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imagica commented on I built my own analog drum machine (2020)   reverb.com/news/why-i-pai... · Posted by u/danboarder
doctorhandshake · 4 years ago
In school I studied computer music, and I participated in a grad seminar for which the final project was a group concert. Alvin Lucier, one of the progenitors of electronic music, led the seminar as guest faculty.

For the performance I built a software instrument in Max/MSP with some similar principles around free timing to those in this drum machine, but with a digital granular synth voicing.

At the pre-show critique, I performed a piece using this instrument, and explained that the synthesizer had 3 voices because I found that to be a sweet spot between a full-sounding texture and what I could manage live.

Alvin asked me if I had considered 5 voices. Confused, I said I had, but, and I repeated, I found it too much to manage. Cryptically, he replied something to the effect of ‘well, ok, but three is three but five is five.’ This was bizarrely hilarious to me but I kept it to myself.

Later, the student who designed the show poster elected to call it ‘Three is Three but Five is Five’.

imagica · 4 years ago
Id be curious to see a performance with that instrument. Any link?
imagica commented on I built my own analog drum machine (2020)   reverb.com/news/why-i-pai... · Posted by u/danboarder
tessierashpool · 4 years ago
I built a drum machine last summer. highly recommend it. wasn't analog, but I was building it for different reasons.

I had some help, and some disappointments, but building your own hardware is pretty easy with the Arduino ecosystem.

imagica · 4 years ago
How far did you get with it? Did you end up abandoning the project?
imagica commented on Amazon Prime inflates prices, using the false promise of ‘free shipping’   mattstoller.substack.com/... · Posted by u/yarapavan
imagica · 4 years ago
For whoever considers using Amazon for convenience I say open your eyes. The lower prices and free shipping will disappear as soon as competition is driven out of business.

Also working for Amazon seems to be a dystopian adventure [0] and [ ..]..

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4V_yAPfSr8

imagica commented on The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something   outsideonline.com/2423015... · Posted by u/danboarder
silvestrov · 4 years ago
Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better.

Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

imagica · 4 years ago
The secret to cooking is to test the food and know some basic things which may seem awkward at first but are simply learnable. Everybody who started cooking had a moment when they didn't know what they were doing and a lot of practice made them good. As a beginner I would concentrate on a few dishes and get good at those then slowly progress to more
imagica commented on Where have all the Uber drivers gone?   washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/danso
jgwil2 · 4 years ago
Presumably the subsidized rides are a boon to the hospitality industry as well.
imagica · 4 years ago
At whose expense? Investors and drivers? Not a very good deal if you ask me. I am grateful to use Uber occasionally and the price is not too bad but I always tip the drivers because I know they're getting the short end of the stick. Occasionally for me is about twice a month which amounts to maybe 24-30 times a year.
imagica commented on The unreasonable effectiveness of print debugging   buttondown.email/geoffrey... · Posted by u/goranmoomin
roenxi · 4 years ago
Probably the most interesting thing about development as a discipline is the near radio silence on how to debug.

There is a decided lack of academic success in engaging with debugging as an object that can be studied. There are channels to learn about debugging as a stand-alone topic. Programmers don't often talk about debugging techniques in my experience.

For something that takes up the overwhelming bulk of a developer's time the silence is in many ways deafening. It may be that nobody has a method superior to print debugging.

imagica · 4 years ago
It's one of those things that is acquired with experience and from more and more peers one has had. I think I've learned a bit from all my peers, almost everyone had something interesting or an interesting way to tackle a problem. Once a lot of time is spent in the industry one starts seeing patterns as a new cycle starts.

As far as teaching debugging, it is one thing to show some examples and another one is to run into a bug yourself and get from having no idea how to debug to actually fixing it. That whole experience is hard to replicate in unnatural ways.. When I was in school they told me not to worry too much about debugging and that I'd run into issues in the real world and figure out ways to debug depending on the system and that turned out to be quite correct.

imagica commented on Accused money launderers left a path of bankrupt factories   newsinteractive.post-gaze... · Posted by u/valkrieco
hourislate · 4 years ago
>And the problem I've found is whenever anyone gets to a position that could legitimately deal with this issue, they become either compromised or they become involved themselves

In Post Soviet Countries challenging the Oligarchs is like asking for a death sentence. What is required is a Western effort to go after these Crooks helping the elected Government to implement a system that can be trusted.

imagica · 4 years ago
All what it takes is to digitize the whole infrastructure and make transparent all the public spending with details of details of the details all the way down to where the money currently is, all that is including large loans. Public spending? No privacy whatsoever, no hidden transactions nor business trading behind curtains. Oligarchs buy popular support as well, they own televisions themselves to manipulate local politics, but with detailed accounting all that could potentially be stopped. Of course the efforts to implement these would be gargantuan because they would fight back.
imagica commented on Amazon driver quits over AI-powered safety cameras in delivery vehicles   businessinsider.com/amazo... · Posted by u/Black101
tomhoward · 4 years ago
"There's a never ending supply of desperately poor people"

There is such a thing as government-mandated conditions in most places even in the US (I'm not from the US but I'm not that stupid), and even if not, at a certain point people are better off doing nothing than being so badly abused, and there is always a better option below a certain level of mistreatment.

This commentary is just-so narrative, not serious discussion.

I'm bouncing out for some sleep, thanks.

imagica · 4 years ago
> There is such a thing as government-mandated conditions in most places even in the US (

Government-mandated conditions are on paper only, are often abused and the boundaries are always stretched out to the breaking point.

> at a certain point people are better off doing nothing than being so badly abused, and there is always a better option below a certain level of mistreatment.

You're underestimating the amount of rampant poverty and unemployment without benefits in the US. You're un

imagica commented on Epic corporate jargon alternatives   mattwatson.org/blog/20210... · Posted by u/blakewatson
imagica · 4 years ago
There was a funny series called Junk English by Ken Smith, not sure if there are newer editions to that book but it had a collection of jargon and subtly making fun of it.
imagica commented on I tracked down my impostor   theguardian.com/lifeandst... · Posted by u/vanilla-almond
csense · 4 years ago
Getting the same tattoos as your target?

That's one dedicated identity thief.

imagica · 4 years ago
But a sad thing overall, imagine he's stuck with this identity now but it no longer bears fruits for him. I assume this person didn't have much of an identity in the first place..

u/imagica

KarmaCake day25January 10, 2021View Original