Bears and Wafabinkers

A list of some modules without clear markings

Intellijel hexvca – red stripe is near the bottom of the module.

I spent some time testing envelopes tonight. I already have what is likely the perfect one for me – Makenoise Maths and yet… I want something smaller. Requirements are the same exponential sound and CV over rise and fall. I picked up a Makenoise Function and sadly learned tonight that it only outputs 8V. Maths puts out 10V and, for me, this is key to the wide modulation range I like on filters. My primary complaint with other envs I’ve tried is that low output and need to amplify them. It was sad to find out that Function has the same problem. 8V is more than many offer but still needs amplified for my uses. If I accept that I’ll need to amplify the output, now many others are in play. In particular… the ALM Pip Slope.

The downside of the Pip Slope has always been the very weak output (5v?). The upside? Many features (and low hp). Yet, after testing… I’m selling the Pip Slope. The problem? The attack – it seems linear at all times and just doesn’t give the magic that the Maths and Functions attack gives. I never really found the delay or the bouncing ball to be quite what I expected yet they worked great when activated for normal sequences – they gave little extra flourishes. Not quite the delay or bouncing ball they claim to but perhaps something better – ie. the happy accident. The delay and bouncing ball DO work – just, for me, not quite what I expected.

The hidden gem though… the 2hp EG. Nearly a Maths env in 2hp. 10v output with a built-in attenuator. Great response for both attack and decay. Can match Maths in a lot of uses. The problem – other than an a time cramped panel (to be expected at 2hp though!) – is some hard-to-define Maths magic. The final tail of the Maths envelopes seem to linger a bit. At times I almost feel like Maths is perhaps putting out some constant small voltage (I’m using the function out, not the sum, etc.). It is not a constant voltage (this would be easy to test and hear) yet still the decays seem a bit more organic. Bad news due to Math’s size. Function does seem close but … the 8V output.

Mutable Stages can do a pretty nice Math’s curve imitation and seems to put out perhaps 8V as well. Peaks also surprised me with the quality of its envs as well (and a bouncing ball env in an alt firmware).

The 4ms Mini Peg is next up. I’ve used it some and enjoyed it but not done real tests. The good news? 10V output.

I really hate to dwell on the 10V but I do think for me this is the key to the sound I want. I even start to wonder if this is part of the Maths “snappiness” people report. Maths can be snappy but it is also loud and, at least for me, I associate that high range with a harsh, snappy sound. By “loud” I mean the high voltage it pushes can fully open a filter starting at fully closed – I hear the broad range of the filter.

I’ve been spending some time comparing the Zoom MRS-8 to the HD16. I’m not familiar with either in detail so I may miss important details.

functionally it is easy to move from one to the other. They have nearly the same button and features with th HD16 having a few extra physical elements to speed up access.

I was curious if the file access (selecting projects, etc.) was faster on the HD. I assumed the SD card slowed down the MRS. Selecting projects is faster. However initial boot up is slower. Mine performs a long scan of the drive for projects.

also of interest is that the A/B loop is no smoother. Both have a delay at the end of the loop. It is nothing like smoothly looping a section in a DAW.

they are both fun to use and give their own feel to the process of creating music.

Use as audio interface:

Plug to macbook – it should show up as an audio interface in Ableton

Use as a microphone

Hold vertical, green light comes on to indicate mic mode. Hold down the 4th button on the side to turn on the mic (led turns red). Press P to increase volume, mix to decrease, metronome to toggle through fx1, fx2, both and no effects.

To dump the patches on a Yamaha DX-100:

Ensure “sys info” is on by pressing function + 5

The DX100 cannot, as far as I know, bulk send all patches. Instead, when sys info is on, it always does a 101 byte sysex dump of the newly selected patch on each patch change.

To dump your patches:

1. start your sysexec recording recording

2. Select patch 1 (you should see 101 bytes received by your sysexec recorder
3. Select patch 2, etc.

To transfer the patches, you play back the sysex file and the DX100 will automatically receive the patches.

The best way I’ve found to emulate the 2hp Play with the disting is by using Algorithm I3. Create a playlist.txt to set looping to off. The connect a knob to the y input for pitch. You now have sample select on Z and pitch on Y. The pitch is a bit extreme – good to have but would be nice to lock it to a smaller range

Psalm 25:7 contains perhaps a great summation of the God’s redemptive action:

“Gracious and righteous is the Lord : therefore will he teach sinners in the way.”

It describes God as both gracious and righteous and man as sinners. God is righteous – he is good and pure beyond a way we can understand. We get a sense of it when we naturally view various situations as “unfair” – from the trivial (“something minor went wrong in my life”) to the monstrous (rape, murder). Pure good exists and he is that good. We are sinners – we cause and enable the bad. From here we cannot approach God. It is more than a matter of good mixing with bad. It is perhaps so much as his goodness literally would destroy our badness. We would be destroyed in his presence.

Yet God is gracious – he desires to help us. From here the narrow and clear path (“believe on Christ”) becomes deeper. How does it all work? Why did it have to be this way. These can’t be easily addressed and for many never should be. It is common for the thinking man to think he is “too smart” for Christianity. What he really means is he is “too smart” for the average take. The person who simply believes. That is fine – but leave the simple believer along (the mass of people).

Back to the gracious – he provided a way for us to approach him. Rebirth in Christ. Hundreds of years of though can go into the how and why. For now understand the general outline:

God is good.
God wants to redeem you.

The modern church has somewhat ruined the Bible talk of “spiritual warfare” – the verses are repeated too much. Yet, recently I released that the absolute best way to handle some strange bits of thinking (scrupulosity, OCD) are to immediately classify it as a spiritual attack. Identify it as such and move on immediately.

When a child is egregiously rude, what to do? Demand an apology? Punish? That might work for a child but as children get older it can often drive them away. Some older children may respond well but what of those who will not back down and only escalate? The best parenting technique in this case is perhaps to be “soft”. Don’t immediately force apologies, etc. for bad behavior. Let your stance be known, then wait. This is how God treats us. We known God’s standard but he is very long suffering.

I use the following script to copy files from my 16 track stems. The script copies the files over, then uses sox to find “silent” files and remove them.

#!/bin/bash
#
# February 12, 2025 (Wednesday)
#

echo "Copying files to ~/Music/incoming_mixer_files/"
#rsync -va /Volumes/NO\ NAME/Records ~/Music/incoming_mixer_files/
EXIT_STATUS=$?

# Check if rsync was successful
if [ $EXIT_STATUS -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Error: rsync failed with status $EXIT_STATUS"
    exit $EXIT_STATUS
else
    echo "Files copied successfully to ~/Music/incoming_mixer_files/."
fi


find ~/Music/incoming_mixer_files/ -type f -name "*.wav" -exec sh -c '
    for file; do
#        echo "Processing: $file"
        
        # Get RMS level in dB directly
        rms_db=$(sox "$file" -n stats 2>&1 | awk "/RMS lev dB/ {print \$4}")
        
        # Check if below threshold (-65dB) - comparing as a number
        if [ -n "$rms_db" ] && [ $(echo "$rms_db < -65" | bc) -eq 1 ]; then
            #echo "SILENT FILE DETECTED: $file (${rms_db}dB)"           
            mv "$file" ~/.Trash/
        else
            echo "Active file - keeping: $file (${rms_db}dB)"
        fi
    done
' sh {} +