Back in April, I did a post that was only half joking about what I was doing to prepare for the next Lotusphere JAMfest. Here's the follow-up post that I mentioned. First, a little story:
Back when I was packing for Lotusphere 2006, one of the things I packed is an M-Audio Oxygen 8. It's a small portable MIDI controller for use with some of the software I have on my Powerbook. The intent was to use then time I had between the last session of the night and the first session of the morning to work on music. It didn't end up working out that way, because in transit, the USB connector broke and I don't own a MIDI-to-USB converter...so the musical hermit routine was done and I had to find other things to do at night. Fortunately, there's a lot of that in Orlando (rather, Lake Buena Vista) during Lotusphere.
Here's what I've been working on since then:
I spent some time looking for a replacement USB connector for the Oxygen 8 when I came across an inexpensive Edirol PCR-50 on eBay. That solved most of my problems with having a broken USB connector so I bought it. I'll still get the Oxygen 8 fixed, but it's not as urgent these days. Yes, there's no external audio hookup in the picture, and there's no power line. I set this up for the picture and then put the Powerbook back where it normally lives. When I'm playing around, I either have headphones or have it hooked into the 5.1 surround system that's not in the picture.
I'm doing two things with this setup. I'm learning how to use the software and I'm learning how to play a keyboard. I'm hoping that this will give me the vocabulary I need to find and express what will eventually become my music. I'm also looking ahead to Lotusphere and JAMfest. I'm thinking of ways to fit into how that whole thing goes down both in terms of songs that I'd be able to play that other people might want to play there, and also figuring out how to improv and follow the rest of the band as it starts really jamming.
I may or may not make it to Lotusphere 2007, and it's possible that none of the above ends up working whether I do make it there or not. But I've been thinking about it for a while and I'm not going to be happy til I do what I need to do to find out if it'll work out. Who knows? It could be a wonderful thing.
Technorati Tags: Gadgets, Jamfest, Lotusphere, Music, Technology
At least you'll have some fun in the process!! I highly doubt I'll make it to LS07 as well. My company will probably send 2 other guys. I will be going to an iSeries conference in September and I hear that they started something similar to JAMfest.
Yeah, definitely going to be fun. I'm enjoying the process. It's a little frustrating on this side in that really I'm just making a lot of messy noise (not that much different than I was in January before Lotusphere 2006 actually) but at least my ideas are looking a little more possible. In the mean time I have a couple remix projects that I'm going to be playing around with this summer at some point.
Might go into my Lotusphere 2007 issue(s) in a future post. Whether it's in 2007 or later, I'm definitely going to make more effort to be more prepared to sing next time whether I'm ready keyboard-wise or not. Going to probably have to learn some new songs and maybe try to get some of y'all to work out a different song or two while I'm at it too.