My latest EP is finally available for preorder from Future 80s!
Well, felt it best to update this blog again, this time, with another YouTube video in anticipation of "An Alien World" being released on Future 80s this Friday. While this track will not be included on the EP, that does not mean that it won't be available on Bandcamp later on.
I also have finished my own remix for an upcoming remix album based on the album "Roboblokk" by Blokkmonsta. More details will be made available once I know the remix album is ready. …since I wrote an entry in this blog. While I apologize for not writing here, the good news is that I wasn't completely dead.
First of all, I realize most of this was a few days ago, as opposed to being actual news, but since I chose to save my blog for my review of the Emu Proteus/3 XR at the time... Anyway, first off, a new short from the creator of Lizard Cops is out. This particular animation, which, this time around, has all of the music created by me, is a Sonic The Hedgehog fan video making fun of how dangerous some games are in the context of real life. I also have gotten an interview about my '80s-style material for the recently launched Synthwave Sunday program on Radio Pure Gently. The interview will be part of the second episode, airing at 9 AM EST this coming Sunday. Click here for the replay of the first episode.
In light of some of what will be discussed in the upcoming interview, I also hope to get more on top of my upcoming EP, "An Alien World". Granted, Synthwave Sunday will play one track of mine that was previously not publicized and will be in the album, but I still need to compose two more suitable tracks for the album to be complete. Thankfully, already I'm developing ideas for one of them, but still. Thank you all for reading, and be sure to tune in to Radio Pure Gently on Sunday at 9 AM EST. Here is the URL for the program, in case I am unable to make another blog entry before it airs. http://mixlr.com/radio-pure-gently
First serious attempt at one, that is. The original is by fellow synthwaver Starforce.
Also might host another stream of working on my music in the next few days, though undecided.
Well, first of all, belated Happy New Year to everyone.
I've been spending the past few days making more Kontakt instruments out of the Fairlight Series III samples. Expect the updated YouTube video to be up in a few days. Also going to be busy with a few pieces for others, most notably an offer to remix one track from an album called Roboblokk. Never got serious with remixes until now, so this will prove interesting, at least. For those who haven't checked SoundCloud, lately, I also have a new track:
The track also reached roughly 100 listens in 24 hours, which will likely increase further thanks to it playing a few minutes ago on the internet radio station Project Friday. Thank you everyone for the support!
This will unofficially be part of a new EP, which will likely be sold exclusively by Future 80s, a label that has also been courteous enough to assist me with artwork and advertising. Thank you everyone for reading! Just paid to distribute Cyborg on iTunes and AmazonMP3. In addition, I have finally decided to allow streaming of Cyborg and, at last, Change of Clothes on Spotify. Expect streaming to become available for the albums by Christmas.
In addition, the other day I finally wrote another synthwave piece. Not sharing, yet, though, as it's intended for a new compilation by Wave Runner Records called "Running All Night Volume 1". A rather small update, in retrospect, but at least it proves I'm not dead. As a part-time synthwave musician, it's impossible for me to resist vintage synths and sounds. I recently got addicted to the presets for the Prophet VS, for instance, which I have access to thanks to the Arturia Prophet V.
Sadly, most of my equipment, including the Prophet V, is software-based, and I'm starting to realize that this is the way to go when it comes to lasting a while. Yes, it's nice to have the real deal in your studio or home, but then you have to deal with servicing it every so often, an action which is particularly difficult for products that are no longer supported by their manufacturers. Strangely enough, it's also some of the features that I can find fault with with vintage synthesizers. The past few days, for instance, I've been experimenting with my Roland XV-3080, a product that is currently listed as a legacy product and will be for a few more years, and have come to realize that either its SmartMedia card reader is dead, or both cards I had were. If the former, it wouldn't surprise me: I don't know why Roland wanted this over their own ME memory cards because SmartMedia is extremely sensitive to the slightest dirt and fingerprints. The only comfort I have with this setback is the fact that the Roland XV3080 is like any other hardware synthesizer with MIDI in that you can send SysEx messages to store patches elsewhere, such as a computer, which I guess I'll have to do not only because the User bank has some useable sounds, but also because some of the SRX cards includes patches from the prior SR-JV80 cards, these bonus patches only being accessible through a rare CD instead of being built into the card. Then there's the whole reason why MIDI exists: to make it easier to sequence multiple synthesizers. With the exception of later versions of the Prophet 5, which originally came out in 1978, it perplexes me how and why some nostalgics can work with the synthesizers made before 1983 when later equipment is easier to manage. This is also one of the big things holding me back from acquiring the rare Emulator I: it's one of the only samplers that did not have MIDI because of its release date of 1981, whereas the first MIDI-based keyboards came out two years later. Meanwhile, for software, the only real problem one would have that I can think of, other than possibly losing your license file on your computer, is the fact that everything on a computer is getting updated on a regular basis, which, then again, may not be too big of a deal if you use mostly samplers, as the sounds can be accessed externally and therefore, the samplers themselves usually have alternatives. I apologize to any other nostalgics who read this and took offense to it: I guess one could say that I'm somewhere inbetween the crowds of the past and the present, even if I do lean more toward the former. ...due mostly to personal matters. I also apologize for the delay in putting a review up for another synth like I promised. The reason there has been a delay for this is also that I wish to make a corresponding video for my review, an effort that will take quite a bit of time for the audio recordings alone.
In lighter news, as I just posted on Facebook, Cyborg comes out a week from today. Click here if you wish to listen and preorder! It's half off until the album is officially released. There are also two bonus tracks included, only available if you choose to get the entire album. These two tracks will also only be available on Bandcamp and a possible CD edition: they will not appear on other music stores if I choose to distribute the album to them. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all enjoy what you hear of Cyborg! The hiatus was for various reasons, among them personal issues. This has resulted in a decision to all but abandon Tumblr, for reasons not worth delving into.
Soundtrack work has also been slow due to offline matters. However, as of a few days ago, I have become involved with the Amnesia custom story community again. For the sake of surprises for any gamers who read this, I will just say that I'll be contributing a few pieces to a custom story by the creator of the successful predecessor The Great Work. Rest assured, this time around, I will not register the pieces with YouTube's Content ID system; I've learned that lesson. I also hope to do another synthesizer review in the near future. I just need to find the time to actually write it up. Cyborg will still come out as scheduled, and can now be previewed on the music page of this website as well. Thank you for your patience. |