Jiggery-Ponkery

It was a long journey! Really started when we somehow got a little electric piano, then I started downloading midis and printing out the piano roll scores so I could play melodies on it. Then realised I could use the program to change the songs... then make my own! Then after noodling around for 15 years, I suddenly have hundreds of finished songs?! Seems crazy to me sometimes. Temple of Chaos needs way more love. Something in the style of RoeTaKa's Dark Souls remixes would be just incredible! And how well it meshes with the Undersea Shrine music? Brilliant. (And how the Epilogue kinda references the Town theme?! And how Matoya and the Prologue/main theme kinda start off nearly the same?? I feel like people never mention how tightly woven a lot of these songs could be...) I also love "Gobble, Snarf, Snap"! May be my favourite off that album. The joy those descending lines give me is something I can't describe very well. Feels like a weasel happy-bouncing with a full tummy!

The Prelude! Its the song that got me to love music. Specifically, Ailsean's "Final Ecstacy" remix (https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00063), which I think should be attributed to Final Fantasy 4, when the melody first appeared, rather than 7. Unless there's some extra background stuff I'm not familiar enough with... Anyway. Before I heard this song, music was mainly one of two things: something to endure in church, or something to turn off in the car. There were a handful of songs I found okay, and some songs that, looking back, I love because of having heard them as a child. But I never put music on on PURPOSE. It never occurred to me to consider music from video games as music, I guess. There was this old flash series, Final Fighting Fantasy. Episode 6, a Cid from one of the games is explaining the plot to some other characters. I think it was the first time in the series that there was voice acting. Suddenly, it was epic. And then that sweet guitar tone starts wailing that melody...! I am pretty sure I cried. First OCRemix I downloaded. When Ailsean re-did the song with, in his opinion, a better tone (something about a wind tunnel, if I recall?), I didn't like it. There was something about that hugeness of it that still grabs me today. Its just sublime. But its not just the tone, of course--its the melody. And where and how its used. As was brought up, game music evoking a scene is important, especially for those old songs. Music was the voice acting, the character, all the dialogue that could never fit into the small cartridge space. It was the detailed emotion that couldn't fit on the 16x16 or 16x32 pixel sprites. The Prelude. This guitar, that melody, in that scene, is what Final Fantasy is all about, to me. Heroes vs. villains (who may be other heroes), some cosmic disaster looming, all that. I can't say if hearing the song on its own would have been the trigger I needed. It was everything at the time; story, emotion, characters, melody, instrumentation, mood. I have to admit, it was difficult for me. I could go on about Freya's Theme from FF9, or Temple of Chaos from FF1, or how it feels like half of all of FF5's OST is connected and the leitmotifs flow and mix together so that you start humming one song and end on a completely different one. Any of the great character themes from 6 or 7. Zanarkand--there's one I've never played, but that song still hits me as if it means something. Like a memory I know I should be able to recall, but can't; proof that the music stands on its own without the emotional baggage and scene-setting (or maybe the exception that proves the rule? (I never understood that saying.)) "The Dark's Embrace" from FF14, which sounds like it should have been a feisty dungeon song on the SNES. "Why" from, what was it, Crisis Core? Pretty much the only song off that OST I kept to listen to again (another exception; never played it!) But, no. I'll stick with the Prelude! Final answer. :D The song that started it all; both for the series, and for me as a composer. As someone who loves music. Thanks for reading my rambling stream of consciousness. (And please someone do a FF14 remix album where its retrofied. Hard to do modern soundtrack remixes justice sometimes, but crank up the nostalgia on some of those tunes, I bet it would be amazing.)

I'd like to share an experience that didn't happen at the time I took the survey... it may be a very rare use case, however. I wanted to share a few specific songs from the Terranigma album with some friends. Off the top of my head, there was 2 ways to do this: Get them to download the torrent/mp3 album, or re-encode the mp3s I had to be under 8 megabytes so I could upload them to Discord chats. I didn't want to go through the hassle of re-encoding and uploading to each friend, or make a Discord group just to share them, and I didn't want to try to explain to different peole how to use torrents or how to get the right mp3 download--then waste their time and everyone's bandwidth when there was only 5 out of 30 or more that I was trying to show them.There's no individual download for the tracks on the album sites, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to share single Soundcloud tracks. I eventually found a way to get a link to the Soundcloud album (just on Soundcloud, not on OCR, so they wouldn't be confused about where the music list was), then listed the track names I wanted to show them, and hoped they would figure it out from there. I tried just now to find the album link, and I can't! I don't even know how I did it last time! I can't even find a link to the album's page anymore, except if you scroll to the very bottom to Liontamer's post where its hidden in the middle, between a Youtube trailer and a torrent link. Short version: It would be great if albums had their own Youtube uploads as well. I sort of get how only a few songs are chosen to be part of the OCRemix curated hoard... But if OCR is going to be hosting and advertising, isn't that already kind of a stamp of quality? (And, as a very long time lurker, I just want to say thanks to everyone for all the music. When I was a kid with dialup, I'd download one song over an hour and listen to it on repeat the whole week. I rarely do that anymore, but those tracks from the Terranigma album have basically been given the same treatment.)

I didn't get a custom-Proph-built computerr, due to being in another country... but he did help me with understanding how to shop for parts, gave good recommendations, and was just super helpful and kind! I was able to figure out what I wanted, and building it myself was not too big a problem. Even though some of the assembly manuals could have been more helpful, like the motherboard should have a "DID YOU PUT THE STANDOFFS IN FIRST???" section on page 1. I'm quite happy with it! Gotta make some music so I can get a new GPU though. One part I couldn't find/afford...

Its about that time again! I have enough money to go for all new now. Going to give my current one away. I'd like to stay under $1500 (really love to stay under $1000, in fact, but all new, music-making, game-playing machine for that price?) Don't need keyboard, mouse, or any of that stuff, just the tower. Would you be able to build something and ship it to Quebec, or make a list of recommendations available from Canadian retailers? Are things expected to go on sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, or is any time this month okay for pricing?

Alright. Budget was lower than anticipated, so for now... I just got a replacement cooler. No upgrading yet. But I'm keeping all I learned for next time! Hopefully next November.Thanks again for the advice and putting up with my whiney moment!

This is getting pretty difficult for me as a picky person who knows nothing about modern technology. Someone suggested this case and this motherboard, but a Youtube review mentioned that my particular graphics card tends to run hot with this case due to the lack of front fans. That sounds bad, since the most annoying thing is the graphics card's fans running loud. Then my friend mentioned the motherboard has spacing issues and limited fan plugs, so if I went with another case I don't know if I'd even be able to plug in more fans? And both those suggestions came with downgrading to a Ryzen 3 3300X to fit within the budget range I offered--because it turns out I need to upgrade my RAM to DDR4 as well. Oof. Feels like I'm back to square one with figuring out what to get... Edit: Recruiting another friend to help me narrow selections down, hopefully I'll figure it out before midnight tonight! If not, then I'm stumped and I'll come begging for specifics. XD

Thanks! I'm looking around some, and I might be a little confused. A Motherboard doesn't come with a CPU? So its $100 for the motherboard, $60-70 for the case, and the CPU itself... This? Do CPUs come with thermal paste for installation, or is that another thing to get on its own?

Been following this thread from the shadows for 12 years now... Seeing all the people getting help, this is the one place in the internet I trust! I'm looking to upgrade a few parts... What I have now: (Sorry its kind of word-salad to me; just writing down what I see on the boxes, or the Amazon pages I bought them from.) EVGA Supernova 550 G3 550 watt gold power supply ASRock Phantom Gaming Radion RX 580, (8GB GDDR5) Patriot Signature DDR3 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) PC3-12800 (1600MHz) 240-Pin DDR3 Desktop Memory Kit PSD38G1600K -- and another 8 GB of whatever came with the computer. Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD -- plus another 1TB platter drive that I use for backup. These are all pretty new so I really don't want to replace them! What I'm looking to get: A new case -- current one is banged up, the front fan is suspended by rubber bands. A new motherboard and CPU Whatever else is necessary for a computer to run. DVD drive? Haven't used it in years... What I'm looking to do: Run Red Dead Redemption 2 Go crazy with VSTs in Reason 9 Not be bothered by noise. Right now there's some water cooling system that's rattling, driving me crazy. I can't find a model name or number on it and don't have the receipts to figure out what it might be. Nervous about taking it off to clean it and not being able to put it back on, or if the CPU itself is part of it. Its been 7-10 years now and I read they last like 5, so... Maybe, possibly, replace the GPU, too. Its just so damn loud, especially in indoor environments. FF14 and GTAV both run pretty much fine when outdoors, but soon as I go inside an apartment, the fans get so loud so fast I fear they're going to crash the drivers or computer--like several un-optimized Unity demo games have done. In Outer Worlds, soon as I look at the coloured glass the professor guy is hiding behind in his space station, it does the same thing, then starts cooling down when I turn away. Had to set the FPS cap to 30 to stop it. GTAV claims its only using 1600 MB of the 8 GB too. I figure that covers the big stuff! I'm in Canada, so I don't know about shipping, and still waiting for one of those fancy stimulus checks. Trying to figure out what will work with my current upgrades and if I'll be able to afford it. Would really appreciate it if you could help! :D