Cosmic Dance: The Big Bounce

 

A Cosmologically Bouncy Techno Guitar Pop track...

THE BIG BOUNCE is one of the Cosmology theories on the Universe.  That after the BIG BANG, and expanding universe, there comes a time, some 30 billion years later, when it all collapses and the process starts again with another BIG BANG.  Hence THE BIG BOUNCE.

Interestingly this "matches" the Hindu Nasadiya Sukta ( 1500 BCE ~1000 BCE). The Creation Myth. Even the billions of years time frame.  The Cosmic Dance of Shiva is briefly shown. 

As an individual, the UNIVERSE, what it is and how it happened is on time scales so vast it is irrelevant to our insignificant lives.  Still really interesting though.

Carl Sagan talked about all this in episode 10 of his 1980 TV series COSMOS.  46 years later we are no closer to knowing the real answer.  It is something for our descendants to discover, hopefully within the next 5 billion years before our Sun dies and burns our whole solar system to dust.  Expect in a few billion years our descendants will look very little like humanity does now.

The lyrics of this touch on, the Creation Theories and the Hindu Nasadiya Sukta.

Lyrics  THE BIG BOUNCE 

Before the breath of time was drawn, 

Before the twilight or the dawn, 

Did it spring from golden seed, 

Or a silent, dreaming need? 

時の息吹が吹き込まれる前から、

黄昏も夜明けも訪れる前から、

それは黄金の種から芽生えたのか、

それとも、静かで夢見るような

渇望から生まれたのか？

Who can say what sages saw, 

Of the churning, cosmic law? 

Was it woven from the dark, 

Or ignited by a spark? 

賢者たちが何を見たのか、

渦巻く宇宙の法則について、

誰が語れようか？

それは闇から紡ぎ出されたのか、

それとも一筋の火花によって

点火されたのか？

Even gods arrived too late, 

To behold the opening gate— 

So who knows if it will burn, 

Or in cycles, just return?

神々でさえも、門が開くのを

目撃するには遅すぎた――

だから、それが燃え尽きるのか、

それとも循環を繰り返して、

ただ戻ってくるのか、誰にも

わからない。

Through the dark energy's pull, 

Will the vacuum stay full? 

Or a Big Rip ahead, 

Tearing space until it's dead?

ダークエネルギーの引力によって、

真空は満たされたままでいるの

だろうか？

それとも、ビッグ・リップが

待ち受けており、

空間が死に至るまで引き裂かれて

いくのだろうか？

The drums are only a dubstep KICK and SNARE.   I based it on a much longer instrumental thing I did a year or so ago. The bass patterns are a VITAL synth patch. Made it to be just under 3 minutes to not be as repetitive. It isn't a usual song structure, but that is what I like to do. 

When doing vocal overdubs, the DAW latency becomes an issue. DIRECT MONITORING doesn't help when doing vocal multitracking. Have to turn off fancy reverb and limit backing to just what is needed to keep the rhythm and pitch right. Have found that when I do 3 tracks of vocals, aligning them in time manually becomes important to keep the words clear.

Track on our Bandcamp:

https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/album/ep-the-songs

Also updated the 8 page PDF booklet with the 7 songs info:

Edit: 6/28/2026 the next day and even though it got over 250 views on Facebook, YouTube only managed 31 last I looked. 

Luckily, I do it just for my own entertainment...  

Other Things

Been much rain this week, so haven't gotten out much.  Did order the recent Moebius Library: The Depressed Hunter from Dark Horse.  Even though THE AIRTIGHT GARAGE isn't a great comic to read, the artwork is amazing.

Interesting John Carpenter Interview. 

Even as someone with successes, it doesn't last and he found some looked down on "horror", as a lesser genre.  

He was also flogging his coming album and comic book combo. 

Came across this video in the last week on why people buy expensive guitars.  The Osaka Sound Messe I have visited the last years is mostly boutique guitars and other gear like hand made pedals.   

I originally thought I would be interested in Mattia's FREAK GUITAR LAB ulv7 7 string. Till I saw the original price was 900,000yen and recently some 750,000yen. This is just luxury goods pricing, and that they are expensive and exclusive is what those buyers are after.  As someone that's most expensive guitar at todays prices, (and I paid 20,000yen less!) is only 60,000yen and I don't have the guitar love that many others seem to have, I ask myself how did I get involved with this scene?  

The answer I know was because of Mattias's clinics at SoundMesse.  That was for his technique and approach demonstrations.    

But I myself are more a Creator/ Inventor type  recently working on my original MUSIC+COMICS. It is the resulting song and animation that is what I am about. Not the collecting of rare limited edition gear. 

The thing is, on a recording, you can't hear the difference between an expensive and reasonably priced guitar. And it is the recorded sound that matters to me. I am not collecting art objects or status symbols, or performing live.   Seems performing live is a significant part of the guitar scene and I have zero interest in that. 

Anyway the why of buying expensive guitars is how it makes the guitar loving buyer feel. Recapturing their youth or the beauty of the guitars finish. The finish of a Custom Shop $7000 Fender for example, even though it looks exactly the same as the $500 model, makes it easier to play, even if it sounds the same when recorded. 

They are just all tools to me though, and I agree with Adam Savages approach to tool purchase. Buy the cheapest one, and if you actually use it and it eventually breaks or has a problem you can not fix with it, get a better one the next time. 

When I first started using REAPER, my audio interface consisted of a Behringer MC-100 and ASIO4ALL going into the motherboard audio of my PC. Used it for many years in fact. The specs were completely fine for metal guitar, synths and vocals stuff. 

When I bought a Win10 Laptop in preparation to move back to Japan, I also bought a Roland Rubix22 as a reasonable carry on solution.  Always found the Rubix inferior to my preamp plus ASIO4ALL approach though!  

Biggest issue was the Rubix didn't go well with all the standard Windows stuff, like Skype. Skype couldn't see the microphone. Don't know if that was because much of Roland were Apple fanboys when I was there or not, and so didn't care.

The preamps also don't have enough gain for a dynamic microphone (you have to be kidding me!)  and the level indicators are okay/ clipping only. Hate that! Looks like they copied a Scarlet 2i2 badly and got things wrong as they never used it.

The way Roland Japan always seemed to work was that if someone were an expert in something, that something isn't the job they would give you, so you wouldn't argue with management.  No idea what the place was like during the development period of the Rubix units though. 

On going to Windows 11 with a new PC, I didn't connect the Rubix, but used a MACKIE 402VLZ4, motherboard audio and ASIO4ALL again.  It works fine, but without having an extra DIRECT MONITORING box, I don't have zero latency instrument or vocal takes.

The top diagram is what I currently have

The bottom diagram is what I would need to add to be able to MIX between PC IN and OUT audio for  zero latency takes. Could be implemented as a stereo 2 input mixer, such as this unit on Amazon.

Then I see SSL has introduced a new low end audio interface, the SSL1. A cut down SSL2 MKII. 

The MIX button on this gives a 50/50 mix of direct inputs and output of the DAW to the headphones.  To adjust the level of the backing you are singing or playing to, you adjust your DAW output level.  What seems to be attractive about this unit though is the driver supports all kinds of windows driver ins and outs to make it very usable in all kinds of streaming and recording applications.  

My current setup doesn't allow REAPER and GUITAR PRO to make sound at the same time, but not sure if the SSL1 driver would allow that.   The driver for the Roland UA-1G did, but that isn't supported under Win11.

Edit: 6/30/2026 I looked at what I had and decided to try just using the Rubix22 just as a LINE-IN interface and ignore its not great preamps. So I have the Mackie mixer feeding into it, and instruments and microphone plug into the Mackie.

The Rubix22 is set for MONO DIRECT MONITOR, so the closed back headphones plug into it get the zero latency pre computer instruments sound, and the sound from the computer independently adjustable.  Seems pretty usable so far, and driver plays fairly with other apps, such as ZOOM I use a lapel microphone with. 

Edit: 6/28/2026 the next day.  Did this silly thing with 4 tracks of vocals and it was all fine to do with existing system with 3.4ms latency and no DIRECT MONITORING.

Buried it in reverb in this animation, but don' know if will use it for the start of something else yet...

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

Bait & Switch Supreme: Of Internet/ Phone / Streaming Services

 

Bait & Switch Supreme was the unusual song I wrote this week. On the constant Internet/ Phone / Streaming service Bait & Switch, where the service you signed up for, now has advertisements, costs more while providing a worse service and they steal everything you create to feed their AI systems.

Seems rather cynical, but that is the place we are today. I have to shake my head at all the tech companies that sacked 1000s of their programmers to replace them with AI to save money, now find AI costs more!

Did the music at 140BPM, wanting a high energy rock guitar feel thing. First version had stand in lyric of "hello how you doing." It is a non standard structure made of 8 bar sections, where an 8 bar instrumental section is followed by an 8 bar vocal verse. I think these are Instruments with vocals rather than "songs". No one cares what I do, so I do what ever I want 😁

Mattias IA Eklundh was the inspiration for me doing this kind of thing, my own way. Even if my stuff is musically unsophisticated and only ever in 4/4, I do ALL of it and the animation/comics too. 😊 Some people are really into the technical gymnastics of the playing of the likes of Dream Theater, but I like my stuff to SAY SOMETHING!

Yesterday, went to make a phone call on my Rakuten Android phone on the platform before catching a train and the call app first put up a blocking popup to "WANT TO UPGRADE YOUR PLAN NOW?" It didn't used to do that. I am sure I will go to render audio in REAPER DAW in the future and MICROSOFT will make you watch a 30second video commercial first before you can press the render button! Guitar is my Ibanez GIO fixed bridge 7 string. Love the tuning and stability now, but that was terrible till I used a set of NUT FILES to correct the plastic nut slots. Guitar sounds all free NEURAL DSP MODELLER vst and EQ.

What the REAPER DAW project looks like:

The Megaphone effect at start and end has more low end than I used before, just to make it less harsh sounding.

I used to fuss about the mix and mastering in years past but not now. Check it is frequency balanced in SPAN in slow mastering mode, and the LUFS level is where I want it is all I do now. Most people will see it as a SHORT on YouTube on earbuds. Nothing else matters.

Sure the Philosophers versions of the lyrics will not encourage views from the POPCORN BRAINED We can be contacted at: https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/ Lyrics (English & Japanese): Bait And Switch Supreme Always out to win, The Algorithms Spin Terms and conditions have changed, All you posts are claimed Always out to win, Trapped inside this game Marketers are here, The warning signs are clear. Always out to win, Grifters and their spin Selling you the dream, Everything is a scheme. Fakers on the screen, Bait & Switch Supreme Algorithms spin, Everything is a scheme. Always out to win, Grifters and their spin. Always out to win. Always out to win. ---- 究極の「おとり商法」 常に勝利を狙い、 アルゴリズムが紡ぐ 利用規約が変わり、 あなたの投稿はすべて奪われた 常に勝利を狙い、 このゲームの中に閉じ込められて マーケターたちがここにいる、 警告のサインは明白だ。 常に勝利を狙い、 詐欺師たちとその策略 夢を売りつけ、 すべてが罠だ。 画面上の偽者たち、 究極の「おとり商法」 アルゴリズムが回り、 すべてが罠だ。 常に勝利を狙い、 詐欺師たちとその策略。 常に勝利を狙う。 常に勝利を狙う。

Of course the Philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Socrates spoke Ancient Greek. But if they wrote these lyrics in English it could be like

"Terms and conditions have changed, All you posts are claimed
Always out to win, Trapped inside this game"
As said by Plato:

The masters of the forum have altered
have brought forth from your mind is
now claimed as their own trophy.

their eternal covenants; all that you

"Marketers are here,
The warning signs are clear.
Always out to win, Grifters and their spin"
As said by Aristotle: "The rhetoricians of the market are
upon us, and the portents of their
arrival are unmistakable. Driven by
a relentless pursuit of victory rather
than truth, these sophists employ
their art solely for deception and
private gain."

"Selling you the dream, Everything is a scheme.
Fakers on the screen, Bait & Switch Supreme"
as said by Socrates
"They offer you a phantom of the
good life, yet it is but an illusion, a
grand deception. Look closely at
those who project their shadows
upon the wall; they are but merchants
of false realities, masters of the
bait and switch, substituting true
wisdom for a fleeting, superficial prize."

Other Things

Hans Zimmer struggled intensely for three awful days scoring this mutiny scene in Crimson Tide. Everyone else had been banned from the studio. I was on milky coffee duty alone with Hans in the studio. - Roger Bolton (Fairlight CMI UK support and FB friend) posted on Facebook yesterday. He posted more about it too.

So coming up with this compelling music was a really difficult torturous thing for Hans. Creativity isn't easy.

In the 1995 film Crimson Tide, the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was a foundational tool for Hans Zimmer. It allowed him to combine bold, sampled orchestral elements with driving synthesizers

In my own musical journey in retirement, it isn't any more gear that I need. Musical ideas, or rather new ideas I haven't used dozens of times before is the thing I need. Involves expanding musical knowledge and "luck" I think. A reason I went to Mattia's Freak Guitar Camp last year.  I don't have a movie deadline, but do want to do a MUSIC + COMIC every week to release on Saturday.  That is about as far as my own goals go these days.  Have no interest in Spotify or the current music "whatever". 

Put the above song into my EP - The Song on Bandcamp

So all from the last 6 months and made around a working project I have. Similar sounds and structures and sounds.   But are they really all just variations on the SAME SONG?   

I see I have 213 MUSIC VIDEOS in my MUSIC+COMICS MUSIC VIDEOS PLAYLIST in my YouTube channel. There will never be enough.

Carl Sagan has been quite the influence on me, that I didn't really think about much till recently. Or maybe things like having no trust in superstitions, and mindless rituals and their believers is just my natural position? I had to do a lot of fault finding of devices and systems, and so PROVING what the problem really is was so important to fixing things. Seen many NOT DO that! This "code has some bug, so I will rewrite it" without understanding what the real problem is is just a waste of time. Just a mindless superstition. 

Did a 4WD truck illustration for an engineering company and yet to get feedback on it and the concept for a pump on skids that goes with it.

4WD tires are tedious, but I do have a process now, after many years of doing them. It involves doing the face on view using the CAD like CorelDraw copy rotate and place functions. Doing them first makes the rest of the illustration a much less tedious affair.

Out to the Cat Trimmer Friday again. Every 2.5 months and the 5th time now, so worked out how to fill our 1.5~2 hours around SUMINODO STATION while she does her magic on our "youngest child", who is now 10 years old. I find it interesting that at first he thinks he is going to the Vet and complains, but then seems to enjoy the train ride with all those other interesting people and smells and then me carrying him around in his cat carrier.

We make his appointment at 11:30AM, so we then go have a leisurely lunch at OSAKA OHSHO. Did not think it was great the first 2 times we went, but then I tried their CHICKEN KARAGE and that is wonderful! GYOZA also goes down well, and trying other smaller dishes too.

After that, we then make our way to DOUTOR COFFEE. It was overcrowded until the KOMEDA COFFEE opened a couple of months ago, and now is the perfect place to have a drink and wait for the Cat Trimmers phone call.

We had previously tried STARBUCK, ZETTERIA & HOLLIES and found them all rather noisy and unpleasant in some way, at least to my wife. STARBUCK annoys me in particular, being too noisy and crowded, being filled with people "working" on laptops!

A tiring trip for me carrying a 5Kg cat in his carrier around KYOBASHI STATIONS OSAKA and from and to SUMINODO STATION. Getting from the KEIHAN STATION platform to the JR STATION platform is a long way.  The first time we ever went was by Taxi, and that took longer and was more door to door, but I don't like being in the back seat of a car.  It is also way more expensive, taking about an hour each way! 

Been using Obsidian for the last week+ . Much faster to start up than Scrivener is significant to me. Unlike Notepad++ has a spell checker and formatting. Used it in writing the above song and taking notes. That is enough, so has a use to me.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

EP - The Songs

 

So we put together an EP (Extended Play) with 5 of our vocal / instrumentals from the first 6 months of 2026 and put that on Bandcamp, and also made an 8 page booklet about the tracks, lyrics and the thinking behind it.

Not that anyone will play them. Even for FREE. Uploading to the void it is called.

More interesting for me is putting them, and the EP artwork on my Android phone for the Pulsar Music Player., where I can play them over and over and think about all the mistakes and things that should be different.

These have the vocal to think about. Like the singing lacks emoting and variation.  They are all more like Instrumentals with vocals sections, rather than songs, but that is because they were done as part of MUSIC+COMICS, and not traditional songs. 

At least I tell myself that.

This morning also put up the Comfort & Fear YouTube SHORT.

Not sure if the "cute" animation will attract or repulse with this one.

Other Things

I have Scrivener for notes and writing.  It is very much like a Software IDE, with a group of small text files, you can than place in order, move them around, then compile that into the final document.  It has a few tools to simulate a post it note view of the story too.

I rarely compile anything but use all the small notes files as memos.  I expected to be writing more comics with it, but I end up doing all that in Corel draw itself, as I much prefer the rapid prototyping approach where I do the comic quickly, then refine it, as I can move things around. I don't have the story all finished first then start the comic.  It is just way easier to finish things that way.

One of the many YouTube videos on my timeline was on useful free tools to replace the usual commercial productivity stuff.  I moved to LibreOffice with my move to win11.  I once considered getting Evernote for my phone, but never did, and see that the original promise of never loose any idea ever, was pre ENSHITAFICATION and isn't true now. 

Obsidian gets mentioned every so often, and I tried it today.  A bunch of .md text files, you can trivially add hyperlinks in, and to, other text documents in it. Text files can have images dropped in them, and has all the usual expected text formatting tools and spell checker.  But I see it has to copy the image file into your Obsidian projects folder, and not a system wide link. A least it looks that way at first go.

Reminds me a bit of building my core HTML website, except you don't have to use html to put in hyperlinks. 

Has easy ways to do dated log entries. Not something I need in retirement though. My diary is hand written in paper books, and I refer to that a lot, but automating it doesn't make that easier.  I keep a big Calendar too with key things on it, which makes finding the diary entry easier.  My diary is just a lined B5 notebook where I leave a line and write the date of the next entry. Some days I don't write anything at all, and those days just aren't in the diary. No wasted, fixed sized pages for days not needed.

Apparently the SEARCH in  Obsidian is really good.  TIMER plugins would have been useful in my consulting days, but not now.

It displays your web of links between your notes.  A few from my playing with it.

I guess that is more interesting after a time when you have forgotten some of the idea/notes you have and can rediscover them.

All in all, I don't think Obsidian is something I actually need any more, but would have loved 30+ years ago.  Will try it as a learning tool.  Finding stuff may be easier than just paper notes or Scrivener text files. Don't know. Most of the stuff I have seen as advantages seems overcomplicated and not relevant to me any more. To remember something, writing it out on paper with a pen works best for me.

Wife now back from her 10 day trip, and the time flew by. Feels like she just went to the supermarket.

I have had a few Boss pedals in my time, and sold most of them way before now. I see them more as performers tools, rather than for in the studio the way I work. Still have distortion, EQ and Wha pedal. I think the thing about them is, like McDonalds, consistent quality, powering, useability and availability is in their favor.  

It seems Japan isn't an important focus of the company now though, since I have been back in Japan. The BOSS IR-2 wasn't available in Japan till a year after all the overseas Youtubers and Sweetwater had them.  I had been after one, but ended up with the POD EXPRESS BLACK as being far more my thing anyway, and available.

The BOSS XS-1 has been mostly unobtainable anywhere for 6 months now. Seems strange. Could get a DROP as it is available but I can really do the same thing in my REAPER DAW.   Have an 8 string too, so really low isn't an issue either. The DROP seems to handle pinch harmonics better, but has a greater latency and sounds dull shifting down more than 3 semitones.

I worked in Roland Japan for 15 years. Met people from Roland RG, but have no memory of anyone from BOSS Japan.  Must have met a few, don't remember any. 

Michael started at the cinema here 2026/6/12. I have the same 1958 birthyear as Michael Jackson and it was a shock, but not a surprise, when he died of a painkiller/ anesthetic overdose.  Saw all the documentaries about his achievements then.  Oldest son has gone to see the film today and loved it. It isn't something on my go see list unless the wife wants to see it.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

Comfort & Fear | That PTSD & Anxiety Song

 

So recorded some music, came back later, made up some lyrics and added vocals and made a draft of a song I now call Comfort and Fear.  Came back later again and changed the melodic 6 string guitar part. 

Made this 25 second miming my vocal as a joke using OBS and my webcam. I am doing a VOYAGER DOCTOR like thing in the above joke video with over emoting it all, trying to be human. I am not going to be doing any lip sync videos, that is for sure. 

Didn't spend long on the lyrics. Just trying different words, with a theme.  Actually 2 themes then try and sing them. Sounding right as a song is better than having the right meaning as text. 

The vocal chain this time doesn't use my VintageVerb, but ReaVerb with a LEXICON 480L plate IR. I can't hear the difference though. But I have a 2 echo stereo slap back delay before the reverb in this, rather than in parallel via sends the way I have done. Will keep this new way as my vocal chain till I get sick of it.

My vocal delivery is probably more "musical theater" than rock or metal, as I try and make the lyric very clear. Even if the words themselves end up being ambiguous.

The 8 and 6 string guitars used:

Made this DRAFT music+ comic on it about 2 stories around PTSD. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 心的外傷後ストレス障害

I may change the lyric after I play it a bit and get completely sick of it, like I normally do. Having Nightmare twice in a verse seems wrong, and I may change it to something else. EDIT: I did in the version that will get put on Bandcamp.

On Bandcamp:  Comfort And Fear - The PTSD Anxiety Song

Years ago I used to fuss about the mix and mastering of my tracks. Was it close to "commercial releases" or not and what to do to fix that?  I don't bother any more. If the mastering, slow, spectrum looks reasonable, and it sounds reasonable to my (poor late 60s ) ears that is good enough for me, the one that will actually play them. 

Comfort and Fear can be interpreted in various ways. I have observed foreign residents in Japan all over social media having that "Comfort & Fear" thing.  I did the first time I was here in 1987 to some extent, but mostly from "I don't know how things work here" for the first years.  Changes to the Japanese VISA laws with new "language ability tests" for PR is sure to bring out the fear in many... I have PR already, so don't expect any issues, but they can always change that too. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

The Final Chapter | To KIX Airport

 

More singing, for a bit of it anyway. More like an instrumental with vocals in the chorus. I already put the track on Bandcamp earlier in the week, but to get more views have made a too long SHORT. 

In your late 60s, you are very aware you are in your final chapter of life. This year is 50 years since last year of High School. Grand children and health issues are normal.  This is pretty much aimed at the  class of '76. 

Living your life as you need too

Far from the noise and the chaotic view 

The pace of life is up to me now

In this final chapter we’re not looking back now

 

For those of us with health on our side 

In this final chapter we run as we please

 

Here's cheers to good health 

Not having to work at a career was a huge relief, and being above to do what you want is really great. For me that is mostly  going to a certain kinds of art exhibitions a few times a year, making my own silly music/ comics (with other hobbies) and go to cafe's once or week or so.  It is said your 60s are the best decade and I agree. No work and still healthy enough to go out and do things and get around.

Our cat is such a significant part of each day now. He is 10 years old and spends most of everyday, 22 out of 24 hours, close by me. He is in the chair next to me as I am typing this.  

My wife is in Poland with an old school friend and avid traveler for 10days. My wife will meet the polish girl she has been a pen pal with since junior High School.  It was my wife's friend that suggested they go. She has been so many places recently and usually goes on a tour by herself. Her husband doing his own thing.

I know of a few people my own age with terminal illness, and that the end comes to us all eventually. Sounds a bit grim, but I don't think it is. I think the thing to hope for is just to not suffer at the end. Stay as fit as possible, for as long as possible. And have fun in your remaining time and do what keeps you a happy camper.

This is Heavy 8 string guitar with Neural DSP Modeler , cheesy string machine, Inception synth lead. Has Metal guitar sounds but it isn't metal.

The "CLASS of  1976" reunion images in the short are AI generated.  I have played with AI a bit. It is another tool if used correctly. Shame most don't use it that way. Very little it generates is useful to me in all I have tried. I could do something similar myself, but that would take hours and the ROI isn't worth it. It gets across this aging thing well enough. It is actually the music that is main, but that is not what SHORT viewers are after.

It may seem I am implying I don't have long left, but I will probably have another 20+ years. The song is mostly about living your life the way you want till the end, when ever that may be. But I really didn't spend much time thinking about the lyrics.  Some of the original words I used couldn't be sung, so I changed them, to something that rhythmed better, and becomes more obscure.  

e.g:

Chaotic view  implies career, city commutes and the stress of working for a living. 

I was more worried about my singing and the mix than the actual words though, so they really aren't something I deeply considered first!

Other Things

The last few things I have done all have singing in them. Moral Constipation, Dragons Of Our Minds and Final Chapter say something, even if obscure and the lyric could be interpreted in other ways. Story Shaped Beats is even more obscure!  I like that, and want to continue, but probably comes across as mansplaining. But so much of the lyrics in music I have ever heard doesn't have anything significant to say other than I love you and lets have a good time.

It adds a more interesting dimension, and expands the comics I put with the music.  I had been feeling I was doing the same thing over and over again,  but lyrics changes that. 

There are so many things to try...

Next want to put in DUBSTEP sounds as well as heavy 8 string guitar.

COSMOS the TV series is available to watch on the INTERNET ARCHIVE.   I have recently been referencing things Carl Sagan said or wrote and I though I should revisit COSMOS. 

So bought the too book: 

Some weeks ago watched the movie of his novel CONTACT on Netflix too.  

To KIX Airport.  The Typhon this week, estimated to come through the KIX airport area the day she was to leave ended up moving on early so we had a rain free trip to KIX Airport by train.  She had worried about that a lot for a week before she was to leave. 

The "joke" picture I posted to X with myself, wife and her friend at KIX airport. She says this will be her last International trip. It is around 2 hours each way home to KIX airport and I helped her carry her things.  Glad I didn't have to catch an International Flight myself.  That is just too tiring and tedious these days.   

We had never used the train before. All previous times we had used a Limousine Bus from a nearby station instead. Unfortunately those services have now all been cancelled. It used to be a much more comfortable and faster trip. 

We catch the train to the Airport at Kyobashi station on the Osaka Loop.  The same train also later goes to Wakayama, but what they do is the first 4 carriages go to the airport, and the last 4 go to Wakayama. The train gets divided at Hineno station, the stop before KIX.  Never seen this before.  

It was also the first time to see the Enshittification of the once glorious tool Google Maps.  Now it doesn't give you the cheapest easiest route by default!  😡 

Back doing some Illustration concepts this week.  

Cooking isn't something I do very often now. The kitchen is my wife's domain. Gyoza and boiled eggs have been about it for my contribution for the last few years, but with wife away have done mashed potato and steamed broccoli to go with chicken and it is a nice feeling. At least for a short time. Can buy many prepared foods at the local supermarket and 7/11, but really simple home style isn't one of them.

Moral Constipation is a track and SHORT did a few weeks ago using my old dynamic microphone. Compared to the last 2 tracks using the e945, the vocals do sound much dimmer to me now. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

Dragons Of Our Minds | ex-Apple Designer Does a Car

 

A recent X discussion was metal songs have lyrics with dragons 😀

Carl Sagan's 1977 book discusses "The dragons in the dungeons of our mind", related to the "lizard" brain will still have. That isn't quite how they discuss the brain these days, but it works for some song lyrics with dragons that isn't cliche.

The evolutionary oldest parts of our brain is responsible for the lowest level fight/ flight/ pattern finding aspects of ourselves. The pattern finding appears to be the thing responsible for Superstition. And in recent years "Conspiracy Theories".

Lyrics:
The Power Of Intellect Power riding the sky
Power taking you high
The mind taking control
Superstitions will fall Power riding the sky
Power taking you high
Feel the current rise
Beneath digital skies The dragons in the dungeons of our mind
Bowing down to magical thinking Though dragons still linger inside,
Across the cosmic ocean, we stride.

I want my lyrics to mean something. Freak Kitchen and Rage Against The Machine have meaningful lyrics, but most bands don't. The only old Deep Purple song that meant anything was Mary Long, but their hits don't really say anything. The recent albums in 2025 and 2026 have changed that though.

But is my song here "metal"??? Sections with more RAMMSTEIN-ish riffing would help..

It isn't any common metal genre I know of. The guitar tones are metal though...

I keep coming back to Carl Sagan's writing. The pale blue dot. The dragons in the dungeons of our mind. Maybe as his TV series COSMOS had such a big impact on me when it aired in 1980?

The music here started as trying out YouTuber Glen Fricker's EQ before and after NEURAL DSP MODELER  on a quick 8 string guitar thing.

I did like the result I was getting. I then came back and added a little 6 string to the synth and drums. I made a MUSIC+COMIC and that, that included the above screen shot of reaper.

So expanding that with lyrics was my next thought. Something Cyber PUNK was my first thought, but the discussion on X a few weeks ago that much of metal had Dragons in the lyrics or something else cliche had kept coming back to that thought. DIO had a lot of that, and "kill the king" too. I had also drawn an original dragon and posted it to that thread.

So I did a quick test with 2 verses and liked that. Used my old dynamic Aston DM-50 microphone (a cheap Shure SM-58 look alike that isn't available any more) I had bought in a kit with a mic stand when I started using Reaper some 15 years ago. It was promising.

I had bought an "amazing for the price" Condenser Audio Technica AT-2020 many years ago as it was recommended in Sound On Sound Magazine and in Sydney Australia I had a large space and some acoustic treatment to use it in.  Used for a fair few things, but found it kind of resonant with my voice in that space, even if "bright and airy".  It picked up all the noises in the room though.

Now in Japan, in a tiny acoustically untreated space, I thought I should get a better dynamic microphone and see how that goes. Noise inside and outside the house is also a problem. The SM7B is the go to for everyone now days, but I didn't want to spend ¥64,900 as an old retired hobbyist.  I did consider carefully a SM-57 ¥15,253, rather than a SM-58 though.

Had looked at the prices of candidates on Amazon and Soundhouse and was considering them all. Then after a trip to a Mall Cafe, I visited the Shimamura Music there and they had the Sennheiser e945 for as good a price as anywhere, in stock, I could take home with me.  Another live vocals microphone, a bit brighter than a SM-58, that I had preferred in the few mic comparison videos I had seen on YouTube. More expensive than a SM-57 or SM-58. A more condenser sounding dynamic, but with the restrictive pickup pattern I needed.

So bought that. 

Seems good to me, so that is what the above MUSIC+COMIC uses. 

I probably need to investigate vocal setups more, but me actually singing is the biggest struggle. I "can sing", but part of being a real singer is the breathing, and that is something I haven't got a hold on.  I record a verse at a time, and have to edit out all the huge taking a breath sounds I make.  Another rabbit hole to go down.

Double tracking the vocals gives a tighter sound than triple tracking them. One track just seems too thin, without lots of processing. I have only a light vocal plate reverb on these.

But what really struck me about how I sing the verse "Power riding the sky Power taking you high " is it having a Ian Anderson of  Jethro Tull sound to it!

Could anyone tell the difference between the vocals in my MORAL CONSTIPATION and this with a different microphone?  I think I can. It is a bit brighter, may even cut through the mix a bit better. No one else would notice though.

So will I get more serious about the singing side? Yes, maybe...  still not bothering with a registered record label, associated costs or Spotify though.

In my GENRE, I am number1! I am also the only one my genre!

Other Things

Wife is off with an old, well travelled, school friend to Poland for a bit over a week. Hope that all goes fine.  She has had a Polish pen friend for 50 years and will finally meet her.  International flights aren't something I want to take anymore!

After the 50th Anniversary of Fairlight Instruments, some of the people behind the ill fated 30th Anniversary CMI 30A have introduced the FI-50 CMI during the week

What is in the process of being released now is a CMI I-II-IIx "Raspberry PI" on a CMI compatible card that replaces the CPU, Floppy, Graphics & MISC boards of original systems and can drive original channel cards with updated and modernized version of the last CMI IIx software release.  The system software and sound library all fits on an SD CARD.

An original Fairlight programmer wrote a script in his spare time, over the last almost 2 years to convert the original 6809 ASSEMBLER SOURCE to C++, handling all the memory mapping, and floppy drive schemes the original system did, and get it to run on a Raspberry Pi. He said he didn't implement a 6809 emulator at all, and left much to the modern C++ compiler to optimize. He then added a few new pages and features appropriate to the UI all existing computers use, but the CMI didn't.

This all runs much faster than the original system did.

Now that would be nice for maybe the 300 CMI IIx owners that still care about their ancient system, but doesn't seem like much of a win to me.

BUT, they also demoed a CMI II in a 3U 19" box during the 50th Anniversary Party they had in Sydney, that also has CMI-I channel card simulation (probably a single card) , including optional switched capacitor lowpass filters.  

Technically interesting, but I was never a CMI owner or user.  I developed some of the boards of earlier systems and the core electronics of the CMI Series III, but I feel rather distant from the cheering of this new version.  I don't need it. Doesn't have anything to do with me. 

REAPER does all I can use.

The EX-APPLE Designers EV car is here. It does not look as much like an Apple mouse as we had expected in 2022.  Expect the charging port is underneath  though 😂... (That would explain the tanking stock price!)

The cartoon I did on the day it was released, referencing a page from my 2022 HEAVY METAL GARAGE comic:

Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Art has the Ghost In The Shell Movie artwork exhibition from 2026/07/27 ~ 2026/08/30. Will be going to that, and the is a ROYAL HOST after, on the way back to the station😎.   

When I saw it on in Tokyo, I didn't think it was worth going to Tokyo for an overnight trip for it. Glad I didn't now.

The Masamune Shirow exhibit I did an overnight trip for last year ended up being in Osaka for a while and I should have just waited and gone to that. The exhibit was great, but the trip just knocked me out and I didn't have any energy to do anything for the time I spent in Shinjuku. 

A problem getting old.

Boomerang III Phrase Sampler PCB silkscreen: 

"May the music passing through this device somehow help to bring just a little more peace to this troubled world" 😍

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

Distortion & Other Guitar Pedals

A YouTube SHORT scheduled for 8:30AM Japan time Saturday 23rd May, on rating the guitar pedals we still have. I sold my Chorus, Delay and Compressor when I started using a PC based recording production system. Those are applied in the DAW now using Vallhala DSP and other plug-ins.  

Mostly using the POD EXPRESS BLACK at the moment. I don’t use any delay or the other effects in any of my patches for it. Just Amplifiers with and without Cabinets.  If no cabinet I use an IR in the DAW for more variety. 

I updated my last blog about the Sound Messe Osaka 2026 during the week, so don’t need to add more about that. But there were many pedals, and I didn’t try any of them. A guy I met at the evening event is a PEDALBOARD COLLECTOR & GUITARIST, it says on the name card he gave me in exchange for my stickers. A huge collection by the look of it some 2m x 3m when laid out on the floor! The only pedals I have been interested in for many years have been distortion, and am happy enough with the options I have now, and don’t need more.

Last year I did this water color storybook version of my Sound Messe Osaka 2025 experience:

It has had 11 views. I do like the look and character design and have considered doing a Sound Messe Osaka 2026 version of my day. The lack of views isn't a discouragement. 

Rick Beato first interviewed Billy Corgan a few years ago and that was when I heard SMASHING PUMPKIN's tracks like Jelly Belly for the first time. I then bought some 3 of their albums. I only got the Orange BIG MUFF some time after that and used it for a few things, then decided I prefer distortion over that kind of fuzz.

The music in this comic, rock I guess, in this short is only 55 seconds long. It has a break in the center, to change the feeling when the synth melody comes in and so not feel as repetitive.

All the stats I have on views is that that this is still far too long, and most bale at 2~ 5 seconds and 18 seconds is the limit for the current POPCORN BRAINED mass population. 

But who cares about what morons want?

Thing is, 55 seconds is still a really short piece of music that isn’t just an intro theme and not that satisfying to only be used in a short.  But even for this short thing, this is like 8 versions after the quick comic I made with it and posted to X a few days ago.  The more I listen , the more I find wrong with it and need to fix it.  Loose all perspective on it.

I could come back and make it longer with additional sections and lyrics. We will see how I feel.

Had wanted this to be heavier and more METAL, but that didn’t happen. Maybe next time. Thing is that isn’t the type of thing that is particularly popular to throw on a SHORT, so am conflicted to not reduce a possible audience even more.  

Other Things

It took me the week to recover from last Saturday’s Sound Messe Osaka 2026. Not sure I am over it even today. Glad I didn’t catch any nasty lurgies, so that was good, even as the percentage of mask wearers is way down now in such a crowded space.  

There are still lots of daily X posts of the demos, products and the happenings taken there. Exhausting following them all.  Just gets too much for me.

FB reminded me of an old comic strip I tried:

1)THE UNIVERSE IS A VAST PLACE…

2)LIFE IS EVERYWHERE. EVEN IF MUCH IS JUST AN ORGANIC OOZE CREEPING ALONG THE ROCKS.

3)JUST THING, WE EVOLVED FROM SOMETHING LIKE THIS…

4)AND IN A GALACTIC EYE BLINK, THESE GUYS WILL DEVELOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND BE MOANING AT EACH OTHER…

1)宇宙は広大だ…

2)生命は至る所に存在する。たとえその多くが、岩の上を這い回る有機物のドロドロした塊に過ぎないとしても。

3)考えてみれば、私たちもこんなものから進化したんだ…

4)そして、銀河の瞬きほどの短い時間のうちに、こいつらはソーシャルメディアを発明して、互いに愚痴り合うようになるだろう…

Having a successful strip in a newspaper would have been a dream come true for most cartoonists, then actually having to do it everyday would become an incredible burden for many years. But then there were many strips that started great, then become something that wasn't worth reading too.   

John Carpenter and Band have a HORROR Metal Album and matching Graphic Novel Coming out in August. Love the sound of the current track:   

I have bought 3 of their previous albums and need to add this.

Was planning to go to the opening session Friday morning of THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. I hadn’t seen any of the streaming TV, so watched a  "YouTube catch up on Mando before seeing the movie" and the endless repeating "set out/ get double crossed/ get captured/ battle / escape/ rescued" with cute baby Yoda got really dull for me. Star Wars setting, Western Tropes and a powerful cute 50 year old baby. 

I didn't care to see it after that, or at least bother to get to a cinema for it. It gets reviewed as 2 TV episodes run together, the last one being dull.  

I didn’t bother to see the last 2 AVATAR movies either. Just don’t care about some things...

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN

Enfants Terribles | Sound Messe Osaka 2026

 

MORAL CONSTIPATION the Short.  

The making of the music was discussed in the last Blog. It is all about the vocal meaning...

The comment on it from an old Jazz Muso colleague, TOM: 

"You're certainly moving in to a new era, with your music & lyrics fit. Well done!"

Which is as good as an old musical cartoonist can expect! 😎

Music is just a Hobby, and I am still so new to song writing, even if I sang in school.

Sound Messe Osaka 2026 

Out to ATC HALL today for the Messe, which is actually a Guitar Show. Acoustic/ Electric and Accessories  like pedals/ amps with a lot of artist performances on several stages and in some of the booths.  

I am not particularly interested in those performances and have no idea who most of the artists are. Seemed to me last year that many of the attendees where just there for the performances.  Or is that just where the most seats are to take a rest?

Cosplaying today as an oldman. 😁

I have ZERO interest in Acoustic Guitars and will not even walk through that part of the exhibit.  

It opens at 11AM, but I have to leave home at 9:30AM to get there by then as it is by the water at Osaka bay.  Reason to get there when it opens is to try and get one of the 35 tickets for the 3 guitarists gig in Shisaibashi's MUSIC BAR M from 7:30PM that evening. That was the deal in 2024 to get in. Maybe can just buy at the venue tonight? Not sure now...

That will make it a very long day for me. I expect to crash at my son's apartment for awhile between the Messe and Bar Show, if I get a ticket.  It is also expected to be 29°C, so a long hot day. Not sure I will last. 

People involved with metal guitarist TOKYO METAL CITY were promoting a bunch of his shirt and hat merchandise . I wasn't interested in getting any of that, but could have made a hat for myself at the same POD place. Like this:  

May do that for the next event, but I do have cards and stickers to give away. Having a hat would make identifying me a bit easier. Maybe that doesn't matter at all.

Just strange that way I guess... 😆

UPDATE: 2026/5/18 

Attended the event. Much good, but also some that isn't.

2 minutes of  what I went for:

The ELECTRIC GUITAR HALL is mostly the ceiling as Japan privacy means I don't want to show people in it. The noise is ridicules as people playing through amplifiers in the booths can't hear themselves, so it gets louder and louder.  Many "old style" guitarists need the volume to play and feel it.  Guitar/pedal booths need Amp sims and headphones, the same way it is in the PEDAL exhibit area, and the way the German Guitar Show did it this year. They put guitar amps in another location all together.

Fender/ Gibson don't bother with the show. They made their own stores, the way BOSE did to sell  their poor audio gear, so customers could not A/B compare to a better product next to it.

There are so many talented guitarists about! Guitar is also such a big thing in Japan.  

Seems to me, that Sound Messe is all about low quantity, quality handmade products.  Few well known names.  Almost COMIKET (self published comics) or WONDER FESTIVAL (models & garage kits) in scope. 

The highlight for me though was the event put on at MUSIC BAR M.  Brilliantly MC'ed by TOKYO METAL CITY with BABI (Mr. Ishida of Zanshin Instruments, Zanshin Records).

Kelly Simonz is awesome. He seems to be very influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, and I don't know why I had never heard of him till attending last years Sound Messe Osaka. 

Luke came down with flu and blues playing Akihiro took his place at the last minute. 

TOKYO METAL CITY, as well as being the brilliant MC and interviewer finished the evening. His SANDBLASTER is in the video above.  But unfortunately, I had to leave to get home after only 2 of his tracks.  Seems the event finished over an hour after I left.  These kind of events aren't targeted at those near 70 and over with a long train ride home😂.  

I wish TOKYO METAL CITY all the best making his way on the path he has chosen.

I managed to give away a few of my stickers, and even got one in return from ZAKKsan, THE NEXT SOUND.

And after thinking about it for a day or so, these, THE HOT WATER TRADE:

And one in Japanese, お湯売:

Some exhibitors know what they are doing, actually trying to get customers to like them and have them try/ buy their  product.  BUT not all are like that and some musical instrument companies and staff are just Chimpira (チンピラ)🤬 . 

And, just to show how true that thought is, FENDER comes out attacking the Guitar Industry.

TIM PIERCE ( was an LA SESSION player) drawing the same conclusion as everyone else. FENDER is killing themselves in this legal attack, and showing their real problem is they don't make good guitars anymore...

In the late 1980s YAMAHA tried to stop even the originators of samplers from manufacturing and selling their systems. Showed me how really broken the patent system is.  YAMAHA would see a demo on an instrument, make a patent on the tech they saw with a trivial improvement,  then tried to use that to attack other manufactures.  

THE DX-7 & CS-80 were amazing instruments back in the day, but YAMAHA aren't really relevant to anyone but fan boys and girls these days. 

FREAK GUITAR LAB JAPAN

One of the main reasons for me to go to Sound Messe Osaka 2026 was to see how Mattias's Made in Japan guitars were going.  I had been interested in buying his Made in Sweden 7 string till I was told it was 900,000yen! That due to poor yen exchange rate and taxes.

Units closer to production were on display at Sound Messe Osaka May 2026.  I expect their release later this year.  I was told price to be around 380,000yen.  The first models will not have True Temperament Frets as that would make them even more expensive. Expect a TTF model later.

In 2025 when I was looking at the first prototype (made by dragonfly) and thinking to myself "that body shape isn't cool", Mattias came up behind me and said, "we are working on making a better Super Strat Shape!" .  He read my mind.  

So they are a much nicer looking guitar now.  But that price is high and it doesn't have true temperament frets, even if the true temperament fret improvement is far too subtle for the way I play guitar to notice. 

What isn't mentioned much is true temperament are for STANDARD E tuning, but support down tuning all the strings.  Not going to help in Open G or C or whatever strange tunning you may want to try though. 

Seems to me they are marketing that to someone who would pay that because it is a low volume, limited edition, Mattias ( an awesome musician and great guy!) product, rather than buy a similarly spec'd Ibanez for 1/3 ~ 1/2  the price.  Japan does have lots of collectors. 

Note that Tokyo Metal City played a FREAK GUITAR LAB Made In Japan guitar during his set in the video above...

My Best Pick

¥323,400 for the bottom fixed bridge, headless, multiscale, 7 string Strandberg, is "my pick" for current best guitar, even if setting Intonation, 12 fret tuning, is really tedious. BUT, as a retired hobbyist synths & guitarist for 50 years, I still feel like a beginner that can't justify cost/ benefit of it🥴

Was a professional inventor/ designer/ programmer/ manager in the electronic musical instrument industry for 25 years (before changing to safety/ training/ medical things), but only ever an amateur musician. No one cares what I release.  Been a "pro" (as in getting paid) cartoonist for 25 years though, hence I feel more comfortable describing myself now as a Musical Cartoonist 😎.  The careful/ cheap Scotsman  in me I think 🤔 

Enfants Terribles

Was out to Nakanoshima Museum Of Art for the Enfants Terribles exhibition of 3 local artists on Tuesday.  

It is Yanobe Kenji with his Space Cats, ATOM HEAD suit and such that was the attraction to me though.  Even got a 500yen SPACE CAT from a BANDAI Gashapon Machine outside the museum shop, rather than the  30cm tall Orange SPACE CAT artists figure of the 3m tall one that guards the outside of the Museum going for 49000yen! 

Was a nice warm fine day. This is the best time of year

Love the whimsical pop art ness of Kenji's work. 

It isn't that far out to Nakanoshima, and I only walked around for about 90 minutes total, but came home and slept for an hour or so, I was that tired.  This getting old and needing Grandpa naps is very true, and a concern for me. Managing my energy  seems to be getting more important as the weeks go by.

I can see how going out far just gets way too much trouble as you age. 

映像研には手を出すな！Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

The bluray arrived and this was the first time for me to see that a US region disc would not play in a Japanese player, despite being "the same region".   So used a different player...

The interactions between the 3 main characters, each with a skill & a social disability,  PRODUCER, DIRECTOR/ CONCEPT ARTIST and ANIMATOR are utterly glorious.  

The issues are EXACTLY the same designing and building anything, and I have been all these rolls in my engineering career.  All real world issues discussed, but about Animation Production here.  

I can see why Elvis Costello, 3 years my senior, a musician, also loved it too. 

What a glorious thing Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! is. 

What Retired People Found

YouTube has shown me so many of these recently. I don't watch many, but found many of the same things myself.  

- Not having to go to an office and deal with problems and the people, and the commute is such a huge relief.  No performance reviews or dealing with arseholes. The stress from your life vanishes. 

- Looking inward, not money or promotion or those types of external goals, makes you realize what is really important to you.  

- Sometimes not achieving anything at all in a day is great too.

- So much of the advice thrown out in the world has been by loud extraverts, that does not apply at all to the rest of us.  

There is this thing where you can judge someone's character from how they treat the waiters and waitresses and such people. Even possible customers.  If they aren't treated with respect, you know you can't trust them.  Avoiding those people is a good thing to do.  

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology  KYOTO JAPAN