The day started by finding a tuner to add to my audio system, which I've ordered but am yet to test. Guitar tuners are cheap and common, but this chromatic tuner is designed for any instrument, and (crucially) has a line input, so I can attach it to the output of my audio system to view the exact pitch of any sound played by the computer. This would help with guitar in particular, though it's a pity that the tuner can't be exclusively attached to the input and exclude the output. I can tune the guitar before playing of course, but the intonation, the tuning over frets, is rarely perfect, and it can be useful to find the exact tuning of any sound being played.
When buying any audio equipment I have a simple principle: if it will improve things by 1%, or even have a chance of doing so, it is worth buying. Over time, those %1s will add up. A new tool can by an easy way to get better at something, and over the years some have been transformational, from my 'Chicken Pick' guitar picks, to my keyboards, to my gold coat. At times money is wasted on useless gizmos, but such spending rarely, if ever, makes results worse.
At 11, Deb arrived for a Fall in Green rehearsal for Saturday's performance in Winsford. This will have an unusual set-up, just the Reface DX, and a Zoom recorder for some backing tracks.
Then, off to Congleton Library to see a John Lindley poetry performance, the pre-event event of the weekend's Congleton Unplugged Festival. A great show, it's his rhythm and style which gives the performance panache, but that aside the poetry itself is outstanding. It was lovely to see a few friends there too.
Thus the day has flown on these practical and social matters.
The weather is annoyingly unpredictable, except for the certainty of rain showers at some point in each day. Intermittent showers are forecast for the next 10 days, so work on the mural is hereby postponed. Painting a wall of solid colour is quite possible in light rain, but with a white on black design like this, even one water-drop on the wet paint will cause a streak, even discounting problems with mask adhesion, temperature conditions for the paint etcetera. I, and David, await a dry week in this exceptionally wet March.
