The Holocene Mass Exinction Event

does this bring back fond memories for anyone else?



so i was talking to a friend about this game a few days ago and how AWESOME the theme was, and she was like, "it was even better on the commodore 64", and i was like THERE WAS A C64 VERSION OF SKATE OR DIE OMG?! so i went searching and it turns out that skate or die was ported to the C64 and a few other consoles, but that skate or die 2 never was. dang! i wanted to hear the SID chip yelling "diediediediedie!!"

in my searches i found out the name of the composer, though, and it is rob hubbard, who is a musician who got interested in computers and software, taught himself assembly, and started coding and making video game music in the mid-80's. i went to the high voltage SID collection to try and find the mythical C64 version of skate or die 2, was reminded the thing has so many fucking songs on it it's impossible to find anything, and then found this great site, stone oakvalley's authentic SID collection, which has a great search interface (+ apparently non-emulated recording, which i wasn't aware HVSC had?). anyway, here are a few of rob hubbard's pieces that i found and really liked:

Rasputin: first song i clicked on after skate or die. it starts off weird and fun and gets faster and crazier as it goes.

Phantoms of the Asteroid [part 01]: adventurous, mechanical, spacey.

Phantoms of the Asteroid [part 04]: weird and experimental sounding. bleep bloop glitch.

W_A_R: epic, but not melodramatic. you feel like there's a big, sprawling story going on with this one.

Zoids: here is some drama! yes, i love that arpeggio!

Lightforce: atmosphereic but intense. reminds me a little of music from ecco the dolphin.


these aren't like the songs i sometimes link from places like 8bitcollective, etc; these are all from commercially released C64 games. very impressive. that's also why most of them seem to have really abrupt endings, because whoever was recording them probably stopped them before they stopped looping again. you can probably control that if you download the SID file instead of the MP3 and play it on a SIDplayer, but I don't know for sure because i haven't done that yet (the SID is the name of the sound chip in the C64, and it's got a gorgeous sound. if you're going to listen to game music, you can listen to an MP3 recording of the music, or you can get a played that will play the original sound file. that's what i have for listening to old NES and genesis music, and it's very cool since the music files are only a few kilobytes per song, and depending on the player you can manipulate and isolate the separate channels that the music is being produced in, which is loads of fun).

i FINALLY found a chiptune cover of the doctor who theme. not only did i find it, but it is FUCKIN' AWESOME:

The Doctor's In Danger by Mahamajama

MUCH more aesthetically pleasing than the version made for the actual bbc micro game the mines of terror, which you can listen to here. i've never played it but i've heard once you get past the music and the less-than stellar graphic design it's a really engrossing game (well, according to hardcore gamers. which i wouldn't count myself as since echo the dolphin is enough of a challenge for my attention and patience).









also, anyone who ever wished they could have a wee doctor who game to play on their gameboy should check out one of these posts by reasonabsurd. pixel art is sexy, and so is saving gallifrey from daleks while collecting bananas for extra points! i would definitely play this game. if it actually existed. which it doesn't. :(

have done a bit of a redesign on the livejournal. been meaning to forever, like with many things in my life at present. also chucked everything from my old profile in favour of a few vaguely enigmatic gifs.

i can now also be found over at inksome under the imaginative sobriquet prof_pangaea. other journal attained in case of catastrophic livejournal failure, or sudden need for 150 userpics, neither or which are likely to be happening anytime in the near future, but it pays to be prepared. that's why i walk around with a machete strapped to my back with duct tape.

also listening to this guy little-scale over at 8bitcollective. i am into his sega master system stuff (because i am a sucker for anything made with the SMS) and also his nanoloop tracks.

Systematic: gorgeous. like being on a peaceful voyage under the sea.
Antarctica: lonely and strange.
Dynasty: EPIC.

here is a nice tune made with the korg-ds (the cart that i covet very much):
Biotank. it's by someone named Drumper8, i's their only upload but i like it. chill but menacing.

and of course this: Before the Empire (I, II, and III) by Note!

Part I: Pax Cephalopoda - hundreds of millions of years of joy-filled and carefree squidiness.

Interlude: Genetentical Engineering - the humans take hold and, through science(!), turn squid into Cephalonaut.

Part II: Top Squid - the Cephalonauts spend hundreds of years blasting through space; combing the far reaches for the natural resources so desperately needed by their human masters.

Part III: March of the Mollusc's Foot - the Cephalonauts realize they hold the future of the planet Earth and the human race in the persistence of their deliveries. They leave Earth behind to dry up, they swell in numbers and take the universe by terrible, inky storm.

ok, so the thing i have wanted for about three years now is a nintendo ds. probably if i had been paying attention back when i was able to pay my bills i could have swung buying one -- used ones are pretty affordable. but then i just wanted one because of how they are neat, and lately i want one so very badly because of NitroTracker. it is like the most awesome thing i've ever seen. DRAWABLE AUDIO ENVELOPES OMG. in the spring i was reading up on the new korg ds-10 cart, which is a synthesiser program for the ds made by korg (which has "Two patchable dual-oscillator analog synth simulator" i.e. you can actually patch oscillators together with fake wires on the screen!), but NitroTracker looks even more awesome, especially because it is homebrew and the developer seems super cool. also it is midi compatible but i am too much of a noob to know how awesome that is, except more experienced people all say it is awesome so i assume they are right.

here is a screenshot of NitroTracker:

HOTT

here is an invisible dude using the korg ds-10:

look at the wee fake patch cords!

i want to have a wee music factory in mah pocket, dammit.