The Pezman

Very pleased with discussion so far. I'm at a ski lodge right now... will hopefully be able to comment in more detail tonight.

Goddammit... I was really looking forward to a nice medium rare sirloin with an '87 merlot... WHY DO YOU DO THESE THINGS TO ME?! Guitar Center on 59th?

I'd be on board for torrent-only flacs.

Until DJP's post I was getting very sick of this thread. The question was a nice one and I wanted to debate it, but it was going the way of most threads and descending into pointless bickering. I admit my post may have contributed to that. Anyways, I want to try and get this thread back on track, and to do so I'd like to list the pros and cons I've heard so far: CONSOLE PROS - You don't have to worry about system compatibility. If a game is made for your system it will work on your system. Even if it has a couple of glitches, you can guarantee it will run -Compared to a PC (a decent one, we've agreed, runs about $800-1500) they are considerably cheaper -Do not need to be upgraded. All games from the beginning to the end of the system's lifetime are designed to run (hopefully optimally) on the system hardware as released CONSOLE CONS -You cannot upgrade the console short of buying a new or better one -Customization (i.e. options for controls) is practically nonexistent -All games have to be funneled through the console's company for approval. If Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo doesn't like the idea for a game, poof. It's never released -They really are just for gaming. I don't know many people who take any other features of consoles very seriously -You can't really interact with the games beyond playing them (i.e. can't put the Portal gun in Half-Life 2, can't make your own maps, etc.) PC PROS -You have a myriad of options about you want your PC to run. You can choose the best video card, or else you can hang back with a middle-of-the-road one. Same thing goes for pretty much any other components -You can interact with the games beyond playing them (see Console cons) -Options for control. Personally, I think this one renders the whole keyboard vs. controller question moot (YOU CAN PLUG A CONTROLLER INTO A COMPUTER) -A higher number of available games. I'd wager that the total number of games available for PC (even discounting emulation) is significantly higher than those for consoles. Even if the PC market is lagging a good number of games are still released for PC alongside their console brethren PC CONS -Different components may not work very well (or at all) with each other or certain games -Some coding/hardware inefficiencies compared to consoles (since the console game developers know exactly what the console hardware is, it's easy for them to take advantage of it) -Require more maintenance than consoles I've already said my piece about my preference, so right now I just want to collect thoughts and ideas together so we can act a bit more civil. Be sure to point out any additions on any front

Pics or it didn't (doesn't?) happen.

I wonder what the first game to have a remixable tune was. Tetris?

Ditto... except it's within the context of theater. I know the lights themselves are the same. I just don't know if lighting techniques are any different.

Amen brothas. When you have a versatile machine that can do more than just gaming you can modify your gaming experience. That can mean returning to old school classics or modifying games with your own content. Or both: You're going to get far more options with PCs. Yes, they can be a bitch to upgrade but at least you can upgrade them (Yay! Nintendo DS! It's so slick and awesome and... what the fuck? DS Lite?). Don't like using a keyboard? You got your mouse, joystick, or even a console controller if you want. But if you don't like using the controller on a console? Whoops, outta luck. Want to rip the disc to an image on the hard drive to cut down on loading time? A few clicks with Alcohol here on the PC. And now I don't need any discs to game. And hey! Let's use the Portal gun in Half-Life 2! ...oh, you've got it on 360? Sorry bud, no can do. It's awesome, though, I promise. I don't have anything close to an excellent gaming rig. Because I have a non-Alienware laptop. From 2005 (3.4 single core, 2 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard drive). But I have been able to play pretty much anything I've tried. And for the fifteen games I can't play on this there are fifteen hundred I can which I haven't even thought about touching yet. And about Vista not being designed from the ground up for gaming... well, that's true while you don't actually have a game open. But once you do all unnecessary processes either stop or are given minimal attention, as the OS knows the game is the only thing the user will be focusing on. Oh, and lest I forget.

So I read Naroo's thread and got to thinking. As some of you may know, I've been hanging out here for a long time trying to learn to remix from the ground up, and it's slow going. Why is this? Largely because no support appears to exist for those who are literally just starting out. I mean, I still don't know, for example, how to map a MIDI track I just imported to a synth and have it play (in Reason), since it appears to create its own Combinator patch and doesn't want to be mapped anywhere else. That question on its own can (and will, I imagine) be answered fairly quickly and easily, but it's a small part of my larger problem. The remixing forums already assume you basically know what you're doing and need to know specific things in your question to create DA MUZICKS. The rest of us, on the other hand, run into trouble trying to do much beyond soundfont assignment (and even then, as I've explained, it's not always perfect). That's not to say I haven't tried to learn. I've poked around in Reason and FL Studio. But, as has been the case with every program I've ever investigated, poking around doesn't do me a lot of good. I don't learn well without structure or direction. Thus, aimless wheels and button clicks do not lead me to accomplish much. That's what leads to threads like the one Naroo made: you've got so much staring you in the face you don't know where to start. Tutorials, by the way, are fairly limited in their scope and seem to only teach you the basic basics. So how can we bridge this gap? To get people who have no idea what they're doing to a point where they're capable enough to do most things themselves but be able to ask specific questions? Tell us how you wrote a given remix. That's right, from bottom to top. Starting from the MIDI you imported or composed all the way up to the fine tuning, mastering and decision to submit. I think a step-by-step explanation will be very good. Like this one on Youtube... except incorporating everything else that would be needed in order to get accepted onto OCR. Now what will this do for us n00b mixers? On its own, not a terrible amount. It will teach us how to twist knobs, apply effects and voila! We'll end up with a mix that's already been created. But if we read more than one we'll start to get a better understanding of how the process works from person to person, be able to abstract general trends and ideas out of specific techniques, processes and programs. If I, for example, could see (not just hear about) how Tweek created his stuttering effect for his D&B mixes, then I could replicate it but then build on it and inject my own ideas into the process (if you don't like this example please don't argue about it). Basically, I want to stand on the shoulders of giants (as it were) as I learn and develop my own effects, tricks, and voice in this computer music world.

Then allow me to suggest a radical shift in planning (oh noes!). Given the circumstances mentioned above and that we have not been able to agree on much of anything to do in the city, perhaps we should plan on arriving considerably earler than we had. We could chill in Central Park (or something else very nondescript and relaxing) and then head over around 4 or so (or else the earliest zircon is prepared to house us) and focus on that more than our city venture.

The question should never be why you should come to MAGfest. If anything, it should be why you shouldn't.

???????? ::shrug::

Oooh, oooh! Me me! FUNK: Load up Mellotron/Clavinet soundfont, arpeggiate bass notes frequently HUMOR: Skimp on production value, focus on idea/joke/craziness CHIPTUNE: insert basic 8bit drum track, load up chip soundfont, stylistic change optional DISCO/DANCE: place emphasis on offbeats, standard drum pattern, suddenly cut out in the middle and use a bunch of staccato stabs OPERA: Learn foreign language (or sound like you did), push voice out the back of throat, accompaniment optional MUSICAL: Make copious use of whistles, actual singing not necessary, can be plain dialogue awkwardly set to music DOO-WOP: Finger snaps and 6/8 tempo required A-CAPELLA: Limited to voice but any voice will do, pitches can be off considerably

You got it. I may bring a couple of other novelty games as well.

Can/should I bring my PS2 with some games? Since we're all musical folks around here, I want to schoo... err, introduce everyone to Frequency and Amplitude.

I bop around New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, as my family lives in the first, I'm from the second and spend some free time there, and attend college in the third. Oh, and maybe D.C. or San Diego this summer...

Couldn't spring for a PCI-x?

What the hell you guys? I'm going to MAGfest. That's about it.

How do you do it? From emulators or actual discs, it can be done... but how?

That is a side effect of doing things through the school. Our club meets twice a week for an hour. It's difficult to believe we could get much accomplished. But we do. We move quickly and cover a lot of stuff. Our sensei is a math teacher at the college, and also has over 20 years of experience actually teaching martial arts. He's a good professor and sensei, and pretty much all his students from either arena really enjoy working with him. I'm a green belt now and think I could go toe-to-toe with green belts from other dojos. And money, yes. The classes themselves are free... we've only had the purchase equipment. We don't even have to pay for tournaments (well, we do. But we get reimbursed). In short, while the club's conditions aren't ideal, we have a lot going for us and I feel confident in my Chidokwan abilities.

I'd like to get you some air time on Dickinson College's radio station. I've given Zircon the same offer though he's yet to follow up on it. I'll tell you more on the 29th.

Already lined up for 17 hours before the fest even really starts BOOYA.

Yes! ...sort of. You'll see what I mean.

Bump. 10char.

You tell me that's a beard that should ever see the light of day again. Oh, and yes I'm pimping OCR. Anyway, compare that to how I should look. I had more lady friends that week than I have in some time...