Comments on: Amalgam fillings found to cause Gypsy curses

By: mig

mig — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:26:58 +0000

I would try it in a second, were it not for the book I am reading, “Handmade Electronic Music: The Guide to Hardware Hacking” by Nicolas Collins, which stresses repeatedly never to touch any hacked electronic goods that are plugged into the wall. Which, come to think of it, this isn’t. Hacked, I mean. I’ll have Gamma film me when I try it, just in case.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:56:51 +0000

Well, there’s a risk with everything. Is it worth taking…? It’s up to you I guess…

Say hi from me – probably the closest I’m ever getting to that place.

By: mig

mig — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:03:30 +0000

St. Peter: Next
Mig: [Clears throat]
St. Peter: Ah, Mr. Living. Loved the book.
Mig: Thanks.
St. Peter: Especially the illustrations. What brings you here?
Mig: I knew it was a bad idea. 240 volts, man.
St. Peter: What.
Mig: I mean, the Jomox T-Resonator runs off a 9 volt supply, but it’s connected to a mixer, and to active speakers, both of which are plugged into the wall. I knew it was a bad idea. My old bass amp that shocked me every time I touched it, that should have been warning enough. I never should have listened to Jacob and stuck the cable in my mouth.
St. Peter: Jomox T-Resonator?
Mig: Yeah.
St. Peter: Awesome, huh?
Mig: If you say so.
St. Peter: Of course you gotta watch your volume when you crank the feedback knobs to the left.
Mig: Tell me about it.
St. Peter: WHOOM! WHOOM!
Mig: Yup.
St. Peter: Seriously, you stuck the cable into your mouth?
Mig: Jacob said it would make me look like a mad scientist.
St. Peter: You totally do, with that frizzy hair now.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:28:03 +0000

Have never seen one before, sorry. From the Youtube experiments and comments I could find, it seems that other people find it a little uncontrolable (not saying that that’s a bad thing…).
I reckon I would start by keeping the delay feedback down, to keep it from “running with” a phrase. Then I would probably just stick one end of a cable in it and grab on to the other end(should produce a nice static hum to work woth) and start twisting knobs. As a visual variation you can stick the cable end in your mouth also – makes no difference, but it looks cool in a kind of devil-may-care slash mad scientist way.
But then again, I’m the kind of guy who dances to the noises my refrigerator makes…

By: mig

mig — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:07:37 +0000

Do you have one? Or experience with one? Can you get it to do your bidding, or is it hit-and-miss?

I especially like the quick-start instructions they include, basically:

“set the dials in this position [position described]. now start twisting them around.” the end.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:02:46 +0000

It’s pretty, the T-Resonator. Love the schematics. They sort of pretend to be explanatory and helpful, but really they are just showing how extremely complex this machine is. It’s like they are taunting me, calling me a moron with their “env/amt” and “FM 2-1″ and what-have-you.
Can a machine have a cheeky personality?

By: mig

mig — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:27:04 +0000

Santa brought a Jomox T-Resonator, as well as a Dirty Little Secret distortion pedal. I am beginning to think that I will have to find something other than a distortion pedal to give my cello an interesting, “grainy” sound, because bow+distortion kind of overwhelms my system and the sound just gets muddy.

The Jomox T-Resonator, which has about a dozen buttons that can be turned left and right at random is, if I had to pick a single word to describe it, fascinating and frustrating. It is more an instrument in its own right than an effects pedal. Most of the time it seems to grab a sound, and cycle it around and around, doing nasty things to it, until it is unrecognizeable, sort of the way animals are turned into processed meat at the slaughterhouse, except with more delightful results, much of the time.

I have no idea how to use it, although I did determine that it can be used to drive relatives from the house on Christmas Day. It is fun to experiment with, but I also get a little desperate at times, because I would really like to find a setting that I could use to produce a “neat sound” with my electric cello. Most settings, I produce a single note and it runs with that, and anything I play after that is inaudible. I have, however, managed to get various reverb or delay effects going. And almost blew my speakers, and eardrums, playing with the feedback.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:02:32 +0000

So, what did santa bring? The one with all the buttons?

By: Trish

Trish — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:27:15 +0000

and do something about that hair, Christ.

By: The Branwich Horror

The Branwich Horror — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:30:46 +0000

Make sure they’re not expecting it.

By: mig

mig — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:21:39 +0000

thank you. i’ll try that one out on people when they come over at christmas.

By: The Branwich Horror

The Branwich Horror — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:01:07 +0000

That was a great joke, Mig. I have given you a gift.

By: The Branwich Horror

The Branwich Horror — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:33:32 +0000

I have a joke for you. How many d’s are in Indiana Jones?

….

wait for it…

….

da-da-da-daaa, da-da-daaa…

Memorize that one and you’ll be a hit at parties.