The next album is definitely coming along, at almost 27 minutes of material already. Go, me!
I got a nice raise again, and I’m celebrating by buying myself a neat musical toy (of course). Neutral Labs Elmyra 2, standalone version. It’s inspired by the Lyra 8, but goes way beyond in terms of synthesis options; it’s a semi-modular, 4-voice wavetable synth with some limitations (no individual oscillator outputs) but still a lot of flexibility. Very raw and dirty, with a unique delay that doesn’t sound PT-based but has its own thing going on, and the distortion or Ouch stage can be “hacked” with electronic components or included mini-cards, and it does have an external audio input for its filter/delay/distortion. And a simple sequencer, elevating it further above the Lyra. (Also unlike the Lyra, it’s not made by someone who seems to be supporting Russian war crimes.) I’ve watched several YouTube videos now and I’m impressed and think it’ll fit well with the other stuff. (Where it goes in terms of stands/etc. I’m not sure yet.)
I also am getting new glasses. My distance vision prescription changed a little, but it also changed a year and a half ago and I skipped the update. I priced an option at the place but I’m going for two pairs from Zenni: one “premium progressive” rimless for general usage, and one “mid-range progressive” for computer use (it forgoes distance vision for a slightly larger field for close distances and a much larger field for middle distances); the two pairs cost less than half as much as the in-office option. I’ve been happy with the Zenni glasses I have now, except that the lenses are a little on the small side for progressives, so I got great big huge windowpanes on these.
I do have a bit of diabetic retinopathy. It’s maybe slightly worse than last time, but then, an area of more concern cleared up since last time too. I’m going back in 6 months for another check to make sure it doesn’t get worse, because apparently now there are decent meds that can halt or reverse retinopathy if caught early enough. That’s fair, since this appointment was about 6 months later than it should have been anyway.
I’ve been reading Dilla Time, the biography of hip-hop producer J Dilla. I’m not a fan of his in particular, or hip-hop in general, but I recognize his style in the modern “chill lo-fi beats to study to” sort of thing, some of which is pretty nice. I’m not sure how relevant this is to my music, since sometimes there’s not even rhythm of any kind. I’m getting some interesting bits of Detroit history, a little music tech history, lot of less interesting and slightly infuriating biographical stuff (the guy was really not great toward women generally, not always great to friends and business or creative partners, was apparently egotistical in a quiet sort of way). Still mostly an engaging book.