Colin Walker - random posts

Back to work on the early shift this week and the alarm came as a most unwelcome shock to the system. I don't know why we continue to start at 6:30am during the current climate when no one we support is working or in the office at that time. Still, it gave me the time to process the hundreds of unread emails from last week and delete the vast majority that are not needed or irrelevant. The rest were filed away as I try to start each week with inbox zero.

My personal inbox, however, has been slowly gathering mails – it currently contains 11 newsletters that I need/want to either read properly and/or respond to. I need to set aside some time for this and give them the attention they deserve.

You might say that I don't need to do any of this, that neither reading nor replying to some newsletters will make any real difference, that this is a want. Maybe so, but I equate this want with a personal need, a need to continually educate and challenge myself, a need to let those who send their thoughts know that they are welcome and appreciated.

So gradually, mail by mail, I will devote to them the time they require, read them properly and offer a reply where appropriate – even if it's just to provide a quick note of thanks. My not doing so may not, individually, make much of a difference but if we all decline to do so how many voices will be silenced? How many just won't bother? The world would be a poorer place.

2025/01/15#p1

I got a Behringer TD-3-MO for Christmas – their emulation (and enhancement) of the Roland TB-303 with the notorious Devil Fish mods. It gives so much more control over the sound compared to a normal TD-3 and really screams when put through a decent distortion pedal.

Over the past couple of days, I have been working on a track using it but accidentally came up with something that sounded like the old Speak & Spell toy that first came out in the late 70's.

Within about half an hour (before bed last night) I'd come up with this semi-minimal track, appropriately called Speak 'n' Spell.

#acid

2025/01/15#p2

I have decided to mothball The Garden.

It has not been deleted – I'm still proud of what I built even if I don't use it – as you never know when I might want to repurpose parts of it.

Instead, it is now inaccessible unless logged in, whereas it used to be public.

The Garden served me well while writing It's Only Words so maybe I'll return to it should I ever need to gather a lot of material for another project. For now, however, I am content to use the blog or notes.

Colin Walker