The last year was full of disdain and need for hope, as well as a few reasons for joy. I have counted my blessings daily while praying for others and pursuing mental and physical health throughout 2020. I have not done as much with my writing, yet still plan to. I spent most of this year studying audio circuits and recording mp3 tracks with no lyrics. All experimental, they totaled about 124. Of those, about twelve of them are nearly presentable as actual songs. Two of them are on soundcloud.com/jcm3rockstar, and another track is there by doing a search for “chaos-555-daw-01.” The first two tracks were made with a drum machine and an midi keyboard. The chaos song was made with a small synth from synthrotek with three oscillators. I have another synth I soldered together with five oscillators, yet it, for some reason, has yet to be functional.

In regards to my writing, I have “A Collection of Tales” re-written and am reading it again to make sure it has no typos. I am also still working on a fantasy novel. Its outline is complete (as it was four years ago), and I am about 55% of the way finished typing out its ‘story chapters.’ Most of the reading I have done this year has been within electronics research. For the life of me I have not been able to refrain from re-reading the same material – at least I have learned how to assemble basic circuits with a breadboard and, whew, have I done some soldering. These notions involved the Bastl Kastl Synth, both the Sound Generator and the Sequencer from sparkfun.com, three other small synths, a few led circuits, and at least four other circuits that were experimental, such as a square wave generator that has a changeable duty cycle. I have read about and tried to more fully understand integrated circuits, such as the popular 555 IC, and I developed an idea including two of those called the “Trumpet.” I recently posted a video of the two-part circuit on youtube, here. I figured it out with a small 8-key organ circuit and the 555 lofi synth circuit from synthrotek, both of which were working circuits before I got them combined with breadboards and replacement components. There is a caption below the video about the “Trumpet.” Please, understand the video was to show a working circuit, not to present a song. The circuit works, and the high-pitched sounds will be decreased to lower tones upon its completion.

Covid has taken over 300,000 lives in the United States, alone; thank you for keeping those of us directly affected by the pandemic in your prayers.

About the most I have to show for writing, this year, was the update of “Sometimes They do not Make it,” and I apologize for not having more time for writing and editing. I do plan to pursue writing more, this year; I still have many goals with music and audio circuit research, too. Along with learning more about integrated circuits, I plan to learn more about assembling a synth, eventually, and such a notion can take a lifetime. I cook and wash dishes to stay alive, for now; thank you for any support you can give me involving my creative efforts. 🙂