So, I FINALLY! began
the continuation
of the continuation
of the continuation
(etc and etc?)
of the, by now,
 very notorious
REWIRING!!

Yes!! ---
time to hook everybody together
and make them work
with one another.

Ohhhhhhhh??

Did I just say
"make them work"?

You just knew there was going
to be something
which was going to take
all of this fun
and make it
"not fun",
didn't you?

Well,
you were right,
once again?




But first,
a word on the work area
in which this is all taking place.

It seems that
I was up to my neck in wires
and unable to move
in any given direction
without crushing wires,
and wiretips,
and connectors,
and numerous electronic boxes
and other remarkable doo-dads
(did I spell that right?).

Can't move
= can't play music.

Not good
when trying to play music.

But, for some deeply unknown reason
I will not deal with it
until I am simply forced to.

And when I say "forced"
I mean as in
there is just no other way,
period.

So, you guessed it,
that night arrived two nights ago.

Oh, what to do? 
what to do?




Now, I must tell you that
"rewiring"
is not something that you just do,
and so much for that.

That's what you first think
whenever you first start.

Each time,
being more confident than before
that you have got this thing all figured out.

But that is the funny thing
about electronics
(and people and animals)
is that they are entirely unpredictable.

The level of complexity
is just simply so great
that anything can happen,
at any time.

Now that's a lot of stuff
to try to be comprehening
all at once
all around you.

So,
it will NEVER GO WELL!

No matter how optimistic your projections are
or aren't.




Are you starting to get the idea
of where I am going with this?

Yes, last night.

Do we even want to go there?

NO WAY!

But, for the needs of the historian I shall tell a little bit.




The goal was to hook up the GAIA SH-01
subtractive synthesizer 
to the Roland A-88
Controller.

Let's see,
MIDI IN on GAIA,
to MIDI OUT on controller board.

No problemo!

Fire them both up
and VOILA,
my wish come true.

I am elated
and ready to "dance with the stars".

YEEESSSSS!,
the three octave subtractive synth
has now become a full piano board.

I listen to the deep, deep lows.

The room is shaking.

I think I am about to, also.

Fantastic.





Now, let's start turning
some of those control knobs.



Can you feel it?

I bet you can't.

I sure know I didn't see it coming.




Knobs?

What knobs?

As in NOTHING WORKS!
on the subtractive synth.

Only one preset,
with no ability to control
or change
any paramaters.

This is a DISASTER!

Hey, wait a minute.

Does that mean
no more dancing?

Uhhhhhhh, ------ yes.





Now I suddenly realize
that I must get down
and get dirty.

And I thought the night was going so well,
 so far.

Hmmmm.

Maybe I should load the GAIA drivers.

But, they may conflict with the controller's drivers.

Hmmmm.

Both are same manufacturer,
and a very good one at that.

Maybe they will work together,
or maybe not.

Only one way to find out.



So I load the drivers.

VOILA.

I have the controls working.

YEEEEESSSSSSSS!!    




But, did you see it coming?

The controller board now doesn't work.

It makes strange little whining sounds
in place of what is supposed to be there.

I stop in astonishment
wondering where in the world that noise
could possibly be coming from
in the signal chain.

It can only be the most grossly distorted signal
I think I have ever heard
in my entire life.

Let's just say that
when two "alpha male" programs
get on the same hard drive together,
the outcome becomes highly unpredictable.

The controller is NOT going to play the GAIA
in this present configuaration.





O.K.,
so let's see what we CAN DO,
 given these facts.




It has not been until this very moment
that the full horrors
of this situation
suddenly begin
to hit me.

The GAIA  is sending out
what should be a stereo signal,
or at least two mono signals.

But, NO.

According to the headphones,
only one channel.

The second channel is quite dead.

So now I am worried about another matter, entirely.

The sound box
and the headphones.

I double check all connections
and power supplies
and then go into Pro Tools 10 (DAW) 
and check to see
whether I am getting stereo signal there.

No.

Definitely only one channel coming through.

This seems impossible to me.

Then I suddenly remember something
from many years ago,
when I was but a young lad.

Synthesizers are MONAURAL.




I have always paid a lot more
to get one's that are STEREO.

So,
I have never used
or even owned one
that is knowingly mono.

This means that I can either duplicate the signal
in the digital audio workstation
so that there is at least a signal coming out
of the second of the two headphone cups.

I could also put an adaptor
in-line
which will give me the same signal
in both headphone cups.

This is all sounding more and more
distasteful to me as
I finally realize that I am,
once again,
thoroughly beaten.

Project will not go forward
without further thought
and consideration,

and, you guessed it,

lots more
rewiring.






So, while I making some notes
this beautiful spring afternoon,
I should tell
that during thes past several months
I have been walking several miles
up one stretch of beach
and then back,
at sunset.

I have been on this coast
my entire life
and I always watch the animals
to see whether anything is amiss,
as it was when all of the Pelicans died off
because of DDT,
for example.

Very real to me,
because I was there.

So,
I have been watching
this almost continuous spraying
of materials in the skies above us
for almost two years now.

I watch it come down
and pile up on the horizon
in the evening
as the air cools,
causing all of the atmospheric gases
to contract.

The brown haze then comes into the water (ocean)
and comes up on the shore
as brown foam
(normally intensely white foam),
the exact same color
as what you can see
on the horizon.

I know that the plantkton
only live in the top 100 feet
and that this is all that must be destroyed
in order to break the food chain
in a very bad way.

So, I wonder to myself.

How long?

How long
before one hundred feet of water
which is having diesel fuel
and other chemicals
nearly continuously pouring into it
becomes highly toxic to all life
that is in that water.

Well,
the plantkton
is going to be eaten by fish.

The fish
are going to be eaten by the birds.

The birds
have no natural predators,
to speak of,
in this area,
such that they have long, healthy lives,
being relatively unmolested.

So,
we don't have a lot of dead birds
washing up on our beaches
at any time during my life,
that I can remember
or think of.

THAT IS,
UNTIL NOW.

Two dead cormorants one day.

Dead seagull and dead cormorant next day.

Dead cormorant next day.

Dead cormorant next day

Dead cormorant next day.

Dead grebe.

Dead seagull and cormorant.

Those are my last several walks
which I took just this last week.

One night,
maybe two months ago,
a very healthy looking young cormorant
was unable to get the strength up
to go back out into the water.

He died on a very cold night,
laying on the freezing,
cold wet sand.

Then another did the same thing
about one week ago,
at sunset,
while still warm.

He was dead,
one hour later,
by the time I returned down the beach,
keeping an eye out for him.




I am only telling these things here
in order to document them
in case this is a trend.

I am hoping
that it is one of those flukish things
that freaks you out
while it is happening,
but later on
turns out to be
not as serious
as once thought to be.




Well, I have to get to the laundromat.

Oh the drudgery of it all.

But, is actually the high point
of any given week
or week/s.

Now that's a scary thought.

But, it is so, nevertheless.

Lemon to lemonade, anyone?




w/abiding love

vw
1:48 p.m.
Saturday
3-23-13
Ventura, California, USA