Category Archives: technology

Not Yer Grandma’s Minimoog

Posted on October 8, 2021 by midiguru

If you’ve been around electronic music for a couple of decades, as I have, you may perhaps be forgiven for thinking you know what synthesizers do, and how to use them. But the world keeps on turning. This week I … Continue reading →

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Sound in Motion

Posted on October 4, 2021 by midiguru

Music is a much nicer thing to write about than religion, so let’s get back to it without delay, shall we? I try to avoid buying new bits of music software, because I already have too many great devices, but … Continue reading →

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The Host with the Most

Posted on September 19, 2021 by midiguru

Most software synthesizers can operate stand-alone, but I seldom even bother installing the stand-alone. For practical purposes, these instruments are meant to live inside a DAW. I hate that acronym, by the way, but we’re stuck with it. For those … Continue reading →

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What’s Old Is New Again

Posted on September 17, 2021 by midiguru

Unless you’re a certified Old Guy, you probably don’t remember the Ensoniq SQ-80. I had one in my home studio for a while, on loan to Keyboard from Ensoniq. Long-term loans of hardware to the magazine were pretty common in … Continue reading →

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1 + 1 + 1 = 27

Posted on September 16, 2021 by midiguru

I’m a bit of a modular synthesizer addict. A synth with a great sound is of course a wonderful thing, even if it has only a few knobs and switches — but I like nothing better than to connect signal … Continue reading →

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Nice While It Lasted

Posted on August 3, 2021 by midiguru

My Facebook account appears to have been hacked. Either that, or there’s some gigantic fuck-up in their software. Part of the problem is that I have two accounts — Jim Aikin and Jim Aikin Author. The Author account is still … Continue reading →

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Digital Dodging

Posted on February 18, 2021 by midiguru

So you’ve written something using Scrivener, and now you’re ready to publish it to Amazon as an e-book. Scrivener will output the .mobi format that Amazon Kindle uses, so you just click a couple of times and you’re good to … Continue reading →

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Devices and Desires

Posted on November 12, 2020 by midiguru

Sometimes I write, and sometimes I play music. The older I get, the less I feel the need to prove anything to anybody. It’s enough just to have fun. If something isn’t fun, why do it? Writing novels is, let’s … Continue reading →

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Desktop Publishing Does a Reboot

Posted on November 4, 2020 by midiguru

Long-time readers of this space (both of you) will be aware of my ongoing fascination with interactive fiction. This is partly because hobbyist-level computer programming is fun, partly because designing an interactive fictional world is fun, and partly because, back … Continue reading →

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Time Keeps On Slippin’, Slippin’, Slippin’…

Posted on September 26, 2020 by midiguru

Stories about time travel have been a staple of science fiction ever since H. G. Wells invented the idea. The obvious advantage of the time-travel tale is that it allows the writer to drop a modern human, a character whose … Continue reading →

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