Take-off!

Yet another blog?

Yes. I have found that maintaining a blog is a good way to force myself to document some of my musical experiments. It has happened multiple times already that I've created some music and the little evidence that existed of it got lost in computer crashes, or in unreadable binary proprietary file formats of defunct tools. Some of my scores (of which I had only one copy of course :) ) I lended to others but never got back.

What's the purpose of this blog?

I want a place to ponder about music, to brainstorm about music, to discuss some music related tools, perhaps post the occasional tutorial. I also want a place to occasionally link to a musical score or youtube recording I've created.

Musical instruments I frequently use

I own a Yamaha GT2 digital grand piano, which I use because it is easy to record. If I ever win the lottery, I would like to check out the Yamaha Avant N3 which promises a "real piano experience" (whatever that may mean :) )

I use someone else's (ahem!) Roland RA30 for an occasional synth sound.

I've also used software synthesizers like SynAddSubFx or CSound. I have a fazer acoustic piano but I tend not to use it that often since most of my musical activities are concentrated in the very late (or very early - as you please) hours of the day. Fazer is/was a Finnish brand of piano with a very decent quality for a relatively low price. The factory no longer exists. It was bought by Warner music corporation around 1990 who then miss-managed it until it didn't mean anything anymore.

I record most of my audio on a simple but adequate Roland BOSS BR-600 multitrack recorder.

Software tools I frequently use

I have high demands for the tools I use: they must be free ("free" as in "free speech") and open source software, and if possibly also free ("free" as in "free beer") of cost. Luckily there are many high-quality free and open source music tools. I happen to use the linux operating system that has everything (and much more!) a musician could dream about.

• Typesetting of scores: using the brilliant lilypond program.
• Postprocessing of audio: using audicity.

Musical styles and influences

I mainly dabble with classical (in a very broad sense) music and I'm not afraid of film, jazz and folk influences. Don't bother talking to me about rock, techno, dance or other similar styles, as I know next to nothing about them and I feel very little motivation to learn more about them. It's not my thing.