Watch collecting journey

I’ve got to say, there is something about collecting that is fun. For whatever reason, men like to collect. It must have been a survival mechanism.

Anyway, I have collected many things over the years. Stamps. Comics. Records. CDs. Cameras. Fountain pens. Art.

At present, it is watches.

Some have a rule to have a limit and a one in, one out policy. That seems manageable. Except when you cheat and buy a bigger watch case. I have a four-watch case right now but I think a six or eight watch case might what I need want.

I have a separate case for three watches that are quartz but I think I will sell those. My wife has a two watch collection for now so the three-watch case may be perfect for her. She may catch the watch collecting bug.

Akai MPK Mini Play Mk3

Santa (AKA my wife) brought me an Akai MPK Mini Play Mk3 for Christmas this year.

The Mini Play is a MIDI controller with the functionality of a standalone keyboard. MIDI controllers are usually designed to plug into computers and used to manipulate sounds in DAWs and plugins. On its own MIDI controllers do not have the ability to generate sound.

Because the Mini Play has a bank of sounds as well as a speaker it is like what is usually called an electronic keyboard. The Mini Play as a keyboard is made all the more versatile because of the headphone jack, battery power capability, and the sound bank and speaker mentioned before.

Who is this for?

This is the first time for me to buy a synthesizer, if you may call it that. I will because it has many of the traditional controls found on synthesizers to sculpt the sound.

It has digital instruments, everyday sounds as well as synth sounds. Especially with the synth sounds you can have fun sculpting.

This is very much a keyboard/MIDI controller for someone starting out with electronic keyboards and synthesizers.

Controls

It has controls such as filter, resonance, reverb and chorus, attack, release, EQ for low and high. It also has arpeggiator functions. Notably missing are the decay, sustain, portamento controls.

It also has drum pads and built-in sounds for percussions.

Plug in is simple. An old school printer port goes to a USB which can be plugged directly into a computer or charging port.

First impressions

I have played instruments (piano traditional and electronic, marimba, guitar, cajon) before but this is the first time for trying synthesizers.

My ideal was to have a standalone keyboard to just play and learn but also to integrate with a computer to make music. I had considered electronic keyboards with fixed sounds and synthesizers. But I was quite sick of normal sounds and had an urge to recreate sounds from my favorite songs from the 80s, predominantly New Wave, New Romantic genres. Proper synthesizers were intimidating and expensive. This was a compromise of function, cost effectiveness and versatility.

As a standalone it works great. Best with monitor headphones and plugged in to a power source. the sculpting is limited but enough for me to learn how synthesizers work. The drum pads are great. Again, having that extra function makes it fun. Using the arpeggiator with both keyboard and drum pads means I can easily whip up a beat and play some accompaniment.

The easy hook up to a DAW (MPC Beats included in price) was surprising. However, learning to use the DAW is a steep learning curve. But it is probably simple basic enough for a beginner like me.

Conclusion

This keyboard/MIDI controller was exactly what I was looking for, something to recreate the sounds and music I like and listen to. It is extremely affordable at under USD200. It is can be used anywhere to think of ideas because of the built-in sounds and speaker. But also I can connect it to a computer and a DAW (included) to record music.

It is easy to use. Mini Play does not have more than two layers of menus to navigate. The layout is easy to understand with everything labeled clearly. A quick read of the short instruction manual was all that was necessary to get started with every function.

Again, who is this for?

If you are a beginner to music creation and have that itch to scratch, and your itch has to do with pianos and keyboards then this is a good buy. Not the best build quality but it is as good as a sub-USD200 can get. Being able to play music without a computer is a bonus since MIDI controllers generally do not have this functionality. This is two devices in one machine. It is a MIDI controller and it is an electronic keyboard. It is a basic synthesizer for those who want to learn about synthesizers.

Buy it and have fun.

The kidnapping of postmodernism

People complain about postmodernism, saying it gave us all the troubles we have today. I don’t believe so. These terrible water with us from the beginning. Or, at least, from the start of modernism.

After the death of Derrida postmodernism lost its voice. It was open to criticism. It was bullied into trauma. The anxiety of postmodernism is what we have. Given that it allowed itself to be open to criticism, it was betrayed. Like a cheating modernist husband it hide the fact of its duplicity from its trusting postmodernist wife. She is in shock. She is trying to recover from it. She will expose them once again for what they are — deceivers.

She has escaped from her kidnappers. She will tell her story.

I was wrong about digital music

Up to now I have complained about digital music. I complained that it didn’t sound as good as compact discs or records. But this is only true under certain conditions.

When I try to play digital music through an old school system (either through MDF speakers or wired headphones) the sound is average to say the least.

I bought a pair of apple 2nd Generation AirPods Pro recently and playing the same music through either the AirPods instead made the same piece of music sounds much better and natural. In fact it made music enjoyable again, reproducing the nuanced sounds more naturally.

In short, digital music from my phone is supposed to be played through something like AirPods which are designed for digital music. Old school speakers and systems are made for analog music. CDs are also designed to be played through such systems for which they were adapted.

Blogging after ChatGPT

Since ChatGPT who needs to build content. Essentially you can ask it to write you a post. Asked what it can do for you this was its response:

ChatGPT can assist with a wide range of writing tasks, including but not limited to:

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1. Answering questions on various topics.
2. Providing explanations on complex subjects.
3. Creative writing, such as stories, poetry, or dialogue.
4. Generating ideas or brainstorming.
5. Giving summaries or overviews of topics.
6. Assisting with homework or research.
7. Drafting emails, letters, or other forms of communication.
8. Offering programming help or code snippets.
9. Translating languages (though dedicated translation tools might be more accurate).
10. Offering recommendations, reviews, or opinions on certain topics.

It’s important to note that while ChatGPT is versatile, its responses are based on the information it has been trained on and it may not always be 100% accurate or up-to-date.

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For facts, it knows most things up to January 2022. You can even ask it to give more detail.

So we may ask why write anymore of ChatGPT can look up the information for you. Why bother searching for the information online?

Seiko Prospex Alpinist (SBDC137/SPB21J1)

This is a one week review of the Seiko Prospex “Baby” Alpinist. The brown dial paper dial on nylon NATO strap variant from the Seiko Core Shop is not usually seen in shops. But I found this at a discount in one of Seiko’s outlet stores.

Strap — the immediate thing I did was swap out the strap to a generic matte leather strap. This worked better and turned it into a work dress watch to suit a standard shirt with dress slacks and leather shoes.

Dial — the dial is an even dark brown almost black Japanese paper-like textured unlike the standard models which have rough fumé dial. This model is more in suited to work as the dial does not stand out as much. Unless you look closely it does not look like a printed dial. While it has a field watch feel to it, it is not casual in any sense. Hours are marked clearly by even numbers or indices for the odd numbers. There are minute but no sub-minute markers giving the dial a clean look.

Case — the case is in simple rounded stainless steel polished on the bezel and sides, and bushes on the top lugs. Similar in style to the iconic Rolex Explorer. It also sports a screw down crown so it is rated for 200 meter water resistance.

Crystal — the front has a single domed sapphire crystal so distortion is noticeable at an angle. Aesthetically, it is pleasing and because the dial is a three-hander it really does not matter. The back is mineral crystal glass with an annoying printed Prospex logo on it. Likely placed there to distract from the plain movement that is on display.

Movement — a 6R35 movement with a70 hour power reserve. This is great for those who want to wear another watch during the weekend and then come back to wear the watch. By Monday the watch is still running and ready to go. Not the most accurate at +25/-15 per day but that is what should expect for the price you pay. As I said also the displayed movement is not great looking with the bridges brushed and rotor engraved.

Price — I paid a low price (under USD300) since it was from an outlet. but that means it is great value. For this price I should not be expecting

• sapphire crystal
• 200 meters water resistant
• 70 hour power reserve

But that is what one gets; a lot of watch for the price. The down sides were 1) average accuracy, 2) average display back, and 3) average strap that does not match the style. These are not deal breakers. The overall quality is excellent. And changing the strap made it look great. I am considering getting the black silicone Prospex strap for it since it is water resistant.

Seiko sometimes misses by not understanding that the 70 hour power reserve is a highly desired feature. I wish they would put it into their Presage line more since there are watches I would want to wear during the week and take off for the weekend.

Start with nothing

It is sometimes useful to start with nothing than to continue with what there is.

To clear a room of things and then to reintroduce them may afford space to consider their removal.

Subtlety in analog music

I am convinced that we have sacrificed convenience for quality when it comes to recorded music.

Listening to Bruce Springsteen’s The River album I cannot help but feel that each instrument comes out so much clearer on vinyl than on streaming even though the streaming is lossless.

So what is lossless but pumping up all values of the sounds until they get in the way of each other. I suspect it is the same with compact discs as well. The subtlety of loudness is lost in digital music, or rather the softness is lost because the values are increased to be as loud as the loudest parts of the music.

There is a lot more detail in the analog playback.

Poisonous snakes in Japan

There are two snakes in Japan that are known to be poisonous. The mamushi (viper) and yamakagashi (tiger keelback).

Mamushi are light brown with a 5 yen coin-like pattern, and yamakagashi are predominantly black and orange.

Mamushi have long front fangs while yamakagashi gave short back fangs. Because of their shallow bites yamakagashi were, for a long time, thought to be non-poisonous.

the cicadas’ song

soaking into rocks
after the rain —
the cicadas’ song