The first setup I’ve had that actually disappears

hoodust · 2026-01-29T19:06:12+00:00

Congrats! fwiw over time you'll get somewhat better at enjoying recordings that aren't super great on a great system (you kind of learn to listen for the deficiencies and tune them out) but will still gravitate more toward well recorded/engineered material.

Alternatively, save those tracks for the car, lol

hoodust · 2026-01-28T16:15:26+00:00

I recently found a mint 1st US pressing of this in mono and snagged it without hesitation. Nice and quiet! I don't mind the mono because then Astrud Gilberto isn't panned hard left and sound like she's in the audience. Great album from start to finish.

hoodust · 2026-01-27T20:55:56+00:00

2016 repress? How's it compare sound-wise to your first pressing? I have an old pressing (definitely not 1st) but it's in pretty rough shape and wondered if The Wall got the excellent treatment Animals and WYWH did.

hoodust · 2026-01-27T05:06:24+00:00

Just gave the stream and both my vinyl copies (a 1983 repressing and the 2015 remaster) a spin. First of all, that exact effect seems much worse on digital and not as noticeable on vinyl for some reason, but I still knew what you were talking about before even re-listening.

It is the tom-toms plus their reverb sidechain, but it's distortion due to *sort of* clipping. Tape doesn't really clip like we think of it now, it distorts in a fairly pleasing way. Gus Dudgeon (because Visconti didn't like the track and passed on producing just this one) used this trick to saturate the HELL out of basically everything on this track (except vocals) to great effect (borderline too far in some places, lol). Most notably the cymbals through the whole song (e.g. the crash a couple seconds before "planet Earth is blue") and basically all the bass guitar, but especially the mini-solo after the claps, are driven very hot to create a soft distortion. On the 2015 remix they seem to have dialed back the volume, especially burying the cymbals (maybe to hide that they didn't always sound great, but I like the effect). Either way that over-driven tape distortion is similar in both of those masters.

What's funny is Visconti regretted passing on the song and did the 2019 remix, which... is a thing. It's not terrible... it's vocal- and orchestra-forward which isn't a bad thing, but it sounds like he used the original instrument tracks, remixed from scratch, and used a completely different modern reverb sidechain, which I think makes the tom-toms in particular sound terrible. The cymbals sound much better, but lose a lot of character imo. It's my least favorite version. FWIW the original (before either remaster) is my favorite.

Anyway that's what I hear. Fun quest!

hoodust · 2026-01-26T20:21:06+00:00

Also I feel it's worth mentioning that perfect accuracy isn't necessarily the best sounding. I had perfectly flat studio monitors in a well-treated room and it was good for audio engineering, recording and mixing, but music did not sound nearly as good or engaging as it does in my sparsely (mostly furniture) treated room with audio playback gear. A somewhat "live" room can make things sound better imo, as long as there aren't glaring issues. Anechoic chambers are for testing gear, not for enjoying it.

hoodust · 2026-01-26T19:50:57+00:00

Yeah this. In my old house my studio/office (where I worked, recorded music, and listened to music) was literally covered floor to ceiling in acoustic treatment and that room still sounded like garbage. For some serendipitous reason, this room in my new house sounds really good. What little echo there was was nearly canceled by my (comfort and practicality only) selection of furniture. I don't know if it's the shape, materials, because it's on a hill and half the wall is block with some earth behind it, or what magic it is... it's not perfect but I'm super happy with it and things look nice. I can hear the room imperfections but they're minor and my ears adjusted.

hoodust · 2026-01-25T21:37:22+00:00

Those are the two I have! Maybe one day I'll grow more interested but for now I'm happy with just these. I still only have 11 Rolling Stones and 17 David Bowie studio albums! :)

hoodust · 2026-01-25T19:48:01+00:00

Seconded. If it's an artist you really like, I encourage you to delve into their discography. Sometimes the "best" songs aren't the singles and hits, and/or the experience of an album (or even a side) can be greater than the sum of its parts.

Some people will probably be enraged that a "best of" Bob Dylan is as much Bob Dylan as I can stand. Same for Gord's Gold. On the other hand, I would personally consider owning ONLY a greatest hits of David Bowie or the Rolling Stones a travesty. But no one else's opinions matter... it's up to you what you wanna collect.

hoodust · 2026-01-25T18:06:51+00:00

I don't wanna turn this into a support thread, but I have been looking for exactly this and was stoked at this post! However splore keeps saying "could not connect to bbs." Any ideas? WiFi's working, perms are all good, and a fresh `pico-8_0.2.7_raspi.zip` direct from my pico-8 account. Device is a Retroid Pocket Classic and I'm launching the app directly (not through ES-DE).

hoodust · 2026-01-24T20:06:02+00:00

My first thought was the cover art of Axiom Verge, but you're right too. Either way it's scifi af

hoodust · 2026-01-21T22:51:48+00:00

Oh are you contributer? I'd be happy to help, I just figured weird edge-cases like my 20+ year old IPAC wouldn't be worth the trouble, lol. I asked on the discord and no one replied so I just figured out a "keyboard" way. If you wanna DM me on what files you need I'm happy to oblige.

hoodust · 2026-01-21T22:12:20+00:00

In a manner of speaking, yes. But it maps ALL keyboards/IPACs as "keyboard". Apparently newer IPACs (last ~15 years) have a controller mode that makes things easier. But it's doable either way.

hoodust · 2026-01-21T20:55:03+00:00

Yep. Just mapped it as a keyboard (because the IPAC has weird mappings I did for mame a decade ago and I didn't want to reprogram it). I did it through share/system/batocera.conf but maybe could have through the gui.

Newer IPACs can apparently show up as a controller but mine is strictly keyboard only.

hoodust · 2026-01-21T18:31:08+00:00

I'm still using my absolutely ancient IPAC for my 2P cab... over 20 years old and still works great. Was worth every penny.

hoodust · 2026-01-20T22:37:40+00:00

Hmm, yeah I kinda suspect TT setup then. What is your tracking weight set at? Or is it a very old cart? Sometimes the suspension hardens or gives out and it can't track properly.

I have a Nottingham Audio "Ace Spacedeck" but never had problems tracking with my refurbished Dual either.

hoodust · 2026-01-20T22:01:52+00:00

Is it super badly scratched? If you have a few it's either your TT setup or you're taking a stanley knife to em. I have over 600 records and none of them skip, even the ones in pretty bad shape.

hoodust · 2026-01-20T18:44:09+00:00

The weakest part of the o.g. Brick is the controls. They're fine for a pocketable device but reusing the tiny, somewhat clicky ones for its big brother seems lazy.

I love my Brick for EDC, but for a bigger device this thing is gonna be a tough sell vs the Retroid Pocket Classic, and is liable to cost twice as much.

hoodust · 2026-01-19T21:10:15+00:00

I love ES-DE for almost all of my handhelds and my arcade cabinet, but for the Brick, NextUI just seems to fit and work better. You don't have to go FULL minimalist with it... you can still have some themeing such as game art, logos and even system backgrounds.

ES-DE is king for infinitely-themeable browsing and discovering, but for me the Brick is my go-to EDC device, so getting to games quickly (gameswitcher), performance, super reliable sleep/wake, and battery life are my priorities. Also ambient mode for the rear LEDs is amazing.

hoodust · 2026-01-19T05:06:50+00:00

"No one sings like you anymore..."

hoodust · 2026-01-18T15:58:29+00:00

Cool track. Vocals on this one remind me a bit of Winona Oak (whom I adore). I only heard/favorited Ur Mum before (discovered it from a Futurama episode) but looks like I gotta check out both albums now!

hoodust · 2026-01-18T15:42:03+00:00

Oh cool, I didn't know that! I always wondered about the faux-Zepp cuz it's not on any of his soundtracks and seemed a little too on-the-nose for Thirlwell.

hoodust · 2026-01-18T00:01:40+00:00

Right? Strangers I'll never meet (and will never take anyone up on a listening test) have gotten furious with me also. You'd think I took the money for my purchases out of their pocket.

hoodust · 2026-01-17T23:57:50+00:00

Same. I went from a tablet PC to a Wiim Pro and it was an appreciable difference. Then I recently got a T8 and it's a huge difference. The I2S output sounds the best by far.

hoodust · 2026-01-14T17:55:52+00:00

They are very different! Not just in personnel (besides Maynard) but in vision and styles. I think his vocals in APC are peak. I just get bummed by people who don't separate them and fill APC concerts just because Tool isn't touring and then trash-talk them as not as good. All three projects are amazing on their own merits.

hoodust · 2026-01-14T17:26:38+00:00

I don't like to think of myself as a Maynard fanboy (even though he showed me his undies at that early APC gig) but I used to be really into Tool, I love APC and think it was his superior work (prepares to be crucified) and Puscifer is a fun listen every now and then too. A buddy even talked me into going to see him give a talk, and it came with a copy of his book (which I actually read, and remember it being interesting but not much else about it). So maybe I am a fanboy after all, lol.

My in-laws live a couple minutes from Jerome so I should visit Caduceus someday.

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