1,489 Reply by Lazerbeat

(168 replies, posted in Past Events)

Come to Tokyo, hear it up close and personal

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1,490 Reply by Lazerbeat

(14 replies, posted in Trading Post)

damn,  I thought I had a bigger synth dick for a second...

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1,491 Reply by Lazerbeat

(42 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Yeah, I say go for it, would be nice to do something in London other than get mugged between agonizing over which trendy upmarket cafe I go to and not being able to find any record stores.

Totally seriously though, start small, build a following, be regular, make a nice near little site, promote, allow for making a loss and don't be disappointed with only a few people showing up in the early stages. London has no shortage of talent.

Go for is man.

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1,492 Reply by Lazerbeat

(62 replies, posted in Trading Post)

80 bucks for a cz 1000 is a bargain, someone should snap this up.

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1,493 Reply by Lazerbeat

(14 replies, posted in Trading Post)

Pre Shruthi I would have snapped this up, you have the best color too! I the mark 2 usually has II next to the CS01 logo on the left an the resonance is on a slider rather than a switch.

Go to forum: Trading Post

1,494 Reply by Lazerbeat

(168 replies, posted in Past Events)

dosPrompt wrote:

We got along okay without a phone for the most part. We did use emails and that novel invention "the pay phone" while we were there, and made plans in advance.

I would add to that that you guys are seasoned travelers who have been to Tokyo a couple of times before who went as a group. A phone could really be super useful for a lot of people. Also is this the train deal you used?

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/

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1,495 Reply by Lazerbeat

(168 replies, posted in Past Events)

What have you done for me lately?

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1,496 Reply by Lazerbeat

(168 replies, posted in Past Events)

A little FAQ on a few topics pertinents to people travelling to Japan. If you want an idea of the yen prices in your local currency, cheack xe.com

- Accomodation -

Q - Where can I stay?

There are a couple of options people used last year,

Cheaper - Dorm style, Y2200 upwards, Kaosan Ninja, 30 minutes and 1 train from Blip

Mid range - Hotel style, Y8000 upward (single room) Y10,000 upwards (double room) Ikubukuro Super Hotel, 25 minutes and 2 trains from Blip.


- Communications -

Q - Where can I rent a sim card?

After you leave the airport, renting a sim card is next to impossible, phone shops won't sell or rent you one, probably best to either rent a phone or card before you arrive and arrange to pick it up at the airport, or have it delivered to your hotel.  Last year a couple of people used J Corp with good results. Googling "japan phone rental" will yield a whole bunch more.

Q - Do I really need a cell phone? Can't I just use WiFi?

Japan doesn't have free WiFi, almost everything is locked into subscription services, your chances of finding an open WiFi signal are very very small. Trust me, get a phone or a sim card sorted out, not having one will be a giant pain.


- Cost of Living -

Q - How much is a day in Japan likely to cost?

Japan really isnt as expensive as you might think, there are thousands of places where you can eat for Y500 to Y1000, a couple of sample costs,

Can of Coke - Y120
Pack of Smokes - Y440
Half size sandwich at Subway - Y500 or less
Bowl of Ramen - Y800 ish
2 or 3 station Train Trip In central Tokyo - Y130
10 station tain trip in central Toyko - Y210
Travel from Airport to central Tokyo - Y2000ish one way

So if you budget 3000 yen for food, 1000 yen for travel per day you should be easily safe. Factor in your hotel costs and your to and from the airport costs, you should have a decent idea what staying in Tokyo is likely to cost.

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1,497 Reply by Lazerbeat

(26 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

I will try and dig out my flashcard this week and report.

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1,498 Reply by Lazerbeat

(26 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

too right

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1,499 Reply by Lazerbeat

(26 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

mk wrote:

If any of the TKO crew gets this, give me a bell.. would like to update smile

Me too. one of my feature requests made it in!

Edit, i might be able to do this on my flash cart

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

1,500 Reply by Lazerbeat

(30 replies, posted in General Discussion)

dosPrompt wrote:

How are you marking the occasion of blip?

Giant hissy fit, same as always.

Go to forum: General Discussion

1,501 Reply by Lazerbeat

(22 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I think Chipmusic as a market is a bit of a suckers bet. Pretty much any indie music scene the way you make money of it is the same

- Be really good at what you do
- Give away a lot of free music to get your name out and encourage people to come to your shows / lust after your merch
- Have options for people to buy music if the want to in various formats
- Gig as often as possible
- Sell T-Shirts, mugs, any merch you can think of
- License/write music for games, commercials, TV shows, Podcast themes
- Cross your fingers and hope you get some luck.

If you are in any kind of indie music for anything other than love and friendship it is a fairly hard road.

I am based in Tokyo and there are I think 2 regular chip shows here with numerous other chip friendly shows, a couple of chip friendly music fairs and more talented people than you could shake a stick at, there was also a Blip festival here. I think pretty much everyone does chipmusic as a labor of love, with a small number of folk (YMCK) doing it as a full time job and several others doing jobs in the music / game music industry. Then you have Hip Tanaka who is a special case elder god of chip music who change your world live.

e.s.c. wrote:

if youre in it for the money, chipmusic is the wrong scene, if youre in it for friends & drinking stories on the other hand....

I was in it for groupies and hand jobs but I have been sorely disappointed so far.

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1,502 Reply by Lazerbeat

(4 replies, posted in Releases)

I have been waiting for this since I first heard about it. Super excited!

Edit - Forgive the hamfisted tautological sentence I have left in for posterity...

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1,503 Reply by Lazerbeat

(664 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)

Yep!

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1,504 Reply by Lazerbeat

(664 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)

I am having trouble in linux, I get this error on startup

~ $ klystrack
[FATAL] Mix_OpenAudio failed:

Would love any advice, all other audio apps run fine

Go to forum: Software & Plug-ins