Portal 2

The sequel to the only video game I care about will be released in 13 hours. I'm preloading it from Steam right now so I can play the moment it goes live. Taking the day off work.

I'm way too old to care this much about a video game, and I'm not really a big video game sorta dude, but honestly Portal is one of my favorite things ever.

I'm watching it preload and listening to Plague Diagram by Surachai. I've been waiting years for this moment. So excited.

Plague Diagram

Plague Diagram by Surachai is fucking garbage. That shit will rot your mind. Stay away from it.

Want a Zeroscillator?

I will trade a mint condition frac-format Zeroscillator for a Wiard 300 Series Sequantizer.

Not enough for you? Ill trade more. Name your price.

Many thanks.

lol, learn 2 webmaster, n00b

Uh, balls.

If anyone really knows a lot about blocking spammers with an .htaccess file, building a caching system, and lowering memory usage of phpbb, *please* contact me by email, muff at muffwiggler dot com.

Damn I'm suddenly WAY the hell out of my league.

Thanks

FORUM IS BACK!!!

YAY!!!!!!


Super sorry everyone, this was so lame.

But, we're back!!!

The Forum Is Down!

So, Peter Grenader & Plan B broke the forum!


Ok, not really.

I broke it.

As part of moving to our AWESOME new hardware, as some of you saw, everything was working perfectly and we had AWESOME performance.

Then, dumbass I am, I rebooted the servers.

Seems like there was a permission issue with the config - servers came back from the reboot and suddenly mySQL "doesn't have permission" to talk to the webserver.

Argh.

It's a simple fix, but one I can't do myself - I need the techs at my host to do it for me.

And of course, this happened in the middle of a long weekend.

Argh.

I'm hoping that some time during business hours on Tuesday (Pacific Time) we will see this all resolved.

Please note that once this is fixed things should be very stable..... I don't imagine this will occur again.

Please accept my apologies, and my thanks for your patience. Hopefully you are all getting lot of music done in the meantime.

Cheers

Forum Sold To Plan B

Please see this forum thread for discussion - exciting news!


Hi everyone.

This is a difficult post to make, however I have thought long and hard about this, and I firmly believe that it is the right thing for all of us.

After long and complicated talks, I have agreed to transfer ownership of this forum to Peter Grenader & Plan B.

This comes at a time when I have very little time for managing the forum anymore, and have been concerned about the health and future of this place. Peter has made me an extremely generous offer in exchange for ownership of the forum, and more importantly has convinced me that he has the interests of all of you close to his heart, and an excellent plan for where this forum can go in the future, and new services for all of you that can be created on this platform.

I think this is a very special place full of very special people, and I think of all of you first when making any decisions that affect this place. I know that this seems like a very drastic change, however please put your trust in me and understand that we have spent a LONG time talking about this, and Peter really has convinced me that this is going to be something that creates a far far better place for all of us.

Thanks for a wonderful few years, it's been an incredible time for me, and I am honored to be your admin here. I'm grateful for the time you have all invested in this place, and I know you'll be really excited at some of the changes and new services that will be announced.

I'm not going anywhere, and will still be around as a member and moderator - believe me when I say that I'm very excited to participate in some of the new things that will be happening.

So there really is little change at the moment other than ownership. I'm sure Peter will chime in soon with some of his own comments and a preview of some of the ideas we will see rolling out here at this place.

Again, a most gracious thank-you for making this place what it is - and exciting things are just beginning.

Best wishes,

'Muff


EDIT: Ok enough time has passed, this one doesn't seem so funny any more. Check the date - it was an April Fool's Day joke. The forum is not for sale. Although I would consider swapping it for a 200e or a few Serge panels!

Zeroscillator FOR THE YUM

Well look what just arrived. omgz.

Super extra special thanks to Kevin who is an AWESOME trader and was simply fantastic to deal with every step of the way. Thanks Kevin and *really* appreciate this.

'Scuse me now please, I have some FM to play with.

Yes We Cat!

Hey sorry for the lack of updates - I know you guys got all your NAMM news, BugModular, Metasonix Euro Modules and ASSMASTER, Volta, all that good shit.

Let's face it - I'm just not here for you guys anymore. :(

The forum has just gone apeshit, in case you haven't noticed. I keep promising to get back to the blog but it's tough, you know? Three kids, my job is extremely extremely extremely busy currently, the forum, I'm trying to finish my crappy little album. I've never even posted about my Innerclock Systems Sync-Shift that I got many many months ago, and which continues to BLOW MY MIND with the fun I'm having. Or BugModular - woah! BUGMODULAR! Did you know I ordered a Wiard 300 system? You didn't? No....because this blog doesn't get updated.

This poor blog.

Sorry guys! Check the forum, really. It rocks there. Sign up. Have fun.

I'll be back here as soon as I can.

Oh and hey USA, congrats!! Wow.

And the forum is back......

Very sorry for the downtime....looks like all is well again in Muffland.

Thanks for not panicing!

Yeah the forum's down...

...and it's been down a while. It's a DreamHost problem, so once they get their new hard-drives installed or something that that it'll be back. But just a little shout-out because it's been down a few hours now, and I'm not sure if it'll be up super fast right now.

Anyway, usually problems are resolved in a few minutes, this is the first big outage I've had in almost three years on Dreamhost.

Don't panic.

Tiptop Audio Z3000 Released!

Hey folks - I'm incredibly excited to announce that the Z3000 Smart VCO has finally been released! For many of you who have been patiently following along on the forum, you know what a long wait it's been - six months! I think in the world of synth modules, this is a really long time, and I want to thank everyone who has been extremely patient through this process, putting up with little hints and teases while we wait for the release.

Now that it's finally official, it brings me enormous pleasure to be able to say that all testing and production is done, and modules are now in-stock at Analogue Haven!

A little bit about this module - this may not be news to some of you, as I'm actually not the first blogger to write about it today, and there has been some juicy bits of info dropped in the forum recently.... but for those who don't know, or are looking for some more, here's my personal summary (official information available of course at Tiptop Audio's website)....

The Z3000 "Smart VC-Oscillator" is, as you would probably imagine, a Eurorack VCO. My opinion is that another VCO option is *always* a welcome thing, however the Z3000 brings some really interesting and unique functionality to the table.

First of all, I feel compelled to mention, this is an ALL ANALOG VCO. Tiptop is known for working some digital into their modules, and the digital/analog question has come up many times. The entire VCO circuit is completely analog. I'd also like to say that it is a really warm, thick, 'lively' sounding VCO. One of the design goals was to avoid creating an ultra-stable, static VCO, and the guys at Tiptop have been incredibly successful in this respect. All the waveforms really sound wonderful, however the sinewave in particular is something I find extremely compelling - I can't say exactly what it is, it's not a perfect sine, but it sounds somewhat bright and animated compared to the sinewaves from my other VCOs (Livewire AFG and Blacet VCOs).

So, where does the digital fit in? This is another very exciting part of the story - and what gives the Z3000 the 'smart' part of its moniker. Built alongside the analog VCO is a digital frequency counter... this is an amazingly flexible feature to add to the module, and it functions in a variety of different manners... by default, it displays the current operating frequency (in Hz) of the oscillator. This display can be changed to two other modes - an octave display, and a note display. The note mode is very cool... it will tell you the frequency in Hz, until you tune to a specific note, and then it displays the note and octave number. Really cool! I now have no excuse for 'not tuning my modular', and in specific setting up harmonic intervals between multiple oscillators is really easy. Multiple oscillators? Yes! The Z3000's frequency counter has an "Ext In" jack, allowing you to patch in any sawtooth wave from any oscillator, and you can then use the frequency display to tune your external oscillators as well. Extremely cool and I have to say this one seemingly simple feature has led me to start using my modular synth in ways I never have in the past.

So, what else is special about the Z3000? I'm glad you asked :) The FM response of it is wonderful - there are two Linear FM inputs (with attenuator knob), as well as a single exponential FM input. Comparing it to the AFG and Blacet, the response to FM in the Z3000 is much deeper and more 'dynamic' sounding. I have to admit that I'm not the most knowledgable FM synthesist, however the incredible tones I've been able to pull from this beast have ensured that I'm going to spend a LOT more time exploring FM than I have in the past.

Another amazing (and as far as I can tell unique) feature is the HSM "Hard Sync Modulation" input. The main Sync input allows for some of the coolest, sharpest sync sounds I've been able to hear from an oscillator so far, however the HSM jack allows a variety of different sync sources to be used, not just square waves. The range of possible sounds is simply enormous. My Z3000's sit next to my AFG, and as much as I love the AFG, I have to say I find myself working with the Z3000 far more often - the sound is just so rich and lively.

I want to take a moment to highlight the beta testing process.... I know a lot of people found it took a very long time. There were a few revisions of the digital part of the code, as well as some changes to the tuning functions (testers found it 'touchy' and hard to tune to a specific note - this was fixed when we all sent our modules back for both a software and hardware update). There was a lot of stuff to focus on with this module, and we were really lucky to have a very motivated and excited testing team, all of whom have contributed in their own unique way to the development of this module. To highlight just a few of the many efforts, Mark Pulver was vocal and essential in making sure this was not another 'static' oscillator.... Matthew Davidson applied his enormous experience testing all functions of this VCO, and even working on the panel graphics...and of course the Tiptop team working hard to build, ship, receive, update, rebuild, reship and get these modules out there. Just an amazing job by everyone and the six months flew by extremely fast to be honest with you.

I'm really excited about this module - it's as close to perfection as I can personally imagine. I'm extremely grateful to the team at Tiptop for once again giving me the chance to be involved with a really exciting project, and putting up with my often travel-delayed replies to emails and discussions. At $245, I can't see any reason why most eurorack users will not want to add this to their setup, it's an absolute no-brainer decision as far as I'm concerned.

A huge congrats to Tiptop on the release of what they have very honestly called 'their baby'. This has been a huge effort and one I think they should be extremely proud of. Please do check it out.

More information at Tiptop's webpage

Z3000 for sale at Analogue Haven

My synth reborn!

Any of you who have seen my synth know what a pain in the ass the layout is/was.

Those stupid rolling racks which I have outgrown have modules right down near the floor - makes it so hard to use them. Plus they take up way too much space, are too far apart, are hard to move, and are ugly as hell. I get so jealous when I see someone with wooden housings for their modulars, I think that wood and modulars complement each other so well.

Anyway, I couldn't find anything available to solve my problem at all, so I took matters into my own hands. I know nothing at all about woodwork, but I put in some effort and took my time, and things worked out far, far better than I had ever hoped they would. I solved all my problems, AND the entire project only cost me $40!

Here's a couple more pics for you, as always be sure to click for fullsize...





Finally, if you'd like to see the step-by-step process of making these, have a peek here at this forum thread where I documented the whole project.

Really, REALLY happy about this. My synth finally has the enclosure it deserves, and a layout that is fun and easy to work with. It's waaaaaay overdue.

New Life (The modular family?)

Well, very very sorry for lack of updates. Seriously sorry. Seems all the action is at the forum, so as you can probably tell I have moved a lot of whatever attention I can spare over there - but I do hope to have more frequent postings here than the last couple of months have seen, but I guess time will ultimately be the judge of that. Thanks to everyone who stops by to read and see if anything is new (or just stubbornly keeps me in their RSS feed subscriptions!)

Anyway, the big BIG news is the new addition to my family. At 4:35 this morning (technically yesterday, the 26th), after nearly ten months of waiting, my wife gave birth to our third child, a baby girl. She was 17 days late, and was born naturally and without complication after about 12 hours of labour here in Ottawa. She weighs 9lbs, 5oz, and we are really REALLY happy and proud. So I just wanted to share the news with you all. The world gains another possible modular synthesist ;)

Modules Sold

Thanks for the interest everyone.

About those $35 Euroracks....

Via Gerald in the comments to the previous post - "where the hell did you get $35 euroracks... ??? Does the e-bay guy have any more?"

Well, maybe it's a good idea for me to make a post with more info.

In short, "I got them from a guy on eBay", and "Yes, he has more".

They are Schroff EuroPAC Chassis. Schroff makes the racks for Doepfer, so these are very similar. They work just fine for Eurorack modules. You need to get a power supply, and some busboards, but these racks work great (the guy claims Schroff normally sells them for around $500 each - he apparently has a wholesale lot he's trying to get rid of). They are fantastic quality, you will however need a Torx driver to take them apart and remove the TONS of extra crap that comes inside them.

Also, they aren't $35 anymore, the price has gone up. The guy originally had a couple hundred, seems he's got 20 left now. The current price is $45.

Be warned that he will charge around the same price for shipping it, but anyway, there you have it, cheap eurorack chassis.

You can find the auction here, and if the auction has ended, check his "all items" listing, as he may sell another batch under a new auction listing. This has happened a couple of times. Here's his listing of items for sale.

I have to thank mono-poly at the ModularSynth.net forum for making me aware of these auctions in this thread.

Finally, there's a lively discussion about setting up and using these specific racks here in this thread at my forum.

Hope this helps everyone get into some cheap eurorack lovin'

Edit: Because these aren't gonna be around long, and my PSU is strong enough for it, I just bought a fourth. There's 19 left now ;)

Euro joins the party!

As mentioned in the previous post, I have tradionally forgone the eurorack modular format - not for lack of enticing module options, but due to the sheer cost of the real estate and power. The availability of $35 Schroff racks and willingness to wire up a commercially available DC power supply have solved this, and I'm really excited to say that the Eurorack format has now joined up with my frac stuff, creating even more of a monster synth.

Be sure to click the pics for a larger view -



The rest of my euro setup consists of two lonely skeletons, sitting beneath a desk waiting for the day they'll be needed...



So I've got 3400ma of Euro power, and three racks to build up in. And the total cost of this infastructure was literally almost nothing - a fraction of the price of a single powered Doepfer frame. Thanks eBay guy!! Let the euro madness begin....

Eurorack Metasonix? Opinions?

Seems like Metasonix is looking at developing some native Eurorack modules. Now that is cool! Just yesterday I finally got my euro power and racking system all setup. I was keeping away from Euro, but the availability of $35 Schroff racks on eBay pushed me over the edge. I'll be buying some of these modules for sure.

Anyway, if you look at the link above, you'll see that Eric is seeking opinions on how well (or poorly..) received yellow Euro modules would be. Most of us at the forum like the yellow, but I personally have a feeling that this trend wouldn't hold over the entire group of buyers out there. What do you think? Please reply in the forum thread if you can.... If you don't want to become a forum member, go ahead and post in the comments section of this blog post.


Exciting stuff!

10,000th Forum post!

Little celebration today, as the forum received it's 10,000th post. I find this pretty amazing to be honest and I want to sincerely thank all the great people at the forum for making something like this possible. Far beyond my wildest dreams when I first uploaded the thing, simply to get to play around with phpBB and look under the hood.

Anyway, we are having a little celebration here in this thread - why don't you come join us?

Congrats to Kwote for making the 10,000th post, and thanks again to all the members - without you guys, there would be nothing there at all.

Speaking of the forum, it has been growing quickly lately - the addition of the popular new 'Synth Noise' subforum seems to be getting more and more people involved. A great time to have a look if you haven't already.

One other funny note - today, same day that the forum gets it's 10,000 post - well, a couple hours later my car hits 100,000km. No shit. 2001 VW Jetta 1.8T, original owner. I thought that was pretty cool. I snapped the pic at the top of this post using my phone, shortly after it happened.

Unlike my car, the forum is nowhere near running out of gas!

(no title needed)

speaks for itself, really