Archive for October, 2020

What You Want

Posted: October 30, 2020 in Midi Series, MUSIC
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I have a rough version of a new song called “What You Want”. Well, it is called that now because I put lyrics to it from an earlier Lyric Post.

This is a tune using an old Yamaha drum machine I recently became caretaker of. I set up a nice but simple drum pattern using my Alesis MIDI drum pad and recording again in Studio One 5 by Presonus. I am using the internal sounds in Studio One 5 to play the bass guitar parts, triggered by an M-Audio MIDI keyboard I got with the drum machine and some other cool toys.

After the beat was down and feeling a bit more fun to play with, I added the two guitar parts using my Ibanez electric guitar. I recorded two tracks but instead of hooking up my amplifier and all my pedals, I plugged straight into the mixingboard so it would go direct-out to my computer input.

I used one of the many plug-ins included with Studio One 5 to add effects to the guitar. The built in guitar tuner plug-in is also really handy and I like the way it operates. So no need to connect to a tuner after each practice take. Each guitar track used the same plug-in but set to different guitar effects.

I am working on adding vocals but for now here is “What You Want”.

Music for my new song “What You Want”

Vote

Posted: October 29, 2020 in Question of the Week
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Going once…..

Where Do You Think I Am?

Posted: October 24, 2020 in Photography, Question of the Week
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Real Navigation Instructions

Some time ago I was on a trip and opened up Google Maps on my cell phone. I put in the address and after traveling for about fifteen minutes I heard a notification I did not understand. I wanted to see what my next turn was………

As I got closer to the exit I did not recognize the highway or route other than I 74 in the top left corner. It said I was in Cincinnati …

I have never seen these routes and highways in Ohio, let alone Cincinnati

I know the city fairly well and it was no panic but if I was on the road in an unfamiliar area and I had a turn in less than 2 miles that showed a highway not in the region and not even believable, I would have been in trouble lol. I slowed down and stopped to take a couple screen shots.

As I got closer I took a screen capture of the mystery highway direction

I saw this recently in my photos and thought it might give you a bit of a laugh.

Y East

Why not?

I I

Interstate I

If When

Posted: October 16, 2020 in My Tunes
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I have been working on a new musical piece I call “If When”.

This is a jazzy feeling groove. I am using loops for the drum tracks that I have mashed and cut and edited to give the odd shuffle feel. I use a MIDI controller to trigger tom fills and cymbal crashes to fill out the persussion tracks. Then I add a piano chord progression that plays with the timing of the verses. The piano and bass guitar come from a plug-in in my recording software.

I wrote some lyrics earlier that might fit this so it will eventually have vocals and usually a different name once the lyrics are assigned. I might also add a ‘solo’ instrument like a muted trumpet or other soft horn sound if the next song doesn’t start bubbling up right away. Please enjoy a short groove from my studio.

Walking Through Fall

Posted: October 13, 2020 in Photography
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I have not posted pictures as often this year as in previous ones. I love taking pictures but have not gotten out as much. This has been a beautiful fall in many ways. Taking walks in our local parks and our favorite Spring Grove Cemetery, my wife and I took pictures all day.

As usual it is cloudy and overcast, but the colors held their own. It was simply beautiful everywhere. I hope you enjoy our glimpse of fall.

Unused Words

Posted: October 9, 2020 in Poetry
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I’m feeling a little analog and unnecessary
Like Unused Words in a lost dictionary.
Not forgotten but so unimportant
A millionaire who never spent his fortune.

Worthless as a solar panel on a rainy day
A scarecrow that can’t make birds fly away.
The star of the show that forgot his lines
Lost with no direction in a field of mines.

The only one still listening on the telephone
The circus clown that wants to be alone.
Every day everyone feels the same
You look and look and never find the pain.

Unused Words become a forgotten language
Only the ancient and the wise will recall.
No one else will ever hear for no one will speak
Images fade in both the strong and the weak.

It seems I’m just a handle without a door
Without knowing what I’m searching for.
A fantastic painter but I forgot my brush
Left in a hurry but I forgot to rush.

Unused Words become a forgotten language
Only the ancient and the wise will recall.
No one else will ever hear for no one will speak
Images fade in both the strong and the weak.

A bit like a ticket taker on the last show
Or a great teacher students will never know.
Best-selling writer who’ll never publish a book
A telescope to the stars but no one will look.

Test of Time

Posted: October 6, 2020 in Poetry
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How many ways can you stack the same eight letters
That was a rhetorical question not a mathematical one.
You can say some are a bit too sharp and others a little flat
But when you get to the end it comes down to this or that.

Some fall while others land, though more crash and burn.
I am curious maybe concerned but mostly do not care.
In the end the Test of Time offers the pretentious and the real
Which one is which is determined by how it makes you feel.

Do you want to get up and go for a ride
Or does it make your blood boil inside?
Are you ready to shout at the top of your lungs,
Or for a whispering of words that cannot be sung?

There is the occasion where you can just push it through
Things started working and soon it’s complete.
Thinking this unique creation is by far your greatest
Looking back now it’s no different than all the rest.

Do you want to get up and go for a ride
Or does it make your blood boil inside?
Are you ready to shout at the top of your lungs,
Or maybe a whispering of words that cannot be sung?

Do you want to get up and go for a ride
Or to shout at the top of your lungs?
Does it make your blood boil inside?
Listening to words that cannot be sung?

How many ways can you stack the same eight letters
That was a rhetorical question not a mathematical one.
You can say some are a bit too sharp and others a little flat
But when you get to the end it comes down to this or that.

Deeper

Posted: October 2, 2020 in Opinions and Observations
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The rabbit hole gets deeper

As soon as you see the hare.