technobreath

I love viritual synths :). And it is like hawk says, in the end it is all software. I also love real analog synths, but there are limitations to those also. I think that this has a lot to do with that one accepts that digital sounds this way and analog sounds that way. None of them need to be bad, and both can be bad. Goes for viritual stuff also. I don't fancy button/key-less concerts / gigs myself. If I play a vst instrument on a gig (I mostly do that in one way or another) I need to have some knobs to control it with. It would be too much work to use mouse / keyboard for everything - and a mouse / keyboard isn't a very intuitive musical controller either. Viritual instruments has also played a huge part in opening up the world of pro music to amateurs all around, and that is a very good thing. If u look at the big picture, not many can afford the all-hardware route, and almost none is capable of building their own. So in the end, I think the easy availability and cheapness of viritual instruments is a very good thing. I think that everyone should accept that there is different ways of making music, and in the end, all of those ways are valuable for the musician and their respective audiences, even the glorified DJ sessions :). And when people say "couldn't you just model that?" or similar, the proper answer should be that emulation may be right for you, and that is cool, but I need the real thing to do my thing as a musician. Just a thought, yeah...? In the end, viritual stuff can sound really really good. And to be blunt :) I understand that viritual instrument guys put the claws out if they get it in the face that their stuff which they use and love, isn't good enough, because of some inferior flaws that doesn't mean anything to them (it doesn't mean that they don't know about it, they just don't think it's important to get rid of). Same goes for the other way around :). That was just my thoughts :). BTW. I foresee that when the iHype is gone, hehe, there arise a new holy war :P.

Mmmmmmm. central heating system :D

Yo flo, and u others reading. No good luck, I'm with you there... If we only depend on luck, there will be no such thing as a better life when it comes to health at least. Here's what I think, I have been doing this big-wave for many many many years now. At least 10 years of shit. I haven't sat down and thought very much about it, but at LEAST 10-15 years. 1/2 of my life. And I have been making a lot of habbits to make sure I sustain that lifestyle. One of those habbits were, as you yourself point out with yourself - go eat out (gas stations are the most easily available junkfood places around here) a sausage, hamburger, 1/2 meter with white baguette filled with all kinds of funky fatty stuff etc etc.. And I am also good at cooking, but over the years I lost a whole bunch of creativity on that area, wich is sad. So here's what I have found totally revolutionizing my life. Unlike anything I have tried before. http://www.beckdietsolution.com/ (not that I have tried too hard and many times - most of the time I have just been giving in..) I have been very lucky as I am getting an expensive 6 months thing paid by our company. This involves coaching sessions based on that program. Personal trainer for 30 minutes a week, and I also train myself without personal trainer (wich is expeeeeeeeeeeeensive). I get to do this mostly in work-hours with pay. So basically all this cost about a month's salary, and I'm getting it all for free. (now flemming will come here and tease me about working for my dad, and that's fair to mention :) hehe, but it has nothing to do with this, as he has always taken care of his employees wether it's family or not - just needed to be said :P) The program is different, since it's all based on really preparing yourself for, and making a change in your thoughts. Most of the diet'ers out there see the need for doing something. And they go on a diet. One way or another it almost 100% of the time falls through. One gives up, etc etc. One feel that when on the diet you are missing out on something that you should really be able to have. One of the problems for most of the big people, is that the habbits they have been practicing for years stops them from thinking like a normal weight person. About every single corner of the act of putting something etible in ones mouth is altered and twisted in the mind. And that has been going on for years in most cases. What I've learnt through my encounters with cognitive therapy - this program is based on that - (I have been doing some of that over the years - experiences that I wouldn't really want anyone to share, but experience I would never want to be without - u get me?) is that to correct a mindset that is practiced over years takes a long time. It's not something that can be rushed - it's your mind u work with, it's not a machine. What I'm saying is, that if you want to loose weight there are two ways of doing it. First one is going on with diets, training etc etc and feel that you miss out. The second one is to alter your whole mindset and learn to think like normal persons, learn to interact with food / snacks / cakes etc like normal persons. And thus having a MUCH better chance of keeping it that way. I now eat relativly normal, spend almost no money on food out - if you see my calculations in an earlier post, I am without problem doing better than the budget, I am drinking no soda /softdrinks without it being a special occation like birthday party or similar - and never more than a couple of glasses. I could go on and on. But the point is that I have learnt how to deal with my mind much more than dealing with my weight - and the MAIN point is really that if u want it to last - that is truly the only way to do it - deal with the mind first, and then the weightloss comes automatically as a consequence of that - and since it's more or less a result of your new (for real) lifestyle including new mindset/habbits, it will become a lot easier to keep yourself there in the future. Most "loosers" go down and up and down and up all the time for years. What I really has been searching for is a way to break that bad circle. And I think I really got that now. I have again started to cook a lot myself, to my wife's joy also :P. I have saved a LOT of money, and as you say flo - just by starting working out - feel a lot better. a LOT better! Swimming is very cool workout - and very good on the body too when it comes to getting hurt. There is no real danger for that when in the water. I'm not swimming a lot, but it's mostly because I do other stuff :P. I have a bad back, and some funky stuff with the knees (they squeek a lot when bending but no pain yet) so I focus a lot on workout for those big muscle groups - legs and back. I also workout the rest of the body, but let's face it - I already have a 6 pack in there - no kidding - and that's where I have my 120% over normal muscle mass. The coach said to me that that kind of mass in those areas are veery hard to achieve for normal weighted persons. So I focus on the problem areas :). But I want to keep all of that muscle mass when loosing the weight, so working out everything is really important. The amazing thing with this workout stuff I'm doing, is that you do multiple things @ once. Thus getting both aerobic workout and pure muscle workout in one session. I get the heart / lungs work hard @ the same time I plague those muscles. wich is nice, and has even more effect when you're heavy. So luck has nothing to do with it. You need courage to start doing something about it. Before I would've said you need willpower to sustain but! It's not about will power. Because will power will fail you that's a mathematical fact! A change in ones mindset is needed for sustaining it. And if you dare to start doing cognitive therapy to help you with that you are brave :D. If any of you do not know what cognitive therapy is, I can lay it out quickly for you. In earlier times (not that long ago) the most used method for psycological therapy was the psychoanalyzis method. It is basically about searching deep into each corner of your mind and life to find the cause of problems, wether it's depression, anxiety or over-weight etc. This method takes years of therapy, and is many times not successfull at all. Cognitive therapy is a relativly new form of psychological therapy. I think it started in the 90s (not really sure about that). Anyway, it is all about "coaching". Finding the cause of the trouble is not important for getting well. It's waay more important to learn how to tackle the problem, learn that the problem is there, and learn how to control it and control your reactions to it. It takes a lot less time to get a successful result. Still it needs the time it needs. This can't be rushed. It's a maturing process for your mind. And one of the main arguments: Often there is no cause at all. It's just a huge collection of habbits / a twisted mindset that makes you react to stuff the way you do. There might not be a single cause to find. So in many cases a traditional psychoanalysis is chasing a phantom... I have first hand experienced before how lifechanging cognitive therapy can be. I have a story there too, and have told it 100 times, and I'm not doing that again here - ask me once and I'll gladly share. Main point is that I was so down with depression, anxiety, etc that I wouldn't sit here today if I didn't get help. And that went on for years. Since I was a kid almost. And when I first got help it was 90% better within 3 months. Now I have learnt that I have this problem. Real problem isn't that I from time to time get episodes of depression and anxiety - that is something that every single person in this world also suffers from time to time. The real problem is learning how to react to it - learn that what u experience isn't a crisis, it's a normal thing in life, and it WILL pass. But if u dig yourself down, it can become too big fot you etc etc... I'm sure the smart ones of you can understand the point of this, and the rest of you who are just persons, also understand it :P. THIS post became WAY too long. Sorry about that. I just thought I could explain what things I'm up to, and it also say a bit about where I'm at today. And also, few things are as interesting to talk about as the human mind hehe. I have experience(s) that early in life made me interested in this stuff, and as I said. Some of the stuff I've been through, I don't want anyone to have to go through, but if you come out - and most do - in the other end, you / I / whoever does it, is left with a knowledge about life that is so valuable. Anyway, until next time, have fun! TB.

Done, good luck.

Hello. I have the design ready, and more people have asked about this. However, I can't do anything yet, unless I get the ok from seppoman. After all its his hard work I have based my design on, and since I'm not a rude Chinese pirate, I like to show seppo the honor of asking his permission. I have asked him, but I haven't got the answer yet. I know he knows I have asked him, but he is extremely busy atm with non midibox stuff, and I expect him to answer, but when he got time ;-) I will of course let u know how it works out.

Easy to confuse, but its not alps you're after, It's ALBS.de - they have also got most info in English if u prefer. From the site u can send inquires per email. His name is Balthazar smith or something exotic like that ;-)

Hehe. I can't say other than u got my respect for keeping up with that. I have just done 2 DINs 1 DOUT and 1 AIN, and I found it to be horrible "repeat" work :P. But it's nice when done!

Yep, I have been sniffing on modding one of those laminators, but haven't got to that yet. In the meantime I use my wife's clothesiron - she never uses it for clothes anyway :P So it's now a permanent tool @ my workbench :P hehe. But a laminator would be far less work, and faster. PS. I had to read through what I wrote first to check if there was something totally "off" in there, coz I wrote it last night, and I was so tired my eyes crossed... luckily it looks ok :P.

I have been doing some PCB making the last days, and I thought I'd just share a couple things I learnt along the road when it comes to the toner transfer :). 1. Use a paper type that leaves no fibres when separating if from the PCB after laminating. I have used normal paper that u find in every office around the world. Not very good, because it leaves fibres. Instead I have begun using photopaper specially designed for laser printers. Works very good for me. 2. When u have printed out a design - never touch it with fingers. 3. Find the piece of PCB that u want to use. If it is full of oxi, then use a piece of steelwool (soap-less is prefered) for cleaning it off. After it looks all shiny, clean with a strong cleaner - like aceton or other laqcuer thinner. Alcohol may work too - don't know - I always use aceton. If u don't do this, it can cause the design to not stick good enough (or not stick at all) to the PCB. 4. Some say that u should preheat the PCB with the clothes-iron before applying the paper to it. It makes the toner stick to the pcb immediatly - in theory that is :). So judge yourself wether to preheat or not for ur project :). When etching the boards in FeCl like I do, there are a couple of important ones. Always use gloves. Never spill ANY - I really mean it - ANY of the FeCl! It will stain both your fingers and everything else it hits in a signal yellow color that won't wash off at all. On skin, ok - it will wear off eventually - but on kitchen counter - no, on walls or curtains - no... so no spilling antyhere! :).