Living Room Aquatica

La muñeca took some shots of the tank.
Long time readers will remember this was a gift from her at the end of 2009.
I did the transfer from the dead old tank in early 2010, so that puts this setup at about a year and a half old.

One or two tragedies along the way, but mostly, it's thriving.
Got some new coral (as of yet, unidentified species...anyone?).
It's bright yellow. "Highlighter coral" for now.

Click on the shots for high-res versions.

Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Shrump):


As it would in the ocean, Shrump sets up cleaning stations for fish to come by and rid themselves of parasites.
Shrump likes to clean your finger too. Seriously, just drop it in there. Instincts are powerful.


Yellow Watchmen Goby (Spot):


Spot is usually more of a perching fish, but ventures out sometimes.
Swim? Meh, this rock is comfy...
Retreating to the man cave is my move too.


Firefish Goby (Flash):


Flash is fast and hard to capture on film without blur.
He has very nice colors though...and it would appear, a gut.

Analog Slob

Some new studio additions and swap outs over here in slobland.
Most noteworthy:
Moog (pronounced like "rogue", not like, um, "boob") Little Phatty Analog Synthesizer.

It's a monophonic synth (only outputs one note at a time), but that's okay because it is awesome.
Not awesome like that bird pooped on the car next to you and missed your recently washed car...
We're talking awesome like the cool side of the pillow in summer, glowing red tide sand, lover giving you a hug when you had a bad day, Los Altos Taqueria burrito (!) kind of awesome.
What's not awesome is that I'm not really a keyboard player...so, there's that.
But I pretend, kind of.



All parts (yes, even the drums) were made with the little phatty synth.
For percussion, I spent some time programming some white noise and filter envelopes (harhar|snort|har) for the high hat and snare sounds and some deep sine tones for the bass kick.
Then I assigned each of these samples to specific keys and BOOSH, I can tap out a drum beat.

The bass and high lead sounds were presets on the synth, I only changed the modulation slightly.
So again, I've posted some unfinished, unmixed, unmastered tracks.
But I learned some things. Progress is fun.



Netflix stream picks:
"Moog" - Awesome documentary on Robert Moog (founder of the synthesizer).
"Arrested Development" - So. Good.
"Example Short" - Just search for "example" and stream one of them. That's where I work, in Los Gatos. That guy moonwalking? Oh, yeah, he was a hired professional.