Hello, hope you're well!
POST HOLIDAY HEALTH UPDATE
I've just got back from a holiday and as per the title and picture for this post ... you can consider me hot tub soft boiled. Also boiled from some hot weather too, double boiled, I'll be a triple cooked chip in no time. The holiday was good as expected but with some longer than normal drives it's highlighted a factor in my current health issues with my hands/arms.
After driving home I've had pain my hands and wrists, Carpal Tunnel is looking like the most obvious thing to call it though it's not lining up exactly (see previous update if curious what I'm on about - I've had tingling numb weakness issues) though I'm not sure what the issue is. In the car, posture, gripping the wheel too tight, our new(er) car having more direct vibrations through the wheel, weakness/nerve issue that's getting aggravated could all be at play.
Interestingly this is pain though, I had no or little pain when this started but tingling and numb weak feelings when this kicked off at Deer Shed festival (though did have a weekend with lots more driving than usual, as well as leaning/bending down to small kid level which I might have done awkwardly without knowing - a trapped nerve thing?). Anyway I wanted to give that little update, thank you for the well wishes so far and to those sharing their experiences and also just to say this is on going, it's disruptive (i.e. work is annoyingly very slow moving) but I am finally getting to see a doctor next week. Take care of yourselves and catch things early if you can.
TAP-O-MATIC PROJECT CLOSURE
Seeing our first community DIY project come to life, people springing into action and providing so much work, time, experience and support for everyone's benefit and then seeing the final units in peoples systems and DIY builds on going ... it's truly fantastic!
A huge thank you to BlueNautilus & Darklord both of them made the DivKid community version of the Tap-O-Matic possible. Also thank you to all of you that took part, it not only made this possible in the first place but we did so while also raising money and support directly for OAM, who made the original Time Machine open source allowing for variations like this one (by Harry Richardson) possible. I'm very happy we could do something cool for our own community and support the original maker in the process.
For complete clarity and openness I wanted to close off the project with showing how money flowed through the project and what things cost. Darklord (thank you again!) has compiled everything he handled. Figures are in the table below.
We are left over with a net positive of $305.18 (through the rounding up process to make sure things were covered and as even as we could make it regardless of someones location) and we also have spare PCBs and some panels (some minor scratches as discussed on Discord). Spare PCBs and panels are available for sale now at the same price as the project was for everyone so far, remaining panels and PCBs are here with me in the UK, contact me directly if you want any. You may remember we could either order not enough, or too much which led to having spares.
We did mention if any money was left over it would be put towards offsetting and discounting the costs of a future community DIY project, which is the plan still, sales of any spare PCBs and panels will add to that. With that in mind, the current QOTD on Discord is about what the next community DIY project should be (go take part in the conversation on Discord).
So consider the Tap-O-Matic project closed off as a huge first project success and that we have some funds to discount the next project.
COMING UP
The next thing to go online will be the Shakmat session from the DivKid Discussions stage at Machina Bristronica last year. Francois was fantastic and gave 3 mini performances with his system that sounded amazing through the PA at the event and have come across great on the recording too. It was interesting to get to know him and the company a bit more and discuss design ideas and modules. That will be online in the next couple of days.
Following that, in the ramp up to this years Machina Bristronica, will be more of those DivKid Discussions videos, there's new module releases and demos to come, lots more of what you'd expect - as you might expect.
I'll be at the Dutch Modular Festival on September 6th, if you can get there - go! It's been a few years since I could go and I'm looking forward to this one in Rotterdam. It is an annoyingly short trip in and out of the Netherlands, flying into Schipol, train to Rotterdam and then walking around grabbing whatever food/drink and heading to Worm (the venue) for the event. Any recommendations for the Schipol - Rotterdam journey, places to grab nice food etc are welcome.
As always I'm curious what you'd like to see in the future, be it a specific module demo, a technique idea, someone to interview etc. As always feel free to leave a comment on the post or chat in Discord.
Best for now, back soon with the Shakmat Machina video!