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20230317

220 artworkers are trying to convince the Finnish National Gallery to choose fairtrade bananas over the alternatives. The organisation refuses to believe that fairtrade bananas exist.

I’ve been making side dish electronic maintenance projects to keep myself working on texts. Finally committed a modification to my Befaco Rampage, which outputs A/B froze (or got stuck rather) when they sent voltages to passive LPGs and Epochmodular Twinpeak. The freezing issue was present in other modules too over the years.  I changed R125 and R123 to 20K (default 1k). In the new configuration the outputs produce 9.4v out. I got in contact with Befaco and was recommended to do “a latest version mod” by removing R90, R89, C23 and C24, and to make bridge in the place of the 2 capacitors. The PCB is version 1.3.2. This arrangement produces 9.44v output and works with Epochmodular Twinpeak but not with a passive LPG. I’m trying to figure out which modification is better over all. There is also an option to change R52 to 43k which makes the envelopes of 8v. The LPG behaviour is mentioned in a forum discussion. Also swapped a 3.2uF in place of a 1uF in my Kassutronic ASR.

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20210725

Build a Alex Rice Piezo Preamplifier following Zach Poffs documentation. Seems to work well with my i4 instrument input. I’ll have to build a few shielded piezos to get a better understanding of its quality. The build was relatively easy and I sourced a matched 2N3819 jfet pair locally (should have found a more sensitive couple but went for 11,6 & 11,7 Idss). Also… Should have fitted the 1,5k (R3) resistor I used with a 1-2k trimmer for balancing the transistor bias (the balancing process is detailed in the Cortado preamp documentations). But I’m happy with this as is… Perhaps for the next build.

Fitting a Neutrik NCJ6FIS combojack in a Hammond 1550A case took filing but worked well in the end. Added a belt clip from an old Würth tape measure so that I can keep the unit on me during performances. A neat and small package! I’ll etch some descriptions (using ferric chloric acid!) on its workings to the case before its done. I’m dreaming of building a stereo-pair which could be fitted to the two inputs of my tascam dr40. Found a good resource for all sorts of audio/electronics stuff Elliott Sound Products (the piezo preamp looks promising) maintained by Rod Elliott.

Getting more comfortable with Norns. Digging Cheat Codes and other grids optimized devices using my secondhand launchpad. Also coping with script tweaks by accessing the device over maiden. The forum introduced me to a bizarre programme Argeïphontes Lyre which can (for example) chop up files into desired lengths (working with the Trans-Siberian Railway -Sound Archive recordings using goldeneye).

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20210519

Taiteilijana yhteiskunnassa – Kuution jälkeen, osa 6 [In the Society as an Artist – Post-Cube, part 6] discussing art practices in public spaces, artist-as-gig-workers and labour unions with Maija Kasvinen & Kaino Wennerstrand in a Taike podcast. I confessed that my mother forged recommendation letters for my high-school application.

Assembled a Befaco Instrument Interface i4. Mixed the R16 – 820 Ohm 1% and R115 – 820k 1% resistors. Figuring out the issue behind the problems was difficult (VU meter didn’t work and Envelope Follower didn’t trigger). The tight component placement made the swapping the resistors hard but I made it.

Reading manuals every night. Currently following casual M8 related chats on discord and watching three hour long M8 get-togethers.

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20210109

Learning about my Rampage. The odd behavior of the A & B outs I’ve experienced when using a passive LPGs (and some other modules such as the caliOSC) is typical and well documented. It can be referred as the once the output goes high it will “stick” on until I unpatch -issue. Similar and even odder behavior occurs in the falling & rising outputs. Which can however be fixed by adding a 1Mohm pull down resistors to the gate outputs.

Sloth Chaos by Nonlinearcircuits might be a good match for use with diy capacitors.

Successful connected our flat and my shelter-studio using an intercom made from a pair of ~50 year old Ericsson Dialog phones. Dug a discreet 50m trench for a 4 pole telephone-wire. Made first calls and everything works. The line powers when I turn on the electricity in the studio. Got the ringer/buzzer in the other end working by using the “ground” wire to supply voltages to a buzzer (controlled with a button). Landlines are back!

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20200707

My gig at the Malmi cemetery has ended. I got an opportunity to leave the job thanks to a Art Promotion Center covid grant. The grant enables me to complete a writing job on Performance Pedagogy, start developing the Horse & Performance course for TEAK and prepare mineral water performances for the fall (which is going to be hella busy). I got the grant for making an interesting critique of the response creative culture in Finland had on the pandemic.

I miss the work a bit, it felt honest and the crew was fun. It was exhausting to work outdoors in +30C° weather / rain and doing artsy stuff as a sidejob took its toll on family life. The pay was pretty low too, so the grant feels like winning the lottery. I’ve slept and wept for two days. Artists in Finland often complain that government artists grants are too low. Sure, they are but considering the hours and physical exhaustion of the gardening job I’d take the grant life for life.

I completed two electronics kits over the last weekends. I assembled a Dannysound Cali (California) oscillator, which is a replica of the Buchla Model 258. Wavefolding is inspiring: Instead of removing content to develop a sound, an aspect of it gets exaggerated. The unit allows wavefolding to be used to cut the volume, which works for neat lowpass filter type effects. Last weekend I assembled a Befaco Rampage, which is an “approach to an old invention: the Serge/Buchla ramp generator”. It processes sound, triggers and gates to spurt out an array of control voltages. It feels like an intelligence of sorts. I can use it as an envelope follower (Planning to process sparkling water. Edit: My preamps are not strong enough!). My current Waterlab eurorack system runs on a USB power bank.