Author: John

Vangelis / Blade Runner sound

This is a gorgeous gorgeous rich sound and I use it all the time. The patch is pretty straight forward on a microkorg: Turn off write protect and initialise a sound bank to the defaults Add a second oscillator (Saw wave) and set the level to 127 Detune the second oscillator – I set it

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Flyby

Another simple one, with some dodgy timing. Flyby

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Hello World

Programmers are allowed to write a “Hello World” program to learn about a new language, so I’ve made a “Hello World” to learn about a new synth. This was played on a Korg MicroKorg. It’s not Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, just a few notes to get the hang of the tiny keyboard and to try out

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Cinder Toffee (Puff Candy)

Ok, so this is a tricky little bugger to get right, but here’s the easy bit: Ingredients 270 g sugar 170 ml water 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda That’s it. First, some notes. These are formed from my own failed attempts to get it right. You may need some trial and error to get it

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A made-up double marinade

I’ve no idea if this is going to work, but it smells beautiful and fresh. 8 banana shallots, very finely chopped / shredded 4 hot green chillies, very finely chopped / shredded, with seeds kept in 2 inch cube ginger, grated 4 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tbsp white wine vinegar Organise this lot and mix

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Sweet Chilli Sauce (of the nippy variety)

Ok, so this is the easiest thing in the world to make, takes ten minutes, and tastes amazing. Here’s what you’ll need: 100ml white wine vinegar (malt will do, but white wine is nicer) 100g muscovado (or other light brown) sugar 1 tbsp tomato puree 2 tbsp water 3 hot green chillies, finely chopped, seeds

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Vegetable Stock

Ingredients 3 tomatoes (diced) 1 stick celery (diced) 8-10 button mushrooms 1 tbsp black peppercorns 3 garlic cloves, crushed but whole 1 bulb of fennel (diced) 1/2 an onion (diced) 1/2 a leek (diced) 1 carrot (diced) 4 fresh parsley stalks (roughly chopped) 1 tbsp olive oil Method Heat the olive oil in the stockpot

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Haiku

Sleeping so soundly Softly smiling, holding tight Your arms around me.

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Updated: Chicken Sneaka Masala part 3: The Masala

I’ll start out by offering sincerest apologies to anyone reading this who may consider Indian food their natural diet. I’ve taken certain liberties here to produce something that appeals to my western palate while, I hope, staying faithful to the Indian techniques normally used for this type of dish. This is essentially a Masala –

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