Who Runs Banjotown? @mayor@banjo.town

Ever since I got my first Raspberry Pi however many years ago, I have periodically gone looking to see if anyone had used one to build a true heterodyne theremin, and until last night all that ever came up were the various optical/ultrasonic "theremins" people have built. I put together an ultrasonic circuit with a breadboard a couple of years ago and it was really cool, but not really usable as an actual instrument.

Jasper Taylor came up with a theremin circuit that's so simple even *I* can almost read it; it uses software to mix the oscillator signals and synthesize an audio signal, which means the DSP possibilities are basically endless once the circuit is in place. He came up a clever optional hack that enables the use of a couple of onboard clocks instead of external components for the oscillators, and also a clever way to use the antennae to toggle settings (as implemented there are no external controls.)

Really clever and (to my layman's eyes) elegant. And works on a Pi Zero. I do not *need* to build one of these (I have a very nice theremin already) but I'm probably going to attempt it. #theremin #raspberrypi

https://www.simulistics.com/theremin.html

I have come to the reluctant conclusion that my Sony mic is just plain broke. Whether I wound up with a dud in the first place, or somehow fried it when trying to get it to work with the hodgepodge of stuff I had at the time, I'll never know.

But that TRRS adapter works fine with other sources, and the mic has just never worked correctly for me, so I think it's time for an "As-is" listing on reverb

FoxDot is a lot of fun, and it's pretty easy to mash buttons and wind up with something that sounds deliberate even if you barely know what you're doing.

https://peertube.social/videos/watch/9e9c546a-cb67-4d48-b1e5-5f8869f1b5de

A bit of EQ and some fat reverb really fill things out. #foxdot #supercollider #python #fediversemusic

#foxdot controlling #streetlytronpro is pretty swell. #midi #mellotron #supercollider

I think maybe #foxdot is the intro to #SuperCollider that I've been looking for

I've worked my way through various "intro to #supercollider" howtos demos a few times over the last couple of years and feel like I'm getting a bit more traction this time around.

I realized, though, that I've been frustrated that pretty much all of the material out there is written with the assumption that you're either:

* Pretty familiar with audio synthesis but not at all familiar with programming concepts
* Pretty familiar with programming but not at all familiar with audio synthesis concepts

And in both cases, intro tutorials focus initially focus very heavily on the SynthDef aspect of supercollider versus the "How to make supercollider play deliberate sequences of named musical notes" aspect of it, which is really what I'm more interested in at this stage. But after my previous false starts I think I can skip ahead a little bit, and work my way backwards.

Why no built-in #supercollider help browser in Linux?

#PSA : Animoog (Moog Music's iPad synth app) in on sale right now for $9.99 #ipad #moog #synth #music https://www.moogmusic.com/products/animoog

I swear to god I saw this literal fucking guy just now, right down to the plaid shirt and beard https://www.theonion.com/mr-autumn-man-walking-down-street-with-cup-of-coffee-1819574012

I've been threatening for years to attempt a recording of Walter Doyle's 'Mysterious Mose', but not sure anyone will ever record a better version of it than R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh3danLzgFk #nowplaying #tootradio #rcrumb #stringband #jugband

@scruss @Jazzaria 🤯 I think I actually have an imic somewhere that I completely forgot about, I’m going to have to go rummage through a couple of attic bins of random cables and tech gewgaws. I don’t have any memory of using it regularly and I’m not sure why (or when in the chronology of my recording attempts I got it; like, I don’t remember using it with the sony mic 🤔)

@Jazzaria yeah, it's hard to say; the manual certainly doesn't mention it. It's definitely a mic for the DAT/camcorder era; the manual I found online has a copyright of 1996.

It does have its own on-board 1.5v (AA battery) power, so we'll see.

Right after apple released garageband I bought a Sony ECM-MS907 stereo condenser mic which I attempted to use with a variety of hardware for a few years, but I didn't really know anything about digital recording, and never really got decent results from it.

It's got a 3.5mm TRS connector and was clearly intended mostly for field recording-type situations on a class of devices that are far less common these days, assuming you'd be plugging it into a DAT or minidisc recorder (which were the high tech tools when this mic was first rolled out, I think in the 1990s). I don't remember what the input configuration on the apple hardware I had in 2004 was but I was under the impression that the mic *ought* to have worked, but the signal was always suuuuuper quiet no matter what I tried.

Eventually picked up a cheap dynamic mic and preamp that I got slightly better results from and used for a while, and finally a few years ago I got an actual audio interface and a decent large diaphragm condenser mic, which was life-changing.

It occurred to me last night that in the 12 years I've been using iOS devices, I've never actually attempted to connect the ECM-MS907 to an iphone or ipad.

A bit of googling would *seem* to suggest that iOS devices support external mics via a TRRS adapter which usually takes the form of a splitter with a one connector for a mic, and one for headphones.

Similarly, it looks like you can do Stereo 3.5mm mic TRS -> TRRS -> lightning adapter, but in my case I'm already using my iPad's lightning port for my audio interface, and my interface only has one XLR input + one Hi-Z input, so 3.5mm jack it is for now.

I just ordered a $9 adapter, I'll be very interested to see if it works... fun to contemplate being able to get a good track from my large diaphragm mic plus a stereo track (maybe mic'd a bit further away to get some room ambience), or mic instrument + vox separately if I ever get to that point.

And if it doesn't work, I'm gonna finally sell this stupid mic I've been storing for 16 years. #recording #FediverseMusic #audio #microphone

I like #redbubble as a customer but their portfolio tools are kind of clunky. Also I supposedly have two public designs but they don't show on my shop page and if I open direct links to them in an anonymous session I get a 404 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, if I can get that sorted out there will be @magicians merch for sale soon.

I bought a big, beautiful, and fairly expensive book for myself with a bit of birthday money and proceeds from bandcamp friday (thanks so much to everyone on the fediverse who bought stuff, btw. As always it's humbling and inspirational.)

It feels terribly indulgent on the one hand, but on the other it's paying it forward to another creative (it's a catalog from a photography exhibit) and will be direct inspiration for the @magicians project.

The internet has replaced the need for a lot of coffee table books, but there are still circumstances where there's just no substitute.