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It's all gone by now. Another year, yet another LAC is now accomplished. For the first time ever, it took place on a officially English-speaking country besides the native Gaelic/Irish alternative. The Linux Audio Conference 2011, just ran out at the National University of Ireland (NUI), Music Department, Maynooth, on May 6-8 2011 for the record.

Ephemerally, it also marked the 9th edition of the meeting. A very happy anniversary to the LAD's! On my shift, it was just the 7th time in a row and sure am happy as well. I'm humble enough to tell that this year everything went so smooth that I'm really having a hard time finding a good incidental spot to blog about. Alas, it's all gone now, business as usual, I should tell.

A full-house condition got settled most of the time. Main track room audience was packed. There were moments that only way of standing was, uh, up :) Certainly, one can call it a very successful venue, nonetheless. New faces were present, old ones were there too. And then there were the missing ones. The most commented of all being Fons Adriaensen's. Too bad he couldn't make it, due to customs and/or documentation issues, b-euro-cratic B.S., I've been told :)

Kind of a rewarding compensation, but no substitute at all, nevertheless, there was Dave Philips finally hanging out with the LAD's, after a long absence. More than that, the usual suspects were also there. If not physically many were in spirit. They are too many to name here, and in complete justice to each. There's always the tremendous possibility to miss someone that I care. And geeks like me aren't that proficient in those social abilities. K. Moving on.

Modesty to the side, this year was one that yours truly appeared at the stake more than a couple of times. I sure cannot miss bragging about the spectacular performances, either live and in featured workshops by Jeremy Jongepier (aka. AutoStatic). In a nutshell, he's certainly an outstanding and creative user of Qtractor, no less. There goes my profound gratitude. Too bad I couldn't have a chance to wave him a proper and sincere goodbye--apparently he was already off home at the 3rd and last conference day. Makes me kind of blue, sincerely. Unedited footage of Infinite Repeat's (Jeremy's solo nickname I suppose) may be seen down below, as uploaded on youtube.com (rncbchannel). Kudus to Jeremy!

Ireland is such an incredible country. While hanging out at the pubs, which can be found on every other corner on main street, and I only had the chance for just that in Maynooth, leaving Dublin to some other turn--think Temple Bar--I grew a feeling that most (local) fellows are really always prompt for a good laugh, although being a bit over the top on the loudness scale. However, there was a little rather small and personal setback: my beloved beverage, single malt scotch whisky, were terribly hard to find if at all. And that was the only thing I can say at the minus side. Well, it's Ireland anyway and also proud of their own whiskeys (note that extra "e":) Being a indefectible fan of the peatiest drams, I just felt I missed the lot, despite being the nearest I've ever come to Islay, in geographical sense ;) No problem. Stouts and ales were always as close as just a snap away. Now, back to important subjects...

As in previous occasions this was no different. It was about time spending on a very special extended week-end, so that I had the chance and extra for some Qtractor bug-fixing on the spot. And a couple of lousy optimizations as well. Expect a new dot release very, very, soon. Remember, it has been predicted this will be the last one before entering the TYOQA Age. It's official :)

As for the future of LAC, as it has been told, next year there will be another one, no doubt :) The candidate short-list shows just that, it will be a sure thing. But what stands out, at the top of the list, is Fernando Lopez-Lezcano's which means there will be chance for LAC going across the ocean and leave the old continent behind for the its very first time. Yes, odds are that LAC2012 will be held at CCRMA, Stanford University, San Francisco, California, USA, where else?

I do apologise for not having much time to hang with most of the lads (pun intended) as they and each one surely deserves. Back home now, live and sound. Eager for the next time. A big thanks to Victor Lazzarini, John Lato, Frank Neumann, Robin Gareus, Jörn Nettingsmeier and all the other usual suspects, who helped and made this a very successful event and venue. See y'all next year.

Sláinte!

P.S. And the photo gallery just got lousier this year :)

LAC2011@NUI-Maynooth - Infinite Repeat - Linux Sound Night (1) -- Unaware of a Direction

LAC2011@NUI-Maynooth - Infinite Repeat - Linux Sound Night (2) -- Money or Love

P.P.S: Robin Gareus just chimed in to say that it's in fact the 9th LAC edition and not the 10th as I previously wrote by hearsay. He also says that Jeremy had the best of all reasons to go back home earlier and not (ever) miss his most precious and special one 1st anniversary of being a happy daddy!