What a spiffing month it's been here! Most productive.

We've just returned from our annual holidays. I took myself to Malta to attend a wedding. Bloody hell, it was hot - damned good job Mortimer didn't pack any tweed, preferring instead that I had lightweight cotton suits that were more appropriate for the climate. He did nothing but moan the whole time, the miserable bugger - surprising really given his time serving in the Raj.

The wedding was a hoot and I suspect far too much was imbibed... which is as it should be.

Damned shame to see beautiful and relaxed Malta being homogonised into the EU though as they have more and more daft regulations imposed upon them by an unelected bunch of trough sniffing scoundrels in Brussels. Grrrr!

But we got Techtron out and hot on the heels of that, just before we left, we also released another new one... Shangri La...

This one is based on some weird old machine our intrepid explorers found in the depths of jungles of deepest Tibet in some old ruined and derelict temple long since abandoned. But it was ideal to use as the basis to host some sublime Tibetan bowl samples our odd Deutchfreund, Matthias Schuster, kindly passed on to HS Towers recently.

They really are quite something - samples of an acoustic instrument, of course (something of a departure for us at HS Towers) but they have a curious 'electronic' tone to them with a gently atonal ring modulated timbre that is ideal for the abstract soundscapes we favour here. Ideal soundtrack material too if that is one's bent.

Still, a bit of time for a quick night cap and I am becoming embarrassingly fond of the whisky mac (and Mortimer does pour a very good mixture). Not sure what to fill the briar with though.

The quiet before the storm!!

As we prepare for the release of Techtron, it's relatively calm here. A bit of a change to last month....

MAJOR rebuilding here in The Lab! Mario, the young lad who does the scripting here, buggered off for two weeks on holiday so I took the opportunity to make some very significant changes...

A new desk with a massive worktop, a new layout, plumbed the magnificently fabulous DotCom modular in, major rewiring all round. It's now extremely ergonomic and an even more wonderful place to work at (I believe the youngsters call it 'workflow').

Some buying and selling too...

Gone is my old Akai DPS24. I was a little sad to see the old girl go because she was one of my better inventions for the old Akai Japan but she was languishing unused which is just not cricket. When I made it known she was up for grabs, a very nice chap from Portsmouth contacted me and he made the journey up and bought her last week. I have heard from him since and he seems delighted so I am confident she's gone to a good home.

In her place is the modest Alesis MultiMix8USB which is surprisingly good just as a simple monitor mixer - jolly versatile and I can selectively listen to any sound source from the modular, the various Apple comptometers, etc., on headphones or The Lab's monitors. I even have the wireless plumbed into it which is quite a revelation ... Radio 4 and The World Service through The Lab's monitors is a most enjoyable backdrop to the working day and it sounds marvellous.

Bought me a new keyboard too - an M-Audio 61ES. Bloody good and does what it says on the tin. Fusion was a bit big and heavy for the slidey out keyboard tray thingy on the new desk. As much as I miss her very lovely weighted keyboard, I don't really need all that so the 61ES does the job just fine - small, compact and convenient. I do take issue with their claims for a 'semi-weighted keyboard' though - more an ordinary synth action keyboard that looks like a weighted keyboard. But that's ok here even if I was expecting something a little firmer. Ho hum!

But TechTron ... almost done. Just getting the presets in place now and sounding magnificent (if I say so myself). Dug out this old photograph of it...

It's taken longer than anticipated, it has to be said, but we have to get it right. Generally, I favour the understated sound of gentler sine waves but the big, brash sounds of TechTron are rather exciting if I am being honest. What is interesting (and what I didn't expect when I invented this) was the wide range of sounds it can make.

I am looking forward to its release - not just the bunting which Mortimer will no doubt erect around the Pavilion and the party atmosphere which shall prevail here but the reaction from customers.

And with that anticipation in mind, time for a snifter I think!