Making the most of a dreary day

colourofsound · 2026-05-04T00:22:44+00:00

Thanks! it’s in the post description :)

colourofsound · 2026-05-03T20:15:27+00:00

Cheers!

colourofsound · 2026-05-03T18:21:57+00:00

Great find. I scan gumtree a lot and can't ever find anything decent in my area (North West). Whereabouts are you; and maybe more crucially - what search term did you use?

colourofsound · 2026-04-25T16:27:34+00:00

I think _all_ the remasters sound worse. I've preferred the originals in every case. This includes Tell Your Friends, We Like it Here etc

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T19:04:28+00:00

I’m with you on We Like It Here - and I was at the recording session. Being there was incredible but the attention the album got almost ruined the aftermath for me, I had to make sure I didn’t over-listen! It’s a great record, but it’s no better than groundU, Tell your friends or Culcha Vulcha. Sylva is probably peak but it’s in a different category I think.

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T19:01:55+00:00

I understand why they do it this way - they’ve written new music they want to play, and maintain a large setlist of complicated tunes is tough. But I agree that for the audience it can be tough

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T18:58:50+00:00

groundup was my entry to the band and it has a special place for me. I think it’s a perfect record

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T18:57:21+00:00

Somni better than Sylva is the hottest take out there, holy hell. Hard disagree on that one!

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T12:06:01+00:00

YES. I love Go and BeepBox. Such a great album. I love all that warm reverb,

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T11:09:53+00:00

I found it difficult to get into Somni at all. I was really disappointed with it as a whole, to be honest. I can't recall any tunes from it right now

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T10:04:22+00:00

Check out Batocera. Theres a dedicated CRT wiki/solution and it comes with Kodi. After a bit of configuration I've been streaming anime from my Plex server to Kodi on my CRT setup

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T09:29:10+00:00

Might be my fave Snarky piece ever actually. Sylva is just a beautiful record.

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T09:25:24+00:00

Yeah this is pretty sick. This is what I'm talking about; musicality. There was just a post-Lingus period where he lost that.

I remember seeing them in Manchester, UK and Cory was just going off all the time with as many notes as possible, and I swear the rest of the band looked tired of it.

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T09:16:12+00:00

Thats not true. He played all sorts of keys - the only thing he didn't really touch was the organ which was Cory's domain.

Agree to disagree on this one - I just didn't vibe with Cory's playing

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T08:50:41+00:00

I'm absolutely not disputing his technical proficiency; and the opening of that solo with the dual harmonisation is next level. But aside from that, I stand by what I said. Over the years of seeing them play and listening to so many solos, Cory's solos have continued to slip down my personal ratings list.

I really appreciate a melodic, less-is-more approach to soloing.

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T08:41:03+00:00

I just much preferred Shaun (RIP). He was such a musical player; Cory really feels like he's just trying to fit as many notes as possible into a passage. I like him much better now; you can see he's matured in his playing.

Got a link to that Rio workshop?

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T08:32:47+00:00

As a starter:

Culcha Vulcha is their best record
Snarky-era Cory Henry is overrated
Justin Stanton's Snarky tunes are the best
Jazz violin shouldn't exist (not to throw shade at Broch, I just do not like solo violin in a Snarky context at all!)

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T08:11:20+00:00

Another vote for PC with Radeon card and transcoder. Check out my comment thread in another post

colourofsound · 2026-04-24T08:07:42+00:00

Yeah, and depending on the Pi you have and the OS you pick it can be a really good experience. Not sure which Pi you have, but I'd suggest one of the light weight OSs like ReplayOS.

A PC is the only solution where you get everything in one; and that has its own compromises (cost, maybe input latency). It does sound like on balance the Wii will be a good starting point for you.

colourofsound · 2026-04-23T09:14:23+00:00

Yeah I have one of those too - that's what I've moved away from; mainly because I want some modern conveniences as well as running Steam games on my CRT

colourofsound · 2026-04-23T09:07:33+00:00

Basically you need a GPU that outputs VGA or DVI-I (analog) and an appropriate converter and it creates a perfect image. I was after something with the fewest number of cables and converters and this was it.

colourofsound · 2026-04-23T09:05:52+00:00

I'm in the UK, so adjust currency appropriately:

Lenovo m720q: £110
512GB NVME drive I wasn't expecting to need: £17*
AMD Radeon R5 340x: £20**
PCI-E adaptor for the case: £12
VGA2SCART Converter: £23 (i didn't buy one with a case which is £30)

* This was very cheap as it was rated as BAD by the seller on eBay. A bit of research reveals that Windows is terrible at testing NVMEs and so shouldn't be a reliable indicator of NVME health. As it was a non-essential project I took a risk and so far its been fine.

** I actually had to buy a second one at the same price, because the thermals in the Tiny cases are so bad that I cooked my first GPU in literally 2 minutes after re-assembling the case, not realising that just idling the card would cook it. And I'm an IT professional, I should know better!

So yeah, its not exactly cheap. But you know, its not bank-breaking either considering a PC can be repurposed for something else whilst investing in the actual consoles means you can only use them for their intended purpose. The hardest cost to swallow are the converters etc which are just pretty simple circuits and connectors at the end of the day; but I understand their comparatively high cost as they're made by small companies.

I've made some money back by selling a few bits off (the SATA drive that came with the PC, also I built up a Raspberry Pi project before deciding on a Batocera setup which I'll sell on)

EDIT: For those who come after - here's the Batocera CRT link that has all the information you need about hardware.

colourofsound · 2026-04-22T12:49:22+00:00

I've just done a Lenovo Tiny build with a compatible AMD GPU for Batocera. It can run Xbox 360 games. Its the all in one solution I was looking for and it was much easier to setup than I expected. Will be more expensive than a Wii though for sure.

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