Monday, September 01, 2025

Backups, DIY Plans, Sprouts Assemble

A productive day. Monthly backups completed, then designed some CD and box shelves for me room, and some for Deborah. All would use two large sheets of MDF, so it's optimal to design and build all three structures at once. Much was planned here, and I realised I needed a new, 80mm long, 2mm drill bit for precision drilling pilot holes for the 6mm shelves, so I ordered these.

In the afternoon I made soem initial enquiries about a new charity Christmas album, a sequel to the 2023 Electric Sprout Foundation project. No replies as yet.

Then, collected a second M-Audio expression pedal. The keyboard has two pedal inputs, one for volume, one for super-knob, so I thought two wouldn't hurt, and it would give me the chance to see if a second pedal would also range 0 to 125 rather than 0 to 127 as it should. Alas, it does also range 0 to 125, and requires, ideally that it remains at maximum at all time, so if connected I'd really have to keep it at the annoying 98.5% of maximum at most. Well, at a mere £11.50, I don't regret the experiment, and it's good to have a backup, so I'll disconnect it, and keep it as a backup.

New new album requires a new song and time spent organising, and I have paintings to complete, Morecambe to attend and perform at, and a music video to make this month alone. I must work and rest efficiently to manage this. I've decided to enter the, as yet unseen, Descartes painting into the Castle Park Open, so I'll need to frame this month, as well as frame and photograph the other two entries. Ideally I would upgrade my photography stands too... I must observe and note wood and bracket options when I visit B & Q.