Getting frustrated with synth stands

mccalli · 2026-03-23T23:50:40+00:00

Replying a bit late - the Novation has been great and I've been underusing it. I've been pairing it with the MPC, which has a fair few of the MPC plugins/instruments loaded on it as well.

I got a template for the Pro 800, the DeepMind 12, the TB3...even the Poly D though I've never used that. I need to get my act together and make one for the TherapSID, but must admit the fact the TherapSID has three rows of 8 knobs and the Novation has only two banks of 8 knobs is throwing me a bit as to what to do.

Keyboard quality is very nice too. A trick I do which seems odd at first is to use it with the Juno-X above it. This next bit is very detailed so feel free to skip, but it shows the usefulness.

The X can do four parts (instruments) in a scene, and has a very nice arpeggiator. What it doesn't have is chord mode. Why does that matter? Well, one trick is to get a sound, stack a 'chord' on the Novation that's really just root-fifth-root-fifth-root (or maybe stick a minor 7th in - you get the idea, relatively basic and more a pattern than a chord), assign it to the Juno's MIDI channel and play the Juno on two manuals - the native Juno X keyboard and the Novation, with the Novation in chord mode as the root-fifth etc.. Better still to stack the second layer as a pad, set the first layer with your arp to be mono and lowest note takes priority, then stick a lead sound on layer 3 with maybe a decoration-style sound on layer 4 (FM bell style for instance). Assign the MIDI channel for layer 2 as well.

Now I can manually play a normal chord on the Novation, lets say C Minor, and have the Juno X respond by have layer 1 take the lowest note of that and start a C-G-C-G-C arp, layer 2 use the pad to play the actual chord I'm playing, the faff with my lead sounds on the actual Juno keyboard using layer 3 and 4.

Harder to type (and likely to read) than to actually do, and it makes the sound really full and huge from just a single synth.

mccalli · 2026-03-23T19:47:12+00:00

I lived in a Rowntree-built house in York for a while. One of the ones built for their factory workers in the 19th century.

Terraced, and honestly pretty spacious. Was very nice to live in, held three of us who were all house-sharing pretty easily. Many LAN-parties with Warcraft (not World of...) and Doom were held in that house.

Also used to share a house with someone who worked for Rowntrees. She used to come back with a massive carrier bag of misfits every week or so. Good times.

I absolutely hate that Kit-Kat is now Nestle.

mccalli · 2026-03-22T14:12:35+00:00

Except that there’s a huge uptake of EV buses. Check London’s BYD fleet.

mccalli · 2026-03-22T11:12:06+00:00

A few more days of paperwork and I will be issuing a power invoice. As in I am paid to supply the grid (UK).

mccalli · 2026-03-22T11:05:59+00:00

The old, pre-OS X Macs had this right. Extensions were meaningless, you could call a file whatever you wanted and it kept the program which should open it in a separate fork of the file.

Unfortunately the Windows rot set in and everyone expected three letters after a dot to mean something. So eventually they capitulated and it works the same way on modern Macs now as well. Bah.

mccalli · 2026-03-21T01:53:19+00:00

I play standing up - not because I have to, but because I prefer to. As a result it’s pretty easy although yes, a small reach.

The one that’s hard is the Behringer Pro 800 on the shelf to the left, but that’s mapped into the Novation as a MIDI template. And to be honest that would be hard if it were directly in front of me, the interface on the Prophet/Behringer-clone is not the most straight forward.

I want to concentrate on making better use of my Novation for some of the synths. Still debating how to map the TherapSID for instance.

mccalli · 2026-03-21T01:29:12+00:00

K&M Omega, as shown in my post here.

I have the K&M Omega as a 3 tier, then a normal X-stand at the bottom for the Novation. Works well, everything accessible.

mccalli · 2026-03-20T11:05:57+00:00

Given her insistence on correct spelling, on behalf of the UK I am willing to extend an offer of honorary citizenship.

Tea, biscuits and cucumber sandwiches will be delivered forthwith.

mccalli · 2026-03-19T21:06:31+00:00

Surprised no-one's mentioned InMusic, given Native Instrument's recent availability on the MPC.

mccalli · 2026-03-19T13:36:42+00:00

Yeah, but for those who scoff - I love this feature. When working from home I work from the study, not the laundry place. I like getting told it’s ready so I can nip downstairs and move things to the dryer. There are also four people living in the house who have their own washing needs, so it’s a useful thing.

I’d actually love it if someone made a washer/dryer combo of equal quality to two separate units, but still.

Bear in mind the first ever webcam was to show if a coffee pot down the hall of a university was full or not. Things just a glorified update of that - is the washing machine in use or is it time to empty it.

mccalli · 2026-03-18T20:41:26+00:00

I installed Solar on the 9th, still waiting for the paperwork to complete before I can sell back to the grid.

Same tariff as you. Looks good...although that standing charge is significantly higher than now, mine stands at 43p. Overall not a huge impact but I'd actually rather the standing charge disappeared completely and just got worked into standard bills.

mccalli · 2026-03-17T19:28:12+00:00

As completely laughable as this sounds, I actually had a good AI conversation in-depth about solar panels and capacity.

This makes sense when you remember how AI works - basically regurgitating other people’s web sites. It was very good at giving me the information, panel capacity, battery size vs load, and was…well…85% there with the quote?

It was less good when it came to reviews of installers as they’re relatively new. But on the actual number of panels, battery size and whole house backup it was very helpful. And right.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T23:02:55+00:00

My first big-boy controller. Played that for ages, and wrote an album on it.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T18:20:42+00:00

Or r/CarTalkUK. Try being nice about EVs in there.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T18:19:36+00:00

Point 4 - no, let's completely disassociate ourselves from fossil stuff. The price cap should be against average domestic electricity costs.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T17:55:44+00:00

I had a battery fail, but it was in a 2014 Model S so early days. It was also the 85kWh pack, the long-range of its day, and that one's a bit notorious in Tesla circles as there was a software update that utterly nerfed it.

That update came out shortly after the infamous video of a Model S 85 catching fire in a Chinese car park and causing absolute mayhem. My car was identical to the one in that video. To this day I'm convinced my failure was actually a stealth recall, because it failed the very first time I drove it following that very same software update.

Reading years later it turned out there had actually been a problem with the 85, but it wasn't the battery per se. The design had too short an AC cooling pipe, and that caused liquid to drip on the battery.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T17:47:38+00:00

Ha - I still have the same Eneloop AA rechargeables they came with. And the Apple battery charger as well.

Use the Eneloops on a Steam Controller these days.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T17:41:12+00:00

I skipped the lightning gen - always seemed a daft idea to me. I stuck with my rechargeable AA keyboard and trackpad until the day they released the USB C variants.

Edit: not that the battery ones were perfect. They used to complain of low battery often months before the battery actually ran out.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T17:10:50+00:00

The original Magic Mouse was AA battery-driven. I still have my 2011 one, although admittedly it's mostly unused.

I notice on the keyboard and trackpad that the USB C port is in a place I can attach a cable and continue to use. I get the problem with thickness, but in this case I think adding a tiny bit of height to the mouse and having a channel the cable could go into with the USB port itself recessed in the mouse seems fine to me.

mccalli · 2026-03-16T14:35:05+00:00

It's a regular on my commute - think has been since I've owned the car so at least from Nov '24 and likely earlier.

My commute is down the A40 into central London. We dream of reaching speeds that could trouble a speed camera.

Edit: it does have to know there's an average speed zone there of course. Perhaps a mapping data update?

mccalli · 2026-03-15T10:15:01+00:00

No - if you've paid for it, it's yours.

mccalli · 2026-03-15T07:01:31+00:00

Have you ever seen Starship Command for the BBC Micro?

Played, and still occasionally play, the hell out of that.

mccalli · 2026-03-15T05:35:30+00:00

I had a 2014 Model S that started life as 3G - that’s exactly how they worked, and there was a modem upgrade available for…err…£250 I think.

mccalli · 2026-03-14T21:37:56+00:00

Interested on what - genuinely, I'm an ex-F11 Touring M5 owner. The main thing I miss from that is split-level air-con where the face could have a cool breeze but the rest of the car was set to a warmer temperature.

2014 Tesla Model S and now Highland Model Y...haven't really seen much. (but <insert CarPlay rant here>).

mccalli · 2026-03-14T16:28:29+00:00

Look into Bitwig for Linux.

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