Plans

Not much has happened since the last time I wrote - I've been busy working, going to shows (most recently the fantastic Anna von Hausswolff and Wildbirds and Peacedrums, both very inspiring) and watching Twin Peaks. I've recorded some bass and vocals for a song, but there is no finished result yet.

I have some plans, though: two solo "albums" or EP:s this spring: one with my "pop" songs, with quite a lot of melodies and guitars, some toy keyboards and some sampling; one with more austere bass-oriented songs that I could perform with only bass and vocals if I wanted. As per usual, the end results will probably differ a lot from what I've planned, but there it is. Also, I will try to establish some routines and schedule time for playing/practicing/recording. Now that I'm not in a band anymore it's hard to find the time to really work with music.

As for my Linux-related plans, I intend to play around some more with the Hydrogen beta, and also make more use of the seq24 sequencer and the Specimen sampler. If I would stumble upon a cheap midi foot controller, I would try putting it to use with SooperLooper or something.

My next post will be a little more subtantial, with a collection of useful links to Linux music related issues.

Full upgrade with Khashayar's PPA

I've finally learned that PPA means "Personal Package Archive". Khashayar has pointed me to his archive: https://launchpad.net/~khashayar/+archive/ppa where he has built a bunch of packages for more recent versions of alsa, jack, libffado, ardour etc. than those in the official Hardy repository. I figured I don't have much to lose so I followed the steps and did a full upgrade.

Everything seems to be working fine. When I switch between applications, the playback stutters a bit, but let's not jump to conclusions... Playback, recording and editing in Ardour works fine. I love the development build of Hydrogen so far (with an improved GUI and where you can mix the sounds from different drum kits into a custom kit). Even the latency problems when monitoring seem to be gone.

Maybe now I can start thinking more about music than about packages and settings. THANKS a lot, Khashayar!

Here's what I recorded in January - it's a little test piece with some drums from Hydrogen and three guitar tracks. Not really ear candy perhaps, but this is the kind of stuff I do. Sometimes.
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Here's something I recorded just now. Same instruments, a bit of aimless noodling. Just a test.
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