social critics are unpopular, by definition. they seek to hold up a mirror, not to win popularity contests. they reject admiration and revel in pariah status. they're often killed by angry mobs, die penniless and dejected or even take their own lives.

i know exactly what i'm doing. you just can't see beyond the flaws in the human model of homo economicus.

inriℵ6 & 7 are now officially completed and compiled.

inriℵ6:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj-2-box-set

inriℵ7:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/period-22-rabit-is-wolf-jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj-2

publishing la la la la (inri062)

inri043 completed.

--

this was meant to be the last rabit is wolf track, but instead morphed into the first trivial group song. this single explores the track from various angles.

sean wanted a song that just went "lalalala". i think his intent was to try and simplify my thought process, because what i'd been doing sounded more like FTIeikdTY7isdD7E5dk!. he was just kind of like "how about.....lalalala.".

it got a bit of an eye roll from me, as you could imagine, but i played with it. he wasn't really that excited about what i did, and it just didn't move forward. there were no further sessions, as he became interested in working with a more conventional early 00s "emotional hardcore" (think at the drive in) style guitarist and i got very involved in a relationship.

despite his initial suggestion, i'd consider the result to clearly be of my own doing. so, i took the core of what i did and warped it into the first track on the reflections symphony. this track has lain dormant since, comfortably completed.

it's now 2015, and i'm completing my discography. that puts this track in a blurry space: it was completed, but not as initially intended. while there may have been a vocal part recorded, i don't have it any more. yet, the intention is clear enough - and the manipulation would have been thick enough - that i do not consider it to be invasive to complete it on my own.

i'm releasing it as rabit because it's collaborative in the abstract, despite sean not actually existing in the track. this track was written in late 2002 and completed over april and may, 2015. final completion date is may 11, 2015. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - guitar, effects, bass, drum programming, soundscaping, sound design, sampling, vocals, vocoders, digital wave editing

sean - lyrical concept

released november 15, 2002

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/la-la-la-la

reflections (string orchestra mix)

as mentioned, i was going to do an orchestral mix, but decided against it in favour of a chamber mix. the chamber mix got a bit too big to be a chamber mix, so it's a string orchestra mix.

the major reason i'm uploading this is that the skittered up, glitchy percussion at the end transfers over well to pizzicato strings, creating a rather wonderful mess.

this render is from may 11, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-string-orchestra-mix

crashed early yesterday and slept for over ten hours. at least i'm completely alert, now...

i'm playing with different mix combinations. i've already ruled out an orchestra mix, and i'm both nearing completion and rejection of a "chamber mix", although it's a bit too big of a string section for that. i'm just not convinced this is worthwhile. i'll be deciding soon.

i'm also thinking about an all guitar mix, and may do it live if it sounds good digitally. that's on top of the literal vst mix and an ambient/synth mix.

so, it's going to be between 3 and 5 mixes - and will hopefully be done today.

melt banana is thursday, and i'd like to go, but i'm concerned about the weather overnight and not having anywhere to stay in pontiac. i'll need to look at a number of things. but it's 50/50 right now.

weird day. i was up early, got out to get groceries, took a shower, made some eggs, watched a documentary on the punic wars and...shit, its 6:00....

i'm back to work now. something or other will get done before i sleep. but the day's over before it started, dammit....

reflections (percussion mix)

this is a purely percussive mix, mapping the instruments to things like marimbas and vibraphones and glockenspiels. render from may 9, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-percussion-mix

reflections (homemade percussion mix)

this version is for piano, claps, bowls, pens, tables and some effects. it's mixed to sound like it's in an open room. the idea is to isolate and highlight the strange percussion choices in the original/final mix. so, this isolates the weird percussion in the track. constructed on may 9, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-homemade-percussion-mix

reflections (soundblaster mix)

so, the soundblaster version of this track is done, and uploaded both to thru (47) and refractions (46). this completes the first disc of 47, which is likely to be finished completely tomorrow.

i've got some extra ideas for remixes for 46, but it shouldn't be a really lengthy job.

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed and re-rendered over may, 2015. this render is from may 9, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-4


https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-completed-soundblaster-mix

yeah. i cut my nightly back up partition from 50 gb to 10 - i'll just have to be more focused about it - and shifted the 40 to the discography partition. that let me shift the aleph isos over to the discography partition, which gave me 20 gb back on my iso backup partition. now, i've got enough for about 10 more isos there, and plenty of extra space in the discography for alephs and wave files. by the time i get that done, my pile of work to get through should fall down to about 50 gb, which will let me swap my work partition [a full 250 gb drive] for the iso partition [a 135 gb partition]. if there's only 50 left, the 135 will be plenty of space to work with - and it will put the other drive aside for eventual storage as iso backups. that won't be until probably the end of the summer, but i need to be thinking about it. and i think this configuration will probably last me until christmas, if i'm still alive by then. maybe ssds will go down by then or hit a sale point...

if you're wondering how i'm using 750 gb, of course i'm not. it's just a question of partitioning things and being sure i don't hit a brick wall. the way things are set up gives me two drives to work with; the plan was three, and that's what i'm musing about fixing.

first drive:
system: 50 gb. just program files.
part 2: 50 gb. installation files. there's a script; i could shrink it, but there's not a lot of space, and it wouldn't be useful, due to where it is, physically.
part 3: 50 gb. virtual machines. i'm actually a heavy vm user, because my image is so minimal. and, there's backups and shit hidden in there. linux. i'm a half credit short of a computer science degree, you know, so it's useful for programming. cracks. suspected spyware. having it in it's own partition (and scripted) makes it easier to not lose in a reinstall.
part 4: 100 gb. temp. it's about half full, of install files and other shit. having sufficient temp space is incredibly useful.

drive one has been pretty much static for ten years and is unlikely to change. pretty much ever.

second drive:
music partition: 250 gb. currently, there's about 100 gb of unfinished files and 30 gb of samples for vst instruments. previously, there was almost 200 gb of unfinished files. so, the need for this much space decreases as i get through the work. this particular drive will get shelved in time, but i like the idea of a dedicated drive for music work. i certainly don't want it on my system drive...

third drive:
part1: 10gb. backup. just whatever i'm working on.
part2: 95 gb. discography. mp3s, flacs, waves & isos for compilations of them. it's for easy access, but it's necessary. this will probably eventually need it's own drive, but i can't see it ever getting over 250 so that drive is probably this one.
part3: 145 gb. iso backups. this is the completed work - all source material, mixes, programs, etc.

so, there's lots of space there, it's just not really usable. like i say: i built this for four drives. and i guess it means i'm eventually buying two, not one. just not right now...

well, i got the cymbals/bowl notated, anyways. needed a break there to clear my head of the syncopation, and come back fresh. next up needs to be the pens/toms. i'm thinking about adding snares. and there's a few guitar parts to get in there, too. i'm going to need to eat first, though.

i'm running out of hard drive space. on the one hand, that was never supposed to happen. i built this thing ten years ago with 4x250 gb drives, giving me a tb of storage. on the other hand, i lost a drive last year [it was a traumatic experience; i lost months and ended up having to get a bus pirate to parallel in to flash the bios...], which has me down 250 gb, to 750 gb.

nowadays, i'll never find a 250 gb drive that isn't refurbished. which seems nuts. but t approaches infinity whether we like it or not. and, while i might be able to get a deal on something, buying used hard drives is like buying used underwear - even if it seems alright, you never really know what's in there. rootkits. who knows. so, it seems like i'm looking at adding another at least 500 gb. but i didn't budget for this (although i should have - and i almost bought a drive instead of the blu-ray burner). i'm tempted, but it's going to hurt my finances.

i should be able to move things around for the night. in the long run, i'm going to actually take one of these out completely, for data redundancy. they're all almost ten years old. i take good care of my shit, but with hard drives it's not if, but when. i figure 250 gb should be sufficient to hold all the source files of everything from 1996-2015. so, i'll just take it out and put it in the box. i'll then swap it out for a newer drive...

i've got my pile of work down low enough that i should be able to get it into one of the smaller partitions, now. i can then drop all those isos on to the disc i wanted to put away. that should hold me, but not for very long.

i've been holding out for an ssd, but they're still kind of pricey, and a lot smaller. even a 250 gb drive is pushing $200. tb hdds are around $60. and, in 20 years, i've only ever had one die. it's just that i know i'm eventually going to land an ssd, probably several, so it doesn't seem like the wisest purchase.

on top of that, it's really just a convenience issue. i could wipe the isos. i've got them backed up several places.

but, i'm thinking about it. i'll do some shopping at some point over the weekend. and carefully look at the budget.

it shouldn't slow me down, though - not really, at least.

i've been holding off on this because i was hoping to fit period 2 on to one dvd, but this isn't going to be possible. i'd have had to have truncated to do it in the best scenario; instead, i'm going to be inclusive over three discs. what i had previously posted as the rabit is wolf disc will be filled out and converted to disc two, and the third will be ftaa, comps and the first trivial group eps (up to may, 2004, which is the ftaa completion date and the completion of the last period 2 material).

it's a combination of the box sets for deny everything & jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj, minus the wave which fits better on 2.2.

when period 2 is done [within a few weeks...], i'll have this up as a 3xdvd and 1xbd.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/period-21-deny-everything-jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

note to self: writing syncopated cymbal parts in 48/32 is challenging. it's almost like i'm going to need a math degree or something to do this.

the backbeat is in patterns of sixteen but is a dotted sixteenth note, which means i need to be thinking of ways to weave the offbeats in at a 64th note quantize level due to the factorization, but also that everything is staggered with ties and dots. if one sixteenth of the bar is measured in terms of a dotted sixteenth (that is three 32nds), then a 32nd of the bar is half that, which is three 64ths. i may find myself looking for 128ths (this program stops at 64ths).

this is probably the reason i played the percussion in the original recording - using bowls, pens, tables and other objects i had around. it's not that i need the quick succession, it's getting the space between the notes right. and i'm currently not sure i'm going to be able to divide the various subsets (or bars) into small enough pieces to get the syncopation my brain is giving me.

in some sense, what 48/32 really indicates is a tempo change (represented by the dot), and i suppose i could sit down and work that out, then rewrite it in a more "normal" time. that would convert my dotted sixteenth notes into quarter notes and give me my "128th" and also "256th" back. but, it would mean shifting the math to the already written sections. i'm only going to do that if i really can't get small enough notes...

also, i don't know how or why i have 300 subscribers, but it seems as though i do. the only benefit of this that i can comprehend is that it might rank my comments higher, thereby increasing traffic.

otherwise? sorry, google. subscribers are useless...

i mean, i uploaded a video the other day, and i've got 8 hits on it. hooray for 300 subscribers....

don't get me wrong: i like the idea of having 300 interested people. it's just that, strangely, subscribing to a music channel doesn't seem to indicate any interest in the music uploaded to it.

i think most of them liked something i had to say, or thought i was cyute or something.

in fact, i'm not even posting it to the main profile! i scoff at the general direction of your subscrrrribers! i'll wait until i get to 25K...

[i'm actually well over 25K. but i deleted around 5000 hits since i posted 20K. unnecessary uploads...]

46 and 47 aren't done yet, but i've got them up public.

i'm currently filling in the midi sections for 46 to better represent the completed track. that will render into the end slot of 47 disc 1. i'll then remix that for modern vsti, which will slot into the end of 47 disc 2. i'm going to do at least an ambient mix of 46 as well, which should appear on 48 with the other ambient mixes. i'll have to decide if it's done at that point or not.

this is 46:


this is 47:

why the computer isn't behaving like it should, i don’t know...

maybe i should just play it?

it's gotta be a quantization thing, it's just that i don't think the version of cubase i'm using can count this precisely. oddly, this windows 95 program i'm still using - noteworthy composer - doesn't have any problem with it.

i'll figure something out. but if it doesn't come down to finding the right setting to tweak, it may have to be pretty odd.

maybe i should register after almost twenty years?

nah....

it was shareware, dammit! i doubt a crack even exists....

honestly: it's way better than finale or sibelius or the rest. just a very simple, clean ui. it can't do anything fancy. but it's keyboard oriented, rather than mouse oriented, so it's much faster for geeks. when they sat down to write those other programs, they seemed to assume they were writing them for balding music teachers that used aol and needed simple point and click uis...

ah, aol. i miss it, sometimes.

ironically, i may have to get one of the newer scorewriters on here for this, if i can't get cubase to read it. i *think* some of the newer ones take vstis.

reflections (original soundblaster mix)

this is the 2003 version, which is special due to the greater focus in the mix on the skittery choir parts.

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed repeatedly and re-rendered repeatedly over may, 2015. this render from may 7, 2015.

reflections (punk sonatina mix)

this is the original program, for piano, synth and strings. it has a more minimal feel.

written and recorded in early 2003. this render is from 2003.

reflections (windows mix)

the windows xp software synth rendered this rather differently than the old soundblaster, which just gives it a different flavour. of specific note is the guitar section at the end, which comes out sounding bowed.

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed repeatedly and re-rendered repeatedly over may, 2015. this render from may 7, 2015.

13/116 = 11%.

that's how many front page views have officially counted over the last two days. the other 89% did not meet some kind of youtube condition. i'm able to get more reliable stats on this video, because the count is under 300 - so it increments immediately, and then the scripts "confirm" the hits after.

i'm not here to argue about conditions. it's quite obvious that these hits "should count". i'm here to point out how grossly inaccurate the view counts really are.

i've been through this in this space before: i don't care about hit counts. youtube is not a marketplace, it's an advertising area. i seek to maximize sales, not to correctly enumerate advertising reach.

it's just that it would help if i could correctly enumerate advertising reach.

89% is not a minor error to be written off or otherwise ignored. the stats are completely useless.

and, i still don't know why ~60,000 views on this page disappear and reappear - although i do expect them to come back any day, now. before i get to 300,000, anyways, so i can get the snapshot. thanks.

i'm not the one going on about the sanctity of the metrics. i'm just pointing out that they're basically worthless.