The Making of a Gear Slut

It's hard to explain this recent studio/guitar gear craze of mine. Indeed, I've probably bought more stuff during the past year than in the entire decade before it. One reason is probably the fact that my song "One Rare Moment Together" was a judge's pick for an all-Japan amateur recording contest. (Another of my tunes, "Swarga ki Sans", was only half a point behind it...and the pro producer/studio musician judges said they remembered me and expect more in the future.) Together with requests to make my music available on iTunes, etc., this event has caused me to take my musical work far more seriously than ever before. Another reason might be the death of my old friend David Robison last year; I say this because what I've been doing, wittingly or not, is following advice of his that I'd long mocked.

This is actually the second round of major gear-buying. The first was during my first few years here in Japan, when I first started fulfilling my longtime dream of creating a home studio and recording my work. At any rate, since I keep talking about it on Facebook, I thought I should explain a bit more as to what it has all been about, concentrating on the guitar gear.

In my early high school days, perhaps my most treasured Christmas present was a cheap Les Paul copy guitar and a tiny Guyatone practice amp. Those quickly became a keystone of my world, but since my musical tastes were becoming increasingly progressive, it wasn't long till I wanted to expand my horizons. Thus, a couple of years later, I got my first ever effect pedal, an MXR M117 Stereo Flanger (now called the Micro Flanger) (1981). I actually took some crap for it; in those days Boss pedals were what everyone dreamed of owning, what all the professionals were using, and they were expensive. The MXR pedal was relatively cheap. (The experienced bassist of one semi-pro band I was in said, "Don't use that thing! You're killing your signal!") Still, I loved "that thing". This was then joined by an Ibanez CS9 chorus (loved it!) (1983). My guitar and amp were stolen in the summer of 1983, but miraculously the pedals remained. After I got a new Arbor guitar and Peavey amp, I later (1985) acquired a cheap phaser and analog delay of an unknown brand I grabbed at a warehouse liquidation sale. I used these all through my college days.

Then came my voyage to Japan, my first real occupation, my first real salary, and the creation of my first home studio. To replace the gear I'd left behind, the Fender Precision bass and Yamaha "Yamacaster" guitar I bought within a month of arrival were immediately joined by:

• Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive (1990)- I tried one of these in college and fell in love. It was an upgrade of the original, iconic OD-1 overdrive that included a regular medium gain mode and a high-gain "turbo" mode. As my first Boss pedal, it had special meaning. It also served as my main workhorse overdrive for more than ten years. Now I keep it in reserve. As with most Boss overdrive or distortion pedals, it compresses and colors the tone, which can be good (mainly for unskilled players) or bad (mainly for experienced players).
  
• Boss CH-1 Super Chorus (1990) - I grabbed this to serve as a replacement for the Ibanez chorus I'd left at home. I used it nearly to death...and recently took it back out of mothballs rather than replace it. It's a testament to the quality of this pedal that it is still being produced...and still used by professionals. Mine is rather beat up and quirky now, and I'm still debating replacing it, but it's definitely a good pedal. Some complain that it has kind of a tinny sound (like a lot of Boss pedals), but it's easy to fix with its tone knob.
  
• Boss HF-2 Hi-Band Flanger (1990) - This was meant to replace the MXR flanger I'd left at home. It didn't. It never really sounded right to me, so I wound up not using it much. I also didn't take care of it, so it wound up in bad shape and mothballed. The funny thing is that I recently found out I'd been using it wrong..and it's now a much sought-after collector's item! I tried using it right this time, 20 years later, discovered it works beautifully, and now it's back in my standby rack.
• Yamaha Digital Delay (1990) - Owning so many new Boss pedals was like a dream come true back then, but my budget started to protest. Instead of getting a Boss digital delay, I got its Yamaha equivalent for much cheaper...and discovered I really liked it. It was both highly versatile and surprisingly good for its low price. I basically used it to death and was forced to mothball it right around the end of the '90s.
• Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker and Distortion (1991) - I tried one of these in college, too, and got one mainly because I didn't know better. It was a version of the famous Boss DS-1 distortion pedal with the addition of a feedback circuit. I got it to get a bit more hard crunch and lead scream out of my guitar. I used it a lot but never really liked it much, and I was already phasing it out by the time it started malfunctioning in 1992 (the only Boss pedal I've ever owned that went bad).
• Arion Octave Pedal (1991) - This was a really cheap impulse buy and didn't impress me. I fooled around with it a bit and then mothballed it.
• Ibanez TS5 "Soundtank" Tubescreamer (overdrive) (1991) - When I bought a Fender Stratocaster in 1991, I decided I wanted something better than the Boss Feedbacker Distortion for it. I'd read about how popular and famous the Ibanez TS808/TS9 Tubescreamer overdrive was, but it had been discontinued. I therefore scoured the music shops in Tokyo, and I found this. The TS5 was a new, lower-cost version of the TS9 that was factory-built with cheaper parts. I snapped it up and used it a lot...until it pretty much fell apart in 1994. (Definitely cheap...)
  
• Boss PH-2 Super Phaser (1991) - This is another legendary Boss pedal. I got it to go with the Tubescreamer. It is still part of my standby team, and I do use it sometimes. I especially like the fact that it has separate guitar and keyboard modes.
  
• Zoom 5050 Choir (chorus/reverb/delay) (1992) - After I'd had the Strat for a year, my style became more progressive, so I sold it and bought a Strat HSS with a Floyd Rose-style bridge. Then I set out to get new gear for it. I only saw this at one shop: a little CD/music store in Itako. I grabbed it on impulse and loved it. I've used it intensely, even onstage, and it is pretty well beaten. Still, my only complaint is the power; it doesn't use a regular 9v battery or adapter but rather uses either a pile of penlight batteries or an adapter of a really weird, proprietary voltage. In other words, it can be inconvenient to use. I still like its sound, though, so I do get it out from time to time. It is now a collector's item.
  
• Zoom 5000 Driver (distortion) (1992) - I liked the Zoom Choir so much that I went back and got its counterpart, this interesting digital high-gain distortion pedal. It wound up being my primary lead dirtbox for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, it has the same inconvenient power requirements as the Zoom Choir, but it is designed for direct-to-mixer capability, which was perfect for my needs until I started using processors. It is now a collector's item. It sits in my "second tier" rack, but I may try using it again.
  
• Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer (1992) - Yet another famous Boss pedal that is still in production. I got it mainly for lead use, but it has proven to be quite versatile and is still part of my main team.
• Ibanez WH10 Wah Pedal (1993) - What can I say? I wanted a "wah" pedal, , so I got this reasonably-priced Ibanez. It's certainly no Cry Baby, but it's not bad by any means; I like its adjustable sweep range. I've used it off and on ever since.
• Boss FV-50 Volume Pedal (1993) - And while I'm at it, why not get one of these, too? It's dirt simple, which is nice. I haven't needed it much, but it has proven very useful on occasion.
  

Getting married in 1994 and having a kid in 1996 put a temporary stop to my gear buying. A temporary stop.

• Marshall DRP-1 Direct Recording Preamp (1997) - The idea of a Marshall JCM-900 amplifier in a tiny box with no speaker designed mainly with direct-line recording in mind seemed too good to be true. In a way, it was. I really liked my DRP-1 and used it in a number of significant recordings such as "Tlesca" and "You, Me, We". However, its controls became corroded after only about a year of use, and it got to the point that certain knobs were stuck in one position. I wound up giving it to a friend...who now wants to give it back.
• Zoom 505 Multieffector (1998) - In 1997 I performed on guitar at a school event. I used my Zoom Driver and Zoom Choir. Some student band members looked at my gear with a mixture of curiosity and contempt before one of them asked with a snicker if I wanted to borrow his multieffector. Those were very much the vogue, after all, and stompboxes like mine were considered passé. I refused, but I began to think about it. Then I saw someone using one of these 505 mini-multieffectors at a party and bought one out of curiosity. I toyed around with it, decided it was a pain to use (Sorry...I DON'T like having to punch my way through menus to adjust a tone setting) and too artificial, and consigned it to a cabinet.
• Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay (1999) - My poor Yamaha digital delay started to wear out from around 1994 and by 1998 was pretty much falling apart. I bought this popular yet controversial pedal to replace it. It's still my standby delay, though I prefer analog to digital.
• Boss BD-2 Blues Driver (overdrive) (2002) - In 2002 I was invited to join a friend's blues band. I didn't think any of the gear I had was suitable for such a gig, so I got one of these iconic pedals. They're popular to the point of being almost an industry standard, and yet they are also controversial; it's almost a mark of status to have them modified...or not to have to use them at all. Anyway, I wound up not joining the blues band, but this pedal is on my standby rack for bluesy solos and does get used from time to time. It also works well as a treble or midrange boost.
  
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo (2002) - I also got this to use in the blues band. It has proven useful.
• Yamaha FX550 Guitar Processor (2002) - This was a very significant impulse purchase. It was a discontinued model I found for a ridiculously low price in a bargain bin at a Tokyo music shop. Until then, the overwhelming majority of my recording had been done using direct-lined pedals. Now at last I had "real" amp tone...and it started having a dramatic effect on my playing technique, not to mention my whole approach to guitar playing. Unfortunately, though it had great sounds, it was inconvenient to use. (Sorry...I DON'T like having to punch my way through menus to adjust a tone setting.) And so...
• Line 6 PODxt Guitar Processor (2004) - This purchase, finalized by a rock-scissors-paper match with my daughter at a music shop, marked a serious turning point in my guitar work. It was essentially a whole collection of famous amps and effects condensed into one digital powerhouse that even came equipped with a full set of tone knobs! It finally made me conscious of the concept of tone rather than just noise and effects. I love that thing, and I appreciate what it did for my playing. When I got it, I essentially mothballed my entire pedal collection except the "wah" and even considered selling the lot. I'm glad I didn't. Unfortunately, the one drawback of the PODxt is that its inbuilt effector collection was apparently thrown in as an afterthought; it's limited, and the controls don't work quite like the originals. After a few years passed, I began to miss some of the sounds I'd gotten with my pedals, so I started getting them back out. And then I started wanting sounds I couldn't get with what I had...
• Marshall GV-2 Guv'nor Plus (overdrive/distortion) (2008) - This pedal, apparently digital, is designed to be a JCM-2000 amp in a box. It has the same 4-band EQ and gain range. It is capable of sounding bluesy, but it is best at making a really fat, beefy, high-distortion sound which has proven very useful. Even better: IT ISN'T EXPENSIVE. The only problem with it, other than those hard-to-see gold knobs, is that it sometimes gets fizzy on sustained chords. It also doesn't give a modern, tight-bottomed sound, so...
• Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (distortion) (2008) - The PODxt includes a few high-gain amp models, but I still couldn't quite get a certain, ultra-intense distortion I wanted. I'd read some favorable reviews of this pedal, so I got one. It really does produce a sharp, biting, death metal sort of sound that some pros in the genre apparently swear by (even though Boss's popularity among pros in general has declined a lot since the '90s). It also has multi-band EQ, which can be nice. (Listen to the tail end of "The Glowing Zone". It ends with the Metal Zone ripping in the right speaker and the Guv'nor Plus bubbling in the left one.)
  
• Marshall RF-1 Reflector Reverb (2008) - I ordered one of these when I bought the Guv'nor Plus. I'd wanted a reverb pedal that had a good spring reverb and/or a reverse-gate reverb sound, neither of which were in my Boss RV-3. This had both. It's digital, but it has a nice, natural sound that I like a lot better than the Boss reverb even though the Reflector costs a lot less! Unfortunately, the Reflector is a troubled pedal; it was widely reported to be prone to malfunction and even stop working. Alas, I was not immune. After a month of trouble-free use, mine suddenly started emitting an awful, crackly distortion followed by weird noises before the effect just stopped. The LED would come on, but only my dry sound would come through. (No, changing the battery didn't help.) I considered sending it back, but I toyed with it a bit, and I seem to have figured out the cause. Now I can use it without any trouble, and I really do like its spring and reverse-gate sounds. Its room reverb is really good, too.
• Vox Satchurator (distortion) (2010) - I just remembered that I talked extensively about my dirt boxes in an earlier post, so I won't go into so much detail here. I'll just say that I hoped to get a "singing" overdrive box, preferably something a bit more high end than what I had. I found a pedal on my list at a music shop, but it was too expensive, so I wound up grabbing this instead. It was designed in partnership with guitar master Joe Satriani with his sound in mind. His signature sound was actually a combination of the original 80's (i.e. before they cheapened it) Boss DS-1 distortion and Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer. If you want a guitar sound that is cutting yet ringing, this does it very well...and it is actually cheaper than Boss pedals tend to be.
• Xotic BB Plus (overdrive/boost preamp) (2010) - Right after I'd bought the Satchurator, I stumbled on one of these in a used gear shop. It happened to be one of the high-end models on my list, but since it was used, the price was a bit less painful. I tried it out, and it went home with me. It's a great lead pedal and very versatile. My only complaint against it is that it tends to be kind of noisy (Maybe a minor defect?), which might be why it's original owner parted with it. The PODxt is supposed to be usable with pedals, but it seems to be highly sensitive to line noise, and my BB Plus was particularly bad in that respect. That was one reason why I finally decided to get an actual amp.
• Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (fuzz) (2010) - The PODxt includes a model of this famous, vintage fuzz box (what EHX calls a "distortion/sustainer"), and I really came to like it. I decided I wanted the real thing, however, and I just happened to find one in a second-hand shop. It's a fun, old clunker, and while it isn't very versatile, it does what it does very well. It uses an old-style AC adapter, meaning it won't interface with my powered pedalboard, but its classic sound comes best with a battery anyway.
• Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (2010) - My last Boss purchase, this interesting box was intended to cut the noise, especially from the BB Plus. It is a highly effective, fully automated noise suppressor, really quite amazing, but it only put a band-aid on the problem rather than solve it.
• MXR Stereo Chorus (2010) - This is a famous and powerful chorus unit with an awesome sound and a wide range of possibilities. A lot of famous guitarists (including Slash and Alex Lifeson) have used it. Its only drawback is that it requires two 9v batteries for use, and it tends to eat them quickly. An external adapter can be used, but it won't interface with my powered pedalboard. Therefore, I have to be rather particular as to how and when I use it and stick with a more typical chorus (like my Boss CH-1) when I'm working "on the fly".
• TC Electronic Nova Repeater (delay) (2010) - I wanted a delay unit that was a bit more versatile than my Boss RV-3, and this one comes packed with options. Since TC Electronic products are generally a bit more "high end" than Boss (which I view as the standard), they are pricier, but this was definitely worth it. It also helped attract my attention to that particular brand.
• Dunlop Cry Baby (wah pedal) (2010) - Aw, come on...what guitar player hasn't wanted to own one of these?
  

As 2010 gave way to 2011, I started getting a bit fed up with the noise problem when I used pedals with my PODxt and wondered if a real amp might work better. Then my wife gave me a Vox Pathfinder 10, a little solid-state practice/recording amp, for my birthday. It really is a nice, little amp, especially considering it was cheaper than most of my pedals! Unfortunately, while its speaker has a really good sound, the "specially filtered" line out, designed for direct-to-mixer recording, doesn't. It's tinny even with the treble way down and the bass dimed. And when I tried using it with pedals... *cough* It was obvious the direct line recording was useless, and I figured that if I had to use the speaker, I might as well get a genuine tube amp. Therefore, I got myself a little Vox Night Train NT15H tube amp head...and waited months for the cabinet to arrive. And during that time...

• TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb (2011) - I've spent quite a bit of time viewing "guitar porn" online during the past year or two, especially demos for pedals. One TC Electronic pedal that definitely caught my eye was this little, red box, part of the new "Tone Print" series. It wound up being my first purchase at the Soundhouse sound & stage gear outlet. It has an amazing array of sounds which offer a lot of creative potential. I still like my Marshall Reflector's sounds for "on the fly" reverb, especially "slap-back" spring, etc., but if I want to create dreamlike textures, the Hall of Fame is the one!
• TC Electronic MojoMojo Overdrive (2011) - And since I was impressed with TC Electronic's new "Tone Print" line of pedals, I went ahead and got their new MojoMojo, which is actually an analog overdrive, and a very good one (though opinions vary). Its sound is kind of reminiscent of the old "tweed" Fender amps, with a smooth distortion. It took a while to get the hang of its highly sensitive and interactive tone knobs, not to mention its unique characteristics, but this is a great pedal. I especially like its responsiveness; it will give me a biting growl if I bang on the strings and a sweet hum if I strum lightly, even on subsequent strokes.
• TC Electronic Dark Matter Distortion (2011) - I went ahead and got the higher-gain counterpart to the MojoMojo, though the Dark Matter is rather a different animal. It is also a true analog pedal, but its sound is based more on that of a cranked vintage Marshall "plexi" amp. It's not a heavy metal pedal, but that's not what I want it for. I'm still getting acquainted with this one, and so far so good. What's cool is how well the MojoMojo and Dark Matter work in tandem, giving me a nice, open, screaming lead sound.
• Digitech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive (2011) - This was a pure impulse buy, and I don't regret it. It's one of those cheap gems that people talk about; it costs half as much as a Boss overdrive but is widely considered to sound better. Some pros apparently swear by it. I had to check it out. You could compare its sound to the Ibanez Tubescreamer or even my MojoMojo, but it has its own qualities. As with a Tubescreamer, it is perhaps at its best used with an already-overdriven amp (or another overdrive pedal!) to smooth out the distortion and warm the tone. It's a digital pedal, built tough, but very light. Sometimes it betrays its cheapness, but it's still very useful. It even comes with a built-in amp emulator, meaning you can play it direct to a mixer. It's a good pedal to carry around in your bag "just in case".
• Behringer HD300 Heavy Distortion (2011) - This was another one I just had to get to try it out. As with most Behringer gear, it was unbelievably cheap...almost like a joke. It even came in a vac-u-form plastic pack like a toy car, which wasn't surprising considering the pedal itself is all plastic and very toy-like! However, the fact is that it is a copy of the Boss Mega Distortion with the same circuit, same controls, and same sound...at one-fifth the price! I don't know how much I'll use it, but it can produce quite an impressive roar. I think it's fun just having the thing!
  
• Danelectro DJ-13 French Toast (octave fuzz) (2011) - This is another cheap gem I bought just for the heck of it at Soundhouse. Danelectro is an old brand, but in recent years it has made a new name for itself as a maker of budget pedal effects that work. Its gear comes in different lines representing different price and quality levels, and while some of them sound...well...like budget pedals, some of them are actually quite good. I'd say this is one of them. It is an octave fuzz, and it does what an octave fuzz is supposed to do...at a fourth the price of a "respected" model. A pedal like this isn't for everybody; it is an octave fuzz, after all, and you have to know how to use it. I've found it to be a lot of fun.
• MXR Micro Flanger (2011) - Here I've come full circle. This is a reissue of the original, 1980's M117 "stereo flanger", the first effect pedal I owned back in my high school days. Although people sometimes made fun of the "cheap crap" almost 30 years ago, now people are praising it...and it's STILL not really expensive! It still sounds great, too...just like I remembered.
• Subdecay Liquid Sunshine (overdrive) (2011) - This is my latest purchase...at least until the one I just ordered from PedalGEEK arrives. Subdecay is a well-known maker of boutique guitar effects based in Newberg, Oregon. The idea of buying a pedal from home was enough fun as it was, but this is actually a very good, little box (and was Guitar Magazine's 2007 pick of the year). It's a low-gain overdrive, meaning its effect is more subtle; it mainly warms and colors the tone and/or boosts it rather than provide heavy distortion. It is also unique in that it has two different gain stages rather than tone controls. It works very well in tandem with other overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals. I'm already in love with it.
  
• Catalinbread WIIO (overdrive) (2011) - I will freely admit that I just ordered this from PedalGEEK yesterday, my first purchase from that site I've been happily perusing for the past couple of years. With the dollar-yen exchange rate where it is now, it will cost only a little more than half what the local vendors are asking for it. I guess I also went for it to salve all my recent stress. Anyway, Catalinbread is another highly respected maker of boutique pedals and happens to be based in Portland, Oregon. (Another Oregon pedal!) The "WIIO" (literally "WHO" minus the crossbar) is a "foundation pedal", i.e. it's not only an overdrive, but a preamp designed to act as an amp in and of itself in tandem with other pedals. Its all-analog tone is modeled after the famous Hiwatt DR-103 amp used by Pete Townshend, Alex Lifeson, Martin Barre, and David Gilmour, among many others. It also works well with acoustic guitar. The demo videos I saw were more than enough to make the sale. Anyway, it should be here in about a week. With this, my pedal setup together with my amp will be exactly as I've envisioned it, i.e. no more purchases should be necessary...providing I can get my old Boss CH-1 chorus to work reliably. There's also no telling if I'll end up grabbing another really cheap Danelectro, Behringer, or Digitech box just for the sheer fun of it.
  

And these are just the guitar pedals!

Looking forward to the next time I can dig it all out and make some NOISE...

From the Minstrel's Workshop:

Another new tune is done! It's a classical/rock blend instrumental called "Helicopter Mom". Give it a listen!

Details can be found on my Minstrel's Muse site.

Rolling in the Music

This definitely has to be a new record for me. Over the past two weeks I've arranged three tunes (one for the Flying Eggheads jazz band, one for the orchestra, and one for a brass ensemble) to be performed at this Saturday's Big Regular Concert (rather overwrought fanfare). Couple that with one new original tune finished last week (Floral Aura) and two others currently in the works (plus at least two others in mind ready to go), and you have a serious workout for my muse.

I guess it's making up for all those weeks of sitting idle.

Maybe I should also mention all the time I spent at the end of February and beginning of this month writing out all the individual parts for the "Throne Room March" from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope so we could perform it at our graduation ceremony. (We had a purchased copy of the score, but no sheet music.) The kids did an excellent job with it, and it really was an effective entry march.

Kudos to Sibelius.

This is definitely turning out to be a musical spring...not counting the sneezes...

Blue Taxi

The new CD is ready.

If anyone wants a copy, let me know. Information and a few sample tracks can be found on my Minstrel's Muse site.

Note: The new linked files are higher-quality mp3s than the ones I had up before. I have also deleted all of the original "New Stuff 2008" sample tracks (except "Publicly Private, linked below") from my hosting site and removed the accompanying post from The Minstrel's Muse. Most of the tunes are no longer available online (unless someone else has mirrored them).

The Other Last Song

I went and did it again.

Just when I thought the Blue Taxi album was finished, I listened to the first "production copy" a few times, decided I wasn't quite satisfied with it, and quickly slapped-together one more simple, upbeat tune both to add a bit more length to the album and to lift up a bit of emotional sag in the middle. I know this is getting to be a bad habit, but hey...people keep tending to like these spontaneous quickies!

I give you "Publicly Private".

I know...it's not very original. I'm probably going to get all kinds of comments about how it "sounds a lot like (if not just like) [?]". Oh well, it's all in fun. Hopefully I can satisfy myself enough not to want to shove on yet another one. Even though it's a (kind of half-hearted) quickie, there were some important lessons learned. Details are on my Minstrel's Muse site. Enjoy!

(You know, iTunes definitely makes a better-sounding mp3 rip than that file-conversion app I've been using. I think I'll replace all the Blue Taxi mp3 files I have posted online...or at least those few examples I decide to keep there!)

E-lectronic T-raffic C-on?

The E.T.C. unit I ordered finally came, but the card hasn't yet. That might actually be a good thing right now.

I'd been tempted to get an E.T.C. (Electronic Toll Collection) device for my BLUE RAV4 for some time. They are just so convenient. Instead of having to stop and provide amusement for a bored toll collector by trying to dig your wallet out of your seat-embedded pants in a very awkward position (and pulling muscles in the process), you just slow down and drive through a gate. The device links in to a wireless system, exchanges your personal data, and the toll charge is either charged to your credit card or taken directly out of your bank account. No fuss, no hassle, no lost time, no germ-infested items changing hands, no pulled muscles. Only the cost of the items made me keep doubting whether it would be worth it.

Enter the government. (Prince By-Tor ap-)(*WHACK*!)(Ow!) Suddenly, out of the BLUE, the federal government announced it was starting a campaign to encourage people to get E.T.C. units. First they implemented a system whereby, while regular tolls remained fixed, E.T.C. tolls changed depending on the time and date, becoming much cheaper during commuting hours. The government also offered to subsidize up to a designated number of E.T.C. units purchased nationwide starting from the beginning of April by offering a 5000 yen (about $50) rebate. Needless to say, despite rumors that the real reason for the campaign was to help introduce a mileage-based tax system, the country quickly became gripped with E.T.C. fever.

I finally gave in and tried to buy an E.T.C. unit toward the end of April, but they were basically nowhere to be found. I went ahead and ordered one though I was warned that there was no way of knowing when it would arrive, meaning it wouldn't be in time for the subsidy. As it turned out, it came about a week later, and I got the rebate. There was no extra charge for the installation, and I was a happy camper until I tried to get the E.T.C. card necessary to make it work. I was told that, because of the rush (and the Snow D-)(*WHACK*)(Heyyy...) the quickest way would be to go to the bank where I got my credit card and have a companion E.T.C. card made. My existing account would eliminate the hassle, and there would be no charge. I was even assured over the phone by my bank that it would only take about a week. Unfortunately, when I actually went to the bank, filled out the forms, and provided the genetic sample (kidding...) I was informed it would probably take about a month. That means that, for the next few weeks at least, every time I start my car or approach a toll gate my E.T.C. unit says, in a slightly nasal feminine voice (in Japanese), something like, "This unit is in an inoperative state! Please insert your card into the upper entry slot!" (Noooo....I'm gonna jam it into the back! Sheesh...)

Now let me tell you what happened to me the first time I went out on the expressway with my new, INOPERATIVE E.T.C. unit. Except for the annoying voice telling me to stick my card in its slot everytime I approached a toll gate, it was business as usual. I drove through the regular gate and paid the regular toll in the regular manner (and amused myself by yelling at the E.T.C. unit to go shove itself up its own slot). However, there was one odd event that most definitely got my attention...

I was in the passing lane trying to go around a clot of slow-moving cars gathered around a bus (aka mobile traffic-jam maker). A speed camera gate was coming up ahead, so I kept my speed at a relatively modest level. Next thing I knew, a sports car was coming up on my six really fast, and it showed no sign of slowing down. I was blocked from leaving the passing lane, so I punched my accelerator, went into passing gear, whipped around the clot, pulled into the center lane, and then quickly braked to get back down below the acceptable margin before hitting the mark on the pavement showing the speed camera's aiming point.

That's when my E.T.C. unit started beeping. "This unit is in an inoperative state! Please insert your card into the upper entry slot!" But there was no toll gate anywhere to be seen. I can only assume that the unit had been activated by the speed camera gate. That would mean that they were trying to fine me electronically for being a click or two over the margin when I hit the X. I have noticed that a lot of drivers on the expressway have an odd tendency to ignore the speed cameras and just barge on through at high speed. Assuming they aren't privileged (i.e. they aren't missing any fingers), that would mean that rumors I've heard that the police don't pay much attention to the speed cameras are true to at least some extent. An on-the-spot, E.T.C.-based fine collection system would be a completely different story, and a very ominous one. There is a possibility that my unit linked up with a toll gate at an exit I passed, and I just didn't notice it, and I hope that's all it was. After all, a recent case in Italy, where red-light cameras and the signals they were attached to were intentionally tampered with in order to garner extra fine revenue, shows how easily automated law-enforcement systems can be abused. Moreover, since my driving habits are actually more in accordance with the norm rather than the exception, it would mean that a lot of these recent E.T.C. buyers could be falling victim without knowing it. At the very least, there has been no public indication that such a system is being implemented. I hope that means I'm mistaken.

In other news, I've finished another tune. It's called "From the Hat". It's another bit of fun, and kind of chaotic, with lots of genré-hopping, but please give it a listen. There are a lot of complicated details I won't go into here, but you can see them on my Minstrel's Muse site.

By the way, with this tune I have enough tracks available to make a finished CD, so it's in the works. The title is Blue Taxi. I'll leave all the tracks on my Minstrel's Muse site for now, but once the CDs are ready I'll delete that post and replace it with a regular promo like the others. That means you can listen to all the tunes in mp3 format...though I'll give fair warning that the original wav versions, and therefore the CDs, have considerably better sound quality (which probably serves me right for using a freeware file converter, but oh well).

UPDATE - I think I've found a reasonable (and reassuring) explanation for the ETC beeping at the speed camera gate.  It turns out that there are "ETC check" sensors set up at certain speed camera gates, usually at the border between fare zones.  One of my coworkers says his ETC unit always beeps at the same locations no matter how fast (or not) he's going.  The reason for these sensors isn't entirely clear, but apparently they verify whether or not your car has a functioning ETC unit on it or not.  The good thing is that it's apparently not an electronic fine-collection system.  The bad thing is that it, together with those weird "tracking cameras" set up at intervals in addition to the speed cameras, seems like another Orwellian eye on our private lives.

Another From the Muse

I've completed another tune.

It's another bit of experimenting and just plain fun. This time I wanted to try creating different parts of the tune in different places (i.e. on different computers at different times) and piecing it all together later. SynthFont and the various soundfonts I got off the internet (mainly from the Hammersound soundfont library but also from elsewhere) were definitely MVPs, as were Sibelius and Finale PrintMusic, for setting down the basics of this tune plus that fun "evolving break" in the middle. I then put it all together with Sonar and recorded the guitar, incidental keyboard, and vocal parts. If nothing else, it was a lot of fun to do.

I couldn't help noticing that it came out very 80s-ish. That wasn't intentional. I guess my upbringing can't help breaking through from time to time. As for the lyrics, the title and theme of the song came about because of the "evolving" instrumental break, but I thought it was good food for sarcastic thought.

(WARNING: Technical BS beyond this point.)

As always, the details of this song are on my Minstrel's Muse site, but in anticipation of comments I might get from certain people, I'll detail the guitar parts I used here.

Guitar Part I (rhythmic riffs, power chords, panned slightly left) - SG (bridge pickup, open D tuning). Hiwatt DR-101 amp model with preamp set low and mids slightly scooped. ZOOM 5000 Distortion and 5050 Choir pedals using a sound I used a lot back in the 90s...and still love!
Guitar Part II (clean strums, noisy phase power chords, panned slightly right) - Telecaster (neck pickup, standard tuning). '50s vintage Fender Deluxe amp model set at a modest volume with tone leaning toward treble. BOSS Super Phaser and Compressor/Sustainer used throughout, Metal Zone (British metalesque tone combination) added during intense parts.
Guitar Part III (ghostly wail) - Strat Special HSS (bridge pickup, standard tuning). Marshall JCM-800 model with the preamp throttled back, tone slightly middy. Marshall GV-2 Guv'nor Plus pedal (tone combination a sort of hybrid of grunge and progressive rock) and RF-1 Reflector pedal (reverse reverb, level set 100% wet).
Guitar Solo - Strat Special HSS (neck pickup, standard tuning). Amp and pedals as above except that I set the Guv'nor to a more classic rock tone and use the Reflector's spring reverb. I also added a bit of delay later using Sonar.

No MIDI was used in the final mastering at all. The drum and synth parts are a combination of downloaded soundfonts as well as my Roland Sonic Cell and XP-60 keyboard synth. The vocal parts were recorded using my Audio-Technica powered condensor mike with reverb (and, on one track at least, chorus) added later using Sonar. The vocals were done using My Larynx (ML-1).

(End technical BS. Okay, carry on...)

Here is the song: "Intelligent Evolution". Please give it a listen and give me your comments.

Tribal Culture?

These days I've had a special affinity for the Baroque composer Telemann. One reason is that his personal history bears a superficial resemblance to mine. As with me, his parents tried very hard to steer him away from music, even to the point of more or less forcing him to major in a university subject that was more commercially "safe" but didn't really suit him (in his case law). However, he continued to do music on his own, and he was able to make headway in it mainly thanks to both his own efforts and the various contacts he made. Another reason I like Telemann is that, even despite (or perhaps because of) the enormous volume of compositions he cranked out, he was known to be one of the most progressive composers of his day. He often used unusual combinations of instruments. He was also fond of experimenting with musical structures and rhythms which were wholly uncommon at the time. In other words, he's definitely a man (or at least a ghost) after my own heart.

I'm not sure why, but recently I began to think to myself: "You know, Telemann may have tried a lot of different things in his music, but he never made a tune in African or Afro-Caribbean style. If he were to try, what would it sound like...?"

Well, I decided to find out. This is the result. Tribal Culture. More details can be found on my Minstrel's Muse site.

Quite Enough

I know.
But I've already heard, thank you.

I know things aren't looking bright,
But today was a good day,
And I want to savor the moment.

I know you're worried.
The banks are dropping like flies.
But I don't need to hear yet again how it's "all America's fault".
It's not like Japan's hands are clean.

I know you're feeling stressed.
You dumped all that money into stock.
You thought it was a free path to fortune.
But when you gamble you sometimes lose.
Right now I just want to enjoy my dinner.

I know things may get even worse.
It could be the end of the world as we know it.
The great engines of commerce could seize up and stall.
One day we could wake up and find we've lost everything.
But it is not this day.
Right now I just don't care.

But at least I got another song out of it.

(More details on my Minstrel's Muse site.)

Off The Scale

O-o-o-o-o-O!!!-kinawa, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain...

Er, wait a minute...

This year, as always, I was a supervisor for a couple of 9th graders writing research papers. One of them chose as his topic researching the reason why some songs become hits in Japan while others don't. I was picked to be his supervisor because I took care of a student doing exactly the same topic a couple of years ago. The student this year was far less motivated and far less diligent in his research, but he still arrived at the same result. Analyzing the melodies of pop tunes, and (at my recommendation) actually going so far as to count the number of times a given note occurred, he came to the conclusion that the more popular ones tended to conform to a traditional pentatonic scale.

(A penta-what???!!?)

A five-tone scale. Since ancient times, traditional Japanese music has been based on one of three five-tone scales. Perhaps the best known in the West is the major pentatonic scale, which could also be called the "Chinese scale" since it has long been the basis of Chinese traditional music, though it is used quite a bit in Japan, too. (It could also be called "the black keys of the piano" since it is...well, you figure it out!). Based on C, it would follow the pattern C - D - E - G - A (- C).

(major pentatonic scale)

There is also the minor pentatonic scale, which could appropriately be called the "Japanese scale" since it is mostly heard in Japanese traditional music. Based on C, it would follow the pattern C - D - Eb - G - Ab (- C).

(minor pentatonic scale)

There is actually one more, and that is the "Okinawan scale", so called because it forms the basis of the traditional music of Oklahoma. (Ha ha, fooled you!) It follows the pattern C - E - F - G - B (- C).

(Okinawan scale)

This scale will no doubt be completely unfamiliar to people who have never had any exposure to things Okinawan; I myself was totally unaware of its existence until I started spying on the 9th grade music elective classes at Ye Olde Academy. Every year Mssr. Maestro Ogawa has the students write compositions using the Okinawan scale which are then performed using a sort of belt-fed music box. (He doesn't tell his students that he has them use the Okinawan scale because the D and A on the music box are broken. Mum's the word!) As for me, after listening both to the students' works and the samples of Okinawan music used as examples, I came to feel that the Okinawan scale had a certain unique character, a sense that was naturally joyful and yet melancholy, a woven tapestry of happy sentiment and tearful longing ([Dieter]and I am now totally insane[/Dieter]), just like Okinawan music itself. And of course, I immediately decided that I wanted to write an Okinawan song of my own. I mean, only five tones...how hard could it be?

The answer, of course, is "VERY hard". I just got frustrated. It was easy for me to put myself into the mood of it, but the melodic ideas that came pouring forth from my muse just would NOT be constrained to the Okinawan scale. Try as I might, I couldn't shake my D habit (read "the fifth of the dominant"...and get a headache). After all kinds of false starts and failed attempts I finally said "fuggit" and composed a tune that was made in the spirit of Okinawan music even if it didn't obey the scale. (I also wound up not using Okinawan instrument voices, but oh well.) Once I liberated myself from the shackles of tradition I found it much easier to work, and I soon had the drum and main rhythm parts programmed using my 61-key Edirol controller on my desktop computer. It was a simple matter to import the MIDI file into Sonar on my studio laptop and start fleshing it out.

[Technical BS]

Except it wasn't. It had always worked well before, but this time my equipment suddenly decided not to cooperate. MIDI playback seemed to be working fine for the most part, but when I tried to convert the drum track from MIDI to audio it wouldn't run smoothly; it would be okay for maybe a few dozen measures, but then one measure would suddenly glitch. I tried monkeying around with all those various buffers and did a whole bunch of takes before I finally got one that I figured was as good as I was gonna get. But I still wasn't satisfied. The directions for the Sonic Cell recommend using the ASIO driver, but I'd always used WDM instead since I'd had better luck with it. I decided to try giving ASIO another shot, figuring I had nothing to lose, but it ran like a dog. I immediately went back to WDM, but when I did so Sonar apparently reconfigured its DMA settings for the Sonic Cell, and they didn't look right (but I didn't remember what they had been originally...and the manuals say strictly hands off!). After a lot of experimenting I managed to get an audio drum track that sounded a bit better, so I went ahead and converted all the other MIDI tracks...and got even more frustrated. Switching back to ASIO again and doing some mucking around, I finally got it playing properly...even better than before...but the whole feel and timing pulse were different, which meant redubbing the MIDI tracks would require redoing all the live tracks I'd finished, too. So I gave up and switched back over to WDM, and viola! (An instrument similar to but slightly larger than a violin.) (I meant to say "voila"!) Sonar automatically reconfigured the DMA settings again, and this time it apparently got them right, because suddenly it was working properly. Well, maybe not perfect, though. MIDI playback was working perfectly, but when I redubbed that damned drum track, while it never glitched, it seemed to be struggling with the tempo a little bit, hanging slightly behind the beat in a couple of places as if the drummer's cybermuscles were getting tired. It still sounded a lot better than before, so I went with it. [/Technical BS]

The lyrics were inspired by and based (loosely) on a speech I heard broadcast in part on TV some years ago. It was by an Okinawan high school student at an event protesting the continued use of Okinawa as the U.S. military's doormat main base of operations in the Pacific. There had just been an incident in which live shells fired during a training exercise landed on her high school campus, which was immediately adjacent to the firing range. Fortunately, the speech was in standard Japanese rather than Okinawan, which is so different it requires subtitles when shown on TV elsewhere in the country. What I heard went something like, "Give us back our peace! Give us back our security! Give us back our pride! For our future, give us back our land!" That at least gave me something to work from.

There has been a nasty chest and throat cold going around these days, and I haven't been immune. My voice has been consistently rough, so I decided to test my setup some more by recording a whole bunch of layered vocal tracks a la Abba or Enya (only male). I haven't fully gotten the hang of it, but it was still a lot of fun.

So now...I give you my latest musical spawn: "Give Us Back". At 33 tracks, most of them stereo, this is by far my most ambitious single song project to date (which means people probably aren't going to like it), and Sonar still had lots of power to spare even on my modest studio laptop...which I hope to replace soon with something a little more powerful and a lot less fascist. (More on my Minstrel's Muse site.)

News du Jour

Just what is it with the TV news?

Granted, the Japanese network news programs aren't quite as bad. They at least offer a relatively fair balance of news coverage a good portion of the time (but definitely not ALL the time). But the last time I tried watching CNN and BBC...

World events? BLITVERT MODE!!!!! z-z-z-z-Z I P !

The latest OH, NO, SHOCK on the home front? H O L D I N G P A T T E R N ! ! ! ! !

Had enough? Okay...
Now more from the U.S. presidential photo-op and smear session campaign:
sarahpalinobamasinexperiencedprobablyatowelheadindisguiseoohhorrorsarahpalin
mccainhashisheadstuckupbushsaftshaftsarahpalinecchhewantsanothercoldwar
sarahpalinbidenisapoopyheadsarahpalinwouldtheyhavelikedhillarybettersarahpalin
obamaisdoingevilthingswithhiscampaignmoneysarahpalinmccainwantsawarwithrussia
andiranandnorthkoreaandsarahpalinumimeansarahpalinsaysshedidntreallymeanit
morephotoopssarahpalinwhatcolorisnortthenoseluciferbananabananasarahpalin
theeconomyiseverythingbutterfliesandfalldownnakedinbedsarahpalin

*pant pant pant*

And now for the latest celebrity with an owie on his or her life...which we'll talk about for the next month!!!!!

Anybody else fed up with it? I am. I made a song about it, too:

News du Jour

(Actually, some people have complained that I haven't done any really silly songs for a long time. Hopefully this will satisfy them for a while. It definitely hearkens back to my mid 90s style.)

More info on my Minstrel's Muse site.

A Song I Had to Make

Things are gradually winding back to a routine here at the old homestead. No, things are not back to normal. They probably won't be for a long time if ever. But at least we're getting a handle on things.

The various funeral and mourning requirements are still going on, with visits to the graveyard every day and another ritual at the temple scheduled for tomorrow (and two weeks after that, and two weeks after that...). It's touching the amount of attention given to the deceased by the bereaved, but it sure makes closure difficult.

In the meantime I managed to complete another song. I'd been toying with the melody for a while but had been too busy with other things to do anything with it. This time I decided to make some time. It's my second all-digital work using Cakewalk Sonar 7 digital music production software and my Roland Sonic Cell. Things went a lot more smoothly this time than they did with "Perspective", my last work (finished last June) since I finally have the settings right and the learning curve mostly overcome. I was able just to concentrate on the creative aspect for the most part.

The song is called "Promise", and that's exactly what it is, a promise to my wife. I started with the rhythm parts using MIDI programming and added mandolin, guitars, and bass. I thought about having complex, layered vocals at first, but I stuck with a single, raw, blue and gritty vocal track that seems more appropriate anyway (though the main reason I did it that way is that my throat has been so raw and gritty these days...most likely because of all that incense I have to breathe every day). Anyway, give it a listen and tell me what you think.

UPDATE - I've added a new track, an instrumental called "BLUE Taxi". It was just a spontaneous idea that popped out of my muse, and it was a lot of fun to make. It's definitely a much needed breather from the understandable grimness at home. Enjoy!

More details on my Minstrel's Muse site.