List of Stuff

Computer -- home-brew PC (hidden behind a wall so's not to noise-pollute the mic when I'm podcasting)

Software -- SONAR 8.5 Producer, Jamstix

Keyboards

Yamaha PSR-1500 (my favorite for banging around in a jam session)

Yamaha S-08 (the "serious hard-core" keyboard)

Edirol PCR-300 (the little one -- super handy for composition)

Tenori-On -- a gizmo I'm still trying to figure out

Audio -- Crown Powertech 3.1 (500 watts/channel at 8 ohms) into EV Sx300 speakers, couple Behringer mixers, MXL-2001 mics

Update -- about a year later -- June 3rd, 2011

My goodness what a difference a year makes.  Here's the current state of affairs.  I finally switched back to the Mac for music-making after a long time away.  I gave up on the PC -- the platform was just too unstable.  Yes, I changed everything (hardware, software, peripherals, cables) trying to diagnose the repeated-crashing/freezing problems.  Don't want to go there.  The Mac "just works" and it's on a laptop so I can haul it around with me.  I'm now enjoying a much higher ratio of "making music" to "fixing the setup" time.

The new additions:

MacBook Pro

Logic Pro

M-Audio Axiom Pro

The old Roland JV880 (hanging on the music stand down there under the S08)

I'm liking this new rig a lot.

So today I just pushed through all the crud and said "dang it, today I'm going to produce a tune for the blog, no matter what."

Click HERE to listen to the result.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/ok-go-rube-goldberg/

The big deal?  The sentence that really catches it for me is "we ad WORT don wanna tred up on the wee miroridy vuponts, so we jus wade undill eberyone am finely agreed."  Still works for me today, some 35 years later.  Thanks Jeff!

Here's my translation, since many of you aren't native-English speakers and might find this pretty tough to read in Jeff's native Pogo-style language.  Apologies to Jeff for any mistranslations.

Yes, it's a curious fact, that nobody is ever able to quite explain, how decisions get made at this particular radio station.  But they do.  This is a grievous hard and ticklesum thing for newcomers to digest.  Take, for example, the familiar caller who, in a fever pitch of excitement, has phoned up the station with his or her (or "it's" for that matter) idea for a program.   Rnnng.  He (let's just say it's a "he") says "My dog can bark heavy metal rock n'roll -- can he have 5 hours on Tuesday nights?"   Well, the person at the station (say it is a person) says "Isn't that the same thing as what's on WBRK every night?"  The caller replies "Yes, but my dog barks badder!"  Then that, says the person, is a question for the Program Committee.

The best thing then is if the caller hangs up, thinking all is well for the Program Committee will do its duty.  But if the caller says "Oh, what's the Program Committee?" then the person has to explain: The Program Committee are all the people that come to the Program Committee Meeting.  You can come.  So can your mother.  It's Friday at 8pm.  No, they never vote on anything.  Voting is against the rules.  So is parliamentary procedure. They just talk about things until everyone is agreed, and that is consensus -- the highest form of unanimity.

Then the caller says "oh."

Then the person at the radio station should continue: "Yes, it's a curious fact, but it seems to work.  So far, at least.  We at WORT don't want to tread on the wee minority viewpoints, so we just wait until everyone is finally agreed.  Nope, it's never failed yet...  which just goes to prove: you can make some of the decisions all of the time, and all of the decisions some of the time..."

Then the caller says, "can you put me through to the general manager?"

"No, there isn't a general manager.  Would you like to talk to Sarah-Gene?"

"She the owner?"

"Nope.  She's just another volunteer."

Is this a cool thing or what? A bar... A radio... All portable... Take that, you iPod weenies.

We pulled the music box out today and fired it up. It still works, although the the workings sound like they need cleaning and oiling -- no wonder, it's been in our closet for at least 25 years and probably hasn't been used in 75.

Here's the music box, all closed up.

Here's the nameplate -- J. Werner of Hamburg, a "Musikwaaren Fabrik" made in Hamburg. My guess would be late 1800's, but it's hard to tell. Not much comes up when I do a search on those terms.

Here's the box all opened up. Dang, I wish Mom hadn't used masking tape to hold that glass lid in place. I'm going to have to find some magic goo to get that stuff off without lifting the finish.

Here's a picture of the combs -- looks like 2 combs t'me. Some more cool goo, plus some gentle work with the Dremel tool, required to clean those up.

Here's the first of two name-stickers on the inside of the music box. It's interesting that both this one and the other one (see below) have had a corner cut out of them. Since it's the same corner, and it's clearly on purpose, one wonders what was going on here.

See? They really went after this one with their razor knife. Strange

Here's a detail shot of the combs. There are little dampers off to the right side of each comb that quiet the note before it's plucked again. Some of those dampers look pretty narly.

Here's a disk (we have about 20 in the stack). Some are just rusty like this one, some are covered with some kind of weird moldy varnish-like stuff.

And here's a detail shot of one of the side handles.

I think I may peck away at restoring this a little bit. I view this as a connection back to Mom and Gracie which would be nice to bring back at least to operating condition. I'll post progress notes to the blog as things unfold. There are folks who are interested in these music boxes, they call themselves the Music Box Society International. I think I'll hook up with my local chapter and see what kind of resources they have. There's also Nancy Fratti, who is really into restoring music boxes like these and runs classes in how to do it. It would be fun to go out and take her class.

I recorded one of the disks. Click HERE to listen to the recording. It's got lots of whirring noises in it -- that's the gizmo that needs oiling and cleaning. But the sound is really neat nonetheless. A great old thing -- hopefully a little TLC will bring it back.

If you, like me, have a cable connection to the internet and you, like me, haven't thought about your cable modem since the day you bought it and you, like me, bought the durn thing more than a couple years ago -- go buy a new one that's compliant with DOCSIS 2.0. It'll be way faster.

Ralph pointed this out at lunch on Thursday. By Thursday afternoon I had me a brand new Motorola SurfBoard (which, with all the rebates from CompUSA, turned out to be free).

I'm talking way faster... Ralph's getting over a megaBYTE per second sometimes. I haven't formally tested mine. But it's...

WAY FASTER!

So here is a collection of files you are welcome to download and share. No ding dang rippin frippin copyright -- all I ask is that you put a link to this page from your blog, tell your friends to do the same, etc. That way, maybe these files will work their way high enough in the Google ranking that people will actually find them.

Feel free to offer suggestions by commenting to this post -- I'm not sure I've got the right notes when it comes to the orchestral tuning files (having never played in an orchestra). If they're wrong, let me know and I'll change them.

Here are the files;

Tuning -- A -- Bass Violin Sound
Tuning -- A -- Oboe Sound
Tuning -- A -- Violin Sound

Tuning -- D -- Guitar Sound
Tuning -- D -- Jazz Organ Sound
Tuning -- D -- Piano Sound

Tuning -- E -- Guitar Sound
Tuning -- E -- Jazz Organ Sound
Tuning -- E -- Piano Sound

But I'm starting a series of "how to" podcasts and they need some backup info and I've decided to post those notes here.

The first show is about all the things that you might want to put in your bag when you go out to record something as a "remote" (not in your comfy studio, but actually out there with da peepul). I decided to start with this one because I'm heading up to the Winnipeg Folk Festival tomorrow and needed to make this list anyway. Subsequent shows will trace a step by step path which, when it's done, should result in you having put together and published your own podcast.

So here's my list. Now all I gotta do is collect all the stuff and put it in the RV (we're renting a hum-dinger -- 2 slide-outs, 33 feet long -- I've christened it The Pale Whale).

Checklist for a remote;

MUST Have:

-- Recorder - most likely digital, although not required (maybe i'll do a show about how to move audio from a tape recorder to your computer some time). mine's a Marantz PMD-660.

-- Microphones - i'm going to take 2 kinds. a couple of really nice condenser mics for recording music, and a cheaper/sturdier dynamic mic for interviewing people

-- Mic cables - can't have enough. leave 'em in the car if it turns out you don't need 'em.

NICE to Have:

-- Headphones - to do quality-checking mostly

-- Wind filters - those foam-rubber things that cover the mic

-- Mic stands - one for the two condensers -- i built a gizmo that lets me mount the two mics on one floor stand. another floor stand. a couple desk stands

-- Interconnecting connecting connectors. over the years i've accumulated a bunch of things that convert from one kinda thing to another. they're all in a box and come along for the ride.

-- Extension cords -- i'm not going to have power available on this trip, but normally these are in the bag fersure

-- Power supply -- if you're going to a place with power, don't forget to take the power supply for the recorder. been there, done that.

-- Cell phone - to call home for Marcie to bring emergency stuff i forgot, or didn't anticipate

-- Notebook - for people to write "i grant you a Creative Commons license to podcast my stuff" and sign

SUPPLIES

Blank media - tapes or memory or whatever -- i'm going to
take a 1 gig Compact Flash card, plus a couple of smaller
ones as backups

Batteries - lots and lots of batteries, can't have enough batteries

Gaffer's tape - or whatever you call it - duck tape, duct tape,
whatever

TOOLS

wire stripper
screwdrivers
wire cutter
scissors
flashlight

If you want to listen to the podcast that "goes with" this list, you can find it
right here.

Here's the punchline quote at the end;

Quote:

Another tidbit from the article. Turns out the big programmers (Cox, Clear Channel) dropped women from their ratings target in 2003! And here's another gem.

Quote:

Dumb rock. Red-state rock. I love that...

Here's a tip to the broadcasters. Figure out what podcasts the "cool kids" are listening to. Do something like that on your radio station. You'll be fine.

Update...

Hm, later the same day, Clear Channel (biggest oinker multi-radio-station owner in the land) posted declines in radio revenue. Here's a relevant quote;

Quote:

And here's a link to the story.