I wrote this a few years ago. This was my first experience with a Driver Assistance System. We’ve come along way since this time. That 2018 X3 and its predecessor the X5 we had were great cars. While I’m not a fan of where BMW is these days, as I prepare for retirement in the next 10 years, I likely won’t ever own another BMW, but I do highly recommend them and not for the flash. They are genuinely great cars and I’m fortunate and glad I had the chance in my lifetime experience owning them.
When I specced out our 2018 X3 3.0i SAV, I initially didn’t add the Advanced Driver Assistant Package, but did after thinking that hey, with the biggest vehicle I have ever owned, that Parking Assistant Plus would be a great addition to help out.
It’s been 36 hours since we picked up the X3, also known as Kumakart 2.0, and I’ve not used Parking Assistant Plus – At all. Yet. Not for lack of trying either.
No, instead, we’ve been using the part of the package that, while I thought was going to be cool, I had some reservations about. After 36 hours, I couldn’t be happier. Seriously.
So what is BMW’s Advanced Driving Assistant Package? Summed up, autonomous driving with a few buts:
Radar cruise control that keeps you 1-4 car lengths away from another car.
Steering and Lane Control Assistant – keeping your car in the lane, and it slaps your hand if you don’t use your turn signal. It also steers around bends automatically.
Traffic Jam Assistant – The car will drive in stop & go traffic for you.
Active protection – It will ask if you’d like to take a break, tightens seatbelts, automatic breaking in the event of an accident.
and a bunch of other services such as Pedestrian Protection, City Collision Mitigation, Frontal Collision Warning,
I’m not planning on getting into an accident, so I can only, really, cover Radar cruise control, steering sand lane control assistant and Traffic Jam Assistant.
All I can say is, wow. I’m using these systems extensively and way more than I thought.
And know what? I’m already considerably more relaxed as a driver using these systems. For example,
Set the vehicle to 100 km/h
Set the distance to 4 car lengths
Drive
If a truck in front of me is doing 90 km/h, the car slows down to match and keep back 4 cars. If someone moves in to my lane and is moving faster than me, the car maintains speed. If someone moves into my lane and stays the same speed as me, the car slows down a bit to go back 1 car length or so, and then resumes speed.
If the car recognizes the lines on the road, it will keep me centred in the lane and will also turn with bends in the road – itself. For this to work, though, you have to touch the steering wheel once every 30 seconds or the system deactivates. You should still hold on to the steering wheel because sometimes the car just doesn’t see the lines – especially in winter driving conditions.
What was it like to start?
Well, you’re driving a BMW and you want to test what happens when you let go of the steering wheel – AHHHHHHH! Keep in mind, you have full control, so if you need to correct something, the system defers to the driver.
What I did was turn on the systems and wait for the car to recognize the lines in the road and turn the steering wheel green – This means the car is driving. I loosened my grip. What was weird was, to centre, I find the X3 moved to the right in the lane and then corrected itself to the centre. Although coming back home tonight, I found it moved to the left in the lane and then centred. It’s a disconcerting feeling at first but once it’s centred it’s pretty good.
I wrote the following a few years ago when George Michael passed away and I found it in my drafts.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley nearly ran over my cousin Erika and her friend Sarah in Toronto, during the one and only concert Wham! held in Toronto. I had forgotten that story and it was the first thing mentioned after breaking the news at Christmas Dinner about George Michael passing.
George Micheal was one of the artists that my cousin Erika and I connected over. I often listened to her walkman and a tape she had picked up in Korea.
He was quite brilliant. A vibrant pop act, an amazing voice and gone way to early.
It’s funny reading a friend’s post completely dismissing George Micheal’s music as pop crap. They really have no idea the power of his music, nor the work he did behind the scenes for people and the world. Quite an understated force.
Faith, for me, came out at the height of really good pop music in 1987. The album dripped with sex, romance, love – someone trying to shed their pop roots to become a contemporary serious artist. I am surprised I was even allowed to listen to the album at the age of 13, but hey, I did. It seemed transcend the topic, taking it to a new level.
Listen without prejudice, Vol 1 – Completely changed the George Michael game. A way more serious album. A completely brilliant, underrated album and a staple of my high school years. Most notable tracks include Praying for Time, Heal the Pain and Mother’s Pride.
It never bothered me that it took him such a long time to come out as gay. People do it on their own times. The pressure he was under, everything he dealt with, considering he had lost his first partner to HIV and then his mother in quick succession, it’s not surprising as he had other things to deal with in his life, including Sony and his fight for a new fair contract.
Listening back to Listen without prejudice, Vol 1; it’s not surprising that album spoke volumes to me.
I somewhat lost interest in George Michael after this. Albums such as Older, Songs From The Last Century, and Patience did not resonate with me until more recent times.
When I got on Twitter, I decided to follow George. I followed, and I found him quite interesting and I enjoyed his banter. I miss his banter these days (updating this post in 2025).
His album Symphonica is amazing. His voice is amazing. I wish I had a chance to see him in concert.
This may have been the fastest an album has come together for me.
Screenshot
I wrote a track around October 2023 that I started using in videos for my YouTube channel which I named Strength. This was specifically for the Iain the Tech Bear videos and it first showcased on a video I produced on my first computer, a Timex Sinclair 1000.
That’s how Strength, the album, started. 15 months to produce a full album, artwork and remixes.
When I write music, I am often visualizing things, processing the emotions, how I’m feeling in the moment, is it colourful or more grey, etc. That forms the shape of the sounds I’m looking for.
If I’m in more of an upbeat mood, I’ll write a track like Good Night. If I’m in a mood where I’m reflecting certain things and feeling triumphant over something, then Phoenix may come out. If I’m envisioning a cold desolate landscape that’s covered in ice and snow, then The Rock – Winter Mix from Icebergs is something that’s going to come out.
Don’t tell me that electronic music doesn’t have emotion because I will overshare what I was thinking about when I was writing every single track I’ve written.
Strength then started to form itself into a cohesive album with a theme I never considered until it started coming out! It tells the story of the day in the life of a kid on a Saturday waking up, having friends over to play video games – possibly an old school RPG where you go on the journey together and figure out clues to complete the game.
The album seemed to form backwards – Strength, Freedom, Connecting Dots, Let’s Do This and Gaia for the first set of tracks; and then A New Day, Phoenix, DMAO, Moving On, and Good Night. It’s almost like I was channelling Stephen Covey and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Begin with the end in mind.
I’ve just realized backwards and forwards, other than Gaia.
There were a few goals I had in mind for this album:
I wanted to break my use of the Korg M1 and I finally did that
I took layering to a whole new level with the pianos on several tracks
It had to be an upbeat album
While I have a track that references Pet Shop Boys’ Being Boring on a previous album, I’ve wanted to try that again and did that with two tracks on this album. While I’ve used the key and a few other elements as inspiration, I made both tracks my own.
Take lessons I had been learning around EDM production and apply it – I did that with DMAO and Good Night, and probably the whole album
I really wanted to up my mastering game, and I think I’ve been able to do that on this album, faster than on Icebergs, for sure. I learned heaps and learned just how much I’ve learned in over the past few years.
This album is completely written using soft synths on a Mac laptop, with the exception of one track that used hardware synths, so you can consider this my “Software” album for now.
In order of production:
Strength – I used Diva, Serum, M1, Komplete, and Largo. I love the bass on this and it’s exactly what I was looking for. It is a very synthwave track and there are parts that remind me of the Sega Dreamcast boot animation. I always pegged this track for being the last track on the album.
This track really contributed to shaping the sound of the album. The album as a whole and this track is a celebration of growth and resilience, letting go, and realizing just how resilient I am.
Freedom – Soft Synths included Alchemy, M1, Piano V3, Komplete, Nexus, Diva, Omnisphere, Battery, Omnisphere. Diva I picked up during the writing of Techknow and it’s a staple of EDM production. I resisted buying it for so long, wanting to make do with what I had, but now it’s a key part of my sound.
I think I’ve finally broken my use of a Korg M1 Piano 8. No more Rhythm is a Dancer. LOL! This track won’t be the last I write with an M1 Piano 8, but I’m going to use it sparingly. After all, the 90s were 30 years ago.
While this song may have a bit of melancholy to it, surprisingly I consider it more uplifting. It also feels like wind blowing or water flowing at points.
In the narrative of the album, it sounded like the perfect soundtrack for ending credits to a video game, maybe a JRPG. Congratulations, you’ve earned your ice cream – our version of the Platinum Trophy at the end of this track. Now, go find a Dance Dance Revolution Pad and let loose and dance your heart out!
Connecting Dots – I used Analog Lab, Alchemy, Diva, Legend Hz, Omnisphere, and Battery on this. I think this could fit in at a rave, though it’s quite cinematic. It starts slow and then builds into something phrenetic.
Within the context of the album theme, when I hear this track, I’m thinking of the gaming journey as you’re hunting for clues and then you connect the dots on a massive subplot. Kind of like life.
Let’s Do This – I’m surprised this track uses so few synths – Serum, Legend Hz, Battery; and it’s complete in 9 tracks. It’s definitely synthwave inspired. I think this track takes a listener somewhere different than they’re expecting at the start. It almost sounds like it could be used as music introducing a news show at parts – “And now tonight in the news…”. Again another one of these tracks that has a bit of melancholy, yet it feels upbeat and triumphant.
It draws inspiration from making decisions with your team to proceed with a battle, or to investigate something and the start of that journey. Interestingly, I’m thinking of Bard’s Tale as well – a fantastic RPG series – as I write this as well.
Gaia – When Gaia came together, just wow. Sitting in James’ studio in Michigan and hearing it before we stopped for the evening. It’s trance, and very ethereal and definitely feels like it has a space them. This track is the only track with hardware – Wavestate, Kronos; and on the software side: Diva, Prophet-5, Legend Hz, and for effects StutterEdit.
As the soundscape came together, on this track, I keep thinking of some of the iconic photos of Earth taken over the years of space exploration, the deep blue of the seas, clouds in the sky. Maybe a cut scene.
A New Day – I had mentioned to a coworker that I had some ideas percolating related to Thompson Twins’ Hold Me New. I’ve been listening to the Into the Gap album a lot in recent time. It reminds me of a happy time and place – choir practice – and being asked if I’d swap places with a guy so he could stand next to a girl and he traded me Into the Gap. He kept his word and a lasting memory during the start of a tumultuous time in my life.
Why Hold me now? Hold me now is such a beautiful song. I’ve been listening to that track a lot recently and while I’ve always loved it, I didn’t know the story behind why it was written in the first place until recently, which is a beautiful story. I wanted to honour my partner John with the grace he’s shown me as we’ve navigated changes our lives and the commitment we have to our relationship. So this is dedicated to him.
I think A new day is the perfect start to the album because, in many respects – new album, new leaf.
I used Piano, Alchemy, Prophet 5, PPG Wave 3, Diva, and JV-1080,
Phoenix – The next track I wrote after A new day was going to be taking the idea of playing with more elements from Hold me now. It had to close with elements of A New Day. What came out of the production was an incredibly powerful track that’s very personal. Themes of a phoenix rising from the ashes, new life, a new day. The fast and slow elements that produces play with, I have always adored, and you get that trance ethereal feeling.
This track captures the essence of the journey of re-finding myself I’ve been on in the past 6 years. I’m at a point where a lot has settled for me.
This track came together really quickly, surprisingly. It contains 59 different tracks! The most I have used on any production. It is so layered. This track was a labour of love, and the toughest to mix and master because of the layers. I think it sounds great. This really is my current magnum opus.
The soft synths used are Piano V3, Alchemy, Omnipshere, Nexus, Serum, Wavestate, PPG Wave 3, Diva, Triton Extreme, Piano, SRX Orchestra, Komplete
DMAO – If Phoenix is about my journey, DMAO is the celebration of that rebirth in many respects. For a track that sounds as epic as DMAO does, it only uses Legend Hz, Nexus, Serum, Omnisphere, Diva.
This is another one of those tracks that, I have no idea how it got here. Again, it just flowed. I wanted it to be an epic dance track, and it delivered what I wanted.
I really want to hear this at a club, and dance my arse off on the dance floor! Manchester, how about it? *GRIN*
That one point where it sounds like a low-fi cowbell? OMG! Love it! More cowbell! Naw, I’d rather have more of that rave horn I started the track with.
The most difficult part of this track was trying to make sure I have good balance on the bass. At times when I was mastering the track, it would sound anemic and then too much base. I think I have a good balance so that you can here the whole sonic spectrum
I’m also well chuffed that it’s included in an independent film, Circular: Act 2
Moving On – This one is a pensive track, the acid line provides a bit of chaos to the pads and strings. It forms a narrative with A new day and Phoenix.
I obsess over bass sounds on my tracks. The richness of the bass felt like I had taken my lessons on balancing things.
The strings and pads at the end of the track feels like the most epic use of strings and pads to change. Probably the best arrangement I’ve put together and the infinite reverb to close out the track was perfect.
I nearly did consider replacing Strength with this track for last track, or Good Night, but I think it’s prefect where it is. In the narrative of the day in the life of a kid having a fantastic Saturday playing video games with his friends – possibly an old school RPG, it works. It’s time for his friends to go home and to wind down.
Written using JV-1080, Piano, Piano V3, Largo, Alchemy, SRX Strings, SRX Studio, XV-5080, Diva,
Good Night – This was the final track written for the album and I was afraid I would write something that was a bit throw away, not something I’d put my heart into. It turned out very much the opposite.
The baseline was written using Ableton Live – using Serum and a combination of Reverb, Compressor, and EQ Eight inspired, I believe, by some YouTube videos I was using to learn some new music production techniques. This bass line is sublime to me. Definitely a groove with the beats. Classic.
While I attempted to use Link to link to Logic, ultimately I bounced the bass and beats out of Ableton and used it as a sample within Logic. That bass groove is just sublime. Especially adding the acid line towards the end, and then the infinite reverb close.
On the Logic side, I used Jupiter-8, Piano, Omnisphere, Nexus, Triton, Serum, Diva, MonoPoly, Legend Hz
I really feel this track sums up the feel of this album. In the video game narrative of the album, It’s been a great day, reminiscing and thinking about all the good times before heading to sleep. On the flip side, you’ve had a great day, time to go have a great night out.
