The scooter is ready, but I won’t pick it up until tomorrow. It was the drive belt, but let me tell you, what a cheap-ass belt it was. Cheaper than the bottom shelf stuff you can still buy for $12 at AutoZone. It was shredded into carbonized chunks. We ordered a Kevlar belt, but my confidence in the scooter is at an all time low. I was hoping it would prove durable for 10,000 miles. The reality is it just cannot be trusted except around town at low speed, and for that it is truly excellent.The blog rules I must report what I find remarkable. Ray-B called and we talked about some of the proposed music. I am astonished by his productivity compared to other musicians I’ve met in Florida. Ray-B is actually doing the work and listening to the tunes. He is already pointing out stylistic idiosyncrasies in what I play, noting that I prefer tunes with split chords. This is a correct observation because I’ve played the same music with others who forced me to gloss it over. Thinking it over, I agree, for I would not object to split chords (being an old piano player) and such chords would indeed give prerecorded track-makers a migraine. Hey, Ray-B, suddenly I really like split chords.
What’s more, Ray-B went to Duffy’s, a sports bar up in Davie and spotted the rhythm guitarist in a duo was chording his way through everything. “Chording through” is a somewhat derogatory term for a bogus guitarist who hasn’t really listened to the cover. Certain analytical points that enter our conversation tell me we have evolved since our coffee house days and there is now a striking degree of commonality in our music. We need only rehearse some tunes and it’s look out Duffy’s. It makes sense because both Ray-B and I agree on a super rhythm presentation and both want to be superb at what we do. We are motivated and you cannot fake motivation around me.
There is more to this concept than meets the ear. When I grew up, bands were more competitive in the field, as much like they now are in the recording studios. A good bad would “wipe out” a lesser band by stealing the crowd. This could happen back then because the drinking age was 21. The after-high-school teens would drive from dance hall to dance hall to pick the band that sounded the best. There was no open rivalry; rather the music spoke for itself. I see strong parallels in the Broward playground. Before you label me aggressive, have not these stocky househusband Mr. Kewl guitarists “wiped out” the rest of the music scene with their backing tracks? Gotcha!
Another close examination of PCBs (printed circuit boards) into the wee hours last evening reveals more sources of delay in the robot timetable as we unpeel the onion. Allow me to explain. First, we cannot find any firm information about connectors, the pieces we need to connect wires to the PCB. These must be attached to the PCB at time of manufacture and it is a shame nobody spells out what is needed. We’ll find something and at the present we are trying to locate “Molex” connectors with no success at all.
Second major problem is the lack of clear tutorial documentation. It turns out there are two distinct methods, called “photo-resist” and “thermal”. In a confusing hodgepodge of on-line posts by complete jackasses, the two (incompatible) methods are not adequately explained and often intertwined in a single set of instructions. This leads us to conclude said jackasses themselves don’t know what they are talking about, a very common occurrence on the Internet. Last week’s cancelled seminar was to single out one method, the photo-resist. This is so important we are talking of driving back and forth to West Palm to bring the instructor here personally.
Next is the design software. Without extensive training, we have little choice but to use CAD programs for the designs. The software seems to be either too expensive or useless (take your pick) with nothing in between. Others insist it is easy, but this is a paradox I’ve encountered countless times in my life with software ranging from databases to publishing. There is always beginner’s mode used to sell the product that is easy for dummies to use, but if I try to use it, I quickly paint myself into a corner that I have to unlearn to get any real work done. I find Fritzing a joke and ExpressPCB confusing as it uses two-sided patterns, though I will opt for the latter.
Last (for now) there is a lack of blank printed circuit boards, preferably the single-sided boards that are the logical place to get started. Anything double-sided is beyond what I can create today. If local hobby outlets have these boards, they are keeping it a secret and ordering on-line is not an option for us at this point. Untold hours have already been wasted trying to find solutions to the above, but they can’t be counted because it was all spare time. Still, what a pity that learning something like this should degenerate into a game of hide and seek.
