Recent news 2026
May 01, 2026
Attention to lesser-known details
in the studio (and only very recently present):
Ginko Design - Smart Moon Lamp
I have had a special bond with the Moon my entire life... As a child, I already found the Moon beautiful, and the older I got, the more intense this bond became... Today I regard the Moon primarily as a loyal friend who is always present in everything I do and never abandons me...
I find the moonlight at full moon to be the most beautiful light in existence. Admittedly, it is simply sunlight reflected by the lunar surface, of cool white light when the Moon is high in the sky or warmer hues when the Moon is low on the horizon and the light has to travel through much more atmosphere to reach your eyes, but it is always of an enchanting beauty...
And the same goes for 'Clair de lune' by Claude Debussy, the third movement of the Impressionist 'Suite Bergamasque' from 1905, which captures the moonlight so strikingly... And for me, preferably the electronic version by Isao Tomita from 1974 from the album 'Snowflakes Are Dancing', because this album has had a very great musical influence on me, just like, for example, the first albums by Vangelis.
This album was also my first introduction to the music of Claude Debussy, which I love so much now, although at the time I didn't know at all who Claude Debussy was, because that realization only came many years later...
So it doesn't always have to be Wendy Carlos's album "Switched-On Bach" that changed someone's life, because I didn't like (and still don't like) that one; that music just doesn't speak to me, and I find the synthesizer sounds downright ugly... And as for the music itself, Johann Sebastian Bach wasn't an Impressionist at all, of course, and it is precisely the French Impressionists who have stolen my heart (with Eric Satie at the forefront), and that couldn't be more different from Bach's German Baroque music...
In any case, I searched for a long time for a beautiful and special way to have my connection with the Moon, and the full moon in particular, present in the studio as well. I didn't get much further than a photo or a poster of the Moon, and due to the acoustic treatment of all the studio spaces (rock wool is hidden everywhere behind the blue fabric), it is not exactly easy to simply hang a frame or poster on the wall.
Until about a month ago, I happened to see a photo of the 'Smart Moon Lamp' by Ginko Design. After some online searching, I quickly found a few videos, and it turned out that the apparently floating full Moon not only really floated but also rotated slowly around its axis; I thought it was amazing immediately. The design is by Ginko Design from the UK, and this special lamp was also awarded the design 'Gift of the Year award' in the UK in 2022.
It is an LED lamp with 3 different adjustable color temperatures: warm white (2700K) neutral white (3500K) and daylight (5000K). The Moon-shaped lamp is 3D printed with PLA, has a more or less realistic lunar surface (relief), and has a diameter of 140 mm.
The base (120x120x30 mm) contains electromagnets that cause the lamp to levitate and rotate around its axis, and the lamp is powered wirelessly via an induction coil (using a 12V AC/DC adapter), allowing it to light up. The base is made of wood and is available in walnut veneer, white oak veneer, and black wood veneer. I chose black wood because it matches the RAVEN CORE STATION furniture best.
You might consider the fact that the lamp/moon rotates on its axis a mistake, because everyone knows that you always see the same side of the moon and that there is also a far side you can never see ('The Dark Side of the Moon' by Pink Floyd comes from somewhere). But... in reality, the Moon *does* rotate on its axis, counter-clockwise, in 27 to 29 days for one revolution, perfectly synchronized with the rotation of the Earth. Because of this, the Moon is always facing us with the same side, which is also known as 'tidal locking'. This is the result of tidal forces, a process that has equalized the rotation speeds of the Earth and the Moon over time. By the way, that dark far side of the Moon isn't actually always dark at all, because both the front and the back receive exactly the same amount of sunlight; we just can't see the sunlight illuminating the far side of the Moon because we can't see the far side.
But back to the Smart Moon Lamp; naturally, I soon discovered that there are quite a few cheap counterfeit versions of the Smart Moon Lamp with almost always bad reviews (the lamp doesn't float, it doesn't light up, it slams against the base with great force, etc.). However, the original Smart Moon Lamp from Ginko Design has far fewer bad reviews, so I chose to buy an original Smart Moon Lamp directly from Ginko Design in Honiley, Kenilworth, Warwickshire (UK).
Once delivered, I naturally tested the Smart Moon Lamp immediately. Initially, it wasn't easy to get the lamp/sphere to float above the base, but after some practice, it now goes very smoothly (these are not my hands and not my photo):
However, you don't actually need to keep making the sphere float, because you can not only change the color temperature but also turn it off, and the sphere continues to float and rotate on its axis. It is only when you disconnect the 12V AC/DC adapter that the plastic sphere indeed slams against the base with great force :-)
But... I have a separate APC - SC450RMI1U - Smart-UPS SC 450VA 1U Rack/Tower 230V in the engine room for the Telenet internet modem and the network switches, so I connected the Smart Moon Lamp to it as well so that the base of the Smart Moon Lamp continues to work even during a power outage. Incidentally, the manual also recommends keeping the Smart Moon Lamp continuously powered, and should someone inadvertently remove the floating sphere, there is a temperature sensor in the base that automatically switches off the base after a certain period of time if the unloaded electromagnets become too hot.
I have been using the Smart Moon Lamp for a few days now and I think it is absolutely beautiful; here are 3 photos with the different color temperatures warm white (2700K) neutral white (3500K) and daylight (5000K- in reality, it has no blue tint as can be seen in the photo):
The sphere does indeed float a bit in front of the (middle) Genelec 8341A SAM Studio Monitor, but I doubt whether this has many (truly audible) negative consequences. Plus, if necessary, I can simply move the base and the floating moon lamp, because the floating of the sphere is unexpectedly stable. So, as long as the 12V AC/DC adapter is connected and the power cord is long enough, you can just walk around with it without the plastic sphere breaking due to the magnetic field and falling off the base.
A 'Smart Earth Lamp' and a 'Smart Saturn Lamp' are also available at Genko Design, both shown below with the warm 2700K color temperature that looks very yellow:
But I find these much less attractive, because they are also white 3D-printed spheres, but with the surface (relief) of the Earth or the planet Saturn with its rings, yet without having the actual colors. And that is obviously the case with the Moon; it is actually white + in reality, the Moon can display various shades of white, and that is also possible with the Smart Moon Lamp. I therefore think that the 2022 'Gift of the Year award' that Ginko Design received in the UK was more than richly deserved!
If only I had known a few years earlier :-)
And for those who might not have realized it, it is indeed a full moon today... And to be entirely accurate, the first full moon of this month, because exceptionally there are two full moons, with another full moon on May 31st...
Here are 3 more photos of my Smart Moon Lamp from Ginko Design, once again with the color temperatures warm white (2700 K), neutral white (3500 K), and daylight (5000 K). I think this lamp is particularly beautiful... and that is without seeing it floating and slowly rotating around its axis...
April 02, 2026
Attention to lesser-known details
in the studio:
'Clean power' with
and 
When my studio was still located in Mortsel between 1995 and 2011, I suffered a lot from power grid disturbances. Sometimes this took the form of small voltage drops over extended periods, e.g., not being able to get 220 V between 6 pm and 8 pm when everyone started cooking, but mostly these were clicks and disturbing noises traveling through the power grid. There is a great deal of small and large industry around Antwerp, and in Mortsel itself, you had the large Agfa factories. Whenever a large machine was switched on somewhere, you would see the lights dim briefly and hear a click in the loudspeakers, and this happened many times a day. I don't know if this is still the case, but back then I certainly already had a clear understanding of what 'dirty power' was and how disruptive it was for a sound recording studio.
So when I moved to Sint-Truiden in 2011 and was able to build a completely new studio there, I took the power supply into account right from the first design. First and foremost, a separate power circuit was naturally installed that is used exclusively by the studio, and I paid particular attention to installing a star-shaped grounding from the fuse box to ensure that ground loops that could cause hum can never occur.
To ensure that voltage drops are no longer possible, I then invested in an APC - SMX3000HV - Smart-UPS X 3000VA:
This type of professional UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for servers and data centers ensures a stable 230V at all times and filters out all interference from the incoming mains power. And because it is a UPS, even if the mains power fails completely, it switches to power from internal batteries, ensuring there is always sufficient time remaining to, for example, shut down the studio properly and save everything that still needs to be saved.
But I went a step further and installed a FURMAN - P-2300 IT E - Prestige Series Symmetrically Balanced Power Conditioner after the UPS as well:
This Power Conditioner provides 'balanced power' according to exactly the same principle used in balanced audio cabling. So, instead of sending 230 V through one copper wire (Live) and 0 V through another copper wire (Neutral), the 230 V is split in two: 115 V in phase flows over one copper wire and 115 V in anti-phase flows over the second copper wire (this makes no difference to the receiving equipment). Any interference that might be picked up along the way cancels itself out (phase + anti-phase = 0) when the voltage returns to 230 V in the receiving equipment. Therefore, all power cables leaving the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E can be placed alongside, for example, USB or UTP cables without risk of interference.
An additional advantage of the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E is that it features a specially wound and shielded toroidal balanced isolation transformer (ring core transformer), ensuring that the incoming mains current is 100% separated from the outgoing current and vice versa.
This is a photo of the inside of a FURMAN - P-2300 IT E:
It also contains:
- Multi-Stage Protection (SMP) technology provides the highest level of surge & spike protection available
- Linear Filtering Technology (LiFT) offers AC power filtering to ensure clean power for unequaled audio & video clarity
- Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) circuitry detects dangerous voltage irregularities and safely powers down itself and connected equipment in unsafe conditions
- Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) detects an imbalance in the current flowing into the two hot legs. The “missing” current is presumed to be flowing through the ground conductor
- 12 rear-panel outlets in 2 isolated banks of 6 rear-panel outlets
The only thing he might not be able to handle is a lightning strike :-)
So, the APC SMX3000HV and the FURMAN P-2300 IT E have always been present in the studio in Sint-Truiden, providing 100% 'clean power' without it being visible, unless you enter the machine room and know what you are looking at. I have been to quite a few studios, and it has always struck me how little attention was paid to power quality. And when I mentioned hearing clicks in the speakers, the answer was either that they didn't notice it (very bizarre for someone working professionally with sound) or that nothing could be done about it and that you couldn't hear them in the recordings anyway. I always found this a strange line of reasoning, because you can actually do a lot about dirty power (but it isn't cheap), and why, for example, would the analog electronics in a microphone preamplifier or AD converter be immune to dirty power?
The next step came with the upgrade to Dolby Atmos Music 9.1.6, when 10 Genelec 'The Ones' Smart Active Monitors were added at the same time. Each SAM monitor has built-in amplifiers; these naturally require mains power, and I soon noticed that the combination mentioned above could no longer supply sufficient clean current. Both units can handle 10A, and when the entire studio is in operation (which is rather exceptional), the built-in overload protection does its job and the studio loses power.
I was able to solve this quickly by giving the Dolby Atmos Music 9.1.6 monitors a separate power connection, and for convenience, I used 4 FURMAN - M-10x E - Merit Series Standard Power Conditioners:
I mainly use them as compact power strips (each FURMAN - M-10x E has 10 power outlets) for the 15 Genelec 'The Ones' Smart Active Monitors + 2 Genelec SAM subwoofers + all other monitors present, so that I can switch everything on and off as a group. But the FURMAN - M-10x E also have filter circuits and surge protection, so they also deliver clean power to a certain extent and protect all monitors against problems on the power grid + all 4 together can handle 40 A (which is actually absolutely not necessary).
However, after purchasing additional equipment, and especially the Apple Mac Pro computer with all its accessories, it turned out that the APC SMX3000HV and the FURMAN P-2300 IT E were once again not powerful enough; the supplied 10 A is just on the edge and sometimes just not quite enough. I kept putting up with this for a while until it was truly no longer responsible to continue using this power supply.
I have therefore disconnected all synthesizers from the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E as they are responsible for 3 A of the available 10 A, and synthesizers benefit less from the symmetrical current produced by the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E. As a result, the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E now delivers only 7 A of the available 10 A, which is more than enough headroom to maintain stable operation.
But then I was left without Power Conditioning or protection for all synthesizers... and this is basically where 'Attention to lesser-known details in the studio' ends, because to solve this problem definitively, the title must now be:
New in the Machine Room:
FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E
Classic Series Advanced Power Conditioner
The FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E Classic Series Advanced Power Conditioner is actually virtually identical to the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E, but without the toroidal transformer and symmetrical current + it can handle 16 A instead of 10 A. Furthermore, it has exactly the same Power Conditioning and built-in protections:
- Multi-Stage Protection (SMP) technology provides the highest level of surge & spike protection available
- Linear Filtering Technology (LiFT) offers AC power filtering to ensure clean power for unequaled audio & video clarity
- Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) circuitry detects dangerous voltage irregularities and safely powers down itself and connected equipment in unsafe conditions
However, it does not have a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), but the studio has its own RCD in the fuse box anyway, and it also does not have two isolated banks of rear-panel outlets.
And there are also 2 extendable and dimmable 19" rack lights included, which will come in handy as well (see further).
In summary, the FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E is therefore the ideal complement to my FURMAN - P-2300 IT E.
So this new FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E provides power for all synthesizers, and I have also connected the 4 FURMAN - M-10x E to it, which protect the 15 Genelec 'The Ones' Smart Active Monitors + 2 Genelec SAM subwoofers plus all other monitors present. As a result, the FURMAN - M-10x E's can also benefit from the much more extensive protections in the FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E (= SMP + LiFT + EVS). And according to the technical specifications of all the equipment connected to it, I now have 5 A of headroom left out of the available 16 A, which is also fine, but that would only be the case if all monitors were continuously producing sound at full power together, and that is of course literally never the case. Technically, this is not possible anyway, because I can never send sound to all monitors simultaneously; the whole point is to switch between the different monitor sets present and compare the sound with each other.
By the way, I also took the opportunity to design and build a new control panel that switches all the separate power circuits in the studio on and off.
This is a photo of the final result:
The left-hand block of switches receives power from the rear-panel outlets on the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E, and the right-hand block of switches receives power from the rear-panel outlets on the FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E. Both blank switches are spare switches, but in the first block, they also indicate the separation between the two isolated banks of rear-panel outlets on the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E. This provides an additional filtered separation, ensuring that within the first block, the switches to the left of the blank switches do not interfere with the switch(es) to the right of the blank switch, and vice versa. Therefore, only the RR (= Recording Room) receives power from the second isolated bank o frear-panel outlets on the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E.
In the right-hand block, all switches receive power from the rear-panel outlets on the FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E, but this unit does not have isolated banks of rear-panel outlets. However, the blank switch here indicates the separation between two separate power cables coming from the FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E. This unit has 10 rear-panel outlets, each capable of handling 10 A, with a combined total of max. 16 A. Therefore, if I were to use only one power cable from one rear-panel outlet for all switches in the right-hand block, I would limit the max. current consumption to 10 A. By using two power cables from two rear-panel outlets and distributing the load more or less proportionally across both cables, I do have the max. load of 16 A available if necessary.
A few more facts about the 'clean power' in the studio:
- The FURMAN - P-2300 IT E, the FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E, and the APC - SMX3000HV - Smart-UPS X 3000VA all have their own mains power connection from the fuse box in the machine room and are each protected by a 20 A circuit breaker
- The APC - SMX3000HV - Smart-UPS X 3000VA is not connected between the mains power and the FURMAN - P-2300 IT E by default, but can be easily integrated by simply repositioning a single cable. The reason for this is that the APC - SMX3000HV - Smart-UPS X 3000VA has very noisy fans, and I therefore only use it during very critical sessions in the studio where absolutely nothing may go wrong regarding the power supply
- According to the manuals, the weight of the devices is:
- FURMAN - P-2300 IT E = 43 kg
- FURMAN - PL-PRO DMC E = 5,5 kg
- APC - SMX3000HV - Smart-UPS X 3000VA = 41 kg
And that 19" 'power rack' looks like this:
Both the APC and both Furman Power Conditioners feature LED meters that display, among other things, the incoming voltage, and in the photo, they clearly don't agree with each other :-) But this is normal, because according to the manuals, they can deviate by up to +/- 2 V, and they actually work quite well, as most of the time all three show the same voltage. So perhaps the voltage was fluctuating just on the edge of 231 V and 232 V when the photo was taken.
By the way, the 19" rack housing from DELOCK for the switch panel is also available in black, but wasn't available until August 2026 at the earliest, so I had little choice but to go for an off-white one. However, the light grey plastic panel between the switches is also only available in white or grey, and the switches are white anyway, so I think off-white is the right choice in the end + I actually think it looks quite nice!
And to conclude, just one more remark: that 'clean power' is really quite a thing in the pro-audio world, and certainly among audiophiles who claim that clean power will make the sound coming out of the speakers sound 'better'. But I absolutely disagree with those audiophiles, plus that claim cannot be scientifically proven. My goal is to filter out any harmonic distortion, high-frequency interference signals, and possible clicks and discharges from the mains power, and above all, to protect all my equipment in the studio as well as possible against problems on the power grid, and in particular against short or long power surges. Because it won't be the first time that 380 V suddenly comes out of the socket when work is being done on the power grid nearby. I have certainly experienced it myself, but fortunately without too much damage, and that was thanks to the aforementioned Power Conditioning. A few LED lights did break down then, but they were connected... directly to the power grid!
Marc 03, 2026
Today I am launching a new concept on my news pages: special attention to equipment or software that I have been using for a long time but which is somewhat hidden within the studio's very extensive equipment lists. It doesn't always have to be big new purchases that get all the attention; sometimes the smaller purchases are at least as important. Or perhaps a small software package has, over time, grown into an instrument that has become indispensable in contemporary music productions. This is one of those...
Attention to lesser-known details
in the studio:
Toontrack Superior Drummer 3
and all SDX sound expansions
I just bought the 29th SDX sound expansion 'Drumopolis' for Superior Drummer 3, produced by none other than Tony Visconti (who taught me a very long time ago when I took a workshop for music producers) and recorded at the legendary Metropolis Studios in London.
I have been using Superior Drummer by Toontrack since version 2 (SD2), which was released in 2008 and followed by Superior Drummer 3 (SD3) in 2018.
Many people in the industry consider SD3 the Rolls-Royce of virtual drum production software, and I am no exception. Over the years, SD3 has also very deservedly received quite a few industry awards:
SD3 comes with a Core library of 230 GB of drum samples, the majority of which were produced by George Massenburg. It also includes a very extensive set of live-recorded MIDI grooves in a wide variety of musical styles. However, you can also use SD3 as a very comprehensive virtual drum kit controlled live by a MIDI drum kit, and that is exactly what I did by immediately investing in a Roland TD-30KV V-Drums electronic drum kit in 2013 (at the time intended for use with SD2), before expanding in 2017 to a Roland TD-50KV V-Drums electronic drum kit featuring, among other things, the digital snare, digital ride cymbal, and, a few years ago, the digital hi-hat.
With SD2, the concept of 'sound expansions' was added with extra drum libraries and MIDI drum loops, but initially, the selection remained fairly limited. However, after the launch of SD3, new 'SDX sound expansions' gradually entered the market specifically for use with SD3. The major difference compared to the previous sound expansions for SD2, however, is that, just like with the SD3 Core library, all drum kits were now recorded/sampled with many more microphones in the recording room, making the Core library and virtually all SDX sound expansions fully suitable for immersive use up to 11.1 systems. And therefore also perfect for use in Dolby Atmos Music productions in 9.1.6 format, as is the case here in the studio.
In the meantime, over the span of eight years, no fewer than 29 SDX sound expansions have become available, recorded in the world's most legendary studios by top producers and engineers. And I really wanted to focus on this for a moment, because all 29 of them are standard in the studio, for those who might not know. I regularly mention new investments here, but SDX sound expansions are the kind of investments that aren't worth mentioning individually; however, when you add everything up, you quickly arrive at a substantial sum. I did the math: the current catalog price for an SDX sound expansion is 179 euros x 28 units = 5,012 euros + 279 euros for the Orchestral Percussion SDX, because that one is 100 euros more expensive due to being much more extensive + an additional 399 euros for the SD3 software with the Core library = 5,690 euros, and I certainly think that is worth a separate mention.
And if you view it as sample data, the SD3 Core library + the 29 SDX expansion packs take up a total of 2.710 GB of space on an SSD:
So if we divide 5,690 euros by 2,170 GB, 1 GB of sample data costs approximately 2.62 euros, which is actually quite reasonable for a sample library. By the way, judging by the creation date of the Superior Drummer folder, I have been working with Superior Drummer since at least June 3, 2013. And I checked a bit further; I have an initial email from Toontrack stating that SD2 was indeed registered with Toontrack on June 3, 2013, so I have been working with Superior Drummer for almost 13 years now.
Below is a list of all SDX sound expansions available at the time of reading this, in alphabetical order. For more info on each individual SDX sound expansion, you can click on the image to be taken to the Toontrack product page (why make it difficult for myself by summarizing all the info on this page every time when it can be easy :-). This list will therefore be updated whenever a new SDX sound expansion is released (last update: March 3, 2026).
So, which SDX sound expansion do I consider the best?
That is a very difficult question, because everything depends on the music production, and what works for one production is absolutely unsuitable for another... And it still amazes me how hitting a drum with a drumstick in a recording studio can sound so different. But then again, there are infinitely many variables, such as which drumstick is hit how hard on which drum in which recording studio, captured with which microphone(s), placed at which location in the recording studio, via which microphone preamp(s) to which filter(s) and/or compressor(s) in or via which mixing console to which recording medium, and listened to via which studio monitors. And that is without even talking about the drum part itself, and we are not even mixing yet. And that is precisely the handy thing about SD3 and all those SDX sound expansions: with almost literally one mouse click, you have a different drumstick hitting a different drum kit in a different recording room with different recording hardware. In the space of 10 minutes, you have, so to speak (or even literally), compared 10 totally different drum kits recorded under completely different recording conditions. In the past (and actually still today), it took at least half a day to a full day of extra studio time to set up a different drum kit and get it ready for recording—at least as long as you stayed within the same recording room. Now, with just a few mouse clicks, you instantly fly to the best recording studios in the world where the best drum kits are set up and ready for you to play. As mentioned before, SD3 still amazes me... but the same goes for the drinking water coming out of the tap and the electricity in the socket, things we take for granted anyway...
But to return to what I consider the best SDX sound expansion, I think I ultimately end up with the Orchestral Percussion SDX sound expansion... on which not a single drum kit can be found :-)
February 01, 2026
About oversized eyeballs and why I can finally see much better again...
A few months ago, the natural lenses in my eyes were replaced with artificial ones due to rapidly progressing cataracts. This is the most commonly performed surgery in Belgium each year and is practically a standard procedure for the elderly, as cataracts are a classic age-related disease. But I'm anything but elderly, and in my case, it wasn't a matter of a fifteen-minute operation performed by any ophthalmologist under local anesthesia; quite the opposite... And I'd like to share this story because I've been through a rather bizarre period.
I've been wearing glasses since I was 7 or 8 because I'm nearsighted, and for a long time, it worked fine. As the years went by, my vision gradually deteriorated, and my lenses became thicker and thicker. It gradually stabilized, then remaining stable for years at a diopter of -8.25 (the prescription of the required lenses). But two years ago, my vision suddenly deteriorated dramatically. It was discovered that both my lenses had developed cataracts, and my glasses went up to -9.25 diopters. A year later, the cataracts worsened significantly, and my glasses went up to -13.00 diopters. Further testing revealed that even higher diopters brought no improvement.
The only remaining option was to replace both cataract-affected lenses with artificial ones, which would immediately resolve all problems. This is called phacoemulsification (dissolving the lens) and RLE (Refractive Lens Exchange), making it one of the most commonly performed eye surgeries.
But my eyeballs weren't exactly as expected, as it had long been known that they were too large. A laser scan revealed that they were now more than 5 mm larger and longer than normal (28 mm instead of 23 mm). My ophthalmologist said this was quite unusual and that replacing the lenses wasn't possible without first performing a vitrectomy (removal of the vitreous humor from the eyeball). She also said that due to my excessively large eyeballs and my relatively young age, it was a risky operation because the vitreous humor hasn't yet naturally detached from the retina (which generally happens in older people), posing a relatively high risk of a retinal tear or partial or complete retinal detachment, potentially resulting in blindness. Ultimately, in November 2024, the ophthalmologist referred me to Prof. Stalmans of the University Hospital Leuven because he was one of the few eye surgeons in Belgium specializing in this area.
It wasn't until July 2025 that I was able to see Prof. Stalmans for the first time, and two months later, after numerous examinations at the University Hospital Leuven, the final appointments for the two surgeries were made. Remarkably, the cataract had worsened (and consequently, the eye lenses had become even darker, tougher, and thicker), so that the final laser measurement showed a diopter that had increased from -13.00 to a whopping -21.00. The decision was ultimately made to implant artificial lenses, which would bring the final diopter to -3.00 instead of 0.00 (= no glasses) for both eyes, because I wanted to continue wearing glasses (I've been wearing them for over 50 years, and wearing glasses also has advantages because spectacle lenses protect your eyes, and therefore also the artificial lenses, from wind, sand, UV radiation, etc.). It turns out to be very difficult to achieve an exact 0.00 diopter with artificial lenses, because everything depends on how the artificial lens ultimately nestles in the lens pouch, which means there is a good chance that you will ultimately need slightly corrective glasses with a diopter of 0.25 or -0.25 or or even stronger.
The last time I wore glasses with a diopter of -13.00, notice how narrow my head looks through the lenses...
And guess which eye was operated on first?
Both surgeries were performed under general anesthesia on October 10th and 13th, 2025, and each lasted about an hour and a half, with a two-day hospital stay. Normally, surgeries on both eyes are separated by two weeks, but in my case, there was only a weekend between them because it would have been far too taxing on the brain to have to walk around with one eye corrected with a diopter of -3.00 and the other with a diopter of -21.00 for two weeks.
The first surgery on my right eye went perfectly, but the second surgery on my left eye involved complications, and a retinal tear did indeed occur during the vitrectomy. The right eye healed quickly and well, while the left eye still hasn't fully healed to this day, but my vision is very good in both eyes. I also now have my permanent new multifocal glasses with a diopter of -3.25 on my right and -3.00 on my left, so it was also difficult to achieve a perfect -3.00. The last time I had such a low diopter was at least 45 years ago, and I expect it will remain that way for the rest of my life.
The second surgery is over and I'm just back in the room, but I didn't know yet that there had been complications...
And a very rare one: my hand without my faithful silver rings...
Some more fun and sometimes quite bizarre experiences and facts:
- My right eye was filled with aqueous humor (= plain water) allowing me to see clearly again immediately.
- My left eye was filled with air to hold a gel in place that fixed the torn retina, which left me with little to no vision for a long time. You can't see through air in the eye because air isn't an intermediate optical medium like the aqueous humor in the right eye or the vitreous humor naturally present in the eye.
- The first test for my left eye the day after surgery was the 'VT test,' and the result was 'VT 0.5m,' which literally means "Finger Test 0.5 meters." In other words, I could only see the difference between one or two raised fingers at a distance of no more than half a meter.
- The air in the left eye was automatically replaced by newly produced vitreous humor, so I literally saw my eye fill up with vitreous humor again over a period of 6 to 8 weeks.
- But the bizarre thing is that your retina 'sees' everything upside down because the lens projects the image from outside onto your retina upside down (just like in a camera). In reality, the eye started filling with vitreous humor at the bottom, but you see it filling from the top. The vitreous, while still very dirty, is transparent, so over time you can see above the air bubble while actually looking below it.
- Once the separation between the air and the vitreous is roughly in the middle of your eye, when you move your head from side to side, you literally have a perfect level in your eye, and for several weeks I saw everything that was crooked everywhere. And that's a bit of a shock, because then you see all the things that aren't perfectly level in the world, from frames, paintings, and screens on the wall, to traffic and billboards on the street, to gutters, walls, and even roof ridges. You can't "not see" this, so it's quite a thing...
- When the eye is almost full, there's something left at the bottom that looks like a small, dirty puddle (very similar to the remains of red wine in a wine glass) that you can slosh around quite nicely, while in reality you're looking up at the remnants of air still on top of the vitreous, with dirt (including red blood cells) floating on top of it.
- This puddle then gets smaller and smaller until it becomes a black droplet, then an air bubble with a black edge, a black dot, a tiny white air bubble, until it finally disappears completely.
- And I haven't even mentioned the graceful patterns that all the dirt in the vitreous creates. At first, it was as if someone with a black If you write felt-tip pen letters in your eye, they become zigzagging curtains of hundreds of black dots, then strings of black dots that become increasingly finer until the vitreous is finally almost perfectly clear again.
- A human being has a primary eye and a secondary eye (comparable to being right-handed or left-handed). My primary eye is the left eye, so when I couldn't see well with that eye, my brain temporarily became the primary eye. Over time, however, I could see better and better with my left eye, and one evening I was watching TV when my brain suddenly switched back to the left eye as the primary eye. This was a very special experience, a very blissful and satisfying feeling, comparable to coming home after a long journey because suddenly the world looked as it always had. And it was very clear proof that it is the brain that "sees," not the eyes themselves, because the only thing eyes do is convert light into nerve impulses, which the brain then interprets into the image you literally only see in your mind. So suddenly, the brain had received enough information from the left eye to reassemble the old, familiar image, very bizarre...
- Oh yes, I've also received the final bill in the meantime. The surgeries together cost over €15,000, of which only €348.48 was for the two artificial lenses themselves, including fixed costs (one lens itself costs only €74.37)... But of course, I have good hospital insurance, so in the end it cost me practically nothing.
In retrospect, I might have been better off with a 0.00 diopter because, despite the fact that those artificial lenses are very good, there's one thing they can't do compared to your natural lenses: automatically focusing. As a result, multifocal glasses for both near and far vision are less fluid than they used to be. But there's still the option of getting two pairs of monofocal glasses: one for distance vision and a pair of computer glasses for near vision. But before that, I'll wait a little longer until my brain has completely gotten used to the multifocal lenses.
In short, it was quite an adventure for me (not to mention the potential risk of losing sight in one or both eyes), on the one hand with a lot of discomfort, but on the other hand also with strange visual effects in my left eye and in my brain due to the excruciatingly slow refilling of the left eye with vitreous fluid, effects you probably only experience once in a lifetime...
And now I can finally see everything clearly on the studio screens again, read the small print under the buttons on the synthesizers, and even the microwave manual. This is a definitive result, and I can only be very happy with it. Exclamation point!
Happy new year!
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