What to do about preparing for #FAWM ?
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What to do about preparing for #FAWM ? Have another shot at learning enough about using synthesizers during January? Or hold out for further improvement in my arthritis and try to practice the guitar?
And is FAWM even going to be worth it? Last year felt like a transitional year, the last where you could be reasonably sure that most songs weren't AI generated and the ones that were were easy to identify.
@reinderdijkhuis I never prepare for FAWM specifically, but I’ve always got an new thing to explore. This year I’ve been pretty seriously studying classical voice for the first time in my life (almost for a year now), and I’m really curious to see how that effects not only my vocals themselves and ease of tracking but the vocal melodies I write.
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@reinderdijkhuis I never prepare for FAWM specifically, but I’ve always got an new thing to explore. This year I’ve been pretty seriously studying classical voice for the first time in my life (almost for a year now), and I’m really curious to see how that effects not only my vocals themselves and ease of tracking but the vocal melodies I write.
@reinderdijkhuis as for the second part, IDK, I feel I can be reasonably sure that a healthy part of the FAWM population is gonna be producing the same lo-fi, earnest demos that beautifully preserve the mistakes of just having written a song. I’m not sure, as I’ve never used AI stuff, but I suspect that the sort of rawness you get there is not something that music AI is built for. Plus, honestly, I mostly do FAWM for me, and I feel like some people using AI doesn’t lessen my work.
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@reinderdijkhuis as for the second part, IDK, I feel I can be reasonably sure that a healthy part of the FAWM population is gonna be producing the same lo-fi, earnest demos that beautifully preserve the mistakes of just having written a song. I’m not sure, as I’ve never used AI stuff, but I suspect that the sort of rawness you get there is not something that music AI is built for. Plus, honestly, I mostly do FAWM for me, and I feel like some people using AI doesn’t lessen my work.
@guitargabe I can tell you that last year, the increased use of generative AI by participants, including some I'd partnered with, dampened my enthusiasm for the event and for developing songs through that channel at that time (and as a consequence, indirectly lessened my work), as did hearing about it during the weekly Euro video calls.
What I worry about is that it's not just gonna be some people this time around, that the floodgates will truly open..
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@guitargabe I can tell you that last year, the increased use of generative AI by participants, including some I'd partnered with, dampened my enthusiasm for the event and for developing songs through that channel at that time (and as a consequence, indirectly lessened my work), as did hearing about it during the weekly Euro video calls.
What I worry about is that it's not just gonna be some people this time around, that the floodgates will truly open..
@reinderdijkhuis Well, you can bet mine’s AI-free, and I reckon there will be a healthy population of us “never AI” types that continue to find each other. Deep down, you and I know we’re communicating real human emotions in real human ways, and I have faith that that’ll remain an inimitable element of real art.
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I didn't have a great FAWM last year for personal reasons: I was limiting the amount of time I could spend on it, so the songs and demos ended up underwhelming. And now that I'm employed again, I don't expect that's gonna be any better. But I have a notepad full of loose ideas and I do want to have another shot at it.
Arright, I've opened Reaper for the first time since October, set up the Monster Drums plugin for it and created a template with no hardware synths. That plus guitars and vocals should be my setup for FAWM, though I'll probably want some guitar effects plugins for it as well.
Meanwhile, the hardware is being assembled downstairs for some DAWless jamming in January. Cover as many bases as possible.
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Arright, I've opened Reaper for the first time since October, set up the Monster Drums plugin for it and created a template with no hardware synths. That plus guitars and vocals should be my setup for FAWM, though I'll probably want some guitar effects plugins for it as well.
Meanwhile, the hardware is being assembled downstairs for some DAWless jamming in January. Cover as many bases as possible.
You know, if I'm selecting Podolski as a lead/keys/pads/arps synth, there isn't really any reason why the bass synth shouldn't also be Podolski. I like the sounds in the presets, I enjoy (virtual) analog synths in general and this plugin seems pretty capable and lightweight.
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You know, if I'm selecting Podolski as a lead/keys/pads/arps synth, there isn't really any reason why the bass synth shouldn't also be Podolski. I like the sounds in the presets, I enjoy (virtual) analog synths in general and this plugin seems pretty capable and lightweight.
During FAWM, it'll be more important to get to an acceptable sound quickly than to get the perfect sound, so a simple synth that already has attractive presets is a good choice for that.
I may switch things around a bit during the month, but I'm gonna start out keeping it simple.
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During FAWM, it'll be more important to get to an acceptable sound quickly than to get the perfect sound, so a simple synth that already has attractive presets is a good choice for that.
I may switch things around a bit during the month, but I'm gonna start out keeping it simple.
So, my Reaper template. Two instances of Podolski and one of Monster Drums, separated into 16 channels like the gods intended.
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So, my Reaper template. Two instances of Podolski and one of Monster Drums, separated into 16 channels like the gods intended.
Aand: January 1st, 2026. 20 minutes of guitar, the old repertoire from "Sally" to "Senescence", six songs, simplified and mistake-riddled, stopping when pain in the right hand set in.
Playing through my pedal board into the Arturia Minifuse 2, into Reaper with the JSConvolution modeler enabled and set to Mesa Boogie Clean - Matchless Chieftain, and adjusting the volume on guitar, pedals and interface because some settings had moved since I'd last played.
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Aand: January 1st, 2026. 20 minutes of guitar, the old repertoire from "Sally" to "Senescence", six songs, simplified and mistake-riddled, stopping when pain in the right hand set in.
Playing through my pedal board into the Arturia Minifuse 2, into Reaper with the JSConvolution modeler enabled and set to Mesa Boogie Clean - Matchless Chieftain, and adjusting the volume on guitar, pedals and interface because some settings had moved since I'd last played.
On the pedal board (worth mentioning because I may change it): Boss Chromatic Tunder, Moo-er Pure-Boost (white), Green Mile tube screamer (green) and Black Secret (black) plus a Strymon Deco with output through one channel only.
The pedal board is small by choice, it's only there to keep those five pedals together, but it does mean that I have to take out a pedal if I want to put a new one in. Right now the Pure-Boost is not being used much, and I could use the tuner in Reaper if needed. -
On the pedal board (worth mentioning because I may change it): Boss Chromatic Tunder, Moo-er Pure-Boost (white), Green Mile tube screamer (green) and Black Secret (black) plus a Strymon Deco with output through one channel only.
The pedal board is small by choice, it's only there to keep those five pedals together, but it does mean that I have to take out a pedal if I want to put a new one in. Right now the Pure-Boost is not being used much, and I could use the tuner in Reaper if needed.Problems with playing:
* Going from G minor on 3td fret to B-sharp chord on first - the rotational movement is hard on the left wrist. Not as bad as it was, but not comfortable.* Cross-picking quickly becomes painful in the right wrist, and finger picking is not much better.
* General precision, speed and recall issues, plus loss of callouses, all from lack of practice.
IF I can practice daily (that is, if my wrists aren't killing me tomorrow), those should at least improve quickly. -
Problems with playing:
* Going from G minor on 3td fret to B-sharp chord on first - the rotational movement is hard on the left wrist. Not as bad as it was, but not comfortable.* Cross-picking quickly becomes painful in the right wrist, and finger picking is not much better.
* General precision, speed and recall issues, plus loss of callouses, all from lack of practice.
IF I can practice daily (that is, if my wrists aren't killing me tomorrow), those should at least improve quickly.It turns out that my wrist joints are not too bad today, so let's see if I can make it 25 minutes, 7 songs.
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It turns out that my wrist joints are not too bad today, so let's see if I can make it 25 minutes, 7 songs.
25 minutes accomplished, 7 songs, from Sally to Stone, same setup as last night.
Observations: I got to 25 minutes at the cost of severely half-assing my already compromised playing. I spent a lot of mental energy reminding myself to play the B-flat on the sixth fret and thinking about what positons would follow from that for the other chords. Sometimes the most logical fingering for the next chords would involve the same wrist movement that I'm trying hard to avoid.
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25 minutes accomplished, 7 songs, from Sally to Stone, same setup as last night.
Observations: I got to 25 minutes at the cost of severely half-assing my already compromised playing. I spent a lot of mental energy reminding myself to play the B-flat on the sixth fret and thinking about what positons would follow from that for the other chords. Sometimes the most logical fingering for the next chords would involve the same wrist movement that I'm trying hard to avoid.
In other situations, I simply Did Not Do the embellishments that I'd usually play and just played the chords. Whatever it took to get to 25 minutes without messing up my wrists.
I guess tomorrow I will shoot for 30 and play even worse to get there. But this seems to be a good approach to take, for now. For what I want to do, expanding the amount of time I can keep playing is priority no. 1.
And I'll get my callouses back just as effectively from playing half-assedly as from playing well.
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In other situations, I simply Did Not Do the embellishments that I'd usually play and just played the chords. Whatever it took to get to 25 minutes without messing up my wrists.
I guess tomorrow I will shoot for 30 and play even worse to get there. But this seems to be a good approach to take, for now. For what I want to do, expanding the amount of time I can keep playing is priority no. 1.
And I'll get my callouses back just as effectively from playing half-assedly as from playing well.
Jan 3, 2026: Wellp, no guitar practice for me today.
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Jan 3, 2026: Wellp, no guitar practice for me today.
January 4: Another day with no guitar playing, but I've used some old Kenny Gioia videos to set Reaper DAW up to work a little more effectively with the Beatstep Pro (Gioia uses a regular Beatstep, which is different in some ways but similar enough - except in the very old videos where he uses a MIDI keyboard controller and in those it matches up a lot less well).
It actually helps that Gioia remade some of his videos multiple times over 9+ years.
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January 4: Another day with no guitar playing, but I've used some old Kenny Gioia videos to set Reaper DAW up to work a little more effectively with the Beatstep Pro (Gioia uses a regular Beatstep, which is different in some ways but similar enough - except in the very old videos where he uses a MIDI keyboard controller and in those it matches up a lot less well).
It actually helps that Gioia remade some of his videos multiple times over 9+ years.
January 5: extremely tired. Took the evening off from practice, but may manage to watch one Reaper-related video before bed.
Honestly, the most gain in the short time left before FAWM is in learning how to DAW so that's what I'll do.
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January 5: extremely tired. Took the evening off from practice, but may manage to watch one Reaper-related video before bed.
Honestly, the most gain in the short time left before FAWM is in learning how to DAW so that's what I'll do.
I didn't finish the video I started, because I had Reaper on, messed with the settings and messed them up so bad that I had to spend half an hour to figure out what I'd done wrong and undo it. The current state is that hitting C2 on the Drum channel no longer starts the transport, which would have been a dealbreaker if I was trying to get anything done.
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I didn't finish the video I started, because I had Reaper on, messed with the settings and messed them up so bad that I had to spend half an hour to figure out what I'd done wrong and undo it. The current state is that hitting C2 on the Drum channel no longer starts the transport, which would have been a dealbreaker if I was trying to get anything done.
Now, on the one hand, this thoroughly unpleasant experience was one I brought upon myself by letting myself get sidetracked from following the steps in the video and messing around with settings I had already got working for me.
On the other hand, it's still the sort of thing that makes me consider going back to GarageBand and just living with its limitations. It's not like I've got that much hair left to pull out.
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Now, on the one hand, this thoroughly unpleasant experience was one I brought upon myself by letting myself get sidetracked from following the steps in the video and messing around with settings I had already got working for me.
On the other hand, it's still the sort of thing that makes me consider going back to GarageBand and just living with its limitations. It's not like I've got that much hair left to pull out.
January 6: I may not have brought yesterday's bad experience on myself; it may have something to do with how channels on the Beatstep pro are handled. My working theory: the transport on the Beatstep Pro has to work regardless of what channel is active, so on initialization, it resets its configuration so that it sends the right notes with the first channel that's activated, or all channels. You then have to re-assign the connection with the Reaper transport in Reaper…
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is there software that randomly loads and unloads kernel modules at boot asking for a friend
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@skovmand agreed!
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@metteh Jeg tror, jeg selv hørte om noAI-Duck i første omgang her på Mastodon. Det var befriende at flytte over til!
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La difesa armata non ci può salvare dall'invasione statunitense. La salvezza va cercata nella difesa popolare nonviolenta, che si basa su un principio fondamentale: nessun invasore può governare senza il supporto degli invasi. Per controllare 450 mlioni di europei, funziona come per l'assistenza agli anziani: ti serve una badante per il giorno, una per la notte, una nei weekend e feriali. Totale: un miliardo e trecentocinquanta milioni di invasori. Ma gli statunitensi sono solo 300 milioni.
