• Howard's Proposal



I don't miss much about New Orleans, except...

• Excellent Recording Finally, But...

I solved the problem of "latency" on the laptop, but...
After working on a piece of music all last night, until the sun was coming up, grabbing maybe 4 hours of sleep and then going back to work on the piece of music, I was very pleased with it.
Pushing each new track back in time around 40 milliseconds, placed them right back in time with the previous tracks (the cymbals didn't even sound out of phase, which is the true test of syncronicity).
Then, at about 3 p.m., when I was adding a third guitar (while recording the second one, the recording stopped somewhere in the middle of the song -that event wasn't necessary to make me save my work, I was saving it regualarly; having learned from experience that the Audacity program can just freeze any second) the Audacity program froze.
The Gist Of The Problem
Clicking on anything was fruitless. I finally had to hit "Ctl-Alt-Del" (a throwback to Windows) to log out.
Now, when I try to open Audacity, a box pops up telling me that "the system has detected that Audacity is already running; running two copies could corrupt your files or cause your system to crash" -the only way out of that dialogue is to hit "OK."
And, when I log on as "user" I can't use Audacity, because it is "already running," and when I log in as Daniel, I can't use it, because it has been already running for him for almost a week now.
I tried to create a whole new user account, hoping that the new user would be able to use Audacity, planning to copy the project files from "user"s folder, to "the new user"s folder, I even did it as "root" which is the super admistrator, but, the file never appeared in the new users home directory...
I have downloaded a UNIX reference manual, and will probably be qualified for a job as an administrator by the time I solve my Audacity problems!
Now, I am on one of the library computers, because wireless is mysteriously disabled -can't even get the menu which includes the "enable wireless" button, but I'm not letting it all get me down.
I'd rather have a laptop that's frustrating me than not have one at all.
I made an excellent recording (finally) one that sounds as good as stuff I used to do back in the 90's when I had a Tascam 4-track Portastudio with DBX.
Playing back what I had done made me eager to come over here and post it on this blog as an example of finally getting the procedure right, then it crashed.
Luckily, it crashed after I already had saved:

• Rhythym guitar
• Lead guitar
• Harmonica (vastly improved harmonica)
• Vocal
• Second vocal to pick up where the first one stopped recording mysteriously in the middle of the song (which was the first sign that the program might crash)

And, I was in the process of adding a bass guitar part, when the thing froze.
I tried opening a "terminal" and running the UNIX "ps" command, which is supposed to tell me all of the processes that are running; so that I could then run a UNIX "kill" command to stop the one (Audacity) that was running amok; but the "ps" command didn't list any running processes other than itself and the shell that invoked it...

I mention the above because there might be one of my readers that might have a suggestion, some of the more technically savvy ones....I would have to look at it....
I am off to find a "help group" or forum online, where I might detail the problem, and maybe get help...that's what I was going to suggest...
It's frustrating to have put about 10 hours into the project, only to have it freeze up. And discouraging to embark on another one.

There will be opportunity to travel, soon...

The song sounds great, though, and I'm pretty sure it has been saved for whenever I get Audacity up again;  I am totally going to delete all the previous debacles from "the latency era," when I was fighting a losing battle against time itself.
Howard: How 'Bout We Go To New Orleans?
Howard suggested that we go to New Orleans this weekend, even offered to finance the trip.
He reasoned correctly that I wasn't making any "extra" money here -enough just to cover the minimal expenses; but no extra. He seems concerned about my well-being. It will be a calculated risk, going there and having a warrant hanging over me, but, I really only encountered the police every 5 weeks or so, on average...plus, Sue, the Colombian Lady is probably still there, and she is one of the things that I miss the most about the place; that, and the potential to make 80 to 100 bucks on a Friday or Saturday night...
One of my tuning machines is starting to mess up on the guitar. I have to wind the string in the opposite direction, so that it gets traction. I have had the same problem before, and have already replaced two of the six of them. I find that, once you have to use the machine in the opposite of its intended direction, it is on its "last legs"..
The zipper on my guitar case is broken; I am using a bungee cord and nylon string to fasten it. These are all the "hidden" expenses that put a 50 dollar night into perspective.
We are just too close to the feeding frenzy which is New Orleans (a 90 minute bus ride each way, at $5 a trip) to not dip into it, at least once a week. We could always scoot back here- the bus runs about 5 times a day....I think Howard might wind up staying there...
Well, I am on the prowl for help with Audacity...