Oliver Giving

A mature deep sound

Graceful elegant friendly

Genre leadership

My first hardware review is going to be a big thumbs down for the Novation Remote 37 SL & the Automap softare.  I have had so many issues with this keyboard that it now lives in its box under my bed.

Below is a recent email that I wrote to Novation.  Unfortunately (and irresponsibly I think) my request to get my money back was turned down.

“I have had so many problems with my Remote SL ever the last year and a half of ownership that I have now had to get another keyboard.  I am a professional music producer and have a number of projects that need to be done and I can’t be spending hours trying to troubleshoot this controller.  I have already spend many hours with these four issues and a host of other issues that I’ve had in the past.

I ask that you please give me my money back for my Remote 37SL.  It cost me $660 Canadian dollars including tax in the summer of 2008.

FYI the issues that I have had don’t stem from the fact that I don’t know what I’m doing.  I understand the MIDI language and MIDI controller programming.  The problem I am convinced is that there are too many bugs located in the Automap software or the Remote SL firmware.  Or both.  I have had no problems with any of my other MIDI controllers.  Pretty much every problem that I have had with my software/workflow over the past year and a half has been solved by taking Automap or the Remote SL offline.  I do not exaggerate here.  No joke.”

-Oliver Giving

Tight tight production

Creative vocalizing

Heavy rotation

I went to a great party this past weekend in Victoria.  I’m fairly new to this city and have been having a hard time sometimes integrating socially.  I’m the type of person who makes a definite effort to reach out to other people, but I had been finding that the same spirit wasn’t fully being returned to me by others.

Then I went to this event where a number of people reached out in small ways to me.  And I am very grateful for this.  One sparkly young woman walked up to me and presented me with a small mesh bag, indicating that I was to reach inside and take the little piece of paper.  This paper contained some beautiful words that were warming to my heart (see picture above).

This little piece of paper and the action behind it got me to thinking about intentional dance culture and what it means to me.  I realized that it is the first culture with any meaning and depth to it that I have been a part of.

I first discovered this culture at age 15 and before that the only culture that had ever been offered to me was the culture of mainstream North America where meaning is supposed to be found in television, fast food, competition, etc.  I think this is a big part of why I continue to be drawn to intentional dance culture: because it played a major role in me discovering what’s important to me.  I am very grateful for this and I strive to give back to the community.

Especially for the fully conscious youth in the parts of the world where this culture can be found, I think it is vital.  It is vital to those young people like myself who otherwise would not know a culture with any true depth to it.

Dear fans of the deep

Rare a label delivers

Sweet consistency