Sonikmatter: The 5G in Yo' Booty Edition
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Sonikmatter: The 5G in Yo' Booty Edition
Volume 4: February 6, 2021
When I first started writing a month ago, I wondered if I would make it a month before getting bored, quitting, and leaving the world of music once again. However, yesterday, as I laid sweating in bed with my window cracked open, letting in subfreezing air trying to cool my body, I realized that I sorely wanted to get up and write.
As the plans for a permanent home for Sonik materialize, I am fascinated by the simplicity of a newsletter while still hoping to hear your voices — and music — once again.
So why was I so ill yesterday, you may ask.
About two and a half weeks ago, I signed up and received my first injection for the Covid-19 🦠 Virus. It was by and far one of the least painful injections I have received. I had almost wondered if the nurse did anything at all. The next morning I woke up to a small knot in my arm around the injection site, allaying my fears that she had just gone through the motions. And this was the worst of it: no pain, no fever, no nothing. The knot went away a few days later.
On Thursday, I had gone in for my second vaccination 💉 — and it too felt as if nothing had happened. I went back to my office to finish up the day, walked my pup, and headed to the gym. I felt as if my health was better than it had been for months and had one of the most restful nights of sleep with amazingly vivid dreams that I dutifully forgot to record in my dream journal on my nightstand.
…and then I woke up.
…a bit hazy and malaised.
…with no energy nor any desire to find any as my pup held a shoe in her mouth and dropping it on my face as if to tell me she had waited long enough for her walk and her increasingly desire to poop as soon as she could find open grass to defile.
I got up. We walked. She pooped. Twice. And I crawled right back into bed, transmitting a few personal development courses onto my television so that I could pretend I was earning my paycheck. But mostly passing out in fevered pitches with the window opened to the elements trying to cool my body. My internal temperature spiked a few degrees🌡, but still far short of anything dangerous. And in the end, it was far less intense than any flu I’ve ever had. Within 24-hours, I was back up, and I feel amazing.
Some would tell you that this was an expected course for this vaccination. That the discomfort I felt was simply the natural reaction of the body rapidly building antibodies. I’m here to tell you that is wrong. We all know that Bill Gates has been personally developing vaccines in the basement of his penthouse apartment on the 131st floor of the Seattle Space Needle 💉. I guess that would technically make it the 130th floor. What? The Space Needle doesn’t have 130 floors, nor does Bill Gates reside there? Get out of here with that negativity.
These people got the vaccine.
And guess what? They have 5G in their booty. And apparently, so do I. So why are my nipples only getting 3G speeds??? Am I holding them wrong??? 📱
Others have other beliefs as to the cause of this. Instead of injecting Windows 95 into our butts, the Q-anon forums have been sending out actual schematics of the circuitry going into our system.
The Metal Zone Conspiracy!!! 🎸🎸🎸
A careful viewer of this circuitry was able to discern this was, in fact, the legendary Boss Metalzone Pedal! Anyone born in the ’70s and ’80s that ever picked up a guitar probably had one of these in their arsenal. I have one connected to my Steve Vai Bad Horsie pedal used exclusively with my 3-Stringed Warlock tuned to play only power chords.
Instead of putting the funk in your butt, has Boss licensed their technology to Ride The Lightning into your long sold soul???
Interestingly enough, this same circuity has been incorporated into a new craft brewed version of the Boss pedals, rebuilding them into something unique…
技 Waza Craft by Boss
Waza Craft is a reimagining of the earliest pedals, pedals that sucked enough that you didn’t want to admit to using them but cheap enough that you knew everyone else was doing the same thing.
The MT-2 is very popular and still in production nearly three decades after its release in 1991, with #2 overall sales in the whole BOSS lineup. At the same time, it is very unique, so we think many might have shied away from it. By releasing the MT-2W in the Waza Craft lineup, we thought it would be a great chance for people to revisit this pedal—not only the brushed-up MT-2 tone in Standard mode, but also the versatile and wide-ranging Custom mode.
https://www.boss.info/us/promos/waza_craft/
🧠 What Are We Making???
Taking something old and rebuilding it into something that is genuinely yours as I’ve refocused on creativity, I have been kitting out my studio space with vinyl cutters, 3D printers, and an electronics workbench. One of the first builds of the new year has been a 10-Key Mechanical Macro Keyboard.
Specifically, the Navi10.
What is a ‘macro keyboard’?
My build is not as beautiful as this one. And it is certainly not as functional as two keys need to be resoldered. But it is a fantastic device. On the surface, it is a replacement for arrow and other standard keys of yesterday that are lost in the shuffle of making computers smaller and smaller. I type this on a 60% keyboard where these same keys are there if you remember the specific command sequence.
However, the beauty of this is that these keys can be anything you’d like them to be. Programed by an Arduino-compatible chip, the coding is open source, and you can choose to have these enter any key you’d like…or a sequence of keys…or even MIDI notes.
The Navi10 was $15 at the location above. Added to this cost was the price of 10 MX compatible switches, some keycaps pulled from an unused keyboard, and a USB Micro cable.
In just about two hours, I was able to solder and assemble this keyboard. I am still learning the language to do the actual programming, and I am re-doing the build with the new key switches linked above, but I am ready to start my next project to create a studio controller for Logic Audio. And unlike my Countour Pro Shuttle or my Griffin Powermate, I will never have to worry that the manufacturer has abandoned the product in hopes that you will upgrade to one of their newer products with the same specs that actually work on your system.
Be sure to watch the Sonikmatter site for videos and tutorials on how to do this yourself and learn along with me as I find the time to update and edit the earlier build videos!
🔮Poll: What Are You Using To Make Your Studio More Efficient???
Do you love the ASMR sounds of mechanical keyboards clacking??? How about the sounds of LEGOs being played with??? LEGO created a site specifically for lovers of the autonomous sensory meridian response…those soothing sounds that give you goosebumps and make your brain relax.
🔊 What are we listening to
Shirley Bassey Goldfinger at the Royal Albert Hall
Shirley Bassey was the quintessential Bond Girl, having imagined three of the most iconic James Band Themes: Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, and Moonraker; and while not appearing on screen, still exuding the worldly beauty that these movies championed. Her voice is iconic, and sadly, here in America, this is her only chart-topping hit.
via Book of Joe
It is Black History Month, so to continue the journey of lifting Black Female Voices, we feature Lauryn Hill performing Nina Simone’s.
Lauryn Hill — Feeling Good
Lauryn Hill had exactly one solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. While most artists are happy to hit Platinum status with one million sales, this album found Diamond status in 1998, climbing into the stratosphere with less than a hundred other albums. While still performing live, she has never released a follow-up to this incredible album.
"She just felt uninspired,” he said. “Some people money is a driving force for them. For her, money isn’t a driving force for her.
“If she had a billion dollars, if she had one dollar she would’ve done it the exact same way….When she says she wasn’t…she’s been uninspired she means that.”
📚 What Are We Reading
The Motherlode highlights more than 100 women who have shaped the power, scope, and reach of rap music, including pioneers like Roxanne Shanté, game changers like Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott, and current reigning queens like Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Lizzo--as well as everyone who came before, after, and in between. Some of these women were respected but not widely celebrated. Some are impossible not to know. Some of these women have stood on their own; others were forced into templates, compelled to stand beside men in big rap crews. Some have been trapped in a strange critical space between respected MC and object. They are characters, caricatures, lyricists, at times both feminine and explicit. This book profiles each of these women, their musical and career breakthroughs, and the ways in which they each helped change the culture of rap.
https://bookshop.org/books/the-motherlode-100-women-who-made-hip-hop/9781419742965
Trivia: As I’ve sprinkled emoji throughout this newsletter, I’ve wondered how these little cartoons come from? You’d be surprised by the backroom dark-money that goes into getting the next 💩 into your mobile device.
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/963370085/emojiconomics
As someone that wants ethics in emoji, I have this to say: 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻.
Gear: AMPEF SVT-VR for Free
Looking for new VSTs and Audio Units, check out this deal — Free until February 19th, 2021.
The Brainworx Ampeg SVT-VR Classic plugin is free over at Plugin-Alliance. Simply use the code AMPEG-FOR-FREE at checkout before 19 February.
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/ampeg_svtvr_classic.html
Sonikmatter: Mind + Music + Technology
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