIT ME” or some such). I’d also much prefer you send something original (speaking, making a weird noise, etc.) rather than somebody else’s song, but if that’s all you’ve got, I’ll work with it.

A summary of things occuring in the near-term:

1) Website changes – I’ve changed the theme (yet again), and installed the BuddyPress plugin, so now everything’s all social and stuff. There will probably be some adjustments here and there as I get stuff the way I want it. Enjoy!

2) Modular Synth, Phase II
Phase II consists of the next 6U(or more?) of Frac modules going into the system. The first steps of this have begun, though I’m sure the hardcore DIY purists may give me grief for it- I’m buying some pre-built modules. I’ve been finding some amazing deals on used Blacet gear. The first of these (a Filthy Filtre) is already installed, replacing the Dual Filter. Coming soon will be an EG-1, mixer, dual VCA, rack enclosure, and a power supply. Step 2 of Phase II started a few nights ago when PAiA announced their new series of 9700 modules. I ordered their dual VCA, mixer, noise source, sample & hold, and two CV source/mixer/attenuators. A future order will probably include the mic preamp and envelope follower. Step 3 is to try to clear out some of my backlog – I’ve got a few things that just need panels, so they’re good candidates for that.
Somewhere in the middle of this, some of my existing modules will be getting some refurbishment (i.e. the “Taming of the Q” operation on the Dual Filter, adding additional inputs to theLPGs, adding a second Real Ring Mod to my existing one.)

3) Other gear
I’ve got loads of things in various states of done-ness, ranging from ‘just needs an enclosure’ (the FV-1 reverb I mostly finished Jan. 31st) to ‘almost finished’ (Arduinome, MIDIbox SID, dual tube mic pre) to ‘haven’t started yet’ (the 1176 compressor clone).

Well, before any serious work begins, I’ve gotta clean up the work room again. I’d better get cracking.