Category: Uncategorized

  • New EP

    My new EP, “The Days That Remain And Those That Follow” is available now! This EP was recorded in the first half of 2020 and reflects at a macroscopic scale, on the insanely tumultuous events of the year, but on a more personal level it echoes the anxiety and joy of impending parenthood.

    The somewhat immovable deadline of my son’s birth provided a power motivator to finish the tracks, even though he arrived slightly before the tracks were totally completed. The pieces were created using my DIY instruments and effects, starting off as live improvisations, and slowly polished into finished pieces.

    I plan to do some track breakdowns, to dig into how these were put together. Check back in the following days.

  • RadioDrum

    Recently, I’ve been working on a new firmware for the RadioMusic by MusicThing Modular.  I wanted to get some drums into my case using as little HP as possible, so came up with this. The drum patterns are stored as text files on the SD card. Currently it only supports one pattern, going to be working on multiple patterns next. Some of the samples were recorded from a vintage adding machine I found. You can use your own samples, but they have to be compiled into the hex executable file. You can find the source code on my GitHub https://github.com/cutlasses/RadioDrum if you want to check it out.

     

  • New workshop incoming

    I’m going to be doing another workshop on using the Teensy to work with digital audio. Come along and build and program circuits, and make some NOISE. It’s at the Sonics 2020 festival in Hastings. I’ve been involved in the festival for the last few years, it’s great, and I really recommend checking it out. Lots of lovely pubs in the old town part of Hastings too! Sign up here.

     

  • Digital Audio with Microcontrollers Workshop

    I’m going to be running a workshop on Saturday October 12th for Brighton Digital Festival. See here for tickets. It will be an introduction to creating and processing digital audio using microcontrollers. The workshop will centre around the Teensy, which if you read this site, you’ll know I’m quite keen on! Teensy is a development board similar to Arduino. You will ‘bread board’ (a method of quickly prototyping circuits without soldering) your own circuit, which will utilise the Teensy along with buttons, leds, and potentiometers, which you’ll patch together to create a circuit. You’ll learn how to use the Teensy’s audio library and visual design tool, to connect together audio effects, and download the result onto your circuit, allowing you to experiment with sculpting and distorting sound.

    The workshop will not require any specialist knowledge. There will be some programming and connecting of components, but you will be taught everything you need to know.

    You must bring :

    • Laptop (capable of running Arduino IDE, it runs on Linux, macOS and Windows and doesn’t require a particularly powerful machine)
    • Headphones

     

  • Hackoustic

    I’m really excited to be featured as part of the ‘Hackoustic: Presents’ nights at Iklectik in London on September the 21st. I’ll be doing a small talk about my DIY instruments followed by a performance, and will then give any interested members of the audience a chance to try out the instruments for themselves.

     

     

  • Recovering and recording

    I’ve been off work recovering from an inner ear operation, which I might talk about more in the future. In between lying on the sofa and general convalescing I’ve managed to finish a new track. The first thing I’ve actually completed since I released the album.

     

  • Streaming EVERYWHERE

    Cutlasses is now available on pretty much all streaming services, including some I’ve not previously heard of. Search on your streaming service of choice. Here it is on Spotify

  • DIY Sriracha Eurorack Case

    This weekend I built a DIY Euroack case out of a cheap tin lunchbox from eBay. I want this case to house some of my Teensy based modules and form an all-in-one guitar focused effects box. The project was reasonably straightforward. I used one of these power boards which supplies +12v/-12V from a 14-24V DC power supply. The board that the ribbon cables connect to is vero board with single header, doubled up. Everything was mounted using 11mm M3 brass stand-offs. The wooden rails are possibly a little thick and will limit the size of the PCB under the module panel. Will have to see how that goes. Putting in thinner rails should be feasible. All holes drilled with my new pillar drill. Much easier, with far less swearing than trying to use a standard power drill. The overall project build cost was around£20. Looking forward to filling this with my DIY modules!

     

  • Cutlasses Circuit Cave Complete

    I now have a permanent space to build things that go beep and grrrr-beep, in a shed we’ve built in our garden. The other half is reserved for my wife to do dress making. A veritable temple of hobbies! Expect more machines in the near future. I’ll soon be doing some videos of the things I make – watch this space.

  • Clutching At Conscious reviewed on Louder Than War

    There is a punk like approach to these tracks, deep electronic bass sounds, beats, overdriven guitar textures, melody but with a live feel and raw edge

    Cutlasses – Clutching At Conscious – Album review