yeah, my back-up script change-log is dated to april 26th and it doesn't make mention of streamci.dll. so, it was taken out of the script in may or june. i may have previously never attempted to install drivers without deleting streamci.dll first.

the streamci.dll file on my xp disc is dated to april, 2014. so, it must have been updated in one of the very last xp updates that i slipstreamed in. it might have broken something. if i can demonstrate that this is stable, i'm going to try another reinstall with an older version of streamci.dll - one that is at least as old as the drivers.

simply disabling the wdm driver produced a stable output, but it was a little flat - it didn't sound right.

the autorun in the registry is running streamci.dll as an executable and carrying out a number of commands related to the wdm and the clock. that makes perfect sense - it's the class installer. but, that seems to be what's screwing it up. and, it's still the clock. and still windows, like i thought at the very start...

streamci.dll was also in my initial delete script, but i took it out a while back because i'd get "missing or corrupt" errors on the first boot after a driver reinstall. i can't date this, but it's not that long ago. april, maybe, even. i can see now why that is. but, in the past, that means the autorun didn't actually execute - because the dll wasn't there.

so, i tried reinstalling the drivers with the streamci.dll deleted and the autoruns removed (i'd just get the error if they were there...) and it seems to be stable.

no, it seems like it's a driver conflict after all. the driver that's in conflict?

itself.

might explain why it didn't want to isolate...

the mixer loads two drivers: one for direct access, one over "wdm". i'm almost certain that the final solution, for now, is to disable the wdm driver.

the wdm driver is being used to playback final mixes over foobar, and i would absolutely like to resolve the concern. it wasn't like this before. but it seems to be a registry add.

if i uninstall and reinstall the drivers, it will be stable after the first reboot and gets funny on the second. some values are added to the registry on start-up. this seems to be the actual cause.

for now, i'm not worried about fixing the wdm streaming. i'll just leave it off when i get back to it. when i wake up...

but, again: it's bizarre, difficult to isolate for problems, one after another.

dammit.

again.

ugh.

i'm going to break the clock again and see what happens...

it seems like that flattened it out. which is weird. because i thought it was the problem in the first place. and it left it a little jagged - but at least it's not bleeding.

i have an idea...

there's three drivers attached to the system clock in xp. there's the streaming proxy, which i'm nearly absolutely certain was functioning before this mess. there's the microsoft streaming proxy clock, which i'm pretty sure was functioning. and, then there's the microsoft streaming proxy quality manager which i have little to any memory of. i suspect it's the third of these...

when i modified the script, i removed the deletion on all three. so, the issue may have been sitting under my nose the whole time.

i'll have to test. again. ugh. but, it's gotta be it.

i swear, my body has loosened up by a factor of 80%, if such things can be measured, which of course they can't. but whatever stress buildup existed is fading away. and, that should actually help me focus a bit better.

it should also help me kick the cigarettes. it seemed pointless when i didn't know how much longer i'd be alive...

i bought one more pack for the next day or two. i need to put the election shit down and get through the remaining tracks for this. that last track is bugging me, because it just sounds kind of odd. i may end up replacing it after all. and, the next few should be pretty quick to pass over.

my odsp was extended until 2020.

i can stop worrying about that, now.

by 2020, i am exceedingly confident that i will complete my discography and be moving into phase 2.

checks

hi.

just letting you know that my disability extension was approved, so i have checks ready to give paul for the rest of the year, whenever he's home to take them.

j

not updating i still don’t fully understand this

this one is a little different. i initially rendered it on july 5, with an unknown combination of ram and save mixer settings - but that i think was close to mostly saved settings. the fact that it sounded bad was one of the first things that tipped me off to the broken drivers. i noticed that it sounded better in cubase than it did through foobar, so i re-rendered and re-uploaded it on july 12th with completely saved settings.

it doesn't pass an a/b with reset mixer settings. so, i'm just going to leave it as it is.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/i-still-dont-fully-understand-this

not updating in some neighbourhoods the boogeyman is slightly more than an imaginary monster

same as the others.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/in-some-neighbourhoods-the-boogeyman-is-slightly-more-than-an-imaginary-monster

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/ogyanemob

not replacing thug culture is enforced by the media from the top down

yeah, this is static.

the gain on the tracks is clipping mildly, but it's covered by the compression on the master. it took me a few tries to figure it out (and fears my drivers were broken again...), but rendering the tracks separately through the initial eqs is introducing clipping that transfers over - because they clip clean, when not sent through the compression. that's not something i can work around. modifying the volume will modify the null.

again: the neurotic geek in me wants bitwise perfection, but the a/b's tell me this is pointless, anyways.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/thug-culture-is-enforced-by-the-media-from-the-top-down

contemplating replacing thug culture is enforced by the media from the top down

i'm still determining whether i want to replace this one or not for idealist mathematical reasons of it being bitwise identical to the initial save - although that's going to be false for the bulk of what i end up constructing. but, the reality is that it also fails the a/b and anything i replace the existing file with will be inaudibly different from the existing file. so, this is also done, for all intents and purposes.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/thug-culture-is-enforced-by-the-media-from-the-top-down

not updating use value is somewhat difficult to define in the human propensity towards artistic expression

this track has also not been modified, and also failed the a/b.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/use-value-is-somewhat-difficult-to-define-in-the-human-propensity-towards-artistic-expressio

not updating there is definitely something wrong with hipster homophobia

i've skipped a few tracks because they have more complex constructions. this track does not pass an a/b, either, but the version that's uploaded is already the mathematically correct one, so there is no change.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/there-is-definitely-something-wrong-with-ironic-hipster-homophobia

i'm getting a better understanding of the mixer error.

it's 1/3 of a decibel somewhere in the bottom mids. like, honestly: 0.3333333333.....

that suggests some kind of rounding error as a consequence of a type conversion. but it seems to be hard coded into the program.

i'm not hearing it in most a/b's, and the compression i'm using is wiping it out almost entirely with that mild adjustment.

as mentioned: i'm neurotic. i must check.

but, it's almost certainly going to be more or less universally inaudible in anything with any compression. and, that's good news.

updating the threat of terrorism is used to restrict civil liberties

i've corrected this mix, but i doubt you'll be able to hear the difference - because i can't. the eq on the bass was demonstrating the mixer problem that i've now determined is widespread. i've corrected it to be the same mix that i initially created in ram in a mathematical sense, but this is a kind of an idealist triviality. multiple a/b testing has determined that i cannot identify which is which. in fact, the difference file even nulls over the verses under the mastering compression.

initially written in 1996. recreated in feb, 1998. reclaimed june 29, 2015. corrected to control for malfunctioning electronics on aug 11, 2015. 

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/the-threat-of-terrorism-is-used-to-restrict-civil-liberties


https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/werso-smidits

the drivers are totally stable, finally. i'm a little apprehensive about rebooting, but for now everything seems ideal.

but, because i'm neurotic, the mixer issue presents a big challenge. i have multiple possible mixes, resulting from the mixer doing weird things. a little bit of further testing suggests that saving the mixer file separately produces corruption on the save, but saving it with the project produces corruption on the load. it's bizarre, frankly. the only dlls it's pulling are in the kernel; it's not even reading any of the C libraries. my best guess is that's probably a mathematical error in the code. but, knowing that doesn't address the issue at hand: which do i use? do i start over?

when i go over this for the already finished tracks, i'm going to be very selective in what i replace. i know that most of the songs were saved repeatedly before i exported, meaning i've verified that the final out is desirable. and what i'm noticing is that i often can't tell the difference between the mixer error on an a/b. i've tested it quite a bit at this point. it comes out in the null, but i can't actually hear it.

but, i'm neurotic.

so, for these songs that i'm approaching with a fresh understanding of the software, i have to work each of these parts out on an a/b basis.

there was never a benefit in the fading highs. but, when the subbass was floored, it made me think about a few things a little differently. and i'm going to want to work a bit of that in.

it might work out as a net positive in the end. but, i'm bloody happy that this mess is done with. it's just that putting the pieces back together is not going to be that quick, after all. lots of listening. lots of comparing.

lots of being neurotic.

i am finally convinced that i'm stable. i suspect that the problem was in fact the bios and that the perception of other fixes having an effect was probably due to these things resetting the sync, temporarily.

i think i should get most of this done by the end of the weekend.

for my own reference....

this is my workflow for the next little bit:

1) finish inri007-inri009. this should be fairly quick.
2) finish aleph-0 (period 1) dvd disc. this should be fairly quick.
3) finish remaining dvd discs. a week or two.
4) as i am finishing (3), i'll want to go through and finalize the remaining period 2 discs. similarly.
5) start on period 3. i'm well behind schedule, but this is when the next collection of big projects will begin.

deathtokoalas
never did get into the beach boys. more of a beatles fan. but this song really hit me just the right way when i was about ten or so.

their bassist was actually a rather substantial musical influence on me and, along with mccartney, still really forms the crux of how i approach the bass guitar, underneath however many other influences.

jim m
+deathtokoalas beetles? stones

deathtokoalas
+jim m the rolling stones created almost nothing of any lasting value. their legacy will die with their fan base.

the beatles-stones debate is an anachronism. people will follow their parents. bloody wankers. but anybody under 40 (if not 50, nowadays) can clearly here that the stones were not in the same league as the beatles. it's the same thing with the beach boys, really.

we can have beatles-floyd debates - and i may side with floyd, depending on the context. or maybe beatles-byrds debates, if you're so inclined. but a beatles-stones debate is pointless. it's like arguing the relative merits of thomas pynchon v. dr. seuss.

Anonymous User
+deathtokoalas Nothing of lasting value? The Beatles are undeniably a major influence to many artists, but to act like the Rolling Stones made nothing of lasting value is hilariously wrong. I'm not even a Rolling Stones fan, I would also rather listen to The Beatles, but let's not kid ourselves.

Jake Britt
+deathtokoalas Brian Wilson is the guy The Beatles went to for their inspiration...

deathtokoalas
+Anonymous User they never even released a mediocre record. their one attempt at doing something interesting - satanic majesties request - is just laughably bad.

they were talentless hacks. they were always absolute followers - there's not an original idea in their discography. they may have some place in the history of fashion. but, they will be lucky to get a footnote in the musical history of the period. the beatles, on the other hand, will be remembered for quite some time.

it's all ** or * records - out of ten stars.

they'll have a better chance in a paragraph on the mahavishnu orchestra.

"john spent his early days loosely attached to a clownish group of bohemian village idiots called 'the rolling stones' before he began his career in earnest. remaining information about this group is scarce, but it is known that they were of great popularity in their day amongst the uneducated, rural underclass."

deathtokoalas
+Jake Britt that's a poor way to express the relationship between brian wilson and paul mccartney. there was a kind of a rivalry. brian wilson was very impressed by revolver, and made pet sounds in response to it. mccartney was impressed by pet sounds, and countered with sgt. peppers. his inability to top sgt. peppers is the actual reason that brian wilson never released another record. it drove him insane.

fwiw, mccartney has since acknowledged the importance of the session musicians on pet sounds. he was not initially aware that the bass parts were mostly written and performed by carol kaye, for instance. and, he seemed to be a little taken aback by that, as though a fraud had been exposed to him.

it finally sounds right again.

i think it was the bios...

let's see what happens when i wake up. i really, really want to get back to work and am going to get upset if it's still broken.