Paul ⁽³³⁶⁾

In Ancient Greece, Socrates had a great reputation of wisdom. One day, someone came to find the great philosopher and said to him: "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?" A moment, replied Socrates. "Before you tell me, I would like to test you the three sieves." "The three sieves?" "Yes," continued Socrates. "Before telling anything about the others, it's good to take the time to filter what you mean. I call…

What? A new toy for the theremin? Why is that? When I made the “Bridge over troubled water” recording, I noticed that there were a few sounds and effects I wanted to add that weren’t there. The synth-box by E-Harmonix wasn’t up to the task so I asked around and I found this. The Zoom A1 Four. It’s nifty! Someone suggested an alternative, the Korg Pandora Stomp box, but that wasn’t available anywhere. Okay, except…

I had to do it. It took a long time before I got it right, then I had to work hard on getting the OpenTheremin to cooperate, but it happened in the end. It's not perfect, but I'm satisfied with this first attempt to do a mix with 2 different theremins. For this video I used my Moog Etherwave Standard, and the OpenTheremin v4. I also used the karaoke track for the music as found…

A little while ago I bought another theremin. This time an OpenTheremin V4. What is an OpenTheremin? It's a very simple, no frills, yet quite versatile little (and affordable) theremin that you can either put together yourself, or (as I did) buy the Deluxe version that comes pre-assembled. You can find more info on the OpenTheremin at GaudiShop. Playing the OpenTheremin is world apart from the Etherwave, but once you figure it out (and you…

I listen to the podcast "Naked Security" from Sophos.com. Today they had a(nother) great reason to start using a password manager. These are programs to manage your passwords. Yes, duh. But they do that in a clever way. They generate big, complex passwords that you can't remember, like 3jGrkVvaVNJ$Kv*JRCZsg (note, you will be quizzed on this one later on haha). You just remember 1 main password to unlock the password manager (and optionally use a…

Yes, I think more people (okay, all people) should become vegans. If, for some reason, "you can't" be vegan, at least eat fewer animals to start with, to lessen the suffering. That being said, let's try the start of a story about aliens. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Brugorians. Not that this is already clear in these few words… Chapter 1. John pushed his plate away. That T-bone steak had been too much, he'd…

Big companies perhaps, Apple and Amazon. But not world wide. If you buy a gift card from either of those companies, beware. Make sure you go to the webstore of the country of that company in which the recipient lives and/or wants to spend that gift card, or things are screwy. I had this with a gift card I bought for my girlfriend. From apple. For apple TV. Note that I know little to nothing…

Yes, I'm still using the theremin, just about daily. I'm adding features. I bought an Electro-Harmonix synthesizer machine and I ordered a Roland BOSS RC-30 looping station. Today I discovered that less is more. In the video above I had the synth sound prevail in most cases. Toning that down, making the theremin the 'lead sound' was a much better approach. Live and learn. I don't have the machine here yet, that will take a…

I found this little gem and just had to post it here.

Being colour blind (or colour challenged as some people prefer to call it) has its benefits. It also has some drawbacks. I have a little bag in my car that sucks up moisture, and the instructions say: When the blue dot turns pink, put the bag in the microwave for 6 minutes. Yes. Great. Blue. Pink. What? Apparently there is light blue and pink in the image up here. Ehm. Right. Beats me, and praise…