best strategy is to keep it off most of the time, and set it high for
about an hour when the air gets bad. i mean, i don't want to kill my
landlord on the electrical bill, either.
i really think
it should cease to be a concern once we get a week or two over 20 and i
can just keep the window open. it's just that the basement is having a
hard time "turning over" because we're stuck in this middle temperature
range, and the air is really acting as a huge setback in it doing so...
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
i just wish it would warm up and stay warmed up. if we can get a week or two of warm weather, the basement will heat up. it's just that all we're getting right now is a few hours every week or so, which the air is negating. so, it feels like march in here because every time we get that little bit of warmth (a) it goes away and (b) the air sucks it out.
and the landlord wants to put an air conditioner in here. i'm trying
to explain to him that it's not only unnecessary, it's completely
backwards. he needs to try to get his brother to turn the air down....
i mean, if my thermostat can't even get to 22 then it's certainly not air conditioner weather. that's called enjoying the warm weather. air conditioner weather is 30+.
i mean, if my thermostat can't even get to 22 then it's certainly not air conditioner weather. that's called enjoying the warm weather. air conditioner weather is 30+.
the thermostat was hovering around 21 naturally (ie not really on)
before i turned it up to 22, but that was not indicative of what it
feels like in here. it's that frigid air conditioning air that sinks
down and makes you feel like it's january, even as the temperature in
the room stays steady. yuck.
these teases of summer are painful.
...and it's finally warm out for a few hours and the air upstairs has triggered the heat on. again.
whatever. the window is open. and if i have to, i'll turn the heat up. i don't care at this point. it's just inconsiderate to turn the air up that high, this early.
...and it's finally warm out for a few hours and the air upstairs has triggered the heat on. again.
whatever. the window is open. and if i have to, i'll turn the heat up. i don't care at this point. it's just inconsiderate to turn the air up that high, this early.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (vst mix) (intermediate)
i posted this back at the beginning of march, right before my drive crashed, with the caveat that i may revisit it slightly. the drums need some work, but i'm not going to use (directly programmed) midi to tweak them, so that leaves this done with. this is final (as chiptune). no further tweaks.
the update, however, is the addition of a wind section to take over some arpeggiation. i've boosted this slightly in the mix, but not too much. it was finding that middle point that took all day.
i've probably pointed out a few times that you need to listen to this stuff loud and through headphones to get it. this is especially true of this track, which needs volume and headphones to get the dynamics right.
canned guitars aside, or perhaps included, i think this mix sounds outstanding. it's just going to get better, though, as i layer it over with drum effects and live guitars.
this is the vst mix, including computer generated guitars. in addition to being the core of the final track, it's interesting to point out just how good computer music can sound nowadays. excluding the introduction, i didn't play a single note in this song. the guitars are all played through midi-based vst instruments and put into digital amp models and digital effects emulators. it's really rather remarkable how far the technology has come....
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 7, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 29, 2014.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
the update, however, is the addition of a wind section to take over some arpeggiation. i've boosted this slightly in the mix, but not too much. it was finding that middle point that took all day.
i've probably pointed out a few times that you need to listen to this stuff loud and through headphones to get it. this is especially true of this track, which needs volume and headphones to get the dynamics right.
canned guitars aside, or perhaps included, i think this mix sounds outstanding. it's just going to get better, though, as i layer it over with drum effects and live guitars.
this is the vst mix, including computer generated guitars. in addition to being the core of the final track, it's interesting to point out just how good computer music can sound nowadays. excluding the introduction, i didn't play a single note in this song. the guitars are all played through midi-based vst instruments and put into digital amp models and digital effects emulators. it's really rather remarkable how far the technology has come....
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 7, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 29, 2014.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
rap news 24
deathtokoalas
it's actually not apartheid, which most people don't understand the meaning of. the west has chosen to use the term apartheid due to positive association with the so-called victory in south africa (which has not really ended racial separation there at all, it's just created a small black upper class) and due to concerns about the possible offensiveness of accusing an israeli state of genocide. but, if it were apartheid then the goal would be to convert gaza and the west bank into factories to produce goods for israelis, which sadly was actually proposed by the americans recently as part of a "peace plan" to "improve the palestinian economy" but was rejected outright by the israelis, who want to ethnically cleanse the area. the proper terminology for this is not apartheid but genocide.
...and this marketing strategy to make bds and other actions seem less "anti-semitic" has unfortunately failed. i think it's time to backtrack and be more graphic about the truth of the matter.
stop calling it apartheid. start calling it the genocide that it is.
archi2a
So every company that has factories abroad is evil? Or does that only apply to the ones owned by jews?
deathtokoalas
that depends on whether you've stopped beating your wife or not. have you, archi2a?
it's capitalism itself that is "evil" due to the reduction of human labour to a commodity. whether the model is being applied to asian workers being beaten to make electronics for westerners or palestinians forced into wage slavery for israeli luxuries, we're talking about the same fundamentally horrific situation.
however, that's not what is happening. the israelis do not want the palestinians as slaves. they simply want them removed from the planet. this is not apartheid; it's genocide.
fwiw, i don't have enough faith in markets to think that bds has the potential to be successful. nor does the israeli government seem to take it seriously. netanyahu is just using it as a prop to raise campaign funds. but that's not particularly relevant to pointing out the nature of the situation on the ground, how the apartheid designation is drawing attention away from the genocide that is continuing and drastic steps that ought to be taken to counter it.
archi2a
If the Israelis want the Palestinians "removed from the planet", why does Israel supply electricity, and medical aid to the Gaza strip? Why does it allow palestinians to be treated in israeli hospitals? If there's a "genocide", where are the piles of corpses of Palestinian civilians(that's what happens in a real genocide). Why does the Palestinian population have one of the highest ratio of growth if they're being mass murdered?
deathtokoalas
your questions are talking points - propagandistic in nature - and not worth answering directly. further, you probably work for somebody that is paying you to post this and i probably don't have a legitimate chance of convincing you, because you're not actually thinking about the things that you're posting. however, for the benefit of other people reading this, i'll talk around your talking points.
israel can't simply snap a finger and be done with the palestinians in a moment. if it was that simple, they indeed would have done so. there are some boundaries that they have to adhere to so as to maintain a working relationship with their allies, which include arab governments in the region who are concerned about how continued israeli colonization of the region may destabilize their own governments. so, it has to carry out a long and slow process of colonization and replacement. the current stage of this long term process is related to eliminating the possibility of a future palestinian state. that is a type of genocide. if you look up what the word means, you'll see that. but, you're not interested in doing this, you're just pushing nationalist propaganda.
archi2a
I stated facts, go ahead and check them for yourself, or come visit Israel or Gaza and see for yourself, I've got nothing to hide. 2) I can actually get paid for exposing biased BS about Israel? Who should I sign with?
deathtokoalas
i doubt i'd be allowed into the highly contained open-air prison that is gaza. from the israeli perspective, this is an effective way to contain the palestinian population in the short run. it's admittedly not entirely clear what the long term plan regarding gaza is, but the foreseeable future is for israel to continue to run it as a prison.
archi2a
Gaza is not controlled by Israel. There are no israeli soldiers there. And anyone can come and go through the security checkpoints. Furthermore, Gaza also has border with Egypt, which is too in a war against Hamas and also strictly controlls its border to prevent weapon smuggling.
deathtokoalas
see, this is so outlandishly absurd that it's more worthy of laughter than any kind of response.
as rap news once said, many years ago,
"people, please, research the truth. nowadays, it isn't hard to do."
archi2a
What is absurd? The fact that Gaza has a border with Egypt? Check a map for G-d's sake. That's exactly what I'm telling you, research the truth. I've only stated facts, which you can verify yourself. Or, as I said, come visit, see for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
deathtokoalas
mmmhmmm. like the fact that gaza is no longer under israeli occupation?
archi2a
Exactly. Do you have any picture of Israeli soldiers stationed in Gaza after the disengagement in 2005?
deathtokoalas
these lines in the sand are based around these arbitrary technicalities, like kids playing dungeons and dragons. as though moving a few feet past some arbitrary border has any meaning to anybody except professional propagandists. and this is something israel has utilized quite loudly: move the soldiers back ten feet, then claim you've withdrawn. the united nations isn't buying it. independent media observers aren't buying it. really, nobody is buying it at all.
you're lucky i've got a headache and am hungry, because i want to be recording guitar tracks right now, but am waiting until midnight for a check to clear to get something delicious to put on my spaghetti...
i've got some pictures of some people being prevented from delivering food & medical supplies. that almost seems like a blockade of some sort. and when you can blockade somebody from all angles that's the same as occupying them.
but, wait, let me guess - that was unnecessary because israel runs a generous welfare stare that provides them with everything they could possibly need. that was a previously stated fact. so, they must have been smuggling in weapons. qed. those terrorists!
archi2a
Yes, of course there's a blockade by sea, to prevent Hamas smuggling weapons from it's main backer: Iran. Anyone who wishes to donate to Gaza can do so through the Red Cross, Israel, or Egypt, but not by sea. And like I said, Egypt controlls its own border with Gaza in the same way.
You can answer when you think more clearly, if you wish.
deathtokoalas
i see. so, gaza is not occupied by israel, israel just controls all movement in and out of the area through direct military force, by means of it's own interests in the region. got it. the difference is absolutely meaningful and abundantly clear.
archi2a
Yes, both Israel and Egypt. And if Hamas didn't rocket israeli population, this blockade wouldn't be necessary. In fact, if there hadn't been for the constant suicide bombing in bars and buses, there would be no security fence either (at least not in the Israeli border).
deathtokoalas
mmmhmmm. so, you would embrace the right of return, then, if the palestinians would only denounce violent tactics?
archi2a
I would embrace a Palestinian state coexisting in peace with the State of Israel.
deathtokoalas
indeed. it's easy to state that once you've built security fences around the area. separate and unequal. but, does that mean you would support an immediate moratorium on settlements in the west bank, to ensure that this theoretical state can exist somewhere in the physical world? do you realize that existing government policy is to eliminate the possibility for such a state in the west bank by cutting into the area piece by piece?
also, supposing that the state of israel continues to refuse to accept the palestinian right of return, how do you propose that palestinian families regain the land that was stolen from them besides using force?
deathtokoalas
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" track.
rap and hip-hop have never been my thing; i've always preferred the energy and musicality of punk to the more club-oriented hip-hop/rap approach. but, i'm not one to arrive at a conclusion without trying it out first.
ain't nobody ever called me a nigga, but loser has been a consistently applied accusation and/or adjective. i kind of identified with that, without being able to identify with that. know what i'm saying? so, that's a shout out to nwa....
(relevant tracks: unintelligible)
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" track.
rap and hip-hop have never been my thing; i've always preferred the energy and musicality of punk to the more club-oriented hip-hop/rap approach. but, i'm not one to arrive at a conclusion without trying it out first.
ain't nobody ever called me a nigga, but loser has been a consistently applied accusation and/or adjective. i kind of identified with that, without being able to identify with that. know what i'm saying? so, that's a shout out to nwa....
(relevant tracks: unintelligible)
marshaul
Musicality of punk? Best joke of the week!
deathtokoalas
punk is supposed to be catchy...
hip-hop tends to lack things like chord progressions, polyrhythms, syncopation, harmonies and melodies. that is not true of punk.
Jay Townsend
If you want harmony then listen to bone thugs
deathtokoalas
i'll grant you this overlooked point - there's a non-trivial intersection of hip-hop with gospel that has very rich harmonic content. it's contextual to the culture, though. not the easiest thing for an atheist middle class white kid from canada to understand.
the harsher side of it actually makes more sense than the gospel side of it, in the context of it being a type of electronic music and electronic music being the musical zeitgeist over most of my life. i listen to all kinds of stuff that's heavily influenced by hip-hop (autechre, say - or nine inch nails). i've just found that getting into anything with the word "hip-hop" explicitly attached to it is almost impossible.
Monday, April 28, 2014
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" track.
there's not much i listened to as a kid that i'd claim i "grew out of". conversely, i think i grew up so fast that it's acted as a handicap on my social skills. it's hard to relate to your peers when you....can't relate to your peers. that makes it very hard to live, generally, whether the topic is getting along with people at work or trying to network academically. as a teen, i wasn't able to relate to much of what was marketed to me because it all seemed so vacuous and childish. so, i mostly spent the mid 90s exploring music from the 80s that people ten or fifteen years older than me were into. the little bit of contemporary rock music i did like is largely looked at as classic rock at this point, leaving me with little to really be actively embarrassed about. but, korn is the one glaring exception of something i cannot understand why i liked, but did like, and did connect to, despite being mostly appalled by it now.
nor can i think of much of anything else that i dropped so quickly or comprehensively. billy corgan hasn't done anything i actually like since roughly 2000, but i still check out his new releases. in contrast, i haven't heard a new korn record since "follow the leader". like, honestly. a song here or two, sure, but haven't bothered to sit down and listen to a full record. it was almost like i had some kind of epiphany: this actually sucks. there's literally no trace of korn in anything i recorded after about 1997.
there is, however, a noticeable guitar influence in my earliest demos. it doesn't come entirely from korn. nirvana did the same kind of riffing, as did white zombie. i'd learn later that it ultimately comes from swans, mostly via melvins and/or black flag. at the time, though, in my fifteenth and sixteenth year, it was those three sources that defined the chugging style: korn, nirvana and white zombie.
there's a secondary influence in the flanging, but that itself is more reasonably pulled out of something like nin, specifically the fixed ep.
(relevant tracks: fire, several tracks on the first two punk/emo/industrial/noise demos that are available at bandcamp but are not uploaded to youtube)
there's not much i listened to as a kid that i'd claim i "grew out of". conversely, i think i grew up so fast that it's acted as a handicap on my social skills. it's hard to relate to your peers when you....can't relate to your peers. that makes it very hard to live, generally, whether the topic is getting along with people at work or trying to network academically. as a teen, i wasn't able to relate to much of what was marketed to me because it all seemed so vacuous and childish. so, i mostly spent the mid 90s exploring music from the 80s that people ten or fifteen years older than me were into. the little bit of contemporary rock music i did like is largely looked at as classic rock at this point, leaving me with little to really be actively embarrassed about. but, korn is the one glaring exception of something i cannot understand why i liked, but did like, and did connect to, despite being mostly appalled by it now.
nor can i think of much of anything else that i dropped so quickly or comprehensively. billy corgan hasn't done anything i actually like since roughly 2000, but i still check out his new releases. in contrast, i haven't heard a new korn record since "follow the leader". like, honestly. a song here or two, sure, but haven't bothered to sit down and listen to a full record. it was almost like i had some kind of epiphany: this actually sucks. there's literally no trace of korn in anything i recorded after about 1997.
there is, however, a noticeable guitar influence in my earliest demos. it doesn't come entirely from korn. nirvana did the same kind of riffing, as did white zombie. i'd learn later that it ultimately comes from swans, mostly via melvins and/or black flag. at the time, though, in my fifteenth and sixteenth year, it was those three sources that defined the chugging style: korn, nirvana and white zombie.
there's a secondary influence in the flanging, but that itself is more reasonably pulled out of something like nin, specifically the fixed ep.
(relevant tracks: fire, several tracks on the first two punk/emo/industrial/noise demos that are available at bandcamp but are not uploaded to youtube)
Sunday, April 27, 2014
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (orchestral fade out)
mixes 2-5 have been replaced. mix 6 has been retained to represent the "original track", as it is the closest of the mixes to what i was hearing as i was scoring it. but to keep with my posting format, i need to record today as the day that a new mix, mix 7, was rendered.
mix one, that is the fully modern vst mix, should be up very shortly. i'm toying with upping mixes that contain no guitars and/or mixes that contain only guitars. conversely, i may just upload the cpr file as a part of the download so people can play with it. customizable sound founts may even be the future of music, or some other meaningless vague projection that probably isn't true because people couldn't seriously be bothered.
this is just played through the orchestral preset of bandstand, with the caveat that the drivers are very poor (forcing the machine to miss things faster than an 1/8th note). the bass part was definitely written for electric bass, but it sounds neat through an orchestral haze, doesn't it?
written in early 2001. rendered and modified on apr 27, 2014.
mix one, that is the fully modern vst mix, should be up very shortly. i'm toying with upping mixes that contain no guitars and/or mixes that contain only guitars. conversely, i may just upload the cpr file as a part of the download so people can play with it. customizable sound founts may even be the future of music, or some other meaningless vague projection that probably isn't true because people couldn't seriously be bothered.
this is just played through the orchestral preset of bandstand, with the caveat that the drivers are very poor (forcing the machine to miss things faster than an 1/8th note). the bass part was definitely written for electric bass, but it sounds neat through an orchestral haze, doesn't it?
written in early 2001. rendered and modified on apr 27, 2014.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (directmusic mix)
played through winamp on a sb live! through directmusic and captured in a sound editor.
written in early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
written in early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (bandstand mix)
i downloaded bandstand for the drums because the way i wrote the track
required something that would read general midi through channel 10 and
this isn't really how cubase normally works. bandstand is basically a
way to play old midi files through vst by emulating a wavetable card in
software, so this qualifies as a different card mix.
written in early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
written in early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (m-audio mix)
played through winamp on an m-audio delta and captured in a sound editor.
written in early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
written in early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (soundblaster mix)
those
numbers can get confusing as they change to accommodate new ups. i
often number them myself, but i'm not totally sure how many mixes this
is going to have, yet. i suppose i'll have to stop at 74 minutes.
this is an update of the primitive card mix to include the new wind section instead of the arpeggiated guitars. they're all updated now except the vst mix, which i'm going to need to do something about the drums as well, on second thought....
written late 2000 & early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
there may be a few more, but, as i just said, i don't know the sequence.
when i do, i'll number. and they'll post through rss....
this is an update of the primitive card mix to include the new wind section instead of the arpeggiated guitars. they're all updated now except the vst mix, which i'm going to need to do something about the drums as well, on second thought....
there may be a few more, but,
as i just said, i don't know the sequence.
when i do, i'll number. and
they'll post through rss....
written late 2000 & early 2001. initially rendered feb 11, 2014. re-rendered due to shift in instrumentation on apr 27, 2014.
there may be a few more, but, as i just said, i don't know the sequence.
when i do, i'll number. and they'll post through rss....
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (original mix)
played through winamp on a sb live! and captured in a sound editor. this is what the track sounded like on playback as i was composing it. note that the background guitar parts have not yet been converted to wind instruments.
written in early 2001. rendered feb 11, 2014 from the unmodified original midi track. defined as "original" on april 27, 2014.
written in early 2001. rendered feb 11, 2014 from the unmodified original midi track. defined as "original" on april 27, 2014.
minor change in instrumentation to the track. i've converted some of the background, arpeggiated guitars into a small wind section consisting of clarinet and flute. i think it gives the track a bit more colour. and, i'm allowed to do this. i've seen it done. eight lines / octet (reich) is one example i know of.
but it means i'm going to re-render and re-upload each of the tracks. so, expect that in the automatic rss updates over the next few hours...
the bulk of the written guitars are percussive, and i'm going to be adding some leads over top. so, these aren't going to change. but pulling the arpeggiated parts out to wind gives it more of a minimalist sound, ala reich and glass. which is half what i was going for with the track, actually.
but it means i'm going to re-render and re-upload each of the tracks. so, expect that in the automatic rss updates over the next few hours...
the bulk of the written guitars are percussive, and i'm going to be adding some leads over top. so, these aren't going to change. but pulling the arpeggiated parts out to wind gives it more of a minimalist sound, ala reich and glass. which is half what i was going for with the track, actually.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
this is a rough outline in what i'm working through for the next little while, in cleaning up material left hanging from 2001. some of this is going to be left as is, some of it is going to be remixed and some of it is going to be (re-)recorded from scratch.
inri numbers are tentative throughout...
it's going to culminate in:
jjjjjjjjj
a) an lp of modern "chiptune" midi music, played back through vst synths. i'm not interested in the wanky, generic silliness that defines that genre. as "chiptune" this is going to be considered bloody weird. inri34.
b) uplifts of that lp to include live guitar parts. 'cause i'll never accept sampled or sequenced guitars. sorry. and also because i didn't score out a lot of the lead parts. these are the "final versions" of the pieces. inri35.
c) a series of eps that collect rough mixes, primitive card renders, midi files and other goodies for each of the tracks. inri24, 25, 27, 28, 32 & maybe 29/33.
d) j's adventures in guitarland. this is an aborted project that is already available at bandcamp as inri26.
rabit is wolf
a) a demo with 5 tracks, that include an outside vocalist. 2002. inri3x.
b) the wave, regular and sped-up (with vocals). aka symphony 3, in full. inri36.
c) multiple mixes of symphony 4. 2002. inri3x.
d) tracks eps with remixes and demos: inri29, 31, 33 and probable others.
ftaa
a) early two-track noise demo. inri30.
inri24: jan 10 - stuck in an alley
inri26: feb 10 - little suite
inri25: mar 21 - the time machine
inri26: may 08 - preludio
inri26: may 10 - guitarland
inri27: may 13: symphony sound card mix
inri28: july 15: intersection
inri3x: aug xx: trep drums
??????: sept xx: gonna kill someone
inri29: sept 7: me, myself demo version
inri29: sept 22: me, myself chip version
inri29: oct 13: me, myself temp version
inri30: nov 11: strung out
inri30: nov 11: hell, harry
inri31: nov 25: clarity incomplete. instrumental.
inri32: dec 1: choir
inri33: dec 15: #9 both versions + chiptune version
(possible additions to chiptune project:
august? 1997: confused
??: mwp, think, nope, hey, god, boogeyman
sept 06, 1997 - schizoid w/drums
oct 14, 1997 - skaters
jan 13, 1998 - wish fragment w/drums?
feb, 1998 - anticipation.
mar 17, 1998 - i did your mom w/drums
june 04, 1998 - symphony 0 next.mid
june 13, 1999 - symphony 0 next.nwc
inri34: thru - midi versions
inri35: jjjjjjjjjj - live versions. )
inri36: the wave. dec 31, 2001.
============
moving into 2002, rabit stops in it's tracks around june and both tetris and trivial group begin. the symphony-centric period also begins, meaning single tracks become relatively rare.
inri numbers are tentative throughout...
it's going to culminate in:
jjjjjjjjj
a) an lp of modern "chiptune" midi music, played back through vst synths. i'm not interested in the wanky, generic silliness that defines that genre. as "chiptune" this is going to be considered bloody weird. inri34.
b) uplifts of that lp to include live guitar parts. 'cause i'll never accept sampled or sequenced guitars. sorry. and also because i didn't score out a lot of the lead parts. these are the "final versions" of the pieces. inri35.
c) a series of eps that collect rough mixes, primitive card renders, midi files and other goodies for each of the tracks. inri24, 25, 27, 28, 32 & maybe 29/33.
d) j's adventures in guitarland. this is an aborted project that is already available at bandcamp as inri26.
rabit is wolf
a) a demo with 5 tracks, that include an outside vocalist. 2002. inri3x.
b) the wave, regular and sped-up (with vocals). aka symphony 3, in full. inri36.
c) multiple mixes of symphony 4. 2002. inri3x.
d) tracks eps with remixes and demos: inri29, 31, 33 and probable others.
ftaa
a) early two-track noise demo. inri30.
inri24: jan 10 - stuck in an alley
inri26: feb 10 - little suite
inri25: mar 21 - the time machine
inri26: may 08 - preludio
inri26: may 10 - guitarland
inri27: may 13: symphony sound card mix
inri28: july 15: intersection
inri3x: aug xx: trep drums
??????: sept xx: gonna kill someone
inri29: sept 7: me, myself demo version
inri29: sept 22: me, myself chip version
inri29: oct 13: me, myself temp version
inri30: nov 11: strung out
inri30: nov 11: hell, harry
inri31: nov 25: clarity incomplete. instrumental.
inri32: dec 1: choir
inri33: dec 15: #9 both versions + chiptune version
(possible additions to chiptune project:
august? 1997: confused
??: mwp, think, nope, hey, god, boogeyman
sept 06, 1997 - schizoid w/drums
oct 14, 1997 - skaters
jan 13, 1998 - wish fragment w/drums?
feb, 1998 - anticipation.
mar 17, 1998 - i did your mom w/drums
june 04, 1998 - symphony 0 next.mid
june 13, 1999 - symphony 0 next.nwc
inri34: thru - midi versions
inri35: jjjjjjjjjj - live versions. )
inri36: the wave. dec 31, 2001.
============
moving into 2002, rabit stops in it's tracks around june and both tetris and trivial group begin. the symphony-centric period also begins, meaning single tracks become relatively rare.
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" post.
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
this is on the fringes of my tastes, and about as heavy as i'd ever get. the thing about stuff like white zombie, ministry, melvins and some of the other stuff from the same time and place (including korn, actually) is that it was never really metal. it was punk musicians trying to be metal musicians that were trying to be punk. or something. i think that subtlety has been lost to history. but it let people that were normally into punk get into it a bit more.
i was actually listening to the remix disc, supersexy swingin' sounds, quite a bit at the time. that remains one of the most outright fucking weird pieces of music ever released. the camp appeal was a big part of this.
but those that are willing to strain their memory this far back will recall that there was a brief moment when the guitarist for white zombie had a column in guitar world. white zombie was never particularly challenging, but the guitar style (regardless of who was playing) has always been pretty creative. the guitar parts on this disc were a lot of fun to play along to. now, i was mostly learning blues at the time, which got me more interested in thayil and corgan (as periphery to the lesson material, which was hendrix, clapton, page, zappa, srv), but i've always had a taste for noise, so i took the time to explore this idea of "skronking" a little and am pretty glad i did. you can hear it from time to time, not just on this old stuff but moving forward....
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general.)
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
this is on the fringes of my tastes, and about as heavy as i'd ever get. the thing about stuff like white zombie, ministry, melvins and some of the other stuff from the same time and place (including korn, actually) is that it was never really metal. it was punk musicians trying to be metal musicians that were trying to be punk. or something. i think that subtlety has been lost to history. but it let people that were normally into punk get into it a bit more.
i was actually listening to the remix disc, supersexy swingin' sounds, quite a bit at the time. that remains one of the most outright fucking weird pieces of music ever released. the camp appeal was a big part of this.
but those that are willing to strain their memory this far back will recall that there was a brief moment when the guitarist for white zombie had a column in guitar world. white zombie was never particularly challenging, but the guitar style (regardless of who was playing) has always been pretty creative. the guitar parts on this disc were a lot of fun to play along to. now, i was mostly learning blues at the time, which got me more interested in thayil and corgan (as periphery to the lesson material, which was hendrix, clapton, page, zappa, srv), but i've always had a taste for noise, so i took the time to explore this idea of "skronking" a little and am pretty glad i did. you can hear it from time to time, not just on this old stuff but moving forward....
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general.)
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" post.
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
i'm not making a comparison. i yell at people when they do that. but you can tell i was listening to novoselic's bass playing.
this is a much more creative record than nevermind and had a much bigger influence on me. in utero > incesticide > nevermind, but none of the earliest really noisy stuff made it up to youtube, for various reasons. there's some later stuff. it's all at the bandcamp site, at the very bottom.
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general. also, my guitar style is heavily indebted to kurt cobain's noise-first approach to the instrument; even if that influence gets lost under more direct influences from sonic youth and billy corgan that had a bigger effect on me when i was older, it was nirvana that opened my brain to the possibilities of chaining effects pedals together and feeding them through an amp.)
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
i'm not making a comparison. i yell at people when they do that. but you can tell i was listening to novoselic's bass playing.
this is a much more creative record than nevermind and had a much bigger influence on me. in utero > incesticide > nevermind, but none of the earliest really noisy stuff made it up to youtube, for various reasons. there's some later stuff. it's all at the bandcamp site, at the very bottom.
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general. also, my guitar style is heavily indebted to kurt cobain's noise-first approach to the instrument; even if that influence gets lost under more direct influences from sonic youth and billy corgan that had a bigger effect on me when i was older, it was nirvana that opened my brain to the possibilities of chaining effects pedals together and feeding them through an amp.)
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" post.
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
i'm not making a comparison. i yell at people when they do that. but you can tell i was listening to novoselic's bass playing. the rhythm section is really the best part of the record.
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general. also, my guitar style is heavily indebted to kurt cobain's noise-first approach to the instrument; even if that influence gets lost under more direct influences from sonic youth and billy corgan that had a bigger effect on me when i was older, it was nirvana that opened my brain to the possibilities of chaining effects pedals together and feeding them through an amp.)
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
i'm not making a comparison. i yell at people when they do that. but you can tell i was listening to novoselic's bass playing. the rhythm section is really the best part of the record.
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general. also, my guitar style is heavily indebted to kurt cobain's noise-first approach to the instrument; even if that influence gets lost under more direct influences from sonic youth and billy corgan that had a bigger effect on me when i was older, it was nirvana that opened my brain to the possibilities of chaining effects pedals together and feeding them through an amp.)
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" post.
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
back in '94, when i was 13, this video was pretty much the coolest thing ever.
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general)
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with.
back in '94, when i was 13, this video was pretty much the coolest thing ever.
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general)
obligatory "influential on song of the next few days" post.
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with. so i'm going to have some fun with the silliness...
i played my stupid songs and wrote my stupid words in a basement rather than a garage. yet, that's easily glossed over. and this is really a universal teenage anthem, isn't it?
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general)
again: i'm trying to avoid linking to the old stuff, but there's really a deficit of material that draws a direct influence from the stuff i really grew up with. so i'm going to have some fun with the silliness...
i played my stupid songs and wrote my stupid words in a basement rather than a garage. yet, that's easily glossed over. and this is really a universal teenage anthem, isn't it?
(relevant tracks: mosh pit song, unintelligible, first two punk/emo/grunge/industrial/noise demos in general)
Friday, April 25, 2014
on third thought, it's noticeably slower, and the time
presented is varying wildly. my previous stable image didn't do that -
it calculated it properly and just ticked down. but, vista/7 does do
that. to the world's annoyance. so, i'm on the other side of some
updated dll that i'd rather not be on, but the slow down is only roughly
30% (only 30%, lol, but you only notice it for big transfers), so i'm
not willing to go through the headache of rolling back.
if it presents something more bothersome, sure. right now, i want to get back to recording.
shit is otherwise up, tested and working. i don't know how long this is going to take, but i'm glad to get back to actually laying down some tracks. it was ridiculous that the machine imploded the day before i was going to start actually doing some fresh recording (rather than sorting through and cleaning up old stuff).
but, i'm here. let's hope the floor doesn't cave in or something.
if it presents something more bothersome, sure. right now, i want to get back to recording.
shit is otherwise up, tested and working. i don't know how long this is going to take, but i'm glad to get back to actually laying down some tracks. it was ridiculous that the machine imploded the day before i was going to start actually doing some fresh recording (rather than sorting through and cleaning up old stuff).
but, i'm here. let's hope the floor doesn't cave in or something.
aaaaactually...
i was copying files as i was running my script, and it was horrific. chipset drivers were updated, but i hadn't yet ripped out 80% of the system. which is what my install script does. no exaggeration.
now that i have, copy is back to normal. what took me an hour a few minutes ago now takes 3 minutes.
this indicates to me that it's probably related to one of the many (almost all) windows services that i've actually deleted. i didn't say disable, i said delete.
it's still awful, however you look at it. there's clearly something in the os that is slowing down basic functions to absurd levels. as i pointed out in the other post, this is a widespread annoyance.
it indicates why i run my script, though
i was copying files as i was running my script, and it was horrific. chipset drivers were updated, but i hadn't yet ripped out 80% of the system. which is what my install script does. no exaggeration.
now that i have, copy is back to normal. what took me an hour a few minutes ago now takes 3 minutes.
this indicates to me that it's probably related to one of the many (almost all) windows services that i've actually deleted. i didn't say disable, i said delete.
it's still awful, however you look at it. there's clearly something in the os that is slowing down basic functions to absurd levels. as i pointed out in the other post, this is a widespread annoyance.
it indicates why i run my script, though
a little research seems to pinpoint the problem to a set of updates
in about mid 2011, if people are curious.the way this seems to work,
though, is something like this:
1) microsoft breaks something.
2) hardware companies refuse to learn how to change their drivers to fix it.
3) people get frustrated and buy new hardware that plows over what ms broke with increased speed/power.
4) profit.
the result is that increases in hardware performance are merely being used to correct windows, which gets more and more broken with each release cycle. we're constantly forced to upgrade to maintain stasis. it's like they've found a way to mimic inflationary monetary policy. let's just be happy those fucking cloud computers never caught on, or we'd be really fucked.
for now, quick fix is to put yourself behind a good router, lock your OS down the smart/hard way, don't have browsing habits that are comparable to your clueless grandmother (NO IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA TO RUN CUTECATS.EXE), never ever launch internet explorer (i've taken the approach of actually deleting the IE dlls altogether, which is technically illegal, but whatever) and stop updating windows...
or install linux. if you don't have expensive music hardware without linux drivers.
1) microsoft breaks something.
2) hardware companies refuse to learn how to change their drivers to fix it.
3) people get frustrated and buy new hardware that plows over what ms broke with increased speed/power.
4) profit.
the result is that increases in hardware performance are merely being used to correct windows, which gets more and more broken with each release cycle. we're constantly forced to upgrade to maintain stasis. it's like they've found a way to mimic inflationary monetary policy. let's just be happy those fucking cloud computers never caught on, or we'd be really fucked.
for now, quick fix is to put yourself behind a good router, lock your OS down the smart/hard way, don't have browsing habits that are comparable to your clueless grandmother (NO IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA TO RUN CUTECATS.EXE), never ever launch internet explorer (i've taken the approach of actually deleting the IE dlls altogether, which is technically illegal, but whatever) and stop updating windows...
or install linux. if you don't have expensive music hardware without linux drivers.
AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
as a part of recovering from this mess (mechanical hard drive failure, followed by bad bios flash - fixed the bios, but the hard drive was not salvageable), i slipstreamed up to the latest xp updates. now, i'd normally do this by testing first, but the drive was wiped so that step got skipped.
one of the reasons i stick with xp (and will continue to more or less indefinitely) is that hard drive operations on my hardware are very slow with newer versions of windows due to a driver signing conflict that reduces to the computer industry being inept and incompetent, which is the result of capitalism. root of all problems. i ranted about this a few weeks ago.
but, what am i getting after the updates? the same fucking thing as i'd get with windows 7 or vista. it's taking an hour to copy a gb of data to an external drive, because of a bunch of stupid security bullshit. supposedly, anyways. as mentioned before, i think microsoft is just trying to coerce me to buy new hardware. it's preposterously corrupt, really.
of course, i'm not actually going to buy new hardware, i'm going to uninstall the "security updates". but because i'm slipstreaming, this is a time consuming pain in the ass.
i'm going to have to test it first before i go through the process. the thing i need to determine is if the security bullshit is getting in the way of multitasking or not. i can deal with slow copy operations for now. but i can't deal with broken multitasking...
as a part of recovering from this mess (mechanical hard drive failure, followed by bad bios flash - fixed the bios, but the hard drive was not salvageable), i slipstreamed up to the latest xp updates. now, i'd normally do this by testing first, but the drive was wiped so that step got skipped.
one of the reasons i stick with xp (and will continue to more or less indefinitely) is that hard drive operations on my hardware are very slow with newer versions of windows due to a driver signing conflict that reduces to the computer industry being inept and incompetent, which is the result of capitalism. root of all problems. i ranted about this a few weeks ago.
but, what am i getting after the updates? the same fucking thing as i'd get with windows 7 or vista. it's taking an hour to copy a gb of data to an external drive, because of a bunch of stupid security bullshit. supposedly, anyways. as mentioned before, i think microsoft is just trying to coerce me to buy new hardware. it's preposterously corrupt, really.
of course, i'm not actually going to buy new hardware, i'm going to uninstall the "security updates". but because i'm slipstreaming, this is a time consuming pain in the ass.
i'm going to have to test it first before i go through the process. the thing i need to determine is if the security bullshit is getting in the way of multitasking or not. i can deal with slow copy operations for now. but i can't deal with broken multitasking...
i had to spend the last few days waiting for files to copy around all over the place. but i've now got everything filed and cleaned and reconstructed and recompiled and backed up and reburned and am just about to reinstall windows, which should launch the install script. i expect some minor issues to appear, but i also expect to actually get some tracks down within a day or two.
here i go...
here i go...
Thursday, April 24, 2014
i got tricked by the abridged version having more hits and coming up first. i want this here, not there.
i forgot to list this as an influence on a track of the day from a few days ago. it's sort of glaring, as the track in question is actually very much a post-punk reworking of the end riff of this. it's a simple riff, but it was always a lot of fun to play.
echoes - and the idea of the side-long track, in general - was also a big influence on the longer pieces (i call them 'symphonies', with tongue somewhat in cheek), going forwards. the merging of blues riffs into larger, quasi-symphonic and sort of electro-experimental pieces is something more specific that i do fairly often, and that stems directly to floyd.
(relevant tracks: idiotic, all symphonies)
i forgot to list this as an influence on a track of the day from a few days ago. it's sort of glaring, as the track in question is actually very much a post-punk reworking of the end riff of this. it's a simple riff, but it was always a lot of fun to play.
echoes - and the idea of the side-long track, in general - was also a big influence on the longer pieces (i call them 'symphonies', with tongue somewhat in cheek), going forwards. the merging of blues riffs into larger, quasi-symphonic and sort of electro-experimental pieces is something more specific that i do fairly often, and that stems directly to floyd.
(relevant tracks: idiotic, all symphonies)
obligatory "influential on track of the day" post.
i'm trying to avoid linking to these ancient demos from the mid 90s, recorded when i was 15 or 16 (and demoing tracks i wrote when i was 13 or 14). i mean, the stuff that's up is up because i like it. but there are objective problems with some of it (the vocals on some of it give the term lofi a whole new level of depth).
i've always loved this record and have never really understood why it tends to be separated from the other pumpkins masterpieces. i'd even go so far as to say you can't really understand siamese/pisces (which corgan should really re-release as a double record) without getting into this first. it's a pre-req.
it was the psychedelic portions on the second half of the disc that i found really imaginative. you can hear a very direct influence on the guitar playing....
(relevant tracks: the boogeyman, screwed up, wish, nope, teenage jesus, stress, others)
i'm trying to avoid linking to these ancient demos from the mid 90s, recorded when i was 15 or 16 (and demoing tracks i wrote when i was 13 or 14). i mean, the stuff that's up is up because i like it. but there are objective problems with some of it (the vocals on some of it give the term lofi a whole new level of depth).
i've always loved this record and have never really understood why it tends to be separated from the other pumpkins masterpieces. i'd even go so far as to say you can't really understand siamese/pisces (which corgan should really re-release as a double record) without getting into this first. it's a pre-req.
it was the psychedelic portions on the second half of the disc that i found really imaginative. you can hear a very direct influence on the guitar playing....
(relevant tracks: the boogeyman, screwed up, wish, nope, teenage jesus, stress, others)
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
it's funny.
i've basically arrived where i have in life by convincing myself of the single axiom that existence is meaningless, and this makes conventionally interacting in society entirely worthless. centring your life around anything related to property, status or wealth is just throwing your life away to utilitarian/capitalist excesses. yet, even this is not rational: if the aim is maximizing pleasure in the short amount of time we have to do it, doing loads of drugs makes more sense than working in an office. rejecting hedonistic capitalism within the context of this futility of breathing leaves only the individual's whimsical fancies as remotely meaningful goals (i skipped some steps there). art for art's sake (or knowledge for knowledge's sake) is consequently the only worthwhile pursuit (any other existence would and should rationally end up with a quick suicide, as it would be the fastest way to lessen the amount of existential torture brought on equally by slavery and boredom), and capitalist society is merely an obstacle to avoid.
if mortality could be abolished (and i'm ok with existing in software), the entire calculus would change. this ought to present the individual with a hobson's choice to pursue immortality at all costs, as the worst thing that could happen would be to die trying to abolish death. unless failure is certain, of course, in which case why waste the time? unfortunately, i'm convinced that this isn't feasible in my lifetime. death remains the only concrete reality worth planning around.
so, faced with the certainty of all of this meaningless, the only thing that can actually motivate me to get out of bed and pursue these goals is the certainty that i have a finite amount of time to complete them in, bringing me back around again to where i began.
"yeah, well, i'm 30% of the way into paying off a high interest loan to get a piece of paper to allow me to pay property taxes, and that requires me to spend 75% of my time living for somebody else (and maybe more if i'm married). so, you lose at life."
it's actually not so bad for me if people actually continue to think that. i mean, there's two ways forward from where we are: full communism or state-driven social darwinism (popularly, if somewhat incorrectly, referred to as 'fascism'). we've been leaning towards the latter for decades. and, if that's the unalterable future, i can't benefit from winning the argument.
i can snicker about it on my facebook page, though.
i've basically arrived where i have in life by convincing myself of the single axiom that existence is meaningless, and this makes conventionally interacting in society entirely worthless. centring your life around anything related to property, status or wealth is just throwing your life away to utilitarian/capitalist excesses. yet, even this is not rational: if the aim is maximizing pleasure in the short amount of time we have to do it, doing loads of drugs makes more sense than working in an office. rejecting hedonistic capitalism within the context of this futility of breathing leaves only the individual's whimsical fancies as remotely meaningful goals (i skipped some steps there). art for art's sake (or knowledge for knowledge's sake) is consequently the only worthwhile pursuit (any other existence would and should rationally end up with a quick suicide, as it would be the fastest way to lessen the amount of existential torture brought on equally by slavery and boredom), and capitalist society is merely an obstacle to avoid.
if mortality could be abolished (and i'm ok with existing in software), the entire calculus would change. this ought to present the individual with a hobson's choice to pursue immortality at all costs, as the worst thing that could happen would be to die trying to abolish death. unless failure is certain, of course, in which case why waste the time? unfortunately, i'm convinced that this isn't feasible in my lifetime. death remains the only concrete reality worth planning around.
so, faced with the certainty of all of this meaningless, the only thing that can actually motivate me to get out of bed and pursue these goals is the certainty that i have a finite amount of time to complete them in, bringing me back around again to where i began.
"yeah, well, i'm 30% of the way into paying off a high interest loan to get a piece of paper to allow me to pay property taxes, and that requires me to spend 75% of my time living for somebody else (and maybe more if i'm married). so, you lose at life."
it's actually not so bad for me if people actually continue to think that. i mean, there's two ways forward from where we are: full communism or state-driven social darwinism (popularly, if somewhat incorrectly, referred to as 'fascism'). we've been leaning towards the latter for decades. and, if that's the unalterable future, i can't benefit from winning the argument.
i can snicker about it on my facebook page, though.
Monday, April 21, 2014
i'll be back on this again soon, finally. aim: uplift with live guitars.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-alley-closing-in-on-all-sides
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-alley-closing-in-on-all-sides
script successfully reconstituted, precisely how i left it.
i need to double check a few things and do some more filing but i'll be back up tomorrow or the next day.
the point of a script rather than an image is that it's dynamic. burning a dozen discs would defeat the point. i'd might as well just ghost it if i'm going to do that.
but i'm going to have to start backing it up more regularly.
i need to double check a few things and do some more filing but i'll be back up tomorrow or the next day.
the point of a script rather than an image is that it's dynamic. burning a dozen discs would defeat the point. i'd might as well just ghost it if i'm going to do that.
but i'm going to have to start backing it up more regularly.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post...
this i something else i was listening to huge amounts of in 99/00 and had a huge influence on me, insofar as the idea of merging guitars with electronic music is concerned. it's a shame that the live dynamics are a bit weak...
(relevant track: book it!, entropy, ignorance is bliss, curious george, gravity's rainbow, a commercial break, all symphonies, all tetris material)
this i something else i was listening to huge amounts of in 99/00 and had a huge influence on me, insofar as the idea of merging guitars with electronic music is concerned. it's a shame that the live dynamics are a bit weak...
(relevant track: book it!, entropy, ignorance is bliss, curious george, gravity's rainbow, a commercial break, all symphonies, all tetris material)
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post...
this was in the changer most of the fall of '99 and had a big influence on what i was doing for the next little while. it's partly the synth tones, and partly the atmosphere...
outstanding record, btw. i can't count how many nights it was coming through the speakers around 3:00 am. perfectly atmospheric. i just wish i hadn't lost my certificate of provenance...
(relevant track: book it!, entropy, gravity's rainbow, ignorance is bliss, curious george, rabit is wolf, all symphonies after 1)
this was in the changer most of the fall of '99 and had a big influence on what i was doing for the next little while. it's partly the synth tones, and partly the atmosphere...
outstanding record, btw. i can't count how many nights it was coming through the speakers around 3:00 am. perfectly atmospheric. i just wish i hadn't lost my certificate of provenance...
(relevant track: book it!, entropy, gravity's rainbow, ignorance is bliss, curious george, rabit is wolf, all symphonies after 1)
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post...
i actually wrote the guitar riff to book it! by jamming over this while it was going on loop, creating a sort of tangerine dream effect. it's something i do quite often for fun over all kinds of electronic music. sometimes, it releases emotion...sometimes it creates songs....
(relevant track: book it!)
i actually wrote the guitar riff to book it! by jamming over this while it was going on loop, creating a sort of tangerine dream effect. it's something i do quite often for fun over all kinds of electronic music. sometimes, it releases emotion...sometimes it creates songs....
(relevant track: book it!)
might i dare?
i don't claim much influence from the beatles, despite the absurd amount of time i've spent listening to them. it was just always so clearly before my time. i mean, i listen to the beatles the same way i listen to debussy. it's music from a past era....
here, though, the ending chord is sort of an obvious nod.
(relevant track: book it)
i don't claim much influence from the beatles, despite the absurd amount of time i've spent listening to them. it was just always so clearly before my time. i mean, i listen to the beatles the same way i listen to debussy. it's music from a past era....
here, though, the ending chord is sort of an obvious nod.
(relevant track: book it)
Friday, April 18, 2014
deathtokoalas
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
this is a sort of a landmark of electronic music that all the kids should know about and that was a big influence on me around the turn of the century.
well, the story is that my dad bought a record player some time in mid 99. my step-mother thought it looked ghetto (she didn't want people to think we were that far behind the times) and wouldn't let him set it up in the living room. he wasn't happy about that for a long time, but the record player ended up in my bedroom (along with his drum kit, i might add). she was half-right: he never used the kit or the record player and was never going to, he was just being silly. but i did...
thankfully, he knew what he was doing regarding which records to pick up. oldfield. floyd. jarre. tangerine dream. heavy string and analog synth driven stuff where the harmonic distortion really justifies the older technology.
so, i went on a 70s synth kick that summer.
(relevant track: missed connection, book it!, all symphonies)
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
this is a sort of a landmark of electronic music that all the kids should know about and that was a big influence on me around the turn of the century.
well, the story is that my dad bought a record player some time in mid 99. my step-mother thought it looked ghetto (she didn't want people to think we were that far behind the times) and wouldn't let him set it up in the living room. he wasn't happy about that for a long time, but the record player ended up in my bedroom (along with his drum kit, i might add). she was half-right: he never used the kit or the record player and was never going to, he was just being silly. but i did...
thankfully, he knew what he was doing regarding which records to pick up. oldfield. floyd. jarre. tangerine dream. heavy string and analog synth driven stuff where the harmonic distortion really justifies the older technology.
so, i went on a 70s synth kick that summer.
(relevant track: missed connection, book it!, all symphonies)
Since1987
wtf?!?!?!?!?!?
deathtokoalas
i'm not entirely sure exactly why you're so surprised.
daniel payne
Well it is one of those universal tracks i remember Dj-ing one night on the Decks playing oxygene IV at 45 instead 33 But worked on the dance floor
But strangely worked on the dancefloor Btw it was accident that it got played at the wrong speed
nick ashmore
are you for real mate (Dj-ing) lol where and what have you really done that was yours. do you produced
deathtokoalas
indeed. we should all stop dancing to our favourite songs at bars because it threatens nick's perception of his penis size.
it's really the bar owner you need to blame, you know. could he not have found a nice bluegrass ensemble, so we could all marvel at their musicality while not getting smashed and singing along to bon jovi?
nick ashmore
that's fair i did not read what daniel said right in the first place. I thought he was saying the song was crap. and i bet a koala would kick you arse lol :)
geoff hill
Ohh so true
brianboru62
You should listen to Tangerine Dreams Halcyon more often in one ear and lip up fatty by Bad Manners in the other ear a trip in a trip
ubiquitous saturnine pics to lure one into a false sense of 'being there' stuck in the Jarre
lorne mcneil
well said/ it was a land mark in synthistsers /faze varience ,and imagination :)
Warris
im a bit jealous, i would love to have a record player so i could buy vinyl my favorite artists make :)
Luis Alberto Deveaux
Ferry good:-)
Scott Mantooth
one of the many amazing albums i have of this artist...was thought to be really weird in high school (decades ago) since i loved classical and music like this...of course Vangelis, Tomita, and Kitaro were also fairly included in that select group
deathtokoalas
i find the more explicitly "new age" stuff tends to kind of drift off into a sort of aimless ambience, whereas the prog stuff (like elp) tends to get aimless in the opposite direction. what i like about the stuff i cited (tangerine dream is an exception, as their discography is spotty) is that it hit a good middle ground in integrating the synth aesthetics into more developed writing styles. you get those awesome synth sounds and developed musical structure, rather than one or the other. put another way, i think i can't really get into stuff like vangelis for the same reason that i can't really get into rossini.
i know a lot of it was not well received at the time by "serious music critics" who largely interpreted it as pop music masquerading as classical music, but i think they really missed the point. what is currently called the classical (or neo-classical) music of this period is really pretty boring because it tries to stop the development of music about the year 1850. i mean, maybe the stuff is a little harder to play. but it exists in a vacuum. it's not trying to create a 20th century artform, so much as it's rejecting the industrial revolution.
i think that future generations will reject the critics of the period, and conclude that the actual "classical music" of the mid-to-late 20th century was being created by a motley collection of jazz fusion, minimalist, post-punk, experimental, industrial, electronic and progressive rock musicians. this is the serious music of the era. the neo-classical stuff is not.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
well, it's a remix of it. there's a long story at the bandcamp page. short story: i know the track has a highly personal aspect to it and i'm sort of missing the point, but, after five years (which saw me go from pre-teen to young adult), i was expecting something a bit more substantial than a few power chords and some reverb floating around in the back, idiosyncratic verses or not. i'm not falling into the "writing for me" fallacy - i know it's absurd - but all the delays and marketing and projections of genius made it...
...anti-climactic. to put it lightly.
but i was encouraged by people at alt.music.nin to remix it, and consequently took the position that the best thing to do would be to approach it's flaws, as i saw them. i didn't really want to reinterpret it outside of the context of the full record (which actually hadn't been released yet); rather, i wanted to exaggerate it to what i felt it could have been. so, it's the same basic concept, it's just taken to a greater extreme....
(relevant track: the day inri messed the world up)
well, it's a remix of it. there's a long story at the bandcamp page. short story: i know the track has a highly personal aspect to it and i'm sort of missing the point, but, after five years (which saw me go from pre-teen to young adult), i was expecting something a bit more substantial than a few power chords and some reverb floating around in the back, idiosyncratic verses or not. i'm not falling into the "writing for me" fallacy - i know it's absurd - but all the delays and marketing and projections of genius made it...
...anti-climactic. to put it lightly.
but i was encouraged by people at alt.music.nin to remix it, and consequently took the position that the best thing to do would be to approach it's flaws, as i saw them. i didn't really want to reinterpret it outside of the context of the full record (which actually hadn't been released yet); rather, i wanted to exaggerate it to what i felt it could have been. so, it's the same basic concept, it's just taken to a greater extreme....
(relevant track: the day inri messed the world up)
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
so, i don't know if my mail dude was trying to do me a favour or trying to piss me off and i'm consequently torn as to how to react. the package got here, but through a difficult route - and unsigned, when i was supposed to sign. that works out to my benefit, but it's more future packages i'm concerned about.
right now, i'm almost afraid to open it.
i'm going to probably walk down to the post office and ask them if they can automatically hold items to this address. there's no way anybody can contact me down here without prior consent, which is on purpose and not going to change. i'd rather they hold items there to begin with, and just send me an email to get me to pick it up. it removes a set of hands from the chain.
so, here's the story...
first, the crux of this is that i've made myself difficult to contact on purpose for many years - as long as i've lived on my own, basically. people coming to my old apartment would complain i was unlisted and they had to use their cell, but this was no accident. what a lot of them didn't realize was that i wasn't just unlisted; the buzzer actually wasn't set up. there was literally no way for anybody to contact me from the intercom.
and who uses the intercom? jehovah's witnesses. rogers. vacuum cleaner salespeople. mary kay. politicians. kids with fundraisers. people i don't want to talk to...
there's no intercom here. yet, when i moved down here, i took the doorbell out. it's for the same reasons: i do not want random people to be able to bother me.
you can agree with me by emulating me. it might get rid of some of the door-to-door type if more people adopted this method.
pretty much the one casualty of this is the mail dude, who drops off packages from time to time. yet, it's generally far too infrequently for it to justify being annoyed by children and religious idiots. i'm perfectly happy with going down to the post office and getting it myself. as mentioned, that prevents the unnecessary risk stemming from the mail dude handling it.
however, i happened to encounter him on my front step a few weeks ago and he wasn't very happy with my attitude. he asked if there was another bell to ring, because mine didn't work - i had to tell him i don't want it to work. so, he asked me for a phone number. right, like i want to give a random stranger my phone number (and i actually don't have one, anyways). i told him i'd rather he just leave the slip in the box. he was both confused and upset...
see, the mail people in canada are coming up against some possible extreme layoffs. looking at the government's plan, it almost seems like a scheme to make the mailboxes smaller and force more expensive courier options; what they're doing isn't going to eliminate carriers, it's just going to make the process more expensive. private carriers win, everybody else loses. no surprises, here - it's been the trajectory of government for decades.
however, i happen to be the type of ("real") anarchist that is opposed to frivolous work, and i'm not sure how anybody could argue that delivering mail is less frivolous than working a cash register. it's a job i don't think should exist; it squanders resources i think could be better applied elsewhere. if i can walk to the post office, why can't everybody else? so, i wouldn't be particularly upset about layoffs, and am not particularly empathetic to this guy's snarky reaction to my request to leave it in the box.
the key question: did he pick up that i didn't care about his job?
i had a package arrive this morning that required a signature. strangely, it ended up down the street, left without a signature. i only know this because of the kindness of the neighbour who brought it to me, and was able to contact me by knocking on my landlord's door.
on first glance, it seems obvious that the mail dude is being an ass, here.
however, given that he knew i don't answer the door, he may have thought he was saving me a trip.
i actually don't appreciate that. but i'd rather talk it through than write him up. well, unless he's looking for severance, i guess. but i can't reasonably make any of these assumptions.
so, i think the best thing to do is determine if i can get the post office to hold items and email me for pickup when they come in.
the device is apparently undamaged. and, in truth, with the way it was packaged, it would have been hard to damage it.
oddly, the canada post tracking site continues to state that the item is "out for delivery". i'm going to let this run through the system and see what happens. if it works properly, i should get a refund. and maybe i deserve one. i'll give it a few days....
right now, i'm almost afraid to open it.
i'm going to probably walk down to the post office and ask them if they can automatically hold items to this address. there's no way anybody can contact me down here without prior consent, which is on purpose and not going to change. i'd rather they hold items there to begin with, and just send me an email to get me to pick it up. it removes a set of hands from the chain.
so, here's the story...
first, the crux of this is that i've made myself difficult to contact on purpose for many years - as long as i've lived on my own, basically. people coming to my old apartment would complain i was unlisted and they had to use their cell, but this was no accident. what a lot of them didn't realize was that i wasn't just unlisted; the buzzer actually wasn't set up. there was literally no way for anybody to contact me from the intercom.
and who uses the intercom? jehovah's witnesses. rogers. vacuum cleaner salespeople. mary kay. politicians. kids with fundraisers. people i don't want to talk to...
there's no intercom here. yet, when i moved down here, i took the doorbell out. it's for the same reasons: i do not want random people to be able to bother me.
you can agree with me by emulating me. it might get rid of some of the door-to-door type if more people adopted this method.
pretty much the one casualty of this is the mail dude, who drops off packages from time to time. yet, it's generally far too infrequently for it to justify being annoyed by children and religious idiots. i'm perfectly happy with going down to the post office and getting it myself. as mentioned, that prevents the unnecessary risk stemming from the mail dude handling it.
however, i happened to encounter him on my front step a few weeks ago and he wasn't very happy with my attitude. he asked if there was another bell to ring, because mine didn't work - i had to tell him i don't want it to work. so, he asked me for a phone number. right, like i want to give a random stranger my phone number (and i actually don't have one, anyways). i told him i'd rather he just leave the slip in the box. he was both confused and upset...
see, the mail people in canada are coming up against some possible extreme layoffs. looking at the government's plan, it almost seems like a scheme to make the mailboxes smaller and force more expensive courier options; what they're doing isn't going to eliminate carriers, it's just going to make the process more expensive. private carriers win, everybody else loses. no surprises, here - it's been the trajectory of government for decades.
however, i happen to be the type of ("real") anarchist that is opposed to frivolous work, and i'm not sure how anybody could argue that delivering mail is less frivolous than working a cash register. it's a job i don't think should exist; it squanders resources i think could be better applied elsewhere. if i can walk to the post office, why can't everybody else? so, i wouldn't be particularly upset about layoffs, and am not particularly empathetic to this guy's snarky reaction to my request to leave it in the box.
the key question: did he pick up that i didn't care about his job?
i had a package arrive this morning that required a signature. strangely, it ended up down the street, left without a signature. i only know this because of the kindness of the neighbour who brought it to me, and was able to contact me by knocking on my landlord's door.
on first glance, it seems obvious that the mail dude is being an ass, here.
however, given that he knew i don't answer the door, he may have thought he was saving me a trip.
i actually don't appreciate that. but i'd rather talk it through than write him up. well, unless he's looking for severance, i guess. but i can't reasonably make any of these assumptions.
so, i think the best thing to do is determine if i can get the post office to hold items and email me for pickup when they come in.
the device is apparently undamaged. and, in truth, with the way it was packaged, it would have been hard to damage it.
oddly, the canada post tracking site continues to state that the item is "out for delivery". i'm going to let this run through the system and see what happens. if it works properly, i should get a refund. and maybe i deserve one. i'll give it a few days....
the most important thing i learned from....decades....in school is the following:
if you're going to go to school with the purpose of doing something competitive with it (be that in employment or in academia), you have no option but to pick something you love to do. things may have been different in the past when the field was narrower, but nowadays living in north america means you're competing against two thirds of the planet for just about anything, and if you're not loving it then somebody else is going to mop the floor with you.
you might have a greater pure aptitude in the topic and in general. you might have higher test scores. you might be a harder worker, even. yet, if you're doing it for labour then the blunt reality is that you have no chance against the thousands of other people that do it for *fun*.
it's actually sort of an anarchist's ideal: the only kind of vocation any of us have any real chance in any more is what we'd love to be doing, anyways. the problem is that so few of us were raised with that mindset. we were told to do something we don't love because it is marketable (only to be outcompeted by somebody that loves it), or even to do something we loathe because it's profitable (only to run into the same problem). while that's happening, we're wasting developing skills doing things we enjoy, and getting behind those that figured this out.
if there are changes to immigration, or drastic improvements in living standard elsewhere, maybe it will once again make sense to tell your young, operatic nephew they'd be better off as a dentist. but, as it is, there's no deficit of kids that knew they wanted to be dentists when they were three years old and have spent their whole lives preparing, and the reality is that your nephew doesn't stand a fucking chance against them - he's really better off exploring his vocal chords.
i think that's a mass shift in social mindset that we need to have.
if you're going to go to school with the purpose of doing something competitive with it (be that in employment or in academia), you have no option but to pick something you love to do. things may have been different in the past when the field was narrower, but nowadays living in north america means you're competing against two thirds of the planet for just about anything, and if you're not loving it then somebody else is going to mop the floor with you.
you might have a greater pure aptitude in the topic and in general. you might have higher test scores. you might be a harder worker, even. yet, if you're doing it for labour then the blunt reality is that you have no chance against the thousands of other people that do it for *fun*.
it's actually sort of an anarchist's ideal: the only kind of vocation any of us have any real chance in any more is what we'd love to be doing, anyways. the problem is that so few of us were raised with that mindset. we were told to do something we don't love because it is marketable (only to be outcompeted by somebody that loves it), or even to do something we loathe because it's profitable (only to run into the same problem). while that's happening, we're wasting developing skills doing things we enjoy, and getting behind those that figured this out.
if there are changes to immigration, or drastic improvements in living standard elsewhere, maybe it will once again make sense to tell your young, operatic nephew they'd be better off as a dentist. but, as it is, there's no deficit of kids that knew they wanted to be dentists when they were three years old and have spent their whole lives preparing, and the reality is that your nephew doesn't stand a fucking chance against them - he's really better off exploring his vocal chords.
i think that's a mass shift in social mindset that we need to have.
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
out of the hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands of records i've consumed in my life, very few are in the same category as this one. it's a song structuring influence on this particular track, especially in the instrumental second half of the track.
(relevant track: liquify, the day inri messed the world up, all symphonies, more)
out of the hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands of records i've consumed in my life, very few are in the same category as this one. it's a song structuring influence on this particular track, especially in the instrumental second half of the track.
(relevant track: liquify, the day inri messed the world up, all symphonies, more)
deathtokoalas
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
you can hear it in the short section that features piano mashing and feeding back guitars.
(relevant track: liquify, first movement, others)
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
the song structuring is early queen, the atmosphere is david bowie (c. aladin sane) and the pick harmonics are all eddie van halen. also, the solo is vintage king crimson. you can maybe pull something post-punk out of the vocals....
like, honestly: if you like that layered guitar sound on mellon collie (which is what makes this track), go pick up the first three queen discs.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
the pumpkins were a punk band at their core, but this particular track is a fine piece of mid 70s glam metal, mixed with a bit of progressive rock.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
if forced to pick between grunge and punk, it's more like grunge than it is like punk, but there's a number of stylistic qualities associated with grunge that it doesn't have. the guitar tone is very bright, caused by rolling up the treble - grunge is generally associated with an exaggerated low end. nor do the vocals work well in a grunge context.
“alternative rock" has never been a real genre, and to the extent that it was it applied more to stuff like rem (which corgan certainly dabbled heavily in). the pumpkins fit well into "alternative culture" for a while, but they were generally not considered to fit into that aesthetic in the 90s. they were usually cut out into psychedelic pop or progressive rock, and viewed as more of a 60s/70s retro act.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
it's really not, though. you'd really never hear any grunge bands or personalities talk like that. politically, it was mostly a left-liberal movement with an undercurrent of christian morality (in the love your brother sense, not the kill the gays sense). corgan's always been somewhat of a hippie.
there was a strain of that kind of misanthropist thinking in some of the alternative culture of the early 90s, but it came more out of goth and industrial subculture. it's something you'd hear from trent reznor or nivek ogre, not kurt cobain or mark arm.
it's maybe a bit emo, though, which is another thing the pumpkins dabbled in.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
the pumpkins fit into a lot of overlapping genres, but there was never anything "independent" about them. this is big budget stadium rock in any era.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
people are assholes. it'd be nice if we could just set them all on fire, but there's laws and stuff.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
it's not because you hurt my feelings, it's because your views deserve to be incinerated along with everybody who shares them.
beyond there being laws against setting assholes on fire, the historical record is also clear: oppressing assholes just makes them come back stronger. look at russia. they tried to ban the christians, and a hundred years later the country is teetering on the edge of a fundamentalist state.
so, we have to argue with assholes, somehow. educate them? maybe their kids, but not too harshly, or they'll kneejerk.
really, i think it's better to just resign ourselves to the reality that assholes will always exist and there's nothing to be done about it.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
there's a little button on the thread that says "disable replies".
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
you can hear it in the short section that features piano mashing and feeding back guitars.
(relevant track: liquify, first movement, others)
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
the song structuring is early queen, the atmosphere is david bowie (c. aladin sane) and the pick harmonics are all eddie van halen. also, the solo is vintage king crimson. you can maybe pull something post-punk out of the vocals....
like, honestly: if you like that layered guitar sound on mellon collie (which is what makes this track), go pick up the first three queen discs.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
the pumpkins were a punk band at their core, but this particular track is a fine piece of mid 70s glam metal, mixed with a bit of progressive rock.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
if forced to pick between grunge and punk, it's more like grunge than it is like punk, but there's a number of stylistic qualities associated with grunge that it doesn't have. the guitar tone is very bright, caused by rolling up the treble - grunge is generally associated with an exaggerated low end. nor do the vocals work well in a grunge context.
“alternative rock" has never been a real genre, and to the extent that it was it applied more to stuff like rem (which corgan certainly dabbled heavily in). the pumpkins fit well into "alternative culture" for a while, but they were generally not considered to fit into that aesthetic in the 90s. they were usually cut out into psychedelic pop or progressive rock, and viewed as more of a 60s/70s retro act.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
it's really not, though. you'd really never hear any grunge bands or personalities talk like that. politically, it was mostly a left-liberal movement with an undercurrent of christian morality (in the love your brother sense, not the kill the gays sense). corgan's always been somewhat of a hippie.
there was a strain of that kind of misanthropist thinking in some of the alternative culture of the early 90s, but it came more out of goth and industrial subculture. it's something you'd hear from trent reznor or nivek ogre, not kurt cobain or mark arm.
it's maybe a bit emo, though, which is another thing the pumpkins dabbled in.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
the pumpkins fit into a lot of overlapping genres, but there was never anything "independent" about them. this is big budget stadium rock in any era.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
people are assholes. it'd be nice if we could just set them all on fire, but there's laws and stuff.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
it's not because you hurt my feelings, it's because your views deserve to be incinerated along with everybody who shares them.
beyond there being laws against setting assholes on fire, the historical record is also clear: oppressing assholes just makes them come back stronger. look at russia. they tried to ban the christians, and a hundred years later the country is teetering on the edge of a fundamentalist state.
so, we have to argue with assholes, somehow. educate them? maybe their kids, but not too harshly, or they'll kneejerk.
really, i think it's better to just resign ourselves to the reality that assholes will always exist and there's nothing to be done about it.
(deleted post)
deathtokoalas
there's a little button on the thread that says "disable replies".
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
there's a more in depth explanation at my bandcamp site. but, over that summer, i was sorting through some old guitar magazines and came across a version of most of this worked out in tab. i had very fast fingers back then; i picked it up pretty quickly. so, it worked it's way into the track for that reason...
(relevant track: liquify, first movement, others)
there's a more in depth explanation at my bandcamp site. but, over that summer, i was sorting through some old guitar magazines and came across a version of most of this worked out in tab. i had very fast fingers back then; i picked it up pretty quickly. so, it worked it's way into the track for that reason...
(relevant track: liquify, first movement, others)
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
wooo!
2014/04/14 23:36 MISSISSAUGA Item processed
so, i'm thinking tomorrow or the next day.
meaning that i may not end up getting any work done on this old laptop, after all. but it's now fully loaded.
including this neat, fairly new little trick regarding playing direct into midi. always wanted something like that...
(i knew this was going to happen, btw. lol.)
2014/04/14 23:36 MISSISSAUGA Item processed
so, i'm thinking tomorrow or the next day.
meaning that i may not end up getting any work done on this old laptop, after all. but it's now fully loaded.
including this neat, fairly new little trick regarding playing direct into midi. always wanted something like that...
(i knew this was going to happen, btw. lol.)
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post...
an aesthetic influence, mostly...i could pull a lot of things out, but i specifically remember listening to large amounts of this record...
(relevant tracks: symphony 0, happiness is a harsh gun, weed in the yard, medicated to the one i love, others )
an aesthetic influence, mostly...i could pull a lot of things out, but i specifically remember listening to large amounts of this record...
(relevant tracks: symphony 0, happiness is a harsh gun, weed in the yard, medicated to the one i love, others )
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post...
an aesthetic influence, mostly...i could pull a lot of things out for that, but i specifically remember listening to large amounts of this record...
(relevant tracks: bach goes loopy, symphony 0, pop music, missed connection, jesus gets fucked on robitussin, tribute, others)
an aesthetic influence, mostly...i could pull a lot of things out for that, but i specifically remember listening to large amounts of this record...
(relevant tracks: bach goes loopy, symphony 0, pop music, missed connection, jesus gets fucked on robitussin, tribute, others)
Monday, April 14, 2014
it's past my bedtime (you can laugh. i'm ridiculous.)
but i think i can declare victory with this ad-hoc setup. it's ad-hoc,
mind you. but it should be functional.
i had to go up to cubase 5. iirc, i didn't do that in the first place because it wasn't playing nicely with my interface. i'll have to see if this version is better. no dongle emulator running in the background. that's definitely nice...
i also went up to guitar rig 5. i'm picky with tone. so, i'll call it an experiment for now.
i was hoping i could use the soundcard in the laptop for playback, but it's turned out to be useless. i had to get asio4all for cubase to even recognize it, but it's not actually working. it's probably a minor fix, but looking at the difference in specs is embarrassing to the hd chip. i'm way better off just headphoning directly out of the pod, even if it's a little awkward, cord-wise.
besides that, the bare minimum (pod drivers, cubase, guitar rig, cool edit) installed properly. and that's all i want running for now. i'll take more things in as i need them (i do use izotope as an effect processor, and there's a few secret plugins i won't mention), but this is meant to be a minimal environment.
if i were to play this live, i'd need a second usb to 1/8th inch out. that hdmi out isn't connecting to cubase. then again, i'd need to move to sonar to route the signal from the usb in, through guitar rig and back out again to the mixer, anyways.
it's not a worthwhile thought right now....
....and the pod provides the option of a clean or wet send in the drivers (as well as to turn the amp sim off and on). i knew that, but it's been a while since i've used it...
i had to go up to cubase 5. iirc, i didn't do that in the first place because it wasn't playing nicely with my interface. i'll have to see if this version is better. no dongle emulator running in the background. that's definitely nice...
i also went up to guitar rig 5. i'm picky with tone. so, i'll call it an experiment for now.
i was hoping i could use the soundcard in the laptop for playback, but it's turned out to be useless. i had to get asio4all for cubase to even recognize it, but it's not actually working. it's probably a minor fix, but looking at the difference in specs is embarrassing to the hd chip. i'm way better off just headphoning directly out of the pod, even if it's a little awkward, cord-wise.
besides that, the bare minimum (pod drivers, cubase, guitar rig, cool edit) installed properly. and that's all i want running for now. i'll take more things in as i need them (i do use izotope as an effect processor, and there's a few secret plugins i won't mention), but this is meant to be a minimal environment.
if i were to play this live, i'd need a second usb to 1/8th inch out. that hdmi out isn't connecting to cubase. then again, i'd need to move to sonar to route the signal from the usb in, through guitar rig and back out again to the mixer, anyways.
it's not a worthwhile thought right now....
....and the pod provides the option of a clean or wet send in the drivers (as well as to turn the amp sim off and on). i knew that, but it's been a while since i've used it...
it took a lot of wasted time waiting for things to copy around all over the place, but i've managed to get my medium old laptop back up (not the really old one that can barely hit google; this is about ten years old, and fully useable for just about anything). the hard drive has been causing me problems since last summer, but it turns out the black screen was actually the result of not activating windows (i forgot i had installed it)...
the drive isn't really to be trusted anymore, though, so i need to be working off a usb key. i wanted to work off an external drive, but windows 7 just flat wouldn't read it. works fine in xp. vista too, even. not 7. there's all kinds of dumb info online about the drive being "incompatible with windows 7", like it broke plug and play compatibility through usb or something. it's a glorified fucking thumb drive. it should read on everything.
but i suspect it's the same basic problem i spoke of earlier, with changes to the way the os reads drivers. i'm not privy to background info on 7 like i am on vista, but talk about arrogance. they get all kinds of complaints on this, and rather than fix it they make it worse.
unless, of course, somebody figured out you could sell more drives by forcing people to upgrade their hardware with their os...
i repeat: perfectly functioning drive on xp, vista. brick on 7. official reason: "incompatible". most likely technical reason: the 7 kernel considers it a "security threat". actual driver: hardware sales.
anyways, i wanted to back up to that drive, so i put vista back on and copied the shit over, and then put 7 back on. it will read fine in xp when my bios comes back. but in order to get it from my new laptop (also running 7) to the old one, i had to use my mp3 drive...
so, it now exists in five places. that's more than sufficiently safe.
anyways, the thumb key is more than enough space for one song at a time for a few weeks until things resolve themselves back to stability.
the thing is that i bought this laptop refurbished to use for school in the short run and turn into an effects rack long term. the hope was also to turn it into somewhat of a live out. i mean, it's hard to lull a tank of a pc out and about. the signal was supposed to dual out of the laptop and the pod into a stereo receiver and play through a set of celestions, which i had interpreted as a sort of modern, technology-friendly update to the classic marshall sound. i mean, trying to run this stuff through amps creates garbage. it has to be through clean signals...but getting as close to the original path as possible struck me as worthwhile.....
it's not quite to that point. well, i never finished the symphony i wanted to perform, anyways. but, it is going to end up with cubase, guitar rig and pod software - along with other guitar effects, which will turn it into a backup guitar studio.
i cannot hook it up to a firewire interface and consequently cannot connect it to the mixer or any of the things into the mixer. nor does it have a midi in/out. so, my options are limited...this is temporary....
....but it will get me back to work while i'm waiting.
there are cheap usb soundcards nowadays. it's not really necessary. but if that bios doesn't flash...
actually, something else i won't be able to do (i don't think) is drive the signal. i'll have to check. the question is if the usb sound card out on the pod takes a dry or wet signal in.
if it does, i have no real complaints regarding guitar tone. i'll just have to wait until the mixer comes back up to tweak it.
if not, i'll have to see how it sounds, but i'm not compromising my tone, either....
unfortunately, it makes sense to me to think that the usb out is just a signal from the unit - meaning it won't matter what i put in front of the thing, it won't pick it up.
hopefully, it surprises me, but it doesn't really make sense to me to think it can do that.
i use it largely for amp sims. i use guitar rig for post-processing. well, it's what each is made for. the problem with the amp sims is they need some fire to reverse that dead, digital sound. i guess if i was doing that corporate emo hair metal thing it would be fine, but i'm not; i find i need to drive it with a tube pre-amp to be useable, and i need to drive *that* with some boxes to get the most of it.
i didn't think that through.
i'll find out in a few hours.
i'm actually able to recreate fuzz-->tube-->amp fairly well with that setup, and without getting evicted.
the drive isn't really to be trusted anymore, though, so i need to be working off a usb key. i wanted to work off an external drive, but windows 7 just flat wouldn't read it. works fine in xp. vista too, even. not 7. there's all kinds of dumb info online about the drive being "incompatible with windows 7", like it broke plug and play compatibility through usb or something. it's a glorified fucking thumb drive. it should read on everything.
but i suspect it's the same basic problem i spoke of earlier, with changes to the way the os reads drivers. i'm not privy to background info on 7 like i am on vista, but talk about arrogance. they get all kinds of complaints on this, and rather than fix it they make it worse.
unless, of course, somebody figured out you could sell more drives by forcing people to upgrade their hardware with their os...
i repeat: perfectly functioning drive on xp, vista. brick on 7. official reason: "incompatible". most likely technical reason: the 7 kernel considers it a "security threat". actual driver: hardware sales.
anyways, i wanted to back up to that drive, so i put vista back on and copied the shit over, and then put 7 back on. it will read fine in xp when my bios comes back. but in order to get it from my new laptop (also running 7) to the old one, i had to use my mp3 drive...
so, it now exists in five places. that's more than sufficiently safe.
anyways, the thumb key is more than enough space for one song at a time for a few weeks until things resolve themselves back to stability.
the thing is that i bought this laptop refurbished to use for school in the short run and turn into an effects rack long term. the hope was also to turn it into somewhat of a live out. i mean, it's hard to lull a tank of a pc out and about. the signal was supposed to dual out of the laptop and the pod into a stereo receiver and play through a set of celestions, which i had interpreted as a sort of modern, technology-friendly update to the classic marshall sound. i mean, trying to run this stuff through amps creates garbage. it has to be through clean signals...but getting as close to the original path as possible struck me as worthwhile.....
it's not quite to that point. well, i never finished the symphony i wanted to perform, anyways. but, it is going to end up with cubase, guitar rig and pod software - along with other guitar effects, which will turn it into a backup guitar studio.
i cannot hook it up to a firewire interface and consequently cannot connect it to the mixer or any of the things into the mixer. nor does it have a midi in/out. so, my options are limited...this is temporary....
....but it will get me back to work while i'm waiting.
there are cheap usb soundcards nowadays. it's not really necessary. but if that bios doesn't flash...
actually, something else i won't be able to do (i don't think) is drive the signal. i'll have to check. the question is if the usb sound card out on the pod takes a dry or wet signal in.
if it does, i have no real complaints regarding guitar tone. i'll just have to wait until the mixer comes back up to tweak it.
if not, i'll have to see how it sounds, but i'm not compromising my tone, either....
unfortunately, it makes sense to me to think that the usb out is just a signal from the unit - meaning it won't matter what i put in front of the thing, it won't pick it up.
hopefully, it surprises me, but it doesn't really make sense to me to think it can do that.
i use it largely for amp sims. i use guitar rig for post-processing. well, it's what each is made for. the problem with the amp sims is they need some fire to reverse that dead, digital sound. i guess if i was doing that corporate emo hair metal thing it would be fine, but i'm not; i find i need to drive it with a tube pre-amp to be useable, and i need to drive *that* with some boxes to get the most of it.
i didn't think that through.
i'll find out in a few hours.
i'm actually able to recreate fuzz-->tube-->amp fairly well with that setup, and without getting evicted.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
i just took a hot shower. it seems to have warmed up the whole apartment. let's see how long it lasts.
of course, it warmed me up too!
but the heat went up a few tenths of a degree and turned itself off. that's measurable.
if i'm understanding what's happening properly, the air should suck that extra heat and moisture up and out. eventually...
yeah. heat's back on, and that cold, dry air is back. hour, tops.
of course, it warmed me up too!
but the heat went up a few tenths of a degree and turned itself off. that's measurable.
if i'm understanding what's happening properly, the air should suck that extra heat and moisture up and out. eventually...
yeah. heat's back on, and that cold, dry air is back. hour, tops.
i can't really complain about the air upstairs today. it's almost 30
outside, with the humidex. and, yes, we have a humidex, which is weird
this time of year, even if not coming out of a brutal winter. so, it's
reasonable to have the air on.
but maybe not so high. it's more than a bit odd to have it be 25 degrees outside and have my heaters (set to 21) on. not a bit, but half-blast. that's independent corroboration, really. what it demonstrates is that the air conditioning is making the basement colder than room temperature. otherwise, the heat wouldn't be kicking in. but what's worthwhile is that that's an objective standard - lower than 21 is lower than normal, and justification to push back.
it's partly because it's early in the year, though. i remember the thermostat reading 26 when i moved in. it'll warm up over the summer. for now, i've just got the windows open.
see, even if it does warm up, though, that doesn't mean i'm going to want to keep the windows closed. it's not just the temperature, it's also the air quality. air conditioning makes the air so unnaturally dry. i really prefer that hot, moist natural summer air. a natural breeze is infinitely superior to a machine vortex (on a different floor at that).
but i'm a little worried about how that's actually going to work. it's going to rain sometimes. i'm in a basement (also note - i haven't seen any ants since the first week i moved in, but an open window is an invitation), so i'm going to have to close it sometimes. if i keep the window open and let the breeze run through, is that going to put the air upstairs on higher power? i mean, that it's working at all down here suggests it's sucking up air through the floor. is it just going to turn itself up higher to suck more? if it does, it could just make it worse in the end, especially in rain situations.
on that note, my best tactic may be to try and crash it. that happens, right? it overheats, or something? if i just blare all the heat i can muster, i could conceivably overdrive it...
i'm not really considering that right now, it's just an idea. a last resort. i get that the guy upstairs would be in considerable discomfort if i were to crash his air (he's a big guy). right now, it's just a combination of unusual factors. i'm going to assume things will right themselves as the basement slowly warms up.
there's probably some kind of equilibrium point, where very small amounts of heat will warm it up a little bit, a little more may actually make it colder in here, and large amounts will overpower. i'd probably have to get that information empirically.
but maybe not so high. it's more than a bit odd to have it be 25 degrees outside and have my heaters (set to 21) on. not a bit, but half-blast. that's independent corroboration, really. what it demonstrates is that the air conditioning is making the basement colder than room temperature. otherwise, the heat wouldn't be kicking in. but what's worthwhile is that that's an objective standard - lower than 21 is lower than normal, and justification to push back.
it's partly because it's early in the year, though. i remember the thermostat reading 26 when i moved in. it'll warm up over the summer. for now, i've just got the windows open.
see, even if it does warm up, though, that doesn't mean i'm going to want to keep the windows closed. it's not just the temperature, it's also the air quality. air conditioning makes the air so unnaturally dry. i really prefer that hot, moist natural summer air. a natural breeze is infinitely superior to a machine vortex (on a different floor at that).
but i'm a little worried about how that's actually going to work. it's going to rain sometimes. i'm in a basement (also note - i haven't seen any ants since the first week i moved in, but an open window is an invitation), so i'm going to have to close it sometimes. if i keep the window open and let the breeze run through, is that going to put the air upstairs on higher power? i mean, that it's working at all down here suggests it's sucking up air through the floor. is it just going to turn itself up higher to suck more? if it does, it could just make it worse in the end, especially in rain situations.
on that note, my best tactic may be to try and crash it. that happens, right? it overheats, or something? if i just blare all the heat i can muster, i could conceivably overdrive it...
i'm not really considering that right now, it's just an idea. a last resort. i get that the guy upstairs would be in considerable discomfort if i were to crash his air (he's a big guy). right now, it's just a combination of unusual factors. i'm going to assume things will right themselves as the basement slowly warms up.
there's probably some kind of equilibrium point, where very small amounts of heat will warm it up a little bit, a little more may actually make it colder in here, and large amounts will overpower. i'd probably have to get that information empirically.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
obligatory "influential on song of the day" post.
this record (and it's other version, which is a bit more experimental) had a ridiculous amount of talented people involved in creating it and the result is very much the sum of it's parts. i can't say i ever came close to emulating this monstrous masterpiece, but the aesthetic on the song of the day is ultimately derived from this source (as well as halo 9).
(relevant tracks: medicated to the one i love, jesus gets fucked on robitussin, symphony 1, curious george, others)
this record (and it's other version, which is a bit more experimental) had a ridiculous amount of talented people involved in creating it and the result is very much the sum of it's parts. i can't say i ever came close to emulating this monstrous masterpiece, but the aesthetic on the song of the day is ultimately derived from this source (as well as halo 9).
(relevant tracks: medicated to the one i love, jesus gets fucked on robitussin, symphony 1, curious george, others)
and, this is where i put my obligatory influenced by post for the day, due to the track being a remix of this one. it was done for a fan comp on the glu list way back in the day and meant to take the track in a more experimental direction.
i got a very terse email from david reilly a few weeks or months later:
"i am aware of what you did to my song."
i'm not sure if we all got that kind of personal response or not. to a point, i can understand his revulsion. despite the nature of the backwards section, evocative or not, this is a pretty personal track, and i went to town with it in ways that i can understand a negative reaction to.
that's partly why i speak of the track, today, as influenced by this one, rather than a remix of it. and, that's actually closer to the truth. it's really barely recognizable.
but, fans of 90s nin remixes and/or the weirder reaches of experimental trip-hop might get something out of it.
as for the track itself, i found something strangely subversive about it. there's about twenty minutes of a minimal bass beats that follows the version on record, climaxing in a wash of noise. i don't really understand addiction, but the picture he paints (especially in the context of the full track, and the state of mind that the ambient bass section represents) is pretty distressing and hard not to react to.
(relevant track: medicated to the one i love)
i got a very terse email from david reilly a few weeks or months later:
"i am aware of what you did to my song."
i'm not sure if we all got that kind of personal response or not. to a point, i can understand his revulsion. despite the nature of the backwards section, evocative or not, this is a pretty personal track, and i went to town with it in ways that i can understand a negative reaction to.
that's partly why i speak of the track, today, as influenced by this one, rather than a remix of it. and, that's actually closer to the truth. it's really barely recognizable.
but, fans of 90s nin remixes and/or the weirder reaches of experimental trip-hop might get something out of it.
as for the track itself, i found something strangely subversive about it. there's about twenty minutes of a minimal bass beats that follows the version on record, climaxing in a wash of noise. i don't really understand addiction, but the picture he paints (especially in the context of the full track, and the state of mind that the ambient bass section represents) is pretty distressing and hard not to react to.
(relevant track: medicated to the one i love)
Thursday, April 10, 2014
just read the cubase manual looking for something about where data is stored (confirming what i've deduced as inescapable, really), and i'm not finding what i looked for, but i did just learn this for the first time.
this would have been useful to me a few weeks ago when i was trying to run 30 vst instruments hooked to separate midi files simultaneously. i ended up pulling the latency down to something ridiculous, and because there weren't any waves running it was a fine workaround, but had i just done this i wouldn't have had to go through the process of mixing out all the midi tracks separately and then cutting out all the silent parts......
all these years, and i had no idea. i will make generous use of this in the future.
this would have been useful to me a few weeks ago when i was trying to run 30 vst instruments hooked to separate midi files simultaneously. i ended up pulling the latency down to something ridiculous, and because there weren't any waves running it was a fine workaround, but had i just done this i wouldn't have had to go through the process of mixing out all the midi tracks separately and then cutting out all the silent parts......
all these years, and i had no idea. i will make generous use of this in the future.
Elliott Jang
Beethoven is a distant 2nd to Mozart in regards to composing
Alex Prendergast
Whew! Thank goodness that's settled!
Patera Milenko
No, you can't really compare the two. They are both brilliant beyond time.
deathtokoalas
bah. beethoven was a creative genius. mozart just knew how to follow all the stupid rules. the result is that beethoven has aged splendidly, while mozart just comes off as a conforming tool.
to put it another way: mozart is merely a period composer. beethoven is truly timeless.
MrEitinha
"You're a Mozart fan!" - Norman Stansfield
toni8675
Any simple comparison between the two of them is just plain childish. Mozart died way younger (and when he died, he already started composing more mature, experimented with chromatic harmony beyond others of his time, and added serious ployphony to his last symphonies), Beethoven lost his hearing, not to mention the 14 years between their births... No one knows how many more things Mozart would have accomplished had he lived as much as Beethoven. There are simply too many variables, that's why you just can't really compare the two of them...
deathtokoalas
it's a very easy comparison: beethoven is exciting, mozart is boring. i see no reason to think mozart would have gained a deeper sense of artistry had he lived longer. what he lacked wasn't age, but emotional attachment to his writing.
toni8675
If the requiem, symphony no. 40, the piano concerto no. 23 (adagio) etc. lack emotional attachment, then I'm curious what's your definition of attachement...
deathtokoalas
well, the comparison is to beethoven; pick something, little of what he did was schmaltzy (with the exception of this piece). but rachmaninov is the apex, specifically his 2nd and 3rd concertos.
almost all of mozart's pieces sound like solutions to engineering problems, those ones included. perfect? sure: perfectly trite.
Beethoven is a distant 2nd to Mozart in regards to composing
Alex Prendergast
Whew! Thank goodness that's settled!
Patera Milenko
No, you can't really compare the two. They are both brilliant beyond time.
deathtokoalas
bah. beethoven was a creative genius. mozart just knew how to follow all the stupid rules. the result is that beethoven has aged splendidly, while mozart just comes off as a conforming tool.
to put it another way: mozart is merely a period composer. beethoven is truly timeless.
MrEitinha
"You're a Mozart fan!" - Norman Stansfield
toni8675
Any simple comparison between the two of them is just plain childish. Mozart died way younger (and when he died, he already started composing more mature, experimented with chromatic harmony beyond others of his time, and added serious ployphony to his last symphonies), Beethoven lost his hearing, not to mention the 14 years between their births... No one knows how many more things Mozart would have accomplished had he lived as much as Beethoven. There are simply too many variables, that's why you just can't really compare the two of them...
deathtokoalas
it's a very easy comparison: beethoven is exciting, mozart is boring. i see no reason to think mozart would have gained a deeper sense of artistry had he lived longer. what he lacked wasn't age, but emotional attachment to his writing.
toni8675
If the requiem, symphony no. 40, the piano concerto no. 23 (adagio) etc. lack emotional attachment, then I'm curious what's your definition of attachement...
deathtokoalas
well, the comparison is to beethoven; pick something, little of what he did was schmaltzy (with the exception of this piece). but rachmaninov is the apex, specifically his 2nd and 3rd concertos.
almost all of mozart's pieces sound like solutions to engineering problems, those ones included. perfect? sure: perfectly trite.
i was able to reconstruct and authoritatively back up my archival material a lot easier than i thought i would be able to. the only thing i've lost of any consequence is a couple of backing files for 'ignorance is bliss'. i can live with that.
now that i'm a little more focused as to what i'm looking for, i'm going to do one more data recovery scan through the other two physical disks to see if i can salvage anything. i'm not overly confident.
as for the script? i did this once before and concluded the data was garbled, but if i can reconstruct the directory structure and file names of the script, and get a bit lucky in pulling out a few text fragments, i should be able to rebuild the script with minimal effort - even if it takes a few days to write it all out and do some virtual testing. well, shit, it could be a month before the bus pirate gets here, anyways.
i'm going to move some things around with the expectation of getting used to living with three discs for the time being. i'm not sure i could even buy a 250 gb sata II drive new anywhere (and second hand hard drives are a dumb idea). so i'm going to end up upgrading.
when i do, i'll move the music files to the new drive. they're both the most important and need the most space. that'll leave me with two 250s i can boot into 32 and 64 bit, respectively, and one to use for various types of backup.
for right now, though, i don't have the appetite to set up a 64 bit system. but i might end up at least nliting it, depending on how much time i end up waiting for, and how successfully i can salvage the other laptop.
as the problem with the other laptop is the hard drive (there's a pattern here; i'm tempted to go to ssd, i'll have to check prices), what i'll have to do is work off an external. then again, it hasn't actually died yet. in the long run, that's another component i'll have to replace, but it's not a priority.
so, i'm chugging away at this. i can't provide an eta for getting back to what i was doing, but i can at least report having a few ideas.
now that i'm a little more focused as to what i'm looking for, i'm going to do one more data recovery scan through the other two physical disks to see if i can salvage anything. i'm not overly confident.
as for the script? i did this once before and concluded the data was garbled, but if i can reconstruct the directory structure and file names of the script, and get a bit lucky in pulling out a few text fragments, i should be able to rebuild the script with minimal effort - even if it takes a few days to write it all out and do some virtual testing. well, shit, it could be a month before the bus pirate gets here, anyways.
i'm going to move some things around with the expectation of getting used to living with three discs for the time being. i'm not sure i could even buy a 250 gb sata II drive new anywhere (and second hand hard drives are a dumb idea). so i'm going to end up upgrading.
when i do, i'll move the music files to the new drive. they're both the most important and need the most space. that'll leave me with two 250s i can boot into 32 and 64 bit, respectively, and one to use for various types of backup.
for right now, though, i don't have the appetite to set up a 64 bit system. but i might end up at least nliting it, depending on how much time i end up waiting for, and how successfully i can salvage the other laptop.
as the problem with the other laptop is the hard drive (there's a pattern here; i'm tempted to go to ssd, i'll have to check prices), what i'll have to do is work off an external. then again, it hasn't actually died yet. in the long run, that's another component i'll have to replace, but it's not a priority.
so, i'm chugging away at this. i can't provide an eta for getting back to what i was doing, but i can at least report having a few ideas.
cmd files may technically be programs, but people interact with them like text. they're more like modern-day scripts, really.
in trying to salvage old files off my working drives (to replace the files on the trashed one), i've noticed that i'm often able to pull text files up that have been deleted for up to five years but i can't pull off cmd files that were deleted last month. it doesn't seem to be dependent on size. i'm led to conclude that ntfs is filing cmd files as programs and they're getting easily corrupted as binary.
but they're not really programs. they're certainly not binary they're text...
i realize that there may be some security issues with treating scripts as text files. but how serious an obstacle is this nowadays really? i mean, if you can launch notepad remotely, you're pretty much in control, are you not? even so, wouldn't it make more sense to block at the kernel than the file system? even backup drives crash. rather, this strikes me as an ancient windows artifact from the early 90s or the late 80s when cmd files really were programs and that should be updated for modern usage. i can't be the first person that's run into this.
i don't know enough about other file systems to comment.
in trying to salvage old files off my working drives (to replace the files on the trashed one), i've noticed that i'm often able to pull text files up that have been deleted for up to five years but i can't pull off cmd files that were deleted last month. it doesn't seem to be dependent on size. i'm led to conclude that ntfs is filing cmd files as programs and they're getting easily corrupted as binary.
but they're not really programs. they're certainly not binary they're text...
i realize that there may be some security issues with treating scripts as text files. but how serious an obstacle is this nowadays really? i mean, if you can launch notepad remotely, you're pretty much in control, are you not? even so, wouldn't it make more sense to block at the kernel than the file system? even backup drives crash. rather, this strikes me as an ancient windows artifact from the early 90s or the late 80s when cmd files really were programs and that should be updated for modern usage. i can't be the first person that's run into this.
i don't know enough about other file systems to comment.
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