Final build

The blog has been quiet for a while as I’ve had little to contribute.

From its origin as a PhD blog it has moved steadily towards gear and approaches deconstruction supported by my academic endeavours.

In 2018 i’m scaling down my lecturing / tutoring to care for my son who has an Autism Spectrum diagnosis and will require considerable care to enable him to attend prep school.

I’m also not in a position to expend the time and money required to continue the cycle of upgrading, expanding and beta-testing new software.   I feel that this is an opportunity to cut off the G.A.S. and focus on creative work with what I have.

For these reasons i’m retiring the blog and moving to a space more focused on my creative works while developing my skills in the background.

It’s been amazing hearing from people who have followed this blog and I’m happy to know that i’ve helped and inspired some people.

Feel free to follow me (or not) on the new Obsidian Mirrors page.

I’m going to leave with something I made with my latest toy.

As i’ve been moving away from teaching with specific accessible software / hardware in mind my focus has returned to what I actually like to do in creative situations.

The Eventide H9 is something i’d been eyeing off for a while, putting off getting it due to a perceived price / need imbalance.  The reality is i’d probably have wasted less money chasing cheaper alternatives than going straight for the holy grail.  It is absolutely magic with electronic sounds.

Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 is another device i’ve put off getting due to considerable cost and online negativity.  It appears to be going through something of a renaissance now with several years of development time behind it.  Attracted to the 4 track tape style operation and keen to move away from the very boxy approach to composition inherent to sequencers I finally caved.

To say it is an excellent and inspiring device is to undersell it.  I’ve made more music in the month since purchasing than I had in the previous year.  Some of which will start appearing in the new year.  Here is just one thing I created entirely while travelling on public transport to and from work.

I’ve used some Binaural plugins to enhance the spatialisation so headphones are recommended.

Thanks again for your time and interest.

Be well!