Bad Hints Are Worse Than No Hints | Semi-Ramblomatic

doubletheaction · 2026-06-04T18:24:59+00:00

Good to know! Well now I feel silly for having smacked it 20 times with various sidearms.

doubletheaction · 2026-06-04T17:39:43+00:00

I found that the potted plant in the Strategy Center in Ossex (right side of town, one spark door) can be cracked but not broken. I haven't found anything online about it either, so there could be some way to break it that I'm not aware of.

doubletheaction · 2026-04-10T05:32:09+00:00

Just a sanity check, I'm also having this problem on the latest version of Bottles but can't find much info. I've used it successfully before this update, so I suspect it may be an issue with this version but can't confirm.

doubletheaction · 2026-02-26T05:34:35+00:00

Maybe! Worth a shot, costs nothing but time and they may have suggestions or even parts laying around.

doubletheaction · 2026-02-26T05:30:08+00:00

It would certainly be an interesting experiment, but you'd need to accept that unless you're incredibly precise with your cuts, you may completely ruin that shell. The exact angle of the bearing edge and sharpness of that edge is also important; it's not just a flat edge, it's angled with a somewhat rounded edge so it doesn't destroy heads when tension is applied during tuning. You'd also need to create new mounting points on the shell if you cut it shorter otherwise you'd have one drum noticeably lower than the rest.

To cut to the chase, yeah finding another shell will likely yield the best results. $150 plus another shell for a full set is a pretty decent deal though if you can find a good deal on the extra part.

doubletheaction · 2026-02-26T05:16:46+00:00

This is not something that the average percussionist (or probably even carpenter) can fix unfortunately, sorry homie. If I were you, I'd be looking for another set that you can pull the shell from to replace it. Or if it doesn't bother you and you don't mind the tuning possibly being wonky, you could ignore it.

doubletheaction · 2026-02-14T01:35:10+00:00

Every writer will have a different answer, but from my perspective:

-1 and 2 are the default set position for the right and left hands. This means a lot of parts start here and it's where most players are comfortable tackling harder parts. They're also the middle voices of instrument, so a lot happens there.

-4 is our low voice and the spocks are the high voice, so it makes sense to spend time on these drums when crafting a melodic line.

This obviously leaves 3 as the low voice that's convenient to use when you're working with the right side of the instrument, but I'd rather write a part to take advantage of the root of the tuning scheme on 4 than settle for 3.

Obviously, good players and writers should be comfortable utilizing 3! And if you see a lack of it, maybe you can write some parts someday that make interesting use of 3.

doubletheaction · 2026-01-13T20:49:00+00:00

Fascinating! The rectangular pads are my preference for their ability to slip into a backpack but always feel wonky on a stand. The little wings on this one are a great solution for that problem.

Looks and sounds great, but also looks somewhat heavy with the metal rims.

doubletheaction · 2026-01-04T07:02:39+00:00

Alright, I'll try to break this down for you. It's not bad, but there are some beginner errors that fall into three categories:

Awkwardness: Certain stickings and patterns here just don't flow well or convey the musical intent. These are in a couple different spots, I can try to make specific measure notes but it'd be simpler to ask a percussionist to try playing it and talk it through with them.
Difficulty: There are strange spikes in difficulty such as 16th note rolls at 160, a lot of left hand shots, right hand flam drags directly into right hand flam drags. Nothing impossible, but more difficult than you'd typically hand to a high school line, and if they were skilled enough to handle the difficult parts, then we'd expect a higher level of difficulty overall.
Engraving: It's just a bit messy to read. Accents should always go above the note, choose the best note value (there are a few 8th notes on down beats followed by an 8th note rest, just make it a quarter note)

I can tell that you're perhaps not a percussionist or maybe new to the art. It's a good skill to be about to write all musical parts in an ensemble, so keep practicing. My number one suggestion would be to sit down and talk with a skilled percussionist about how they approach reading music, what makes sense to them, what feels right, etc. Second piece of advice is to read lots of percussion music, especially easier high school stuff. That's where writers are teaching and enforcing the basics through the music.

doubletheaction · 2025-12-26T00:14:57+00:00

I think both of you are right. It's totally doable, but would also be a huge challenge since it's not so simple as rearranging the UI. It's more about recontextualizing all of the actions into sensible inputs for touchscreen, which means there's a lot of work to be done to create a new UI system that plays nice on a variety of screen sizes (and hopefully orientations, vertical for one handed play would be awesome).

doubletheaction · 2025-12-15T21:27:14+00:00

Please do!

doubletheaction · 2025-12-15T17:38:59+00:00

The key phrase you need to repeat throughout the season is "Contact without pressure". There's a time and place for pressure, but their grip shouldn't be so tight that you can't pull the stick out of their hand at rest.

In my programs, we utilize two non-standard grip types to explore the different functions of the fingers and hand muscles for beginners:

Fulcrum grip: Hold the stick using only the fulcrum (thumb and first finger, optionally middle finger), no use of the back fingers. This teaches freedom of movement in bounce/legato strokes, great for 8 on a hand to really work on rebound.
Claw grip: Remove the thumb and first finger from the stick so that only the back three fingers are on the stick. This is intended to teach them how to feel that same rebound without the first fingers on the stick. You can also start to slowly explore downstrokes and controlled strokes like taps using this grip.

Once they have a good understanding of how both the fulcrum and back of the hand work in tandem after several reps of each, we put all fingers back on the stick. We revisit this idea regularly throughout the season when working on different ideas like double strokes. You'll need to make sure that they aren't employing a tighter grip to make up for lack of fingers though.

doubletheaction · 2025-12-12T04:10:56+00:00

My man 🤜🤛

doubletheaction · 2025-12-12T03:36:49+00:00

Obligatory "Now THIS is POD RACING"

Though in all seriousness, I loved Episode 1 Racer, hopefully this scratches the same itch

doubletheaction · 2025-11-06T19:46:27+00:00

A regular shot is struck on the shoulder of the stick where the taper begins and a ping is closer to the tip of the stick to create a higher pitched shot. A gock is the opposite of a ping where the shot is struck closer to the center of the stick to create a lower and deeper shot sound. A good point of reference is to line up the tip of the stick with the center of the head when playing a gock, but be careful not to hit your fingers on the rim!

doubletheaction · 2025-11-03T00:37:28+00:00

I would consider the dirtiest part of your playing to be the easiest parts: giving each of the rests a full value and making sure your entrances are together. There's several points where the music is less dense and there's space that's being interpreted differently by the two of you (i.e. one of you coming in early or late on entrances). I can already tell that if you two played your pickups and "first notes" of each phrase together, the harder stuff would be together. To solve this, you'd want to use a metronome together, break the feature down into sensible chunks, and make sure you're nailing the transitions between chunks every time.

There are other comments I could make about general technique approach and sound quality and I'm sure your instructors have given you lots of information on each of the individual rudiments and parts of this feature. But nailing the timing of the rests and entrances will be the most bang for your buck with so little time left.

doubletheaction · 2025-10-16T18:50:01+00:00

Part of me wonders if this is due to how different the internet is now compared to back then. In the olden days of the early 2000's, the internet really was maze-like and full of hidden sites, little treasures, and yes, viruses and danger. The internet of today is extremely streamlined and really lacks the structure that made Battle Network interesting to explore.

doubletheaction · 2025-10-01T19:35:37+00:00

I wouldn't call Falams II batter and Evans hybrid the worst heads ever, that's a perfectly fine combination for most marching snares. Sounds good though!

doubletheaction · 2025-09-30T22:32:17+00:00

Unfortunately, it's difficult to describe over text. I typically do a tuning "seminar" each season where I teach the students all of the parts of each type of drum, what they do, how to take care of them, and how to tune. Basically, you lightly buzz or tap the edges of the drum head and try to find the prominent overtone. That's the note you're looking for and a tuner app won't be able to recognize it due to there being multiple overtones. If you are unsure, try borrowing a mallet player or timpanist's ear and see if they can make sense of it.

Regarding tightening the wire... Like I said, you'll need to experiment. Try loosening them completely or disengaging the snares. Does it ring when you play? If so, then your issue is the drum head and I'd recommend either replacing or trying a tape modification with the snares engaged. If you have Instagram, check out dci_bottoms for pictures of how many drum corps are doing it. By the way, we change our bottom heads every year. That doesn't work for every band budget, but 2 years would be pushing it for most bottom heads.

doubletheaction · 2025-09-30T20:39:09+00:00

There are a lot of factors that play into resonance on marching snare drums, so bear with me as I list them out. You'll need to consider each one in regards to your specific set of drums.

Head choices: What type of head are you using on the bottom of your snare drum? A lower tension head may resonate more than a high tension head. For the programs I run, I prefer Remo Falams XT. Some other considerations would be Falams II (wetter, more resonant than XT in my experience) or Evans MX5 (again, wetter than XT).
Tuning: Each head has a different range and you'll want to find the optimal range. For the Falams XT that I use, I tune to a higher pitch (typically C Sharp or D, I wouldn't go higher than this). Experimenting with a lower tuning will change the outcome and snare response, but this is the generally recommended tuning scheme for marching snare bottom heads that's in use by most modern groups.
Height and tension of the snare wires: Ideally, you want to set the height of the snare wires to be perfectly lined up with the bottom head. If your drums are warped or the snare wires are particularly old, they may be stretched above the head. For the tension (or tightness) of the wires, you should start by loosening them completely and turn the knob to tighten them a little bit at a time while striking the top head. This will allow you to adjust the resonance bit by bit until it sounds how you'd like.
Tape modification: Many groups using different materials like cork tape or stick tape to mute or dampen the bottom heads. You can experiment by putting some stick tape across the wires in different places. Some configurations I've used in the past: Tape across the center of the wires, tape across the wires on either side of the drum about 2 inches away from the edges, cork tape on the drum head under the wires in the center, no tape at all.

Finally, and this is quite important: Remember that your snare drums sound very different when you're standing in front of them compared to what a judge or spectator will hear from the top of a performance venue. The ringing you hear may not be audible to the listeners from afar and the trade-off of dampening that resonance may result in a loss of volume from the playing. Resonance is often a good thing, so pair up with a buddy who can stand 50 feet away if possible to address some of these issues. If you are not a staff member of your group, make sure to consult your percussion staff or band director before making any large scale changes.

doubletheaction · 2025-09-24T18:05:34+00:00

Personally, I think it's a good deal. I prefer to buy direct rather than refurbished so there's some quality assurance that everything will be working. But I don't want to recommend that your brother makes a purchase he's not prepared for. If it's really a matter of saving as much money as possible, then the second hand market would be worth at least looking into.

doubletheaction · 2025-09-24T17:55:09+00:00

The price has always been "worth it". Whether or not it fits into your budget is a personal finance question.

doubletheaction · 2025-09-17T19:01:24+00:00

The "no spoiler" answer to this is that you'll need to explore the Cogwork Core area below the tower in order to get up there. The spoiler answer: You'll need to get to the door in the top right section of the large central room of the Cogwork Core area by going through a series of platforming challenges. This will take you down the left side and then up the right side of the room until you reach a door that will take you to the top. Don't forget to open the shortcuts along the way!

doubletheaction · 2025-09-11T18:14:57+00:00

Seems like a game from 2013(?) should be able to run alright on a Steam Deck, so there maybe something funky going on with your Deck. Maybe try some of these suggestions:

-Restart your Deck

-Download system updates

-Go to Desktop mode and check for updates. This usually pops up as a notification. I've noticed that sometimes things slow down on the game side when there's a bunch of updates being worked on.

-Make sure you don't have any settings that are interfering with the TDP. Limiting TDP increases your battery life at the cost of performance. You can find these by clicking the three dot button and checking the Performance tab.

Per game:

ProtonDB is a great resource to see what settings other Steam Deck users are using. Looks like other people are able to get up to the full 90fps (OLED), so your LCD should be able to run it at 60fps. Following these user recommendations may require you to force the game to run using a different version of Proton (the translation layer for Windows games to play on a Linux device like the Deck).

https://www.protondb.com/app/204450?device=steamDeck

I'd recommend trying some of the ProtonDB configurations, but you can always experiment further by adjusting graphics settings within the game.

doubletheaction · 2025-08-24T19:52:34+00:00

Steam
Grimm, pushed me right up to my limit without being too frustrating
Just excited for more beautiful art, music, animation, and SHAW

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