STEAM Machine may very well be arriving at the right time. Windows 11 is awful. This is the alternative for people who just want a home computer to play games, do some work, and browse the web on without the windows bloat. It is the Linux OS for the masses.

Any company that ships through Ontrac/Lazership is being penny wise and pound foolish. They are hands down the worst logistics and delivery company in existence. Warby Parker is shipping more glasses using them, after years of using USPS. Let them know this is unacceptable.

Regarding the Steam Machine. I have a Steam Deck. I love it. But the position that Valve has regarding the openness of their platform is literally the opposite of everything else in tech right now. 1. It's optimized for gaming. 2. It's a completely open platform. Beautiful. @valvesoftware.com

The reason why Knights of Guinevere and Hollow Knight Silksong feel so special is because in the age of AI slop, real art made by passionate creators with experience still matters. A masterpiece is still brilliant and can still inspire. They are a testament to human creativity.

There are so many spotted lantern flies in DC they constitute a weather event.

There is likely an emergency NATO meeting going on right now. Just because the Russian drones were shot down doesn't mean Russian didn't attack Poland. Russia did attack Poland. This was no accident. This invokes NATO Article 5. Poland knows this better than anyone. Solidarność z Polską.

I grew up with Troma films, so I am pretty excited to see the Toxic Avenger even if it doesn't live up to the outsider underground film of the 1980s original. If it turns people on to Troma films and underground and cult movies from the VHS era, all the better. Underground cinema forever.

There seems to be two types of people regarding AI, people who overhype it, and people who absolutely hate it. Those of us with more nuance just see it as a professional tool that can be useful, and not even always the right tool tend to be a minority. Outside the hype/hate cycle this clear.

Let me say this as a woman who actually plays video games: Collective Shout can get bent.

I am so glad I dated and got married before this age of the internet. I neither understand modern dating nor would I want any part of it.

The Owls are not what they seem. At least related to AI. youtu.be/BUqGH2IwmOw?...

There is no AGI without the embodiment of Artificial Intelligence. One of the things missing is contextual understanding of the physical world and human interaction in all of these models. To break from abstracted understanding to real experience.

Agentic AI is interesting. However, I think its impact on the Internet will be clear. The barrier to deploy bots is now much lower. Good and bad. We are in the next phase, it's no longer just an LLM chatbot. AI will be everywhere.

"Maybe being kind is the real punk rock" - Superman Movie 2025 When I heard this, I really thought of Henry Rollins. Because this sentiment is so familiar if you have ever seen Rollins speak. In fact it is in line with what captures the spirit of the modern punk community.

I think I am deep down the musical eccentric well. I primarily just fool around with ideas for myself and everything is becoming fun and crazy. Exploring Jazz Horror and other terrors of my own making. Deviating from keys and conventional rhythm. The sonic sorcery I cast is madness not meant for AI.

The World: War, Flooding, Fires, Death, and Destruction ME: AND MY RHYTHM BOX ME AND MY RHYTHM BOX ME AND MY RHYTHM BOX Are you jealous folks?

The entire talk about a new Xbox and Xbox handheld is because the Steamdeck and SteamOS is scaring the hell out of Microsoft. Sony and Nintendo are less of the threat. But SteamOS has a chance to really bite into their PC dominance. One of the few things keeping windows going is gaming.

I have used the Helix for years for many instruments and the Helix Stadium looks pretty cool.

So there is this sale for the TE OP-1 field, and as someone who is a synth enthusiast this instrument has never had any appeal to me whatsoever. Mind you, I love my elektron boxes and dirtywave M8, so I am not immune to so called hipster synths.

Gemini has gotten much more sophisticated. I used to ask queries 3 months ago from Gemini and it used to generate image slop. Now with 2.5 Pro, the AI has gotten much more sophisticated and generated a simple web application. Even then there is a sense of humor, the abyss is indeed staring back.

The issues with AI are the issues with any technology. Which means ultimately they are issues with human beings and how they utilize the new technology for ill or good. It's a tool that puts a lens on who we are as humans, sometimes it does enhance us, but other times it just leads to bad vision.

I think I may have been sleeping on how good the elektron digitone II is. It is really fun.

Expedition 33 is proof an A24 model of high quality and skill with a smaller team of people with a clear vision and ambition can be used for video games as well. No microtransactions. No live service garbage. Just quality experiences and art direction.

The film by Frewaka is now on @shudder.com you should go see it. @aislinnclarke.bsky.social film is a folk horror masterpiece. It's in the Irish language, and I HIGHLY recommend it for any fan of witchy folk horror movies.

After exposing @griffski.bsky.social to the trainwreck of Leprechaun, I think @randomhorror9.bsky.social needs to invite her back to do Frewaka once it's on Shudder. Which is an absolutely fantastic Irish language folk horror film.

As someone who has a bunch of analog and hybrid synths, I think the Korg multi/poly really sounds like a very good digital synth. I know VA's often throw out their modeling techniques, but I have yet to hear one that really sounds like an analog or hybrid synth. There is often too much glossiness.

The Oberheim Teo-5 is kind of just perfection for a small format 5 voice polysynth. The more you play it, the more you realize it. The funny part is its also a killer mono synth. It can just get brutal if pushed in the right direction.

I am likely personally passing on this I think, but this may already be leading the way in terms of the most interesting new synths that will be at Superbooth this year. The Clank Uranograph. www.clank.eu/uranograph

DC is exceptionally pretty in the spring. But it is also hell on my allergies. But it is so damn pretty!

The Erae 2 and Erica Synths Steampipe is probably one of the best Controller+Synth combinations I have played. Just flat out incredible.

So there was news that went out regarding Behringer raising all of the prices on their synths and drum machines in the US. I don't play their stuff, but this is a direct result of the tariffs. Sweetwater was rather clear: tariffs will increase the cost of all music gear. Tariffs are inflationary.

I am just going to say this. It is insane how good the Erica Synths Steampipe is. It is a really good example of how a synth can go from a plugin to a physical synth, and significantly improve itself as an instrument. This thing is an absolute blast, and the physical controls are a big reason why.

Flow deserved the best Animated film Oscar. It was really a prime example of animation as an art form. A work of absolute passion from a small team of animators with a masters hand. Something so universal it didn't need a single word of dialog.

Room 808 in DC is an interesting space for comedy. Not sure about the creepy clown painting though.

Everyone who is an artist needs to look into subvert.fm NOW. We need to break free of corporate platforms, and this co-op provides an answer for musicians in the wake of a world where bandcamp was taken over and spotify is a pure dystopian nightmare. @subvert.fm

The @oberheim.com Oberheim OB-X8 with the @chasebliss.bsky.social generation loss pedal and a touch of delay and reverb maybe my new favorite thing. It's just plain awesome. Instant VHS horror soundtrack nostalgia.

So I got a couple of Fender FR-10s since my keyboard amp broke, and surprisingly they work absolutely great for synth stuff.

This is the first time in a long time the best new artist is actually the best new artist at the Grammys. Chappell Roan music is indeed fantastic, right there with some of the best ever in rock and pop right out of the gate.

Favorite synths, currently available, Top 5: 1. Sequential Prophet 10 2. Oberheim OB-X8 3. Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave 4. Elta Solar 42 5. Sequential Pro 3

I am getting closer to bluesky being my only social media. I am purging accounts and the fact is we need to recognize that much of social media was a mistake. It tapped into people's worst instincts. Time to minimize and touch grass.

Like in all honesty, I am so glad I have a little escape in my home to just play music and ignore the world, because right now the world is a bit of a nightmare. Playing music on the other hand is delightful.

So here is the thing with Deepseek. I will not sign up for the service for obvious reasons regarding privacy. I am talking about the open source project that you can load and control, and is not sending data anywhere. The service obviously presents potential security issues.

This is just a post to let people know, while I will mostly post about music and synthesizers, I will also post on tech topics occasionally as well.

#Deepseek is the victory of the Mixture of Experts (MoE) and open source model over regular LLMs. The MoE really just depends more on expertise rather than the entirety of the internet and having to deal with raw compute power. It's much more efficient and this has been known for around a year.

The Rhodes 61 passive is probably the coolest thing out of NAMM. Pricey, but probably worth it. As someone who would throw it through guitar effects, it is so damn tempting. Even as a synth player. I can even put my favorite synth up top. A passive electric piano. Awesome.

NAMM seems pretty boring in terms of synth stuff. The real party is at Superbooth in Berlin. Which is an absolute blast. I am not seeing anything compelling from the NAMM news for Synths. Not even remotely upset.

I got to practice reading French, and read a review about my friend Janel Leppin who got on the cover. #Jazz

Korg's Digital Accordians are really cool, but yikes the price. Over $7000. I have only ever seen one synth in that price range, and it was the Moog One. Moog ended its run and later went on to produce the much cheaper Muse. I am going to stick to my linnstrument and Osmose in terms of controllers.

A big reason why I got into Avant Garde art is because I watched David Lynch's films when I was child. Part of the reason I got into sound design and experimental music is because of a mini-doc he had on music and sound design and music in his films. RIP David Lynch. You inspired so many of us.

The fact there was a very short time window between Korg putting out the Multipoly 37 key keyboard, and the desktop is a promising sign Korg may finally be learning. I think the multipoly may very well be the coolest thing Korg has released in some time. Now if it will only support MPE.