steppenwolf

This ☝️ - I don’t doubt the observations but to ascribe them to mysterious energy and equally (not mathematically!) mysterious matter doesn’t sit well with me - you will be relieved to learn that I have absolutely no alternative suggestion for what we see but I do like Thing A and Thing B a lot because that leaves things open to one of those two being that we have misunderstood how the Universe works 😂

Look like fudges to me too but then I’m just an ex-printer with a fancy camera 😂😂

🤣🤣🤣

Drag-racing, haven't been to Santa Pod for years - it used to be a regular 'Father and Sons' weekend and we loved it, the camping, the camaraderie, the barbecues, the music, the ease of access to the pits and the 'willing to talk' mechanics! Oh yes, and the loos, OMG, the loos ........ 😲🤣

It's always a fascinating discussion and there is no correct answer/method as it is all a matter of personal choice! Time was when all I wanted to do was connect my computer to everything, my amateur radio gear, my telephone (remember CompuServe?), my camera, my homebuilt sports car, my telescope and so on but when I got the electronic music bug, I really wanted to distance myself from the PC and get down to some serious 'old school' analogue knob twiddling like they used to do in the 60s and 70s! I do use my PC as part of my workflow but only for recording the output from my synths after I have mixed them down into four channels on my Mackie mixer(s). I use four channels (two stereo pairs) so that I can choose which instruments will be recorded raw and which ones will have a touch of reverb added to them by my software reverb plugin (Valhalla Shimmer mainly although I do have several others). All of that said, a good friend of mine uses a system similar to yours whereby everything is done on his PC using BitWig and Arturia V and his musical creations are magical, it's just not for me, I want real 'hands-on'!

Trust me, when I am playing my keyboards, NOTHING is disrespectful but the sounds can be excruciating 🤣🤣

Sadly, I lack two very important ingredients there - talent and a gold cape🤣

Funnily enough, I don’t have any Korg equipment although I do like the brand and was so tempted by their ARP 2600 clone but at the time, I just couldn’t justify the premium price! Other equipment there includes, underneath the Theremin, a Nektar Panorama P6 keyboard (that I absolutely guarantee you will be able to play several times better than me!!), above the Moog Subsequent 37 on the left of the main desk is a Roland AP300 keyboard, to its right are two Mackie analogue mixers that between them allow me to mix down a total of 20 channels, below them is my Presonus 6 channel audio interface for my DAW (Presonus Studio One) and below that is a Roland TR-8S drum machine. To the TR-8S’ right is an Arturia Mini keyboard that I use to drive my modular gear via direct voltage control. Underneath the Behringer ARP 2600 clone is my Doepfer Dark Time analogue sequencer that I have modified to be more Eurorack compatible BUT nothing KORG!

Yup, certainly do, both under the benches and on the modules although in fairness, the modules *should* look like that! 🤣 🤣

Although a lot of my equipment is genuine Moog, it is all current, not from the early 55/35/10 series. The vertical stack on the right has four Moog synths, the lower keyboard on the left is a Moog synth and the white object in the foreground is a Moog Theremin. The ‘vintage’ cabinet has three rows of AJH MiniMod modules - the top row is a modular recreation of a very early MiniMoog, the second and third rows are also by AJH and contain various LFOs, envelope generators and other utility modules that move the MiniMoog section closer to an original series 55/35/10 system. The synth on the far right is a clone of the ARP 2600.

@Mandy D I really hope you break this Covid cycle once and for all - it sounds like it is wreaking havoc on your life ☹️

You make a very good point, Olly and one that does come up from time to time - I have said on more than one occasion that we shouldn’t feel guilty if we don’t image on EVERY clear night!! Of course we want to hear you sing, Olly 😂😂

It is quite amazing just how many people with an interest in astronomy also have a passion for creating music in one form or another. That is such a neat installation - sadly, because I am into old school analogue modular, my studio is a little bit more sprawling 😱

I’m sorry to hear this, Steve - how very frustrating for you. How cool would it be if we could afford to move somewhere with no neighbours and no nearby towns? 😂

Congratulations on your plans to remarry - I wish you all the luck in the World. As you rightly say, there are indeed other options to consider. I have carefully considered several options including installing a remote installation from a commercial site abroad or renting time on a shared system but this really isn’t for me as much of the pleasure I have enjoyed has been from the ‘hands on’ aspect of my installation, despite it being operated ‘remotely’ from my own garden! I have also considered a portable rig and visiting dark sites but this simply wouldn’t fit in with my current family life which is why I went down the locally ‘remote’, automated route in the first place. So, much as I appreciate the suggestions and I really do appreciate them, I know that for me, they would not work out. I am very fortunate in that I have other interests outside astronomy that can be enjoyed at any time and one in particular (electronic music production from my home recording studio 🙄 😱) will now benefit from the extra time that I have available so I will not be vegetating and I will still be keeping my astronomy hand in, albeit on a more academic level than before.