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MiniDexed Smoke Test

I've had my eye on the MiniDexed open source project for a while, ever since I saw a video about the project by Floyd Steinberg.  Eight DX7s on a Raspberry Pi?  Heck yeah!  This week, I finally ordered hardware: * Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2019 Quad Core 64 Bit WiFi

2HAC Volume 19: Monstrous

It didn’t make the evening news (what are they trying to hide?) but last Wednesday, a terror arose from the depths to threaten all humankind. Tentacles, teeth, claws, fangs…it has all that, and hunger. Can 61 intrepid musicians stop this horror? Tune in to Bandcamp to find out!

Baby-10 Complete

I closed up the case on my Baby-10 sequencer project. Here's a demo video and a list of what I learned.

Dual Power Supply Project

I recently finished my Baby-10 sequencer and used it to drive my Werkstatt as part of a recent musical project.  While there were a couple of problems with the build that I'm not completely happy with, completing this project has really sparked my interest in building synthesizer modules from scratch.

2022 Wildcat Half Marathon

There are some big hills east of Berkeley! The climbs were tough but the views from the top were worth it. Four out of six trail halfs in the bag!

Demonstrating at the Supreme Court

Content Warning This is a post about abortion rights.  I understand that abortion is a sensitive topic, so I want to be clear at the outset that I consider abortion to be health care and I support legal, safe abortion for everyone who needs that care.  In addition to my

2HAC Volume 18: Vintage

Slide into your vintage smoking jacket, grab an Old Fashioned, and read about how I composed a song about hipsters in two hours.

2022 Badger Cove Half Marathon

Running up and down the green hills of Del Valle Park. 13.1 miles, 2,300 feet of climbing, halfway to my goal.

2HAC Volume 17 - Corruption

On January 8th, I participated in my eighth Two Hour Album Challenge [https://2hac.abstractionmusic.com/], a community event where participants write a song in two hours that loosely aligns with a randomly-chosen theme.  2HAC is held every three months or so, and the theme for this weekend was "Corruption"

2021 Summit Rock Half Marathon

It was a beautiful, chilly day in the redwoods above Saratoga. Thirteen miles, 3100 feet of climbing, and ice cream afterward.

2021 Auburn Half Marathon

Not my first trail half marathon, but probably the most difficult. And yeah, I signed up for another one...

2021 Santa Cruz Triathlon

After a seven year break from triathlons – I have been mainly running trail races like the Ragnar Trail Tahoe [https://www.runragnar.com/event-detail/trail/tahoe_ca] – I registered for the Santa Cruz Triathlon [https://www.santacruztriathlon.org/] earlier this year.  The race was this morning, and I'm very happy

Baby-10 In Action

I've got enough wires soldered up to light some LEDs in sequence!

"Clear Horizons", a live jam with the Moogs

Live jam with Subharmonicon, DFAM, Werkstatt-01, and Zoom MS-70CDR chorus/delay/reverb pedal.

Baby-10 step subassemblies

Wiring up ten sets of components -- one for each step of the sequencer -- is tedious, but also a good learning experience.

Trailer camping in Paso Robles

We recently took the travel trailer (which we have nicknamed "Jenny" – you have to say it out loud in the Forrest Gump voice) down to the Paso Robles area for a long weekend of wine tasting with our friends Julie and Josh.  Shortly after buying our trailer, we signed up

"Somer Uplift", a live jam with the Moogs

Live jam with the Subharmonicon, DFAM, and Werkstatt. Slow buildup to an energetic peak.

Baby-10 Clock Assembly

Time to commit and solder up this board.  I decided to start with the circuits around the CD40106 decade counter chip: The 40107 decade counter chip is mounted in a socket on the right side of the board.  The circuit on the bottom half of the board is a switch

How we found our travel trailer

Whenever Heather and I talk about things that we want to spend more time doing, travel and camping always came up.  We both love to be outside and visit new places, but we came to the realization that car camping and sleeping on the ground no longer appeals to us.

Baby-10 Power Subsystem

Early morning obsessive thoughts about my sequencer project lead me to build a split-rail power supply.

Practice makes perfect: the Baby-10 front panel

Creating a front panel for the Baby-10. Trial, error, re-trial, and success.

Building a Baby-10 Sequencer

Paul starts work on a Baby-10 control voltage sequencer.

New release: 2HAC Volume 14: "Entropy"

I contributed a track to the latest Two-Hour Album Challenge [https://2hac.abstractionmusic.com/] (2HAC), "Entropy".  My song is called "Gone Missing" and is about my dad, who passed away recently after struggling with dementia.  This was by far the most personal, intense, draining piece of art I've ever created,

Sometimes it’s the little things that make me happy...

Like not constantly kicking the chain of power strips and wall warts when sitting at my desk. Before and AfterAmazon product page [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O8NVPBI/] for the power strip.

Werkstatt LFO to Subharmonicon

Redditor "Piper-Bob" asked for ideas on how to pair a Werkstatt with a Subharmonicon [https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/jmdd57/need_werkstatt_dfam_or_subharmonicon_patch_ideas/] .  One of the reasons I got a Werkstatt was because it had an LFO CV out that I could use with

Coyote, Seymour Center trail

Encountered a coyote on the trail during my run this morning. He seemed kind of upset, so I stopped and let him vent.  Eventually, he ran off into the brush and continued to let me know how he felt.