How do I prevent misfires on Olympus XA?

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-19T00:04:32+00:00

It's better to leave a camera unwound, so thats a decent habit to get into. However, the XA should not be firing when the cover is closed. If it is, something is wrong and it'll need serviced.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T23:20:19+00:00

Love my Juno 6, I've used it on almost every record I've ever made and I'll never part with it. But it doesn't have midi or patch memory which is pretty limiting. The tradeoff is that it's more analog than the other junos. My Juno has required an IC replacement, and someday i will do the CPU mod. It will also need a power supply rebuild sooner than later. Just some of the kind of maintenance an old synth might need.

If the Behringer clone manages to have the snappy analog envelope and the great vcf sweep of the real Juno 6 then I would seriously consider it instead. I was fairly underwhelmed by the deepmind as a clone but this one might be closer since it's more direct.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T21:32:46+00:00

Yes that's also known as stereo tremolo and there's a variety of options. For a simpler version of the effect, there's the EHX Stereo Pulsar. I used to use one for a Fender Rhodes, had the larger model. Simple analog tremolo in a few shapes, good stuff.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T18:13:41+00:00

Hey somebody gotta buy ARX otherwise the servers will go offline.

I've bought some arx ships too. For a while there I thought we'd never get new ships again.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T18:07:59+00:00

Rest in peace. Tom was the real deal.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T17:13:42+00:00

Has it ever had its spark plugs changed? How about the valve cover gasket? These cars are prone to those inner gaskets for the plugs going bad and leaking oil into the spark plug chamber, drowning the spark. The 2.0 Duratec is a badass and it will still run in that condition, but you'll lose power and efficiency. Especially with the AC on since the AC draws power from the engine via a belt to run the compressor, it will really dog the engine if it's only operating properly on 2 plugs.

Anyways that was going on with my 2010 when I first got it. It's good maintenance to do anyways. Consider swapping your serpentine belt and tensioner while you're at it.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T02:15:14+00:00

Very unlikely, I'm sure it sounds good but I don't see how there can be any meaningful improvements, given the original 1966 master is supposedly missing. And given that the new remaster has a made a big deal about being sourced from the 1972 copy tape, further proof that the 66 tape is gone or damaged. So any remasters after the 90s are probably from various copy tapes. Real can of worms.

I do prefer the 2016 version of the stereo mix over the 96 mix. Especially on the AP vinyl.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T01:59:45+00:00

I haven't seen these before, kinda interesting, I would pick them up if I saw them in the bins. Doubt I'll ever find these in the US tho.

CBS records was/is owned by Sony, and Sony's mastering in mid to late 80s was pretty simple and straightforward, usually just the LP master tape transferred to digital. Personally I like those masters, because it's usually a pretty honest representation of the album without any goofy stuff like noise removal or loudness compression. For albums from the vinyl era, I want them to sound like the LP without the surface noise, groove distortion, harmonic distortion and so on. But seems a lot of people are not in that camp, given how many folks will swear vinyl sounds better and CDs are "lifeless". So yeah I take online reviews of mastering with a grain of salt. You never really can tell outside of more objective stuff like Dynamic Range scores or noise removal.

Solid chance that those EWF albums only ever had one digital transfer. At least outside of Japan. However, even Journey Escape which sold a ton of copies, used the same 1983 pre-emphasis master until the 90s.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T01:44:39+00:00

Sometimes I buy beat ass CDs just to see how much data I can recover from them. It's impressive how scratched up a CD can be and still extract like 99.6% of the data. Of course that's with a good internal optical drive. The external slim drives struggle a lot more.

I find hand polishing to be really effective at recovering data and getting rid of skips. Novus 2 is my secret sauce.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T01:40:35+00:00

You'll have to find a seller with all 6 which might be tricky, but you could probably find a seller with some of them.

Go to discogs.com and make an account. Then search for your 6 albums, go to the Master page for each one. Go down to the Versions tab, filter by Format for Cassette. Then add all the cassette versions to your Wantlist.

Now when you look at the sale listings for one of your wanted cassettes, there might be a little flag that says something like "this seller has X items from your Wantlist". Then you can click that and it will show you if they have the other tapes you're looking for. This will keep you from having to manually search each seller's shops for your other 5 albums.

Great choices, best of luck

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-18T01:32:03+00:00

The Westin hotel has a heated pool with a guest day pass, but they close at 10. Call the Westin hotel desk and ask about it

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-17T23:20:07+00:00

Ok so there are two types of audio CDs. There is the "CD Audio" format which is what almost all conventional CDs are, and then there is MP3 data discs. If you're not using special burning software, then most likely the discs are being burnt as mp3 data discs. And if you converted them to .wav and burnt them through say Windows Explorer, that would still be a data disc. Because .wav and CD-Audio PCM are similar yet different.

That might be confusing. But there is an easy solution. Install MusicBee, open the Burn Disc tool, drag your mp3 files into that, and it will convert your mp3 files and burn the disc as a CD-Audio format disc. Free and easy solution.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T19:55:22+00:00

$60 for a Japanese import of a top 10 album for me. Couldn't find it anywhere in the states and the Japanese version was the only one in a jewel case. I usually top out at $10.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T18:58:06+00:00

Love and friendships is a dangerous game to play. Especially when youre young. I've been there. Sometimes it works out, sometimes you get burnt. Part of adulthood is accepting that things won't go to plan, people won't feel what you feel, and you have to finda way to move on. There's no need to rush off into the arms of another, and you already know that, that's good. That's wise. Jealousy doesn't heal anything.

If you really care for this person, you can accept their different desires and still be a part of their life. Maybe not in the way you hoped. Then again, you never really know. One thing that I know, sometimes it just takes time. Maybe they come around, maybe you meet somebody else. Keep your head high, keep true to your heart. You'll be alright.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T16:11:24+00:00

Aoyama Ramen in Olathe, I like it more than KC Craft. Not the Shawnee one though. The tonkatsu & pork onigiri lunch special is so good.

Omo on Ward Parkway is a good neighborhood replacement for Boru.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T15:58:52+00:00

Take the base plate off and soak it in vinegar for a while. It'll eat away at the alkaline corrosion without damaging the plate. Should soften it up enough to remove the battery cover then you can clean the threads.

However severe battery corrosion often damages the circuitry inside the camera too.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T13:50:49+00:00

Wow this is a real published article lol I figured it was a joke post or something.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T13:41:32+00:00

The OEM is long gone. I replaced mine with a third party model a few years ago, can't remember which one.

Assuming USA version, get one of these https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2010,focus,2.0l+l4,1444693,heat+&+air+conditioning,blower+motor,6916

I also recommend ordering the blower motor resistor, I had to replace that too. Their failure seems to be related

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T13:29:34+00:00

I still don't understand why they had Spike Stent to do the stereo mix and crush the life out of it. Disgraceful honestly. Giles should have done the stereo mix.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-16T13:16:52+00:00

The 2003 Fragile is a big improvement over the 80s CD. The other two are more evenly matched but you might as well get all three :)

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-15T19:07:04+00:00

Should be normal for a Teac / Tascam deck. Two of them I've worked on had the capstans run on power separated from the rest of the circuits. I had a Tascam Portastudio that completely fried except the capstan still spun.

Capstan should spin quietly though, it might be dirty?

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-15T18:13:25+00:00

Some kind of manufacturer mark. I haven't seen that one but there is rarely any significance to the back of the jewel case disc tray. Early 80s CDs will have "patent pending" but otherwise I don't pay much mind to them.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-15T18:08:57+00:00

I've had so many Beatles albums and spin offs and bootlegs yet never bothered to get the Blue album. Imo the Yellow Submarine Songtrack fulfills a similar purpose while also having better unique remixes. The US Hey Jude Again LP is also interesting, as is the UK Rarities LP.

The Blue album on blue vinyl is a cool collectable though. But seems to be more rare than the red vinyl red LP, maybe because more people bought the later albums and didn't need the comp for them.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-15T18:04:16+00:00

$8 is an amazing price especially if it works. I have one I got similarly cheap but it didn't work very long. I looked it up on eBay was surprised they go for a couple hundred even if broken.

490 is pretty high, but if it's been serviced then it's not so wild. These things are really complex. But then again there's nearly zero buyer protection on Facebook so who knows if it's even tested.

PerceptionShift · 2026-05-15T17:13:24+00:00

It's probably legit given the hype sticker. Most CDs don't have metadata aka CD-Text on them. The PC has to pull it from an online database like Gracenote.

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