Hello again! Today’s post is the blog post equivalent of the setup of a film, where the elements are introduced to be followed up upon later. I have two things to introduce today, and they’re something of fun little experiments for me to mess with over the next few weeks.

Exhibit A – Google Pixel

I mentioned this in Post #2, but I have gained a new interest in older Android devices. This interest was sparked by installing LineageOS on my dad’s tablet from 2016. Part of me regrets not taking it for myself and seeing what I think of it, but I have a new guinea pig device anyway; this device is my dad’s Google Pixel from 2016.

I haven’t done much with it yet, as I’ve just wiped the phone and recalibrated the battery. Before I bother with Lineage, I might as well know if it works decently as-is. But it does remind me of something I like about phones: they were small once! Being able to use the thing one handed is a luxury that my phone (iPhone 15) just can’t offer.

I’ll try to spend a few days using the phone, mostly as an Apple Music player as to not kill my phone battery, and then get a sense of what I should do with it, if anything. If I find it particularly interesting, I’ll follow up on it in a later post.

Exhibit B – Riffmaster

I’ve been getting back into Rock Band 4. It’s a game I’ve always liked quite a bit, especially because of the sheer amount of DLC that the game has. That’s not to say I only like RB4, by the way. I love the whole series! I could go on for a while about Rock Band (and in a few days, I probably will). But Rock Band 4 is important to this one.

I play RB4 on guitar/bass with the Roll Limitless Mini adapter. I cannot recommend the thing enough, it made it possible for me to play the game without having to shell out $200 for a Rock Band 4 guitar or $300 on the Legacy Adapter. At the time I got into RB4, and the series at a whole, new guitars seemed an impossibility and RB4 was the last breath either Guitar Hero or Rock Band got, still getting DLC 7 years on.

Rock Band 4, once I got the adapter and hooked it up to my 360 guitar to play, was an absolute joy. As a more casual player, I have almost no complaints. It felt like the best of the series all in one package, even if I had joined late enough that I missed the ability to export my copies of RB2 and 3. But one concession I had to make was that I only had one adapter and microphone. I was limited to two players on the game, whereas on the 360 I had another guitar for 3 player (on Guitar Hero 5 in particular, I had enough guitars for 4 players with us all using guitar).

But since then, Fortnite Festival released and put a new interest into these kinds of games. This led to the creation of the Riffmaster and CRKD guitar controllers. So, it may be 2 years after release, but I’ve finally decided to try out the Riffmaster. Why the RIffmaster, and why now? I’ve always preferred the frets on a Rock Band controller, and while I like the strum bar less, my 360 Xplorer is in the best shape of any of my 360 guitars, meaning I have a GH controller as my most reliable fallback. Giving the Rock Band-style an upgrade felt right. In addition, there are some reliability concerns with the CRKD guitars and dropping inputs. A little ironic if you ask me, seeing as both the CRKD Les Paul and GH3 Les Paul have had that same issue, it’s almost as if the Les Paul is cursed. In terms of why now, it was partially just because with summer I expect I’ll have friends over, and being able to play the game with the largest amount of my DLC with more people is a good benefit. Once I’ve gotten a good feel for the controller, I’ll probably follow up with a mini-review. That may be fun to write about.

Those two devices are interesting prospects for something to mess with over the summer. I really do hope they work out, and I find good use with them! Optimism is great. But, with that, I’m wrapping up tonight’s post. Thank you for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed. Have a great rest of your day.