Stupid Friends

When I was a kid, my mom was militant about me practicing piano. Sometimes she would insist I practice up to 4 hours per day. Of course, I was defiant. I put my Calvin & Hobbes comics behind my sheet music one page a time. "it built character," in the words of Calvin's father. And yet, those 10 years of classical piano—even if I did practice, while reading comics simultaneously—made me a better musician. Heck, maybe I'm just extremely gifted and I'm absolutely a better DJ for the exposure. I was invited to be an add-on for a party my friends were throwing for their friends. This old piano had been on their property for months. Try as they did to sell it, a new home could not be found. So now it belongs to all of us. It was quite cathartic to be standing on the keys, stomping up and down, moving some of my stuck resentment. I set up my Opus Quad outside—I love this thing and I have a lot more to say about that—and played on not two but one speaker. As someone who is anal about my gear and a fidelity snob, I was a bit disappointed but we made it work. I find that performing in circumstances that tie a hand behind one's back draws out creativity, focus, and efficiency. Like, playing a stereo signal to a single speaker sounds a lot better than mono so just that little adjustment gave us a bit more of a vibe. I was recently really inspired by Tummetott Mystic Creatures Festival 2024 set. Here, I play some of my most recent finds that I absolutely love. I mix creatively and actively. Back to the Opus Quad: this set would not have been possible without it. Or, to put it another way, if I were to try and perform this on, say, an RX3 or even CDJs, I would have had to prepare and practice a lot more. I may have been able to do it on the FLX4 + laptop but the ergonomics are just so much better on the Quad. The Quad allows me to browse my music by ear, which allows me to navigate my library really efficiently and it puts me in flow. I want to create some YouTube content on Quad and some of the other gear I really enjoy using and why. Let me know in the comments if this kind of thing would be interesting to you and what questions you might have.