Next job is creating an impulse response (IR) for the the Collings acoustic guitar which I plan to use at Saturday’s show in the village hall. Using IRs and some EQ etc in the Quad Cortex is a game changer, getting rid of the piezo ‘quack’ and unnatural tone of acosutic pickups. Very pleased.
I spend some time trying to find a pedalboard and soft case/bag for the Quad Cortex, guitar wireless receiver and power supply. Most stuff is way too big for what I need, but I find one from Pedaltrain (the ‘Metro’) that looks good…but the internal depth of the bag appears to be too shallow. I’l drop into GuitarGuitar when I’m in Glasgow on. Wednesday and see if I can check one out in real life!
It may be that I look for a good laptop bag of the right dimensions and source a pedalboard separately.
Then it’s time for another Zoom guitar session which is followed by the Wildcats’ livestream. All goes well and the work I put into sorting out the livestream sound the other day pays off 🙂
DAVID B comes round mid-morning to pick up my old Fractal AX8…sad to see it go as it did everything I needed it to, and did it very well, but it’s just too heavy and cumbersome for our new ‘travel light’ strategy.
I hang out in the studio and do some more tweaking with the new Quad Cortex and spend some time creating impulse responses (IRs) of the raw acoustic sounds of my National guitars. The IRs, when loaded into the Quad Cortex, should make the acoustic pickups sound more natural.
Quite a step learning curve making the IRs then I rub into errors when trying to upload them to the Cortex cloud for installation. I email Neural systems support.
In the afternoon I do some more work on my preset patches and getting familiar with the Quad Cortex interface then get some editing done on the Finland video footage.
A livestream version of Loch Lomond Home (acoustic) – released today on all platforms. Watch the livestream here.
LOCH Lomond Home (acoustic) is released today on all streaming/download platforms so my first job – while sitting in bed drinking coffee – is to spread the word. This is a kinda below the line release so I’m not making too big a thing of it…still need to let folks know tho’!
I should really be editing the Finland video blog but I wanna mess with the new Quad Cortex. I spend some time building patches for my main instruments then remember I need to get in touch with the guy who made my previous power supplies for my guitar effects case…the Quad Cortex has different power requirements and connections and I wanna be able to plug both that and my wireless receiver into the mains with just one kettle lead.
My livestream sound has been pretty poor for a good while now and I have no excuse….I have all the gear I need, just no time to really delve in and sort things out. I spend the afternoon doing just that and will put it to the test later when I do a livestream of Loch looming Home (acoustic).
Meantime, I ball up the pizza dough for tonight then get out for a walk up the lochside.
Back in the kitchen I sort some caramelised onions and all the topping sets for tonight’s pizzas then nip back to the studio to do the livestream. I think the sound works pretty good now..maybe needs a few more minor tweaks. See it here.
Betty arrives and I get the Ooni fired up – soon we’re eating pizza and chatting round the table.
B-stock? Looks and feels brand new to me! The Quad Cortex has landed!
THERE’S a custom leather keyfob to be finished and some online stuff to do before my regular Thursday morning guitar student arrives.
Once she’s done, I hit the studio and get a little more work done before it’s time to head to the school in Balloch.
The session with the kids there goes well then I stop on the way home to pick up some shopping and get a long overdue haircut.
When I get home the Quad Cortex I ordered yesterday from Anderton’s has arrived. I unbox and check it out. It was sold as ‘b-stock’ which is effectively a ‘return’ but it’s still fully packaged and looks untouched to me. bargain!
I need to get some editing done on the Finland trip video before I constant messing around with ‘my new toy’ as Margaret likes to call it…she loves teasing me like that as I don’t regard a work too as a ‘toy’. Just one of these phrases terms that irks me…a little like the current trend to use the work ‘mate’. When I was growing up ‘mate’ tended to be used as an aggressive form of address as in “…see you mate – I’m gonna kick your head in..” which, I suspect, is why it still wrankles with me even though it’s rarely, if ever, used like that these days. Anyway…
Eventually I get a wee while to work with the Quad Cortex and check it out. First impressions are good 🙂
Back in the house I start the veg pasta for dinner. For such a seemingly basic dish it’s actually one of the most complicated and involved things I make…especially when I’m halfway through and remember that I need to finish making the pizza dough for tomorrow!
NOT quite sure why, but I sleep in and it’s after 9.30am when I wake up…was in. bed early last night and haven’t had any alcohol for a fortnight.
Anyway, we have breakfast then I clean up the studio – a pal’s coming in a wee while to try out my Fractal AX8 pedalboard. I wanna give him first dibs on it before I put it online. Although it’s a great piece of kit that’s served – and still does – me well, it’s bigger and heavier than I’d like. There’s newer, smaller and lighter options available now…but they’re expensive. Especially the Neural Quad Cortex I have my eye on.
My buddy wants the AX8…so I’m able to look for a Quad Cortex online and not only fined them in stock at Anderton’s, they have a b-stock model available at a saving of £320! That, along with my sale and interest free credit makes it possible…so it’s an order.
After lunch one of my ‘in-person’ guitar students arrives for his lesson then I help Margaret with the documents and stuff for our travel insurance claim before hitting the studio to catch up on some work.
I’m kinda puggled today for some reason and instead of going for a walk before dinner I have a nap on the couch. Jeez! Need to get my act together!
UP EARLY to get some work done before I head out on the loch to meet Fiona and David for a paddle.
I’m home in time for lunch then it’s into the studio. There’s a some video from the Finland trip that needs sorted – filmed in slo-mo by accident but, thankfully, audio files recorded separately at normal speed. Just retiming the video clips to match the length of the audio files works to a certain extent, but the sync is still out.
I zoom in and retime the video by a number of frames and, hey presto! It works 🙂
Betty pops in for a coffee and asks me about a custom leather key fob she’d like as a gift for someone…I have a coffee then go and design the key fob.
In the kitchen I prepare a couple of chicken breasts to go into the Instant Pot and cook sous vide while we head out to a local community trust meeting.
We’re home by 9pm, the chickens ready and I make a pepper sauce, broccoli and mash to go with it.
THERE’S two back-to-back sessions with Zoom guitar students first thing.
Then it’s straight into another Zoom meeting – with the Musicians’ Union live performance committee – which takes me up to lunchtime.
I spend the afternoon working on some prototype ideas for West Highland Way Gifts’ stuff and sort something out for Betty which I subsequently drop off when I go for a quick walk.
There’s a little prep for tonight’s livestream into my Wildcats’ Facebook group then another Zoom session with a guitar student.
DESPITE an early might last night – and no alcohol – it’s nearly 11am when I wake up. Buddy hell!
Then we have a last morning drinking coffee and dealing with emails and socials…then breakfast.
Martyn and Oran pop up for a coffee and we sit and chat in the garden. The sun’s shining and it’s a lovely day.
There’s a few things to do for upcoming gigs – contracts, info to be collated and stuff…and the festival I’m playing in Romania later in the year has asked for a wee promo video,
Once all that’s done I go back to the house for a nap in front of the fire and then get some materials ordered for West Highland Way Gifts…as well as another batch of business cards.
I get busy making carnitas for dinner…then we start planning the coming week 🙂
Great to get back on the water for a wee paddle…I’ve missed this (…and pizza!)
THE alarm goes off at 7am and I’m up and out to get the paddleboard inflated.
While the air’s going in I varnish a load of fridge magnets for the shop so they’ll be ready for packing later this morning,
It’s pretty calm morning and the sun’s shining. I don’t wanna push things too hard as I’m not quite 100% yet so I head up towards Milarrochy. Along the way I record an a-capella version of (Looks like you’re) Walkin’ on Water for a laugh. Normally I daren’t even try singing without a guitar/instrument, but this was just pure fun…it’s on my TikTok – see (and laugh at me) here!
Back home I have breakfast and get all the fridge magnets packed and down to the village shop before head off.
It’s sister-in-law Les’s birthday today and I’m taking Margaret and Catriona through to Edinburgh where they’re meeting for lunch and going to a gin tasting.
After dropping them off I grab something to eat then make may way to the Scottish Arts Club for a meeting about a future show there.
I go and pick up the others and we all stop off for a drink – coffee for me – the drop Les off and head for home, dropping Catriona along the way.
We have a relaxed evening – my meds have finished, but I’m gonna try and stay off alcohol for a bit – ten days since my last drink and, believe it or not, Im not really missing it and feel some benefits already!
