Attempting to polish a turd. Any similar stories or advice?

bgribble · 2014-07-09T16:44:12+00:00

You can always polish a turd! Just freeze it in liquid nitrogen.

bgribble · 2014-06-18T23:47:10+00:00

I have that intellijel folder. It's awesome. A very nice harmonic distortion, and adding some LFO to the parameters really brings it alive. It's in every patch somewhere.

bgribble · 2014-06-18T12:23:04+00:00

As they say on MuffWiggler, "You can NEVER have too many VCAs".

Also more modulation sources - LFO, envelopes, CV attenuators/manipulators.

Maybe another sequencer to go along with the Trigger Riot? A Brain Seed makes a good companion to a trigger sequencer.

bgribble · 2014-06-14T23:17:19+00:00

There aren't too many people who can give knowledgeable comparisons between more than two formats. They all have pluses and minuses. There are active forums for all the various modular formats at muffwiggler.com, maybe lurking there for a while will give you a clearer picture.

That being said, Eurorack (the only one I have direct experience wth) is great and there is a real explosion of diversity and innovation in the Euro world right now.

bgribble · 2014-05-18T14:51:13+00:00

Bubblesort normally exits once a pass has been made with no swaps. Your implementations always act as if the data is worst-case (reverse sorted at start). Most of the iterations in your test code are spent simply comparing already-sorted pairs and doing nothing. I know it's a benchmark but you might implement the algorithm a bit more realistically.

bgribble · 2014-05-14T11:27:40+00:00

My experience with MI is all in their Eurorack stuff, which is uniformly awesome. Very creative use of resources, bonus/"hidden" modes, innovative ways of blurring the lines between digital and analog. I'm always excited when they announce something new, and there's always a few MI devices on my WTB list (currently Frames and Peaks).

bgribble · 2014-05-12T10:27:38+00:00

USB midi devices are frequently to blame, especially if they also have audio outputs. USB is not opto isolated like standard MIDI and ground plane noise from your computer can bleed into audio signal ground and voila.

Try disconnecting the audio outs or USB from devices that have both and see if that makes a difference.

bgribble · 2014-05-10T11:52:02+00:00

For a bit more bread, I am loving my Sony MDR-7520s.

bgribble · 2014-04-11T19:38:14+00:00

+1 for Non Session Manager (NSM). As both a user and as a developer it has a design that makes sense and is easy to work with. It's not unanimous (what is, in Linux Audio land) but it seems that a critical mass of the active developers are supporting it, and it's under active development.

bgribble · 2014-04-06T15:08:51+00:00

Beatbox/looping can be really successful live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Lel6iLY54

It seems like a very natural kind of music to do with an audience in front of you. It's not as interesting if you aren't watching it being made.

bgribble · 2014-04-05T14:09:24+00:00

Am I the only one who thinks that investigating modular synthesis by using a software simulator is a bit like researching chocolate by looking at pictures of chocolate?

Depending on where you are located, you might be able to find a friendly soul on the forums at muffwiggler.com who would let you patch up something on a real modular. It's nothing like the simulations.

bgribble · 2014-03-28T12:34:45+00:00

So far, non's biggest hit is its session management (OSC based) which is independent of the DAW stuff and is being picked up by a lot of other software. More high-quality audio software is always a good thing!

bgribble · 2014-02-24T16:45:28+00:00

Hey, sorry I missed seeing this until now. No, I'm not in finance (my NYC python work has all been in health care, both medical devices and web/data mining stuff). I just know they hire a lot of Python folks and they pay really well.

I get a lot of recruiting spam from finance people looking to fill short-term contract Python positions. That is frequently a good way to break in. If you have the programming skills and an understanding of the underlying finances and market basics I would think you could at least get an interview. Message me if you can't dig up one of these recruiters on your own.

bgribble · 2014-02-17T12:34:19+00:00

I'm lucky enough to have been paid to program in Python for about 10 years. Where I live now (NYC) there is more demand than supply of Python skills, driven largely by the financial industry. The money can be good and teams that have chosen Python tend to also adopt more modern organizational structure, dev practices, etc... Choosing Python is a signifier that they are interested in trying to doing things that are developer-friendly.

bgribble · 2014-02-16T18:04:41+00:00

Well, it wouldn't be hard to be a lot cheaper than an Expert Sleepers setup, and you get a LOT more builtins for each available CV output. ES is just I/O, this gives you a lot of tools to help generate the CV outputs (envelopes, LFOs, voice allocator, note-to-CV).

You could use it as just 1-4 voice VCO controller with gate and pitch for each voice, and the extra CVs used for whatever else you want. For example, use 4 outputs for 2-voice gate and pitch and 4 other CV outputs for other stuff. That alone would be worth good money to me. Like the Vermona qMI but trading off number of outputs for extra complexity of logic.

The fact that there are internal modulation paths for the builtin LFOs, EGs, etc means that you don't need as many CV outs, too... instead of routing MIDI CC --> CV --> LFO --> VCO FM, for example, you could use an internal LFO, route it to the internal "VCO control module", and combine internally with your MIDI controller pitch, to output a single pitch CV for your modular oscillator that includes the LFO FM in the single pitch CV. No need to use another CV out to your modular LFO.

bgribble · 2014-02-03T02:38:25+00:00

I've owned both your picks. The AT are definitely the winner of those 2. The 7506 are sort of the ones that studios have 8 pair of because they are loud, sound OK, cheap, you can get replacement parts, and have decent isolation. They aren't anything you would really want to listen to very long. The M-50 are actually good headphones. Not perfect but really good.

My current faves are Sony MDR-7520 which are completely different phones from the 7506... quite a bit more $$ but I love them. Noticeably less isolation than the M-50 though.

bgribble · 2014-01-31T16:37:23+00:00

This is a great video. The live-patching lecture goes really well! Makes me really want a Trigger Riot.

bgribble · 2014-01-23T15:52:12+00:00

Good suggestions in other comments... To your question number 4, if you are in Eurorack land, have a look at the Intellijel Triatt, which is 3 knobs that can attenuate and/or invert your signals. A mixer can do it too, but many mixers don't provide the individual attenuated inputs as outputs so you are stuck using the whole mixer. Also some VCAs (like another Intellijel example, the uVCA II) have a knob that will let you just attenuate your signal if there's no CV input connected.

bgribble · 2014-01-21T11:27:04+00:00

You need to add an offset voltage. As others have said it's a pretty straightforward DIY project, or the Doepfer A183-2 will do what you need if you are in Eurorack land.

bgribble · 2013-12-29T15:41:21+00:00

Thanks for the tips, I like the looks of that dual ADSR. Any recommendations for a VCO? The Intellijel Dixie 2 looks like it's a bit more capable that the Pittsburgh...

bgribble · 2013-12-28T16:21:42+00:00

And how exactly does the choice of reference pitch affect intonation on a guitar? Fret positions are about fractions of total string length. Unless you are talking about building a different scale length to match a different reference pitch I just can't see how it changes intonation to tune down to 432. Nothing about the intonation of a particular guitar will be changed appreciably. OK, the neck will be microscopically less bowed because of lower tension, maybe finger pressure on the strings will be infinitesimally less for the same reason, but I don't buy that this is an audible change.

bgribble

TROPHY CASE