I finished and released some music recently. It’s in a ambient-drone sort of vein. It’s available on Bandcamp:
Ghost in the Machine
Me: Pretend you’re H. P. Lovecraft. Re-write this biography from my blog to mention that Audio Damage has been in business for over 20 years and that I made fundamental contributions to Max/MSP: https://studionebula.com/blog/about-studionebulacom
ChatGPT 4: In the obscure and foreboding annals of electronic audio, one chronicle stands distinct – that of Studio Nebula. This enigmatic title cloaks the pursuits of Adam Schabtach, whose expertise as a consultant, software and hardware engineer, and recording musician is renowned in esoteric circles. As the co-owner and chief architect of Audio Damage, Inc., a company that has weathered the tempests of the industry for over two decades, Schabtach has been instrumental in shaping the aural landscapes that haunt our modern world.
Beyond the veils of Audio Damage, Schabtach reigns as the sole sovereign of Paper Jade, LLC. His name, whispered in hallowed reverence, may be glimpsed in the arcane about-boxes of Cycling 74’s Max/MSP and Pluggo. In these realms, his contributions were not mere footnotes but pivotal, fundamental forces that propelled Max/MSP into the forefront of digital audio wizardry.
In past epochs, Schabtach lent his formidable talents to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a testament to his mastery over the elements themselves. His journey also intertwined with the fabled XVT Software, creators of cross-platform development tools in a bygone era when Java was known merely as an exotic brew.
His lore extends to Sun Microsystems, marking his passage through various dominions of technology and innovation. Schabtach, in his ceaseless quest for knowledge, has also imparted his arcane wisdom through the written word, contributing articles to Recording magazine, thus spreading his eldritch knowledge to those who dare delve into the mysteries of sound and recording.
Thus, the saga of Studio Nebula and Adam Schabtach is etched into the annals of audio engineering history, marked by his significant contributions and the enduring legacy of Audio Damage, Inc. – a beacon in the dark, mysterious expanse of audio technology.
Troubleshooting Siglent’s Bode II Oscilloscope Utility
In hopes of saving someone from some head-scratching: if you happen to have a Siglent oscilloscope, and a Siglent signal generator, and you can’t get the two to communicate over USB while using the Bode II measurement feature of the oscilloscope, check the “GPIB” setting on the signal generator. It needs to be set to 1. For reasons unknown, it was set to 18 on my SDG 1025. Yes, it doesn’t make any sense because GPIB is a different interface standard than USB, and this particular signal generator doesn’t even have GPIB, but before I figured this out my SDS 1104X-E ‘scope would always report that it couldn’t find the signal generator. I looked for any setting at all in both instruments which seemed to be relevant, and finally set the GPIB number on the signal generator to 1 simply because 18 seemed like an unlikely value. After that everything worked.
Mic Check
No promises, as usual, but I’ve been thinking about blogging lately.
One thought was inspired by my cousin Jesse, in his recent, last post on Facebook before deactivating his account. I can’t quote him verbatim because deactivating an account, for better or for worse, causes all posts made with that account to disappear. (This brings up a related thought, which I’ll get to next.) The gist of it–and I hope that he’ll correct me if I’m misrepresenting his statements–was that Facebook, in the final analysis, just isn’t a good thing, and there’s only so long that a person with good intentions can continue to participate in it. As to why that’s the case, well, that’s a question for sociologists, which I’m not. He went on to say that seemingly we’re better off finding other ways to communicate with each other, convenient as Facebook may be, particularly decentralized ways such as personal blogs.
Yay.
It’s Snowed a Lot this Season
In case that link eventually dies: this winter has been the snowiest on record for the city, passing a record set in 1908-09. It seemed like we’d gotten a lot of snow this season, but I hadn’t realized just how much. The total so far is 145 inches, compared to an average of about 85 inches.
Stay At Home, Still
That photo captures the moment. Polis is delivering an address, alone, from a table in what looks to be an improvised setting The cameraman is wearing an improvised cloth face mask.
We’re all in new territory, at home.
Signs of the Times
Colorado issued a three-week “Stay At Home” order a couple of days ago. For posterity, or something, I pulled together a collection of some of the public-service graphics that I’ve seen go by on the Boulder Office of Emergency Management Twitter feed recently. (I became familiar with this Twitter feed back in September 2013, when a flood hit Boulder. That was the last time a state of emergency was declared here.)
A picture is worth 1000 words, they say. Strange times.
On Not Blogging
Obviously the horoscope in that last post didn’t lead me to suddenly blog more often. I had a fundamental realization a couple of years back, when I was thinking about how I blog less than I used to. It was this: Living my life is more interesting than writing about my life.
As the saying goes, there are only so many hours in the day.I live a full life. There are many things I enjoy doing, including writing, but in the end, writing a blog entry gets lower priority than many other things that I either need to do or want to do.
Blogging as an Act of Rebellion
This was my horoscope a few weeks ago:
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Because of the onslaught of the internet and social media, lots of people no longer read books. But in 2020, I highly recommend that you not be one of that crowd. In my astrological opinion, you need more of the slow, deep wisdom that comes from reading books. You will also benefit from other acts of rebellion against the Short Attention Span Era. Crucial blessings will flow in your direction as you honor the gradual, incremental approach to everything.