Apple Wine Sunday

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Caroline Wise in Phoenix, Arizona

Eleven years ago, June from Brown’s Orchard in Willcox, Arizona, a woman who ended up becoming a long-distance friend, gifted Caroline and me a few bottles of hard cider made from apples from her farm. Back then we were making regular visits, driving the 195 miles southeast to visit the farm and pick apples on those occasions that winter played along. We’d drag gallons of self-picked and -pressed apple cider back to Phoenix and freeze the stuff to enjoy over the ensuing months. The apples from that incredible variety of trees also contributed to the aforementioned hard cider and on this Sunday afternoon, 11 years later, our last bottle has proven to be as amazing today as it was then. We were a bit apprehensive that it had sat too long and had become vinegar, happily we were wrong. By the way, that is an authentic Frankfurt apple wine glass that would be familiar to anyone who has indulged in the traditional beverage from that corner of Germany. Thanks, June, for the fond memories.

Click here to visit the blog entry that detailed our very first visit.

Panic Writing

JWise Photo of the Day

Starbucks

Yikes, just sat down at Starbucks and in 15 minutes I need to write something, but I have no ideas about a subject. The reason I’m in a hurry is that I must leave shortly to pick up Caroline from her office. So here are some random observations: One guy just ran in for the toilet. He was smiling on the way in and I noticed a bandage on his elbow like he had been donating plasma earlier. His backpack and state of clothes suggested homelessness, but not in the way that had me thinking he’d been on the street long. He emerged too quickly to stoke the imagination regarding drug use so I’ll let that go.

I see two students studying together, from the size of the books it looks like nursing school. An elderly couple is sitting in the soft chairs reading the newspaper; who reads the newspaper anymore? Across from me is a guy with glasses and full headphones with a large notebook computer plugged in, giving me the impression of a gamer, then I spot the game controller under the table confirming my ideas of pigeonholing him. Drive-thru is keeping the staff busy and a slow trickle of people continually enters the lobby, but it’s slow for a Friday afternoon. There’s a 65-ish-year-old woman sitting out front with short-cropped reddish hair; she’s overweight and reading a book about Berlin. I’m getting the sense of my mother sitting out there, except my mother is dead.

Earlier this morning, instead of writing, I was testing some website functionality that resulted in the owner of the company throwing $100 of free software my way. The guy is Michael Hetrick who makes VST’s a.k.a. music plugins. Years ago, while he was writing his thesis about modular software units based on Eurorack designs, I’d made a contribution to his efforts. Today he said thanks again and let me know that his gift was a token of his gratitude. I am touched by his generosity. Afterward, still before noon, I ran into Kenny from HEK Yeah BBQ at Costco and after completing my shopping proceeded to go to his place for an early lunch. While we were at Costco he picked up some rib-eyes that he would be smoking this afternoon, so that, along with some asparagus, will be dinner.

Currently, it’s a pleasant 72 degrees with cloudy skies while it was over 95 degrees and windy just two days ago. I’m about to turn down the computer after I hit “save draft” as Caroline will go over this for grammatical issues and ensure I’m making sense (not always a sure thing). With the computer packed up, it’ll be time to start our weekend as soon a the wife is in the car.

Got Nothing!

JWise Photo of the Day

Black Tea from Starbucks

I’ve been working on writing five different things, but none of them are ready for the light of day yet. One is my version of a fairy tale, one is a dark piece, one about death, another on things mundane, and finally, the last one is a return to the subject of time. Regarding time, this is not a look at my usage of it or others who waste it; instead, I’m looking at the very nature of what it is. Then a hint about the entry on death: I’ll be considering how little I can know about it and that I’ll never be able to convey anything about it from my own experience in a blog entry.

Been dealing with a few dozen loose ends that pertain to many things in our lives as we get ready for summer, a kind of spring cleaning. Finished our taxes today, that’s always a relief. Then there are all the other things that need clearing out before any serious travels can commence.

Trying to get a lens that I’ve dropped repaired for the fourth time, this time to fix a dented front filter ring that is stopping me from attaching and removing a polarizer. It was just this past July that I’d sent it in to repair most of its guts as the auto-focus no longer functioned and some broken interior piece was causing serious zooming issues with the lens when we were in Europe last year. Previous to that it was a dysfunctional image stabilization system. If you think I should change brands from Canon to something else, you’d be mistaken. This 17-55mm f2.8 lens has snapped well north of 150,000 images for me and is simply perfect. That lens has taken photos in the wilds of Alaska for more than 30 days, it’s been weeks in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, visited Death Valley and Yellowstone where it encountered hot and cold extremes.

Today I received the first firmware update to the Bionic Lester MK3 that is really allowing the filter to feel like a real module. Sound in and out is a bit limiting, but with some modulation capability life begins to be injected into the thing.

Caroline had her hair trimmed today by Sydney who’s been taking care of these duties for nearly a decade now. I’m out this evening writing this stuff (look at the time stamp on the iced tea above) because the wife is out for dinner with her coworkers who are dining with a visitor that had come into town. The big news though which should probably be a blog entry of its own is that Caroline is starting to move the ball forward in trying to resolve her need for dual citizenship. You see Caroline is still a German citizen working with a Permanent Resident card a.k.a. the Green Card. There are reasons for desiring both German and American citizenship and maybe someday I’ll write about what they are, as of today it was simply getting some documents notarized for sending them off to Cologne, Germany.

So not a lot to share that has any real novelty. Some might say that has been true of many of my entries, but these are for Caroline and me and the digital memory that will be constructed by an A.I. in the future from these fragments. That memory will effectively be a shadow of me representing an artistic interpretation of a person born in the middle of the 20th century. Hmmm, I should write a blog entry just about that, titled “A.I. John and how the landscape turned digital.”

Molecules of Beauty

JWise Photo of the Day

Spring time in the Arizona desert

How often do you step outside on a bright clear day to look deep into the sky and seriously ponder that you are looking at the same sky you see at night except now the air has its oxygen molecules illuminated by the star burning almost 93 million miles away in space?

Do many people take pause to consider that the gas around them not only sustains our lives but also colors our view of space? Twenty-one percent of the air is oxygen which is tinted blue compared to the 78% nitrogen that has no color and is transparent. In the evening when photons are mostly absent, we can easily see through our atmosphere and take notice of the bright specks of light known as stars.

The clouds are densities of water crystals whose particles are significantly larger than oxygen molecules and instead of scattering blue they scatter the white light of the sun and our clouds appear in their distinct billowy puffs that drift effortlessly against the dramatic blue background.

This all happens for the majority of us out of sight and out of mind, but we should never take this incredible bit of science for granted, as it is the complex relationship of systems that are essential to sustaining our version of life.

Have you stopped to watch a cloud form or seen it simply disappear into the blue? I’d venture to guess that most people who live in urban settings have watched more television than they’ve consciously gazed upon the heavens above.

Sometimes I don’t realize how lucky I am that we see blue skies over Arizona nearly every day, including stormy days. I’ve lived in a city for 10 years where the majority of the year seemed to have cloud cover that obscured the sky beyond more often than not. It wasn’t easy to visit the ocean or a large body of water either. Although I’m now in a desert, Caroline and I haven’t encountered too much resistance to making our way to America’s waterways and oceans. This though is a luxury while looking out upon the sky merely requires us to go outside.

Consider how amazing the opportunity is to see with our own eyes the play of elements that flash within the minds of humans fortunate enough to comprehend the reality of the sky above us. We are here only momentarily to see it for ourselves, but do we choose to witness this spectacle firsthand, or do we remain oblivious to how profound this part of the world around us truly is?

Synthplex to the Exit

JWise Photo of the Day

The eyes of Scott Jaeger - Industrial Music Electronics

Where were you when the first Synthplex happened? I was in myself doing my best to explore my bucket of impostor syndrome. There are those moments you just know that nobody is looking at you, as with one glance they know you can’t be a serious human being because they don’t recognize you; so you must be nobody. I’d heard that Martin Gore had visited on Friday and a gaggle of fans followed him around hoping for selfies with the Depeche Mode star. Others who were recognizable were also given the red carpet welcome. When someone like myself walks up there is the obligatory name tag check and as soon as it is clear that there is no name recognition the person at the booth can start acting fidgety with you in order to let you know your time is limited and that you are likely wasting theirs. Now step back and wait for someone that impresses them. The smiles grow, they move in closer and start putting on the charm. There are no time limits as the momentary celebrity can indulge their every curiosity with answers extending into detailed nuances I could never even pay for.

I am not endeared to these vendors. Matter of fact, I’d now like to sell the gear I bought from them over the previous years. This type of elitism is a punch at my enthusiasm and the fire that stokes my sense of owning the aforementioned impostor syndrome. Some vendors are extraordinary in their lack of bias and embrace anyone regardless of status who approaches them. This weekend I was able to experience and witness the gracious attitudes of a number of makers such as the authors of Patch and Tweak – Kim Bjørn and Chris Meyer. Bert Schiettecatte and Celine Van Damme of Percussa were incredibly welcoming and willing to share a ton of information that made me a fan of their Percussa SSP. Dave Rossum has the enthusiasm of 10 people, Danjel van Tijn founder of Intellijel didn’t hesitate to pay attention as we spoke. Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics will give anyone who asks him about his modules a brilliant hands-on demo and answer all questions, often in exquisite detail with a dose of history thrown in.

Percussa SSP at Synthplex in Burbank, California

Speaking of the Percussa SSP: Once I was finally able to catch Bert free of giving other demos he jumped right in sharing with me the salient points that I was most curious about. First up were the granular capabilities of this expensive power-hungry module. When I say expensive I’m talking $2,000 pricey, and regarding power, this thing needs nearly 1 amp of electricity from your rack. Beyond those requirements, this thing is a beast. Do you need to record up to 16 inputs of either audio or control voltage? This is your machine. Do you want to record and edit samples directly in your Eurorack and then drill into them with polyphonic multi-channel playback only to record those outs right back to the device for later use? The SSP can do that.

I’ll admit I was skeptical a couple of years ago when Percussa ran their Kickstarter about this ambitious project, but after seeing it first hand I’m intrigued. With software and firmware updates occurring approximately twice monthly and upon learning that their forum is a great place for feedback and making requests for improvements, I inch even closer to trying to figure out what to sell in order to bring this work of art into my repertoire.

Ed Kennedy and A.m Filipkowski at Synthplex in Burbank, California

How cool is this? Not only do I run into fellow Phoenician Chris Randall here in California, but here is Ed Kennedy who runs the Phoenix Synthesizers Group (organizing a DIY program in Phoenix soon) and the maniacal A.m. Filipkowski of Data Cult Audio who is also based in Arizona (FYI: he’s not really maniacal, he just looks that way – yes that’s him on the right).

Tetrapad and new CV Recorder for it from Intellijel at Synthplex in Burbank, California

Danjel van Tijn seriously impressed me, not with the sexy new case so much as with the device I failed to get a name for that is mounted left of the Tetrapad. That shiny white module is brand new and unreleased as of today. It is a CV recorder for the Tetrapad. I wish I’d thought to ask while I had his attention if the voltages could be morphed across the various channels.

Roger Linn and Daniel Billotte at Synthplex in Burbank, California

On the left is the affable and relatively famous Roger Linn who invented the first drum machine to use samples and the MPC that profoundly changed modern music. On his right is my old friend Daniel Billotte who was getting a demo of Roger’s newest creation; the Linnstrument. Most recently Roger played a crucial role in helping change the MIDI format to incorporate polyphonic elements that radically extended the play-ability of MIDI instruments.

Prototype Bionic Lester MK3 from Industrial Music Electronics at Synthplex in Burbank, California

This was one of the main draws for me showing up at Synthplex; the Bionic Lester MK3. Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics made two of these filters last week and one of them was for me. Sure he could have mailed it to me, but then I would have missed out on all of these terrific experiences and more than a few wonderful people I was able to meet and learn from.

Synthplex in Burbank

JWise Photo of the Day

Ross Fish of MØFFENZEEF MØDULAR

Ran into Ross Fish of Møffenzeef Mødular here at Synthplex in Burbank, California, this morning which was a great way to step into the absurd and hopefully setting a tone for the rest of my encounters here. Turned out that this guy (also known as Czar Dean, Anne Chovie, and Matt Zerella) is a unique one-of-a-kind brand of his own peculiarity. Ross was well on his way to disturbing attendees in ways he wasn’t prepared to share, though he assured me they would feel the effects of his mayhem well into the future. Not that the people who visit a Eurorack conference could easily be described as your run-of-the-mill ordinary everyday kind of people, but Ross is certainly one of those cherry-on-top types of personality. I’d like to say it was a pleasure meeting him for the first time, but then again how can anyone ever know what side of the Fish they are getting?

Chris Randall and Bon Harris at Synthplex in Burbank, California

Chris Randall of Audio Damage (left) was on hand, demonstrating his line of software instruments and VSTs too. I met Chris who also lives in Phoenix a little more than a year ago and enjoyed being able to catch up with things before he and I went looking for Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics who was nowhere to be found. While getting some air and taking a break from the noise in the main halls I saw a guy approaching I’d not seen in nearly 30 years, Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb (right). Unfortunately, they won’t be playing in Phoenix so we’ll have to head into Los Angeles come October if we’d like to flirt with nostalgia and catch them.

The Lizard and various modules from Vinicius Electrik at Synthplex in Burbank, California

I had the good fortune of meeting Quincas Moreira from Mexico City as well. I’ve chatted with Quincas on social media many a time. Not only is he a composer but also a terrific DIY guy which was how I first learned of him. He’s up here in the Los Angeles area representing Vinicius Electrik who makes their own line of Eurorack modules. Quincas gave me a demo of their newest module, the Lizard, which is certainly a very unique module competing in the ever-growing and increasingly crowded market for synthesizers.

Blake Griffith of Noisebug and John L. Rice at Synthplex in Burbank, California

Outside contemplating something to eat I see a logo approaching. The man’s face doesn’t trigger any memories, but I’m wondering just how many people might be wearing a JLR logo on their shirt. I must ask if this is the man behind John L. Rice – it is indeed (he’s on the right). He’s walking along with Blake Griffith (left) from NoiseBug in Pomona that I first visited almost exactly two years ago on April 1st, 2017.

Rossum Electro-Music Panharmonium Eurorack Mutating Spectral Resynthesizer

“Wow!” was my reaction to the Panharmonium from Rossum Electro. I feel like this is the granular synthesizer I’ve always been looking for. Technically this is considered a Mutating Spectral Resynthesizer that makes magic choral sounds out of Ronald Reagan speeches (that is what Dave Rossum used to demo the unit to my ears). Sadly the module won’t be out until approximately late spring or early summer but the good news is that it is only going to cost $499.

By now I’ve run into Scott a few times and during that first encounter, I was handed a brand new prototype Bionic Lester MK3 filter module that I’ll be testing over the next month or so. Hopefully, we can make quick work of the beta period as he and I have upcoming travels that will put a pause on that work.

I also had a great visit with Brandon Fessler of Mordax who made my DATA Multi-Function tool. Matter of fact he also repaired my unit when the Arizona dry air created a situation where an adhesive bond failed. The DATA is a godsend module that I use in two primary ways: as an oscilloscope and a tuner. Being able to see what a signal looks like or what key you are tuning to is essential when working with synthesizer voices. If we get lucky this will be the year the Eurorack industry sees a proliferation of granular synthesis devices. Not only is Rossum Electro entering the field, but Émilie Gillet over at Mutable Instruments has hinted at the replacement for Clouds and Mordax has shown a very early prototype of the GXN Granular Synthesis System last year at Superbooth in Berlin.

Oki Dog in Los Angeles, California

We had to take a pass on the many musical performances that were being held in a couple of locations as it was time to go meet our friends Rotem and Itay who were only a couple of days away from welcoming their first child. It was great to catch up and they were thrilled to be gifted a handwoven baby blanket by Caroline. Matter of fact, we were so involved in our conversation that I forgot to take a photo. We left with huge smiles on our faces and ended up getting a late dinner at the World Famous Oki Dog on the way back to the motel.