I've added some new tracks to the the audio page, this time from a pseudo-blues project I was involved with earlier this year.

These were all done with the Roland TD-20 and SPS-S.

One of the groups I play with recently headlined at the Last Day Saloon. The way this venue is setup, all acts need to arrive early for load-in. There is only one stage, so each group needs to setup their equipment off stage in such a way that the promoter and sound crew can progressively cycle the bands on and off.

Being the headliner and with two other opening acts, we naturally had to be there early so as to the be the first group to load-in. This then meant that we, along with our entourages, needed to sit through the two opening acts. This is something we would have done anyways. It's just the way things are done -- you always support the other bands you play with. You loudly applaud each song (even if you don't like the music). You ask all your fans that are coming to see you to also stick around and support the other acts. These things are just basic courtesy.

Unfortunately 'courtesy' was not part of the openers dialect. I'd never before seen such an unprofessional display. These guys just rolled in right before curtain time, took the stage, played their tunes and then split. Without a word.

I often hear people complaining about the fact that there no longer is a strong live music scene here in the North Bay. Heck I've even been guilty of bemoaning this myself. But how can we as musicians expect people to support and back us if we don't first do the same to each other? Common courtesy can really go a long way.

This Friday I'll be playing my first gig with Voodoo Saints, at The Viking in Novato.

While going through and getting all my equipment ready, it dawned on me that this will be my first gig on acoustic drums in at least a decade! It'll be interesting to see how well I can slip back into it. Not that playing gigs with acoustics is at all physically different than with electronics, but there definitely is a different mindset to it. Particularly since this is a small enough venue that I won't be being mic'd at all and will have to rely on the sheer volume of my kit. Lucky me that I hung onto my 'rock' kit all this time -- it'll have no problem cutting through the amps :)

All in all it should be an absolute blast! So if you're looking for some fun this Friday in the North Bay, drop on by The Viking and say "hi" -- we'd love to see ya! Shows starts at 9PM.

That is all -- I just found it interesting.

I threw together a quick template for jotting down mapping ideas for the Zendrum. I find it more useful to work out ideas on paper rather than by fiddling with trigger settings or sysex directly.

Use it in good health.

So I've been trying for the past month or so to get a Jazz combo going on the side. I need more Yin to balance the Yang of the other two groups I'm working with and the moment (Blues and Hard Rock).

Things are starting to pick-up and the first decent tracks from this outing are up.

Some random thoughts from someone who hasn't played any serious Jazz in nearly 20 years:

1. 20 years is too long to go without! It's going to take a bit for my chops to come back it looks like.
2. I'd forgotten just how fun and liberating Jazz can be. This is just what the doctor ordered right now!

I really can't wait to see how far we can take this.

The learning curve will be steep -- general consensus is that it takes about a month to become proficient -- but it's going to be a fun, rewarding journey for sure!

It won't be suitable for every gig of course, but for ones where it is, the benefits are simply huge. I won't have to tear down my kit, shove it in the car, unload and setup it up, etc. Nope, I'll be able to gig outta just one or two bags. What's more is I won't have to sit behind a kit to perform, after already having to sit in the car for an hour to get to the gig in the first place.

Ergonomics and back pain avoidance aside though, it's pretty clear after fiddling around with it for only a short while that the Zendrum is going to allow me to do things that I couldn't do before, even with my electronic kit. Likewise there are things I won't be able to do at all with it, at least without some trickery (cymbal swells and press rolls come to mind). But I think that this just reinforces the fact that this isn't meant to be a drumset replacement, it's a completely different instrument.

This is gonna be fun!

The triggers I'm building right now are of the cross-bar variety and one of the frustrating aspects of these is getting the height of the trigger cone just right. I utilize rubber grommets and nylon spacers in my design to reduce vibration and increase isolation between the head and rim sensors. Finding the right size spacers can be a pain and even more than that, can quickly run into money as most hardware stores insist on selling them individually and at a premium.

Well today by happenstance I stumbled on a spool of polyethylene tubing in the plumbing asile and the heavens opened. This stuff when cut to length is vitually indistinguishable from nylon spacers. It handles being compressed like a champ, I can cut it to exactly the length I need and best of all it's damn cheap. If you're using plastic spacers in your designs you should do yourself a favor and pick some up. Why continue buying milk when you can have the cow!

So despite my previous dragging of feet, I finally went ahead and preordered a TDW-20 after I heard through the rumor mill that Full Compass was offering them for around $360 USD, shipping included.

What really gets my goat though is why this isn't their advertised price? At the time I placed my order, their reported list price was $599 and the price they were offering under their "low price guarantee" was $495. I'd never before encountered a situation before where phoning in an order resulted in a nearly 30% savings over an Internet price, especially one that claimed to have a "low price guarantee".

Look, I'm not complaining -- $360 was low enough for me to take the plunge and buy the card. It does make me wonder though how many times I've gotten the shaft by paying what seemed to be the lowest price on the Internet. I guess we should all start getting quotes over the phone again.