When we last left Transbian Studio, the studio monitors had come in, but the studio’s been dark for almost half a year. That changed this week, and Transbian Studio is back with some great news.
Houston, we had a problem.
Not long after the studio monitors arrived, I learned there were some issues with how my laptop was funded. While there was nothing illegal, some details were overlooked. As a result, I had to surrender my System76 Darter Pro laptop. I’ve been assured it will be replaced, although not with the same class of machine.
As a result, I have to admit that I haven’t worked on my music much lately. It’s hard to keep motivated to work on music when you don’t know when you can start laying down tracks for original songs again. Especially when you don’t plan on performing the songs live.
We’re back!
I had packed away the speakers and interface for the studio to prevent them from sitting unused on my desk. However, I realized that keeping them on my desk would serve as a better motivation to work on my songs. It turns out I was correct.
Last year, I started creating tracks using the Hydrogen drum machine and the Rosegarden digital audio workstation (DAW). After getting my new laptop, I decided to start fresh with the Ardour DAW. One important step was to connect my Carry-On Folding Piano 49 so that I could play the drum tracks on it. I wanted to use MIDI to trigger a sampled drum kit instead of programming the tracks with a mouse. This required learning some new configuration techniques.
Yesterday, I created a new project in Ardour and set up a MIDI track using the DrumGizmo Crocell drum kit. It took me some time to get everything configured, but I successfully recorded a drum track using my piano. I successfully created a 15-bar sequence using kick, hi-hat, and snare sounds. I need to tighten up a few parts and correct some wrong notes, but overall, it’s a decent first attempt at creating a MIDI drum track with a keyboard.
Say hello to my little friend.
I would like to introduce version 2 of Transbian Studio. While it’s not a fast system, and I’m uncertain how it will handle playing multiple MIDI tracks simultaneously, along with guitar and vocal tracks, it feels wonderful to be able to create music again. Even though the process is slower than a giant tortoise, I’m hopeful that I might have some shareable mixes ready by the time I qualify for Medicare in about three months.
Please excuse the cluttered desk. It’s my main work area, so there’s a mix of almost everything on it. As Albert Einstein supposedly said, a cluttered desk is a clear sign of a [supposedly] brilliant mind.
Since Jack left, I joined Bluesky and have already found several people I knew from the bird site before it turned into a right-wing nightmare. There are also a lot of Second Life folks over there. LGBTQ+ individuals are warmly welcomed on Bluesky, which is one of the best aspects of the platform. If you truly care about the people affected by the wildfires in the LA area, you’ll discover that there are others who share that concern. This includes those who oppose the idea that federal aid, if it is provided, should be contingent on the state agreeing to the GOP’s harmful policies.