John Worthington

I realized a while ago that I could do a lot of my day to day work on an iPad. Other than development and studio stuff. If this gets to the point where I could really work on it, I could see losing a wall of monitors in my house. When I'm not using it, it simply goes in a drawer. Perhaps a real win for people who don't have a large workspace in their home. In any event, this is a good watch:

I have the same feeling about the Apple Vision Pro that I had when I first saw a Macintosh in late 1983. I think it's the start of that kind of shift. And for what it's worth that $2,495 128k Mac would cost over $7,000 in 2023 dollars. Will it struggle for a bit to find its footing? Absolutely. But Apple seems committed. And they have a couple of advantages no other company working in the space has: 1.) They know how to do hardware and world class custom chips. Managing the data from 12 cameras + assorted microphones and sensors is hard. Bu they were able to design a custom chip to do it. They didn't have to wait for another company to create an off the shelf solution. Same with the M2, which has a number of GPU cores. 2.) They have a successful content business. If there's something their shows need to do to create a compelling experience on the AVP, they can make it happen. 3.) It's part of an ecosystem. If you've already bought into Apple's ecosystem, a lot of things will just work. And likely work in a way that feels natural for you. 4.) I bought a Quest 2 and tried to do some development for it. Doing so from a Mac was a miserable task. Watching the WWDC videos, all of the skills I have with iOS and Mac development translate. I can work in programming languages I know when tools I know. There's a huge headstart. 5.) I truest Apple on privacy. The Secure Enclave in their processors handles FaceID/TouchID, etc. An app can ask if someone is authorized, but they don't have access to the data. In the WWDC videos, Apple is very clear about the eye tracking data being the same. When the user performs a gesture (touching their fingers together, etc) the app gets the location where that happened. They don't get any of the actual eye tracking data. Yeah, I'll get one when they're available. I've got some ideas for creative apps.

That's why it's the bass, I mean base.

Also, a couple of thoughts on making a roux... Flour and oil make a sticky mess that will burn you if you aren't careful. I use a cast iron pan and a silicone wisk Typically a small-ish one. More surface area on the pan. Let the oil get hot in the pan before adding the flour. As soon as the flour goes in, I start stirring - constantly. When it's just barely mixed, you have a light roux that's a perfect start for a cheese sauce. Add milk and shredded cheese and you're on your way. Keep going and it'll get darker. A copper color is lovely for an etouffe or shrimp creole. Keep going. Before you know it, it'll start to get dark. This is the high risk, high reward zone. When it's about the color of hot chocolate, I add the trinity - chopped onion, bell pepper, and celery and stir them through. They'll soften quickly and the cold vegetables will pull some of the heat out of the roux. You might need to switch to a spatula or spoon at this point. Just remember that the roux is going to continue to brown through this. Too long and it burns. As soon as it gets to chocolate, you need to be spooning this into your broth. There's no shame in stopping at a nice medium dark color. In New Orleans there will often be long drawn out "discussions" about various gumbo recipes and the correct color roux.

My recipe is very similar. Except... Cut the shrimp to 1lb. Add 1lb crab meat and 1lb oysters. If you're getting the giant pacific oysters, you'll want to cut them down. Increase the creole seasoning to 1 tbsp Increase the okra to 1 cup. I leave out the file powder. In New Orleans, we tended to use file or okra, but not both. I go for a chocolate brown roux, but that takes nerves of steel. A beat or two too long and it's burned. Yours looks delicious. Wish we were closer. We could do a cookout.

I picked one up and love it so far. Still trying to wrap my head around how best to integrate it into my studio. So many options. So many hard decisions.

Looks like I'm going to have to start selling some stuff.

I like the idea of a separate enable for the line/hi-z on channels 1&2. If I'm understanding correctly, I could have my bass and guitar direct outputs plugged into the 1/4" jack and a microphone plugged into the XLR. Rather than plugging/unplugging stuff, I could use the line button as a selected switch.

Do you plan to do anything fancy with routing between the SiX and the 2+?