We had a fantastic summer evening a few weeks ago and I. took Megan out to the Planetarium down in the city for a quick look at the city lights and to get some ice cream.
A few weeks ago I sold my Dirtywave M8 to free up some funds and get an Akai MPC One. The Dirtywave was not jelling with me and I think my days as a tracker users have come and gone. I had the M8 for maybe a year and I was not able to really get anything productive out of it. Now, don't get me wrong, it is a super impressive piece of hardware, the workflow just wasn't quite working for me.
I've had my eye on picking up an MPC for years. It is after all a fairly iconic piece of music equipment in its various iterations. An updated version of the One+ was release a few months ago and at a reasonable price of around $700 I figured this might be my opportunity time to jump into the MPC world.
So far, I have to say that I am really digging the MPC. The sounds alone that came with it or that are available on Akai's website are impressive and pretty deep. There is a lot right out of the gate that can get you going with music. It is apparent though that many of the sounds are hiphop oriented and you can also tell from the legacy of the device how the sort of 80-115 BMP slow groove that comes from sampling exists. The sound libraries reenforce that and the sampling tools sort of reinforce that as well. I am super curious to see what sort of music I make on this device, because while you can certainly make "techno" or dance music, the vibe I get just seems a bit slower tempo.
I am really taking this opportunity with the MPC to dig into the sampling, which is an area of music production I have never been proficient in. The One+ does have some synth plugins, but it appears that the CPU resources are fairly limited, and as I mentioned above, the pedigree just leans into that sampling world. You can see that right on the way the interface is designed, where "Sampler" and "Sample" edit or very prominently labeled on the front panel.
I am working through the Akai Youtube channels introduction series and that is affording a pretty good intro on how the MPC works. It does have a bit of a learning curve, especially as someone who has now 20 years of using other groove boxes. Akai likes to use their own terminology for things. For example "quantization" is called "Time Control" or TC. Projects are broken down into Sequences, Tracks and then Programs. The Sequence is sort of how you would think of Patterns on other machines where you can have multiple tracks loaded into a sequence. Programs are basically the synth preset or drum kit that are loaded into a track.
As far as I can tell the MPC also does not have a linear tracking song mode, as you might find in a traditional DAW or some other workstations. It seems in this respect it does follow the sort of traditional "tracker" style sequencing methodology where you can take your sequences (i.e. Sequence 1, Sequence 2, etc.) and then place them in an order you like to be triggered. You aren't sequencing the individual tracks.
There are a couple of other really interesting features that I hope to dig into more. As one might expect the sampling features are very deep. There is some very impressive tools here that instantly make my realize why this is such a well regarded sampler. It even has a feature where you can trigger a synth via midi to play through a series of notes that can be recorded into the machine as a multi-sample. That sounds fantastic as I can see myself sampling my Command Station. I hope that importing a series of samples already setup as a multi-sampled instrument is just as simple.
So despite the machine itself being pretty fantastic, there are a handful of frustrations with the MPC that I have experienced so far. The first is the pads themselves. They are incredibly firm and have no "give" to them. I'm not sure if this how all MPC's are, but I was expecting something closer to the pads on my Command Station, so there is a bit of adjustment that needs to occur there.
The second issue largely comes down to the product support. The MPC ships without a manual of any sort and to make matters even more frustration the .PDF manual that is online covers all of the products in the currently MPC line (One, Live, X) so moving through it to learn the product is a tedious endeavor. The sample libraries offered from Akai's website also are tied into the MPC Software which you install onto your computer. Looking through Reddit it does appear that there are ways to get around installing all of this software, but Akai intentionally makes it obtuse, utilizing .pkg installer files for the samples. Adding insult to injury on that front, the MPC Software and associated samples cannot be installed onto an external HDD, they are installed onto your computers main's HDD, which I resume most musicians don't do.
Overall though a real nice piece of kit that I am enjoying and I anticipate utilizing quite a bit over the coming months.
Halfling Wedding
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After a long, hard day of traveling the party comes across a halfing with a cart caught in the mud. He is in need of assistance to free the cart.
Jacquot Jean
If the party helps him and repairs the cart he will invite them to the wedding he and his fellow travelers are going to.
After continued travel to about an hour past sunset, the party hears the rousing sound of music and merriment coming from just off the road. They find a large group of tents and many bonfires setup around with a handful of guards watching the perimeter.
Wedding between Nicolle (Human Male) and Claricia (Female Halfling)
- Upon arriving the party is immediately invited to attend the wedding ceremony, that was being held up waiting for Jacquot.
- The party may spend a few moments talking or introducing themselves to various members of the family before choosing a side to sit to.
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Family Members
There are dozens of people in attendance at this wedding, so feel free to make up any characters as you see fit for both families. A could place to start to build tension in the scene is to have the Halfling family be very rowdy, drunk and celebratory. The Human family may be much more reserved and feel uncomfortable with the ceremony. As the evening progresses, perhaps certain members of the family will "loosen up", perhaps with the party's assistance.
Members
- The bride (Claricia) – very nervous, worrying about everything and at some point late in the evening sneaks up to a member of the party to ask them to take her away in the middle of the night. She is terrified of being married. Her new husband is actually a wonderful man, she is just afraid of "growing up" and settling down
- The groom (Nicolle) – a bit nervous and drunk. Celebrating, but genuinely seems to be a wonderful young man.
- The father of the bride (Anthoine) – One of the only Haflings at the party not enjoying himself. He complains non-stop about how much this is all costing him.
- The mother of the bride (Amelot) – is either crying about losing her baby or fussing over something at the wedding.
- The parents of the groom (Jacques and Odelina) – happy and enjoying themselves, most likely because they’re running up the bar tab which is being covered by the father of the bride.
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Encounter Ideas
- During the ceremony anyone in the party may try to convince either of the parents that they are capable of conducting the wedding ceremony or adding their additional blessing. Per +17 at dis-advantage if not a Halfling or Cleric.
- Once the ceremony is over, invite several NPC's from the party to invite various members of the party to dance. This is an opportunity to throw in a "horn-dog" grandmother, a flirtatious young boy/girl who is way too young, a drunk individual who wants to know all about the party's adventures, the aunt who is suspicious of why the party is here, or any other character of your creation/
- As the evening progresses there are several ability contents or competitions that the party may choose to participate in.
- Somewhere on the campground will be a large tent setup for smoking. Inside will be a fortune teller (Danśe) who the party can make friends with and have their fortune told for free. The fortune that is told is insignificant. She is in fact a Warlock who a fiend patron. For every fortune told she hands out a small scroll with a glyph carved into into it. She instructs the individual to trace the glyph onto a floor or a door as a protection warding and upon the next new moon it will active releasing a number of monsters identified on a 1d6 below. She is very naive and does not know what she is handing out and even if told, insists that her patron would never do such as thing.
Fiend Monsters
- 1 Imps
- 3 Imps
- 2 imps+ 2 Quasits
- 2 Spinded Devils
- 2 Hellhounds
- 1 Shadow Demon
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Ability Contests
- Strength: Wrestling match where participants are shirtless and oiled. If one of you wishes to participate they may succeed in consecutive strength checks of increasing difficulty (per DM's discretion) and may not use any magic items for this competition. Reward: Heart of the Sleeveless
- Dexterity: Competition to scale a 30' wooden pole. The first person to scale the pole without using magic gains the item on the top of the pole. If one of you wishes to participate they may succeed in consecutive dexterity checks of increasing difficulty (per DM's discretion) and may not use any magic items for this competition. Reward: Fortune's Flower
- Charisma (Performance): A dashing young man is dancing and singing near the food and drink at the event. He is joined in a song with several other people. If one ore more member's of the party join in and actually sing the song below. If they they each will be rewarded. Reward Singing Stein
Tip: Consider throwing various alcoholic beverages, some magical if you so choose at the party throughout the party to impact the potential competitions above.
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Cup of Mead Song Lyrics
I rose up in the morning and I felt a dire need,
To dream away the dreary day and down a cup of mead.
I felt the sting of honey bees, from last night's revelry, I'm looking for the honey that'll cure my soul's disease...
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
I drank another cup or two, and sleep did close my eyes,
A nightmare of a desert dry and not a girl for miles,
I dreamt I saw a waterfall, a waterfall of mead,
I need another cup or six, to clear my memory...
So brother won't you roll another barrel to the bar?
And pour another cup or two so I can soak my heart !
Hey!
Hey!
Hey
Hey!
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Rewards
These were all taken from Griffon's Saddlebag, and I highly encourage you to check them out for additional resources on these items and more. https://www.thegriffonssaddlebag.com
Heart of the Sleeveless
This vest is made from a luxurious, silky material that seems to always make the wearer appear more fit. The clothing gently hugs the wearer, redistributing weight and muscle to flatter and accentuate their physique. It seems to deflate sadly once taken off. While worn, the fabric’s color changes with the wearer’s mood or flash of emotion. Refer to the table below for the vest’s colors when under different emotions. While unworn, the fabric’s color becomes a muted blue.
Emotion Color
- Anger Red
- Anticipation Orange
- Joy Yellow
- Love Lime
- Fear Green
- Sadness Blue
- Disappointment Indigo
- Disgust Purple
- Jealousy Black
- Surprise White
Fortune's Flower
These magic flowers are said to bring good luck and are often given as gifts at weddings. You can use an action to pull off and drop one of the flower's five petals. When you do, there is a 5% chance that the petal glimmers in a flash of light as a rune is burnt into it, recreating the effects of the augury spell. When it does, 1d6 new fortune's flowers grow at that petal's location after 30 days if the ground is suited for growth.
The plant has no seeds and can't be re-potted for travel. An unpicked fortune's flower regrows one flower every year. Once picked, the flower can survive up to 7 days before it withers and dies.
Singing Stein
While this pewter stein holds at least a sip’s worth of potable alcohol, the face adorning it comes alive to sing songs based on the kind of drink. The stein is not sentient, but does have a pleasant singing voice. If there are multiple steins in the same room, they can sing together in harmony if they have the same drinks within them. The stein sings songs slightly out of key if the drink inside is poisoned, which can be heard following a successful Wisdom (Perception) check as determined by the GM.
If there are multiple kinds of alcohol within it, the stein either alternates between song types or does its best to combine their various lyrics. Example drink Type of song Wine Ballad Rum Sea Shanty Ale Drinking song.
Longest ride I have ever done, covering 5,501 miles in ten days. Our MEWS groups called this the "Eat, Sleep, Ride" trip and that was pretty much exactly what it was. If you have read my past ride logs, you might be expecting a lot of commentary and photos. This trip however had us on the bike really for the vast majority of the day and I think my best footage is coming from my GoPro. My suggestion, watch the video linked above if you want to get the best story of this trip.
Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you lose everything.
This was a pretty heavy book. I am going to put that right out front with this review. If you are in the midst of mid-2020 and everything around you is depressing and stressful, then this may not be the most ideal book for you to pickup right now.
I am going to have a tough time trying to review this, as it is extremely difficult to try and explain this book without giving it away. Think of it this way. A story has a beginning, a middle and an end. That narrative timeline is progressing through this book, front to back. All the while the characters, their relationship and even the time/place that the story is occurring in change with each section of the narrative. The crux of the narrative is about the relationship between Adrian and Anton. Who those two are though is never the same. Sometimes they are siblings, other times lovers? Sometimes their gender changes, other times the time and place that they are living in changes.
Through it all though it is about their relationship as the world around them is metaphorically and physically destroyed.
This book embodies what I really enjoy most about SciFi novels. It challenges the reader. It challenges the reader on multiple levels about their beliefs, about how they view the world, perhaps even in this case what they think a narrative format should be.
I have a few minor gripes about some of the writing. Often times the vignettes were not always clear. There is one for example midway through the book were our main characters are part of a religious order, wearing white and tending to a flame. I had no idea the context or time of this society. Was it modern? In the near future? Somewhere in the past? That issue came up several times for me.
The book in the end will most likely not leave you satisfied. You do not get a good explanation of everything that occurred or an understanding of what from the story was "real" and what was manifested from the story being told. I think that was the point, but it does leave wanting a few final sentences to tie it all up.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you lose everything.
This was a pretty heavy book. I am going to put that right out front with this review. If you are in the midst of mid-2020 and everything around you is depressing and stressful, then this may not be the most ideal book for you to pickup right now.
I am going to have a tough time trying to review this, as it is extremely difficult to try and explain this book without giving it away. Think of it this way. A story has a beginning, a middle and an end. That narrative timeline is progressing through this book, front to back. All the while the characters, their relationship and even the time/place that the story is occurring in change with each section of the narrative. The crux of the narrative is about the relationship between Adrian and Anton. Who those two are though is never the same. Sometimes they are siblings, other times lovers? Sometimes their gender changes, other times the time and place that they are living in changes.
Through it all though it is about their relationship as the world around them is metaphorically and physically destroyed.
This book embodies what I really enjoy most about SciFi novels. It challenges the reader. It challenges the reader on multiple levels about their beliefs, about how they view the world, perhaps even in this case what they think a narrative format should be.
I have a few minor gripes about some of the writing. Often times the vignettes were not always clear. There is one for example midway through the book were our main characters are part of a religious order, wearing white and tending to a flame. I had no idea the context or time of this society. Was it modern? In the near future? Somewhere in the past? That issue came up several times for me.
The book in the end will most likely not leave you satisfied. You do not get a good explanation of everything that occurred or an understanding of what from the story was "real" and what was manifested from the story being told. I think that was the point, but it does leave wanting a few final sentences to tie it all up.
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Another year and another great August ride with the Mews Crew. This year's trip was back out to South Dakota. We had an absolutely great group riding this year agian and I once again have to say I was super impressed with everyone's riding. We had large group again and we were able to keep our pace on the highway and it worked great with everyone. Before we get deep into the trip though, let's first talk about thew new motorcycle I bought.
Well, I think it may be time for a new motorcycle. I have loved my 2012 R 1200R for the past seven years, traveled all over the U.S and Canada with it. The bike has served me really well, but I have noticed over the past two years that I get pain in my neck, shoulders and butt on the longer rides that I am doing with it. Especially on these really long weekly trips or days over 300 miles, I get a sharp pain in between my shoulder blades, which shows up as a sharp sting when I roll my shoulders a particular way. That shouldn't be happening and I shouldn't ignore that either.
I was able to power through it up until this year, when all of a sudden this spring I am getting the discomfort on even shorter daily rides. Saturday and Sunday rides are getting to the point now where my back is starting to hurt on the bike. I did a ride with friends up to SW Wisconsin and New Glarus last weekend. It was a long ride to be sure, but it was only one day and when I got home, I was very uncomfortable. We have our annual summer trip coming up here in a couple of weeks and the thought of riding 300+ mile days for over a week really doesn't sound pleasant at this point on my R 1200R. Perhaps I am just getting old, but I feel it is finally time to change up the bike.
This weekend I happened to test ride a bunch of bikes over at Motoworks Chicago and Windy City Cycles. Now, I have had my eye on the R 1250RS for a while, and I heard that it was going to be coming out sometime this fall. That being said, people have told me that I should check out the RT as well, since some consider it to be a "sports touring" bike. Personally, I think it has way to much fairing to be considered a "sport tourer", but it is well known as a great bike.
Xbox Game Pass has been a really cool service that I have been taking advantage of lately. It is sort of like a Netflix type service for Xbox, where a library of games is available for you to play for $10 a month. One of my most recent plays was Quantum Break. This game really surprised me. At the time of its release it caught a lot of flak and didn't seem to get very good reviews.
Microsoft tried to do something interesting with the game, mixing live action "TV Episodes" that aired on a weekly basis to build upon the story. The idea is that decisions in the game would influence the live episode the next week. I'm well past that point, but the overall execution worked out pretty well in my opinion.
What really blew me away though in Quantum Break was how well they told a time travel story. The logic and science behind their methods to tell the story made complete sense and didn't cause any sort of paradox problems within the story. In fact, if you think about how they executed the ending, the whole foreshadowing throughout the entire game continues to be consistent, even if you did "defeat the bad guy". It has to be one of the better sci-fi uses of time travel that I have ever seen.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow!!!! How do I describe this book? This was simply fantastic and ranks up there with one of the best books I have ever read.
The world building here is superbly done, bringing in just enough that is familiar to us, while also being strange and fantastic at the same time. Jemisin brings a lot to this book to discuss race, racism, social caste systems and more. It is all done in such a way that makes you repulsed by it, but at the same time understanding of it, at least in the context of this world. It is complex and multifaceted. Her writing style is extremely eloquent as well. While my previous read (Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman) talked about how he is the quintessential "storyteller" by the way he writes and talks. Jemisin immediately comes across in an almost scholarly fashion in her style.
The topics of love, acceptance and family are also explored in a deep and unconventional way here. Watching our main character, Essun, rise and fall in her emotional relationships was exhilarating and devastating at the same time. The moments near the last third of the book with Innon, and her family are something that was truly touching, even if they don't fall into what our traditional social context of a family may be.
The characters are also truly engaging. Alabaster, Hoa, Innon, Tonkee. All were deep and diverse in their own respective ways. They were dimensional, having motivations that were both internal and external to their character arcs. They were interesting, each with their own goals in life.
My only really gripe about the whole book, and the only reason it doesn't get a full five stars from me, is one of Essun's character traits. Throughout the book she is persistently negative about every situation presented to her. I understand that of her character profile, but her negatively is so aggressive and outwardly projected that I lost that "suspension of disbelief" with her character at times. Even when circumstances in her life changed, even for the good, she is shown as chronically negative about every situation and environment around her. At times it is used as a motivating factor for her character. Her, "It's not right", stance makes sense, but other times she seemed to resist and challenge the other characters in a scene for no apparent gain, only to give in for what was obviously the only course of action.
Despite all of that though, this book was riveting from beginning to end and I immediately want to read the sequel.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow!!!! How do I describe this book? This was simply fantastic and ranks up there with one of the best books I have ever read.
The world building here is superbly done, bringing in just enough that is familiar to us, while also being strange and fantastic at the same time. Jemisin brings a lot to this book to discuss race, racism, social caste systems and more. It is all done in such a way that makes you repulsed by it, but at the same time understanding of it, at least in the context of this world. It is complex and multifaceted. Her writing style is extremely eloquent as well. While my previous read (Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman) talked about how he is the quintessential "storyteller" by the way he writes and talks. Jemisin immediately comes across in an almost scholarly fashion in her style.
The topics of love, acceptance and family are also explored in a deep and unconventional way here. Watching our main character, Essun, rise and fall in her emotional relationships was exhilarating and devastating at the same time. The moments near the last third of the book with Innon, and her family are something that was truly touching, even if they don't fall into what our traditional social context of a family may be.
The characters are also truly engaging. Alabaster, Hoa, Innon, Tonkee. All were deep and diverse in their own respective ways. They were dimensional, having motivations that were both internal and external to their character arcs. They were interesting, each with their own goals in life.
My only really gripe about the whole book, and the only reason it doesn't get a full five stars from me, is one of Essun's character traits. Throughout the book she is persistently negative about every situation presented to her. I understand that of her character profile, but her negatively is so aggressive and outwardly projected that I lost that "suspension of disbelief" with her character at times. Even when circumstances in her life changed, even for the good, she is shown as chronically negative about every situation and environment around her. At times it is used as a motivating factor for her character. Her, "It's not right", stance makes sense, but other times she seemed to resist and challenge the other characters in a scene for no apparent gain, only to give in for what was obviously the only course of action.
Despite all of that though, this book was riveting from beginning to end and I immediately want to read the sequel.
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This year's big end of summer motorcycle trip was perhaps the longest trip I have ever taken. 2,750 miles start to finish and we traveled through at least seven states and two providences of Canada.
Let's see how that trip went.