Karma

It was not even a month after I had bragged in the previous post about how I had nursed my c.2002 computer and recording system past their planned obsolescences, and saved thousands by doing so at no loss of quality.  Had my backup G4s...oh yeah...

First the main hard drive failed in the computer.  Dead.  The backup G4 was a "great machine" (words of the excellent Mac service guy at our local Moscow, ID dealer, VGH--good people...), but ultimately it had been made a year too late to work the version of ProTools I had.  Just like that, my system was toast.  Except that this realization took about two weeks.  At least I'm backed up, and they say that I will be able to open my version 5.3 files in...version 11.3 (!)  But a new computer meant that I could no longer use my perfectly wonderful fancy audio interface because current ProTools doesn't support the old interface.  They had me.

I was surprised how vulnerable I felt when I realized that my last 13 years of work clings to electrons in a backup and back-backup drive here, and until a few days ago, I actually wasn't sure that my files would open.  I've spent some time thinking about what I could recall if I had to.     

Above, work has stopped this morning while I wait to hear back from my helpful "sales engineer" for why the HD PCIe card doesn't quite fit into the slot designated for it in the Sonnet chassis, so I can thunderbolt that bad boy into the HDX interface.  Why don't these things ever go "click, click, click--GREAT!--Back to work!"?

So it's Irish fiddling until I hear from the guy.  

Vintage Pro Tools

My workspace, this evening...

This Pro Tools "rig" was put together in 2002 and is the guts of my recording studio.  This is Pro Tools version 5.3.1 (currently, the official Pro Tools is version 11.3 about to go to 12), running on a Mac G4 using Mac OS 9.2.  I'm using the fancy "HD1" D/A interface that was the hot new thing in 2002; it was so new that my dealer was required to sell me the old version and then fall all over himself apologizing that he couldn't offer me the new HD1 because he had to be silent about its existence, and then he changed everything out and his diligent complaints to the company got me a "free" $1K reverb program along with the new cutting-edge high-definition digital recording setup.

Soon after I had this system up and running, Apple released OSX, and everyone I knew was hot for the new software upgrade.  Some little voice inside me said don't do it!  So, I didn't upgrade.  OS 9.2 was so stable.  Everything finally worked together perfectly.  I had just gotten to the point where I had unlimited top-of-the-line professional-quality audiophile multitrack recording time.  I think it would be hard for any professional musician who was making music in 2000 not to appreciate the creative power that was made available by Pro Tools HD on a Mac G4 running OS 9.2.  It was a major technological revolution.  I had a Waves bundle, I had Reverb One...why would I want to change anything?!  I had work to do! 

So, from that point on, I never upgraded and I've been making records and doing projects ever since.

Had I gone to OSX, the first thing that would have happened was that my "Waves Bundle" would have ceased to function.  Doesn't sound like much, does it... but it has all the functions--plug-ins--that make a recording device into a studio.  Compressors of various sorts that can bring out he musical sound quality of a recording, equalizers that are endlessly-adjustable tone controls for any recording--for example, you can easily take out a nasal sound that you hear close to a singer's face, but you don't hear ten feet away.  Anyway, I never calculated the exact figure, but I think the immediate cost to me would have been something like $5K.

In 2012, in the midst of a CD project, I had two interesting disasters that alerted me to my peculiar technological situation.  First, one day I went in the studio to do some editing of the previous night's session (fortunately I had backed it up), and my computer completely died.  Not just the "mother board" had died, but the MOTHER of all motherboards, the "logic control board" had died.  I was a bit panicky.  But I took the computer into the local Mac repair place, and the guys had an old G4 sitting right there--I bought that computer and they had everything transferred in a couple of hours, and I was back out the door and better than ever for $250.  Right away I jumped on eBay and bought another G4 for $150 just to keep in the closet ready to go.  It does seem amazing that you can buy a computer that cost over $2K in 2002 for $150 ten years later.

Then one day a few weeks later I went to work and all of a sudden I get an error message from the fancy "Reverb One" program, saying that "the date on this computer is incompatible with the operation of this software."  Hunh?!  So, I changed the date on my computer to the previous day and everything worked.  Yep, the designers of Reverb One had determined that surely no one would be using this software ten years after they released it, so from there on, my computer has always been in January of 2012.  In the image above, there's a little sheet of paper to the left of the keyboard that lists the first week of 2012, so that I can periodically switch the date back and match the day of the week.

So, on the phone last week with Mark, my helpful Sweetwater Pro Gear customer representative, I determined that my suspicion was correct, that while the current Pro Tools is "faster," there's a lot more "processing power," in fact, the sound quality is not any better.  And if I decided to upgrade, my set up is so old that while I'd get a certain amount of trade-in value for my old HD1 converter, essentially I would have to start over with everything.  New computer, new interface, all new software...Something like $15K.  More expensive than it was in '02.  I can buy A LOT of used Mac G4s on eBay for $15K...

Score one for the Luddites...

Autumn

New Camas planting, yesterday.

We have finally gotten enough rain that planting can start.  With a year to break down, the dead annual grass from last year is very easy to rake up, exposing fresh dirt, then the seeds are scattered over the surface and I rake them in.  Though I planted a little grass seed in the areas I planted last fall, most of the grass seed I purchased last fall will be planted in the next few weeks.  I also have the rest of the seed I collected this year, and last year's significant leftovers. As I was out mapping the area, I spotted this young Canadian goldenrod who must have sprouted just this year.   

August

"Standard view" this morning...

It has been awhile since I took a photo from this vantage point.  Most of the exciting developments are in the southern half of the property, at least with new little flowering plants and whatnot (that I hope survive this dry period of late summer).  Still, this view has changed a lot in the five years since it was planted.  Here it is in August, 2009.

Spring Seeds

Clockwise from the top--Grass widow (Sisyrhincium douglasii), Upland larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum), Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora), Yellow bells (Fritillaria pudica...and some other mystery bulb seed), Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), Western groundsel (Senecio integerrimus), and Salt-and-pepper (Lomatium gormanii).  Starting clockwise from the Salt-and-pepper, they are listed in the order their seed was collected.

Even though we are pretty far north and it can get cold here, the native flowers start blooming in late winter with Salt-and-pepper in late February.  Several of these plants have been hard to start, and I have wondered whether the standard advice I have received for planting native seeds--planting in fall--doesn't take into account that all of the plants above have their seeds planted by summer in nature.  Could the dry heat and occasional rains of summer play an important role in their germination?  I decided this year to plant everything I collected before the Summer solstice in the first week of summer.  I have chosen areas that have nothing but native grass, so I can see if this gets better results than waiting until fall.  Let's do science!

Full Bloom

I was walking out through the prairie in late afternoon today, and was struck by this view--it actually looks like a mature prairie out there!  Years of hard work are starting to pay off...

Late Spring

 

Looking south--Clarkia, Wyeth buckwheat, and yarrow, blooming in the "new" prairie

There are many small plants just sprouted here that are invisible.  A great deal of taperleaf penstemon is coming up throughout these new plantings, for example.  Still, it is nice to have some reward in the first Spring of a new planting.

In banjo news, I have been experimenting with my gourd banjos.  First, I finished "Gourd Banjo #3" which was the rebuilt version of my first gourd banjo. 

It doesn't have the big sound of #2, but it is a sweet and probably more authentic sound--I suspect that the weight of the metal guitar tuners on #2 somehow anchors the neck so that it doesn't absorb as much energy from the body.  I noticed two things about #3 that I liked right away.  The first is that I really dug out a scoop between the body and the fingerboard and I loved having all that room to work my right hand.  The second thing was that the strings were higher, which should make it harder to play, but nylgut strings are not hard to push down, and the increased string angle seemed to give me a crisper attack. 

So, I realized that I had to alter those two aspects of my beloved #2 gourd banjo.  Today, I opened up more of a scoop (previously, the fingerboard went right up to about half an inch before the body--there really wasn't a scoop) and made a new bridge that raised the strings 2 mm.  Instantly, I had a crisper attack as with banjo #3, and the higher action was somehow easier to play.  That is a bit of a mystery to me, since I had understood that generally with plucked string instruments, you want as low an action as you can get without strings buzzing, but there is no doubt that this higher action is the way to go.  Though I wasn't buzzing before, I may have been bottoming out the strings on the playing surface when I hit it hard, which would certainly be a tone killer.  Anyway, the tone is cleaner and I find that I am more precise with this setup.  I am able to use a more vigorous right hand as well, which is fun.  Okay, back to recording, but this was an important improvement.