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Download “The Towers of Atlantis” (mp3)

Download “Earworm” (zip, ca. 18MB)

Can you find the supersecret Keycombo for starting the game in the supersecret HappyHardcore-Mode?

To run the game in fullscreen-mode, set “fullscreen = 1″ in earworm ini. Resolution and quality settings are there too. THE GAME IS OPTIMIZED FOR 16:9 ASPECT RATIOS AND HD RESOLUTIONS! But 16:10 will most likely also work.

The game features a realtime sample-playing and sequencer-engine which recombinates samples and loops based on musical criteria, completely controlled by the game.
It even features dynamic processing and turntable-like control of playback speed. The idea was to write a game music synthesizer with a simple API like

• play a song
• change to another part of that song at the earliest possible opportunity
• react appropriately to fuzzy dramaturgic measurements like “amount of danger”
• smoothly change tempo
• play stuff in parallel

Of course, the result has to

• always sound good, “musical” and “fitting”
• stay always in sync with the game
• never stop

So I hacked a lot of assumptions about the structure of music into the controller engine, and came up with a manageable system of describing “songs”. The possibilities and permutations are without limit, I will most likely further explore the area of realtime interactive music and visualisation systems.

Enjoy

Download “jco feat Mel Summer – Joy has found me”
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An entertaining beginners seminar I held at the demoscene party Revision 2011.

There are some obvious mistakes in there (yeah, talking English confuses me!). Consider it your task to find them

Synopsis:
The process of mixing aims at putting audio tracks together in a way that sounds pleasing to the listeners ear, at the same time bringing out the best of the music. While it has become easy to put some music together with an average netbook, getting the mix right not only requires the right tools, but also some knowledge about how to use them: clicking through presets doesn’t help here. This seminar will be about acoustics and perception, audio gear, the typical tools required for mixing and recommendations on how to use them. So, if you make music yourself and have none or little experience with EQs, dynamic processors, stereo imaging, routing and so on, this is for you. If you are involved with coding games or other applications incorporating audio, you might learn something too.

Here are the sine-wave-examples:

some-sines

sine-up-down

This is the unedited recording from Revision 2011. The original file is available at scene.org. Thanks to the Revision 2011 seminar team!

Revision website: http://revision-party.net

#01 Indian Love – Wir machen Sex und keine Popmusik PARTY

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#02 Indian Love – Wir machen Sex und keine Popmusik TRAEUM WEITER

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#03 Indian Love – Wir machen Sex und keine Popmusik EXTENDED

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Cover Art - Click for large version!

Cell Necrosis – Abbyss Beyond Oblivion PROMO

Now free for download (320kbps mp3)

Cell Necrosis – 01 – Beyond the Grave
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Cell Necrosis – 02 – The Dead come wanking
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Cell Necrosis – 03 – Tribal Death
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Cell Necrosis – 04 – Angels never lived
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Cell Necrosis – 05 – Bonecrust
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Cell Necrosis – 06 – Angerblast
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Cell Necrosis – 07 – Chainsaw Fisting
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Cell Necrosis – 08 – The Tale of Sorrow (Part II)
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Here are the release notes (sry, German):

Cell Necrosis
conjures
Abbyss Beyond Oblivion PROMO

Gesang …. Lanzelot
Gitarre … Thannatos the Torturer
Drums ….. Beholder of the Blade the Third

Die Künstler über das Album:

“Wir hängen die Messlatte nicht einfach höher – wir hängen die Messlate _woanders_ hin.”
- Beholder of the Blade the Third
“Wir waren schon am Start, da hat deine Oma noch Black Sabbath gehört”
- Lanzelot
“Seit ich Gitarre spielen kann, bin ich Fünf”
- Thannatos the Torturer

Bandbiographie:

Lanze, Thanno und Rudolf kennen sich bereits seit ihrer Kindheit. Psychologen interpretieren ihr seitdemiges Hingezogensein zum Destruktiv-Finsteren und Abysmal-scheusslichen als Ausdruck einer neuen Generation. Sie geben als Cell Necrosis ihrer Jüngerschaft bedingungslose Härte und das Gefühl, mit ihrer Individualität nicht allein zu sein. Erste Gigs spielte die Truppe in einem Kindergarten. Thanno zerlegte die Ukulele, während Lanze schrie und Rudolf schätzungsweise 10 Inventarstücke der Einrichtung perkussiv zweckentfremdete.
Der einzigartige Sound der Band prägte sich in den späteren 1980er Jahren. Schon vor dem ersten Auftritt kam es zu internen Streitigkeiten, Rudolf verließ die Band und wurde erst 5 Jahre später durch Beholder of the Blade the Third ersetzt.
Seitdem knüppelt die Band nicht nur im Studio sondern heizt ihren Fans auch auf der Bühne mächtig ein. Jetzt melden sie sich nach einer kreativen Pause mit ihrem neuen Album “Abbyss beyond Oblivion” zurück.

Über das Album:

Der einzigartige Stil erweist sich als eine Mischung aus Steelcore, Electronic Filth und Einflüssen von Eisregen, Sepultura, und vielen anderen, geht aber zwei Schritte weiter. Cell Necrosis bringen in dem Album ihre Abbyss-Trilogie zu einer würdigen Klimax. Hier gibt es nicht nur auf die Ohren, vielmehr treibt die Musik einen stählernen Meissel in die Hypophyse. Immer treiben die mal verstörenden, dann wieder erweckenden Melodien auf einem Nagelbrett aus wuchtigen Drums und fauchenden Vocals.

Eisregen war gestern …

The cover - a true piece of true art

Download “jco – anyway”

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#1: Jason Cane – Don’t
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#2: Jason Cane – Creed on One
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#3: Jason Cane – Your Pain
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My real name is Jan C. Obergfell, which should explain my pseudonym “jco”. I was born in 1982, and became fascinated by technology early enough to witness the breathtaking, ongoing revolution that began when homecomputers became affordable. The first machine I laid my hands on was a C116, and then a C64 on which I wrote my first BASIC-Programs (but my interesting BASIC-Programs I wrote on an Atari 1040 STE). My first PC was a 286 – an ugly machine in comparison to my Atari. I continued on the road of software development, but this is material for another article.

I have always been fascinated by technology, and all the same I found a lot of satisfaction in being creative, in whatever way possible for me.

It all started when I was about 3 years old, when my mother endorsed me to learn playing the violin. I did so for many years, following the Suzuki Method. This educational philosophy made music and expression through melody a first language for me. I earned some little orchestra experience, and I remember clearly how I circumvented the effort of reading and translating the score by “just playing something that kinda fits”. Strangely enough, I got through with that approach. I learned some more basics and techniques of musical expression later – including education in piano, alto saxophone and my voice, as well as self-education regarding flute and guitar.

My second major step on the road of creative musical expression was the aquisition of computer technology. My first experiments and experiences with Sequencer Software and the MIDI protocol range back to when I was about 10 years old. Due to bad luck I never knew anybody who supplied me a tracker – thus, my first multitracked songs I created using the first AWE32, which basically was a cheap sampler, later extended with a Yamaha XG ROMpler daughterboard, which supplied more instruments and effects. I started selling tracks on the still new mp3.com platform – here is one of my most appreciated tracks of that time (1998 – and kinda cheesy ): jco – digital science

The third step was a massive upgrade of equipment in 1999. I already pushed the old hardware to it’s limits, composing XG-specific sysex commands after figuring out the specifications and using 8MB of sample RAM on the AWE32. So I got my first “professional”, ROM-based Synthesizer, using the popular Roland JV-Series engine, loaded with some extension boards. That’s when I stared using dedicated rooms for music production, too. I continued using a sampler for electronic drum sounds, and later extended my setup with a TB-303 clone and a Quasimidi Sirius (also known as the worst sounding digital synthesizer ever – which, luckily, is not entirely true). Here is one of the best tracks I got out of this setup: jco – when we rise (2001)

The fourth step was the massive increase in available computing power: the software studio. synthesizers, processing tools, mixers, it all went digital and into the average home computer. I completely went software, gaining a lot of possibilities and abilities. I increasingly reached out, trying myself in different musical genres – and having a lot of fun in the process. I also started holding back tracks, not releasing them, deeming them “not good enough” – whatever that means. My output nevertheless was high enough to periodically release tracks in the demoscene. What had happened to audio had happened to video too, and due to the availability of a digital camcorder and the necessary software, I started doing music videos and short films as well. One of my favorites of that time is Memorize your Future (2005).

My ventures into the non-electronic variety of musical genres fruited – among other experiments – in an “act” I call “Jakob Bienenhalm”. You can find his works at bienenhalm.de.

The fifth and most recent step I took on my venture of music production took me into a true-to-it’s-name recording studio in 2010. I am surprised myself over the effectiveness an acoustically optimized production environment allows. Everything is so much more precise: For example, i began hearing differences in transients when comparing dynamics processors operating at 44.1 KHz with the same algorithms operating at 96 KHz. Not that it matters much, though .

I also started recording musicians playing acoustic instruments, which again opened my ears to new musical experiences. By the way: If you are interested in high quality recordings of your instrument or voice, some kind of collaboration or just jamming around, feel free to contact me.

At present time, my personal mp3 archive contains about 500 songs. That is, counting those I converted to mp3 and which I stored in my personal, persistent library.

To bridge tha gap: I came to the conclusion that there’s nothing wrong about sharing a little more of what I do (and what comes out of it) – thus this blog. I hope you’ll enjoy the content, feel free to share your opinions.

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Download “End Credits” (mp3)