A Collection of Bits and Pieces

Fun on the Move

maybe it becomes a habit, 08 November 2024

Tonight, I had an unexpectedly-satisfying experience with the Ableton Move.

Nothing really dramatic.

In fact, probably quite ordinary.

Some Good News, Some Bad News

and they are unrelated to one another, 06 November 2024

I have some good news and I have some bad news.

I'm putting both news items below the cut.

Since I can.

Discovering the Move

Challenges and Surprises, 27 October 2024

It's been a week and a half since the Ableton Move arrived.

How's it going?

It's been a mixed bag, with a lot of frustration on my part. But that can be chalked up to "operator error" and not the device, itself. I'm not sure how much of my note-taking about this will work in a blog post, but I'll give it a try.

This will be very long.

Busy With the Move

Digging in and Having a Blast, 20 October 2024

I'm still digging in and learning what the Ableton Move is capable of doing and I'm still having a blast with this device.

I've been taking some notes about how it's going and I plan to do a longer entry in a few more days.

Europa Clipper Launch

Goodbye Earth, Hello Jupiter!, 14 October 2024

Today the Europa Clipper successfully launched on its five-and-a-half year mission to Jupiter and its moon, Europa.

Scientists believe that a vast underground ocean exists under the ice of Europa. The Europa Clipper's mission is to go investigate.

Awaiting Ableton Move

delivery pending, 13 October 2024

Over the past few years I've been looking for a good musical sketchpad to work on songs away from the desktop computer. Ideally, it would be something portable that I could take with me wherever I go. I've tried a few different options already, including a small laptop and a pair of tracker-styled devices. But nothing really seemed to fit.

That's why I was so excited when I discovered the Ableton Move.

Because it looks exactly like what I've been after: a mobile device, with a limited feature set that facilitates quick and easy song sketches that can then translate back to my main music computer.

Ableton Move

I'm a Day-One Purchaser, 09 October 2024

Yesterday Ableton released their newest instrument, which is called Move.

This is the first time I've ever been a day-one customer of anything, let alone a new musical instrument or device.

There is much more to be said about this, but I wanted to plant a flag in the ground as close to day one as possible.

Don't You Run Away From It All - Part II

Time to finish, 24 August 2024

On Wednesday, I finally opened up the latest song project again and applied some brute force tactics to the lyrics.

I'd put it off for too many days. Whenever I thought about working on the song my brain just said, "Nope! Move along! Nothing to see, here!"

I suppose it helps that I still have Minecraft to keep me busy when a song is telling me to get lost.

Don't You Run Away From It All

Working on a new song, 17 August 2024

On 08 August, I started work on a new song. I began with just a few parameters in mind. The first goal was to work with simple sounds if possible, something childlike or naive, or at least remeniscient of early-70's synthesizer tones. Primarily, I was imagining a bright blippy sound that bounced back and forth between the left and right channels, and then some simple and static droning chords underneath which would hold for far longer than they decently should. The idea was to impart some sense of tension around 'where is this going to go?'

FAWM 50/90

No, That's Not a Secret Code, 10 August 2024

In 2004, a group of friends got together and challenged themselves to write 14 songs in February. The called it FAWM, or, February Album Writing Month. The goal was to write 14 songs in 28 days, which nominally gives you two days to write each song. It was a way to kickstart their songwriting and get out of a creative slump, I suppose, and it worked. The following year they opened it up to the general public.

In Medias Res

Frozen Mango Chunks, 04 August 2024

Last month I discovered that my local grocery store was selling large bags of frozen mango chucks for ten bucks a package.

Well, I like mangoes and if I can get a big pile of them without having to skin the fruit and paying for the pit, maybe it's worthwhile checking it out.

Hello, World!

aka It's Been a Minute, 25 July 2024

After several years of silence I've decided it's time to reclaim some time and space online.

Things are a bit hectic in the world right now, yeah? Maybe you've noticed. But right this minute I can't decided if I should use "a.k.a." or "aka" in the title for this piece.

My name is Robert and I've been waiting about 25 years to get my name as a dot-com domain. Finally I gave up and decided to add my middle initial, since that's how I sign my name, even though nobody uses my middle initial and I probably won't answer to it, ever, if someone tried. I'm no Michael J. Fox.