Well, I may as well update this blog somehow.
I've been giving it some thought the past two days. I'm considering removing some of my tracks from my next album and releasing them separately, and there are two big reasons for this:
1. Inconsistent atmosphere. I think one problem with my prior albums is that each track tended to have rather sudden changes of mood. In the case of Cyborg, some tracks are just too cheery sounding relative to the other tracks, which tend to sound more like darksynth artist Perturbator. 2. Waning audience. I realize it's been a few months since I updated my Bandcamp catalog, and I feel I need filler material between now and when Cyborg is finally released. Among the tracks that would be released separate from Cyborg would be my track "Electric Dreams", which will likely be great news for those who liked it but can't download the final version, yet. I think I officially finished mastering that track as of yesterday, so expect some sort of compensation for your patience in the near future. Thank you for reading. This question has been bugging me for a bit, sadly. On one hand, Indiegogo is a crowdfunding site, and I appear to have received more contributions in terms of total gain that way than through album sales in prior campaigns. On the other, however, the lack of funds has also made me contemplate whether I even need some of the things that would be spent on for the purpose of "Cyborg" (i.e. additional synthesizers). Combine this with my tendency to finish one track at a time instead of all at once. This is a relatively short blog, partially because I'm hoping people will contribute with their own thoughts. Let me know in the comments whether you would prefer to spend on a crowdfunding campaign or a preorder. In the meantime, I uploaded this preview track from Cyborg, though I regret to say that the audio is not the final version, nor is the artwork in the video. Again, let me know in the comments whether to crowdfund or to enable preorders.
Well, I've been giving it some thought about my next album since my last blog post in two ways.
First, I'm hoping there will be enough popularity for my next album to have two editions: a download version, and a CD version. Expect two different artists for each edition, if this is the case. The other aspect, however, is the following I have. It appears there's still a bit of trouble getting the word out about my work. I will be planning on resuming email newsletters in the near future, but this also depends on the followers I have already. Therefore, everyone who reads this, I'm asking you to do what you can. Share my pages wherever you feel it's fit. Watch my videos on YouTube. Even sharing just my Bandcamp page could suffice. Links to my most active places are below, those of you who can't readily access them right now. Soundcloud Tumblr YouTube Bandcamp Thank you for reading, and again, expect an email update in the near future. First of all, I'm extremely ashamed of myself for another hiatus. Hopefully, I'll speed up soon since I've started to resume music projects.
Some of you may have been around long enough to remember that I ran two Indiegogo campaigns in the past for my '80s-style albums. One of these campaigns is the sole reason a limited-edition CD of one of the albums, Prison of the Mind, even exists. That being said, I'm feeling tempted to run a third Indiegogo campaign because there are some costly things I'll need if I'm going to have a good sound in my music, not only in terms of what music synthesizers I have, but also in terms of how to process and master them to sound more professional. I feel it necessary to run this by my listeners to see their own thoughts about the subject and whether this would be worth it. It will be my most costly project so far at nearly $2,000, just so everyone knows. You can add comments at the bottom of this entry. Thank you all for reading, and I look forward to your thoughts on the subject.First of all, I'm extremely ashamed of myself for another hiatus. Hopefully, I'll speed up soon since I've started to resume music projects. Some of you may have been around long enough to remember that I ran two Indiegogo campaigns in the past for my '80s-style albums. One of these campaigns is the sole reason a limited-edition CD of one of the albums, Prison of the Mind, even exists. That being said, I'm feeling tempted to run a third Indiegogo campaign because there are some costly things I'll need if I'm going to have a good sound in my music, not only in terms of what music synthesizers I have, but also in terms of how to process and master them to sound more professional. I feel it necessary to run this by my listeners to see their own thoughts about the subject and whether this would be worth it. It will be my most costly project so far at nearly $2,000, just so everyone knows. You can add comments at the bottom of this entry. Thank you all for reading, and I look forward to your thoughts on the subject. First of all, apologies for this hiatus for writing music. Fortunately, now that I've officially finished my end of the project (at least for now), I think I can give some explanations: one big reason why I haven't been writing music lately is because I've been involved with music in other ways. This post is arguably an add-on to my review of OMI's Universe of Sounds CD's. A preview video I made is here, followed by some other sounds played by JMPSynth. So, at this point, you're probably wondering: why am I persisting with an old blog post of mine? Well, I am acquainted with Douglas Morton of Q-Up-Arts, a company formerly known as the famous OMI that partnered with Emu Systems for their Emulator II and Emax I sound libraries, and upon our discussions, we agreed it would be fit to port these Emulator II sound banks to a more modern format. A few days ago I finished exporting all of the samples in WAV format from the first two of three Universe of Sounds CD's (the third we likely won't have the legal rights for, as they're owned by the seemingly-dead Northstar), and the rest will be left up to Doug. If you're reading this, it was a pleasure helping out with this task!
Needless to say to any other vintage synthesizer geeks, expect something good in the future beyond the mere lite edition of these libraries (known as Master Studio Collection)! I apologize for another delay; on top of personal matters not worth delving into, I was also partially with making arrangements in anticipation of my TV soundtrack position. That's not the reason I write this, however. For those of you who follow me for my retro music, there's been an update at last: New Retro Wave's second volume of their '80s Dream Compilation is officially released as of yesterday! My own contribution, "The New Communism", requires getting the entire album, whether paid for or for free, as it's a bonus track. I also recommend you listen to the other submissions by the others to this volume.
Thank you for reading. Be sure to support this on Steam Greenlight. I'm liking what I've seen of this game so far, and not just because I'm fascinated by TRON-like atmospheres.
Another sample library review of mine. This review is based on another popular library, but this one was one of the icons of the '80s: OMI Universe of Sounds.
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