The Mike Moffat (#2 at Schiit) Blog

Yes.

 

taps*

 

It's DSP, but it will be in its own box, not standalone software. It is not room correction and will be usable with headphones.

 

Also, will have multiple versions as I recall. Sounded like the first version would be in the Modi/Magni sized chassis with limited I/O and just a power and bypass switch. But I could have been reading too much into things.

 

Returning to the topic of tuning...

This is a fantastic record, and a favourite of mine, that's recorded in just intonation. It will sound weird at first, not only because it's not in the standard even-tempered system, but because it plays on this by deliberately using some of the more "out-of-tune" intervals that crop up. I'm not suggesting that this is anything like what a DSP temperament auto-tuning system might come up with, but it should give you some ideas of the kind of sound-worlds that alternate tuning can conjure up.

 

An album using alternate tunings and scales is Wendy Carlos - Beauty in the Beast. Well worth getting a copy, and truly beautiful.

https://soundcloud.com/roberto-la-forgia/sets/beauty-in-the-beast-by-wendy-carlos-1968

 

I really like Terry Riley - Shri Camel. His releases used to be an automatic buy when I would see a new LP in the record stores. Then, he started singing and I became more cautious.

Shri Camel reminds me a bit of Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air. @Garns (or anyone) is A Rainbow in Curved Air in just intonation? (I can't quite get my head around the concept of "just intonation" even though I have been reading about it.)



I fell in love with A Rainbow in Curved Air in my pre-teen days. I had to special order the LP back then. I was so happy to finally have a copy. (They used to play it on the local Free-Form FM station.) I found (and find) it simultaneously relaxing and exciting.

Edit: Fun Fact - I have occasionally read of A Rainbow in Curved Air as being a pioneering album of electronic music. Actually there were no electronic instruments used. I think Terry Riley's use of speed alteration of instruments gave this a bit of an electronic flavor.

 

For you Riley fans, you might want to check out "In C Mali," his "In C" redone with a mix of Western and West African musicians and instruments.

 

I think only his stuff after Shri Camel is just intonation. Check out the Indian classical music thread as well, the raga scales are also just intonation. For purely instrumental this one is great:

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma & Zakir Hussain - Rag Madhuvanti & Rag Misra Tilang,

 

Randomly:
All right – it feels so good to be back from Can Jam. Believe me, there is some good news. The class reunion aspects of it were enjoyable. It was wonderful to see all there who are “one of us”, disturbed enough to share the same audiophile pathology.

End of good news. Where do I start on the bad. I have been going to shows as a spectator since the 1960's and as an exhibitor since the 1970's. I have attended them on all continents save Antarctica, in the first, second, and third world; I have never seen a venue as inappropriate as this. How do I count the ways? The hotel was badged “Ritz Carlton” on the West wall and “JW Marriott” on the North. I am a native Californian who has lived in the LA area since 1953 and I couldn't find the place.

The price inflation is starting to creep in here as well - too many $10K and up systems for me. If this continues there will remain only a few remaining old men hawking $50K headphone systems they barely hear to each other in loud voices.

Normally, the show producer provides a setup period the day or evening before. We were warned ahead that our setup would be at midnight. We all checked in to our $275/night rooms and waited. At 10 or so, we were informed that we might have to wait until morning, since there were to be no security personnel until the then. I was then struck by a brilliant idea: so what if we set up at midnight and have the hotel lock the doors to the room! What came back was the hotel could not trust its employees and therefore could not guarantee security.

Meanwhile we retired to the bar to contemplate the depth of our screwing. I observed the characters strolling in the lobby – a standout was an eighty something guy with a walker flanked by a pair of gals with huge inflate to 45 lb thighs/asses a la Nicki Minaj. Maybe some younger guys could learn the importance of money and walkers to success with the opposite sex. The capper was the homeless guy in the mens' room bellowing to everyone in general and no one in particular incoherence and exclamation.

Never again as an exhibitor. f**k that. Worth maybe twenty bucks for the class reunion. At $275 per night for the room and $49 per day for parking all I can think of is those who have that much total for a can budget. Next time I think all will benefit if the show organizer actually visits the place. Sigh.

 

Here's a thought, maybe Jude should have Marv run the meet

 

I personally told Jude this was the worst venue I had ever seen anywhere, in any economy in 50 years. He was apologetic. He also said he would pass on my message to the organizer, who did not give me the courtesy of a visit.

 

Nah you still need the forced eviction + bodily harm package because they overbooked exhibitors. Then the media needs to start sniffing through your dirty laundry.

 

Nice summation Mike.

You need to stop in at The Schiitr occasionally for a cup of coffee. I'll bring the donuts.

 

Wow, sounds like some of the attendees also found the venue to be awful.

 

It was a pretty terrible place for an audio show, if only for the blinding prices and chain-restaurant atmosphere. Anyone looking for a taste of real downtown LA was stuck in a Logan's Run tourist-trap of insane concert-goers and mediocre food, master-planned to exclude any semblance of culture or history. I hadn't experienced LA Live until this show, and I see no reason to ever go back.

 

More Manhattan updates:

 

I agree the venue for CanJam was rather commercial and walking from the main hall to the rest of the rooms felt like I was in an empty airport. Now that the Schiitr is a thing, might as well skip LA events. Honestly if the Schiit brand continues its Saturn V-like trajectory, you might be able to arrange your own events in satellite cities and have others pay you for the privilege of exhibiting alongside—certainly the MrSpeakers quiet room explicitly billed Yggdrasil as the definitive DAC against which others are judged. The source of all things indeed. As I made clear in my long post about CanJam on HF, there are a lot of companies making a lot of interesting things, but if they can't contain their prices, they will remain window dressing.