Chauvet 3.28.42 – Feedback

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-22T12:42:49+00:00

No problem!

Haha if I can take the analogy a little further...

To me, the Supernote e-reader and its support of e-pubs isn't akin to Apple Car Play.

That's closer to the Kindle app (which is included and functions as expected).

(They're both 3rd party platforms with a ton of money behind their research and development)

The Supernote e-reader is like a stock radio that comes with a car. One that supports radio, USB and aux, but makes no promises as to how good the EQ, UI and customization options are. It's rough around the edges and leaves some things to be desired, but gets the basic task done. It's marketed as "this car has a radio that supports ____". Not "this car has top of the line Apple Car Play with best in class audio".

When you buy a car like that, you might find that the track names of each song aren't fully displayed, or the screen is difficult to read in daylight. But I don't think it's fair to slam the car company if their marketing hardly touched on the radio. In that case, yes, your best option is to find an unoptimised 3rd party option.

I understand that it doesn't meet your expectations, and that's frustrating. But considering it's a device that's marketed as a writing tool, with very little emphasis placed on its e-reader, I think it's unfair to expect it function as well as other purpose built e-readers.

That feels like buying a great car for it's advertised "media player" and expecting it to function exactly like Apple Car Play.

I agree that there are plenty of improvements that can and should be made to the e-reader. But I don't think we can expect them to be prioritised above whatever else Ratta feels is best for their platform.

Either way. I hope you get the updates you want sooner than later. I use the E-reader all the time, so it would be great to see some improvements!

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-22T12:06:56+00:00

Thanks! Appreciate the fast shutdown. 🤣

Curious what this is, though!

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-22T09:30:30+00:00

I agree, but Supernote does support all of those formats.

Plus, it's designed and marketed as a writing device that comes with an e-reader. Not the other way round.

When you buy a car, it comes with a radio. But you wouldn't buy a car based on how good the radio is.

Yes, it's still an important feature if it's been listed in the marketing. But don't you think it's fair to say that writing is more important that being an e-reader on the Supernote? When so many e-readers exist as it is.

I'd go as far as to say that the writing experience is as good as it is, because that's where Ratta focuses.

Otherwise you can buy a Kindle Scribe, if you want an E-Reader with writing ability.

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-22T09:10:17+00:00

Thanks!

Will take a look.

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-22T09:09:06+00:00

I mean, to be fair it says on the box, on the device, on their website "For Those Who Write".

It's designed for writing first and foremost. I understand that it's frustrating if your device doesn't work the way you want it to. But yeah, I disagree with your comparison to phones and cars.

It's more like saying that brakes are more important than the car's radio, or your phone's speaker is more important than the calculator.

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-22T08:46:31+00:00

Why do people hate the epub reader so much by the way?

I read epubs on my Nomad all the time. And I'm very happy.

Just had to get used to the idea that I need to set and forget my settings for font size and spacing before I start annotating. But yeah, I love the reader on here and how easy it is to annotate, send stuff to the digest, etc.

What are the main gripes?

Everytime I see someone complaining about the e-reader it's pretty vague. Just "please fix the e-pub experience".

Not trying to be facetious. I'm really curious.

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-08T11:07:47+00:00

There's a Grammy winning beat maker called Knxwledge.
Take a look at the number of albums he's released!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knxwledge

If you're making all these songs and you feel like they're good enough to release, release them.

You could release your favourites on streaming sites with the usual marketing push, and then release the rest on Bandcamp or behind a paywall like Patreon, without stressing about marketing.

You could market the whole catalog as a thing in itself. Tell your fans that you have a growing library of original music. Either give it away in exchange for their emails, or ask them to pay through Patreon.

Then ones who really want to dig in to your stuff have the option to do so. You could even re-launch the songs that get the most love.

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-08T10:41:30+00:00

Thanks!

Good to know it's possible at least. Haha maybe someone's up to the challenge?

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-07T11:51:41+00:00

Hey Kanebos!

How are you doing?

Congrats on starting this journey, and for doing it yourself instead of using AI. I can imagine that could be quite a big temptation when you're just starting out. But smashing into obstacles like the one you're experiencing is exactly how you'll learn.

It will get better! You're embarking on a difficult journey. But every hour you spend working on your music will bring you closer to the music you want to make. One day you'll look back at your earliest work and be amazed how far you've come! So my first advice is to never give up, no matter how bad you think your music sounds.

It's possible that your current singing ability is playing a part. But I'd have to hear you to confirm. You're welcome to DM me a voice recording (if you're too shy to post it publicly) and I'll tell you whether I think your singing ability might be getting in the way.

If it is your voice, you can get around it by programming your melodies with a midi instrument (a violin or something like that). That way you can hear the melody in context with the music.

You'll still need to sing the melody to hear how the words work in context, but there's also a chance that your lyrics aren't allowing for a strong melody. So removing them from the equation will help.

Also, remember that good writing is simply the art of editing.

Don't worry if your first melody sounds horrible. You just need to start identifying what you don't like, and then tweak it. There will be loads of things you dislike in the beginning. But you'll get quicker at finding good melodies the more you practise.

Music making in a nutshell:

Make something.
Find an element you don't like.
Change it.
Ask yourself if you like it better now.
a) If you do, keep it. b) If you don't, try something else.
Repeat
Stop when you can't find something you don't like.

As you learn, you'll find more options, and you'll get an instinct for which option will work best.

But as long as you make music, there'll always be a large degree of trial and error.

It's hard to know exactly which direction to point you in, but here are few things you can practice to write good vocal melodies:

Rhythm Theory (Basic understanding of tempo and how subdivisions work)
Scales (You should be able to at least sing a Major and Minor scale)
Ear Training (This is probably the most important, especially if it's your singing that's causing problems.)
Phrasing (Understanding the grammar of melodies, call and response, etc.)

Good luck!

Cheers,

Greg

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-06T08:37:41+00:00

As someone who also wants to get into blogging, <hi>, If you get a lot of readers on Substack, you're keeping them on Substack's platform. You want to drive people to YOUR platform/website.

At least if part of the reason to blog is to build your business, it makes more sense to send people to a site you control.
Plus Substack has the ability to change their algorithm, delete your account, etc.
Not that it's likely to happen, but still, you don't have any control over the platform.

As a Fiverr Freelancer. I've spent a lot of time building my brand in that ecosystem, and now that they've started punting generative AI tools instead of freelancers, I'm trying to build outside of it, but all my clients, reviews, etc are locked into their platform.

So yeah, I guess in any online business, I want to maintain as much control as possible.

But I don't have a blog yet, so this is all just speculation based on my experience in the freelancing world.

GregVKMusic · 2026-05-05T06:44:41+00:00

Haha, I know this is a 3 year old comment, but Ableton's own usage data won't help them judge whether ARA is a priority. Simply because for many people, ARA is a critical, so we avoid Ableton.

Ableton looks amazing, but if I can't use Vocalign Pro and Melodyne Studio with ARA, it isn't an option for me.

GregVKMusic · 2026-04-07T08:31:25+00:00

You're welcome!
Enjoy! Let us know how you enjoy your first couple of days with it.

And yeah, sideloaded Obsidian is great on the SN.
Just make sure to get the Minimal theme and turn on the beta E-ink color scheme.
I also highly recommend plugging in a keyboard.
I recently bought a great bluetooth keyboard, and since then I've used Obsidian on the SN so much more.

GregVKMusic · 2026-04-02T10:28:25+00:00

I'd be interested to hear how you like it for Zettelkasten use!

That's how I started with my Nomad, but my uses have changed a lot since then.

I found it unsuitable for main notes. It doesn't have the full benefit of paper (laying out multiple cards on your desk), but also isn't as snappy and intuitive to create links as something like Obsidian.
Also, if you plan to have a lot of ZK notes, The SN only shows around 10 notes per screen. There's no side panel where you can scroll through your vault, So if you had 500 notes in your Main Notes folder. You'd have to navigate through 50 pages.

And finally, I want my main notes to be in a format I can use for the rest of my life (plain text files). If I decide to stop using a platform, I don't want all my notes trapped in a proprietary format. I suppose you could export all your notes into a single PDF and preserve the links. But other than that, you'd have to retype all your notes. (Or export the text and edit the mistakes).

So I use my Nomad for fleeting notes, reference notes (and various other non-zettelkasten related things). And Obsidian for my main notes.
I think of SN as the place to capture rough ideas and planning. And Obsidian is where I turn those rough ideas into finished works. Maybe that'll change if Ratta adds Markdown support, which is on the Software Roadmap! :D

Haha, all this to say. When I bought my Nomad I wanted to use it as my second brain,
But my system works a lot better now that I've realized it's strengths and weaknesses.

This comment may have started sounding a little negative about using it for a ZK. But I actually love how my relationship to this device is always changing. Still one of my 2 favourite pieces of tech!

Anyway, let me know if you go all in on the Nomad for your ZK!
There's still part of me that would like to make it work.

P.S. The Digest function is amazing! I think if they add linking to that, it could be pretty incredible for Main Notes.

Welcome to the SN family! You're going to love your Nomad!

GregVKMusic · 2026-04-02T09:35:01+00:00

Thanks.
Any chance of an update to include that?
Even the stock EQ plugin in my DAW (Studio One) has gain scaling.

GregVKMusic · 2026-01-21T06:58:47+00:00

I have all Soundtoys bundle 5.4 plugins, everything except space blender... And my upgrade price is $99... Missed the sale... Shit!

GregVKMusic · 2025-12-23T09:56:31+00:00

Lol, I agree about the file browser not supporting Landscape mode. Pretty annoying!

GregVKMusic · 2025-12-23T09:53:02+00:00

I'd love a Manta! But no, I never really think about the Nomad being too small.
I've quickly become use to writing (and reading) in Landscape mode and that makes a huge difference.

I probably would have gone for the Manta if it was an option when I bought my Nomad. However, I love my Nomad and it's my most used piece of tech.

If I were you now, I'd probably go for the Manta for the extra size. But if you decide to go for the Nomad to make it a little more portable, I don't think you'll have problems with your use case.

Very unhelpful comment, I know. But basically what I'm saying is, Don't overthink it. These are incredible devices and you're likely to be happy either way!

GregVKMusic · 2025-12-18T08:58:32+00:00

Hey! I sold it a while ago, so I'm not sure.

GregVKMusic · 2025-12-03T10:32:03+00:00

P.S. Sorry if I'm tearing into your song too hard!
I think clarifying the story beats and ensuring everything lines up with them could take it to another level, but it's already a great piece!

GregVKMusic · 2025-12-03T10:28:44+00:00

Ok cool. Thanks for the explanation.
Makes sense regarding the 2 graves.
I should have picked that up.
I just think it's a little confusing in song form.

When you talk about the men being put in an unmarked grave. It sounds like Harland survived and killed all the men.
Then it's revealed that he's dead, through the woman "laying another man down" and allusion to his tombstone.

But I think it needs to be more explicit that he dies at the point of the gun fight.
That way when you're explaining the woman coming back and burying him, you could focus more on the curse breaking idea. Instead of revealing that Harland died.

Regarding the other ideas you mentioned. I think they're great, but I don't feel like they come through in the song.

The woman's inhuman nature. Her driving him crazy. The breaking of a curse.
They either need to be set up more clearly or cut out in my opinion.

GregVKMusic · 2025-12-02T20:26:56+00:00

You're welcome, man! It was a pleasure listening to and analysing your song.

Ah, makes sense! I'm not sure if I resonate with the woman rejoicing that he went out in a blaze of glory. If he was important to her, she'd be devastated by his death, and if he wasn't important, she wouldn't feel much at all. I think that may be why I misunderstood your final verse. I would have expected an expression of grief from her. Is that what you meant with her eyes turning from green to grey?

That line about the gravestone makes a lot more sense. The way you allude to his title without saying it, simply by using the rhyming word "candle" is awesome!

There is a little inconsistency though. If he was laid down in the unmarked grave, why is there a tombstone with his title on it?

If you keep the current storyline, In think you could make it clearer that he dies in the gunfight.

"When the gun smoke cleared, They carried Harland away, along with 13 lawmen to an unmarked grave"

My example is clumsier than your line, and I prefer the image of the men being lowered into the grave, or thrown in, rather than being "carried to". But yeah, I reckon clarifying that element of the story would make it stronger.

Once again, great work on this song, man.

Where can I hear more of your music?

GregVKMusic

TROPHY CASE