28 T3 FEBRUARY 2022
Horizon
Closed ecosystems, reader:
they’re great for making things
run smoothly, but pretty crap
when it comes to the wallet
NOW PLAYING
A
Tracking Force is both the
name of Guru’s private
bounty hunting firm and
the most crucial tweakable of your
record player. Set the tone arm too
heavy and you risk your stylus
digging into the groove; set it too
light, and you risk missing out on
the deeper subtleties of your music- or having that stylus go skipping
about everywhere.
Zero any anti-skate function,
then adjust the counterweight on
your tone arm until it’s balanced
and the arm is floating. Find out
what force your cartridge needs,
and adjust both to match. If you
want to be extra-exact, a vague-
brand stylus weight scale can be
had from Amazon for about £12.
Do any knives
just stay sharp?
How do I ensure
I’m not tearing
up my vinyl?
A
Sick of mangling your
tomatoes? Cut ’em paper-
thin (and make the world’s
most useless notepad) with a
ceramic blade. Kyocera, a Japanese
company that makes printers,
gifted Guru two of its fancy white
knives about 15 years ago as part of
a very confusing meeting.
One survives – and remains
cut-yourself sharp – to this day; the
other fell victim to the brittle nature
of ceramic and snapped in two. Try
the flexible GEN Series Santoku
Knife (£50). It won’t really go dull
unless you don’t look after it – if it
does, you’ll have to send it off to
Japan to be worked on by a master
craftsman. So look after it, because
that’s a lot of postage to fork out for.TIM HARRIS, BOSTONMan, the Apple
Pencil is
expensive...
A
Isn’t it just? Closed
ecosystems, reader: they’re
great for making things run
smoothly, but pretty crap when it
comes to the wallet. Not that you
explicitly have to opt for the £99
Apple Pencil 2, as long as you’re
prepared to make some sacrifices.
The Logitech Crayon is Apple-
approved and usually closer to £60,
though it doesn’t feature pressure
sensitivity; Wacom’s Bamboo
Sketch (£75) has many features but
doesn’t quite manage compatibility
with every app; a dumb, non-
powered stylus can be had for
pennies and works with everything,
but lacks accuracy and finesse.CHRIS WILKINSON,
CREWEDon’t miss another
instalment of the
legendary Gadget Guru!SUBSCRIBE
TODAY!
See p44
PETER THORNLEY,
IPSWICHROBIN ROBIN
Okay, Christmas has come and
gone, but Aardman’s delightful
little festive Netflix 30-minuter
shows there’s plenty of life left
in stop-motion baubles yet – it
left Guru all warm inside.NEW & IMPROVED
TWRP’s new album, all big
guitars, fat bass, sumptuous
talkbox and syrupy synths,
feels like the soundtrack to a
Sonic the Hedgehog game that
never was but really should be.HELLUVATIME
Guru recently saw Icelandic
synth legend Daði Freyr do his
thing, with Glasgow electro-
slingers Hytts supporting.
Cracking – though (maybe)
better live than on record?NEW MEDIA
Guru finds the finest
media you need on
your various devicesABOVE
Dragging on, feet
of clay... never
knowing he’s
scratching our
record this way