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Week from Monday 9th November 2026 - I've now burned my own copy of the "CBQ MINIATURES" onto seedyrom, and it sounds pretty good. Mr Quartet has scheduled a release on Bandcamp for next year. I wasn't TOO surprised to learn that he's doing some remixes of the remixes himself! I filled out my own version with five longer tracks I had lying around in the W.F.S.T.G. folders, based on old GRIDLING jams, which might have been destined for a new STRUMPFEN project. Sadly, I abandoned the idea when Shelfy passed away. I wrote some sleevenotes for "CBQ MINIATURES" though, which may or not make it to the Bandcamp version...
While my own proposed COVER ARTWORK (consisting of a daft dADa/MeRz-like COLLAGE, overlaid with a very simple title in a white 'AvantGarde Demi' typeface) is a lot more 'ME', I'll just keep it for my own version. I think that CBQ's idea is much more "COMMERCIAL", i.e.; eye-catching and suitable for Bandcamp purposes, so we'll go with that.
IN OTHER MEDIA NEWS... I wanted to come away from my time in the hobstickle with more than just a free toothbrush and shaving items and a sense of accomplishment that I wasn't riddled with blood clots after all. I SAMPLED the sounds of some of the machines that I got hooked up to! I liked one in particular, an older model CANULA PUMP which 'played' an interesting 4:4 'riff', which was also interrupted by a separate and totally OFF-BEAT warning beep that indicated that the battery was in dire need of servicing. It reminded me of something that FAUST might have done (and probably did!). I'm looking forward to making a ten-minute piece out of that, as I can already hear in my head how it would build up, as I add some harmonic interest or modulation every eight bars, maybe bring in a bass pulse after a few more, then drop some guitar chords over the beeps, whenever they appear at random. (It turns out a bit of a racket, but you have to try these things, don'tcha?)
Finally got around to giving the WINDOWS half of my computer some sort of attention!
I installed a few old favourite programs, including MAGIX SAMPLITUDE and that 'AMAZING MIDI' app that served me so well for the "NET PROPHET" albums (It allows you to 'trace' an audio file and convert it to MIDI data for further manipulation).
But a lot of my 'favourites' are simply too old to run on a modern computer. The search goes on for some new alternatives. With this in mind, I've also installed a couple of (new-to-me) "FREE" DAWs, but I haven't got to grips with those yet. The phrase "USING A JCB TO CRACK A WALNUT" springs to mind! I'm not sure if they will ever prove useful in the long run.
But I find the way that things download and install in Windoze these days somewhat troublesome. There's usually a rather iffy REGISTRATION procedure involved, which entails giving out your details, in order to download a third-party 'installation manager' program, before you even get to the "FREE" stuff. Nothing is truly "FREE" in m!©r0$ofT Land! Lots of lovely DATA for them, paranoia for you! It doesn't feel all that SAFE or SECURE to me! (And don't get me started on the constantly nagging WINDOZE UPDATES!). The more "PORTABLE" apps the better, as far as I'm concerned. Disconnect! Away with your so-called CLOUDS!
Bottom line is, I don't really feel comfortable using m!©r0$ofT WINDOWS, but it's a necessary evil. I once again have the use of all those lovely VST instruments and FX that I accumulated over the years. But the only completely SAFE Windoze is still one that ISN'T connected to the internet and that's probably going to be the way once I've stabilised everything...
Part 1 - Cloudland Blue Quartet & Pedantic Pedestrian - Exercises 1_02 to 1_20
Twenty pieces of one minute's duration, constructed solely from samples derived from the music of CBQ
Part 2 - Pedantic Pedestrian & Cloudland Blue Quartet - Exercises 2_01 to 2_20
Twenty more pieces of one minute's duration, derived from CBQ's music, with additional instruments by PP
IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT...
I recently treated myself to a brand new and fairly powerful laptop computer. Naturally, I wanted to test its audio capabilities to the full, so I embarked upon another of those 'remix' projects of which I'm particularly fond. I sourced a number of CBQ's albums, with the aim of sampling from and submitting his sounds to all sorts of deviant treatment.
However, this time around, rather than the long-drawn-out 'ambient' dronings we'd come up with previously, I set myself a strict limit. I took inspiration from Morgan-Fisher's legendary 'Sequence Of Tiny Masterpieces' album "MINIATURES" (which featured the likes of Fred Frith, The Residents, Lol Coxhill and numerous others, offering musical or spoken-word pieces of approximately one minute in length).
I wanted to prove that our pieces could say all they were ever going to say in exactly one minute's duration and no more. And maybe, just a little bit, to kick against any perceived proggy ethic of 'longer-is-better'. I had hours of fun (re)discovering the joy of editing sounds using my trusty Audacity (now running on an Ubuntu platform which is probably four times faster than I'd previously been used to). I also dabbled with a 'Tracker' program which was a throwback to my days playing with Amiga computers in the late '80s.
For the first part of the project, I set myself the rule that ONLY sounds originating from CBQ's recordings could be manipulated. Although many were submitted to such wild'n'crazy treatments that he possibly won't even recognise them himself! After generating TWENTY finished pieces this way (I chucked away quite a few more!), I thought I'd gone as far as I could with this approach. Besides, I was itching to try out my OWN instruments with the 'new' setup. So I recorded a further TWENTY tracks on which I allowed myself to sprinkle some additional fairy-dust.
It was an enjoyable process for me, which I hope stands in fresh contrast to our previous collaborations.
Twenty pieces of one minute's duration, constructed solely from samples derived from the music of CBQ
Part 2 - Pedantic Pedestrian & Cloudland Blue Quartet - Exercises 2_01 to 2_20
Twenty more pieces of one minute's duration, derived from CBQ's music, with additional instruments by PP
IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT...
I recently treated myself to a brand new and fairly powerful laptop computer. Naturally, I wanted to test its audio capabilities to the full, so I embarked upon another of those 'remix' projects of which I'm particularly fond. I sourced a number of CBQ's albums, with the aim of sampling from and submitting his sounds to all sorts of deviant treatment.
However, this time around, rather than the long-drawn-out 'ambient' dronings we'd come up with previously, I set myself a strict limit. I took inspiration from Morgan-Fisher's legendary 'Sequence Of Tiny Masterpieces' album "MINIATURES" (which featured the likes of Fred Frith, The Residents, Lol Coxhill and numerous others, offering musical or spoken-word pieces of approximately one minute in length).
I wanted to prove that our pieces could say all they were ever going to say in exactly one minute's duration and no more. And maybe, just a little bit, to kick against any perceived proggy ethic of 'longer-is-better'. I had hours of fun (re)discovering the joy of editing sounds using my trusty Audacity (now running on an Ubuntu platform which is probably four times faster than I'd previously been used to). I also dabbled with a 'Tracker' program which was a throwback to my days playing with Amiga computers in the late '80s.
For the first part of the project, I set myself the rule that ONLY sounds originating from CBQ's recordings could be manipulated. Although many were submitted to such wild'n'crazy treatments that he possibly won't even recognise them himself! After generating TWENTY finished pieces this way (I chucked away quite a few more!), I thought I'd gone as far as I could with this approach. Besides, I was itching to try out my OWN instruments with the 'new' setup. So I recorded a further TWENTY tracks on which I allowed myself to sprinkle some additional fairy-dust.
It was an enjoyable process for me, which I hope stands in fresh contrast to our previous collaborations.
While my own proposed COVER ARTWORK (consisting of a daft dADa/MeRz-like COLLAGE, overlaid with a very simple title in a white 'AvantGarde Demi' typeface) is a lot more 'ME', I'll just keep it for my own version. I think that CBQ's idea is much more "COMMERCIAL", i.e.; eye-catching and suitable for Bandcamp purposes, so we'll go with that.
IN OTHER MEDIA NEWS... I wanted to come away from my time in the hobstickle with more than just a free toothbrush and shaving items and a sense of accomplishment that I wasn't riddled with blood clots after all. I SAMPLED the sounds of some of the machines that I got hooked up to! I liked one in particular, an older model CANULA PUMP which 'played' an interesting 4:4 'riff', which was also interrupted by a separate and totally OFF-BEAT warning beep that indicated that the battery was in dire need of servicing. It reminded me of something that FAUST might have done (and probably did!). I'm looking forward to making a ten-minute piece out of that, as I can already hear in my head how it would build up, as I add some harmonic interest or modulation every eight bars, maybe bring in a bass pulse after a few more, then drop some guitar chords over the beeps, whenever they appear at random. (It turns out a bit of a racket, but you have to try these things, don'tcha?)
Finally got around to giving the WINDOWS half of my computer some sort of attention!
I installed a few old favourite programs, including MAGIX SAMPLITUDE and that 'AMAZING MIDI' app that served me so well for the "NET PROPHET" albums (It allows you to 'trace' an audio file and convert it to MIDI data for further manipulation).
But a lot of my 'favourites' are simply too old to run on a modern computer. The search goes on for some new alternatives. With this in mind, I've also installed a couple of (new-to-me) "FREE" DAWs, but I haven't got to grips with those yet. The phrase "USING A JCB TO CRACK A WALNUT" springs to mind! I'm not sure if they will ever prove useful in the long run.
But I find the way that things download and install in Windoze these days somewhat troublesome. There's usually a rather iffy REGISTRATION procedure involved, which entails giving out your details, in order to download a third-party 'installation manager' program, before you even get to the "FREE" stuff. Nothing is truly "FREE" in m!©r0$ofT Land! Lots of lovely DATA for them, paranoia for you! It doesn't feel all that SAFE or SECURE to me! (And don't get me started on the constantly nagging WINDOZE UPDATES!). The more "PORTABLE" apps the better, as far as I'm concerned. Disconnect! Away with your so-called CLOUDS!
Bottom line is, I don't really feel comfortable using m!©r0$ofT WINDOWS, but it's a necessary evil. I once again have the use of all those lovely VST instruments and FX that I accumulated over the years. But the only completely SAFE Windoze is still one that ISN'T connected to the internet and that's probably going to be the way once I've stabilised everything...
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