someone who's doing some things
I’d like to say that it’s been great, but on the whole it hasn’t, so let’s call it a day and part company!
Overall 2022 has been poor for me, so I won’t be sad to see the back of this year. Of course there’s no guarantee that 2023 will be any better.
I thought I might share some of my favourite posts from this year.
I also thought that now might be a good time to share a few favourite images from this year.
I’ve had an Orba 1 for a while now, and when the Orba 2 was announced it looked like just the update I wanted. The form factor of the the devices are identical, which is good as the accessories all fit both devices. The original Orba was fun to play with but lacked the ability to use samples, amongst other things. It was still fun, but kind of like a musical fidget toy rather than something that I could finish a piece of music with, (not that I have finished anything in a very long time).
The Orba 2 is a different story. Size wise it is exactly the same as the Orba 1.
In fact they are almost indistinguishable. However, from a functionality perspective they are very different indeed and the Orba 2 is a big step up, as is the app that is used with it.
Thus far I’ve done little more than play around with it and tried out the sound packs that come with the app. I haven’t quite got the hang of getting my own recorded samples into it so far. But I probably will in the new year, or at least that is what I intend to do.
I’m not sure if there is any real benefit to having two of these. You can’t really play them together and I don’t think that there is anything in the technology that brings them together. Perhaps that will come later.
Anyway, for now this is a nice toy, and an improvement on the original. As I get more familiar with it I will post a bit more about my experience with it and maybe even make something to listen to.
Some time ago I decided that I would try to watch the entire Star Wars Timeline. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do and Disney+ makes it nice and easy to do. The start was nice and easy, then I got into ‘The Clone Wars’, the animated series, which I wasn’t really looking forward to, especially as there are seven seasons of it. However, it really picked up in season three onwards, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it.
I am now in the first season of ‘The Bad Batch’, and season two will become available before I’ve finished that. It is going to take a while to get through. I may get it finished next year. If I find any surprises, or at least surprises for me anyway, I expect I will write something about it.
Over the last couple of years I have tried to learn Max and have experimented with various projects. Some slightly successful, others less so.
When RNBO (‘rainbow’ apparently) was announced recently, this book was also announed, and it peaked my interest again. I have only just began it, but I am going to do my best to read this and understand it, and I may even end up making something. If I do I will share it.
Also, as I make my way through the book I’ll give you my views on it.
All too often I miss interesting sounds. All too often I start recording just after it would be useful. I have often thought that what would be useful was a device that records continuously, but has the ability to capture the last fifteen minutes or so of recording. That would be so amazing.
Does anything like that exist?
Another thing that I’ve backed somewhat impulsively on Kickstarter. I had originally been looking at their previous product, the Pocuter, and I am still very tempted by that. However, I am more than aware that I can get overly excited by curious technology that I think I have a use for. Sadly, it often means that I end up with stuff that I actually have no use for at all. Hence why I said that I had impulsively backed it.
It’s due to arrive in the spring of next year. When it does I’ll post about it again.
Back in 2015 I wrote about this device on Kickstarter. It looked like a cool idea and I backed it. Seven years later I have received nothing, and, what’s more, heard nothing for quite some time about it. Then, the other day, quite out of the blue, I got an update from Kickstarter. It appears that it is still progressing. Although the timeline is months away, apparently due to the global chip shortage.
Whilst I could take that as a good sign, I still have my doubts about this ever arriving in my hands. I had pretty much given up on it.
Of course this is always the danger of Kickstarter. There have been a number of things that I have backed that never came about. The most annoying of which was the Blocks Smart watch. That one in particular was annoying as they appeared to have spent a good deal of the money on enjoying themselves rather than creating a product. I got nothing back. It still hurts.
These days I am much more careful about what I back on Kickstarter, and I back a lot fewer projects. It would be nice if this one did come about, but in many ways I have resigned myself to never seeing.
Every year I try to listen to The Wire top 50 albums of the year. It is a little ritual that I have been doing for a few years now. This year the last edition of the Wire has been delivered late, but now it is here and I am leafing through it. Normally I try to find all of the albums on Spotify, but there are always a few that aren’t there.
Some years I find one or even two things that I want to follow up on, and even if that doesn’t happen, it is an interesting experience. One that I find valuable even if at times not particularly enjoyable.
As I delve into this years selection I may post about things that I have found interesting. As yet I have no idea.
I have been a fan of UFO for a long time now. In fact I like most of the work of Anderson Entertainment. Now, Big Finish have brought UFO back in a new series, and it is really good. I decided to get it without hearing it first, and it was well worth it.
I won’t go into details about the story as you might just be thinking about getting it yourself, but it is good. Really good. I’m looking forward to the next stories.
I posted about this a while back and since then I have found a couple of additional uses that are vaguely helpful. Or at least they are vaguely helpful for me.
I use a lot of alarms. A lot of things to remind of what I need to. Being able to have them on multiple devices might be useful. So far I’m not entirely how useful this might be, but I’ll try it out.
This is also a potentially useful feature, but again I’ll have to spend more time seeing just how useful it might be.
Like so many bits of technology that I have, I struggle to make them actually useful to me. These two features of the HomePod Mini might be useful, or at least it is a possibility, and one that I’ll try. I’d actually like the HomePod to do more, but so far I haven’t found any other uses.
Of course I do make use of it as a speaker, which is of course its primary purpose. In terms of that it works just fine.
I am Ashley Elsdon 