I’ve been taking a look at some granular synths lately and have been enjoying the well thought out (non-keyboard) performance oriented UI of SpaceCraft. The latest update enables MIDI CC control of all parameters and this greatly expands the possibilites of the app, for example being able to scan through longer samples without being restricted to the range of the inbuilt LFO.

A few M4L MIDI LFOs in Ableton Live running via a network connection works well, but with something like AUM as a host, Bram Bros’s Rozeta MIDI plugin suite for iOS turns out to be a wonderful companion.

A list of the MIDI CC control numbers can be found on the Delta-V Audio website.

I recently ‘inherited’ some books from Vagn Steen’s library and have been enjoying the typography and clean design of this little ‘augenblick’ series going back some sixty years.

In the latest episode of On Margins Craig Mod and Lisa Brennan-Jobs discuss the importance of paper quality and texture in relation to the use of whitespace in design.

I recently bought a toy piano for my daughter, but wasn’t quite happy with the sound of it and was wondering if there was a way to adjust the tuning. I came across this video on YouTube which explains how the tuning of each note can be lowered by adding some metal to it – Toy Piano Man suggests using solder instead of winding wire around the rods, so I decided to give that a try.

I’d never tried opening one up before but it’s fairly simple to remove the lid, take out the metal tone rod assembly, and add some solder to the tips of the rods. I also experimented a little with placing some foam across the rods to damp them slightly. The toy piano spectrum has a lot of inharmonic frequencies present in it, but adjusting the tuning definitely has a helpful effect on the overall sound.

Hainbach’s video on his collection of toy pianos is also worth checking out.