625 Reply by roboctopus

(155 replies, posted in General Discussion)

While I really enjoy listening to MOD/XM, I haven't felt the urge to try my hand at it.  Call it fetishism if you want, but I do like composing on a Game Boy that I can hold and carry around.  And from a personal musical standpoint, I really enjoy the (in some cases severe) limitations imposed on me by "real" hardware. (I say "real" because I also enjoy software that imposes these limitations, like famitracker, etc.)  The limitations force me to employ workarounds that often lead to results that can often be rather interesting.

Of course, I could impose those same limitations on myself with MOD/XM, but I'd totally cheat.

All that being said, I did recently download Milky Tracker...

I also think for newer people to the genre, a Game Boy or NES is easier to identify with.

Go to forum: General Discussion

626 Reply by roboctopus

(204 replies, posted in Collaborations)

Hey guys, the challenge has been a bit slow lately.  sad

I started a collaboration group over at noise channel and started a different sort of collaboration.  I think some of you might be interested in it.  It's kind of silly...

http://www.noisechannel.org/groups/coll … the-chain/

Go to forum: Collaborations

627 Reply by roboctopus

(177 replies, posted in General Discussion)

nickmaynard wrote:

http://nicksgameboycamera.tumblr.com/ - a blog specifically for my gameboy camera pictures / animation.

That gameboy camera animation was rad!

Go to forum: General Discussion

628 Reply by roboctopus

(98 replies, posted in General Discussion)

nitro2k01 wrote:

roboctopus, here's a short summary. This site was created as a spinoff from 8bc in early 2010 mainly due to certain issues with the owner of 8bc, Jose Torres. I won't go into too much detail on that but it involved a stolen hardware and software design for the cartridges he was selling, a line of new products that turned out to be vaporware and lost money for a small number of people. And then to top it off, he banned or even deleted the user accounts of people who criticized him for it with explanation "my site, my rules".

And secondly, there's a more general attitude of mocking 8bc for being filled with noobs who, for example, don't know how to plug in an audio cable between a Gameboy and soundcard line input. And there's a lot of truth to this, unfortunately. After that question was asked a few times, someone wrote a sarcastically easy "spoon feeding" guide to recording. I'll see if I can find it once the site comes back up.

Yikes!  That's some serious stuff.  I joined 8bc in 2006 and really liked it, then took a few years off from chip to finish grad school/write folk music about drugs, and when I got back into chip last year, suddenly there was a new site and some weird vibes, and I never could quite figure out what was up, which is why I say it is off-putting to an outsider.  I really like a lot of the community, but sometimes it feels like navigating an invisible maze or some shit.  I can see where you're coming from though.

However, you lost me with the derision of noobs.  I'm of the mindset that you should nod and be polite and wait for them to de-noob.  Today's noob could be tomorrow's churlish veteran, after all!  wink

Go to forum: General Discussion

629 Reply by roboctopus

(98 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Zef wrote:

Unfortunately it seems that in any conversation or thread the negative points stand out to people the most. Many people on the noisechannel thread defended chipmusic, but it was only mention snobbiness that was carried back here by 4mat, Just like many people only brought the negative experiences they've had at chipmusic over to the thread on noisechannel, while many good experiences were overshadowed.

I'm acting on behalf of Noisechannel here and officially extending the olive branch. Can't we all just get along?

I feel like even my original statement was misconstrued, as I was referring to the anti-8bc sentiment that I see on here from time to time, which is confusing to an outsider.  I mean, I came here from 8bc looking for a little more in-depth conversation, but when you show up and find people deriding a site you really like, it is a bit off-putting. 

However, it has been explained to me that there's some sort of bad blood, so I kind of understand the sentiment a bit now.  I like a lot about this site, but there's clearly a history that I don't understand.

Go to forum: General Discussion

630 Reply by roboctopus

(10 replies, posted in Trading Post)

I gave my old EMS cart to my brother-in-law.  He replaced the battery, but he never uses it.  I could give you his address in Boston and you could rough him up a bit...

Go to forum: Trading Post

631 Reply by roboctopus

(204 replies, posted in Collaborations)

I'm intrigued.  I'm a nut for indie games.

Go to forum: Collaborations

632 Reply by roboctopus

(204 replies, posted in Collaborations)

Wow!  I really like the art style.  It looks like it has an almost painting or hand-made like feel.  Or something.

Is that a robot?!?

Let me know if you need an alpha tester!

Go to forum: Collaborations

633 Reply by roboctopus

(98 replies, posted in General Discussion)

4mat wrote:

oh no we're snobby!

Not all of you, but there's definitely a lot of negativity on this site.

[edit: I do want to note that I like this site and there are a lot of nice people here, but some threads really... go downhill.]

Go to forum: General Discussion

634 Reply by roboctopus

(35 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Have you tried using other gameboys?  I have two.  One sounds pretty terrible--the wave channel sounds awful, samples are unrecognizable, and there's a lot of noise overall.  The other sounds pretty nice to me, not too much noise, wave and samples sound pretty good.  Neither is pro-sounded.  It could be an extra noisy DMG.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

635 Reply by roboctopus

(204 replies, posted in Collaborations)

8-Bit-Rex wrote:

Both comps will start again this coming monday.  BE PREARED.

Sorry I've been slacking a bit...game development is going GREAT though.  I'll let you guys know when I set up screenshots/video/website.  It's going to knock your socks off!

Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!  Teaser screenshots!

Go to forum: Collaborations

636 Reply by roboctopus

(204 replies, posted in Collaborations)

Kommisar wrote:

the theme just isn't popular, no matter how you try to describe writing in reverse

I don't really follow song structures anyway.  I just let the song go where it wants, so this challenge was almost too abstract for me.  I thought about it, but couldn't muster up any inspiration.  This was less of a technical challenge to me and more like a academic one or something, haha.  Like, "figure out what conventional structure to follow and do it backwards."

Plus, I was on a farm all weekend away from my computer...

I am still interested in future challenges, though.  I definitely like the ones that impose technical constraints though (like the only 16th note challenge).

Go to forum: Collaborations

637 Reply by roboctopus

(2 replies, posted in Constructive Criticism)

Well, on both tunes I kept waiting for a bass line to come in.  So a bass might be nice.  But, hey, I play bass so I'm always waiting for the bass line.

Go to forum: Constructive Criticism

638 Reply by roboctopus

(66 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Wait, no one has mentioned Rainbowdragoneyes.  The Primordial Booze is mind blowing.

Go to forum: General Discussion

639 Reply by roboctopus

(19 replies, posted in Audio Production)

An easy thing to do if you have a bunch of finished, mixed down tracks (say for an EP or something) is to import all the tracks into your DAW in one project/file/whatever so you can listen to them all side-by-side and even out the volume between them by ear.

Go to forum: Audio Production

640 Reply by roboctopus

(66 replies, posted in General Discussion)

This Archers of Loaf cover

Go to forum: General Discussion