Week #10 - Meeting places and other things
Whatever grabs my attention this week gets a mention in my Friday newsletter and this week the focus is on a plethora of UK events
People & Places
Modular Cafe Aldershot (ModCaf)
I may just about get time to slip something into the newsletter about ModCaf but considering that this newsletter goes out on Fridays and I won’t get home until gone midnight, slim chances indeed! Last month’s was so good, I didn’t take any photos or shoot any video, luckily Ian did, here is the Instagram post for you to have a look at.
If you live in the Aldershot area or want to make a little bit of a trip over there to learn all sorts of stuff, be entertained, have a closer look at a wide range of musical gadgets that people bring along each month, have a look at the website events page for more details. It costs just £3 to get in.
Send me a DM if you want to go and wish to check I’ll be there. My friend
came along and this will be his second ModCaf. We all love our beeps and beats it would seem!XoX/Readipop
A little while back I was doing some research into events like ModCaf that might take place or groups that might meet frequently in Reading. Aldershot is around 40 minutes from where we live these days and our village neighbours Reading. I discovered two things XoX and Readipop which are connected. Funnily enough two of the attendees at ModCaf are also involved with the above. I got chatting to John who lives in my area and he recommended the Vintage showcase.
I’ve got a ticket for the 21st March and will see if I can get involved in some way, if they need more people to volunteer. It’s a charity based organisation that helps people from all walks of life get involved with music.
The Vintage Synth Showcase is going to be really exciting, a lot of fun, will try to capture photos and videos. Epecially looking forward to having a play with the Roland gear, I know they have some old TB-303s!
Iklectic is saved
Whilst looking at music collectives around my neck of the woods I was having a look into the London scene and I read that Iklectic were facing something of an existential crisis due to losing the venue they’d been based out of for many years to property developers. They had started a crowd funding campaign to raise 50k and I am very pleased to say they’ve thrashed that target.
Iklectic are another CIC or Community Interest Company, the same model that ModCaf is built upon and it will be interesting to read about their future developments.
I think these organisations are so important, they help bring people together, drive forward music innovation and provide people with the opportunity to learn new skills, get hands on experience with equipment they perhaps don’t have access to.
Well known artists often drop by and offer their support. I missed the time that Hainbach dropped in on ModCaf for an evening whilst he was over in the UK, mainly because I hadn’t yet heard about them!
Other Substackers Content
Sound Methods
I really enjoy
’s newsletter with his focus on the iPad music making world which for followers of this publication, know is a popular thing here in the world of Modulations. Check out his interview with Marcos Alonso, the developer of Samplr which is utterly brilliant, I often noodle around with it from my sofa and when on holiday.Fog Chaser
- Most recent post on Ireland (at the time of writing this at least) was lovely. Great format, lovely project.
Flow State
- always eclectic, this week I particularly enjoyed 
Whirrings
- field recordings from around the British Isles and the latest was especially good.
There are many of you here on what we could call Musicstack, Audiostack, Soundstack etc. Please recommend others, I may not be aware of them, write them down in the comments below.
Ableton
Plugins
By the time you read this I will have paid for my Ableton 12 update and the product is due for official release any moment now. I’ve been getting my head into Max for Live plugins and even considering learning how to create my own. I have been grealy inspired by the following people.
Akihiko Matsumoto - an industrious creator on the Ableton scene who posts frequently on social media. I’ve got my eyes on a number of their products for sale at Gumroad.
Playlist
Things I enjoyed
Follow Us
Confusingly I have two profiles on Spotify which may get consolidated in the future. You may find me on Apple Music, Youtube and in some other places.
Soundcloud is where I share a lot of work in progress tracks and this has been seeing some great activity of late, which is exciting stuff indeed.
This is my most popular track on here recently with over 100 plays, it’s just not finished, it is one of my many works in progress.
In terms of social media - find me over on the following and say hello! Bluesky, Mastodon and Threads. I am no longer on Twitter.
Hey Nick- How do you like Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads so far? Pros and cons of each?
Thanks for the mention Nick, really appreciate it! 🙏