Johann Strauss Video, Cat Covid Showcase, Bandcamp Pre-sale, and More

I awake at 04:00 and sleep in torrid flickers until I rise at 09:00 to a 12 degree room. I finished the Johann Strauss video, re-photographing a background and using two 3D lights to approximate the colour (if not the shadows!) of the scene.

Then added the lyrics. I recompiled 'Fear of the Thing Itself' with gaps around the subtitles, though this made little difference, and made and uploaded Spotify Canvases for both songs. I then went out, primarily for some exercise, and bought some new face paint colours - essential props!

Then, I released the pre-sale of the album on Bandcamp, something of a last minute decision, but if the album is to be released soon it needs to be visible, so it's now visible. I need to update my album release plan to make my path clear and stable.

Then, work on the 'Except for the Hatred' video, adding long lightning sparks to it, which echo the lightning on the album cover. I heard that 'Cat Covid!' was to be featured in a new (to me, at least) music showcase programme on YouTube, I tuned in ay 18:35 to just miss my track, but enjoyed the rest of the show and will be back.

I then compiled some paintings for the Society for Art of Imagination membership renewal, and built more drafts of the videos in progress. I need to complete the album plan, reach final drafts for the videos and start uploading. I also need to promote the SFXEngine Sound Pack; the first is due out on the 29th.

I am at my limit of jobs. Any more would be overwhelming.

SFXEngine v2.00 Launch

The launch day for SFXEngine v2.00. This was a lot more work than expected, as all of the new graphics needed to be created, at least 4 images for each product (the program, demo, 12 items of DLC, and 16 future items). The new graphics do look much better though:

I also had time to re-record some vocals for 'Except For The Hatred'. I don't like the idea of a copy-and-paste song, where vocal recordings are the same for two choruses for example, because the context is different for each repetition; and because it is easy. The best solution is the most difficult. Brilliance results from doing what is difficult, showing toughness, doing and showing hard work... but the old version of the song used the same line each time, and to change too much would change the original essence of the song. There are no fixed rules. Some songs may benefit from being copy-and-paste. A few of Sparks' Beethoven songs were copy-and-paste; and who can criticise their lifetime of mastery?

My general rule is that if two options are similar, so similar that you can't decide which to use, then the choice doesn't matter and either will suffice.

Except For The Hatred and Falling Apart Vocals, IndieSFX Music

More vocal recording today, new vocals for Except For The Hatred. I naturally sang the higher notes here without the falsetto present in the 2020 version, my voice is that much stronger, though there's still room for growth here. I rather liked the falsetto sound though, so will use that as before.

Finally, work on Falling Apart Again.

The album is nearly done in this stage, but needs further mixing which is hampered by my deafness. I must wait.

In other news, I've deleted the music sales part from IndieSFX. I licenced one or two tracks a decade or more ago, but nothing since those Share-It days and now this sort of electronic music is easily done by machine, or by a myriad of cheap or free composers. The market for this is as dead as that for paper piano rolls. The music I wrote for it remains pretty good, and the majority of tracks were never licenced or used by anyone at all. I could publish or use it elsewhere. 'Shadows' was/is indeed part of The Flatspace Soundtrack, and the Oldfield 1 tunes represent a unique source of inspiration.

Hudson and Sappho Frame, Sound Packs, Theresienstadt Painting

A long day yesterday, starting with cutting and assembling the Rachel Hudson frame. It was tricky, the wood was consistently not level. it was the first frame of its type to use my Frameculator software and the aluminium measuring tool. Both of those things worked well, but the wood itself was warped and would not lie flat. The corners are, as such imperfect, but they are sufficient. The colour of brown layered with neutral blue looks rather nice. The worst aspect is that I had to trim the painting by 2mm to make it fit; but the recess is smaller than on the similarly framed paintings of Cromwell and Gynocrats.

Then I spent many hours completing a first draft of the new sound packs. There is more to do on these and I can't do more until the major SFXEngine update, which I'll work on in November.

Today, deframing Cromwell and framing Song of Sappho:

I've heard that all three of my paintings have been accepted into the Castle Park Open this year, which is wonderful news. I've also prepared the other two works with labels, mirror plates, wrapping etc. and prepared the painting for Ty Pawb. I'll enter Theresienstadt into the Grosvenor. For me, 'Self Inspection At Theresienstadt (after Fritta)' is one of my best works, and a painting of its time on many levels. Trouble in the middle east aside, it has universal values. Life is a concentration camp, of sorts, but one we must endure, but then thrive within.

Sound and Civilisation

Sigh! What a hard year it has been. So often I feel that everything I do is unnoticed, unrewarded, and pointless. Yet, this has been how just about every day has felt for 30 years, and clearly some things have made a difference. Perhaps every act, however tiny, makes a difference. We can never really know what will become important and what not. Perhaps everything is just as important, as even trivial things can be necessary steps to important things.

If I were instantly rich, or even able to instantly live without the constant worry about money, I'd live most of my life in the same way, but perhaps not make any more sound effects or sell my software. I may give it away, I may just use it, but this I do only to scrape by. The art; painting, music, writing, I would still do as now.

Today I planed the wood for the two new picture frames, then continued work on the new/future sound effect packs. These are a lot of work because all of the samples used must be recorded by myself from scratch, so I'm having to duplicate many of the sounds. Some of these are already useful.

I many finish a first draft of these packs tomorrow. Then I'll pause the whole thing. My aim was only to plan what to release and how, and this is more than complete. The next step will be the major SFXEngine upgrade, but I must complete the painting jobs and music too. I'm well aware that, should I stop now and die, no soul would notice; yet I'm also aware that many people use my 20 years of sound effects, and many, tens of thousands of people at least, have heard them. Many will use and hear these new sounds in future, even if this achievement is the casual one of the jobbing designer.

We see and use hundreds of things daily, unaware of the people who made these things, yet without those people they would not exist. Does one need acclaim? Not really, sad though it can be to have none. This is the nature of civilisation.

Onwards we roll the rock, towards the warm horizon.

Sound Effects, Jobs To Do

Full in sound effect mode today and yesterday. Updated SFXEngine to v1.35 today and began work on future sound effect packs.

I've decided to release these after another major update to the program. Given all of the recent big upgrades to Prometheus, I've decided to incorporate the bulk of these into SFXEngine. The principle improvements to the program would be the ability to change the core program frequency from 44100hz to just about any (48000hz is more common than 44100hz now), and the use of double sample pointers to extend the sample size beyond the current 90-second limit, and up to several hours if memory permits. These two changes would make SFXEngine ideal for mass audio processing of many sorts; audiobooks for example.

These changes are big, at least a week's work, and will require the recompiling and hand-tweaking of all 100-or-so plugins. It's a long term goal, not something I'll start just yet. Today I've been working on 16 sound effect packs of 75 sounds each, and will continue to compile these over the coming days.

Other jobs are pressing. I've glued by three lengths of wood, so need to make the frames for 'sleep' and the Hudson painting. I may do more on those tomorrow too. I have two weeks to finalise the Hudson frame at least (I'd like to make it part of the artwork and decorate it with cloth) and scan the sleep painting before the Grosvenor deadline. I also have a song to write and practice for the Paul Simon night, frame the scarecrow painting for John Lindley's album launch, and finish the Fall in Green album.

My method of working is to think only of completed things. I don't 'tinker' or create for the sake of creating. I think: 'If I can complete anything instantly, what would I do?' and move from there. This is why my to-do list is a list of completed items.

Onwards!

Hudson Framing, SFX Packs

Something of a recovery day yesterday, after the most lovely meal and party on Saturday evening. Of jobs done, I glued up a wooden length in preparation of the frame for the Rachel Hudson painting. For the first time I'll use my Frameculator software and new cutting guides, and have set to recess to 10mm and, for the first time, will need to plane the back of the wood to level it.

I also adjusted for timing (tiny movements!) the bassline of Eckelmann; the day of work were worth it!

This morning I stuck a second length of wood (I'll need to glue three, one per day) but have charged into a new sound effects project. I'd like to create a series of sound packs, presets if you will, for SFXEngine. I've been thinking about this for some months and have decided to vend them as DLC.

There are many difficult parts to the job. Sound effects aside I need to make a suite of graphics and marketing material for each pack (I hope to list many, up to 100, if this is permissible). I also need a new licence, to make it clear that people can use and modify and sell the sounds, and I need to modify the program. All sounds will use varying levels of the Bolt-On DLC, which means that most packs will complain about the lack of engines (people lack that DLC). At the moment, each missing plugin pops us a separate error which is a headache when loading 75 sounds. So, I need to at least make this process neat.

I've started everything today; creating a new test pack, test art, and started the program modifications and testing. This may take several weeks, but I've neglected sound effects for months, or even years. In sound terms, these packs could be a breakthrough for developers. In SFXEngine format they are far more useful than plain sounds, and will be cheap and allow access (and use of) the source waves and modulators.

Bolt-On Work, Mark Edmonds Art Preview

A full day of work on the Bolt-On sound effect packs for SFXEngine, preparation these for distribution. First, rendering all 100 sounds and checking them for volume and looping. Then creating text for the itch.io page, and the 10 images for that. Creating Readme files, zipping the contents. Then preparing the animations for the YouTube videos to showcase these, and putting together the combined preview file; all of the sounds chained together. There is more to do. All this to hopefully sell a few. I must prove that SFXEngine is the best sound effect software in the world! I firmly believe this is true.

This evening, I'm going to the preview of Mark Edmonds' new art exhibition in his Spode works studio complex. I like Mark, and it will be the first time we've met in many years, certainly since before the Covid-19 pandemic. I will dress in a dark suit, with white shirt and black tie, dark silk-linen trousers, bowler hat, black umbrella, and a briefcase; like Magritte, or more correctly John Steed. I really need a red carnation and some grey kid gloves. I will have to suffice without.

Sound Effects, Pointlessness, Octopus Brains, and a Dynamic Higgs Field

Have spent today creating example sound effects for the different Bolt-on Effects/Plug-in packs for SFXEngine. These were to be used exclusively as free bonus content for customers, though I am aware that there are, so far, no customers of these packs except for legacy owners of the full $100 version, they get all of these.

It's been long and tiring work that has taken until 9:30pm. I've created 100 new sound effects for the 10 packs, each using the core engines plus the selected pack's engines. I'll make these free somehow, I think that the IndieSFX itch.io channel, plus a YouTube video might be an appropriate showcase for these, as well as giving them to the customers as the intended bonus.

A lot of the work I do seems hard and soul destroying, and today was no exception. I seem to spend my life doing pointless or ignored tasks with little aim, except that, of course, I remind myself that everything I make is for other people. My games, my music, my art; and, I remind myself again that some of it is indeed seen and experienced by others every day, and must be appreciated by at least some people. By the same token, most of the art or other things I create are not seen by anyone except myself. But, isn't this the case for everyone? We can't know the impact of our actions on the world, and artist is one of the most personally expressive, and uniquely contributive jobs.

I'm feeling particular ignored, isolated, obscure, and useless today. I reflected that my life has always been a struggle and scrape, endless work for bare scraps or the hope of scraps. Each year and each month I hope for something better, and each year and month is a struggle. Perhaps it will always be so, perhaps it will not. Perhaps I will have a 'hit' one day, perhaps not. I will, however, whether I experience great success or not, keep striving, keep trying, keep working, keep doing, keep rolling my Sisyphean rock, keep defying the gods and cruel world, and keep battling fate.

Two interesting thoughts:

First. Deborah informs me that the nervous system of the octopus evolved in two halves separately; the head and eyes part, and the stomach part. These two systems later merged into one brain. I would guess that the same occurred in humans (perhaps this occurred in the common ancestor of octopuses and humans). The brain and gut are separate nervous systems, and are often conflicted or have differing personalities and viewpoints. The gut consciousness is probably the result of much of the social, animal feelings which are out of balance with the civilised world, which known to and better engaged with the brain.

Second. I'm still thinking about the Higgs Field. I wonder if, rather than matter and mass spontaneously forming from it, that there is more of a communicative, symbiotic system in effect between the two; that the two systems of seen and unseen matter are in a subtle flux of communication; a dynamic relationship. Thus in inter-galactic space, where dark matter does not exist, light matter does not, and perhaps cannot, either.

Sound Effects, 2002 to 11 Jul 2023

I've spent today compiling a complete list of the sound effects packs, sets, and commissions since 2002. Packs vary from a few sounds to over 100 per set. Some for my use in games/projects, most for either public sale on various onlune stores, or commissions.

S1A, 2003, Explosions And Arcadia
S2A, 2003, Squad Level Mechanics
S3A, 2003, Robotnik
S4A, 2003, First Person Shooter
S5A, 2003, Fantasy Reality
S6A, 2003, SoundMATTER Suite
S7B, 2004, Glass
S8C, 2004, Gunfire
S9C, 2004, Controls
S10B, 2004, Water
S11C, 2004, Atmosphere
S12C, 2004, Footsteps
S13C, 2005, Hits
S14C, 2005, Space Shooter
S15C, 2005, Sokoban Sounds
S16C, 2005, Knightlore
S17C, 2006, Car Sounds
S18C, 2006, Background Loops
S19C, 2006, Aircraft
S20C, 2006, Casual Sounds
S21C, 2007, Doors
S22B, 2007, Switches
S23C, 2007, Space Weapons
S24C, 2007, Sports
S25C, 2007, Card And Casino
S26C , 2008, Pickups
S27C, 2008, 8-Bit Arcadia
S28C, 2009, Creatures
S29C, 2009, Melee Weapons
S30C, 2009, Get Drop Slide
S31C, 2010, Mobile Tones
S32B, 2010, Motors
S33C, 2010, Animals
S34C, 2010, Monsters
S35C, 2010, Future Weapons
S36B, 2010, Glass And Water
S37D, 2010, Macro Pack 1
S38D, 2010, Macro Pack 2
S39D, 2010, Macro Pack 2
S40E, 2010, Instrument Archive Alpha
S41E, 2010, Instrument Archive Beta
S42C, 2012, Cute Creatures
S43C, 2012, Clocks Alarms Switches
S44C, 2012, Apps And Minigames
S45C, 2012, Explosions And Impacts
S46C, 2012, Weapons Construction Kit
S47C, 2012, Pickups Construction Kit
S48C, 2012, Bladed Weapons
S49C, 2012, Adventure
S50C, 2012, Arcade Shooter
S51C, 2012, Doors
S52C, 2012, Monsters
S53C, 2012, Casual Games
S54C, 2012, Footsteps
S55C, 2016, Sheeky's Adventure Sounds
S56C, 2016, Sheeky's Army Sounds
S57C, 2016, Sheeky's Background Sounds
S58C, 2016, Sheeky's Casino Sounds
S59C, 2016, Sheeky's Explosions Sounds
S60C, 2016, Sheeky's Fantasy Sounds
S61C, 2016, Sheeky's Jingles Sounds
S62C, 2016, Sheeky's Monsters Sounds
S63C, 2016, Sheeky's Nature Loops
S64C, 2016, Sheeky's Powerups Sounds
S65C, 2016, Sheeky's Puzzle Sounds
S66C, 2016, Sheeky's Racing Sounds
S67C, 2016, Sheeky's Retro Sounds
S68C, 2016, Sheeky's Strategy Sounds
S69C, 2016, Sheeky's Swords Sounds
S70C, 2016, Sheeky's Weapons Sounds
S71C, 2017, AGK Actions
S72C, 2017, AGK Blade Combat
S73C, 2017, AGK Bonus
S74C, 2017, AGK Buttons
S75C, 2017, AGK Christmas Sounds
S76C, 2017, AGK Doors Drawers Locks
S77C, 2017, AGK Environments
S78C, 2017, AGK Explosions
S79C, 2017, AGK Guns
S80C, 2017, AGK Military Weapons
S81C, 2017, AGK Misc
S82C, 2017, AGK Monsters
S83C, 2017, AGK Movement
S84C, 2017, AGK Pickups
S85C, 2017, AGK Potions Spells
S86C, 2017, AGK Rooms
S87C, 2017, AGK Scifi Weapons
S88C, 2017, AGK Vehicles
S89C, 2022, Flowlab Casual Sounds
S90C, 2022, Flowlab Animals
S91C, 2022, Flowlab Adventure
S92C, 2017, AGK Unused
S93C, 2022, Flowlab Unused
S94C, 2022, SCI Pickups
S95C, 2022, SCI Retro
S96C, 2022, SCI Swords
S97C, 2022, SCI Weapons
S98C, 2006, SoundMATTER Aircraft
S90C, 2006, SoundMATTER Bleeps
S100C, 2006, SoundMATTER Creatures
S101C, 2006, SoundMATTER Doors
S102C, 2006, SoundMATTER Explosions And FPS
S103C, 2006, SoundMATTER Footsteps
S104C, 2006, SoundMATTER Hand Weapons
S105C, 2006, SoundMATTER Jingles
S106C, 2006, SoundMATTER Land Vehicles
S107C, 2006, SoundMATTER Location Loops
S108C, 2006, SoundMATTER Military Weapons
S109C, 2006, SoundMATTER Pickups And Bonuses
S110C, 2006, SoundMATTER Puzzle
S111C, 2006, SoundMATTER Rain Wind Fire
S112C, 2006, SoundMATTER Scifi Weapons
S113C, 2006, SoundMATTER Sea Vehicles
S114C, 2006, SoundMATTER Space Weapons
S115C, 2006, SoundMATTER Sports
S116C, 2006, SoundMATTER Strategy
S117C, 2006, SoundMATTER Weather Loops
S118C, 2014, TGC Artillery
S119C, 2014, TGC Beams
S120C, 2014, TGC Bonus Lose
S121C, 2014, TGC Bonus Win
S122C, 2014, TGC Bows
S123C, 2014, TGC Buttons
S124C, 2014, TGC Cannons
S125C, 2014, TGC Clockticks
S126C, 2014, TGC Doors Metal
S127C, 2014, TGC Doors Scifi
S128C, 2014, TGC Doors Wood
S129C, 2014, TGC Drop
S130C, 2014, TGC Explosions
S131C, 2014, TGC Explosions Atomic
S132C, 2014, TGC Explosions Flame
S133C, 2014, TGC Explosions Magic
S134C, 2014, TGC Explosions More
S135C, 2014, TGC Explosions Scifi
S136C, 2014, TGC Flamers
S137C, 2014, TGC Footsteps Grass
S138C, 2014, TGC Footsteps Gravel
S139C, 2014, TGC Footsteps Metal
S140C, 2014, TGC Footsteps Snow
S141C, 2014, TGC Footsteps Stone
S142C, 2014, TGC Footsteps Wood
S143C, 2014, TGC Heal
S144C, 2014, TGC Hit Cloth
S145C, 2014, TGC Hit Metal
S146C, 2014, TGC Hit Slime
S147C, 2014, TGC Hit Wood
S148C, 2014, TGC IonGuns
S149C, 2014, TGC Jump
S150C, 2014, TGC Lasers
S151C, 2014, TGC Levers
S152C, 2014, TGC Locks
S153C, 2014, TGC Pain
S154C, 2014, TGC PickUp
S155C, 2014, TGC Pickup Ammo
S156C, 2014, TGC Pickup Coin
S157C, 2014, TGC Pickup Happy
S158C, 2014, TGC Pickup Weapon
S159C, 2014, TGC Platforms
S160C, 2014, TGC Punch
S161C, 2014, TGC Reload
S162C, 2014, TGC Rifles
S163C, 2014, TGC Rockets
S164C, 2014, TGC Shotguns
S165C, 2014, TGC Slide Object
S166C, 2014, TGC Smash Glass
S167C, 2014, TGC Switches
S168C, 2014, TGC Throw
S169C, 2014, TGC Traps
S170C, 2014, GC Blob Background Loops
S171C, 2005, GC Creator
S172C, 2006, GC Dark AI Demo
S173C, 2006, GC Domino Demo
S174C, 2005, GC Driving Test Simulator
S175C, 2005, GC Driving Test Simulator II
S176C, 2007, GC Driving Test Simulator III
S177C, 2006, GC FPSC Model Pack 3
S178C, 2005, GC FPS Creator Sounds
S179C, 2007, GC FPS Creator Sounds Zombie
S180C, 2010, GC iPie
S181C, 2018, GC Melee Weapons Sounds
S182C, 2010, GC Moles
S183C, 2010, GC Mouse Organ
S184C, 2014, GC Store Loops
S185C, 2018, GC Ten Reasons Stopping
S186C, 2019, GC Village Levels
S187C, 2019, GC Village Malta
S188C, 2009, GC Whack-A-Mole
S189C, 2015, GC Wind And Weapons
S190C, 2020, GC Zombies 2020
S191C, 2020, GC Zombies 2020 Steps
S192C, 2012, Loops Nature
S193C, 2012, Loops Moods
S194C, 2012, Loops Waiting
S195C, 2012, Loops Places
S196C, 2016, Ink Pantry
S197C, 2012, ArtsLab Jingles
S198C, 2005, Vocode Carriers
S199C, 2005, Gunstorm
S200C, 2005, Future Pool
S201C, 2006, Gunstorm II
S202C, 2015, Radioactive
S203C, 2017, Flatspace II
S204C, 2019, Radioactive Speech 2019
S205C, 2020, Taskforce
S206C, 2020, Taskforce 2020
S207C, 2022, Radioactive Speech 2022
S208C, 2006, Pirates
S209C, 2006, Marble Tactics
S210C, 2006, Atomic Battle Dragons
S211C, 2006, Cloudscape
S212C, 2007, Football Chant
S213C, 2007, Football
S214C, 2007, Raptor
S215C, 2007, Raptor Vocals
S216C, 2007, Birth Of Shadows
S217C, 2007, Seascapes
S218C, 2009, Gary Fung
S219C, 2009, Cuatic
S220C, 2009, Gary Fung Message
S221C, 2009, McNamara
S222C, 2009, Alperin
S223C, 2009, Bunny Charm
S224C, 2009, Gary Fung Email
S225C, 2009, D Turner Giggles
S226C, 2009, Lightsabres
S227C, 2010, Alarms
S228C, 2010, The Floobs: The Rainbow Quest
S229C, 2010, Blockies
S230C, 2010, McNamara Scenes
S231C, 2010, Pokie Monkey Mania
S232C, 2010, Pokie Maxicash
S233C, 2010, Pagers
S234C, 2011, Pyramid Plays 2
S235C, 2011, Chicken Dash
S236C, 2011, Spirit Walkers
S237C, 2011, Engine Mah Jong
S238C, 2011, Mystic Palace
S239C, 2011, Mouse Organ
S240C, 2011, Mystic Panda
S241C, 2011, Virtual Birds
S242C, 2011, Arizona Rose
S243C, 2012, NinjaPonk
S244C, 2012, Pins Penguin Puzzler
S245C, 2012, Pokie Barons Bonanza 2
S246C, 2012, Pokie Barons German
S247C, 2012, Pokie Magic Mystic Genie
S248C, 2012, Shallow Grave
S249C, 2012, Black Country
S250C, 2012, Words Quest
S251C, 2012, Picture Hangman
S252C, 2013, Boo Boo Pets
S253C, 2013, Black Country Metalworks
S254C, 2013, Pokie Wolf
S255C, 2014, Munch Lunch
S256C, 2015, Zazo
S257C, 2015, Zazo Chime
S258C, 2015, AHC Future Jet
S259C, 2015, Fun Vision Jumper
S260C, 2015, Lost For Words
S261C, 2018, ArtSwarm Ambient Loops
S262C, 2007, Pursuit Of Power
S263C, 2022, Pursuit Of Power 2
S264C, 2011, Trucks
S265C, 2023, SFXEngine Preset Pack 1

SFXEngine Video

A full day working on SFXEngine admin, largely spent making an animated intro and sound for the trailers using Argus. Here's a glimpse:

Found a bug in Argus along the way. I sighed when I realised that I added full language support to Prometheus, removed some for SFXEngine for ease (building in, for example, error messages in English), then removed all of it for Argus, assuming I'll be the only user. Now, amusingly, I may be releasing that software and may need to add support again! Not difficult, but certainly time consuming.

Fingers are now 40% healed according to doctor's estimates. I'm doing almost everything with one hand. Art abilities limited.

Sound Effects, Deep Dark Light Serialisation

A strange couple of days, I'm frustrated at the lack of artistic progress, particularly the time spent on the masks for Salome. The main factor is that they require a lot more work than expected, and have no actual use in the performance, but the gesso and new sculpting techniques on them were excellent, and may be useful in future. I'm reminded that we must always be created based on what we know, but always learning something new.

I sent a Facebook message to Gordon Scott, recommending that he join the Society for Art of Imagination. I then realised that he has 'unfriended' me from Facebook, which was strangely hurtful, I think our art, outlook, and struggles are similar. How I despise Social Media. Social Media feeds inequality and injustice more than anything before it. As an advertising tool it is as good as QVC, the TV shopping channel. As a platform for social change it is immoral, if not actually evil. It gives more power to fewer people. In school, bullies were a minority with special physical presence or a confidence to push other people around. Social media gives that presence and confidence to everyone. It breeds bullies, with an added dimension of gang behaviour, and a self-righteousness childhood bullies do not possess.

I started work on a new sound effects job, modifying and creating new effects for a game development application which, if luck is with us, may become a longer term collaboration. I completed these today. My skills are better than ever here. The changes I've made to SFXEngine this year, due to the unexpected and welcome sound commission from Mike Vitt, have really proved their worth. Today I coded a new feature which examines and notes the peak levels of an entire project, which has improved the sound quality a little bit more. Most of mastery is a slow accumulation of tiny changes, each barely significant, which have a great cumulative effect.

In audio, this mastery includes my software; Prometheus and SFXEngine, worked on and improved upon over the past 20 years. This isn't always the case. There are lots of great software tools that stop being supported, or get worse. Much as I love Sony SoundForge (it's far better than Audacity), the older version was better, and my version is probably better than the newest version (which isn't by Sony any more). Sony CD Architect, which is no longer supported or for sale anywhere, is wonderful and was a bargain purchase for its quality. I hope it keeps working for years and decades.

I've also submitted the 'Light' story from Deep Dark Light to John Hopper's new literary magazine, 100subtexts. He's agreed to serialise it over 10 editions and seems enthusiastic over it, as am I. The images in that story often come to my mind, even now. I'm not sure when the first edition is due.

The Salome videos are just about complete now, but the timing will probably need adjusting. Stefano is due in the country this week and the show is less than a fortnight away. After this, I can do any art, and I'm already thinking about paintings, albums, and ideas.

SFXEngine, The Modern Game 2022

Two days of SFXEngine programming. The software uses the same audio engine as Prometheus, and the same GUI too, sharing that with Argus. Both are sparkly new by comparison. I've not touched SFXEngine in two (busy) years, so it's needed a lot of work to bring it up to date.

First job was to updated the GUI, allowing variable length windows for larger screens, and better support for storing and recalling custom window positions. Then some new skin colours, and all of the latest functions for modulator and sample processing, including ability to save, for the first time, and loading/saving in optional float format.

Second, some new plugins, and a unique audio effect for this tool of distorted filtered noise with an envelope (a mainstay of sound effect generation), and finally fixes and upgrades to the rendering chain. Here is an image of v1.20 of SFXEngine in operation:

My latest sound job on effects for a future game, Pursuit of Power 2, was a first test and I've been working on those in tandem with the software upgrades. One sound called for hooves, and I made use of some hollow wood, part of a new batch of recordings for the first time in a few years.

I was also the release of the 2022 version of The Modern Game on Friday.

This is the end of a wave of creative work from the start of the year, which has slowed a little, partly due to the live Fall in Green work, which takes a lot of time and rehearsal, the new book, preparation for the Art Fair, and the Salome music. I must get these projects complete so that I can do more of the important job of creating. The year is flying past and I've not painted a thing, nor can see any time available to do so... this is a tragedy! Oh for more time, more resources.

Next immediate jobs: To complete the computer book, complete the Salome music, and frame two works for The Stockport Open.

Art Fair Cheshire, Piano, SFXEngine

An enjoyable and inspiring opening at Art Fair Cheshire last night, featuring thrilling scenes such as this:

...and this...

and this...

Here is my little display:

I spoke to David Bez, met the ever-lovely Peter Robinson and a several other people, all noteworthy. All of the artwork was skilled... the artists had decided on a subject and way of presenting it and had generally mastered that method. In terms of subjects there was barely a narrative on offer at all, lots of landscapes without emotion (escapism), little animals. There were a few abstracts that had an interesting mental narrative. I was disappointed by the Ian Rayer-Smith paintings, some of which I really like online, but the ones on show here were messy abstracts of the worst sort. There was nothing in paint I saw that I could not match should I want to.

I ache to paint more. My work now is, in my mind, on another level to anything I've done before, but I need space here for new and large work, space, and time. I fear to be doomed to small works forever; I must battle this. I feel ready to leap to a new level in subject and ability.

I spent the night practising piano, playing fingers against each other: 4:4, 2:4, 1:4, 4:2, 4:1, 3:3, 2:3, 1:3, 3:1, 3:2, in different fingers. A endlessly difficult and fun game.

I've spent today making a new draft of sound effects and upgrading my software SFXEngine, which hasn't been updated in 2 years and is hideously out of date compared to Prometheus (it has the same interface).

How To Organise, POP2, Football Song

A full day on Monday working on How To Organise Your Computer Files, and a full day yesterday working on sound effects for Pursuit of Power 2. Art Fair Cheshire opens tonight. Today will be another writing day. Started this morning by finalising a little song, here are the words:

Football
match of the day
Football
home or away
Anyone can do it
Really nothing to it
If you see a goal just
kick the ball through it
Football!

Football
play to the crowd
Football
quiet or loud
Anyone can play it
Any night or day it
Kick a little round thing
Everybody say it
Football!

Macc Delivery, The Fantastical Dreams of Rembrandt van Rijn

Suddenly things have exploded into busy activity again. Delivered artwork today to Macclesfield Town Hall for Art Fair Cheshire, which opens on Thursday. I will attend the preview on Wednesday. I also received the entry forms for the Stockport Open, which will take place this year for the first time since 2019, so I'll enter some of last year's new paintings into that. I need to make frames for these this week.

I'm booked to play the Macclesfield public pianos on July 14th, so needed to develop a list of works for performance. Just playing an existing set like Cycles, or The Anatomy of Emotions, or Music of Poetic Objects, isn't enough. I've developed the outline of a new set called The Fantastical Dreams of Rembrandt van Rijn

The pieces will be: "Saskia, Burning", "Poverty and Ecstasy", "Myself, I, and Me", "Nebuchadnezzar's Knife", "Moving the Piano with Titus", "Children and the Explosive Growth of Tyrants", "The Automata of Kings", and "Mario Lanza is my Washpot".

I've also received a sound effect commission for a new game, a sequel to a game I last worked on in 2007. It's an unexpected pleasure to be working on game sound again.

This week I must finish the first draft of my computer book, and move to complete, as quickly as possible, the music to the Lou Salome project. We must develop an interesting or giant way to stage this to make it the show-case project it deserves to be. I've developed some costume designs already, but will need a cast of at least 4 for these, plus, ideally, a Greek-style chorus. None of this is likely on a budget of zero, but we can hope.

Aside from these projects I still have music projects in progress, such as the Dutch/Flemish masters album, and I ache to oil paint too.

More Sound Work, Neorenaissance Proof

A very busy couple of days finalising the new listings and website for the IndieSFX sounds. The 54 items in the back-catalogue are now listed and prepared.

The Neorenaissance book proof has arrived and had two very minor errors. These are corrected so the book is ready to go. I've contacted the poets and will contact the museum when it next opens about some copies for the shop. I'll donate one to their archives.

It's been a busy January, and a very busy week. Now I'm slowly moving back into creative mode, actually, I'm aching to work on the important job of art, and must complete the Christmas sonata, and the Burn of God re-recording. I've got a few new audio effect ideas too, and must tidy up the existing sequence files, remove any unused effects to make room for new ones.

IndieSFX Game Sound Effects

A full day working on new graphical assets for IndieSFX, all 53 packs now have some artwork. I'll have to check and tweak these. When faced with an intense creative project like this, the need to create a large number of things, the trick is to race through them all with an unconscious time limit, not spend too long and prioritise speed over quality. At the end, everything should be glanced at, as best as possible in one view, then things can be worked on again in 'parallel' to improve and unify the quality.

There are 54 official codes to the sound packs, but there is no pack 6; that was an early code for a bundle of sets 1,2,3,4 and 5, so I don't need graphics for that. Three packs are 'macro packs' - special large bundles of sounds I put together for a special deal. Two sets are also instruments, but I can't recall if I ever offered them to anyone. Lots of sounds are reused. Some packs replaced and improved upon earlier ones, but now I'll just upload them all to the new itch page. Even the early sets have a few unique sounds which someone might find useful.

One other job was working through the text files, sound lists. I'll convert these to pdf tomorrow. I expect the conversion and checking process will take at least a day, then a lot of time uploading all of these.

In other news, the proof of the Neorenaissance book arrived too and it looks fantastic.

Now, for the benefit of future history, here is the complete list of IndieSFX sound sets. Codes ending in A were the early sets. Ending in B meant dry mono recordings (marketed as 'Pure Grey'). Ending in C meant full sets (marketed as 'Chromatic'), generally wet mono and stereo. Wet means they could have some sort of reverb or additional effects added, but not always. The later sets, from S045C onwards, had both dry and wet effects as by that stage everything was rendered in SFXEngine and I could switch on or off global effects for an entire set relatively easily.

Loops:

K001A-Moods
K002A-Nature
K003A-Places
K004A-Waiting

Sound Effect Sets:

S001A-ExplosionsAndArcadia
S002A-SquadLevelMechanics
S003A-Robotnik
S004A-FirstPersonShooter
S005A-FantasyReality
S007B-Glass
S008C-Gunfire
S009C-Controls
S010B-Water
S011C-Atmosphere
S012C-Footsteps
S013C-Hits
S014C-SpaceShooter
S015C-SokobanSounds
S016C-Knightlore
S017C-CarSounds
S018C-BackgroundLoops
S019C-Aircraft
S020C-CasualSounds
S021C-Doors
S022B-Clicks
S023C-SpaceWeapons
S024C-Sports
S025C-CardsAndCasino
S026C-Pickups1
S027C-8BitArcade
S028C-Creatures
S029C-MeleeWeapons
S030C-Pickups2
S031C-MobileTones
S032B-Motors
S033C-Animals
S034C-FutureWeapons
S035C-Fanfares
S036B-GlassAndWater
S037D-MacroPack1
S038D-MacroPack2
S039D-MacroPack3
S040E-InstrumentArchiveAlpha
S041E-InstrumentArchiveBeta
S042C-CuteCreatures
S043C-ClocksAlarmsSwitches
S044C-AppsAndMinigames
S045C-ExplosionsAndImpacts
S046C-WeaponsConstructionKit
S047C-PickupsConstructionKit
S048C-BladedWeapons
S049C-Adventure
S050C-ArcadeShooter
S051C-Doors
S052C-Monsters
S053C-CasualGames
S054C-Footsteps

Neorenaissance Proof, IndieSFX Revamp

A busy couple of days. I completed the first draft of the Neorenaissance book yesterday and have ordered a printed proof. Here is the cover:

I need to consider the text for the back, though I expect few people will be browsing for this in a bookshop; it will be purchased by knowing art and poetry aficionados.

Today I've started to revisit my IndieSFX sound effects library. Back in 2002 this was one of the first of my online enterprises I set-up, along with Cornutopia Software, and the review website Bytten. For years I've sold sound effects there, but the website hasn't had any sound effects on sale for months. I've been meaning to do something about this, but with over 50 sound packs and between 10,000 and 20,000 sound files, the workload of processing these and preparing them for any new outlet is huge.

Today though, I started, and have put my first few sounds on a new itch.io page for IndieSFX. The first sounds are free to download (with optional donation) and consist of the IndieSFX Loops, which were seamless 8-second sound loops, both musical and environmental covering everything from rain and wind, to factory sounds, to little jingles. These are merely a start and my next job is to work on new artwork and text for the main library; the 50+ sound sets need images like this:

This may take weeks, and I'm unsure at the moment if I'll do it all now or merely do some, but it feels good to charge into a project of neating, sorting and making efficient. Ideally all of my work should be 'out there' somewhere, art, games, sounds, music... so this is one of these occasions.

Summer Holiday, Repairs

Completion of the Summer Holiday underpainting yesterday:

The other paintings in this triptych were painted with lots of detail with an optional glaze, as I was not sure if any refinement would be needed. Songs of Saint George, I imagined, might benefit from a glaze to the green hand, but now it looks fine, and touching it with the dangerously powerful Azo Yellow might be a mistake. This time though, I will nee da glaze because the tiny fly will need some hairs and some metallic green, which requires a transparent layer.

I'm in a positive mood as the things that have broken recently: my watch, shaver, SY-85 synthesizer, MDS-JB980 MiniDisc player, and now Marantz CD5005 CD player, have now been replaced or repaired or refurbished. The CD player developed a fault only having moved it a few days ago to fix the MiniDisc player. I opened it and cleaned the lens, no effect. I noted that the whole assembly was on springs and hovering like a proverbial Princess with her Pea, and the lens assembly nervously hovering separately on springs, so I pushed everything gently to spring it back into place. I tried again and it was magically fixed. The unit is 3 years old and has, so far, played everything flawlessly, so it was odd that it should break. The drawer mechanism is belt based so I'll probably have to replace that one day (well, will unless something else breaks first), although unlike the MiniDisc deck there are no YouTube guides. Oddly, the Marantz unit had handwriting in permanent marker on the circuit boards, so perhaps it is hand assembled. To break so easily did not impress me.

My artistic focus now is on frames and the technical aspects of this, I want these to be the best, so will start to document procedures. All skills are mastered by writing, recording, documenting. I'm still full of painting ideas but have limited time. One of my main goals for the month is to revisit my IndieSFX sound effects, which are not on sale anywhere and doing nothing. There is a lot of software I could list on itch or Steam too, and these might give me some needed income. Ideally, everything should be out there in some form. I've put so much work into things which are unseen, unheard, unknown.

Today we will rehearse for the Wonderland performance in Knutsford Library which will take place next Thursday. How I'd love a new synthesizer, too. Time marches on. I'm already looking to the October, the end of the painting season and the start of the music season.