Spent some quality time at the NGA, Canberra the other day.
They had a exhibition of some wonderful art on loan from the Tate (mostly).
https://nga.gov.au/lovedesire/
I remember seeing this painting as a child in a book. In the flesh it's ever more beautiful.
It's of course Ophelia by John Everett Millais.
Painted in 1851, it depicts a character from Shapesphere ... Ophelia who was driven mad after her lover Hamlet murdered her father.
Poppies signify death . Daisies innocence. The drooping branches evoke tears & sadness.
Holman Hunt - the light of the world.
Painted around 1851 - 56
It's all about salvation as Christ holding a lantern emerges from the darkness.
A later version of this toured Australia in 1905. It was seen by 4/5 of the population.
This is a cool painting about love, desire and disappointment.
It's called broken vow. Painted 1856.
The young lady in the foreground has just discovered her lover has been unfaithful.
Tales of romantic and tragic love often appear in the Pre-Raphaelites' works.
Its interesting to see how women were depicted in Victorian times.
This version of the Annunciation by Rossetti is so untraditional and very "human". Mary looks very disturbed and uncomfortable when the angel Gabriel visits.
This is a pretty famous painting ,,,, the lady of Shalott, 1888.
The subject has left the safety of her home to pursue Lancelot.
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Monday, 22 April 2019
Fairlight IIx - Page 2 - Disk Control
Disk Control - Page 2
Page 2 is where you can view the files on the floppy disks that are used to store sounds, sequences, etc.
From here you can also load, delete, copy, rename and store files.
The files ending in IN are instrument files.(page 3)
The files ending in VC are voice files.(page 3)
The files ending in SQ are sequencer files.(page 9)
The files ending in RS are Real Time Composer files (Page R).
The files ending in .CO are control files.(page7)
To access page 2 type
P2<return>
To access page 2 help type
H2<return>
You can also copy files between disks.
Use the TRANSFER command. If you are using floppy disks you will need to remove the left hand disk (which contains the system disk) to copy the file to. After the copy is done, you need to replace that disk with the system disk.
Page 2 is where you can view the files on the floppy disks that are used to store sounds, sequences, etc.
From here you can also load, delete, copy, rename and store files.
The files ending in IN are instrument files.(page 3)
The files ending in VC are voice files.(page 3)
The files ending in SQ are sequencer files.(page 9)
The files ending in RS are Real Time Composer files (Page R).
The files ending in .CO are control files.(page7)
To access page 2 type
P2<return>
To access page 2 help type
H2<return>
You can also copy files between disks.
Use the TRANSFER command. If you are using floppy disks you will need to remove the left hand disk (which contains the system disk) to copy the file to. After the copy is done, you need to replace that disk with the system disk.
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Fairlight IIx - Page 1 - Index
The user interface of the Fairlight is divided into 19 pages.
They are numbered 1-9 and then A, C, D, F, I, L, N, R, S. T
When you first boot the machine this page is what you are confronted with:
It's an index or menu. The selection of other pages is its function.
You can jump to these pages using the alpha-numeric QUERTY keyboard or lightpen.
(There is one page missing from this picture ... its page T. ... the "diagnostic table"... its a means to achieve long distance diagnosis... to remotely diagnose faults. The manual doesn't say much else about this table).
If you are using the keyboard to navigate, the first command to learn is:
Pn<return>
P = page
n = page number or letter.
so to go to page D type
PD<return>
to go to page 3 type
P3<return>
They are numbered 1-9 and then A, C, D, F, I, L, N, R, S. T
When you first boot the machine this page is what you are confronted with:
It's an index or menu. The selection of other pages is its function.
You can jump to these pages using the alpha-numeric QUERTY keyboard or lightpen.
(There is one page missing from this picture ... its page T. ... the "diagnostic table"... its a means to achieve long distance diagnosis... to remotely diagnose faults. The manual doesn't say much else about this table).
If you are using the keyboard to navigate, the first command to learn is:
Pn<return>
P = page
n = page number or letter.
so to go to page D type
PD<return>
to go to page 3 type
P3<return>
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Portabellabz BOB - 208 toolbox - Build notes
These are my build notes for the Portabellabz BOB.
Constantin's excellent expander for you easel.
These notes I'm not affiliated with Papz. These notes are purely my own personal records to help me trouble shoot if I run into any problems during the build. Hopefully these will help other DIYers.
Constantin's website is here and you can but the kits here too.
The user manual:
http://www.portabellabz.be/images/208ToolBox.pdf
The BOM & official Build notes are here:
http://www.portabellabz.be/toolbox.html#doc
Constantin's excellent expander for you easel.
These notes I'm not affiliated with Papz. These notes are purely my own personal records to help me trouble shoot if I run into any problems during the build. Hopefully these will help other DIYers.
Constantin's website is here and you can but the kits here too.
The user manual:
http://www.portabellabz.be/images/208ToolBox.pdf
The BOM & official Build notes are here:
http://www.portabellabz.be/toolbox.html#doc
Sunday, 21 April 2019
Fairlight CMI - Page 3 - Keyboard Control
Page 3 is really important.
You won't be able to use Page R, untill you have set up Page 3 correctly.
This page is how you make an "instrument" on a Fairlight CMI.
The instrument has the potential to have 8 voices.
Each voice can use the same one sample, or up to 8 different samples.
Page 3 also allows you to determine keyboard splits, so sounds can be allocated different keyboard regions.
This is a typical page 3 showing voice, keyboard and tuning allocation.
Here you can see which voices are coming out of the 8 audio channels.
Any voice can be tuned to +/- 0.01 of a semitome (+/- 6 octaves).
Stability is really good ... quartz crystal.
You can see a master tuning section in the lower right of the screen.
Here you can control the pitch of all the loaded voices.
These tunings can be saved as an instrument file (.IN) for future use.
You need to allocate a voice to each register.
Each register is in effect a virtual keyboard.
You can have up to 8 registers (but not more)
The registers are labelled A - H.
NPHONY = polyphony
The CMI will allocate a max NPHONY of 8.
In the above pic an NPHONY of 1 has been allocated to each channel or register.
Here I have an file loaded into registry A with a NPHONY of 7.
(one of my sound cards is not working for now so I have a max of 7 voices)
By default, the CMI will allocate a NPHONY of 8 when you load up a single voice file (.VC).
To allow different sounds to be loaded, more registers have to be opened.
To do this move the cursor (via the lightpen or the arrow key) to the NPHONY numbered 7.
Type : 1<set>
This gives register A one voice, and automatically opens up register B.
In a similar way, I've just allocated the remaining 6 channels.
So far no voices have been allocated to the remaining 6 channels.
This is a pic of my loaded "floppy" with the available voice files:
To allocate voices use the commands:
L,n,voicefile<enter>
(where n = voice allocation table )
For example, to allocate GONG.VC to register B, use this command:
L,B,GONG<enter>
Nice :-)
Use the same method to allocate more voices.
Now that we have got this far, it's a good time to save your work as an instrument file.
To do this type:
S,filename.IN<return>
or
S,IN,filename<return>
I'm saving this as JONO1.IN
S,JONO1.IN<return>
Yes there it is on my virtual floppy disc.
--------------------------------------------
To load an instrument file type:
L,filename.IN<return>
or
L,IN,filename<return>
----------------
To set the NPHONY of a register use the arrow keys to tab to NPHONY
type: n<set>
Where n is the the desired polyphony
To delete a register type
0<set>
-------------------------------
Setting the mode of a voice.
Each voice has two modes: 1 or 4
Use the arrow key to tab to MODE for the desired voice.
Type: n<set>
n = 1 or 4
Read page 4 for more info about mode 1 vs 4
You won't be able to use Page R, untill you have set up Page 3 correctly.
This page is how you make an "instrument" on a Fairlight CMI.
The instrument has the potential to have 8 voices.
Each voice can use the same one sample, or up to 8 different samples.
Page 3 also allows you to determine keyboard splits, so sounds can be allocated different keyboard regions.
This is a typical page 3 showing voice, keyboard and tuning allocation.
Here you can see which voices are coming out of the 8 audio channels.
Any voice can be tuned to +/- 0.01 of a semitome (+/- 6 octaves).
Stability is really good ... quartz crystal.
You can see a master tuning section in the lower right of the screen.
Here you can control the pitch of all the loaded voices.
These tunings can be saved as an instrument file (.IN) for future use.
You need to allocate a voice to each register.
Each register is in effect a virtual keyboard.
You can have up to 8 registers (but not more)
The registers are labelled A - H.
NPHONY = polyphony
The CMI will allocate a max NPHONY of 8.
In the above pic an NPHONY of 1 has been allocated to each channel or register.
Here I have an file loaded into registry A with a NPHONY of 7.
(one of my sound cards is not working for now so I have a max of 7 voices)
By default, the CMI will allocate a NPHONY of 8 when you load up a single voice file (.VC).
To do this move the cursor (via the lightpen or the arrow key) to the NPHONY numbered 7.
Type : 1<set>
This gives register A one voice, and automatically opens up register B.
In a similar way, I've just allocated the remaining 6 channels.
So far no voices have been allocated to the remaining 6 channels.
This is a pic of my loaded "floppy" with the available voice files:
To allocate voices use the commands:
L,n,voicefile<enter>
(where n = voice allocation table )
For example, to allocate GONG.VC to register B, use this command:
L,B,GONG<enter>
Nice :-)
Use the same method to allocate more voices.
Now that we have got this far, it's a good time to save your work as an instrument file.
To do this type:
S,filename.IN<return>
or
S,IN,filename<return>
I'm saving this as JONO1.IN
S,JONO1.IN<return>
Yes there it is on my virtual floppy disc.
--------------------------------------------
To load an instrument file type:
L,filename.IN<return>
or
L,IN,filename<return>
----------------
To set the NPHONY of a register use the arrow keys to tab to NPHONY
type: n<set>
Where n is the the desired polyphony
To delete a register type
0<set>
-------------------------------
Setting the mode of a voice.
Each voice has two modes: 1 or 4
Use the arrow key to tab to MODE for the desired voice.
Type: n<set>
n = 1 or 4
Read page 4 for more info about mode 1 vs 4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is a instance of a 8 voice instrument file.
Each register (A to H) has a polyphony of 1.
If you play the master keyboard, you will hear the file "ACCBASS1.VC"
then type :
n<set>
where n = the KBD number , and <SET> is the alphanumeric keyboard button SET.
So to listen to "ELEBASS2" I typed :
8<SET>
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Access Virus TI - Teardown
I was going to sell my Access Virus today so opened it up to check that all was OK.
In the end I decided to keep it.
She does sound very very good.
I think the TI especially is a classic.
I've never looked inside one before. I wanted to check that the battery was ok
The yellow IC is a resistor network. "sumc1603 332G"
(Thanks Luke for the info)
Very easy though there are lots of screws.
Another thing I noticed was the ribbon cable was blackened.
tHE cable connects the In/outs to the mother board
Potential for shorting if that heat sink burns through..
I'll probably replace this .
The removal of the daughter PBC ... holds the L'quid crystal display.
You will need to remove this if you wish to get to the faceplate.
Remove those 5 standoffs.
In the end I decided to keep it.
She does sound very very good.
I think the TI especially is a classic.
I've never looked inside one before. I wanted to check that the battery was ok
The yellow IC is a resistor network. "sumc1603 332G"
(Thanks Luke for the info)
Very easy though there are lots of screws.
Another thing I noticed was the ribbon cable was blackened.
tHE cable connects the In/outs to the mother board
Potential for shorting if that heat sink burns through..
I'll probably replace this .
The removal of the daughter PBC ... holds the L'quid crystal display.
You will need to remove this if you wish to get to the faceplate.
Remove those 5 standoffs.
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