Tom Dolan

[Indefinite period of time]-note - Product 'Set texts' - Leaning Forward Hello there. This is a sort of fledgling return back to the world of blogging, after a very very long hiatus. I was first prompted to think perhaps I ought to get back to these things a few weeks ago,...

OMG Weeknote! Includes a "set texts" list for Product Managers. www.leaningforward.com/blog/2026/03...

I’ve got a Scarlett 18i20 or whatever it’s called. There are better ones and much worse, but I’ve found it works well with modular and lots else.

That’s nice. But a decent 8-in-8-out audio interface should probably be next on your list. So you can also use it as a mixer for all the toys.

You’ll need to enable it as a midi out device in Live’s preferences, so you can select it as an out in a blank midi track.

Suspect default is A - midi channel 1, B midi channel 2.

You can also possibly play around with the Ableton CV tools pack which can turn my audio interface into CV out.

Basslines of C at various octaves, with the occasional F, G and Bb are good places to start to test things.

Or just painting things in with tbe mouse in Ableton, then out to SQ1 and on to Mavis.

Exactly this.

And then the SQ1 does midi-to-CV/gate.

It’s more like breadmaking. You can know some theory, but it’s not possible to intellectually do it all upfront. You just have to view it as a hobby and continuous improvement where the wrong turns are the point. You are learning how to imagine - in a completely new field.

Agreed. But the “required” bit feels stronger than the “in general”.

(And yes the aria tags were a PITA)

Well, public-facing. There are successful examples of react and other JS frameworks for internal services where the (well researched) user need justified it.

Delighted that, somehow, I am not the oldest person in the queue for this Baby Queen gig.

Still not sure what we were supposed to be hear at 6pm for though. There are too many others here for me to have missed something.

@babyqueen.music-social.com

A goal we can and should all aspire to…

When you can’t even get your own adlibs right…

Sad, because there was probably a good talk-with-slides in there

Sadly watching a lesson in “don’t over-rehearse your fireside chat”.

Some wise people coming across as totally robotic, and everyone’s now got their phones out. :( #productcon

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Phantom Thread.

All that incredible craftsmanship from everyone involved. For a film that was absolutely nothing. Just “why did someone bother making this”?

People talk about this stuff in terms of how much it'll suck for gaming and I hate to inform you how many MRI machines, X-Rays, all sorts of other vital machinery are just a Windows IoT Edition PC in a beige plastic box with a big magnet/accelerator/whatever attached.

Yeah, for me it’s the “music without turning on a computer*” aspect that means I may want to keep some kind of outboard non-modular-bound FX. I have too many non-FX synths: JX-10, Poly800, P12…

* explicit general-purpose computer, obviously. I know all the kit has secret computers in it.

Well, I was thinking something similar, yes.

But also, is it time to get one of those external Eventide pedal-like gizmos instead, and start winding down the 19” rack?

Or indeed, both?

Sad day.

After many years of faithful service, my Lexicon MPX100 has given up the ghost. I’ll never forget how amazing it suddenly made Vicky’s vocal sound. Or, more recently my Prophet 12.

The last two other units standing (Alesis Quadraverb, Zoom 1201) are going to be poor substitutes.

Just absolutely brilliant thread. H/t @suw.bsky.social

Friday night. In bed at 8:40.

Just too much peopling this week.

Successful peopling, but it's definitely now time to hide away.

Tomorrow it's mainly me and a piano, and then later just one person. Bliss.

The earlier of the two Amaryillis/Amaryllisses/Amarylli is just starting to send up its first leaf and flower bud.

Which makes me wonder whether it’s time to tentatively start doing weeknotes again.

Not saying I’ve made major lifestyle changes recently or anything, but today I found an open bottle of Beaujoulais Villages…that had gone off because I’d not drunk it quickly enough.

Deploying the vacuvin from here on in!

Actually did some actual strategy this afternoon.

Also realised how much of what I’ve been doing generally is strategy, I just forgot those bits of hand-waving and excitement-creation had an actual name.

In that case, just saying hello and wishing you all the very very best from afar.

Two days in the office back-to-back. I’m absolutely shattered. Typing this from bed, and hoping I make it to the end of the senten

I am calling for a complete and total boycott of the Mercator projection in all news stories about Greenland until every member of the American public has seen this

No joy here yet either. Trying again tomorrow.

Beyond excited at the prospect of a new Baby Queen album, even if I’ve utterly failed to crack the puzzle on the homepage or marketing email so far.