SyntheSizing Spiders

It’s been a long year this week!

SyntheSpider

 
I finally got around to revamping the SyntheSpider website. As mentioned in an earlier post, I set up the SyntheSpider Stuff blog to document my progress in the Roland Guitar Synth Challenge. That blog is an offshoot of the SyntheSpider site, and the site was in sore need of a facelift and update. I also took the opportunity to begin moving the gear pages I used to have on the SoaringSpider site over to SyntheSpider. I’ve been a busy little spider bee.

In His Service

 
The Lord was gracious. He allowed me to play at church this morning. With all that’s been going on recently (a lot of which I don’t share with the public) I really needed that this morning. There is something about playing in a worship service that you don’t get playing at an event like last week’s chili festival.

Sally From Syracuse

 
Back in 1998 we sallied forth from Syracuse (and you probably thought I was going to talk about the famous song by Stu Nunnery!) and ended up here in New Bern. As much as I don’t miss dealing with the bitter cold and the snow and especially the slushy mush that’s in the streets and driveways and parking lots so often during the winter, I truly do miss old friends.

So in my copious spare time the last week or so I’ve been tracking some of those folks down on facebook. It’s been a lot of fun. And I see I’m not the only one who’s been through a lot of stuff through the years.

I mentioned earlier that my Share The Stage series may have some of the Syracuse folks in it. I’ve been keeping a list and have several names from Central New York to add in.

And speaking of STS, it’s become obvious to me that I won’t be able to devote a separate post to each artist. I’ll be doing them in batches of from 1 (which I guess ain’t really a batch) to some number larger than that (sorry if I’m not being vague enough).

All In All

 
That’s it for now. More later.

Guitar Synthesizer Challenge

It came to my attention a couple days ago that Roland is sponsoring a guitar synthesizer challenge. The object of the challenge is to produce a video of original material featuring one of the many guitar synths that Roland has made over the years and put it up on YouTube. Deadline for entry is (just before) midnight on the 31st of December.

GR-30 Time

 
If you recall from an earlier post I have a Roland GR-30. So I’m going to try and make a video of myself and the GR-30. Since I’ve been gigging with it a bit lately I’m somewhat in shape for the challenge. By mid-December I should have something together.

SoaringSpider on YouTube?

 
So I’ll obviously need to set up my own YouTube channel, rather than using the Cold Biscuit Band channel. OK, done: here is my channel. I’ll most likely post some interim non-entries before I do the final work.

And Another Bird Goes Down

 
I also have had a BOSS RC-50 Loop Station for over a year now and don’t have a lot of experience with it under my belt yet. So my secondary goal in working through this challenge is to use the looper in my video as well, and thereby gain some experience with it.

Documenting The Process

 
A couple days ago as I was updating my main web site I was reminded that I’ve had a blog through my host for a few years that I set up to be associated with my music technology website I started and have left idle for quite a while. So I’ve decided to use that blog, SyntheSpider Stuff, to document my progress in this challenge. So after today look there for the most current updates on my progress.

All In All

 
That’s it for now. More later.