I think the kernel and shell metaphor is still a good one. Music/End = Kernel while Tracker/Means to End = Shell

Reallly interesting stuff, thanks for posting! I prefer the non-religious Eno quote tho

Excellent quotes.

Outcome and process as kernel and shell. Interesting.

Yeah man, I love discussing stuff like this. Hope other's have some good stuff to add.

*inhales some herb*
*puff*
Word.
*puff*

word- thanks for the reply! i think that quote is on point and definitely along the lines of what i was thinking.

I dig that. There was another quote Kotaku posted by Brian Eno that reverberates a similar sentiement:

“Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”

yo this will probably be a  tl;dr  post for most people and that is fine- i mostly wanted to write this out so that it was out there and i could stop thinking about writing it out hopefully some on this site will find it at least an interesting read.

this is an abridged excerpt from an essay by one of my heroes, named ahad ha'am (in no way is he related to chip music or music in general- he was a jewish writer and founder of cultural zionism). it is titled "sacred and profane" and is about why the jews have maintained the practice of writing the torah on parchment scrolls rather than ditching the practice and switching to books altogether. in many ways what he writes about the "sacred" nature of the parchment medium is similar to how i feel about the mediums utilized in chip music. anyways yea give it read

"
     Between things sacred and profane there is this difference among others.  In profane matters the instrument derives its worth from the end, and is valued for the most part only in so far as it is a means to that end; and consequently we change instruments as the end demands, and finally, when the end is no longer pursued, the instruments automatically fall into disuse.  But in sacred matters the end invests the instrument with a sanctity of its own.  Consequently there is no changing or varying of the instruments; and when the end has ceased to be pursued, the instrument does not fall out of use, but is directed towards another end.

     In other words: in one case we preserve the shell for the sake of the kernel, and discard the shell when we have eaten the kernel; and in the other case we raise the shell to the dignity of the kernel, and do not rob it of that dignity even if the kernel withers, but make a new kernel for it.

     [...]

     Laugh who will at this zealous regard for the shell: the history of those who have treasured the kernel will give him pause.
"

so in my mind the mediums used in chipmusic are represented by the shell in this analogy, where that which comes after music is created, be it success or something else, is represented by the kernel.. does that make sense??