But! There is a silver lining. I found a store called Daddy’s Junky Music. They sell used gear in stores and online. They have a unit that sounds like its in better shape and they want $30 less. I have to return the one I got, but at least I can get a pretty good replacement. I emailed them to get an idea of its condition and if everything sounds cool then when I get my refund money I’ll order it.

I hope the Korg ER-1 is in better shape.

Yeah, I got it after all. It was totally worth the wait. I met up with the seller in the driving rain. Because of a few loose keys the seller dropped the price. He was awesome. Turns out he does scores for student films and such. Slowly, but surely I’m getting in touch with the synth guys of Austin.

The CZ-101 is truly unique. The only way I can describe it is that it sounds like an FM synth, but is programmed more like an analog synth. It has two voices and each voice has an 8(!) stage envelope for each of the DCO, DCF (called DCW), and the DCA. They can be used separately, together or one can be doubled. One voice can ring modulate the other and there is a noise generator to add grit. It has MIDI (up to 4 parts monophonic/multi-timbral), vibrato, and portamento. It’s very versatile. I can’t wait to use it in a mix. Oh, yeah! I almost forgot, it has pegs for a strap to wear it like a keytar! sweet.

The ER-1 is a percussion synthesizer (fancy talk for drum machine). It has 4 virtual analog synths you can program to make bass drums, zaps, glitchy clicks, etc. and 4 sampled drums (open hi hat, closed hi hat, crash cymbal and hand clap). The samples are similar the 606 or 808 sounds, but the 4 perc synths are TOTALLY customizable. Lots of creative potential. It has a built in sequencer like the 606/808. Unlike those, the ER-1 has MIDI and when you tweak a knob in real-time, it can save the performance as part of the loop. Also it looks dope. For $150, you can’t go wrong.

The EA-1 is a monophonic virtual analog synthesizer that tries its best to pretend to be a TB-303. Like the TB-303, it has a built in sequencer and a monophonic voice. Unlike the TB-303, it has MIDI, built in effects, and is 2 part multitimbral (plays two separate bass/lead lines and sounds per pattern). It also has an audio input jack that passes through the filter. It can use the audio in to modulate OSC 2. Like the ER-1, it can remember the tweaks you do. For instance I can rhythmically tweak the cut off of the filter, save the rhythm, and apply that to my guitar playing.

Only downside is that I had to buy them off eBay as they are out of production. Hopefully there are no issues, but baring that, I should have them by the end of next week. Like Tom Petty said, “waiting is the hardest part”. If I can get this CZ-101 today, then I’ll have my toy to play with until they arrive.

I have an original SNES, a DSi, and a Wii. I also have a knock off Yobo NES. I would love to get a restored original NES and an Advance SP (to play OG Game Goy games with a backlight). Tracking down the individual games will be a little hard, but thats part of the fun, I guess. There are easier and cheaper ways to play these games (emulators, anyone?), but I want the real thing.

Speaking of the real thing, I might be getting a Casio CZ-101! This is identical to the CZ-1000, but has smaller keys and regular buttons. This is Casio’s “Phase Distortion” synth. Digital and totally different in tone and character from my Nord Lead 2. For a while I was using the VST version of the CZ-101 called “PlastiCZ”, but I love hands on gear. I really look forward to setting up my studio as I piece it together.

Why don’t I just buy a prebuilt Dell or maybe switch to a Mac? Well first of all my hacker ethos won’t let me buy a pre-built PC. It’s a little like a gearhead leaving there car stock. I like to be in control of all the various aspects of my PC. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a mac. I could run all three OSes on it, but not only does it run in to the first problem of being a pre-built machine out of my control, its also very expensive.

The goals of my new PC are music production and gaming. Though I’m a Linux guy, I’m pretty sure I’ll be running Windows. The games I like (Warcraft, etc.) play best on Windows (though with a beefy machine and hardcore video card, WoW will probably play fine under Linux) and Ableton Live (my music production platform of choice) only works FULLY on Windows. Do I run Windows 7 or the evert faithful XP? Not sure. Probably Windows 7 if it’s as good as people are saying it is.

Since I’m laid off, I need to watch our spending. But I’m sure I have enough things laying around that could be sold I could probably raise the cash easily.

I need to plan a budget and pick out parts. Motherboard and chip technology has changed so much since I built my last machine it’s silly.

I do know that this time around, all my parts will be bought off the net. No more running up to Frys to get RAM.

First, watch a bit of this:

Then watch this:

Repeat with any other Songsmith videos you can find. You’re welcome.

When we opened the locked package cabinet and pulled out the box, we saw that the bottom flap was open and the box was completely empty. My first reaction was that one of my neighbors stole the laptops. As I turned the box over in my hands I noticed two things. The first this was that the tape that my father had used to seal the box was undisturbed. Whoever opened the box actually ripped the cardboard seam of the bottom of the box. Obviously the tape job my father did held and the box was opened forcefully. The second thing was that the box was stamped “arrived unsealed” and “no contents”. This means that the contents of the box were removed sometime en route to the Austin post office. This redeemed my view of my neighbors, but did little make me less pissed. Sure these weren’t the cream of the crop laptops, but they were salvageable. I’m going to see what I can do with the laptops I got and my dad is going to start a claim with the USPS. We’ll see what happens. What gals me the most, is that the USPS haven’t called me or sent me a letter. That haven’t communicated with me in anyway about the stolen items nor have they advised me as to my options. As far as I can tell this is the extent to which they care about the incident. They delivered an empty box and that’s just fine. Well, I just hope whoever stole the laptops enjoys them. Merry Christmas, motherfucker.

In the meantime you can read my previous review here.

I’ll have a full review once I get it installed. The Windows binaries are up here. If you have a Windows PC you can try out 0.5 before it’s released on Linux. Remember, as with all pieces of software, it runs a little hinky on Windows.

Update!: There are finally some Ubuntu/Debian packages available.

To update Elisa on Ubuntu and Debian add this repo to your apt-get sources:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/elisa-developers/ubuntu hardy main

And then run:

sudo apt-get update

And finally:

sudo apt-get upgrade