As I'd mentioned in my previous journal entry, I had another eye injection last Tuesday when the person giving the injection apologised for hitting a blood vessel. Despite that my eye seemed reasonably no different from the other times it had been injected, but the day after I woke to find it bloodshot. And the day after that it was even more red and has gotten worse, along with occasional short, sharp stabbing pains. I did call the hospital and the lady I spoke to said that the bloodshot nature of the eye sometimes happens if a blood vessel is pieced by the needle and should settle down in a few days. However, it still looks,bloody awful, (forgive the pun,) and feels uncomfortable and is watering more or less all the time. If it hasn't cleared up by Monday I'll have to call the hospital again.
Meanwhile, I'm finally preparing to wave goodbye to my old Mackie recording system. I'm on the third mixing desk now, (which I had very expensively repaired some while ago,) but it has developed more faults, some of which are incredibly frustrating to have to work around. I'm losing a lot of time just getting the thing to boot up and behave itself.
The upshot of this is that I'm planning to assemble a computer based recording system using DAW software plus a control surface and audio interface. I've been spending time looking at the different choices available to me and now have arrived at what I think will be the right combination of parts to get me up and running, (though I suspect the learning curve will be somewhat steep.)
The Mackie system has been terrific, a great design that emulated the old-school way of working, with a real mixing desk but with digital recording to a dedicated hardware multi-track machine. But, sadly, it's become too unreliable, maybe because of the intense workload I've subjected it to over the years, and Mackie no longer make the product. I've toyed with the idea of getting it repaired again, but last time was difficult as the only place qualified to deal with repairs was way down in Surrey, and the price of the repair was steep.
I've hung on to this system as long as I could, desperate to keep the same way of working that I've been used to all these years, but now, like everyone else, it seems I'm being forced down the computer software route. Everything is 'virtual' and nothing is real...
Anyway, the journal will keep you posted on my progress, (or lack of it.) Hopefully, once I make the jump and spend a few weeks learning the new and unfamiliar stream, I might find the workflow easier and more productive. Or maybe, despite the financial outlay, I'll abandon it and put the Mackie system back in place, warts and all...
The Backlund Super 100 DLX guitar that was bought for me by incredibly generous fans for my 70th birthday.
The Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitar which was also purchased from funds donated by fans as a 70th birthday gift. (This guitar is awaiting the fitting of a Duesenberg tremolo arm.) Two beautiful and unusual guitars that I'll treasure and play with gratitude to those fans who gave me such wonderful and much appreciated gifts..