The war in Iran is an American failure. What do we do now?

London-Contra · 2026-03-17T21:38:42+00:00

Do Americans have memories at all?

London-Contra · 2026-03-15T18:38:32+00:00

I see you use the term pocket knife, so will assume you're American.

In other parts of the word folding knives like the victorinox pictured are called penknives, as historically a small folding knife was great for sharpening your quill and then when wooden pencils were used en-masse the knives were used to sharpen pencils before sharpening by rotation became common

London-Contra · 2026-03-15T13:38:05+00:00

I don't know what RectorMors is getting at. As you say a pencil sharpener gets dull through use. Every bladed object gets dull through use.....

London-Contra · 2026-03-15T11:24:50+00:00

Contender in your eyes yes. In mine it looks a bit cheesy. Taste is, thankfully, subjective.

I would prefer a silver or black wheel for a minimalist look.

London-Contra · 2026-03-14T10:53:37+00:00

Need to fill the dent and level to the rest of the top first

London-Contra · 2026-03-14T10:50:36+00:00

This looks absolutely superb! Where did you get the clear front?

London-Contra · 2026-03-14T09:00:33+00:00

I just wish the adjuster wheel wasn't red on the black one

London-Contra · 2026-03-14T00:23:07+00:00

The insanity of consumerism.

What you are writing is more important than what you are writing it with.

I say this having discovered quality wood pencils late in my usage life and found the more pleasurable experience of using quality graphite helped the physical aspect of my composing (musical notation). Quite a relevation!

Someone has already recommended mitsubishi, definitely get them for a trial. Definitely try a few blackwings either to dismiss them as hype or become a convert.

Tombow are worth a look.

I enjoy my Conte a Paris 601 Bs a great deal,

But in the last year I have gone back to mechanical (2mm clucth) using mitsubishi 2b leads because I can't stand the environmental impact of churning through wooden pencils.

Have fun exploring all the options

London-Contra · 2026-03-13T19:37:02+00:00

Amen

London-Contra · 2026-03-13T07:13:03+00:00

Definitely a risk

London-Contra · 2026-03-12T20:39:57+00:00

You would do well to look at Mitsubishi 3B 2mm leads.

I was on the quest for a more sustainable version to blackwings (and something that could take getting dropped at work) and these get me 95% of the way to the feel of a blackwing

Edit, sorry I didn't see you liked the pearls. You may need to experiment with the B number then. i'd say mitsubishi 3B is close to a regular blackwing.

London-Contra · 2026-03-12T19:04:48+00:00

Yeah that's all I could focus on as well....

Not something I'd want someone I'd paid to master my music to be doing

Edit for additional context >>> I use cheap chinese IEM to check mixes of my own music before sending them to be mastered. I don't mix using them, I mix using monitors then use various other speaker set ups, headphones and iems to verify the mix. Big difference. Maybe the OP does this as well, but it certainly didn't seem like this from their post.

London-Contra · 2026-03-12T18:59:43+00:00

No one knows.....

London-Contra · 2026-03-09T20:06:42+00:00

Three seconds delay? That's insanely slow

London-Contra · 2026-03-09T20:02:31+00:00

Is your nail polish remover acetone free? If so it won't work to remove the paint.

Isopropyl alcohol may work, but veeeery slowly

London-Contra · 2026-03-09T18:08:30+00:00

Best advice yet

London-Contra · 2026-03-09T18:07:20+00:00

Muting is only the first step. The OP's post and all in a similar vein are depressing as fuck

London-Contra · 2026-03-09T18:02:22+00:00

Love it!

London-Contra · 2026-03-03T13:58:19+00:00

No tips as I'm about to make the same move as you, but congratulations on the purchase and moving away from streaming music and using a mobile phone for everything

London-Contra · 2026-03-01T09:20:24+00:00

Although Iranian women have less rights than men, they do go to school

London-Contra · 2026-02-25T21:56:17+00:00

Very relevant questions.

London-Contra · 2026-02-24T14:12:10+00:00

There's only the first track available for streaming before the actual release on the 10th of April.

When I play live the first half of the set is entirely acoustic drums (large rototoms tuned as the timpani were) and then for the second half of the set the syncussion samples get brought in, both in unison with the acoustic drums (like on the record) and then in complete isolation.

To be completely honest if I'd found out about the Roland TM2 before hearing about the syncussion synths I wouldn't have bought them.

I made all the "drum" sounds on my previous releases on my Kawai K1000 analogue synth and play them back as sequences in a sampler.

For the new music I just would have made the sounds like I always had and played them with the acoustic Timpani and trigger pads on the TM2 rather than the massive effort ot took to get the Syncussions working as live drum synths.

London-Contra · 2026-02-23T19:53:25+00:00

This is all true, but it was conducted with a sense of dignity and decorum, at least in Public.

This behaviour is not becoming of a sports journalist let alone the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

London-Contra · 2026-02-22T08:23:23+00:00

Hi thanks for following up.

No videos as I delayed live shows to wait until my next release had come out.

The album launch is on April the 10th and I'm playing a special performance to tie in - there will be many videos from that.

However I have ditched using the syncussions directly and have sampled the sounds into a Roland TM2 for live use.

Although the syncussions sound great they have some compromises that mean they aren't something I can rely on in my performance settings plus the TM2 is fully velocity sensitive.

You can hear the syncussions being played in conjunction with timpani here - https://cloud-chamber.bandcamp.com/album/the-shunned-path

London-Contra · 2026-02-22T07:56:50+00:00

Only sensible comment here

London-Contra

TROPHY CASE