that leaves me with an ambient mix to complete inri046 and jump into inri048.

upping the vst version of reflections this morning also closed period 2.3. period 2.2 will need a representative from inri048. period 2.4 will be completed within a few weeks.

this connects to inriℵ7.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3JSjmqp0cbvt_-_Lt2CqTm_MuaOwNrgw

reflections (vst guitar mix)

so, i set up the guitar mix over vst with the intent of arranging it and then playing it, but the reality is that the piano part spans seven octaves - meaning i'm going to need at least an eight string guitar, and i don't have access to one. it would defeat the point to put it through a pitch shifter, as a pitch shifter is a synthesizer. i could see myself revisiting this one day if i ever get one of those monster guitars...

as it is, this is going to have to stay like this. i had to mix and match the guitar synths a little as sample-based guitar synths can't hit the higher registers (because no such guitar exists to sample...), but i think it sounds pretty good. so i'm happy with it.

render from may 15, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-vst-guitar-mix

reflections (vst mix)

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed and re-rendered over may, 2015. this render is from may 14, 2015, and was edited mildly on the fade-out on may 15, 2015.

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

publishing thru (inri070)

i've also finished inri047 today, which is a 2xcd compilation of scored electronic music written between 2001-2003 and completed from 2013-2015. this falls outside of my record list enumeration, but it's a substantial release. influences range across the electronic music spectrum from varese to rdj and everything in between - and also to early forms of classical music - but these are all scored pieces, and very much connected to ideas of written music with the notes and the time signatures and the aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....

there's plenty of weird electronic music in my discography, but this is a reprieve from that.

it's arranged in two discs that mirror each other. the first is soundblaster mixes. these mixes sound sort of 8-bit, but they're actually 16-bit; it's next gen 8-bit technology, before the game changed from wavetables to larger sample databases and software synthesizers. disc two rearranges disc one for vst software synths, which gives it a huge facelift in terms of sound quality.

this is pretty much comprehensive in terms of this style, for me. i left to hitch across the country in the spring of 2003; there's very little scored soundcard music in my discography after i came back.

so, this is a musical statement. it's a little weird, but there's a niche audience waiting for it.

===
 
back in 2001, and bleeding into about 2003, i wrote a number of tracks into a scorewriter with the explicit intent of eventually having them performed by live ensembles. at the beginning of 2014, i decided that this wasn't likely to ever actually happen and went about completing the tracks in finalized forms - which happened over 2014 and 2015.

my initial plan for this compilation was to produce a record of midi compositions mapped to modern vst instruments as a "chiptune" (not literally) project, and have it double a record of fully realized versions of the tracks. as i went about completing the project, i began to realize that these vst versions were not sufficiently different enough from the finalized versions to justify a separate album and consequently aborted the project.

however, something that's happened since 2001 is that a more mature market has developed for midi-generated music, largely on the back of the success of the gaming industry. people have nostalgia for the sounds that their childhood gaming consoles made and an interest in listening to original music in the style of the soundtracks to those games.

i need to be clear that these are not gaming soundtracks - they're a mix of various types of classical and jazz, taking in influences from across the musical spectrum but essentially none from gaming. gaming isn't a thing i've ever really done, and the little bit i've done has tended to act as an excuse for listening to music (i had a mild civ2 obsession in early high school).

however, i feel that compiling a record of soundblaster mixes is something that could appeal to a specialized, niche audience and am going to put this record together for those people. i also feel it captures the headspace that i was in at the time. i've decided to mirror this soundblaster disc with the vst disc i was initially contemplating, to demonstrate where the technology has arrived at.

all of these tracks also appear on a set of cross-listed singles, and most of them are sequenced into a record at some point. there's more info on the track pages.

i've included the raw midi files in the download for further listening and modification.

these tracks were written from 2001 until 2003 and in some cases rearranged over the course of 2014 and 2015. all disc 1 tracks rendered through a soundblaster live! wave device that was manufactured c.1999. all disc 2 tracks created in cubase with vst software synthesizer technology. the compilation date is may 14, 2015. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - controller inputs, programming, composition, digital wave editing, effects processing, production

the various rendered electronic orchestras include acoustic bass, synth bass, electric bass, flute, clarinet, brass, trumpet, trombone, tuba, soprano saxophone, orchestra hit, violin, cello, string section (tremolo), drum machine, electronic drum kit, hand drums, finger snaps, nylon guitar, electric guitar (distorted, clean), steel string acoustic guitar, fret noise, sitar, banjo, pc card clavinet, music box, piano, organ, bells, synthesizers, mellotron and choir. 

released april 27, 2003

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/thru

reflections (vst mix)

this is the vst software synth mix that updates the soundfonts.

some time in late 2002, sean sent me a message over msn or icq requesting that we begin a song based on looped birds chirping. i thought his idea was kind of cliched, but i took to working around his suggestions by converting them into something more musically expressive. i didn't want to write a song that literally climaxes around birds chirping, but i was willing to write something tonal that evoked the feeling of birds chirping.

at the time, i had my sister's electronic piano downstairs. she had a miniature grand upstairs. it was initially written on the keyboard with a very strange timing, which the scorewriter had difficulties capturing - partly because i was inconsistent in performing it. the piece was greatly simplified as it was arranged.

however, i believe the piece sat for a long time before the second section was added to it.

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed and re-rendered over may, 2015. this render is from may 14, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-5

yeah. i'm feeling very introverted right now, and focused on the tunes. i think i'm staying in tonight.

that took way longer to write than i expected, but it was an eventual necessity. i'm falling over, but i should hit the stretch with this tomorrow.

i'm looking ahead to the next phase a little, to try and order it and it's very clear where i lost myself. up to the middle of 2003, everything is carefully ordered and meticulously laid out. from 2003 to 2007, all i have is an unordered mess.

but that's why i'm doing this.

as mentioned repeatedly, 46-48 will be done shortly. 46 is the piano piece. 47 and 48 are both 2xcd electronic music compilations. 49 is up.

after 49, i disappeared to bc for a few months.

when i came back, i was pretty shaky. 50 is a short ep of downright disturbing material; i've never released this, and i still find it difficult to listen to. i actually need to conquer this for myself. it won't be altered, except maybe to have an instrumental mix.

51 will need to be put aside momentarily, as it's really the only thing in this batch that is going to need recording attention. it was only a few weeks after i got back from bc that i got thrown out. i guess my stepmother liked it better when i was gone. i ended up staying with sarah for a few weeks and recording with a 4-track for a little while rather than with a computer. one of these tracks, specifically, needs to be completed as the second half of my eighth symphony, but the fact that i have a tape of it indicates that this is the proper place to put it. so, this will collect those cassette demos.

i eventually ended up at my mom's for a few months. 52 is a protest single about afghanistan, whereas 53 is a demo i put together for an art show sarah was doing - and collects material recorded over the second half of 2003.

sarah and i then got a place for a few more months. 54 was put together out of spare parts as a part of a basement record label; it's stuck as my seventh disc, although i'm going to expand it to a double, here. i'm also going to compile an ep of material that was edited at this point, and call it 55.

56 and 57 are going to be related to the sixth symphony, although it's not clear to me yet how. 58 is going to be my still unfinished seventh symphony. it needs vocals and sound design attention. 59 is going to be a slice of matlab generated noise, and probably exist as a standalone for now - when i come back to this and finish it, i will date it to 2016 or 2017. this is not written material, so it would be weird to date it to 2004 or 2005. it's the first time i've come across this issue [my classical guitar project is not possible to finish].

that actually takes me to early 2005, which is when a brick wall hits. i wrote a number of more conventional jazz-pop-punk type pieces over 2004 that i was hoping to get sarah to drum on. sarah had a type of add that made her unable to do anything but dad rock and screamo, which stripped her of any use to me as a musical collaborator. thankfully, i at least have a demo tape of some of these songs - as many have been forgotten. but, it's not dated until 2005, after i'd moved out and moved on. at this point, i was still trying to record material that i'd written as far back as mid 2003. what that means is that there's an entire record - and probably closer to three - that got lost in the shuffle.

worse, it left me with the painful task of trying to artistically document a failed relationship while it was raw. i kept putting it all off to working on something else, then going back to it, then doing something else; it wasn't until mid 2007 that i drew a line in the sand and said "i'm working on material after 2005".

what that leaves me with is a lot of songs written over 2004-2005, essentially none of which have anything close to a proper recording. most of them exist solely in the form of very rough demoes.

i'm thinking i probably want to split this group of demos in half and put the first half into a record dated to very early 2005. the reason is that the period shift in 2005 came with frances the mute, which i found very inspiring. i hadn't heard a solid rock record in a long time at that point. it kicked me into more dynamic, almost metal pieces - which became the proverbs era. this is period 4 and defines my main project from 2005 all the way to 2011, complete with long periods of inactivity and some depression over an inability to find a drummer. so, i've walked you through basically all of period 3, here. it's not clear how this will be numbered.

2005 also needs to find space for a throatmotor demo that i wrote, a couple of compilations and the eventual trivial group double lp, which will be made up of symphonies 5,6,7 and 8 - once 7 is finished and 8 is recorded.

i ended up back in my parents basement at the beginning of 2006 to finish my math degree. i only needed to finish my honours project, and some breadth requirements. i used the breadth requirement as an electronic music course, which allowed me to finish my second symphony. i'll be releasing something in that space to document this - likely a compilation of all academic musical projects. i also started an unrelated electronic symphony that i'll need to finish.

period 4 recording began seriously in mid 2007, after i'd found a job with microsoft and got my own apartment with a small studio in it. unfortunately, it took two years to finish the song i started working on next and i stopped writing due to the backlog of material...

25,000 views & 300 subscribers

google is of course mostly interested in finding ways to show you ads. and, they've consequently erected this ridiculous theoretical idea of subs as the best way to get ads across, under the idea that it ensures a level of regular brainwashing. they've then managed to enforce this theory from the top down through their company, with the expectation that people will just do what they expect.

of course, the reality is rather different. youtube feeds are not like facebook feeds, because videos take time to watch. you can scroll through a feed of pictures. you can't scroll through a feed of videos. the result is that almost nobody really uses their youtube feed, rendering subscribers almost entirely pointless.

i don't expect google to ever understand this. it's too engrained in their corporate culture; it's an article of faith that building subscribers is the way to success. it's a good example of why any entity should base their theories on observations, rather than projected realities. really, it's sort of depressing that it's 2015 and influential organizations are still confused on this point. and it could very well be their unraveling. if some other company is able to use research tools to find out ways that people want to interact - rather than decide how we should interact based on the perceived ideal advertising arrangement - it could very well leave youtube a ghost town.

in the meantime? yeah. people will sub to you without having any interest in your channel, and without watching any of your videos. then they'll miss your uploads because they don't read their feed, and not care because they weren't interested in the first place. it's still a mystery to me why they subscribe, but i think it is generally seen as an act of solidarity.

yesterday was weird. i meant to put aside a few hours to fill in track details at bandcamp, and ended up sidetracked at youtube. i got about halfway done the intended purpose and then crashed. that needs to be the focus, today. it's hopefully done by lunch time.

i think i've worked out a plan to overnight in pontiac. there's an all night mcdonalds a short walk south down woodward. there's also an all night diner in the area, but it's only open weekends. this is 120 stops up woodward - an almost two hour bus ride. it would be hours and hours walking back. i think i'm going to go. should be a nice tour into the rotting suburbs of michigan, at least. once i do it the first time, it won't be scary any more.

if the show runs close to two, i could conceivably only have to wait two hours....

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.