November 25, 2016

8.45 am: Off to Information Services to retrieve an ailing laptop. What a great computer service this university has! They’ve never let me down. Homeward, via the National Library of Wales … the town laid bare below. ‘The tree of life also in the midst of the garden’ (Gen. 2.9):

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9.15 am: At St David’s Road: ‘hieroglyphs’ (sacred writing): significations; sunlight/sun-write; nature’s photography. They appear, like so many displaced souls — seeming almost sentient. So much, in this alone:

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9.20 pm: Back into the studio. Today, I begin (or, rather, take up again) another sound project: SteelWork. It marks my return to an industrial theme. The theme of the day is, however, equipment and methods, and the repair and learning thereof. My rejuvenated laptop has now a much older IOS, one that is compatible with sound software that I’ve not been able to use on more more recent upgrades of Apple’s operating system. And this includes some of the company’s own software, conspicuously. I refuse to pay hundreds of pounds on new sound software just to play catch up with my computers. The process of reinstallation is always slow and tortuous.

11.00 am: As discs installed, I put Pedalboards III & IV through their paces in the effects loops of my guitar amplifier. Pedalboard II malfunctioned. But the problem was caused by the ‘kill’/buffer settings on the first and last pedal. Easily solved. Once the architecture of the loop was resolved, everything functioned. Then, everything had to be tested, one effector at a time:

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3.10 pm: In that moment (the burning bush):

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Evening: The two pedal boards having been made ship-shape, and software re-uploaded, I proceeded to rationalise and label cables. Pedalboard II was now in my sights. Finally, I put the revitalised computer’s sound outputs through their paces. I’ve now restored the capacity for using sound software and hardware that I’d lost when I’d upgraded to IOS 10.9 and beyond. (A bad move, in retrospect.)

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