#for one like 80% of the keyboard keys doesn't work and i've had to use a usb keyboard for like 6 years

[steinbit]

finally had to bite the bullet and buy a new laptop since my old one is Literally just hanging on by a single hinge and a hope and it's SUCH a paaain setting up and transferring all my shit to the new one 😔

[callmearcturus]

curious about your on-the-go fic-writing keeb and how it's set up. also the whole switches post gave me the incredible desire for some sort of "what's in my bag" sitch. thank you i liked reading about your switch opinions.

Oh hell yeah sure.

So my mobile keyboard is amazing.

This is an EPOMAKER NT68. It's a 65% bluetooth keyboard that I have used to, at this point, write about 80% of the PT Benji AU. It's a fucking joy to use.

I got it on sale from Bezo's Store for about 70 bucks (it's 95 right now). At the time, it came with Gateron Blacks installed but literally like seven of the fucking switches had bent pins and had to be replaced. It came with five spare switches so I was p pissed.

Which, I was fine obvsly because I keep buying switches on the cheap.

Okay but about this specific keyboard:

EPOMAKER NT68

Haimu Whisper Silent Tactile switches (which I LOVE, very good feedback without a ton of sound, great of typing at work)

Cannoncaps CXA Superplum (which is to to date the only caps I have ever paid full price for which I should not have done except they might be my Actual Favorite Profile. this is unfortunate bc they fucking never going on sale, but that special spacebar shape is incredible)

my lil vinyl record player artisan was a gift 8) the maker is 2Tcraft on Etsy

What I love about this keyboard is that

It allows for three BT connections at a time, so i can swap from my phone to my home PC to anything else with two buttons

the sound of it on a deskmat is actually one of my favorite noise profiles of any keeb I've used

it is the most portable keeb without going into weird Nuphy keebs (which I did consider a lot) or going Ortho (which I ALSO considered but this was before Akko put out an affordable Ortho option, god bless Akko)

it has a felt magnetic sleeve that can be folded around the keeb to protect it or into a lil triangle to prop your phone on, which I use all the time. when this thing starts wearing out, I will be very sad.

it fits into my cheapass Vera Bradley crossbody bag so i bring it with me everywhere and I have genuinely used it a fucking lot, like a LOT.

it is a major conversation starter, everyone at work wants to know more about it which is fun.

obviously I had switch issues with the stock keeb and had to swap out some non-working switches, BUT the stock is honestly very good otherwise and the caps it comes with feel perfectly fine. you can use them for a while without issue.

some caveats:

this thing is an investment. i told myself that basically this is what my patreon is for and I saved up for a few months to justify it to myself. i'm glad I did it but also Oof That Pricetag.

the software for this thing is fuckign incomprehensible. i have tried many many times to add some hotkeys to it and fucking forget it. I managed to turn off the lights and that's all I'm doing with it. if you want this for coding and need something very easy to add layers to, FUCKING FORGET IT. go get one of Drop's Orthos instead.

sometimes i type too fast for this thing lmao. it doesn't happen often but like if i'm REALLY going max speed, it will every once in a while (like once in a paragraph) miss a key. I'm fine with this because it doens't happen with casual use.

it is portable but you are gonna need to find a bag for it to fit into. It fits perfectly into a Vera Bradley Sling Backpack, which I picked up on clearance from my local Hallmark store oddly enough.

[softgrungeprophet]

IT HAS ARRIVED and is working (thank you again @bluef00t !!!!) and as you can see, omg... it's so big... (medium technically) It's def gonna take a tiny bit of getting used to using a tablet this size since I'm used to being able to travel my screen in half the distance, but I can already tell it's much nicer to use because of the size, much less cramped... and it's a fun color! almost makes up for the fact that I can't get a pink laptop these days 😂 (my old laptop was pink 😔)

The whole thing feels really solid too, like, even though it was only 80 bucks it's so much nicer feeling (and looking) than my old Bamboo tablet... like the pen especially is so much more ergonomic AND it has a rubber grip? luxe

the pen buttons are also really clicky and satisfying which is a nice step up from the kind of mushy buttons on the side of the bamboo pen barrel lol

it doesn't have an eraser or anything (but the bottom button is set to swap to it) but I don't mind that too much since i frequently just use my nib to erase anyway so once I get used to it not being there i don't think i'll mind much at all

haven't tried to draw anything for real yet but I've played around testing the pen feel and... the pressure sensitivity though... you guys... i knew increasing sensitivity x8 was gonna be different but it feels so much more responsive 😂 the nib feels pretty nice. I know some people don't like the kind of nibs that have give but I'm already accustomed to that style of nib so it doesn't bother me at all. It's interesting though cause it's shaped different and the way it gives feels like... softer? almost like using a felt pen, which is interesting. It feels pretty nice to me though, and it seems like it's much more responsive with a lot less pressure so I'm hoping this helps me stop pressing down so hard as well, since it responds so smoothly to very light pressure and can put down pretty firm lines more easily (i did try adjusting pressure on my old tablet recently, but it just felt really bad so it didn't work out, but this feels really nice by comparison)

it's like i've been drawing with a rock for 12 years and someone just gave me a pencil for the first time 😂

like I COULD get fine lines like that before but it was much less smooth and not nearly as fine in terms of control and taper (like the dropoff between fine lines and no lines at all)... wow drawing with a modern and current tablet is much nicer it turns out 😂

i do have to put some training wheels on though 😂😂 my old tablet only had four express keys (plus the two pen buttons) so having TEN whole buttons is like, whoa, need to learn a new layout, but very nice to be able to have both undo AND redo instead of just one 😂

i think for me the ideal number of express keys would actually be 13 (for copy, cut and paste lol) but having 10 is really nice

(i put shift on there because previously shift was on my lower pen button alongside right click so that i could draw straight lines without using my keyboard, but pen gets eraser instead and i think it will be more comfortable to press shift with my left hand instead of holding it down on my pen)

(not that i use that SUPER often but i do often enough for it to be useful)

also the touch bar is going to be SO useful??? being able to zoom with my finger... yes..... amazing.......

also the two media keys (touch buttons??? whatever) on the far right are actually basically a dedicated alt-tab and a button to go to desktop

which is also... super nice actually cause using my pen to navigate between programs is a huge pain in the ass so being able to alt-tab sounds super useful... i really like this.... i'm glad i specifically chose the one with the media keys cause I KNOW i will get a lot of use out of them, considering how often i use the media keys on my USB keyboard and how much time i spend listening to music👌

anyway i'm really looking forward to using this for real, it's nice to modernize 😂 and i will try to be very careful not to drop it 😅

[guntersounds]

Applying Compression to my Tascam DP32SD Tracks

The Dilemma: As much as I love my Tascam DP32SDs (I use two of them), they're missing one key feature – compression. Very often, when tracking, the audio levels are inconsistent (that would be an 'operator issue' on my part). I don't particularly like compressing as I record. In the past, I've always compressed during the mixdown, using the dynamic compression inserts on my mixing board. But things are different now, and I just don't have multiple inputs and outputs to feed into my beloved analog boards.

The Challenge: My usual suspects for recording the majority of my tracks involve a combination of my Roland TD-50 drum module, an Optimus MD-1200 keyboard, Carvin X1 amp pedal and a Boss IR-200 cabinet simulator. This pretty much covers a whole band – drums, bass, guitar, keys. They sounded great with the proper levels, but what they really needed was a bit of compression to bring them to life. The DP-32SD, for all its merits, doesn't come with the tools for this job. I thought about upgrading to the later (and yes, very sleek) Tascam Model24s, but the thought of spending over $2,500 and having my faithful DP32SDs collecting dust? This is not practical for a number of reasons and I'm sure I'll arrive to this explanation on a later post.

My Strategy: As much as I avoid Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), I needed something to tame and brighten the dynamics of my raw audio tracks. Now I would never tell a person how to manage their equipment, or which tools to use, but I personally believe that understanding DAWs is necessary and we should maintain access to one. This could be an inexpensive DAW with limited features. This is why when it comes to computing, I use open source software and my DAW of choice is REAPER. Years ago, I could have given you all kinds of tips on Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro and Sonar, but notice how they no longer exist? Okay, I'm jumping the shark again- I'll talk about this in another post.

Exporting Tracks: The Tascam records all files in WAV format, and I have them defaulted to 16-bit. These files can be exported separately by use of the DP32SDs "Audio Depot." The Audio Depot is a reserved directory found on the SD Card used for your recording sessions. I exported all my raw tracks to the Tascam Audio Depot in the defaulted WAV format.

DAW Integration: Next, I brought these tracks into REAPER, my Rocky Linux digital audio workstation and this is actually a simple process. Shut down your Tascam (save your work!) and move your SD card from the Tascam to the DAW. From this point, you use the REAPER graphical user interface (GUI) to add each raw WAV file as a track. A beautiful feature about the Tascam Audio Depot, is that every file you export to the depot is the exact same time length. This makes it VERY easy to align your tracks in your DAW to play the tracks in sync.

Applying Compression: REAPER has a native set of plugins that are arguably industry standard, especially if you don't rely on audio effects exclusively. Each plugin name is prefaced with "Real," so I chose the RealComp VST compressor and applied one instance of this plugin to each raw track. This compressor reminds me of the outboard Behringer Autocom Pro and some of the other ART, Alesis and Nady compressors from the 80s and 90s. The developers built out numerous presets, so I was able to choose "Rock Snare" for the snare, "Rock Bass Drum" for the kick, etc. I was also able to apply similar presets to the guitars and the keys. Fine-tuning each preset was very easy to do by adjusting the threshold or even a ratio adjustment. Each track ended up with its own perfect compression setting.

Rendering and Returning: REAPER uses the term 'render' to finalize a mix. Rendering will basically 'play' the track internally and record this mixed version to a new file. This can all be done under the File -> Render section. Once I had all my tracks dialed in with the right compression, I rendered each one separately to their own dedicated tracks. Now when you render your tracks in REAPER, it's a good idea to set up your naming convention. Under the Render options interface, I was able to auto-name each track to be the same as the name of each track on the REAPER virtual mixing board. Examples of track names could be: 01-BD (track one, bass drum), 02-SN (track two, snare), 11-BASS (track eleven, bass guitar), 12-GTR1 (track twelve, guitar 1), 13-GTR (track thirteen, guitar 2)... Once this was complete, I copied these files to the DP32SD SD card's Audio Depot directory (delete the old files first!). Eject the SD card, and place back into the Tascam.

Re-importing to Tascam: The final step was bringing these compressed tracks back as a new song on my DP32SD. You create a new song and then under the song options, select IMPORT. IMPORT takes you to the Audio Depot and you can simply add each track according to the naming convention you used. 01-BD would be imported to track one, and 13-GTR1 would be imported to track thirteen. At this point, you have a brand new song with your files compressed and ready to mix.

The Outcome: Immediately, I noticed my audio levels to be much easier to work with. I almost felt like I was mixing tape! I think the biggest takeaway regarding recording digitally, is that your digital recorder is going to capture sound much differently than your older analog tape recorders. I remember so many times in the past, when I would set up a couple microphones on some instruments and run them through a mixer to tape, and the dynamics were much easier to manage. My opinion on this is that tape itself does have a natural compression and saturation, which makes the levels easier to work with. Many engineers like to use tape to ride the red lines on the VU meters. Unfortunately for us, these are expensive glory days for us to reflect on. We do have to adapt to the economics of technology by convenience, and this is not a complaint. A good adaptation is adding minor compression to your tracks. The challenge is what is the best way to do this? Well, you could compress as you track, but depending your project, you many need a rack of compressors and preamps. This is a space, resource and price problem. And once your track is recorded with compression, you can't change what was recorded. So, compressing after in a DAW seems to be my current method. This will change in the future. Tascam is continuously making improvements, especially in the newer Model24 series. I'll eventually get to write about why the Model24 isn't quite where I want to be in terms of an upgrade. So for now, the DP-32SD is still my choice of platform. The process of compressing my files in REAPER took about two hours and that included the learning curve, and other interruptions, but within a couple hours, my tracks were transformed. They sounded incredible, like they had been given a new lease on life. So this wasn't just about avoiding an upgrade. It was about taking control of my sound in a way I hadn't imagined before. The Model24s might have been a neat upgrade, but the Model24s also have their own issues. I will likely discuss this on future episodes of the guntersouds.NET podcast.

Reflections: The developers who contribute to REAPER's VST plugins should be awarded Medals of Honor. Think of the contribution that these unknown heroes have made! I strongly recommend a donation to the REAPER team when possible. What I learned from this whole process is that usually, the best gear is what you already have, combined with a little ingenuity. It's about marrying the tactile, hands-on feel of analog with the endless possibilities of digital. In the end, not only did REAPER help me resolve my compression issue, but I also discovered a new and exciting way to prolong the lifespan of my Tascam DP-32SD.

[briefcasejuice]

daredevil headcanons!

a giant list of comic, live action, etc. daredevil headcanons i've been growing in a twitter thread since april. or march, i think.

COMIC/LIVE ACTION AMBIGOUS: • matt knew all the college gossip bc of his super-hearing and he'd tell it all to foggy who'd bride people candy in exchange for gossip/rumours. • on his way from class matt would pass a fruit stand where he'd examine each strawberry for the perfect one and bring it back to the dorm for foggy. • foggy can solve a rubik's cube really fast and he's incredibly proud of it. he always eventually does it in front of a new friend & it's kind of like a functional version of the butcher story. matt used to be able to solve one really fast before he lost his sight & he continued to try solving one with the help of his powers but it never worked until foggy got him a braille one; then he got intimidatingly good at it again and foggy regrets indulging him. • matt doodles - like gibberish but for drawings? because he gets restless during late afternoons and when he's not around foggy takes them and adds his own stuff. sometimes matt will run his fingers over the ink and notice that foggy's turned his nonsense into a cat or something and take it home to stick it on his fridge just because. karen also hates it because they leave them all over the office and it gets into her files, her bag or in the pages of her books. • matt and karen use wired earbuds; foggy has airpods. • matt fucking loathes carbonated drinks. • matt loves wheat thins. • matt spouts sun tzu lore when he's drunk; foggy talks about hamilton. • in college, people thought foggy was gay but since everyone knew matt was a whore they all expected it to also extend to other gender identities. • foggy is pan; matt is bi but only 'cause he rushed to pick a label and he can't be bothered changing it. • matt has bpd.

COMIC: • matt has a bunch of weighted blankets bc the pressure blocks out external stimuli (it's canon that he filled his bathtub with water and floated in it when his senses were too sensitive as a child). • kirsten is black - matt used to straighten her hair for her because he knew the perfect temperature to get it really well done but without heat damage. • blindspot had to leave the country because he's an illegal immigrant but matt has a part of his salary set for monthly trips to wherever blindspot lives. • when matt was in prison in zdarsky’s first run he only sent and received letters from 4 people - foggy, kirsten, elektra and sam. sam (blindspot) would give him a rundown of everything happening outside the us because prison television only showed national news. • matt taps his foot to music he hears blocks away sometimes without noticing and it annoys the hell out of foggy but he doesn't tell matt to stop because it's rare that he doesn't have self control over bodily movements like that 'cause y'know - ninja stuff. • sam taught matt bits of mandarin whenever they were on breaks when he was working with matt at the da's office. • sam would tell daredevil about his day and mention how much be looks up to matt and daredevil would often go silent whenever he's talking about matt. (this is live action canon) matt sucks on his lip when he's comfortable enough in any environment to be visibly nervous. • matt and mike both doodled idly. they weren't really cool drawings, mostly just scribbles but matt was getting pretty good at drawing inanimate objects before he was blinded, now he just scribbles. mike still scribbles but at one point in high school he took an art class and actually liked it so he kind of tried enough to get 80s. he does a full fledged drawing or two every year now. nothing exciting, he drew butch this one time and someone in a waiting room another time but he still scribbles.

LIVE ACTION: • matt's laptop doesn't work all that well bc it's second hand but he knows just the perfect amount of pressure needed to make this specific key on the keyboard work just right. • matt's hair in nwh was a product of foggy and karen messing with him or that was just plain mike murdock. • foggy takes photos of matt like all the goddamn time and matt hates it & they're awful but he's conventionally attractive so they all look fine. in college foggy used to sign him up for dating sites as his Wingman™ and used some of those photos. • foggy reads fanfiction and so does matt but he only listens to what foggy recommends while foggy is the one that searches for fanfics when he gets really into some kind of fiction. • foggy set aside some of all the money he'd made in big time lawyering (in defenders and s3) for matt's therapy and first aid supplies.

masterlist -> AO3 -> part II