Blinks and Kicks

Blink, and half a year goes past. A couple more gigs under our belts - Awakenings in Leeds and the Leicester Space Centre. The Leeds set turned into an intense sequencer-fest on the spur of the moment, and it went down extremely well. The NSC one kind of went the same way, despite our intentions to try to inject a bit more subtlety. A couple of technical problems forced our hand, and the sequencers came to the fore early on. We sort of knew that the set would end this way - we had the two synth.com modulars with us and wanted to showcase that sound. And yes, all the bits are in place and working, except for the monumentally fiddly Normalization module which I keep putting off.

Reactions were a little mixed - some people loved it but it was a bit much for others. Sorry to that latter group - it wasn't exactly a plan!

So, I'm settling down with a nice comfortable gap before we head off to Philly for the Gathering. Plenty of time to collect together some new sounds, maybe upgrade the PC. And then, out of the blue, I am invited to play a solo set at the 5th Hampshire Jam. Eep! Of course, I have to say yes. Steve has called my bluff, and given me the kick up the bum that might just make me pull my finger out and come up with some solo music. Given the first entry on this page, I only have myself to blame! Really, I am very excited by the prospect and only slightly terrified. I'm sure that will increase as October gets closer.

For those who care about such things, here's another studio shot. You know who you are. The Arrick is still unpatched after coming back from the NSC gig. The top keyboard below the window is an Elka Rhapsody, one of the classic TD sound sources. It's been passed around the band, and now it's my turn. It's fun to play around with Encore sounds but it will probably end up in storage until I have the space for such luxuries. Maybe I'll record something first, just to get it out of my system. And it needs a good sampling first!

The cluster on the right form the mainstay of my live rig: Laptop, Nord Modular, Nova, Electribe, Drehbank and rack with MOTU 828II and Lexicon. The Roland A-37 and Prophecy serve as controllers. Until I have at least the skeleton of part of a set, that's where the focus will be.