| you be first, i be second... |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|20h:06m:00s:00f] |
Hi! If you came stumbling here from nanjamonja.com out of hasty recommendations from some dolled-out waloli fool holding a couple of abused EPROM-socketed NES carts in The Tank a day ago, welcome to my blog! Sorry the /nsf/ directory is SOOOOOO horribly outdated; a lot of its material doesn't reflect my newer work nor matured abilities anymore. Actually, I've been long meaning to revise the whole site in general! This will be remedied soon, I promise!
Anyway, I had some emails from a couple of cool folks who were wondering what I played in my set. Here it is!:
- ub1P☆ib2P
- Kirakira Commandi
(from ゼロの使い魔 ファンタジーフォース 2nd Impact) - 夏祭り (edo castle crashers mix)
(from squarewave surfers -memory of 8bit-, set with prozax on hyper-shred guitar) - きみはホエホエむすめ (8ddictive 8p 8bit 8x)
(theme song remix from the Famicom game "Idol Hakkenden", original by KYOHEI SADA & TOMOO PSG MISATO) - お兄ちゃんだからいいよ～♪ (Hardcore TERRORISTS live ver.)
- Virtuous View (I♡II arrange)
(remix of a track from ゼロの使い魔 ファンタジーフォース 2nd Impact, set also with prozax on guitar)
Also, as a present, here's two of the songs from my set (mega-thanx to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mandichan for the super-awesome チビテクちゃん character design!):
Chibi-Tech - ub1P☆ib2P
Chibi-Tech - Virtuous View (I♡II arrange)
Hope all you guys had fun with all the performers's sets! Also sorry if you had to put up with my horrible bronchitis fits! |
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| tell me what's the most ideal EQUIP for some moé-tal kombat |
[Feb. 8th, 2009|16h:00m:00s:00f] |
I'm NYC-bound at the end of this month! If you're going to be around the Manhattan area at February 28th, make sure to come by The Tank in the evening and check out this month's PULSEWAVE for some lovely chiptune fury from Anamanaguchi, Starscream, Saskrotch, and my own set!
noteNdo and VBLANK will be supplying some HAWT glitchy visual fun, so there's no excuse to spend your Saturday night freezing over elsewhere! Maybe I'll even slip in something for some MAJOR BRAIN BUFFER OVERFLOW... who knows!?
In any case, please check out the flyer here, exquisitely pix'd out by minusbaby:
 It's cold outside!
We're warm inside!
At PULSEWAVE We dance all sides!
ANAMANAGUCHI make us jump to the right!
CHIBI-TECH make us boogie boogie boogie!
SASKROTCH make us bump bump bump!
STARSCREAM make us swish to the left!
We face forward!
NOTENDO and VBLANK wow our eyes!
Meet us at THE TANK, February 28th at 9:00pm!
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Saturday, February 28th 2008
Doors at 9:00pm Show at 9:30
@ The Tank
354 W. 45th Street (between 8th and 9th Aves)
BY SUBWAY
A, C, E, N, Q, R, W, 1, 2, 3, B, D, F, V, S, or 7 to 42nd Street
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As a passing note, there will be some rather major things coming up hopefully within the next coming months. I'll just leave it at that for now. EXCITING TIMES! |
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| before the world of blue robot protagonists, two young girls magically roamed the pixelated skies... |
[Nov. 6th, 2008|06h:47m:00s:00f] |
 Yes, the date with the aggressive yet demure noble lady continues! Only this time... her silent & calculating accomplice with distinctive glasses rides along to help readily keep treacherous foes and crazy familiar dogs in check!
Within the depths of Marvelous Entertainment's newest Zero no Tsukaima PS2 ADV game in the series, "Maigo no Period to Ikusen no Symphony," marks the return of the tsundere shooting game! Its sequel, "Fantasy Force: 2nd Impact" now takes form in a top-down 2D vertical shooter form. Perhaps the most notable addition is that Tabitha now accompanies Louise in a simultaneous 2-player shotfest!
And yes... just like the previous Fantasy Force, the "8-bit" music makes a return once again! My chiptune technique had refined itself ever since, so I vowed to outdo the previous venture -- both quality-wise & quantity-wise. With the addition of symphonic passages and much more overdriven rawkouts, hopefully you'll enjoy the soundtrack's more intense pace!
Although this is just a small role I contributed for the whole game package meant for diehard Zero no Tsukaima fanatics, I've dedicated a lot more time and heart into the 8-bit PSG soundtrack than ever. Hopefully this can be enjoyed by as much fans of the much-lauded "retro" audiovisual aesthetic as possible. After all, blue heroic robots can't always hoard the torch all day!!!
Anyway, here's the backstory of the ADV game itself (shamelessly taken from Play-Asia with quick corrections LOLOL THASH RITE THE POWER OF AN INTERNET!):
 Louise and her gang accepted a request from Queen Henrietta to exorcise the spirits hidden within a prestigious library. Due to the delicate nature of the books and the prospects of an adventure, the gang agreed to intervene.
The gang knew that they were going to encounter spirits, but they never thought they would encounter a large amount of unfinished magical books.
Intending to give themselves an ending, the spirits of these volumes seeked the dormant power within Louise. Upon her entry, the proud but shy girl has her heart taken -- split into small pieces and seeped into the books. To rescue his friend and summoner, Saito has to enlist the help of his classmates and enter the world of these texts.
THA' TSUNDEREBOMB BABY:
Title: ゼロの使い魔 迷子の終止符（ピリオド）と幾千の交響曲（シンフォニー）
Maker: Marvelous Entertainment
Platform: PlayStation 2
Genre: Tsundere ADV
Release Date: November 6, 2008
Price (Limited Edition): 9429yen*
Price (Standard Edition): 7329yen
CERO Rating: B (12 & up)
* = As like previously, only the limited edition has the Bonus material, which includes the minigame 「ルイズ・フランソワーズ・ル・ブラン・ド・ラ・ヴァリエールのツンデレレッスン」(Louise Françoise de la Bamue le Blanc de la Vallière no Tsundere Lesson), and of course the STG game 「ファンタジーフォース 2nd Impact」.
Although my announcement is already late, reserving also nets you a "Costume complete ＆ Set Material" artbook, as well as bonus telephone cards depending on which storefront in Japan you purchase from.
P.S. I recently did an interview with Denpa no Sekai -- in which I touch on quite a lot regarding the chiptune scene. Please check it out! Hopefully you'll get a good kick out of my little ravings and self-conceived debates between different styles! In fact, please check out his entire site -- you might learn a thing or two on a kickin-rad yet still misunderstood genre of music! |
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| most epic soundtrack of the year |
[Oct. 4th, 2008|00h:35m:00s:00f] |
<tumult> mmm burrito
<chibitech> ohhhh man.... do you have a 2sf player?
<tumult> what is 2sf
<chibitech> ds music container format
<tumult> oh, no
<tumult> i didn't even know it was rippable now
<chibitech> lol the soundtrack to sonic chronicles
<chibitech> holy shit
<tumult> uh oh
<chibitech> it has to be heard to be believed
<chibitech> let's just say having a "famous film composer" (who probably flaunts his gigastudio symphony hardwarez like it's bling) do a DS soundtrack is bound for [some very interesting material]
<tumult> oh god
<chibitech> i'll render some for you real quick
<tumult> is it entirely streaming?
<chibitech> only some of them
<chibitech> the gamut though is sequenced
<tumult> haha excellent
[...]
<chibitech> the sad thing about this is that tim follin actually praises the guy "for his meticulous attention to detail"
<chibitech> i don't know what the hell he was smoking :'(
<tumult> dollar bills
[...]
<chibitech> currently uploading, didn't bother to normalize volumes or even finish rendering most of them (i only did like 1-2 minute excerpts of all the songs)
<chibitech> but it should be enough to get my point accross
<chibitech> across too
<tumult> excellent
<chibitech> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-qjT9Cb10g - here's a trailer while you're waiting, notice how the pace of this SOOO THEMATIC soundtrack uhhhh.... takes its time
<chibitech> also, it does not resemble the actual soundtrack
<tumult> HAHA this trailer
<tumult> SO FUCKING BAD
<chibitech> http://www.nanjamonja.com/muzak/the_most_brilliant_sonic_soundtrack_ever.zip
[link deprecated, go here for individual mp3 downloads instead. -ed]
<chibitech> good examples are [central city], [kron colony], and the you_win/you_lose strm stings
<chibitech> er victory*
<chibitech> and the main_theme is classe too
<tumult> sega has no quality control
<tumult> they shelled out for this guy and he blows now
<tumult> and they didn't want to pay someone else to do it
<chibitech> also the stuff that ARE streamed are just generic techno hits probably done with garageband / apple loops or acid
<tumult> this is fucking insane
<tumult> boy and his blob quality
<chibitech> HAHAHAHAHA
<tumult> this bass sample is completely out of tune
<tumult> this can't possibly be the same guy who did sonic r
<tumult> those songs had insanely complicated songwriting
<tumult> this guy can't even use more than 3 chords
<chibitech> i love how the victory sting uses that one "yaaaaaay!" sound bit that's featured in countless commercials
<tumult> HAHA i knew exactly what that sample was as soon as you described, then i played it and yep
<tumult> are you sure this is playing back right
<tumult> it sounds like it's broken or something
<tumult> like in [metropolis ground zero] it sounds like the wrong drum samples are triggering
<chibitech> nah, it really does sound like that
<tumult> what the fuck???
<chibitech> i thought that too!
<chibitech> if you watch the gameplay vids in youtube, it really is the same thing
<tumult> so ridiculously bad
<chibitech> the mod_shrine guys are already up at arms to try personally mailing the dude how much the soundtrack [is very representative of quality]
<tumult> haha
<chibitech> [rj.txt]
<tumult> apparently he's going to be at magfest, hahahahaaa
<chibitech> ohhh maaaan
<chibitech> everyone ought to commemorate him for revolutionizing sonic music all over again |
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| ebisumaru frantically pounds his tsuzumi as goemon barges in the gates... |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|01h:56m:00s:00f] |
 Not long after the galaxy had faced a terrible war of epic proportions, our hero grazes thru a barrage of bullets as the final boss explodes into oblivion. The celebration of victory is short-lived however, as the numerous abrasions from all the buzzed bullets sends our hero's craft in an uncontrollable divebomb towards Earth! Hours later with ruins smoldering off the distance, our hero brushes sand off and wakes up to the beach shorelines of what appears to be... feudal Japan! Trying to regain all senses, our hero suddenly sees a young figure with spiky blue hair and an oversized smoking pipe run with determined fervor as he showers coins to the nearby peasants of the shoreline town -- along with an older & chubbier figure draped in a purple costume whimsically prancing about as he pounds a tsuzumi with reckless abandon!
"To Akihabar~~~~ er, EDO CASTLE!!!" can be heard as the duo makes their way towards the mainland...
Yup! This is the other contribution! Just released today in Japan, "squarewave surfers ~ memory of 8bit" is a chiptune arrangement collection of popular American & Japanese summer-time songs! From hally's charismatic vocoder lyrical flows -- to Bud Melvin's sweet dobro slides over pulsewaves -- to K->'s lovely mixture of Gameboys & Hatsune Miku (lol rival idol singer lol) -- to gwEm's Atari ST grooves in the city, this album is sure to put some blippy zest in your next beach party!
Also, my track is a NES arrangement of Jitterin' Jinn's famous summer festival song "Natsu Matsuri", YAY! When presented with the project, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I wonder what would it sound like if the late-80s Ganbare Goemon programmers at KONAMI decided to kidnap the MOSAIC.WAV crew and force them to jam a skankin-hillbilly denpa song full of the series' signature synthetic tsuzumi doinks... with some wailing pulsewave guitar wankery added to boot!?" Hopefully this would be the result!
ANYWAY PASS THA' TEQUILA MAH MANG:Release: RSCG1043 "squarewave surfers ~ memory of 8bit"
Label: GemmatikaRecords / VORC Records
Product Cooperation: Voice & Heart / D4 Enterprise
Release date: September 3, 2008
Price: 1,905 yen (excl. tax)
Artists featured:Site: http://www.vorcrecords.com/squarewave_surfers/
( epilogue of this summer chapter ) |
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| buzzing thru asteroid fields with an arsenal of FM |
[Aug. 16th, 2008|02h:35m:00s:00f] |
 Yo! If in the slight chance you're going to be at Comiket, make sure to drop by the 4th floor in the West hall commercial area, and visit D4 at booth 334. They'll be selling "PSYVARIAR: THE MIX", featuring remixes of Tetsuro Sato's music from both SUCCESS' PSYVARIAR and PSYVARIAR2. The remixes are done by some pretty well-known videogame musicians and chiptune artists alike, so the album should cater to all ends of videogaming music tastes!
Also yes, I contributed a remix to the album too. Mine is the FM synthesis progwank overload one with heavy influences to Tecnosoft's Thunderforce series for the Genesis/MegaDrive, so look out for that 80s seering guitar cheez!
It might be a bit too late now relative to my announcement, but exclusive to the pre-sale at comiket are limited edition T-shirts (100 of them to be exact), so keep an eye out for that too!
BUZZ POINTS!:Release: EMCA0004 "PSYVARIAR 'THE MIX'"
Artists featured: Zinger & Bacter, TECHNOuchi, Manabu Namiki, Loser Kashiwagi, Saitone, Ryu Umemoto, Naoto Ishikawa, Keishi Yonao, Blasterhead, hally, chibi-tech, WASi303 (Tetsuro Sato), Dong, Kplecraft
Price: 2800Yen
Early release: August 15 @ Comic Market 74, located at 4th floor West Hall 334 D4 Enterprise
General release: August 18 in the following shops:Site: http://www.amusement-center.com/project/emusic/records/emca0004.html
Whoohoo! With all said & done, I should announce that I'm now a free agent once more! Considering it's a far-fetched attempt for freelance sound designers, I'm actively looking for full-time opportunities. Now as much as I love making audio for hardcore & niche genres that ask for the intricate details I try to accomplish, I'm also seriously looking to dive into the casual / flash gaming market. So if you're an upcoming indie developer or even an established company looking to hire an in-house audio designer for your products of the masses (or if you know a developer / company looking for someone to spark some fun in said products!), please don't hesitate to give "chibitech" an offer at his gmail, and hopefully we'll brew up something from there! Yes, I can & will travel if needed.
There's more fun stuff to be announced soon! For now, just grab yourself your bathing suit, a NES hooked up to your portable boombox, relax with the sunset over the ocean horizon, and STAY TSUN... |
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| "rollin' with tha' fatty-electro-retro-exo-skeletal team from tha' get-go" |
[Feb. 6th, 2008|21h:58m:00s:00f] |
I know I'm a little bit late on this announcement, but if you guys are going to be in the San Francisco area this coming Thursday night, make sure to drop by Mighty, as the local Bay Area chiptune crew is brewing up a big performance to kick off Micromusic SF HQ!
From x|k's ever-amazing MidiNES explorations, to Tumult's monome twists, to Starpause's GP2X Piggy trax-snax, it'll be one insane night of pure chip wuv.
Hell, if not for the crazy-cool guest stars nullsleep & Trash80, you should definitely come over at least for A_Rival's set. His NES + rap combination, as cheesy as you might assume at first, is in reality PURE AWESOMENESS. Screw all that vox-whore / clan-nads / sounds-like-megaman / do-the-mario tripe: THIS, LADIES & GENTLEMEN, IS KICKASS NES MUSIC.
(... as well as possibly the first nerdrap that isn't insulting to the parent genre it tries to parody, since his lyrical flows are... you know, unlike most other nerdrap out there... actually really damn good.)
Anyway, here's the hookup, cycle-flyer by starpause (LOL THANX MANG FOR THAT COSPLAY SNAP orz):
 micromusic.net is a long time watering hole for party people gone hacker, turning consumer electronics into machines of rowdy sound. the recently founded san francisco headquarters will follow in fine tradition, bringing you a night of electro, techno and hip hop produced with classic game consoles & amplified on a righteous soundsystem. move your body or geek on gear, either way see you there!
PERFORMANCES BY:
LOW-TECH VISUALS BY: |
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| no it's not "oniichan's paradise 12-sister hanya~n" like i promised earlier... |
[Oct. 1st, 2007|02h:28m:00s:00f] |
... but it IS a shooter game! TSUNDERE SHOOTING!
 It's a Playstation 2 game by Marvelous Entertainment, based on the light novel & anime series featuring everyone's favorite short-fused magic student Louise, & her familiar Saito! Yes, somehow I'm still pinching myself if this is really just a wild dream or if I really did involve myself with such a cool project...
The main game itself, called "Zero no Tsukaima: Muma ga Tsumugu Yokaze no Gensoukyoku", is a visual novel with a twist: Alongside your standard path-choosing options that determine the storyline's fate, a "tsundere meter" also determines if Louise will either raise living hell to Saito at certain events like she's known for, or start to show her reluctant affection for Saito... ehhhh, like she's known for. ;)
My part doesn't involve the main game though. Rather, the limited edition box version of the game will include a bonus game called "Zero no Tsukaima: Fantasy Force", featuring an old-school-style 2D horizontal shoot-em-up -- complete with tile-based pixel graphics & sprites, layered parallax scrolling, and bleepy sound FX to boot! The gameplay itself is a tribute to shooting games of the era -- such as R-Type, Cotton, Magical Chase, and Parodius. So if you've played those titles before, this game will definitely feel right at home.
Needless to say, my involvement is the bonus game's soundtrack... which is all original RP2A03 NES-based PSG music. Whee! :D
My style for this soundtrack strays from the old gurgling high-speed arpeggio crap & vocal technique waxing that I'm usually known for, as I tried approaching this soundtrack with more of a vintage Konami-esque feel. I touched on a whole barrage of styles -- ranging from chip-pop happiness (stage 1's music), to J-rock flavor (OP theme), to jazzy verves, to clashes of baroque/ska/denpa-kei/hip-hop, to even power-chord wank sessions that grace the most frantic boss fights. All and all, this was a very fun project to do!
Now, unless the rest of the world is willing to give visual novels a fighting chance, this probably won't venture outside Japan anytime soon. But if you're a fan of old-skool 2D shooters, charge-up shots that literally threaten you, NES-based PSG music, or characters with ideal zettai ryouiki, please enjoy this in any way you can when it's released this November 29th before all the fat otaku scoop up every limited edition copy and post their bounty on something like DigitalPress or SealedGameHeaven or any place where the buttertrolls just love to churn their so-called investments! We just can't let those collector fatties hog all the fun!
Title: ゼロの使い魔 夢魔が紡ぐ夜風の幻想曲
Genre: "Tsun-Dere" ADV (Visual Novel)
Platform: Playstation 2
Release Date: November 29, 2007
Price (Limited Edition): 9429 yen*
Price (Standard Edition): 7329 yen
CERO Rating: B (12 & up)
* - Keep in mind that the bonus game 「ゼロの使い魔 ファンタジーフォース」 is only available in the limited edition box... |
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| lol rival idol singer lol |
[Sep. 30th, 2007|23h:46m:00s:00f] |
OK, I know how everyone out there is starting to jump on the Hatsune Miku bandwagon and flood Youtube & Niconico Video full of remixes and quick MIDI conversions possibly swiped off vgmusic.com or sites like that. Believe me, I simply couldn't ignore it either! And neither could Tibitekuchan -- as she started to give off a high and terrorizingly loud ear-piercing 12.5% duty cycle pulsewave scream off her RP2A03 picopico sound source whenever I clicked on each video & mp3 link relating to everyone's new favorite idol-singer-for-hire!
But! Tibitekuchan was willing to make amends with her new rival. After all, she was overtly curious about Mikuchan's "Frequency-domain Singing Articulation Splicing and Shaping Synthesis" technology -- which although made her feel queasy about her own 1983-vintage "Programmable Sound Generator Synthesis" vocal cords becoming a bit long in the tooth, reassured her that she still has enormous room to improve upon. She even picked out her favorite song out of the whole pack! I can only wonder why she was so fixated with this one!
So yeah, Tibitekuchan started to socialize with Mikuchan, attempting to resolve their differences. Even though she still displayed her subtle form of jealousy (something I've noticed when I was forced to confinscate a pixelated Contra spread gun labeled "property of jake kaufman & your mom" that Tibitekuchan tried to hide behind her back), they did share one thing in common: their love of Yamaha DX100 keytars! After finally finding a mutual bond together, Tibitekuchan gave me the go-ahead and let me spend some studio-time with Mikuchan.
And after much painful stints with the user interface, these were the quick auditions:
As I started getting the hang of the otherwise horrible excuse of a piano roll step-sequencer (jeez and all this time i kept complaining about nerdtracker), Mikuchan was ready to start reciting the whole steamy intermission part of the oniichan song. I gave her my standing ovation as she started delivering each oscar-winning phrase of the intermission -- followed by an innocent giggle.
But suddenly, I would hear an extremely irritated square wail somehow resembling the words "No bitch that's MY LINE!" as I soon witnessed Tibitekuchan engage in a violent catfight with Mikuchan. With Tibitekuchan eventually asphyxiating Mikuchan with a Famicom controller's cord wrapped around her neck, tears started rolling down Tibitekuchan's cheeks as she yelled out that I wasn't giving her enough attention nor promotion.
As I attempted to step in and quell the situation at hand, Tibitekuchan only cried more as she choked Mikuchan by pulling the cords tighter. With Mikuchan gasping for every bit of air she could get, she rasped that perhaps I should make a screen capture video for Tibitekuchan. Knowing that Mikuchan always basked in the glory of that luxury with her countless youtube & nico videos, I felt that it was finally time for me to promote Tibitekuchan once again.
So, I'm now obligated to post this long lost arrangement, and a video capture of NT2 delivering Tibitekuchan's latest vocal folly:
However, Mikuchan still wanted to finish up the arrangement of the oniichan song. Not wanting to hurt Tibitekuchan's feelings once more, I felt that this task could be handed over to someone else more competent with the vocal intonation program.*
* - honestly now the reason i'm backing down on this is because i'm waaaaaaay too preoccupied with job searching at the moment. the market sucks orz
So as a request, I would love to see someone arrange this song with Hatsune Miku. Here's the old NSF (please try your best to mute the vocal parts... orz ), the scenario script in all its mistranslated glory, and the strangely-fitting yet uber-fun song lyrics (please thank G___orz of AVSS for them. ;) )
So yeah, Tibitekuchan and Mikuchan eventually called a truce, the gangs returned to class and became honor students, and everyone lived happily ever after. THE END. |
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| dude thats some dOPE pHREAKY cRAZEE mOFOZ youse got there dawg |
[Aug. 13th, 2007|20h:11m:00s:00f] |
Whee! Yeah it's unusual for me to plug like this, but Blasterhead's newest single release definitely deserves some mention...:
 Everyone's favorite Gameboy chiptuner & TB-303 tweaker Blasterhead (music), visual novel/anime theme singer extraordinaire Rita (vocals), and famous musician/lyricist Aki Hata (Lyrics), got together and made a really catchy and kickass old-skool happy hardcore tune, "Into the Sky"!
Not only that, the single also features cool remixes from familiar Japanese hardcore artists such as Groovetune, MUZIK SERVANT, PSYBA, WARST, Buzzmasta, and m1dy!
also i made a remix too using strictly only a NES' 2A03 APU sound source yay!!!
The single will be sold at Comiket 72 this Friday. So if you're visiting the Tokyo Big Sight at that time, make sure you drop by their booth over at East Hall, 45a!!! Also, bonus points for me if you can speak to them about "MTV Pimp my Ride" and "Moetan" in the same conversation! :DDDD
OFFICIAL STATS COMMENCE!:Release: BHCD09 "into the sky/Blasterhead feat. Rita"
Price: 2000Yen
Early release: August 17 @ Comic Market 72, located at East Hall 45a Blasterhead
General release: August 20 in the following shops:- GUHROOVY
- L.P.U.STORE
- Toranoana
- Melon Books
- Messe Sanoh
- White Canvas
- Yamagiwa Soft
- Akibaoo~
Site: http://www.blasterhead.com/ |
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| ERIC PERSING'S ABOUT TO MAKE YOU HIS BITCH. |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|22h:03m:00s:00f] |
| [ | Tags | | | boredom, music | ] |
| [ | noise |
| | Random Wesley Willis tracks, featuring his Technics KN2000. | ] |
OK, I have a confession to make.
I have a dirty little secret that I've never shared to anyone. But now, I feel it's time for me to fess up.
No, it's not my tendency to roll down my Prelude's windows at every GaNgStA ThUg cruising along with their "pimped-out" ride sporting the MOST EXXXTREME scraping ground-effects, and blast out the most cutesy-coated & insane denpa-kei material I can find. No, it's not my relentless pursuit for calculating the ideal absolute territory ratio (after all, it's a significant importance when you bust some MAD B-BOY SKILLZ with a skirt, over-kneesocks, and a keytar!). And no, it's not my habit of overengineering my horrible side jokes whenever I write my blog posts!
What it really is... is that I have a guilty pleasure for cheesy synthesizer factory demos. Preferrably the late 80s / early 90s era of consumer synths.
...
OK, fine! Mostly Casiotone demos. There, I said it!!! (つд⊂)ｴｰﾝ
But seriously, though! The synthesizer demo genre is sooo underrated! For all the restrictive boundaries that the programmers had to overcome in these consumer synths (such as the lack of key velocity & pitch modulation), a lot of these synth demos are meticulously crafted to gather your attention and invite you to play around with the synthesizer's features! As an indirect result, you got to admit that these synths feature the most cheesy yet fondly memoriable melodies that would permanently engrave on your big shiny forehead because YOU KNOW YOU MISS THEM!
After all, I surely do! When I was younger, I would visit my neighbor's house just to play around with her Casio MT-540 keyboard. It would be much to her annoyance, as I would visit her house every day just to listen to the fantastically-programmed 4-minute-long demo arrangement of Shakatak's "Night Birds" on loop for hours on end until she finally threw me out by dusk.
A few years later, I would learn with dismay that she had long sold the keyboard away to someone. After many years of feeling painfully alone from missing that Casiotone, I was VERY delighted to find out that Synthmania had recorded the demo tune of a Casio CSM-1 module, which had the same exact synthesis engine & tune as the MT-540!
HOORAY! Time to set this baby on loop once again!
With all things considered, I feel bad for all the lil' nameless Japanese kitties who compose and arrange such wonderful music in said restrictive boundaries, which unfortunately then get dismissed as "crappy toy sounds" just because the synths reside on a lone corner of Radio Shack. (Which, come on now... I bet even YOU were drawn in to the store by the blaring demo tunes, and became immediately impressed by the Casio Chord auto-accompaniment features! I know I was whenever my family drove us to the mall!)
In the end, you just can't help but feel sorry for these synth programmers and all the undeserving flak they receive!
Well, OK... unless you're SOUND DESIGN MASTER EXTRAORDINAIRE ERIC PERSING!!!, for which you always have to brand your name on the credits whenever your trademark Los AngelesLinear Arithmetic synthesis patches grace every AIRline commercial, your next sappy new age track, half the "ST-01:" sample library of Karsten Obarski's Soundtracker (the other half consisting of sampled Yamaha DX100 patches), or even the latest Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z episode*, until every patch gets so cliché and sickening that your yandere instincts go in full overload every time you hear that gawdforsaken drum loop, which then you finally go off into a murderous rampage with an axe, stalking every man whose name just happens to go by SOUND DESIGN MASTER EXTRAORDINAIRE ERIC PERSING!!!
* = Yes, ep. 4 used "DigitalNativeDance". Jebus, that patch just never dies!
Which, speaking of him, even professional keyboards and rackmount synths sported their own factory ROM demo sequences! Synth manufacturers had magically discovered the wonders of multitimbrality by the late 80s, and took full advantage of this. The Roland U-110 rackmount is a prime example of a saving grace: Although this synth is usually labeled as the classic archetype of an uninspiring PCM rompler, The inclusion of T-Jazz #1 and Swing High did a fantastic job of showcasing the samples. Even Cloud 9, for all its polyphony-pushing flaws, at least gave the illusion that the rompler had pad-esque warmth inside. I believe NoOne Home was even arranged in a tracker MOD file by someone!
Hell, even the sickingly-popular Korg M1 workstation had a few factory demo sequences as well, complete with a common melodic motif! Screw the belief that "Universe" was responsible for it all -- "Ms. Muro" was most likely the one that whored out millions of M1 keyboards to every studio out there!
Still, the influence that synthesizer demos had in many young musicians traces to the humble consumer keyboard! Now, for you 20-something-year-old American musicians: I'm willing to bet that your first MIDI keyboard that got you started was a Yamaha PSR-500, bought by your parents in 1991-92 from Costco after much begging and pleading. You may laugh about it now with your fancy-scwancy Korg Tritons / Roland Fantoms / Yamaha Motifs / blablabla, but admit it: You hung out with the demo model tucked in the electronics corner of Costco all day as your parents shopped around for their bulk groceries.
Even though it was yet another rompler (I finally popped the case open recently, and let me tell you: IT'S FULL OF DEAD AIR), It was one of the first consumer keyboards that actually had a decent instrument set (record-skratching on a key? HOW CAN THIS BE!? OH MY GOD IT EVEN COUNTS FROM 1 THRU 4 TOO!!!), and its much-desired features (such as key velocity & pitch-bending) even made it more tempting. The price was fairly cheap, but still professional-looking enough that it could serve as your main sequencing workhorse!
However, the ultimate selling points for me (and i'm sure for other kids) were the demo songs. The jazz and orchestrated demos were utterly amazing for the time -- almost unheard of in a consumer keyboard.
Somehow, I should make a "Yamaha PSR-500 Bought-from-Costco Registry" website; I'm VERY sure that many striving & professional musicians out there my age have at least owned this synth at one point of their early-to-mid-90s life, bought by their parents no less! Don't believe me? Guess who I found out that owned one...:
<virt> i begged my parents for a psr-500 too, also bought from costco
<virt> that was what really got me heavily into sequencing!
<virt> its power jack stopped working though and i got tired of spending $10 on batteries every 4 hours, so i begged for an alesis qs7 to replace it
<virt> please tell me you have the psr-500 demo re......yep, you do. i'm going to fucking arrange that
<virt> 4... 3... 2.... 1 virt, I eagerly await the result with drooling fervor.
That being said, I'm now embarking on a long, perhaps futile mission:
I'm going to find every single different Casio Tonebank and Yamaha Portatone / Portasound keyboard model, and record all of their demo songs for everyone to finally enjoy and appreciate! I can't die with a truly fulfilling life until I see sold-out concerts held using only auto-accompaniment chords (Wesley Willis tried his dear best to carry the torch, after all!), or see every thizzed-faced hyphy crunkhead out there ghost-ridin' tha' whip while gettin' dumb with a Casio factory demo tune blaring out of their 12" Jensen subs!
...
OK, scratch that. Maybe it wouldn't be a good thought after all. But still! It's a perfectly valid excuse for a guilty pleasure! Keep in mind you're reading the blog of someone who enjoys listening to CANYON.MID in an OPL2 FM synth card. WITH TRACK 16 UNCORRECTED OF THAT F# DRONE. :)
But anyway... Here is the main reason why I took the time to write this entry. I'm currently looking for the following demonstrations:
- Casio CT-670 (This consumer synth had a REALLY NICE, well-programmed arrangement of Paula Abdul's "The Way that you Love Me"! I used to own one (also from Costco!), and I miss the demo song so dearly :( )
(UPDATE: found it yayayayayay jebus this is the greatest song ever please thank Nikki for this FANTASTIC REVELATION OH GOD SO HAPPY YAAAYYAYASLEHRCUWECROWUEHRCISEDNC$*&CY$WE$C
- Casio CT-700 (I also remember fiddling around with this synth whenever our family went to Montgomery Ward, and recall its fantastic R&B ballad with a grandiose piano melody.)
- Casio CTK-1000 (I remember this keyboard had multiple demos, actually! I recently learned it was Casio's last foray into custom synthesis programming, before they threw in the towel in favor for only PCM romplers because Yamaha decided to sue them THOSE BLUBBERY FM SYNTHESIS JERKS PHASE DISTORTION FOREVER >:( )
(UPDATE: Got one, and recorded them for your enjoyment. Apparently Edward Alstrom is responsible for most of the instrument programming & original sequences in certain Casio synth models! ALL YOU CASIOTONE "EXPERIMENTAL" CIRCUIT-BENDING WANKS OUGHT TO APOLOGIZE TO HIM FOR ABUSING HIS VERY BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS)
- Or, any Casiotone/Tonebank or Yamaha Portatone/Portasound demo that you may have recorded, actually!
If only synth makers nowadays looked back into the golden age of cheesy fusion-esque factory demonstration songs... <3 |
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| pop a thizz up with ya' sista tis' so hyphy |
[Aug. 3rd, 2006|00h:47m:00s:00f] |
| [ | Tags | | | music | ] |
| [ | noise |
| | Roland D50 "Soundtrack" patch, played in various triads. | ] |
I'm a horrible human being.
Gawd, what the hell was I thinking when I made this?!?
「お兄ちゃんだからいいよ〜♪」And a rather useless script, if you're feeling daring to sing along!:
- terrorists.txt (Danger!: inexcusable mistakes and broken Japanese galore!)
Wow. I think it's safe to say that this is the worst song I've ever composed in my entire life.
BUT! It was also the most fun to create too, given the various stressful distractions and roadblocks I had to overcome. ;D
( The story on my lil' hectic adventure of creating this NES music mess )
Let's just say that after this song, and having to manage a hectic concert by the next few days, I was NOT a healthy person at all. FAMICOMPO NEARLY CLAIMED MY LIFE. I'm a survivor, & the story has been told.
But alas! It's finally over with, and we can forget that this song ever happened.
NOW, TIME FOR GITTIN' HYPHY
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| it's that time of the season again, folks! |
[Jul. 16th, 2006|23h:53m:00s:00f] |
It's Famicompo Mini season!
http://midr2.under.jp/compo/vol3/
I absolutely love this year's annual 8-bit NES music competition. Even though there's quite a few entries that use extra sound chips (which stray away from the pure NES tones and noises -- although the originals section is almost completely devoid of extra soundchips... YAY!), there's no denying that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears have been poured in the making of a lot of these tunes!
There's a lot more entries (54 in all, up by 11 from last year!), as the newfound presence of FamiTracker has attracted a plethora of fresh competitors to join the fight (mostly european, specifically the nation of Sweden! ;D ). Let's hope this competition becomes internationally known in every corner!
The voting system has changed quite a bit since last year. You now get to vote on four categories: Technique, Sense, Idea, and Lovin'. The higher the number, the better.
"Technique" is pretty much the ranking of technical complexity of the tune. Did it sound like there was a lot of audio engineering prowess wrenched in? Did the author make good use of echoing or audio trickery? Or was the tune just slapped together with flat instruments that weren't fiddled into more desireable settings?
"Sense" is how artistic and well-thought out the music itself is. Are the melodies catchy and interesting enough that you'll constantly itch to hum it happily afterwards? Or was music theory thrown out of the window into utter chaos? For covers, this can also mean how well the melodies made their point across (which doesn't always have to be faithful to the original song!).
"Idea" is how inventive the song is. Did it break new ground unexpectedly as far as NES music goes? Or was it just simply a rehashed style that everyone else has heard before?
"Lovin'" is your own subjective slant to the tune. Regardless of how well-made or badly composed a song is, does it still appeal to your love of the subject matter? Or do you hate the song simply because it's a genre you don't like (even if the song itself was beautifully composed)? Especially for covers, this can mean that you possibly love the song "just because it's THAT favorite song of yours".
P.S. to hopefully spread the love to NES music to everyone (and to ease the pain of having to preemptively render the songs for your portable music player of choice), I compiled all of them into 96kbps mono MP3 files (which the quality should be relatively comparable to a 192kbps stereo file).
Feel free to get them here, I'm certain my bandwidth will bear it for the time being! LISTEN TO THEM. NOW. SO MY EFFORTS ARE MADE WORTHWHILE! :D
(Update 8/4/2006: Author's names are now included in the ID3 tags)
They were all rendered in the May 5 2006 version of NSFplug, using a "New Famicom" setting with the quality settings to its max. All of them are normalized, although there WILL be some variance of volume (since I didn't bother to use a compressor/limiter). Most of the looped songs fade around 4 to 5 minutes, since I'm into that kind of timeframe. :)
Feel free to comment about the music here, but please don't mention any artists' names! This is meant to be an anonymous competition, so I don't know who's entries they are, I don't know what MY entries were, and YOU will certainly not know yet, either (nor will you try to guess)! :)
In any case, have fun listening and voting! |
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| because ANYTHING can have its posers |
[Jun. 19th, 2006|09h:00m:00s:00f] |
| [ | Tags | | | boredom | ] |
| [ | noise |
| | my alarm, playing some underground hip-hop off college radio | ] |
Yesterday, I went to go buy some food from KFC for my siblings (yes they insist on poor health decisions). I was served by your typical young worker, caucasian, clean-cut, glasses donned, looking fashionable, very polite... obviously just wanting to make a buck.
I soon notice he had many scratches and scrawls on his right arm, then took notice on... gee wow, a stitched scar running so-called "down the road" on his left arm!
Heh, whiney emo guy I see? Well, I guess I'm feeling a bit sorry for him myself...
... until I noticed that his scar was actually drawn in elaborately. With A RED-COLORED MARKER.
It took me a whole lot of will-power to not snicker, gag, and blurt out "ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" for the next 2 minutes until I finally reached my car. |
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| a belated lil' xmas gift to share |
[Dec. 31st, 2005|01h:10m:00s:00f] |
"We Should Have A Dream" (2.0MB, MP3, 2:56)
Made for my friend BouKiChi. :)
Completely done in a VST-replicated YM-2151 4-operator OPM FM synthesis engine (the same used in the Sharp X68000 computer). I recently had the itch to jump out of PSG synthesis for a while, and twiddle around with something more complex (and sometimes insanely chaotic... ;D )
It's my first time dealing with FM parameters, so the instrumentation is a bit lacking. The 4-op OPM engine can do a whole lot better than what I ended up twisting it around as. (two of the patches were default settings, whee!)
Also, due to the nature of VST's, the song goes beyond the X68000's 8-channel limits in some areas. It will have to be consolidated if I were to recreate this in a real environment. But hey, I tried limiting myself! (i.e. no post-processing plugins -- we wouldn't want any of that frivolous tripe anyway)
Whew! Hope everyone had a good 2005... :) |
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