splitter!

The Jerk Kerouac noise machine is rumbling along… there’s going to be a split release with Mati Gabah Jasus from Indonesia most probably coming out sometime in the near future, and I’m quite excited about that. Going to be coming out on CD, so, yes, you guys might probably have to pay for your noise fix. Of course, if it gets into the right hands (something which I have a feeling will not happen) then expect to see it posted on the usual blogs before you know it.

Regardless of the prospect of ending up with 20 or so copies of a split that I can’t sell at all, it’s still going to be nifty to have an actual CD of my own “musical” material that wasn’t burned/released by myself in a small edition of 20 with paper covers and very thin stickers covering off-brand CDrs.

There might be another split somewhere in the pipeline too, but I won’t be saying anything about that until the other guy confirms that it’s on. An offer was made, and I accepted, but no word beyond that. Not a problem, though. It’s not like I’m in any sort of rush.

I’ve also been looking at various pedals as possible additions to my set-up. I’ve mostly been looking at distortions/fuzzes like the Blue Box (which I alternate between WANT-ing and NOT WANT-ing due to the AC power, bleed-through and volume drop), EHX Metal Muff, Digitech/DOD Grunge and Behringer UM300 (which, surprisingly, has gotten some significantly good reviews on noiseguide) to add some tonal variation (have two distortions on at all times, occasionally have all three going) to my shaker box/contact mic abuse. But then I’ve also been thinking of some sort of modulation or filter or reverb or something.

Maybe I’ll get a Boss LS-2 and that Behringer (still cheaper than, say, a Metal Muff or Blue Box, probably) and maybe Crank’s Il Crudo mic and rock two signals of… well, near-similar noise. Hm.

brrr schhhhh eeeeeeee

The Eye of God trade went down today, and thus my pedal setup now contains a Digitech Bass Synth Wah. I had the chance to mess around with one in my setup a few weeks ago and I enjoyed it greatly—really liked the filters, especially the envelope filter + sub-octave—and knew that I had to have one in my life. Which is why I put up the Eye of God for sale: I wasn’t taking full advantage of its capabilites and, well, I needed the money to get myself a BSW.

As it turned out however, the owner of the Bass Synth Wah was willing to trade his BSW for my EOG, and I jumped on it.

I will admit that an optimal setup for me would be one with both the EOG and BSW so that I can go from crazy, glitchy sounds from putting the BSW in the feedback loop to pure crunchy death when I kick in the Death Metal and shaker box/contact mic abuse, but if I had to pick one, I’d go for the BSW. Feedback loops are deathly boring if there’s only a delay and a distortion (or two) in them, after all.

Of course, I could get a Y-splitter, but then I could also get a mixer or a Boss LS-2 and mix two pedal chains, one feedback loop chain and another one for my shaker box/contact mic exploits. Yeah, maybe I could do that. Ditch the Kaoss Pad thing, yeah. But damn, the filters on Government Alpha albums (which, for the uninitiated, he uses a Kaoss Pad for) are so fucking brutal, which makes me want a KP for that filtering action. Maybe I could borrow one…

Oh yeah, before I forget: if anyone’s got a horribly beat-up cymbal (cracked, warped, chipped, abused, etc) they want to get rid of, get in touch. Me wants.

them re2s

So yeah, bought my first pair of IEMs today, a secondhand pair of Head-Direct RE2s.

Getting a proper fit with them was a bit of a challenge first time around, being quite inexperienced with IEMs, and for a while I was worried about not being able to get a proper seal with any of the included tips. But I persevered and managed to get it right eventually. ‘Twas well worth the effort, though, as these babies sound pretty goddamn good.

First time I listened to music through a properly-seated pair of these (Gang of Four, in keeping with my recent post-punk obsession), all I really could do was smile. Reminds me of the first time I listened through my Sennheiser PX100s, but better. The PX100s were my first exposure to good headphones, and these RE2s are my first exposure to quality IEMs. I prefer them over the PX100s in nearly every way, but that’s not really a suitable comparison, is it? These are IEMs, those are over-ear headphones. And so on and so on. I still like my PX100s, but I just like these RE2s more. And, since they’re in-ears, they don’t mess with my glasses, which is great (and one of the main reasons I decided to switch to earphones/in-ears).

Those large bi-flanges I have on them seem pretty great: they’re quite comfortable, provide a good seal and isolate a decent amount more than the other tips. Thinking of getting myself a pair or two of those Comply T400 tips, see how they are. I’ve only heard good things about them, so yeah, I’m thinking I want a pair or two. And maybe a Fiio E5. Slowly, Azzief, slowly!

I am really quite impressed. They could stand with pumping out a bit more bass, but they’re not all that bad. EQ-ing a bit of bass in works alright, too, although I do wish that the EQ in my Zen goes a bit lower than 80Hz. 55, maybe? Overall, though, I like these RE2s a lot. Sure, there are better IEMs out there, but for the price I paid, it’s all good. And, besides, I’ve never listened to any of those better IEMs, so I honestly don’t know what I’m missing out on, anyway. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

4770, jyeah redux

No problems so far. Boots into Windows perfectly, plays games perfectly, none of that green/black/whatever screen nonsense I mentioned in my previous post. I used to have the saturation increased via that Avivo Color thing in CCC (I’m one of those people that really likes the Digital Vibrance option you get with GeForce cards and, well, I wanted a bit of that whole thing going on), but once I set the saturation back to normal, all my problems disappeared.

I’m going to try and get the clocks up to the numbers bit-tech managed to get eventually, but I think I should start working on one of my assignments . . . a bit.

4770, jyeah

Running quite alright at the moment, certainly a step up from my 9600GT (which, incidentally, is for sale). Overclocking seems to be a bit of an issue in that it seems to cause green/black/whatever screens at startup . . . but only once. I reset the PC, and all is well. If I reset it again, the same screen pops up.

But I restarted my PC just now with these clocks and didn’t get any green/black/whatever screen (and after changing a few settings), so here’s hoping it’s alright. But hey, it performs nicely enough at stock clocks, so I won’t be unhappy if I have to use it at stock. Just, of course, not as happy as I could be.

tuhan punya mata

Got this today. I’m quite liking it so far. I can use it in pretty conventional ways with my Ibanez DE7 (I love the light-sensitive photo eye and how I can use it to make the delay feedback + volume swell to obscene levels) or to turn either of my distortion pedals into oscillating, fuzz-esque annoyances, complete with the requisite videogame sounds. And I haven’t even tried making noise with it.

I’ve been really enjoying listening/watching video demos of some of Devi Ever’s fuzzes. I forsee one entering my life… someday. Damn.

Based on my taste in pedals you wouldn’t expect me to be playing an Ibanez with EMGs, but I do. Relic from my more… metal days. I really like the guitar, I do, but yeah.

i’ll probably never be able to use this stuff in a band context

But I WANT, regardless.

These might be pretty sick for noise work, though. But yeah, the TBD costs… RM850-ish and, well, that’s expensive. Really expensive. I-wouldn’t-pay-that-much-for-a-guitar-pedal expensive.

I’d get a feedback loop of some sort first. Which reminds me, there’s this Devi Ever Eye of God up for sale…

righteous mess

This is what you call a mess, no?

This is also what I use in making my amateurish attempts at noise.

I should upload some of that shit on the ‘Net.

mr. wilson

I really want to get some sort of MIDI controller this year. I’m lusting for a Korg padKontrol but I’d probably be better off looking for a used Korg microKontrol or something of the sort. I’m not looking for a 49-key keyboard, that’s for sure, but I’m pretty sure I want them trigger pads/control pads/whatever. I don’t think getting a padKontrol and, say, an M-Audio Oxygen8 would be within my budget, though, which is a bit of a problem.

I’m pretty sure, though, that laying down beats using the padKontrol would be much more comfortable than using the pads on the microKontrol. And the padKontrol, it looks so… good. I saw one in the flesh the other day, with all the flashy lights and all and I think I damn near fell in love with it.

Augh.

new toy

Finally picked this baby up today. Once I get a battery for it I’ll load up one of those expired rolls of Centuria 400 and get shooting. New stuff always gets me excited about shooting again.

For the record, I really desire a Canonet and/or a Yashica GX, but hey, the GSN’s good enough. Wish it was smaller, though, which is most probably the main reason why I desire the previously-mentioned cameras: their smaller size. Could probably get a Canonet for cheapish, but the GX . . . whoa.

Spotted some rolls of Ilford 400, too. Would have bought a few, but I don’t know where to get the rolls developed. C-41 process black and white film doesn’t pose much of a problem (or, as Malaysians say, takde hal), it’s the ones that need to be developed by hand that pose a problem. I’d love to give developing a shot if I knew where to get the proper chemicals locally.

Anyone?