My New Toy

I'm very excited about getting my life back (I've finally passed my last anaesthetics exam!) and have received this rather super new gadget for music making! This has more of a performance edge than most, so should hopefully herald some interesting new experiments in live music!

The Novation Launchpad, for Ableton Live.

OP-1 The Future is Coming

Having, as I do, an interest in electronic music, I'm incredibly excited at the new OP-1 from Teenage Engineering. This funky little gizmo is well away from release yet, but looks to be a hardware controller for your music software on your PC, as well as having built in synth and sequencer capacity. I WANT ONE!!

Sadly, they're a long way off from release yet!

Here's a pic anyway...

Geocaching

Lorna and I have discovered a great new hobby called Geocaching. Basically you look at the website http://www.geocaching.com/ and get some co-ordinates for a cache, which you then plug into your GPS (or Nokia N95) and start wandering!

The caches are usually a tuppaware, hidden very carefully in the countryside some where. They contain a logbook so you can prove you found it, and various other little prizes which can be traded for something you want to leave. I imagine kids would love it, and its great fun for adult kids too! It also takes you to places you never would have thought to go, and there's usually plenty of scope for good photos in many of the locations.

Another way to get out and about and enjoy creation!

The Telectroscope

I can't quite believe this is true but apparently, a tunnel has been built from London to New York, so that, using optical devices, you can see from one end to the other. I thought this may be an April fool joke at first, but it's May, so that's unlikely! Interesting website here

ADDENDUM

Turns out nights must have affected my brain! The Telegraph puts a more likely theory, being that the "tunnel" is actually a broadband connection between London and New York. Sad in a way - all the mystery is now gone!

Music production gadgets

Argh! I'm being persued by musical gadgetry! The Create Digital Music blog has been tempting me with pricey technical wizardry!

The bizarrely named Tenori-On is a Japanese invention (who else) which seems to be trying to create a completely new way of making music. It's extremely exciting (and also quite expensive), particularly as a live instrument. Originally created by a Japanese visual artist called Toshio Iwai in conjunction with Yamaha, as well as being able to be used as a sampler/sequencer and performance instrument, it also has brilliant flashing lights! Check out the Youtubes below for demonstrations of the Tenori On.

The other musical gadget that's got me excited is the Pacemaker portable DJ machine thing. It stores your MP3s, plays them, and allows you to do all the things a DJ would traditionally do with decks - beatmatching, crossfading, adding effects, pitch shifting. Again, it's not cheap (although compared to decks+mixer it's pretty good value), and here are some Youtube vids of it in action...

More musical robot craziness with the Thingmagoop

There are more musical robots in action here at Beep Labs - the Thingmagoop is more like a traditional synthesizer in robot clothing, but still looks like it's trying to take over the world (in a friendly fashion of course!)

Robot beat box

A robot that roams around generating samples of things that it hits and then creating drumbeats out of it? I WANT ONE!!!

New Camera Phone - my lovely wife

New Camera Phone - my lovely wife, originally uploaded by petersandbach.

Another year, another gadget! I've now upgraded my Treo (sob and whimper) to an all singing all dancing Nokia N95. One of the main reasons for this was the opportunity to take more pics - the Nokia has a 5MP camera! I'm still trying to work it all out but seems to have lots of multimedia stuff to play with. I'll continue to let you know how I'm doing!

New Pictures

Happy new year everyone! I hope yours was as enjoyable as mine (in a pub in Donegal, Ireland!). I've tried out the new digital camera and have posted a few landscapes on pixmania.co.uk's site, so please check them out and let me know what you think...

Ireland

Around Essex

Just click on "Diaporama" for a slide show.

New Treo

For those of you are familiar with my obsession wth my Palm Treo smartphone, you'll be relieved and delighted (I'm sure) that there are several new Treo models on the market. The Treo 680 is a straight upgrade of the 650 (my current phone) as far as I can tell. The best thing about it - no aerial! Hallelujah indeed my friends. The Treo750v is a Windows based phone which to my eye looks pretty much the same as the 680. For any of you who may like to find out more check out the links below...

Palm's official website: Treo 680, Treo 750v

Treo 680 review and Treo 750v review

Digital Camera

As part of my gadget portfolio, I feel compelled to share with you my latest purchase (an early Christmas pressie). I am awaiting in barely contained excitement the delivery of a new digital camera, what the magazines define as a "superzoom" or "prosumer camera", the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 (snappy title I know).

Hopefully I'll be able to take some nice pictures once I've worked out how to use the camera, so watch this space for arty landscapes and the like!

My Treo, and the value of rest.

Thanks for the support Dusty - I don't know whether I'm doing a great job on keeping my eyes on God - I think I probably oversold myself - I get the impression God does most of the work!

I made the mistake of leaving my Treo at home today. For those uninitiated into the world of gadgets, a Treo is no ordinary mobile phone. It is also a diary, e-mail machine, calendar, internet machine, and PC in the palm of your hand! It tells me where I should be, when I should be there, how to get there. I have medical text books, two Bible versions, games, MP3s on it. It even runs my bath (OK that's not strictly true). It is truly a wonder.

Perhaps it did me good to survive without it!

I wonder what I would do if I lost everything in a national disaster? The terrible events of Pakistan and East Asian tsunami certainly concentrate the mind. Would the more simple life enable me to become at one with nature, enjoying time to ponder, pontificate and philosophize, or would I go mad without "stuff" to entertain me? I suspect surviving may become my primary goal in that circumstance.

I read an article a while back (I think in the Times Magazine) which asked whether our children are too entertained. From 5 years (soon to be less if Tony Blair has his way) they prepare for exams at school. They then come home and are whisked off to their ballet/football/music/drama/French lessons, fed dinner, bathed and put to bed! There is no time for kids to get bored. You may think that's a good thing, but if we constantly spoon feed activities to children, when do they learn to rest? When do they learn how to make a castle/underground lair out of a sheet and 2 chairs? When do their imaginations and creativity develop? Will we develop a generation who are unable to concieve new thoughts or think laterally. Perhaps that generation is here already - 24 hour TV, internet, groceries, cinemas, clubs and pubs are all available should we want them.

I suspect that if God can create the whole world in 6 days and then have a day off (Gen 2:2), we can rest assured it will not fall apart if we follow His example and rest too. Maybe I'll try that this Sunday - I wonder how long my rest will last...