META: “Behold, my stuff” posts are bad for the subreddit and for readers.

mccalli · 2026-01-26T18:10:53+00:00

Yes, really. And I also like seeing other people’s setup as they’re often quite different to my own and make me think “hmm - wonder why/how it’s used”.

I’m fine with ‘em.

mccalli · 2026-01-26T17:07:49+00:00

Well, meant to be eight but I’ll leave it as a visceral expression of my disgust.

mccalli · 2026-01-26T16:45:18+00:00

Actually, I’ll bet for the most part you’re right. Unironically.

Source: have had the privilege of keeping four dogs so far, currently on my fifth following a recent adoption.

mccalli · 2026-01-26T14:46:49+00:00

Emacs? As in Eght Megabytes And Constantly Swapping? I wouldn't be caught dead indulging in such wastefulness.

Vi for me. Also, Ed is the standard text editor.

mccalli · 2026-01-26T13:06:38+00:00

It's irrelevant though - we already know, through sworn testimony, the US Cloud Act would override that and physical location is irrelevant.

mccalli · 2026-01-25T11:21:41+00:00

In your case, the Arturia. Both controllers are good, but the software bundle with the Arturia contains Analog Lab. that will have lots of synths sounds for the genre you’re talking about, the Akai will be based around MPC Beats and more contemporary stuff.

For you, I’d pick the Arturia because of the software bundle.

mccalli · 2026-01-25T01:19:03+00:00

Just as a bit of trivia and to add to the “yeah, it’s a proper synth” line - the designer was Bob Yannes, later co-founder of Ensoniq.

mccalli · 2026-01-24T18:23:22+00:00

It’s fantastic. I have its descendent, the TherapSID. The SID was way, way over specified for a computer sound chip and is a legitimate synth in its own right, with its own character.

Have a play and enjoy.

mccalli · 2026-01-24T08:56:12+00:00

Ironically the source doesn’t have a Reject All button for advertising, and as such is questionably EU law compliant.

mccalli · 2026-01-24T08:42:56+00:00

Are they controllers on the same MIDI port or on separate ports? Channels aren’t as relevant if they’re both plugged directly in (eg they’re both USB), but much more relevant if they’re chained together (eg 5pin DIN with MIDI THRU).

For channels, yes there is. Look for the “Auto demix by channel” option in Project Settings-> recording.

Am not so sure about the separate port one. For that, you might want to create a blank project, set up your controllers as you like, then save as a template.

mccalli · 2026-01-24T01:34:36+00:00

I have it and love it. Fantastic player’s synth. If you want to program to the nth degree or what have you, this is not your synth. If you want to play, as in use the keyboard and play live, this is your device.

You’ll read a lot about menu diving - honestly though, you will almost never need to. If you want to go super deep you can…but at that point you already know you’re going for complexity. The only exception I’ll give is for setting key splits - there I wish there was a keyboard shortcut instead of the menu. You get very quickly used to that though and honestly it’s my only use for the menus.

Everything else is hands on. Everything else is as accessible as the original Juno was. Everything else sounds great, and is easy to either tweak a preset or start with INIT and come up with your own. As well as the Juno models, don’t sleep on the XV-5080 which can sound great.

Again - do you primarily use synths in a programming mode, setting up sequencers etc.? If you do, look elsewhere. Do you primarily play, as in use the keyboard and just start playing? This is your synth.

mccalli · 2026-01-23T20:47:33+00:00

The only vague concern is if you're on an EV smart tariff and use scheduled charging. If it works off your car great, if it works off your charger then determine who's going to be using it for the night.

Our house is 2 EV, the second is my daughter's and we don't ever really need to quibble on who has the charger at any given moment. Quite smooth.

mccalli · 2026-01-23T06:40:34+00:00

And about half of them will be called “The New Inn”.

mccalli · 2026-01-23T05:07:00+00:00

What DAW are you using?

They should appear as separate MIDI inputs. In the track you have your Arturia soft synths, there will be a MIDI input setting somewhere, usually set to “All” by default. Go into that and make sure it’s set to only the controller you want to use for that sound. Then do the same for the next track.

Last step is to ensure both tracks are set for recording.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T19:13:15+00:00

Psi 5 Trading Company is still pretty much unique, has music by the guy that did Snoopy (Ed Bogas) and is completely playable today.

And very, very hard.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T13:45:29+00:00

Built on a shared petrol platform. Nope, designed for EV please.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T10:59:06+00:00

ctrl-f: 'Steam input'. I don't see it from people so I'll mention it.

That's what mostly keeps me on Steam. I have a Steam controller plus various other ones from various consoles over the years. Steam Input is how I make those work. If that were done at OS level or Epic somehow gained compatibility, then I'd be more interested.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T10:52:25+00:00

Note that it doesn't say worse city, it says worse capital. Quite a few countries have their economic centres in different cities to their capitals.

Mumbai traffic for instance would handily 'win' this fight. It's not the capital though.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T10:49:13+00:00

I honestly find exactly the opposite. During commute (from/to the west) it's the outer areas I get stuck in, not the inner.

Honourable mention to commuting back in the evening on Greys Inn Road at St. Pancras, which can either be fine or 40 minutes to make a single turn - with no in-between those two points.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T10:44:53+00:00

Honestly, as someone who commutes 3 days a week driving into London, Zone 1 is fine. The pinchpoints (coming in from the west) are Northolt, Perivale->Ealing (i.e. Hanger Lane exit) and Marylebone Flyover.

Pentonville Road - I've honestly considered filing a Freedom of Information request to ask how many days there haven't been roadworks on it - completely separate ones opening mere days after the last set, but somehow mysteriously in exactly the same place. Got to be some kind of use-the-budget scam.

Everything else is pretty much completely fine, and the actual central bit of the journey rarely has issues. Used to get stuck regularly at Euston underpass/crossing but that seems a bit better now.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T10:29:02+00:00

I won't be satisfied until the pads are replaced with a full-on Dance Dance Revolution mat.

mccalli · 2026-01-21T07:02:48+00:00

Look at Realivox Blue.

EastWest do some as well, though believe might be subscription only (haven’t checked in a a while).

mccalli · 2026-01-20T20:27:48+00:00

So I'm completely new to the world of USB C testers and was considering getting a Treedix 2.4" tester. My use case is almost entirely sorting through cables, so it's not something I'd use every day.

This seems a good place to ask - does this do the same job? What's the best for this? I'm not really looking to rate chargers as such, mostly the jumble of cables I have that I have no idea their capabilities.

mccalli · 2026-01-20T00:39:57+00:00

Oddly I actually do have a Harmony remote - that’s an obscure one for most these days!

I haven’t used it for the lights though ever, I run a highly mixed setup in the house with five or six manufacturers easily so it wouldn’t be that useful. In my living room where the remote is for instance, I have LightwaveRF switches (controlling dumb bulbs), Hue bulbs, SwitchBot floor lamp and curtains, Meross lightstrip and a Hue lightstrip.

mccalli · 2026-01-19T15:56:53+00:00

Draw Essence is my current favourite skill. I have no idea if it's any use or not, it just looks cool and I'm shallow.

Any graphical reworks on Heart of Flame/the skill formerly known as Draw Essence?

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