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I was gonna post this isn Slow, but I think it's more appropriate here. TMBG's Flood came out 30 years ago today. After I got past my initial "holy shit am I old" reaction, I reflected upon the first time I heard it. I was in a local record store called Al Bum's (get it) that still sold a lot of vinyl. They were BLARING Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and I, a sullen, disaffected metalhead who had recently branched out into industrial, goth rock (as in Bauhaus) and some proto-grunge (thanks to college radio) was all like "WTF is THIS SHIT?!? It's so HAPPY and MANIC ....can I hear it again?" I didn't get my first CD player until the fall of 1990. The first CD I bought was the Led Zeppelin 4CD boxed set (the first "boxed set" that launched that craze of the 1990s.) It wasn't until early 1991 that I bought Flood on CD. IIRC, I had a copied cassette in the summer of 1990. I was severely depressed that year (as I was throughout high school, anyone who tells you that HS is the best years of your life is stuck in the 1950s) but in spite of/because of that I loved the maniac lunacy of Flood. I got to see TMBG live a couple times in the 1990s. They played UMASS at one point in the early 90s and they played most of Flood. I didn't recognize many of the non-Flood songs. I saw them again in '96 in a club called Lupo's in Rhode Island. That second show was amazing. I remember pogoing like a madman to Anna Ng. Clearly by '96 TMBG were getting sick of Flood. They did super fast versions of the songs they knew the crowd wanted to hear and moved on to other things. At some point maybe 10 years ago (2010 is now a decade ago ...ayep) TMBG played locally and did the entirety of Flood. Sadly, I was not able to be at that show.

Hah, thanks for the birthday wishes! Holy crap am I old. I guess that's why I hang out with you lot. ?

Dream a Little Dream of Me – Kina Grannis (made famous by the Mamas and the Papas):

Ok, still not strictly music, but I am having waaaaaaaaaaay too much fun with the TD-3. I wanted to try my hand at some stinky oldskool jungle on the Digitakt and the TD-3. Guess who bit off more than they could chew? The DT is very realtime, so keeping up with 170 bpm with the knob-twiddling and button mashing was challenging. The result isn't really music per se, but it's loud and angry and was fun as hell to do: I apologise to anyone who needs therapy as a result.

Hard to be definitive, but SAW2 is some of my favourite RDJ too. It's a perfect enveloping soundtrack to weird urban commutes and moonlit nights- he could have stopped there. Of course, I'm delighted he didn't, as he continues to make loads of really enjoyable music to this day (with a break of some years because he was sure no-one was interested), but god damn, SAW2 is gorgeous. Meanwhile, I can't remember if I linked this before and I just finished off the Laphroig, so do cut me some slack, but I do love:

For some reason that made me think of this

Real world impressions and benchmarks for pro audio and post production audio with the new Mac Pro's are trickling in. It seems like audio professionals are opting for the 16 core processors and installing OWC ram so their machines are clocking in at the $8k range. The benchmarks in Logic and Cubase are pretty astonishing compared to the 2013 dust bins. I haven't seen any direct comparisons to the top of the line iMac Pro's but those aren't that much less and they are not user upgradeable. Just a handful of buyers in the virtual composer communities so far but there are quite a few doing the "wait and see" to decide on configurations they should order. Here's a video of 850 instances of Absynth.

From an earlier post, but worth repeating for @jose

Now you guys are just getting nasty. ? Aren't you the same 3 guys who made me build the Carbon, and then the Blue Hawaii BJT after that? Come to think of it, more than 1 of you got me to build my original SRX-Plus too. Your taunts will no longer work on me. ?

It's winter time again - the prime time to bring out this space heater. I have forgotten how glorious this amp sounds and am reminded again how much tube choices affect the sound of this all-tube circuit - especially the front end tubes.

and all the pappy....

That looks like my kind of wine shop

At the Chelsea Wine Cellar (retail space in Chelsea Market, NYC): Also at the Chelsea Wine Cellar, in the "expensive room" (next to the 50 y/o Glenlivet):

So here I was modding a SRM-006tS to a CCS and noticed this: That is the R+ output and notice the 3 lines coming off it, one going to the feedback, one going to the output resistor and one... going to the other side of the output resistor... One has to wonder just how many of these they have shipped like this? In other news, it was fun converting an original T1 and and this one at the same time. 30 years apart and almost exactly the same...

No pics, but my first sicilian pizza ..... Sfinciuni Pizze. Not a looker but bursting with flavor. "This traditional pie has a pan style crust, with a sweet and rustic style tomato sauce on top of 2 year aged parmigiano reggiano".

Niman Ranch Flat Iron, Garlic Fries, Arugula, Smoked Chile Butter

Some good news on my side. I was able to successfully test the GR79xx board. Here's a picture of the GR7915 (left) next to the GR7815 micro (right). I've only tested against my DC shop supply but it performs as expected so far

Yes, heat sinks and front/rear panels are from modushop.biz. Brackets and aluminum plates for top/bottom covers from local shops. Drilling, tapping and other crafting done in kitchen.

Yes, R13 sets the current for the reference. I use 4.7K and it was giving me .92mA. Here's a shot of the positive rail... (Wow - It's been sitting out for a couple of weeks and got very dusty)

Here’s the back of the digital attenuator. This might make you suffer more Those chips need to be started with a hot air station.

Just got a few boards in. From left to right... GRHV78xxx, GRHV79xxx and to the right is a new experimental digital alternator. It’s stackable for balanced

See the zip file below; JoaMat kindly put together a list of component value changes for the mini T2 that the builders can apply to the V1 boards received from me. These values will put your mini T2 close to the operation points of the original DIY T2. Following the values on the silkscreen without changes will still result in an working amp. The zip file contains a complete list of the changes and pictures of the boards outlining the changes. I also attached a screen shot that shows the list of changes. Thanks very much JoaMat for doing this! Changes mini T2.zip

The two mirrored boards are now a married pair. Size 6.3in x 7.87in / 160mm x 200mm. If you want them divorced use a guillotine and cut along the center line.

A few points regarding the boards Michael have had made on my gerbers. They are basically the same as my kitchen made boards I made five months ago. The small tube footprint has no hole for the center pin. So far I’ve cut away the center pin on the small tube socket after checking the pin holders to be not to tight nor to loose. One time I got tube sockets where the tubes fell out when turning upside down. So either you have to cut pin or drill a hole. Be aware that upper tube has a trace between the grids that might be to close to center pin. Right board 270K resistor has a 0805 pad (intention was 1206). It’s possible to solder a 1206 resistor on the 0805 pad. If +220V you get about 130 V cross the resistor so Vishay CRCW0805 is OK here. But with +250 V you get close to CRCW0805’s limit of 150 V. Some of component values on silk screen are poorly place and almost unreadable. The blame is entirely on me, I’m very sorry. There are four octagons on bottom side. One at each big tube socket center hole and one each side of small tubes filaments connections. Here I have standoffs. A few comments on updated layouts. Small tube footprint with center hole. 270K resistor pad corrected - now 1206. Silk screen remade. Pleas notify me if there is any left that needs additional attention. Now “value” of connections on both sides (except heaters). No terminal blocks on my boards. Top right. Updated 2019-02-27. Bottom right. Updated 2019-02-27. Top left . Updated 2019-02-27. Bottom left. Updated 2019-02-27. I call above version .2. My kitchen made and Michaels are version .1. Regarding this amplifier - there is nothing I've invented. I just have picked up different things and tried to put them together. As: Opto servo (the only offset servo you need) by Kevin. 01N100D/TL1021 current source by Kerry. Schematic of Stax T2 provided by Kevin, Et. al. Schematic of Stax T8000 provided by Kevin and Birgir. Etc. etc. Thanks for all knowledge, information and inspiration from you DIYers and Head-Case members. Please look for errors or other issues.