iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 04/08/2026

This Substack post headline contains two propositions, both of which are very wrong

"You can't transform the world unless you can understand it, and you can't understand the world unless you can measure it"

James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 15/02/2026

My homage to a Mediterranean chicken sando. Didn’t have harissa or any middle-eastern-authentic hot sauce so smoked pap, zaatar and coriander plus sambal oelek will have to stand in. Plus, nothing other than homemade sourdough will do. It’s war out there folks.

Open sandwich waiting to be closed - salad on the left slice, chicken coated in spices and sambal oelek on top of a layer of hummus on the right. All on homemade white sourdough

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 08/01/2026

Crumb is not bad for a pure sourdough!

Said loaf cut in half to show a very even and fluffy crumb

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 08/01/2026

Bread update - it would seem the starter is now ready to perform :) This was about 7 hours start to finish

A freshly-baked loaf of bread cooling on a wire rack - a short tin loaf of white, wholewheat and rye, made to Dan Lepard’s mill loaf recipe

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 30/12/2025

First test bake with the new sourdough starter. Oven spring went crazy, so safe to say the starter is at least… effective :) (This is Dan Lepard’s mill loaf - a mix of white, wholewheat and rye)

A loaf of bread fresh out of the oven, with a huge amount of oven spring coming out of one of the top surface cuts. Looks like a Daft Punk helmet.

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 11/12/2025

Buck rarebit as a work-from-home perk

Buck rarebit (fried egg on top of a Welsh rarebit) and a mug of coffee

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 10/11/2025

Got my son his new guitar today - he had been saving up and asking family for guitar fund money rather than birthday presents. There are few feelings more satisfying for me than seeing and hearing him engrossed in his new instrument. He's been composing and recording all evening.

Ibanez QX527PE-NTF - a 7-string headless guitar with a beautiful pale moon ebony top that has lovely contrasting black and brown grain and angled gold frets. Gnarly axe.

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 24/10/2025

@billseitz we get a lot of them over here (SF Bay Area)

Turkey vulture with ruffled feathers perched on the end of a roof

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 02/07/2025

And just to round this off, here’s a pic of my kid in front of the museum.

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 02/07/2025

Anyway here’s a video clip from inside. The building itself seems to embody my criticisms almost perfectly.

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 28/06/2025

At the Haddington Show in East Lothian today. This is the vintage tractor judging. There are also a lot of horses, and “interactive alpacas” #farming #scotland #eastlothian #agriculture

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 06/05/2025

"THAT FOUR-TIRE FEELING" ... as opposed to what?

"James, enter this season with that four-tire feeling and enjoy smoother handling and a safer ride.

"For a limited time, when you buy 3 tires you get 1 for just $1! Combine this offer with our Tire Price Match Guarantee to save even more."

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 17/04/2025

Trip with the fam up to Fort Bragg last week. Just brought the minimal amount of music gear so we could fit everything into the car. Airbnb had a perfect bay window to set the mini studio up in

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 02/03/2025

Kid and I have been having so much fun playing with Pisound and MODEP on a Raspberry Pi 5. Pretty awesome "pedal" with amp/cab modelling as well as all manner of effects, and the ability to control everything with external MIDI devices.

Screenshot of a virtual pedalboard setup. ChowDSP feeding into Neural Amp Modeler running a Peavey 5150 II model, a cab sim IR of a Marshall V30 4x12, and a Dragonfly hall reverb plugin. The setup is labelled “EVH Lead”

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 02/12/2024

31 years between these two purchases. (Yay, got a piano recently and diving back in!)

A worn copy of the Henle Urtext Vol II edition of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, acquired when I was 15, and a new copy of Schubert’s Impromptus and Moments Musicaux, acquired very recently. The old edition is noticeably faded and worn compared to the new one.

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James Fairbairn @james.exitmusic.world · 19/08/2024

Monday morning and my hair has decided to mangafy itself. Apologies in advance to my colleagues on Teams.

Head-and-shoulders shot of a middle-aged Eurasian man wearing glasses and a light blue t-shirt, with unkempt hair and a rueful expression, sitting in a home office

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