This week's episode was a busy one: Gary returned from a family road trip with real‑world EV charging insights, Ian dove deeper into the Roland D‑50, a brand‑new Opsix sound pack dropped, and we explored everything from handmade guitars to next‑gen smart‑home sensors.
If you love synths, tech, EVs, or maker culture, this one's packed.
🚗 Gary's EV Road Trip: Charging Hubs Are Changing Fast
Gary spent the week driving from Peterborough to Alnwick, and the biggest surprise wasn't the scenery — it was how quickly the UK's EV charging infrastructure is expanding.
"Last time I stopped there… it had two chargers. Now it's got 26."
Two years ago, a stop meant hunting for a free charger. Now, entire hubs are appearing seemingly overnight. Even so, Good Friday traffic meant full services and queues, but turnover was fast thanks to rapid charging.
The hidden cost of running a charging hub
One standout detail: operators aren't struggling with electricity prices — it's the standing charge.
Some hubs have seen daily standing charges jump from £30 to nearly £1,000, making profitability a challenge unless chargers stay busy. The good news? They are staying busy.
📺 In‑Car Entertainment Hack: Fire TV via CarPlay
To keep the kids entertained during charging stops, Gary used a clever adapter that emulates a CarPlay device but accepts HDMI input.
He plugged in a Fire TV Stick, connected it to the car's internal Wi‑Fi, and streamed shows while parked.
A simple trick, but a game‑changer for long trips.
🌲 A Week Off‑Grid
The family stayed somewhere with:
No Wi‑Fi
No mobile signal
No power
A rare digital detox — and a reminder that sometimes the best tech break is no tech at all.
🎹 Ian's Synth Week: Roland D‑50 & New Opsix Sound Pack
Back home, Ian spent the week deep in synth territory.
Roland D‑50 Programming
The D‑50 continues to impress with its unmistakable LA synthesis character. Ian's been learning the programming workflow and has already released a couple of tutorial videos.
New Opsix Sound Pack Released
A big highlight: the release of a 40‑patch Opsix sound pack, all hand‑programmed from the INIT patch.
It includes:
FM classics
Analog‑style patches
Hybrid textures
Pads, bells, basses, and motion sounds
If you're an Opsix user, this is a strong addition to your library.
Modeling Synths inside the Opsix
New tutorials also show how to build full synth architectures within the Opsix engine — a powerful but under‑explored feature.
🎸 Handmade Guitars: A Visit to Pete Coats' Workshop
Ian also visited luthier Pete Coats, who hand‑builds guitars using reclaimed hardwoods.
One standout detail:
The mahogany for a guitar neck came from a staircase in Bradford.
A perfect blend of sustainability, craftsmanship, and musical heritage. A full workshop tour video is already live, with an interview coming soon.
🎛️ Should We Start a Synth Meetup in the Northwest?
There are synth meetups in the South, Southeast, and Southwest — but nothing in the Northwest.
Ian floated the idea of a headphone‑based synth meetup, where everyone brings a synth and their own headphones for a silent‑disco‑style jam.
The biggest challenge?
Finding a venue with:
Power
Parking
Enough space
No noise issues
If there's interest, this could become a summer project.
🎤 SynthFest Returns This Year
SynthFest UK is back at the Sheffield Octagon later this year. After taking a year off, it's returning as one of the best places to meet synth makers, try new gear, and connect with the community.
🏠 Smart Home News: New mmWave Sensor Kickstarter
Gary highlighted a new Kickstarter from Linkind/Link+, featuring a battery‑powered mmWave presence sensor with Zigbee support.
The Air Plus version includes:
mmWave presence
Temperature
Humidity
Ambient light
Smart button
At around £8 for the basic model, it massively undercuts existing options.
Why this matters
mmWave solves the classic PIR problem:
Lights turning off when you sit still.
mmWave detects micro‑movements like breathing, making it ideal for:
Offices
Studios
Living rooms
Home automation scenes
Given ongoing reliability issues with Matter over Thread, Zigbee remains the more stable choice for many setups.
🧠 Home Assistant Gets More Conversational
Gary's been experimenting with a new LLM integration in Home Assistant, giving it:
Better conversational flow
Follow‑up questions
Context‑aware prompts
Presence‑based greetings
He also showed a £7 "Home Assistant ball" — a small animated display orb that connects to HA and responds to voice commands.
💿 Vinyl Find: Clockwork Orange OST
A great charity‑shop discovery this week: an original vinyl copy of the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, featuring Wendy Carlos' iconic synth‑driven classical interpretations.
A perfect addition to any synth lover's collection.
🎬 Watch the Full Episode
If you want the full conversation — EVs, synths, smart homes, guitars, and more — check out the full episode on YouTube.
📢 Want More?
Download the Opsix Sound Pack
Watch the D‑50 programming tutorials
See the Pete Coats guitar workshop tour
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