Changing your Orbit is very difficult, but often necessary…

When we last left our adventure, we were drunk, in a bar, in the future, with a trombone… (I should have brought a fez… 😉 )

Then something unfortunate, but inevitable, happened…   My primary sequencing keyboard (Ensoniq SD-1) finally died.

I have used Ensoniq keyboard controller/sequencers from very early on (including an ESQ-1 and a VFXsd).   I can’t really explain why, but I found the interface intuitive and I spent more time creating and less time worrying about what is connected to what….   Unfortunately, the easy road is rarely the right one…

I took an Electronic Music course at Duquesne in the 80s and have known how to connect keyboards to a computer since then, but rather than making it happen, I became more and more reliant on the Ensoniq(s).   Technology grew by leaps and bounds – software too – but I kept plodding away because it was comfortable and I didn’t want to give up what I knew.   I should know better… but Orbit’s are hard to change.

The last three songs for Orbit were lost in this crash – plus an archive of hundreds of sequenced ideas that were only part done.   I have them on disc, and I could buy another Ensoniq and get them back, but it’s not really worth it.   Plus, it’s simply time I moved forward and looked ahead rather than behind (one of the biggest traps in life).

The last three songs on Orbit have obviously been delayed while I re-record.   I still clearly hear the parts in my head and I’m pretty confident I can get them back to where they were – if not better…!

But, sadly the trouble doesn’t stop there….   Those of you that have seen me out and about over the past three years know that I’m not exactly a gentle player.    This, combined with years of being dragged around and set up in 90 degree heat (and occasionally rain), have caused my portable live keyboard to also fail…  (awful timing too, I had three gigs for December I had to pass on…)     So, while things get sorted out, I am taking 2014 off from playing out.   (though, of course, you just never know…)

On the plus side, doing things on the pc will allow whole new set of things possible for the live show.

The extra time has given me the opportunity to work on a video for Reverie – which I hope to have ready for the holidays!