Zoë Blade
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Zoë Blade
@www.zoeblade.com
1.8K followers 37 following 1.4K posts
Musician, writer, programmer. Analysis and synthesis. ∞ Makes music for ContraPoints http://patreon.com/zoeblademusic
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · Aug 27
New video: How to play chess

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dAZ...
How to Play Chess
YouTube video by Zoë Blade
www.youtube.com
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 16h
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 17h
On sampling string machines:

notebook.zoeblade.com/Sampling_str...
Sampling string machines — more accurately, sampling paraphonic instruments on polyphonic samplers — introduces several noticeable differences compared to directly using the original string machine: 1. Being fully polyphonic, each note gets its own separate ADSR envelope generator for its amplitude 2. As any BBD chorusing is sampled rather than recreated, each note's chorusing will be out of sync with all the others, as if they're individually chorused rather than cohesively chorused as a whole 3. The sampler may well allow higher velocity notes to be louder and brighter, and even have a faster attack, although this should be avoidable with the right settings Such a program therefore ends up sounding richer and more complex than the original machine it's aiming to recreate. A pessimistic view is that these inaccuracies are dead giveaways that you're not using the real thing. An optimistic view is that these improvements make for an interesting sound in its own right, that not even someone with the original machine can recreate. After all, paraphony was originally a cost-cutting compromise, not an ideal to aim for. A completist view is to keep the string machine as well as sampling it, and to use each version as is called for in the music.
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alissawilkinson.bsky.social
Alissa Wilkinson @alissawilkinson.bsky.social · 2d
Fellow tinnitus sufferers: I was Googling, again, and randomly fell upon this Reddit comment and ... uh ... it actually worked? Or like, seriously reduced the ringing at least temporarily.
np.reddit.com/r/WTF/commen...
Jordanistan's comment on "These guys lighting a mortar shell in their garage."
Explore this conversation and more from the WTF community
np.reddit.com
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muellershewrote.com
Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 3d
I’m absolutely exhausted in the best possible way. I love us. We did it! #NoKings
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 3d
What a list of headings!
Amateur radio Particle accelerators Nuclear fusion experiments Aeronautical radionavigation service Cellular telephony
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eva.computer
eva (^_^)/ @eva.computer · 4d
white house has joined bluesky
click here to block all official us government accounts instantly

bsky.app/profile/did:...
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
bsky.app/profile/esqu...
esqueer.net Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12d
Remember all of the ghouls who denied this was happening and did everything they could to make the problem worse from JK Rowling to Wes Streeting. The NHS who did a stitch up report to hide the growing number of suicides from trans youth on the waitlists. They should never be forgiven.
Screenshot of a PinkNews article headline reading “17-year-old trans girl’s suicide over NHS wait times was preventable, coroner rules.” The article is dated October 9 and written by Amelia Hansford. The PinkNews logo appears at the top in pink and black.
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
Oof, sorry. 🫂
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
I was slightly unnerved a while back when Hyperreal went down. I e-mailed him and he replied to say he’d fixed it, and it was back up again. Phew!
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
Even today Hyperreal still has free 808 + 909 samples in .wav format! What more could anyone ask for?
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nerdysynthdude.bsky.social
Call me Synthnerd @nerdysynthdude.bsky.social · 4d
Of course the GOAT of music gear sites from back in the day was/is machines.hyperreal.org

The art of drawing schematics in ASCII is practised too little now I fear.
music machines
machines.hyperreal.org
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
Pretty ridiculous that rightwing people are upset at how easy they imagine it is for people to get the necessary medication, while there’s a steady stream of experiences like this one:

www.reddit.com/r/ADHDUK/com...
From the ADHDUK community on Reddit: Getting medication prescribed on the NHS
Explore this post and more from the ADHDUK community
www.reddit.com
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
I see the NHS is helping ADHD people the same way it’s helping trans people: not at all.
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
'80s style webpages are fine too...
Progression with a silly C64-themed version. The text is light blue on a dark blue background, with a thick light blue border around it. Hyperlinks are purple. The typeface is the PETSCII font.
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
Feeling nostalgic for the '90s Web? As a sort of easter egg, you can now view my site the good oldfashioned way!
An example page of my website, in my official grey-and-yellow colour scheme, with a sensible default look. The same webpage, rendered in glorious 1990s style, complete with tastefully almost-3D style tables, and serifed typeface. Why, you can practically hear the modem handshaking!
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 4d
Something actually useful for a few people: which keyboard keys play which drum sounds.

notebook.zoeblade.com/Roland_Percu...

notebook.zoeblade.com/General_MIDI...
The Roland Percussion Map (for want of an official name) is how various Roland drum machines respond to pitch values over MIDI. It seems to be the basis of the General MIDI Percussion Map. Then there's a table listing which pitch, MIDI value, and drum machine sound are equivalent. The General MIDI Percussion Map, seemingly largely based on the TR-909 and TR-727, is a standard for which drum sounds should be triggered by which MIDI pitch values. All should be on channel 10. This standard lets you play drum sounds on one drum machine or sample library, with a decent expectation of being able to change your mind and switch over to a different one, without having to change all the pitches around. Then there's another table listing which pitch, MIDI value, and drum machine sound are equivalent.
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charlotteobserver.com
The Charlotte Observer @charlotteobserver.com · 5d
Exclusive: Phyllis Thompson Hyatt was one of the “City Girls” protesting against racial segregation in the 1960s in South Carolina.
‘Soldier for justice’: Legendary Rock Hill civil rights hero Phyllis Hyatt dies
Exclusive: Phyllis Thompson Hyatt was one of the “City Girls” protesting against racial segregation in the 1960s in South Carolina.
bit.ly
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 5d
Hugs!
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 5d
On multisampling:

notebook.zoeblade.com/Multisamplin...
Multisampling involves grouping several samples together to make a single program on a sampler. This usually occurs on the pitch axis, but can also occur on the velocity axis. If you play a sample back more than about half an octave or so out, either sped up or slowed down, it starts to sound unnatural. For example, playing back a recording of a piano's C5 at half the original speed doesn't sound like a piano playing a C4. It sounds like something bigger than a piano. The opposite is also true, with sped up recordings sounding tiny. This is where multisampling comes in, by taking more than a single sample of any given instrument you want to recreate. For example, when sampling a piano, you might sample each octave's C♯, E, G, and A♯ (those being equidistant), so that whichever note you play on the resulting program never needs its closest sample to be transposed (sped up or slowed down) more than a single semitone. Given hardware samplers' minimal RAM, it's more likely you'll only be able to fit in one or two samples per octave, such as each C and F♯, or even just each C. Similarly, on the velocity axis, several samples may be used to represent different volumes or brightness of note, from piano (quiet) through to forte (loud). When it comes to romplers and sample CDs, this will have already been done for you. When a sample CD's inlay card proudly proclaims that its programs are multisampled, it means that instead of stretching one sample too thin across the entire range of the keyboard, each program is instead employing several samples to each stretch less far, for greater realism. As with looping samples, multisampling an instrument takes a lot of time and effort, which is one of the main reasons sample CDs are generally best bought as CD-ROMs rather than regular audio CDs. This was a big advantage for the S1000 over its predecessors.
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 6d
That’s something I’ve often wondered about… do neurotypical people draw ideas more than observations?
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 7d
The US should be celebrating the life's work of the activist who worked tirelessly to promote the rights of trans people, especially Black trans women.

Not celebrating a white supremacist who wasted his life arguing with people much younger than him against the rights of all those minorities.
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lillywachowski.bsky.social
Lilly Wachowski @lillywachowski.bsky.social · 7d
it is disorienting when you lose someone who you navigate your life to, like a star blinking out of the night sky.
a life lived in fearlessness, she carved out space for so many of us.
an amazing woman.
check out this doc by some of my pals.
Watch MAJOR! Online | Vimeo On Demand
The award-winning documentary "MAJOR!" follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Black transgender elder who has been fighting for…
vimeo.com
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mxannelise.bsky.social
Annelise @mxannelise.bsky.social · 8d
Hail and farewell Miss Major. This BAR obit discusses the imprint she left on the Bay Area specifically
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dropoutninja.bsky.social
K the Tremendous Autistic Horror Show 🔪🎃 @dropoutninja.bsky.social · 9d
maybe I can’t save the world, but I can paint a skateboarding protest possum
6”x6” acrylic painting of a possum skateboarding in front of a grimy city building. partially-obscured graffiti reads, “UCK ICE.” the possum has an angry frown. one pink hand clutches a Mexican flag, and the other flips a bird. his skateboard is decorated with a flaming skull. a newspaper scrap sign on the building advertises “the best spaghetti in town”
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Zoë Blade @www.zoeblade.com · 9d
Just checked and yes. Now *there’s* an unfairly forgotten miniseries!
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