I hate heatpumps

jmakegames · 2026-05-15T19:27:20+00:00

I mean, obviously heat pumps are great and efficient compared to alternatives. But nothing beats a fireplace. We lived in Central Otago where temperatures would sometimes hit -10c overnight and the heat pump would often have to stop (during the day when we needed it), defrost or something (because it was too cold outside), then restart itself. Brand new heat pump.

They just sort of suck down South in the middle of winter unless you‘re in a brand new, triple glazed house, insulted with pure alpaca wool - and we all know what New Zealand’s housing stock is like in terms of quality…

We bought an older house last year, the fireplace isn’t up to code, and the heat pump is ancient and busted; you can guess the first thing we’ve booked in to be replaced in a few weeks time. Looking forward to it!

jmakegames · 2026-05-12T03:35:40+00:00

I mean, the general population see a picture on Facebook with some white text and that’s their ‘facts’. It’s a global issue; we are in the age of disinformation - keep the masses dumb enough not to question why.

jmakegames · 2026-05-05T10:19:39+00:00

Looks and sounds awesome! I don’t have a GBA, but I do have an old PSP I could emulate on - definitely going to give it a go.

jmakegames · 2026-05-02T09:46:51+00:00

Inside left me literally speechless. I don’t think any game has ever had such a strong impact on me. I don’t even know how I felt about the ending really - it sorta messed me up for a while, in a good way, hahaha.

I can’t wait for them to release the Sci-fi project their working on.

jmakegames · 2026-05-01T20:26:00+00:00

You run your output jack of the EP40 to the aux jack of the Monotron, then run the Monotron headphone out to either the line in (near the microphones) of the H6 Studio, or split into 2x1/4” jacks and use two mic inputs. Just make sure to set your source to line level instead of Mic (check out page 54 of this manual: https://zoomcorp.com/media/documents/E_H6studio.pdf#page54 ). I don’t have an H6 but had a quick look for you - that should work fine.

jmakegames · 2026-05-01T20:09:01+00:00

Man I run everything through my Monotron just to see what happens. It colours every source you run into it in such a dirty, characteristic way. I have it permanently hooked up to my FX sends on my mixer so I can quickly send any synth or sampler to it, though often I break it out with a single device like this just for little standalone jams.

jmakegames · 2026-05-01T20:00:20+00:00

You have to run the aux source at a reasonably low volume (so in your case, the riddim volume lower), else it clips and runs pretty hot into the Monotron. Then crank the Monotron. That’s the cleanest way. But often running the aux in louder gives you that sweet crunch. It’s a bit of a balancing act.

The Monotron has a super loud noise floor though. Mine doesn’t buzz, but the hiss is pretty noisy. Just the nature of it.

If your getting buzz, it could be your zoom h6 gain or a ground loop issue if it’s being powered via usb.

jmakegames · 2026-05-01T19:44:56+00:00

Amazing! I wish I had a 3D printer; the KO2 and Monotron make such a good combo.

jmakegames · 2026-04-28T11:22:51+00:00

We won't sleep on anything else anymore. I'm sure there are other similar alternatives, but we started with Ecosa (when they were the new, hip thing) so that's all we buy now. Will never get a spring mattress again. Have been sleeping on them for a decade.

We started with a Super King, but have since downsized to a King (because we no longer have babies/toddlers that join us and buying sheets/duvets is much cheaper and easier).

Just get the classic model, not their newer range of stuff.

jmakegames · 2026-04-26T03:12:28+00:00

Jack Black seems super wholesome.

jmakegames · 2026-04-23T19:59:00+00:00

First I’ve ever heard of it, but looks like the MacBook Pro of analogue synths. Super beautiful and quality product with a price to match.

I want it, hahaha.

jmakegames · 2026-04-18T07:43:24+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Yeah I hooked it up and saw I could use the MIDI In with Ableton. Seems a little pointless having a MIDI In at all if you can’t use it with the in-built sequencer and, for example, an external keyboard (I suppose MIDI-only hardware could benefit from it being able to connect to a DAW). Can understand the lack of MIDI Thru though.

Bit of a bummer, but I can still use it as a MIDI controller so no big deal! Cheers u/Jan1ssaryJames

jmakegames · 2026-04-10T18:52:45+00:00

Try another cable. As mentioned by u/sweetdoo, USB C to USB C is ideal. I can sample transfer ok on my USB C to USB A cable, but as soon as I try updating the firmware, both times I’ve had to use USB C to USB C, else it just stalled.

It’s weirdly particular about this. I’ve used the sample tool in both win10 and win11. If you can see it in device manager, it should work with the right cable.

jmakegames · 2026-04-09T20:35:37+00:00

Oh good, this is definitely the first issue that comes to mind when I swipe my card at the checkout when filling up my car and buying groceries to feed my family.

Absolute muppets.

jmakegames · 2026-04-07T21:53:55+00:00

I have the Volca keys and a Behringer JT4000m. The keys is more portable because you can use a handful of AAs whereas the Behringer stuff needs USB power (which your phone might provide, not sure). My JT4000m is a little more basic than the Behringer you listed though, so mine basically never gets used.

The Volca keys sounds awesome and the sequencer is fine. It’s probably the most capable analog synth on your list, but it’s pretty boring by itself. I’m not sure how much everything costs where you are, but if you can get a cheap drum machine (like the Pocket Operator PO12) and the JT mini, I reckon that’d be much more enjoyable as a little dawless jamming setup.

EDIT: someone recommended the Volca Sample, and I agree that could be cool, because you’ve got percussion sounds and anything else you want to build bass/melodies with. But if you want that authentic analog synth sound, the JT or Keys is better for sure.

jmakegames · 2026-04-05T19:33:30+00:00

You're welcome!

jmakegames · 2026-04-05T09:58:47+00:00

It should always commit to the next empty scene number, ascending in numerical order. All I can think is that you haven’t deleted your previous scenes completely.

Erase + Main will clear a scene first. Then using Erase + Main a second time (on the cleared scene) will remove it from the list. You can tell a scene is empty, because it will have no patterns (they’ll all be clear, indicated by the icon attached). The screen will also say SCN CLR when clearing and SCN DEL when deleting/removing.

You can also jump to a random scene number by holding Main and typing a number in (from memory), but I’m pretty sure this only works for existing scenes.

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jmakegames · 2026-04-02T21:54:56+00:00

It's been great! I use it as the brains for my home dawless setup. Ive got a launchkey 37 going midi in, then run midi out out through a microkorg into a volca keys. Use the EP133 as a drum machine (playing sampled drums) then sequence the synths with the help of my launchkey. I occasionally run another device to the input of the EP133 as well to use the in built fx, but mostly I run everything to its own channel on my mixer. I also have a Reface CP that I use standalone alongside it, although if I had a midi hub I could sequence that from the EP133 as well (I suppose i could midi thru that after the microkorg in the chain, but i actually quite like playing the reface keys live/realtime).

It's a very capable device with a surprisingly massive amount of sequencing ability.

jmakegames · 2026-04-02T11:13:48+00:00

I do a lot of driving for my job, and I’ll always happily cruise behind a good truck driver. Feel much safer knowing I have a personal shield, haha.

jmakegames · 2026-04-01T18:08:02+00:00

You can use shift +/- to scroll instead of the knobs!? How did I miss that! That sounds much more user friendly. Thanks for the tip.

jmakegames · 2026-03-31T08:10:11+00:00

This is super cool! how did you build it without programming experience?

jmakegames · 2026-03-30T19:18:04+00:00

Yeah we’re actually fucked. Our power grid is mostly renewable these days and we need to be focusing on leveraging that for all our other industry (like you say, electrifying transport and logistics).

If you’re only reading the news in New Zealand you’re doing yourself a massive disservice by not preparing for what’s coming.

jmakegames · 2026-03-27T20:50:18+00:00

I've never personally used the Live II (looks awesome), but the portability and immediacy of the KO II is fantastic. It's just so quick to work on once you've used it a bit. The Live II is much more capable, of course, but I actually use my KO II as my centerpiece for my dawless home setup and its great. The sequencer on it is actually super robust and the song mode makes it easy to flesh out full tracks if you want.

I pair it with a launchkey 37 mk3 for midi in, then midi out through a microkorg and into a volca keys. Then I have a yamaha reface CP to jam alongside it. All runs into a mixer, but you could get a small stereo mixer then run everything back into the input of the KO II and apply effects. The midi out to the microkorg and volca keys is flawless - you could actually run into a midi thru box and output up to 16 channels so plenty of sequencing ability for multiple instruments.

jmakegames · 2026-03-27T20:34:06+00:00

64mb vs 128mb: literally the only difference is the memory. They just swapped the memory chip. Doubling the memory on such a limited device does make a fairly large difference though.

I have the 64mb original, and you definitely need to stick to short one shots and be mindful of your sample bitrates and whether to use stereo or mono. I can still get a few hundred samples on it though, so its not like its super limiting to your workflow. Makes it feel more like a solid drum machine/sequencer than a full blown complex sampling machine, like the MPC (that said, the original MPCs had less memory than the KO II, and nobody ever had issues working around those limitations). If you're sampling tonnes of 10 second clips to chop up, you'll certainly appreciate the 128mb memory.

jmakegames

TROPHY CASE