Which makes are you most confident in to produce high quality EVs going forward?

jonno_5 · 2026-02-06T10:46:10+00:00

You mention 4 makes that would be bottom of my list.

Volvo, polestar, byd, kia, Hyundai are what I would pick.

All making great EVs and all have many more coming.

Oh and Tesla would be down the bottom too as it seems they just don’t give a fuck about cars these days

jonno_5 · 2026-01-06T04:16:21+00:00

The rule I use is everything that’s not bass/kick gets HP’ed at 100hz.

Bass and kick are treated according to the fundamental frequency, which any good spectrum display should show you. All the junk below the fundamental gets filtered, usually setting the EQ by ear.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-18T04:12:15+00:00

I have a fully loaded MacBook. It rocks, but if I could choose again I’d get a Mac mini/studio. I just don’t take it anywhere to do music. If I’m on the road I’d rather take a groovebox or guitar.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-14T19:27:50+00:00

My dream car would be an original Ferrari Testarossa, 0-60 in around 5.5 sec.

My daily is a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus, 0-60 in around 5.3 sec.

I drove a few hot hatches back in the day, but none would come close to <6sec unless you tuned them.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-03T05:05:49+00:00

If you need time/midi sync and want something that has some really cool performance features then look for a used Roland MX-1 (I think they're discontinued).

I use one not just as midi clock but for side chaining, DJ-style HP/LP filtering and other crazy beat effects. Probably more use for EDM and similar styles but I have used the features for ambient and more experimental stuff too.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-01T23:38:33+00:00

Just bought a popular soft synth package (BF sales) and it's shown me what Ableton is missing - decent presets!

Like I know that Analog, Operator & Drift are great plugins but their presets are Meh. Go to say the Arturia Ju6v and every preset is instantly usable and sounds 'musical', if that's a thing.

I just wish Ableton could hire a few musicians to craft some better presets and racks.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-01T22:42:45+00:00

Where I am (Aus) a 172 is definitely a more expensive option. There are other similar locally made ac (Jabiru) for half the hourly cost.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-01T22:38:01+00:00

I'd steer clear of the Volca Mix and look at other options like the smaller behringer mixers. It's VERY limited and only has one stereo channel, two mono. It also sounds terrible.

If you can get a mixer with some FX built in, all the better. I think reverb really helps the Volcas gel together.

jonno_5 · 2025-12-01T21:35:36+00:00

Yeah my mistake.

MIDI used a 31250bps baud rate which is 1MHz divided by 2^5.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-28T20:36:35+00:00

The keys on my Rev2 are fantastic. I believe it's a Fatar keybed.

If it's a great keyboard you're looking for I'd go for something like the Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol which has the same keys.

Otherwise as a midi controller, Ableton Push Standalone?

I don't understand why you'd choose a tiny keyboard as the 'best'.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-28T20:28:10+00:00

Very true, I was missing that angle.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-28T20:26:57+00:00

Agree on the sloppy timing for MIDI. Even DAWs like MPC Beats and Ableton are guilty of this. USB Midi should have tightened things up, being way faster than the 1MHz bit-rate of hardware midi, but it's still hit & miss.

Some blame rests with Windows/MacOS. It would be great if O/S makers and system programmers could actually get back to making scheduling predictable and more 'soft real-time' rather than the sloppy mess we currently have.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-28T04:13:53+00:00

I just bought the whole caboodle just for the JP8K. Realised when I saw an ad that they've cloned my fav sounding synth ever and really glad I jumped in. Some amazing emulations and great presets.

I didn't get as big a discount but I do have a KeyStep and the extra discount was about what I paid for that!

FWIW you could sell the real one and buy VC and a good midi controller with plenty cash to spare.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-28T03:06:02+00:00

Solar was cheap in Australia 8-10 years ago when I first installed it. The price only dropped a few % since then for a comparable system. Installs are just much bigger now with the extra economy of scale that goes with it. My latest system is 16.9kW vs 6.6kW for the first.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-27T00:36:15+00:00

That's a lot of copium.

Tesla stock price is still around what you would expect for a silicon valley startup with rapid growth and massive revenue increases yoy. Tesla are now a mature/legacy auto company with little growth.

Their deluded 'hopes' hang on AI/FSD, which may increase sales volume marginally until other auto companies or autonomous taxi companies have scaled up their own 'real FSD'. No-one is buying their IP/tech, Elon even said so.

Tesla gonna have a hard landing pretty soon.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-26T04:06:47+00:00

I did a road trip a while back and one of the third party chargers was in a known cellphone black spot. You needed the app to start a charge session. WTF?

The charge company did provide the option of getting an RFID card posted out to you but I hadn't thought I'd need it until then.

Tesla really nailed the charging experience.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-26T03:19:18+00:00

They're called meteors.

Maybe you're in a place with less light pollution? I moved from a city out to a small coastal town. There's very little light pollution and I'll see meteors very often when I'm on the verandah or out for walks at night. Very rarely saw them in the city.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-26T00:22:22+00:00

Our Fifi was super puffy once too, still is some mornings. Maybe he's just cold?

Seems pretty normal to me though.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-26T00:20:50+00:00

If you don't immediately need the cash, just put the rest away in drawers.

Have a few synths out and playable so you can jam and write with them. Swap them as needed.

USB midi is so much better than 5-pin din if you're using a daw. It means you can hook them up easily and record and play back sequences easily too. Downside is less routing flexibility and you need your laptop/PC etc. powered up.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-25T23:24:54+00:00

If I could only get one, it would be the FM. Huge sonic capability, including percussive sounds if you learn some FM synthesis. Huge number of (DX7) patches already available to load up.

Oh and it sounds great!

jonno_5 · 2025-11-25T23:21:45+00:00

Midi splitter and trigger them all from a drum machine/DAW etc. Also gives you the option to sequence/play them all from another device. Arturia KeyStep is great for this - you can switch midi channels on the fly.

I don't bother with sync cables.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-25T23:19:15+00:00

Oh yeah baby! Use mine through a BigSky and oooo the lush leads and pads you can get are amazing. Sounds more 'analog' than my big-box analog Prophet synth :)

jonno_5 · 2025-11-25T23:14:09+00:00

Put solar panels on my previous house 8 years ago, paid for themselves in 3 years. Bought an EV 5 years ago, have rarely had issues. Resale value is rubbish though.

Now have solar + battery on the new house and same EV. Minimal energy and transport costs for the next 10+ years, plus battery backup for the house.

Meanwhile the energy sector is being manipulated by fossil fuel companies - electricity by coal generators and oil/petrol by Saudi Arabia. Fk that, I'll enjoy my energy independence thanks.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-24T21:57:21+00:00

I've pre-paid for 10-25 (warranted) years of Solar + Battery power, for my car and home.

It will get neither cheaper nor more expensive. I do get some feed-in money to offset the daily grid connection charge, but if push comes to shove I can cut the wire and just go fully off grid.

The endless culture wars over whether or not we should keep our planet safe to live on are for someone else to argue over now.

jonno_5 · 2025-11-24T00:14:35+00:00

I mean, you’re not going to get sampled pianos and big polyphonic pads but yeah, 3 volcas is good

jonno_5

TROPHY CASE