17 Topic by sugar sk*-*lls

(4 replies, posted in Past Events)

If you happen to be in music city tonight swing by Betty's. I'll be rocking psychedelic beats and vocals in support of Pittsburgh, PA's excellent experimental tinged electronic pop group The Van Allen Belt. Fellow nashvillians DEDSA specialize in electro post rock majesty. I cannot sing the praises of hobbledeions enough, the absolute best instrumental beat music in the region, to see him manage a sampler/ sequencer and 64th high hat notes effortlessly is magic. 9:30pm, $5 donation suggested for touring band.

https://sugarskulls.bandcamp.com
https://m.soundcloud.com/hobbledeions
http://dedsa.squarespace.com
http://thevanallenbelt.com

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18 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(14 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Nice post. Looking forward to exploring more.

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19 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(23 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

TylerBarnes wrote:

Yes it can be done on both MidiNES and Fami....

By loading in values to $4011 you can slightly affect the triangles volume. It will only dip to about 50% but it's still there to use.

Heres some audio I made for a demonstration: https://app.box.com/s/ccrfrww92fai4dreadwi4g2wh4pfq3ln

I just wrote in the max value of $FF and the minimum of $00 for a sort of side chain effect.

For any MML users:
It would be written out like

E y$4011,$FF c8 y$4011,$00 w8 y$4011,$FF w8 y$4011,$00 w8

(c8 and w8 are my kick and wait commands)


Awesome! Thanks for the info!

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20 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(23 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

TylerBarnes wrote:
sugar sk*-*lls wrote:

plus volume control for the triangle channel would be sweeet.

TylerBarnes wrote:

You can even write to $4011 directly.


I don't know what those words mean together. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction? Plz?

Looks like that is a famitracker option. Midines too?

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21 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(23 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

I got a midines, recently. It does exactly what it's told. No more, no less. Herr prof is right, it's best to think of it as a synth module. Per midi composition, I really enjoy writing on a piano roll, plus file management is super easy. A big part of the equation is the sequencer used with it. If one has a sequencer they like, the midines is a great tool. Nothing but praise from me. The nes needs to be modded though, the hum is kinda a creativity killer, plus volume control for the triangle channel would be sweeet.

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22 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

You could use a combination of vocoder and bit crusher. Audacity is a free program with both plugins. The simplest work flow would be to take a vocal sample of speech as a wav. file., reverse it, then assign random notes to it through a vocoder plug in. Once you have a suitable robot esque inflection, apply the bitcrusher to give it a lo bit sound quality. You could then apply random splices manually and reorder the snippets of audio to give it an even more broken feel.

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23 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(84 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I don't think it will disappear. The timbre of the sounds of chip music is the only unifying element between all the music that falls under the category of chip music. The hardware  will definitely disappear and change. As long as the timbre is culturally relevant, people will use the sounds in their compositions. Nostalgia was never a point of interest for myself. I like the sounds, the idiom of composition unique to the hardware, and the pragmatism of minimal gear for shows.

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24 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(41 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Played a show with 15 people in attendance a few years back at an uber dive and he was in attendance, someone told me and I was like meh. Again meh, no disrespect sure he's a nice enough guy. Meh. Wait never mind that was the guy from yuck! Disregard

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25 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(8 replies, posted in Trading Post)

P'md

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26 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(15 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I just finished replaying final fantasy 3. There is definitely some guitar in that. Shadows theme is acoustic guitar chords  if I recall correctly. Also I think mystic quest had some guitar. I'll check some of the other carts I've got. I remember from way way back in the day playing something that had that twangy thing you are talking about.

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27 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(18 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Depends, most people learn music and instruments by learning songs they like. Maybe you just aim to get one or two aspects of the song programmed, ie maybe just bass line and drums or chords and beat or just melody. Trying to fully realize a multi tracked rock song with the limitations of the dmg is absurd, it is a different medium and idiom. The point is to learn the program right? Dive in.

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28 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(17 replies, posted in General Discussion)

e.s.c. wrote:

i like the first two albums, but sort of dont listen to them much anymore....
i played a show with this guy Doldrums a few years back who did a split 12" with Portishead that came out that month (late 2009 , called "Chase the Tear").. but since it was in a standard chicago show, there were only like 12 people there (including artists)... it was kind of fun though and after soundcheck Doldrums was was walking around humming the song i soundchecked with

They were the first "electronic" band I really got into as the 90's grunge thing kinda burned out. The third record is worth checking out. I'll admit I thought it was meh when I first heard it. I relistened  a couple years back and it really grew on me, especially after reading about their process of making it. Adrian Utley ( guitar) is just phenomenal. That spy/art trash/jazz/heroin chic thing he's got going is just too cool. So much guitar during that decade was mega meat head or crispy clean, I always favored the cobain, greenwood, moore, etc. school of beautiful twisted melodic noise.

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29 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(56 replies, posted in General Discussion)

chunter wrote:
sugar sk*-*lls wrote:

Gummi Bears, fancy pants, and a vocoder. Plus I got to watch the transformers cartoon movie from the 80's. Don't remember it being an hour long toy commercial...ultra magnus is still kinda cool tho.

Not many toy commercials scream "Oh shit, it's going to ram us!" in the middle.

Wife got me an ironing board style stand and we got some houseware stuff we've been doing without for a few years.

It's pretty much all for the baby from this point on.

Oh yeah, the swear. That's why I had to wait so long to see it again. My mom wasn't happy at the time. I tricked her into renting it for me, didnt go so well when that scene happened. Lolz

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30 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(56 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Gummi Bears, fancy pants, and a vocoder. Plus I got to watch the transformers cartoon movie from the 80's. Don't remember it being an hour long toy commercial...ultra magnus is still kinda cool tho.

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31 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(60 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I'll jump in for a minute only cuz I spent a chunk of change and time studying philosophy. This is a really old argument going way back to Plato. The problem here is that the phrasing is missing qualifiers and results in vague statements.  It is possible to have objective measures that are subjectively created AND subjective measures that are objectively created. You can't make an argument some music is better than another. Better has to refer to a qualifier. You can argue one music is better than another AT something specific. What that specific thing is can be objectively or subjectively described and defined. The scope of this topic goes way beyond what can fit in this format. There have been some eloquent thoughts penned by brilliant thinkers in the topic. I can post some links if anyone is interested. Personally, I think the point is the discussion it  self-music is a communal enterprise, a metaphor for the human condition.

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32 Reply by sugar sk*-*lls

(57 replies, posted in General Discussion)

It really depends. Last year it was 9. Some years it's been 30-40.. Composing from scratch is my favorite, that emotion when a musical notion begins to coalesce into a singular idea is pretty special.as a result I start something new almost daily, a lyric, a beat, a riff, an arrangement idea, etc. It's rare that something comes to me fully formed. As a result, I may spend months or years trying to finish an arrangement or lyric. I've found that the instrument im using to compose on  has a huge impact on how I finish a song. For example, transferring  a guitar riff to nanoloop leads to a very different composition from writing exclusively on guitar, or bass, keyboard, organ, piano, etc.Also starting with a beat vs. a baseline, chords vs. riffs, etc. I have to admit I don't feel a need to finish a song unless it fits in with a specific release or I want to have new material for a show. Having said that, I fall into the camp that says an audience is a vital part of the completion. Live and recorded music have two very different sets of creative issues surrounding them. There are things I've played live I'll never perform again or record and vice versa.

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