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A couple of years ago I bought the Behringer BCR2000 and ever since it’s been of no particular use to me. I never understood the hype. While the rest of the MIDI community was screaming what an incredible value for money this thing was, I was sitting cursing at my desk as the BCR2000 crashed, stopped responding, franticly spit out random controller data, and did whatever the hell it felt like doing. Sometimes it would even stop responding to the power button altogether. It’s like there was an evil demon living in it. Which could be cool I guess. Except it wasn’t.

My instinctive response to such behaviour, especially when exposed by a device that I’ve just bought, is denial. I must have hooked it up incorrectly. Maybe the MIDI cable is too long. Maybe I forgot to check some SysEx configuration setting or a MIDI base channel or something. Maybe there’s a conflicting device somewhere else in my setup. Maybe I should download the latest firmware. Maybe it’s in some kind of special mode. This thing just couldn’t possibly be malfunctioning straight out of the box!?

So I tried and tried a bunch of things, until after a while I just sort of stopped trying and resorted to other, cooler devices to produce music. Since then the BCR2000 just sat on my desk, annoying the hell out of me by giving me that maybe-one-day-I’ll-have-enough-time-to-figure-out-what’s-wrong-with-it-feeling. Sometimes I felt like throwing it out the window, but then I didn’t. It was cheap, but not that cheap.

Today I learned there’s a time for everything. Only moments ago I picked up a screwdriver and fixed the problem. I also learned why Behringer products are cheap. Any moron who would’ve given my BCR2000 a five minute test run before it left the factory would’ve prevented it from doing so. Also, I don’t know what that shit was they used as isolation material, or how they’d managed to get it in there, but it looks like somebody basicly just sneezed in it and sealed the cover. Large parts of the circuit board were covered in some kind of yellowish, transparent snot.

So, if anyone else experiences this problem I’ve got just the remedy. Get a screwdriver,  hack away all the superfluous crap in your BCR2000 like a maniac, screw the cover back on and be done with it. Mine works like a charm now.

And finally – the first mix by legendary producer’s duo Steve Hehanussa and Yvo Bogers featuring Cecilia Nordin (what a voice!) is here. Together we are known as Scochy:

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This production is a remake of this excellent song, but be sure to stay tuned for upcoming own productions…

My latest purchase, the Elektron SFX60. Just bought it today at Feedback, at an incredible discount price cause it was a demo. Awesome! It’s going to sit nicely next to its older brother.

And what do you know, turns out Elektron are holding a Christmas lottery so if I get really lucky I might win another one!

The IKEA was selling them for 1,49 euro a piece.  I thought that odd since they were normally a couple thousand each. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. I bought 60. I like plaids.

Will be fun to see all these JWG kids sitting nice and warm behind their telescopes or by the camp fire.

Some pictures of Linköping in the winter. Trying out my new Picasa plugin…

What more information does anyone need, really?

In Zweden bakt men met Kerstmis een peperkakhuis.

Supervet weer hier, het sneeuwt al een paar dagen als een gek, net als in Nederland volgens mij trouwens. Overal ligt een dik pak en er is bijna geen doorkomen aan. Reden te meer om met mijn ontzettende winterspikes en magnums op de fiets naar mijn werk te rijden. Vanmorgen moest ik toch even afstappen om een paar mooie plaatjes te maken. Met mijn ontzettende W810i.

Sini in m’n ouwe aus