I’ve realised that I should probably have some kind of on-line presence - in case anyone ever wanted to cyber-stalk me. One day I might sign-up to Facebook like a normal person.
<<picture of me being an on-line presence>>
We all want to make sure you’re cyber-stalking the right person so here are some disambiguating features:
I believe there’s another software developer called David Lucas in and around Brighton and Hove. I’m not that one - I’m the other one.
Any cyber-stalkers left? Anyone???
So - in addition to servicing cyber-stalkers - this web-site is evidence that I exist and I am reassuringly dull. If other people have an on-line visibility - and I don't - it is almost like I am invisible. I don't want to be invisible. It's creepy. So - to cut the explanations short - this web-page is justifiable and it makes sense.
Email: david@davidrlucas.uk
Links to my sonic-experimentations below.
They’re mostly improvised performances layered together on a multi-track recorder. They’re sketches that I have neither the time nor inclination to add any further polish to. Be warned, I reject the idea that music is supposed to be an engineered product whose purpose is to bring pleasure and be exchanged for money. I think I make audio-tracks for much the same reasons that people take holiday photos. I sometimes find it an engaging way to pass the time.
In other words, I'm not very good at music. So I've decided being good at music isn't the point. Interpret it how you want.
For many years I did not keep the music I made - it was only ever heard once and was then never heard again. I am now capturing the productions and putting some of them on this website.
Like any normal human being I feel an almost uncontrollable compulsion to make lists of osbcure(ish) songs. I then feel the need to relay those lists to an indifferent and uncaring world. I suspect that inclination is some kind of anaesthetic and proxy in lieu of my having the wherewithal to do something more constructive with my time. So this paragraph is a declaration that I will not be putting any such lists on this web-site.
However - as an expression of sentiment to my many imaginary cyber-stalkers - rather than listening to the rubbish above I would suggest:
I was thinking that it is difficult to go wrong with the “I hope you don’t die” sentiment. I would not begrudge you that courtesy even if you’re one of my less appreciated cyber-stalkers. However - on reflection - I suppose that could be interpreted as some kind of mafia-style threat (e.g. “nice restaurant, it would be a pity if someone were to set fire to it”). To clarify, for the benefit of my more paranoid imaginary cyber-stalkers, it is not a mafia-style threat. I’m intending to kindly ask that you look after yourself, remember the good times and let the sad times pass. I am wishing you well.
I recently heard the song Kristen Hersh did with Michael Stipe in 1994. I did not know in advance Stipe was going to be on it and it was almost as if I had the idea while listening to it: "wouldn't it be good if Kristen Hersh and Michael Stipe did a duet?". So I almost feel like it was my idea now. Unfortunately they only ever did that one song. I've got an inkling there will be some Throwing Muses and REM tracks that when played at the same time would blend perfectly. I might try doing that as a substitute.
I’ve got a shed-load of DIY I’m supposed to be doing instead. Maybe if I document my progress with that… I will actually make some progress with that.
It’s very exciting, I’m going to raise part of the garden and lower another part. On the newly raised section I will set up a patio. I’m already day-dreaming about sitting on a chair on the patio - so understandably I’m excited.
I once spent too much time around someone who was relentlessly negative and could only express himself in the form of sarcasm. Phrases like “Oh brilliant!!”, “Wonderful!”, “Great!” would recur in the form of a daily lament about the misery and futility of life. It became very annoying after a while. I began to feel that words had stopped meaning what they were supposed to mean. It’s made me want to avoid sarcasm ever since.
So I am not being sarcastic. The truth is - I actually am a bit excited about sitting down and drinking cups of coffee on this imaginary patio. If anyone is not excited here - it is not me.
4th August 2026
So I am part way through constructing a retaining wall out of gabions. Gabions are wire frame boxes filled with rocks. They’re a relatively idiot-proof way of building a retaining wall.
3 done, 2 to go.
Gabions are done. There was a bit of drama though. For a while it looked like I did not have enough stone to fill all 5 gabions! They are sold in bags large enough to fill 4, but I had 5 gabions to fill!! What do I do? Buy too much stone? So that I have enough stone for 8 gabions? What will I do with the remaining 3 gabions worth of stone? It’s like a GCSE maths question - but worse!!!
So it seems “Idiot Proof” wasn’t entirely true.
The solution was to fill up some of the space with building rubble instead. That being the space at the back that no one will see because the retained soil is piled behind it.
My more annoying cyber-stalkers will notice how the lines of the wire on the baskets do not perfectly line up. So I guess that is another way in which “idiot proof” was overstating it.
This was the summer where we had 5 heat-waves and no rain for 2 months. So the ground is rock-hard at the moment. I’m going to have to postpone the earth-works.
I am wanting to build one side of the retaining wall with rendered breeze-block. I should probably do that first anyway. So the next thing I need to do is acquire some breeze-block.
Possibly the dullest and most useful job I have done all year.
This is the first iteration of the beautiful kitchen work-surface I will one day build. The problem is this iteration does the job well enough and I have other things I would rather be doing - so this is where it has got stuck. Perhaps the shame of showing this on the internet will prompt further action. At a minimum I need to acquire a nice work top and plonk that on top. However I am thinking I can do a better job with the supporting frame - so I was also thinking of rebuilding that first.
Readers might admire how I have designed and 3D printed the plastic connecting pieces. If I was rebuilding I would use a more elegant looking connector. Instead of being 3D printed I might do an epoxy-resin cast. The silicon moulds used for casting the epoxy would be derived from a 3D print though. The picture below is a work-bench I did using that method.
I also have to decide what kind of work-top to get. There are many options and it is difficult to decide.
A complex dark pattern that hides the dirt? Or plain white so it is easy to see which parts need wiping and which parts can be skipped? Which is the lazier solution?
I intend to replace an open window with a micro-chip activated cat-flap to prevent interlopers. Evidence of that will appear here soon.
There was a time in my life when I found myself watching the opening credits to Twin Peaks over and over again. There is something about the footage of automated manufacturing processes that makes me quite emotional. So - purely as a way of paying homage to David Lynch - I have become interested in manufacturing artisanal electronic devices.
So if any reader wanted an answer to the question "Is it possible to manufacture PCBs with a CNC milling machine?" - like I did - the answer is "yes!". Although perhaps they should be called ECBs (Etched Circuit Boards) instead of PCBs.
It was a bit difficult calibrating everything on the CNC machine. There was a lot of swearing and it was not nearly as peaceful as the Twin Peaks music would suggest. However it works quite reliably now the snags have been worked out.
I also wrote a custom software application for drawing the board design and generating g-code for the CNC machine. That helped and possibly saved time. I do not know how frustrating it would have been trying to get results from pre-existing CAD software not specifically designed for the purpose of creating ECB g-code for a CNC machine. Perhaps it would have been easy. I didn’t even try. I suspect it would have been a pain in the neck.
NB I would consider distributing that software as an Android or Windows app in the very unlikely event of any readers wanting that. Send me an email.
3/9/26
Looks like it is going to be raining this weekend (finally!). So I am planning on staying in and writing an i2s driver with a simple interface for the uda1334 dac board. I guess the interface will be something like init(uint8[] pinAssignments); write(uint8[] bytes) and whatever is needed to specify the audio format. I will also need to figure out a crafty way to wire that into the testing platform (will need to do that before writing the driver).
Once I’ve got audio output working a whole world of possibility is opened. So it would be good to have done that.
It won’t happen this weekend but after that I am scheming on adapting my Modular-Synth app to generate synth/FX units that will run on the rp2050-uda1334 combo. The generated code will be either compilable c source code or it will generate a data-file that loads into a hosting framework that I’ve written separately. Not sure which to do - so that is a warning sign that I will end up doing both. The latter solution should be more flexible but less efficient with hardware resources (so in outcomes that would be an instrument with less polyphony). I believe generating c-code would be easier for simpler projects in the short-run.
I guess the big advantage of writing a “host for data-files” is that I could also make that the essence of a product available to the end-user. The user would be able to design their own synth in the Modular Synth app and then upload it into the synth/FX pedal… I could do that - but I don’t presently feel very enthusiastic about it.
I’ve also made good progress on the single-board version of the MIDI-looper. I’ve redesigned it to fit on a single (slightly larger) ecb. Alongside various other manufacturing efficiencies, I’m expecting that to more than halve the manufacturing time. Perhaps - I will have a working proto-type complete by the end of this week-end too?
The new case design is more or less finished. New design on the right vs. original design on the left.
I like to go on walks in the countryside. I am really good at that. I live in a pretty village on the South Coast so it’s relatively easy. Here are some photos:
Looking toward Dungeness
Me eclipsing the Eclipse 2026
The sun seemed more artistic when seen through a grubby rear-view mirror.
The sun-set being a little too obvious in this one
I have been creating this web-page in Google Docs and then exporting it as HTML. I’m a qualified software-engineer and that seems wrong to me. I intend to re-write it directly in pure, clean, wholesome, reliable HTML. I was thinking of creating a HTML editor as it might have been in 1993. Basically just a tool for transparently embedding word processed text and images inside P, A, H, IMG tags. It's something that very likely already exists somewhere but it's a sort of simplicity that is sometimes surprisingly hard to find. Developers very often can't refrain from adding additional functions that undermine simplicity.
One day I will create a “things to do list” and things will finally get done.
