https://hypertexthero.com/ Recent content on Hypertexthero en-us Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:19:28 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/hydrasynth-notes/ Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:19:28 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/hydrasynth-notes/ Ongoing notes on the Hydrasynth Explorer (manual) to help me remember how to do things with it as I swim deeper into synth worlds. First off, some user interface and own particularities: Orange buttons = selecting something. Repeatedly pressing orange buttons goes through different pages White buttons = doing something Hold Shift & press buttons with orange letters under them to select orange letter things Main Systems = Browse, select, favorite, save, initialize and randomize patches, and system setup Master Control & Module Select = main place to do sound design, contains secondary display Knobs = encoders Home = home view, macro display Exit = Exit current view going back to previous one Oscillators 1 & 2 = Identical, Single waveform or Wavescan mode, latter meaning you can pick waves from a wavetable and morph between them Oscillator 3 = Single waveform mode, simplified oscillator, has ring noise options Mutants = Effects applied to raw output of oscillators instead of end of signal chain Mixer = Many options like soloing individual oscillators, specifying whether the two filters run in parallel or in series, etc Amp = Bring volume of patch up (also Drive/Morph) among other things Env = Envelope (attack, decay, sustain, release, etc) Lfo = Low frequency oscillator, a wave below human hearing range that can be used to modulate the sound. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/23/sightread/ Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:41:26 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/23/sightread/ Open source web application for learning to play piano that listens to your MIDI instrument input while you play to songs displayed as sheet music or falling notes, both with extra notation to help beginners such as named notes (alphabetical and fixed do) and colors (Settings icon on top-right → Display → Visualizer). You can also free play, choosing different instruments, and record your own performance into a MIDI file to use later in your DAW, or load custom ones. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/23/barry-harris-in-the-hague/ Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:03:06 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/23/barry-harris-in-the-hague/ I discovered Harris when looking up who played the delicate, beautiful piano part in Yusef Lateef’s performance of Love Theme From Spartacus and then found this series of videos put together by pianist and teacher Frans Elsen. A wonderful resource. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/22/steam-machine-launch/ Mon, 22 Jun 2026 21:35:42 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/22/steam-machine-launch/ I use a Mac for work and a PC for play, and this little box seems a good opportunity to play The Legend of Linux on a desktop or a couch, and help make it true. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/22/polder-model-cooperation-despite-differences/ Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:55:44 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/22/polder-model-cooperation-despite-differences/ The polder model is a method of consensus decision-making, based on the Dutch version of consensus-based economic and social policymaking in the 1980s and 1990s. It gets its name from the Dutch word (polder) for tracts of land enclosed by dikes. The polder model has been described as “a pragmatic recognition of pluriformity” and “cooperation despite differences”. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/22/lagom-just-enough/ Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:45:51 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/22/lagom-just-enough/ A Swedish word meaning ‘just the right amount’ or ’not too much, not too little’. The word can be variously translated as ‘in moderation’, ‘in balance’, ‘perfect-simple’, ‘just enough’, ‘ideal’ and ‘suitable’ (in matter of amounts). Whereas words like sufficient and average suggest some degree of abstinence, scarcity, or failure, lagom carries the connotation of appropriateness, although not necessarily perfection. The archetypical Swedish proverb “Lagom är bäst”, literally ‘The right amount is best’, is also translated as ‘Enough is as good as a feast’, or as ‘There is virtue in moderation’. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/20/sysex-librarian/ Sat, 20 Jun 2026 11:09:11 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/20/sysex-librarian/ App to let your Mac communicate with MIDI devices using System Exclusive messages, also known as SysEx. The most common use is to backup patch data from synthesizers, although there are others (such as sending firmware updates). I think you can build a Linux version from the source. MIDI-OX is a PC equivalent. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/06/memory-sound-design-and-the-discovery-of-music-through-intuition/ Sat, 06 Jun 2026 01:31:00 +0200 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/06/06/memory-sound-design-and-the-discovery-of-music-through-intuition/ Interview with Matthew Florianz, sound designer of one of my all-time favorite videogames. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/25/solvitur-ambulando/ Mon, 25 May 2026 21:13:24 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/25/solvitur-ambulando/ When in doubt, move. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/23/blinker-fluid/ Sat, 23 May 2026 13:36:45 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/23/blinker-fluid/ Good live improvisation progressive rock band. Saw them at Tip Top Deluxe in Grand Rapids, MI, and look forward to whatever they lay down on a record. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/22/actual-intelligence/ Fri, 22 May 2026 13:11:09 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/22/actual-intelligence/ From Woz’s commencement speech: You all have AI, actual intelligence! … I was at a company where the engineers figured out how to make a brain. It takes nine months. … The day you die, you’re not gonna remember things you learned in your class, formulas and all that, what you’re gonna remember is the good times you had doing things with other people, enjoying anything in life. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/21/exanima-095/ Thu, 21 May 2026 08:47:06 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/21/exanima-095/ Yesterday I restarted my Exanima playthrough with the new patch and was vanquished by a zombie before reaching the iron gate. The game is looking better than ever and I’m excited to get further in the next attempt. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/15/since-you-arrived-vol-iv-taken/ Fri, 15 May 2026 08:47:00 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/05/15/since-you-arrived-vol-iv-taken/ What a webpage (or app) can tell about you when you visit. Via jank.cool. https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/04/30/drawing-2-and-some-piano-synths/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:04:28 -0400 https://hypertexthero.com/linked/2026/04/30/drawing-2-and-some-piano-synths/ Rough drawing of hair and piano synth music improvisation.