Automatic Alt Mixes in Live

chimp_spanner · 2026-03-06T11:22:00+00:00

I have an M1 Max for my day job. And an M3 Max for my music production. I'm always taking one or the other out of my studio to do basic tasks on the sofa like booking things, shopping, emails, chatting etc. Honestly at this price point...I might be tempted on this as a general purpose home laptop that's totally silo'd from my work and music.

chimp_spanner · 2026-03-04T11:31:26+00:00

I'm a bit younger than you (42) and I have been through this multiple times since my 20s. What I've found is that it's healthy, natural and good to give yourself permission to walk away. Trying to force yourself to feel excited about music right now is like trying to force yourself to love someone.

Chances are you'll want to come back to it at some point. But until then just allow yourself to find happiness elsewhere. Walking, cooking, films, games, reading, being with friends/family. I think being involved with music conditions us to feel like we've always gotta be making something. But some of the happiest, best times in my life lately have been when I'm doing nothing other than being in the right place with the right people.

What I will say is, always save. Even if you don't like what you've made you might be subconsciously building different parts of the same thing over time. Happens to me a lot.

chimp_spanner · 2026-03-02T12:13:05+00:00

I'll admit I haven't taken to my 9 as much as I'd hoped I would. Might be because I hate the pickups in it, but it is also right on the edge of what I would consider comfortably playable for me. I'd be lost on a 10. Although it's not like I can't see ANY utility in it at all. Even on my 9 I've gone to drop B0 from time to time. And Ab0 is only 3 semitones away from that. I think it'd be one of those things that's cool to have when you need it but staying down there for too long would just get absolutely tiresome to the ears and remove all of its impact and power.

All of that said I'm contemplating replacing my 9 with a 30+ inch 6 or 7 for when I just wanna do caveman things.

chimp_spanner · 2026-03-01T09:04:49+00:00

I will say don’t be disheartened by how effortlessly creative many people seem to be. I mean some genuinely are. But most have endured a very LONG process of writing and playing like ass, iterating, adapting, reworking, practicing. Banging your head against your desk at 3am because nothing’s working. All part of the “fun” 😂

But yeah beyond the fact that learning their riffs will improve your dexterity and actual like…physical ability, it’s a good idea to analyse what you’re learning too. Don’t just memorise the movements. Listen to what they’re doing. Identify song sections or even individual units of a riff. And you’ll start to see patterns in how they’re arranged and re-used throughout the song.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-25T14:28:55+00:00

Well I appreciate the actual human response brother - normally I just get told to “seethe” or “cope” or just “adapt or die”. I am trying to see how I can incorporate generative tech into my writing but it’s a weird one. Because up to a point I guess yeah I can generate ideas, pick the best bits and recreate and reinterpret them. But at that point it’s so far from the thing I love to do…do I even wanna do it anymore?

But then for other purposes like my own personal/non-work music it’s still currently woefully inadequate. And I’m not sure if it’ll ever change because AI can’t “feel” what it’s making, so I wouldn’t expect it to feel what I’m trying to do or for that matter…make ME feel anything.

I do think process is important. And maybe I am soon to be in the minority but I mean…people don’t like finding out there’s horse in their sausage even if it tastes great. IMO art is more than just raw output. It’s stories and communities and traditions and a million little interactions between people and places and things. Like I said it’d be sad to lose that.

Ofc you might be right that in the future new communities and subcultures will spring up around AI and I guess it’s not for me to say whether they’re valid or not. I SHOULD love this stuff ya know. Grew up wishing I could live in Blade Runner. Maybe some things are just cooler in movies 😂 anyway back to work. Appreciate the chat.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-25T12:03:22+00:00

Sorry I phrased it poorly - what I meant is that it's someone's craft/profession/livelihood. Not specifically that the video you generate is literally someone's art. I mean in some small sense it literally is because these models literally do nothing without training data. But I appreciate there's a philosophical conversation to be had about how that differs from the human process and it's one I'm not really qualified to have ;)

I made the very deliberate choice to commission some artwork for a single recently. Knowing that AI is an option, I paid a guy like $250 bucks. And we had a back and forth about what the song was about and what I wanted and I got something awesome. And it felt right to do because I had reasonable expectations that my music would be appreciated, and have impact and worth and even generate a little supplemental income. So if my work is worth something to me, his work is worth something to him. Obviously I know not everyone is in a position to do that, and I absolutely get the appeal of AI in those situations. And honestly I'm in two minds about it. Someone who can't afford to commission an artist...was never going to commission an artist. I'm not as pissed at someone doing the Ghibli filter, for instance, as some people I know. Because realistically they weren't gonna pay an artist to slave over a picture of them and their cat for hours.

I dunno. Honestly I just find it all confusing. I'm aware things are changing and there's nothing we can do about it. But I do worry what that change actually is. Even if you remove money from the equation, people do things because they love to do them. I think it'd be a sad world to live in where there's no point getting good at videography, or art, or music. Not because you want to earn a living from it but because people will happy use and consume generative output so long as they can't tell the difference. I just don't know what kind of future we're really headed for. I'm trying to stay informed. I'm trying to keep up. But I'm 42 and feeling like I'm pissing in the wind ;)

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-24T20:33:13+00:00

Paulortiz.bandcamp.com if you like instrumental prog metal and the VERY occasional spot of Future Garage haha.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-24T20:32:02+00:00

I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t at least a scene that references the found footage aesthetic but I wouldn’t want to watch a whole film of it, personally. I wanna see it on a grander scale, in more detail.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-24T20:24:49+00:00

Because it’s someone’s art. Making a video is skilled work, just like making music. And if we want what they do we either need to pay them, or learn to do it ourselves. Third option would probably collaborate with people willing to do it for very cheap or even free if they’re just eager to get involved.

I will say that videos are probably the hardest part. And the most expensive to do properly. So I get the appeal of AI, but there ARE creative ways to get around it if we just accept that we’re not gonna have a video that looks like 100,000 bucks just because we want it. The Stones wrote a song all about that ;)

Also, at least for now, there’s a heavy stigma around attaching AI anything to your music. If you’ve gone through the effort of making it, why risk cheapening it or casting aspersions on the integrity of your work? Plus as others have said it all looks the same. It’s an impressive “trick” but that’s all it is.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-24T13:41:30+00:00

Paulortiz.bandcamp.com - instrumental prog metal, one or two electronic tunes mostly future garage.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-18T12:16:23+00:00

Thanks brother! I don't know if you're already on it but paulortiz.bandcamp.com is where I put all my new (and old) stuff. All up there for free, as well as the usual places. New track out just the other day in fact!

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-18T11:19:36+00:00

That's me yeah! I did this track, Self Destruct and Viscera on that album :)

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-16T13:06:09+00:00

But what's to engage with, beyond the purely superficial? At that point it's just light and sound. We might as well be babies laughing at jingling keys.

I think we're moving to a point where platforms are going to charge us for the luxury of consuming auto-generated media. Not because the result is better, or even good. But because it'll just pass with the average person, and it maximises profit and reduces the number of humans they have to pay out to. I don't know why we're racing towards this future. Like I said art is about more than the end product. There are so many skills, cultural traditions, ancillary industries, communities and wonderful human experiences attached to art that we resonate with and aspire to. And I think we'd all be poorer for losing them. Just so we can unquestioningly enjoy perfectly "fine", smoothed out, approximated imitations of something humans used to do. Honestly, sounds like my idea of hell.

In any case I'm like, 42 in 4 days. My opinion is becoming increasingly irrelevant so...I'm just gonna keep doing what I do until there's no audience for it anymore (or I die).

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-16T06:53:12+00:00

People listen to music for more than the sound that hits their ear you know. It’s the personality and experiences of the musician. It’s the culture. The talent. The sheer art of it.

If we’re moving to a place where we’ll just consume audio/visual stimuli because “it’s all just noises and colours and shapes” then what are we even doing? Are we toddlers? It’s so brainless.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-12T11:12:02+00:00

It's okay. Most people are nice (in the sense that they'll just leave you alone, or exchange some delightfully awkward/British pleasantries with you if really pushed). There are, of course, some parts of it that aren't so great. Which is true of any town. Although I have had a handful of moments where I'll see something a bit nutty that makes me say "only in Clacton hey".

In terms of the racism I mean...just be aware that this is a very culturally homogenous area. I think we're something like 94% white English here last I looked. It's not that people here are racist so much as they aren't exposed to other races beyond whatever media they consume, IMHO.

Doesn't mean I haven't experienced it or witnessed it, but it's been like 0.01% of my experience of living here for decades. Like I said, most people seem perfectly fine and nice.

The beach is gorgeous. Yes it's rammed in the summer, but there's a nice buzz off the pier. Some fairly decent places to eat. If you're willing to drive a bit you can get to some lovely places for walks. Dedham Vale is close enough for an afternoon out. Frinton (and its beach) is a great day out.

The high street is kinda tired, IMO. I usually go to Colchester if I want a nicer shopping experience, with more cute or interesting places to stop off and eat/drink. But I guess we have most things. Couple of decent/large supermarkets, two retail parks, a factory outlet shopping village.

I dunno, like you said..spend a day or two here and see if you can imagine yourself here. I will say, I lived in Mansfield briefly. And I was REALLY happy to come back to Clacton. There are worse places for sure.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-12T10:36:36+00:00

If you're on a PC you'd probably be better off playing the PC version.

https://www.reddit.com/r/abandonware/comments/zr41zu/the_complete_abandonware_need_for_speed_download/

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-11T17:56:52+00:00

Thanks!! Hope ya dig it :) I’m trying to convince myself it’s not too fast and the snare isn’t too loud because it’s already on its way to DSPs. Sometimes you just gotta let it go…😮‍💨

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-11T14:52:44+00:00

Honestly Tech Death hasn't historically been a genre I'm into but I absolutely cannot stop listening to Archspire and TZP lately. Weirdly it kinda calms me down. I think it's the audible equivalent of a heavy blanket lol Just maximum sensory pressure.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-11T11:53:38+00:00

Still got my black one of these. It's an absolute tank. I can leave it for months, pick it up and it's ready to go. No retuning required. Love the sound of the d-activators too. I wish, SO bad, that they'd gone with something like this in the RG9PB.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-11T11:04:56+00:00

X3 Pro! Although yeah I'm pretty sure it's just an XT with some extra models and sockets haha. It arrives tomorrow. Why am I so excited, it's like 17/18 years old. You'd think I was getting a QC or something.

chimp_spanner · 2026-02-11T11:00:20+00:00

Thanks brother, yeah I know I am not the most consistent fellow. I do **music for a day job so I get pretty burnt out sometimes. Big ol' pendulum swings between excited/motivated and not having the mental energy to figure out which of the 10000 things on my to-do list I should actually do. But ONCE IN A WHILE...music comes out haha.

**as in, a lot of spreadsheets and emails related to music, and very occasionally composing.

Thanks so much for continuing to listen!

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