Live Loops and Android Cameras
Plus, my favorite new keychain accessory.
It's been a fun vacation but it is unfortunately coming to an end. This time next week I'll be landing back home and while I'm not excited to go back to real life, I'm super excited to have a normal routine again. Plus, I'm excited to see my puppy again. Oh yeah, friends are cool too I guess. But mostly I miss my pup. Anyway, here's your hit of Cool Supply.
in this issue:
🎛️ Teenage Engineering K.O Pedal
🤳 VWFNDR Camera app
🧭 Sun Co. Therm-o-comp
🎛️ Teenage Engineering K.O Pedal
At this point you can probably just assume that if there is a new Teenage Engineering product announcement, I've had it in my cart at least twice by the time I write about it. This is no exception. While the Swedish company is pushing the new EP-35 amp as its biggest release, it's the K.O foot pedal that caught my eye. Not only does the overall design perfectly match the K.O II sampler (which is a design aesthetic I love), but you can also use it for live looping, which is something I've been wanting to get into for years.
Live looping is the functionality that originally led me down the DAWless music production workflow in the first place. Using computer software to do everything is way easier, but jamming out is just way more fun. I now have multiple synths, MIDI keyboards, and more cables than I can count...and still no live looping machine. That is the way of hardware instruments. You start off wanting to do one thing, and through experimentation and messing around you end up somewhere else entirely. Regardless, I'm going to celebrate every time Teenage Engineering makes something dope that only costs $99 USD.
🤳 VWFNDR Camera app
I've been traveling for a few weeks now, and my most-used camera is actually a third-party Android app called VWFNDR. I brought a Ricoh GR IV and my Minolta TC-1 film camera with me, but time and time again the camera that gets me the results I'm happiest with is my Pixel 11 Pro with this app. This is without a doubt my favorite camera app I've ever used, and as of this moment it's only available on Android. I KNOW RIGHT! I've used a ton of other apps on both Android and iOS, and my favorites are the ones that just get out of the way, like Halide Process Zero and Zerocam. Both amazing apps that give you a clean image that you can tweak in whatever way you want.
VWFNDR takes a slightly different approach and puts its own spin on the image. I guess it's closer to something like a Fujifilm recipe or something, but it looks so pleasing to the eye that I eventually turned off the option to save the RAW image entirely. I just let the app bake its colors right into the JPG, and I'm almost always happy with the results. Plus, there's content credentials baked into every photo that tells you the device that was used to take the picture. There is also an iOS version coming soon so if you're an iPhone user, keep an eye out!
🧭 Sun Co. Therm-o-comp
If you're looking for a nifty little tool to add to your keychain or backpack zipper, check out this Sun Co. thermometer/compass hybrid. My wife (whoa, first time I got to write that) found it while we were out shopping and pointed it out to me, thinking it was the kind of thing I would like. She was correct. I immediately bought it (around $12 USD) and attached it to a Nite-Ize carabiner that has not left my side. It has a built-in thermometer and a tiny compass that has actually been fairly useful when navigating unknown cities.
I'm used to NYC, where the grid system takes a lot of the thinking out of navigating. But that isn't the case everywhere. Knowing the direction I'm supposed to be walking in has been pretty clutch, especially when my phone GPS has no idea which way I'm facing. If you've ever started walking halfway down one block just to turn around when you realize your little blue dot on Google Maps is going in the wrong direction, this is for you.
