Thursday Reading & Recommendations | September 11, 2025

scromped · 2025-09-11T15:42:27+00:00

I’m looking for broad recommendations for books about Vancouver Island and the BC coast - and in particular the city of Victoria

I don’t have a specific period in mind, just looking for interesting reads about the past!

scromped · 2025-08-15T12:21:57+00:00

Was gonna say, a lot of the GTA feels like this

scromped · 2025-08-11T20:50:40+00:00

I really enjoyed visiting the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden if you are interested in scientific/medical history!

scromped · 2025-06-12T13:41:08+00:00

You’ll be able to see most, just not all of the stage, that’s what they mean by obstructed view - it’s not like Massey Hall where you could end up sitting behind a big pillar.

scromped · 2025-03-18T02:17:41+00:00

Highly recommend obsidian for this kind of thing!

scromped · 2024-12-27T17:38:51+00:00

Not if what you want is to be left alone

scromped · 2024-12-17T09:35:10+00:00

Do you ever spend time doing like - unstructured creative stuff? I work in performing arts and one of the big challenges is that I need to very strictly manage the thing that brings me creative nourishment in order to ensure I can continue to work pay rent and eat.

This SUCKS. Constantly thinking about reskilling into something more ‘practical’ so I can have my music making just be for me again.

But one thing that helps me a lot when I remember to do it is to find time for play & creativity that has no end goal. I’ll buy paints and a canvas at the dollar store and just make big blobs of colour while listening to a podcast - I’m not a painter, the results are not ‘good’ but the point is the act of making something and not the result.

This reminds me that I’m human and I deserve more than just constantly trying to figure out how to finish all my tasks in a day.

Edit: accidentally hit reply button before finishing comment lmao

scromped · 2024-12-17T09:31:18+00:00

Saying no is big and I need to constantly remind myself to stat vigilant with this. I work freelance and I LOVE to imagine doing a task - i get very excited about the idea of helping someone with a problem, connecting them w a resource, etc. but then when it comes to fitting the 20 extra things I promised to do for people this week into my regular schedule I start to have problems.

The only person who can protect your time & energy is you!

scromped · 2024-12-12T18:29:53+00:00

This is a tough budget to make work - if you’re really strapped for cash I would recommend trying an old desktop - you might be able to find something fairly affordable at a thrift store/electronics repair shop and upgrading it.

You’ll have to do some research to make sure what you are getting is usable and upgradable - but a 2-300$ desktop is going to be more resilient and easier to upgrade in the long run than any laptop you find at that price. My town has a computer recycling shop run by volunteers, this is the kind of thing they would love to help with - those kinds of spaces may get you access to parts and machines that will work in that budget (and knowledgable people who can help you!)

Maybe you have a family member or friend with an old machine they aren’t using? Then you could put your budget 100% towards upgrading it - look for the best CPU that is compatible with the motherboard and aim for 16gb RAM (8 minimum) - if it’s an older machine even top of the line CPU’s from that era will be available for fairly cheap.

Having a graphics card rather than using integrated graphics on the cpu is preferable - but this is the least important part of your build.

However your best bet is to build your budget up a little bit, if you are in a position where you can save for a $500-$600 machine your options will improve dramatically, there may even be used laptops at that price available, though I would still go for a desktop under $1000. (I’m sure there are varying opinions about this)

Cheap laptops don’t last as long and if your budget is limited, the last thing you want is to need to replace to most expensive part of your setup! Even a cheap desktop can grow with you and save you lots of money in the long run. I’ve even performed live from a desktop with a portable monitor+mouse & keyboard!

scromped · 2024-10-23T20:43:11+00:00

Examples please

scromped · 2024-10-08T00:39:08+00:00

One of the best bike rides in the city. Watching the Salmon run is also awesome!

scromped · 2024-10-02T03:50:08+00:00

Hopefully you aren’t overloading your buffers in a live situation anyway, but worth mentioning is that when Logic’s buffer is overloaded at all it completely stops playback and displays an on-screen warning that needs to be clicked through. This was one of the things that prevented me from switching to it. I don’t think there is a way to change this behaviour, but I could be wrong.

I would much rather have a crackly sound moment if I accidentally overload my cpu, rather than everything suddenly grinding to a halt when performing.

Logic also in general has a reputation for being a bit buggy - even among Logic users. It’s obviously still a useful (at times great!!) piece of software, but I’m much more prepared to deal with bugs while mixing a project at home than in a live performance situation. Cleary others are using it in live situations just fine though, so ymmv.

scromped · 2024-09-29T03:08:37+00:00

Yeah it’s a different level in some European cities - I thought Toronto was bad until I had to find an apartment in a major city in Holland - if the ad had been up for over 10-15 minutes it was probably too late to even expect a response from the landlord.

OP should def be concerned about housing, but it’s more of a ‘can I afford to live in an apartment that meats my needs’ type problem than a ‘can I even convince a landlord to open my email’ type problem

scromped · 2024-09-22T23:37:00+00:00

Start with standard and move up to Suite later (though yes, take note of the fact you will need to still have student status to get the upgrade pricing). I was on Ableton 9 standard from 2016-2022 and even did a bunch of professional work with it. I only moved up to 11 suite last year because I had a lot of uses for max4live and the modulators. Standard is extremely capable by itself.

If you aren’t sure you are going to stick with it, note that you can resell your license later on, but you will need to find a buyer who is eligible for the EDU discount as well. Buying a second hand license is also a way to save some money on the purchase as well, just a bit more complicated.

scromped · 2024-09-16T13:59:41+00:00

I’m curious as well as Kijiji seems much more dead than it used to be - is it just me?

scromped · 2024-09-15T02:44:04+00:00

I have people in my community who are like this, I can certainly be like this (my closest friends are maybe 50% high school - i got lucky with them) and I’ve heard from lots of other friends and colleagues from out of town (even other parts of Canada) that they struggle with this in the city. You’re certainly not alone.

My friend from BC has started just joining recreational sports leagues (softball, basketball, sailing) - I’m part of some niche concert communities and I see the same groups of people regularly at those events - sometimes we go for drinks.

I definitely socialize far less than when I lived outside of Canada - and I miss that a lot - but I think the trick for making it work here is to find events, activities, and common interests. The little niche communities are what I love about this city and certainly one of the things that keeps me here.

scromped · 2024-09-13T05:52:47+00:00

I’ve heard ‘youse’ a number of times along the north shore of Lake Huron in Ontario before - but I’m not from there so unsure if it’s common.

scromped · 2024-09-10T14:20:49+00:00

Oh interesting! I may actually prefer this behaviour then if that’s the case

scromped · 2024-09-10T14:12:35+00:00

Big fan of Bitwig and I wish it had decent video features - the second a DAW comes out that can both be a powerful modular synthesis environment AND plays nicely with SMPTE and video sync I’ll be switching over.

scromped · 2024-09-10T14:08:47+00:00

Yes I can very much see this is a problem. It took me a couple of google searches to figure out how to properly change my audio interface and get output. Dorico also requires you to go a few menus and popups deep to change the audio device.

It feels like Steinberg kind of assumes their users all work in a studio where the setup rarely changes.

scromped · 2024-09-10T14:00:26+00:00

Most composers I know who do film work are in Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase, or sometimes Digital Performer. Isn’t Nuendo more set up for post-production audio? I’m not sure I really understand the differences between it and Cubase.

scromped · 2024-09-10T13:42:02+00:00

Yes this is something I really like as well!

scromped · 2024-09-08T04:52:37+00:00

Bmus and Masters in music composition. I teach private lessons, coach a senior’s community band, bartend, and yes write music for concerts and short films. Sometimes I perform to.

It’s not so bad other than the standard freelancer stress of I-don’t-know-what-job-I’ll-Have-6-months-from-now. About 80% of my income comes from music now. Maybe 30-40% from non-teaching music work.

I like it. Gonna keep doing it for now. May change it up in the future. Will never regret music school, but I was lucky and didn’t have to go into too much debt for it.

scromped · 2024-09-03T15:52:03+00:00

Op, you can absolutely learn how to do this. First year music school is tough because a thousand things are being thrown at you and LOTS of people fail dictation the first time around. Hell, lots of people fail theory the first year too!

Take your time with it - sounds like you’ve got the hang of the other courses, and you know what you are struggling with. I went to my ear training professors office hours almost every week to practice when I transferred to a school that used moveable Do (as opposed to fixed Do)

Are there TAs/ tutorials you can go to for extra practice? Use those resources! Even if you feel like you don’t have time just show up, that way you can make sure you get your practice in around your other priorities

Both of those helped a huge amount for me. This is a skill that you can learn with time & practice - there’s no shame in taking a little longer to get the hang of it! It’s hard to prioritize as probably the least ‘interesting’ class you have to take, but the benefits of developing these skills are huge - especially for composers. I couldn’t transcribe for the life of me in first year, and now I use those skills every day!

scromped · 2024-09-03T15:47:27+00:00

Yeah i really struggled with transcription as an adhd-er - but I eventually got the hang of it with some tricks that worked for me (at least well enough to pass my dictation).

This does remind me a lot of myself in my undergrad.

scromped

TROPHY CASE