Score11

plunk by esbie

Score11 is a note event preprocessor that is used in conjunction with Csound. I'm so glad I won't have to use this archaic language after this semester. Much of the language is arbitrary... it might as well be programmed in assembly since it makes about as much sense. Thankfully we've just started a new section on PD.

Stealth Cat Productions

First the good news: the game is finished!

Now for the bad news: my lizard friend isn't a part of it. He's not even close to the art style needed for this game... you see what I mean.

So what did I contribute to the game? Well besides design and moral support... not much. Sure I'm only taking it for 1 credit but I'd still like to be able to get some solid experience out of it. So I offered to be Content Lead for our next project. Content Lead is in charge of making sure UI assets are itemized and delivered in a timely fashion. Here's to hoping this next round works out better.

Since I can't host the file on my school webspace forever, there will also be a link to the game on our brand new design blog: Stealth Cat Productions. You'll also (eventually) find a more indepth look at our design process from different points of view within the team... not just mine.

For now, go ahead and download the game here, and let me know what you think in the comments. Honestly I can't get past level 3 without the cheat codes >_>

24x24 pixels is a very small canvas

When Jess asked me if I wanted to work on a game this semester, of course I said yes. But, in the spirit of taking less than 20 credits, I'm only taking the class for 1 credit. I'm stuck as the artist because the group needs artists.

Programming is being done in GameMaker, music in FruityLoops (uhhh. hmm. Better than garage band I guess.), and art in... well... we're all using different programs. It was my job to make the avatar, so there he is, in all his pixel art glory.

I won't say too much about the game itself, mostly because I'll be posting the .exe here in a week so you can play it.

ElectroAcoustic Techniques

Since I'm not sure whether or not my research is continuing this semester (Spencer, where ARE you?), I took it upon myself to find more credits, and I found them as a graduate seminar in the digital music center. Our first assignment was a 30 second tape piece using Audacity and Cubase. I wish I had the pieces of the 5 other people taking the class so I could let you listen to them; we're a really diverse group and their pieces were amazing. Unfortunately all I have is my submission, but here it is

Dialect by esbie

The assignment was to do something with language, so everything you hear is a manipulation of my own voice (except for the tts voice I found from AT&T). The 0's and 1's in the middle of the piece are actually reciting parts of the text in binary.

comments, questions, concerns? We're learning Csound next.

Wii Boxing

I have a Wii, ladies and gentlemen. Hence, productivity is on the decline. I just drove back to New Mexico from San Jose, and then flew to Ithaca, NY. School started three days ago. Normally I would wait to post until I've come up with some snazzy arrangement of twinkle twinkle little star, but alas, I have to return my poor laptop to BestBuy so they can finish the job they never actually did. I have a deep and unwavering hatred for them.

Speaking of things I hate, I will never buy another Sony product. Excellent design combined with proprietary bs. Specifically, I'm talking about my camera, where the video capture is saved as some proprietary mpg that is incredibly difficult to convert. My last camera, a Canon, saved them as avi. Back to Canon for my next camera.

Not that this post had anything to do with Computer Science or tubas, but I do have this hilarious video of my mom playing wii boxing. enjoy :)

Computer works; so does Live

My Gateway laptop just celebrated its third year of existence, and I handed it off to Best Buy just before the warranty expired. Can't say I'm impressed with the geek squad. My graphics card over heats? They cleaned out the fan. My battery lasts for only half an hour? They claim it runs up to spec. My rom drive doesn't work? Alright, at least they replaced that.

As a reward for being so patient while my computer was indulging in some TLC, I have a present just for you:

Curiosity Rendered by esbie

I decided to sit down and spend some quality time with Ableton Live. After all, if I can't make music as compositionally basic as techno (4/4 time, 140bpm, repeated 4 bar phrases), then I don't have much hope of making more complex electroacoustic pieces.

Drum loops are still not my forte, so although I tweaked the synth drums, the loop was already a preset inside Live. Enjoy!

Imeem makes me sad inside

I use imeem to store my music online, and ugh, it sucks. Not only is it eerily reminiscent of Myspace with its customizable pages, but the service is sketchy at best. Their player works maybe half the time for me.

Needless to say I'm looking for an alternative. One fell into my lap the other day that I'm willing to try out: SoundCloud. SoundCloud is tailored to music artists who want to share and collaborate on the web. It's in Beta right now, but I see some good ideas, including time comments and waveform GUIs. Go ahead and check it out. Here's an example of their player. (Which probably won't show up in GoogleReader... sorry about that).

SoundCloudairport chord progression by esbie

I also have a couple beta invites if you'd like to join? Just let me know