Nerd Funny

I don't ever pre-order things. But the Korg DS-10's US release has me giddy with excitement so I did the unthinkable a couple of weekends ago: I plunked down my cash to purchase the idea of software. I pre-ordered this thing and I can't wait until they ship it to me on October 14th.

For those not in the know, the Korg DS-10 is a full-fledged synthesizer with step sequencer for the popular Nintendo DS. I was just over at Amazon watching the tutorial videos and getting excited about programming this thing. I haven't had a chance to really dig into sound synthesis for quite a while and this is going to be my fix for sure.

I can't think of any better concrete way to learn about the science of sound in a hands-on capacity than using a sequencer that lets you build a sound from its basic elements: sine waves. VCOs, VCAs, VCFs, EGs, S&H: all of these are acronyms with which you'll quickly become familiar and then after you play around for a while, suddenly it all starts to make sense. Actually, I think the VC part of those letters is pretty funny in the context of the DS. Those letters stand for Voltage Controlled, meaning actual electrical signals are being produced to generate the desired effect, but there's nothing voltage controlled about the DS-10 software. It is software, after all, and already completely in digital form. See? Ha ha. I told you it was funny. Nerd funny.

Poesysteme: Markmark Xydenden

My latest piece entitled "Markmark Xydenden".

markmark xydenden ter mark
markladentmarkmark markmark mark
markmark outcutmarkden dentact
dentact dentactactdent oneden
mark xyonemarking markdent out
markladentmarkmark mark den out
dentactactdent xydenden den
ter den dentmarksphsty ter

Like I said before, it's far from genius and it's a little disappointing when the poems tend toward the repetitive, but it's pretty entertaining while it lasts.

Ballyhoo

I applied to two more jobs over the weekend. One of those jobs was a sound designer position with Bally Technologies, makers of many electronic casino gaming machines. They caught me off guard on Tuesday by calling me. Yes, they called and it was weird. Anyway, they only wanted to know if I had some demo material available to submit. Of course, I did, so I pointed them to a link. My hopes aren't high, though. I don't expect to hear anything else from them, actually. Those positions are just as competitive as video game jobs and I may have only been graced with a phone call due to submitting early in their search process.

I also applied to a position at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. They need two audio professionals to help manage their audio assets at a library in their department of ornithology. I'm truly excited about this particular opportunity because it's long been a fantasy of mine to be able to live the librarian's life, surrounded by all kinds of knowledge at my fingertips, there for the taking. I'm sure my mother is thrilled with the ornithology part of the equation as someone who spent, in my memory anyway, an inordinate amount of time listening to bird call records in college.

In any case, it's good to feel like I'm making even a little headway in my career by having someone call me about a position when I apply. It sure beats being ignored. Baby steps, right?

Very Early Morning Ramblings

I've been awake since 4am with the dry heaves. I'm almost 32 years old and until now I've never experienced the feeling of vomiting absolutely nothing. If you still don't know what that feels like, it hurts. Bad. My esophagus feels like I swallowed a drywall screw. I feel somewhat OK now, but I'm really tired. I haven't had a good night's sleep in three days.

Despite not feeling too well yesterday (I felt alternately OK and then tired and nauseous all day), we had Claudiu and Autumn over for some chatting and a game of Settlers of Catan. It was the first Settlers game I've ever won. We hadn't seen Clau and Autumn for a few months so it was good to catch up. Now that we've done so, we've proposed a monthly game night which I anticipate just as much as my weekly role playing group and semi-weekly computer gaming sessions.

I'm starting to feel a little like my folks when they have their card parties, but I think they might still be disappointed to know that I have a slight aversion to card games. They used to try to teach me Pinochle and for whatever reason, I just couldn't stay focused on the cards. Even when we play card games that I enjoy like Hearts or Cincinnati (which is apparently known to the rest of the world by another name because I can't find a reference to it anywhere on the web), I can only play a couple of games before I start to get bored. My theory about this behavior is that I like a little bit of narrative (even the little bit that is attached to Settlers or Monopoly) with my games which would certainly explain my greater attraction to video games and role playing games. Colorful doodads to play with and dice to roll are also part of the attraction, I think.

Anyway, I've been busy this week with my freelance work taking a lot of my spare time. Speaking of which, I feel better about my career choice than I did in my last post. I was just really disappointed that I didn't see my whole name (if the ambiguous Chuck was indeed referring to me) in the credits despite the fact that I played the game for about 30 minutes and didn't think it was all that great. It's the only thing I've worked on that I might have had my name attached to so I could point to it and say, "I helped with this." I still wonder about my abilities, but the reality is that I haven't tried to find any other jobs for the last three years since I'm still relatively pleased with my current position so perhaps it will be easier with something on my resume instead of nothing. Hope springs eternal, I guess.

Disappointed Again

I can't help but be disappointed. I finally picked up a copy of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude last Saturday. I didn't want it because I thought it was a good game, but because it was supposed to be the only product available with my name in it somewhere. I was told at one point after my internship at High Voltage that my name had been added to the in-game credits. I waited a few years for the price of the game to come down on the used market because I wasn't that interested in the game itself, but I wanted to own a copy it just so I could show it to somebody, anybody, to prove that I indeed had my name in a game somewhere.

I popped in the disc and immediately let the in-game credits roll. Amy sat down beside me, both of us searching for my name. We endured some awful song by Luke Skyywalker of 2 Live Crew as name after name scrolled up the screen. Every category passed and soon the credits were over. No name. It wasn't in there. There was one Chuck that was mentioned by first name only and I guess that was probably me but really there's no way to know for sure. It was even coupled with a Sherry, "Chuck and Sherry". So really that could have been anybody.

Which brings me to this: the audio industry can kiss my ass. I've met some really cool people who did what they could to help me out and I appreciate their assistance very much. But, unfortunately, all the effort that I've ever put forth has only netted me a gig adapting 20 second clips of MIDI for kids' books which I still don't get any credit for. For God's sake, I work with a 24 year old kid who seems to have just stumbled into the gig and he works on more involved things than I do. I worked my ass off through most of my 20s, learning a lot of MIDI/audio information on my own, getting two degrees, working my hands bloody trying to earn enough money to keep Amy and I afloat in the early days while she was getting her therapy degree, and I still don't get to write music which is all I ever really wanted to do. It just doesn't seem to add up. One might accuse me of being jealous. Well, heck yes, I'm jealous. I put a lot of effort into learning the trade, applying for jobs, making demo reels, and I did what I could in terms of networking, but it's just not enough. Whatever it is I do, people just don't like it. Whether that means that I just plain suck or not, I'm not sure. In any case, I'm done trying to please people who just don't give a shit.

After my tenure is up at my current job, I don't know what I'll do, but I can guarantee that I will think twice about continuing to try to find audio work related to anything in entertainment. There must be some boring audio work to be done out there. I could try to go edit VO all day for Paul I guess. Somebody has to record and/or edit books on CD. Maybe I can find some time to start taking classes in some other subject while I'm still working so that by the time I quit or get laid off, I'll be near another degree that will prove to be more useful. I'm certainly of limited ability with music/audio. Hopefully, I feel better about this soon.

Robot Gorilla Returned, Sox in 4

So, I suppose I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that the Chicago White Sox swept the World Series in four games and that the city in which I reside by proxy is bubbly with celebration. But if you knew me at all, you'd be aware that the focused attention my brain ascribes to any local sports team is peripheral when said team is winning a championship and wholly indetectible during the mundane portions of whichever season is current. My reaction to the news, which I pieced together by noting portions of rolled newspapers on the sidewalk during my stroll to the morning bus, was one of relaxed surprise followed by an understated jubilant exclamation. In fact, in lieu of the conclusion to The Series, I was busy escorting a robotic gorilla through a dangerous prehistoric crater. This is just the hard-knock life I lead.

I also checked up on my membership status over at the Game Audio Network Guild website earlier this week. It seems that despite the fact that I did not renew my membership almost two months ago, I am still able to log into the site, browse and post on the messageboard, and access the critical recorded resources that contain every morsel of wisdom from the game audio illuminati hive mind. Let me restate that the reason I disassociated myself from the group was a general sense of decay, a feeling that no one was paying attention to the organization despite many assurances to the contrary. I still believe I have, for now, made the correct decision and ask the question of GANG leadership, "Who's Minding the Mint?".

Comings and Goings

Usually when our doorbell rings, it's Patrick, a guy with Down Syndrome from across the street. He has his own signature style of ringing the heck out of it, which lets us know that it's him by the tell-tale, rapid-fire bell impacts that never quite have time to reach the "dong" in "ding-dong". We're never sure quite why he's coming over, and it can be fun to try to guess. Sometimes, he just wants to say hello and remind us that he's a good neighbor. Agreed. Other times, the requests turn exotic in a mundane sort of way, such as taking photographs of our dining room table.

So, when the doorbell rang last night, it was an initially tense situation. The bell rang once and completely, the "dong" actually having time to decay to nothing. I was downstairs watching television when Amy answered the door and her reception of the visitor was surprised and happy. So, curious as ever, I went upstairs to see who it was. Steve, who last visited us in early June with his wife Ellen, was standing on the porch! So, we invited him inside and he told us that he was making a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska to deliver his father's car. We chatted for a couple of hours and then he continued on his way. He wanted to visit the Field of Dreams and I believe that was his next official destination. It was nice to see you, Steve. Farewell for the remainder of the trip.

However, not only has a reunion occurred but a separation as well. I have decided not to renew my membership with GANG for the coming year. While it is a professional organization, the parting is bittersweet simply because I was able to meet and become involved with many great and interesting people who also work with audio, video games, and multimedia. Unfortunately, while the people I met continue to be great, the organzation itself seems almost completely static. While much hoopla has been generated by and about events like Video Games Live, things like that don't generate concrete benefits for the membership. I haven't really seen anything new regarding concrete benefits like that in almost two years with the only exception being the addition of a Grammy catagory for music in an interactive medium. And all things being what they are, I don't think most of the membership is really gunning for a Grammy quite yet.

Why is GANG becoming stagnant? While there are probably many reasons, I think it may be partially due to the fact that the board of directors isn't democratically decided. In essence, the same people, with a few exceptions, are voted in every year and as a result, new perspectives are rarely introduced. That process also indicates that the same few people bear the extra burden of running GANG and maintaing their current workload of their businesses. That can be an incredible burden, I'm sure, but I don't think that it serves the paying membership of GANG in the best way possible. So, this is primarily why I have left the organization for now. I will gladly return if some revitalization occurs, but until then, I'll keep my membership money.

Dead Aardvark

Amy and I got together with Jordan and Jeanne Sunday night for dinner and a movie. We went to a small Italian restaurant called Martino's and then retired to their basement which is quite literally a small movie theater. Jordan has a digital projector mounted from the ceiling that projects its image onto the screen. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions of the screen, but it has an aspect ratio similar in appearance to typical 16:9 televisions. The main differences, of course, are that it's a screen and it covers an entire wall. I was unsure what Amy's reaction to something like that would be and was pleased to discover that she was duly impressed. I am one step closer to my goal! Anyway, we watched Hero. It was, as usual, visually stunning and the combat sequences were amazing. Martial arts movies just plain rule.

In the frustrating news department, I did a quick check to see if there were any updated drivers for my professional audio card and found that the company, Aardvark Audio, has gone out of business. My first reaction is to sell the card, get what I can for it, and buy something that is still being manufactured. I haven't experienced a second reaction yet. I might just be stuck with it, which is fine unless I need support. I've also heard rumors that they only went under temporarily until some legal issues are sorted out, but I'm not holding my breath.

Currently listening to: Van Halen, I'll Wait