Sunday, March 31, 2013

Nine Images from Costa Rica

This winter, we went to Costa Rica to attend the wedding of Pau and Travis Johns.  Thinking I would get some good pictures, I put a new, 32 megabyte card into my camera.  Severiano informed me, at the hotel, that this card was new for about ten years ago, and that it would only hold less than ten pictures total!  Meeting the challenge, I chose to delete pictures often, and mentally caption each one that was saved.  Here are my results, first from Don Carlos.

 Don Carlos hotel in San Juan is a synthesis of jungle and castille.  The natives, symbolized by mushroom masks, have moved into the lobby.
 Here is gentle patron Don Carlos, in the green fluorescent light of the tourist office.
The wrought iron of old spain hangs above a mayan native who is either trepanned or shot in the head.

 I'm telling your son to drink wine.

 Animation by smudge mark: trees on pencil drawing of melting house, Don Carlos, San Juan.

With the newly weds and also Jean Luc's daughter.

 With fashionista's Leif Shack and Erika California

A "basilisk" in the rainforest lodge Selva Verde

A baby with flower, volcano lodge cool pool, Silencio del Campo

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Having a figure, having eyes

As I glanced into my workroom this morning, i noticed that the windowsill was pleasant.  It usually is cluttered and unpleasant, so i wondered why it now looks pleasant.  It is because there is a figure there, lending the clutter an air of artistic freedom, and suggesting that graceful humanity can transcend chaos.




Look at this picture.  The wall mount piece has eyes on it, in the dark leather background there are the bullet holes when the deer was slain, and these two bullets became eyes.  And also, the led holes are in pairs, so there are eyes.  Something about the anthropomorphism makes these devices and trinkets "pleasant".

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Just Baked


Just Baked: Tetrax Organ
Sounds exactly like the famous "Tetrazzi":
four operators, with two timbre controls
and two chaos controls too.

The new features here are, of course,
the more compact design, but also
some important philosophicals:
the olde scroll buttons r eliminated;
now individual pitches are controlled
precisely with 60mm slide pots.

Another new mod that was heralded by
many users requests, is the "graynput bananas".
These modulate the master parameters
which are also set by the gray knobs.

The banana patch matrix is now
on the face of the instrument. 
it is optional to be made as touchnodes
but here's a quick trick:
why not strip banana jacks bare
and insert them into select colors,
to create the same sort of
touchable/circuitbendable phenomenon.
BTW, that is why the pattern of colors
is quilted: to expose maximum chaos
when touched circuit bendingwise.

Here's how the batteries work:
They are builtin, and rechargeable.
When you plug in to the wall 
with a 2.1mm 12 volt DC adapter,
they charge up!  With the batteries,
you can always "wing it" on stage,
or if you work in the woods.
You may order sans batteries.

There is a unique, two part power design that 
makes the final signal very clean,
like abstract triangles in space.
To hear the "tetrazzi sound",
participate in the youtube videos
by typing the following into your browser:

Note that the tetrax you order,
it will look like the one with the rice pudding.
Not looking like the ones on youtube.
Wood selection may vary.
Ordering: