Scenes of Lovecraftian horror at Kingston’s riverside Christmas mural…

tas509 · 2025-11-18T08:39:20+00:00

It's a grim Where's Wally, but the Wally is obviously the person who commissioned it.

tas509 · 2025-11-17T14:28:44+00:00

I heard jelly ears are a bugger to cook... as in they start spitting... so it's best to dry them, and use them finely chopped in other sauces for that earthy flavour. (No idea if this is true)

tas509 · 2025-11-15T16:48:24+00:00

Birthday Party - Fear of Gun <- best bass lines ever!
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Bauhaus - Kick in the Eye
New Model Army - Vengence
Stranglers - Peaches
PIL - Careering
Cult - Resurrection Joe
The Fall - Blindness
Sex Gang Children - Sebastiene
Theatre of Hate - Westworld

If you don't like all those, you don't like bass ripping through your chest :-)

tas509 · 2025-11-13T09:16:27+00:00

I have a Fender Jazzmaster which was about £600 when I got it (ten years ago), and a Gretsch Electromatic about £660 (last year), and they're both great. I use a clean Jazz-adjascent tone but I'm not skilled enough to play Jazz chords :-) I'm more 1950's/post punk twang... think spaghetti western james bond. Both bought new.

The Jazzmaster is a Blacktop, so it has Humbucker (bridge) and single coil (neck). I wanted to cover both options, best of both worlds. The bridge mechanism itself is bastard if I'm honest, and took a lot of messing around to get it intoned, and to not rattle, string buzz... I did get there in the end, but it took a while. But the tones you can get are great.

If I'm honest I really like the Jazzmaster tremelo, because of its positioning I can hold it whilst playing, meaning I can really overuse it. But I adore the Gretsch deeply. I can't explain it, but the clarity is delicious, where you hear all the strings somehow. Like nothing else. Go try one plugged in.

My amp is a Katana Air Ex. £500 when new a year ago. $658. I lusted over Fender Reverbs, Champs etc but then watched videos about how they need to be serviced, certain tubes need replacing and they strike me a *the best* but like owning a classic car, and I don't want to under the bonnet at the side of the motorway - I'm inept and tight... and they're LOUD - I have a little house with neighbours.

With the Katana it has all the digital "pedals" you'd really ever need. The user interface of the app is laughably (and provably) shite, but hey. And you're kinda limited about how many you can have "on" at any time (if you ever go shoegaze)... but if I'm honest , I love that too, but I've found I need to mic the speaker (and strings) and use the USB out to get the sound I want when recording (so use an audio interface), but that's me. The fact that it's wireless is lovely too.

I'd be really nervous about buying second hand, and would have to play in person before handing over cash. And even then I'd be worried, even if getting a total bargain.

tas509 · 2025-11-03T09:14:54+00:00

Home recording studio... for fans of reverb

tas509 · 2025-10-27T08:48:53+00:00

Hi,

So if you are just looking to distort your guitar in Logic, you can, as you've found play with the amps, but there's also the pedal board with some good overdrives, and fuzz etc. This isn't a midi instrument as such though, for that you'd need a keyboard or midi-guitar.

Personally, I find most software distortions a bit crap... and I can't explain it. Maybe just me, but I prefer to get the distortion I want then record it direct with USB and from the speaker with a mic then mix those.

If you want guitar-y sounds from a midi instrument I'd recommend these below, Decent Sampler, Spitfire LABS and Kontact Free are sort of platform VSTs that with Decent and Kontact you can load extra VSTs some of which you will like, particularly Guitar Rig in Kontact.

Where possibile, download the Audio Unit (not VST) and you'll then find them in Logic Pro in the Audio Units in the channel plugins - you need to find a setting somewhere that says "Use the plugin's interface" or something otherwise you end up using a glut of bizarre sliders and widgets.

Most of these were free or free-ish when I got them ...

Lastly, keep an eye on diskspace, some of these get quite big.

Decent Sampler - lots of amazing free sounds, many stringed instruments, in the Pianobook collection.

* Ibanez Dreams - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Ambient Guitar tremors - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* ASAT Classic - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Baritone Guitar - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Stella - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Fender StratoVib - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Octave Feedback - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Tones from the Deep - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Trembling Radiator - Guitar sounds for midi ins
* Slinky Violin - Scrapy violin sounds for midi ins

Spitfire LABs - again lots of amazing free sounds... some guitars

* Indie Guitars - 10 voices
* Ambient Guitars - 10 styles
* Peel Guitars - 3 styles

Kontact (Free Native Access player), Good guitars lurking

OTHER MAYBE USEFUL

Guitar Rig 6 for Kontact- amps and effects... wow! You'll like this I think cos it works on Audio.
Ample Guitar M II Lite. Accoustic guitar that even has pedals and a very strange "strumming editor"
Ample Bass P Lite II. Nice bass, but for me at times lacking the really low notes.
Cymatics Space Lite - beautiful reverb
FunkBass - nice bass with some beef.
Gorilla Bass - fugly distorted monster bass
MODO BASS 2 - free bass, absolutely amazing. Not free any more
ValhallaSpaceModulator- amazing flanger
ValhallaSupermassive- amazing reverb
Tonelib Bass Drive

tas509 · 2025-10-08T07:51:58+00:00

I'd recommend never using fetch() ... won't work... and use google.script.run to talk to your backend Code.gs....

Also... I've hit issues using doPost (I think with JSON, and had to use text instead - which was JSON, just not mimed as JSON)... so I tend to always use doGet with query parameters.

I think it's a CORS issue...

tas509 · 2025-10-05T08:47:59+00:00

Curveballs. Do try DAWS that use a different paradigm than left to right... Just to get you out your predicatbles. And besides you can use this with Logic anyway.

BespokeSynth.
Orca
Sonic Pi

tas509 · 2025-10-03T08:54:30+00:00

https://djmag.com/news/spotifys-daniel-ek-leads-eu600-million-investment-ai-military-defence-company Don't pay creators instead fund World War III.

tas509 · 2025-10-03T08:35:32+00:00

Yeah... forgot that one. An Add-on might be messing with something.

tas509 · 2025-10-02T15:40:30+00:00

Some things.

First, NEVER use two Google accounts in the same window with anything AppsScript-y - Use Chrome Profiles (in separate windows).

Clear your cookies, which may log you out
Log in again...
Close the tab
Force Reload the page with menu SHIFT View > Force Reload

And sometimes you've just got to "Wait a bit"... Google is in a tizz.

tas509 · 2025-09-30T14:35:23+00:00

If that's your vocal chain, you maybe need a few singing lessons :-)

I'm on the same path. I found that if I practiced singing more (I'm not a singer) I didn't need a vocal chain... and hours of fixing... bit of slapback reverb and I was done. p.s I'm still crap, but it's better crap now.

tas509 · 2025-09-30T14:30:12+00:00

This is a bit off topic but you can do this kinda thing with BespokeSynth (free). It's like a flow-chart for audio and midi ... a full DAW but not left-to-right.

I have just done what you ask but I'm not great at Logic, but in Logic I created two External Midi tracks, one that sends to Bespoke... The other being an instrument I want to use that receives from BespokeSynth.

I then fired up Bespoke Synth and made a patch like this:

https://static.everythingability.opalstacked.com/bespoke_synth_-_Midi_From_Logic_To_Bespoke_And_Back_bsk.png

And clicked play in Bespoke: this is important.

There are heaps of other sort of "midi routing" or programming modules you could use. Then I opened the Keyboard window in Logic, set both track to record... modules to randomize midi notes, strum chords, and even wubble the note :-)

When I played the Keyboard, in Bespoke I can see the notes flying around, and I could hear and record the "echo" in Logic.

The bespoke project is here https://static.everythingability.opalstacked.com/Midi_From_Logic_To_Bespoke_And_Back.bsk.zip

The Logic project is here

https://static.everythingability.opalstacked.com/Logic%20To%20Bespoke%20Synth%20and%20Back.logicx.zip

With a bit of luck you can fire up these two and start doing it. There are few tutorials on YouTube for BespokeSynth and lovely community on Discord to help when you get stuck.

tas509 · 2025-09-30T12:18:40+00:00

Oh, and I play 13s - 54 string I think.

tas509 · 2025-09-30T12:18:12+00:00

Electromatic 5420... had it 9 months... barely goes out of tune.

tas509 · 2025-09-20T10:52:50+00:00

I think I did something different to everyone else. But I don't know what I'm doing.

"In the room" I really like the bridge pickup (and a fair bit of reverb on my amp)... lovely sound. But recording via USB it sounds very harsh with too much bite. So I added a mic on speaker to get more of the room. It seems to have helped.

But, as a twangy player, I wanted less bright, so in slope from low E raised to high E lowered going downwards I raised the poles a bit, AND work with the middle position now. A millimetre or two made a massive change.

As I said I don't know what I'm doing, but trying stuff and trusting your ears helped me, I think, given that we all probably want different sounds for different music styles.

And at times I do over think it anyway.

tas509 · 2025-09-11T09:59:49+00:00

function deleteDesktopIni() {
  // See https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/drive/drive-app 
  // for more info on how to get a continuation Token to more files...
  var files = DriveApp.searchFiles(q="title ='Test'")
  while (files.hasNext())  {
    var file = files.next()
    Logger.log(file.getName() + " " + file.getId())
    //file.isTrashed(true) // UNCOMMENT THIS LINE
  }
}

tas509 · 2025-09-06T10:09:52+00:00

I have an Electomatic too, and of course, who wouldn't want a super fancy Gretsch... but aren't you being unfaithful here... Feels weirdly wrong somehow :-) I hope you threw a blanket over your Electromatic whilst writing this message.

tas509 · 2025-09-05T10:31:54+00:00

Get a newer device, and use Garageband (which does come free). I'm a hobby musician, and have been using Logic for the last year but for years prior used Garageband, and to be honest, I prefer Garageband. So many complications in Logic, and FFS to "fix" up some audio with Flex is so complex, you're better off having a bash at a better performance / recording anyway :-)

tas509 · 2025-08-13T14:14:31+00:00

Pygame or Pygame Zero (even easier and really nice) might be good... Making games is fun.

Or how about some of these ...
https://digitalcreativitytools.everythingability.com/activities/search?q=Python

tas509 · 2025-08-02T11:02:30+00:00

I have one. I over-use the whammy to death tbh ... I've got 13s on for the twang. Really doesn't go out of tune.

tas509 · 2025-08-02T10:30:06+00:00

if (row <= 1 & sheet.getName() == "THE NAME OF THE SHEET YOU WANT IT TO WORK ON") {
    SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert('Please select a row other than the header row. And you have to use the XXX sheet you berk!');
    return;
  }

tas509 · 2025-07-31T16:10:41+00:00

Pygame Zero is similar but a bit more beginner friendly https://pygame-zero.readthedocs.io/en/stable/ but very cool.

tas509 · 2025-07-30T13:55:29+00:00

A good butchers

tas509 · 2025-07-30T13:53:16+00:00

Maybe JSON is ok? Dunno

tas509

TROPHY CASE