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Fed up with the idiotic obstinacy of the local losers, scum and such like and their repeated attempts to force him to apply to the country of their choice, arg/machine recently had an idea to make a suggestion to the country in question, if only to bring this irksome issue to an end.
The suggestion:
To begin with, arg/machine will not apply to the said country. An application indicates a certain degree of inherent eagerness to work there and this – after more than a decade of suffering – is decidedly lacking in arg/machine.
He can, however, consider working in/with the aforementioned country if it approaches him with a suitable offer.
There are, nevertheless, these prerequisites:
A. A long while back, arg/machine had mentioned that he had a monthly remuneration package in mind. For the aforementioned country, this has gone up ten times, to match the number of years – actually, it'll be 10.5 years next month – that he’s had to suffer forced unemployment, ridicule and humiliation, though due to no personal or professional fault or weakness of his own [for details, see this machine HQ announcement and this addendum].
B. In the past, the local morons and the country of their choice – both – had persistently attempted to dictate arg/machine’s personal life. They’ll need to understand that arg/machine’s personal life is his own to manage and no intrusions or attempts to influence it will be tolerated. In short, he alone chooses who he socializes with.
Take it, or leave it…
This, as the post’s title suggests, is “a take it, or leave it” suggestion: if the above prerequisites are acceptable to the said country, then it may – only if it wants to, that is – get in touch with arg/machine by the end of this month. And if it doesn’t, arg/machine will consider this issue of applying to that country… closed.
Next: Lazarus Machine music…
That’s it for this post; the next one, in which arg/machine will write about the response of the aforementioned country to his suggestion and – regardless of how it responds – share a metal/hard rock track excerpt with friends and well-wishers, is scheduled for the first Monday of next month. Meanwhile, check out some audio/visual and/or eBook stuff posted previously. Thanks.
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Share This!The machine HQ announcement: An addendum
arg/machine would have gladly left things as they stood at the last post, but – and in keeping with their pigheadedness – these half-witted local losers, scum and their cronies have begun their attempts – yes, again – to force him to apply to their country of choice, thus necessitating this addendum: a continuation of the last machine HQ announcement. Visitors, therefore, are advised to read that announcement – it can be found here – before proceeding further.
It seems that these local morons find it hard to accept or comprehend that after suffering over ten years of continuous forced unemployment, unwanted intrusions, insults and humiliation – acts in which the country in question was a willing participant – arg/machine is loath to even entertain the thought of applying there without receiving compensation.
In these ten-plus years, there have been innumerable times when arg/machine felt severely handicapped, though due to no personal or professional fault or inadequacy of his own. For just one of these handicaps, see the second half of this post.
These losers need to stop dreaming and get real: The only way arg/machine can be made to forget these bitter memories and then apply to the very country that participated in their creation is through compensation for the time lost and for the insults/humiliation endured.
Note: After having repeated this unalterable fact countless times in these posts already, arg/machine hopes he will not have to do so any further, and that this will be his last post for now. He’ll resume blogging/tweeting once the circumstances arg/machine has been forced to exist in for over a decade improve. Thanks.
This week: The mechtronica test...
And now, to ensure that this post isn’t entirely pervaded by negative experiences, let’s get to the experimental and slightly-rough-around-the-edges electronica excerpt arg/machine has decided to share with friends and well-wishers. Though he has attempted electronica in the past, arg/machine hasn’t been happy with any of those efforts, primarily because they lacked the neat tricks and effects that abound in this genre.
These tricks – and effects – include glitches, stutter, filter/panning automation, gating and echo/delay to name only a few, and require substantial time and effort to set up. The process usually involves manipulating audio filter parameters and using one or more plugins to slice up incoming audio and then rearranging these slices or adding various effects to individual and/or groups of slices. Or all of these.
Anyway, arg/machine decided to put his electronica-making skills to the test recently with a… well, proper effects-laden high-energy track. And so, after arming himself with some funky – mostly free – audio effect plugins, he got to work. The plugins used – either singly or in various combinations – in this “test” include LFX-1310 Multi-Effector, LiveCut, KT Granulator, mgTriggerGate, dfx Scrubby, TBT Tapestop, dfx Buffer Override and a few others.
The structure employed for this experimental effort is as follows: Initial effects >> main synth melody introduced >> effects >> bass [on the left channel] and beats introduced >> more effects >> secondary synth hook [on the right channel] introduced >> final set of effects.
And the result of all the slicing, rearranging and filtering can be listened to right here onTwitWall this week, by using the familiar SoundCloud player above. Or you, the good reader, can visit the excerpt’s SoundCloud page to hear it...
And that’s it for this post. Meanwhile, check out some audio/visual and/or eBook stuff shared previously. Thanks again.
The machine HQ announcement
Before getting to the subject of this post – a new track excerpt – it’s crucial to understand the situation and conditions that arg/machine has to live and work in. So read the most recent announcement from the machine HQ – dated April 4th – first. You can find it here.
The final blog post
arg/machine has decided that this post will also be his last, for now. He will resume tweeting/blogging once the situation and conditions outlined in that machine HQ announcement improve. So thanks for being here all this time.
Of course, he may be forced by the said "situation and conditions" to post a few more machine HQ announcements, but the basic gist of these will remain – as they always have – the same: compensation first.
Jammin’… again
While working on a track, arg/machine usually prefers programming or designing his own sounds. In this track, however, only the synth bass sound/preset is his own: it was created a while ago, using the funky [and free] mda Sub-Bass Synthesizer effect plugin and Synth1, a neat [and also free] softsynth.
The synth lead and pad sounds – heard later on in the excerpt – are not original or custom-designed. You see good reader, arg/machine recently downloaded a demonstration version of a popular commercial softsynth. And it was while checking out the various factory presets this softsynth is equipped with that he came up with the lead melody [a truncated version of which can be heard in the excerpt].
One thing then followed another and before arg/machine knew it, he had the bass hook as well. So with these elements in place, arg/machine added the beats, some scratching, the synth pads and a few minor sound effects to create this new track…
About the beats: Over the years, arg/machine has built up a collection of custom beats or drum patterns, which are played using various, mostly-free software drum synthesizers [like these or this one, for instance].
This new track is titled jammin’ again – a reference, of sorts, to jammin’, a previously-shared track excerpt featuring a bass-beats-pad-&-lead setup similar to this new jam and which, again like this new one, was born out of improvisation.
Yes, this is the “funky track excerpt” alluded to in the beginning of that recent machine HQ announcement, and you can hear it this week, simply by using the familiar SoundCloud player you see above. Or you can give it a listen @ its SoundCloud page.
And that’s it for this post. Meanwhile, check out some audio/visual and/or eBook stuff shared previously. Thanks.
machine HQ announcement
arg/machine had intended to share a funky track excerpt next, but no: the local losers, scum and their cronies seem to have gone into… well, “Hyper drive”, with their attempts to force arg/machine to re-apply to the country of their choice.
The result? Another of these brief – but crucial – announcements from the machine HQ.
Previously, in arg/machine’s life…
The biggest regret [and mistake] of arg/machine’s existence so far has been his application – in the very distant past – to local trash’s country of choice.
Nothing positive came from that application; instead, arg/machine had to suffer unprovoked threats, insults and ridicule from a variety of idiots, losers and scum. Not satisfied with just insulting him, these idiots, losers and scum also prevented – as they continue to do even now – arg/machine from earning [see the second half of this post for more details].
This has been going on for over ten years now…
Moreover, these losers have plagiarized arg/machine’s ideas more than once and have persistently attempted to influence and control his private life. And frequently, this country of their choice has been an active partner in all these attempts.
A message for terrorists…
After having suffered for over a decade, the only possible way to get arg/machine to re-apply to this country of local trash’s choice is to compensate him for his time that has been idiotically and obstinately wasted and for the insults and ridicule that he has endured.
In most literate and civilized countries, this is fair and legal.
Threats and arm-twisting have not worked in the past – and will not work now – since to arg/machine, these are “acts of terrorism” and he does not give in to terrorists.
In any case, is it too difficult to comprehend how unpleasant working with arg/machine will be – for he will make it unpleasant – if he is forced to re-apply and then work in this country of local scum’s choice – a country that he knows has encouraged and even assisted in his malicious persecution for over ten years?
Well, that’s it for this announcement. More audio/visual and/or eBook stuff later. Meanwhile, please read the Anniversary Announcement , particularly the last section: A note to other nations. Thanks.
A piano by the sea?
Don’t be fooled by the quaint scene above: that’s not how the music heard in these Twitwall posts or on arg/machine’s SoundCloud page was made. That scene is a 3D rendering [as is this one here], and arg/machine created it only to make this post look classy.
No, like about a million other folks on the planet, arg/machine also sits in front of his laptop. However, instead of spreadsheets or presentations, what arg/machine makes – among several other things, that is – is music.
And while this isn’t as extraordinary or unique as you, the good reader, might think – desktop music production has been around for many years – it does possess decent blog post potential…
Inside the [virtual] studio…
Instead of a conventional recording studio, arg/machine uses its virtual counterpart: the software Digital Audio Workstation [DAW]. This is a software application that provides a virtual workspace to make music in. Like a conventional studio, DAWs have various sections, each devoted to a certain aspect of music production. There are, for instance, sections for recording, composing and sequencing music, for adding instruments and effects and for mixing and mastering.
Most DAWs come equipped with their own set of virtual instrument [referred to as software synthesizers or softsynths] and effect plugins that can be used right “out of the box”. Also available are millions [yes, millions] of third-party softsynth and effect plugins – commercial as well as free and for both PCs and Macs.
Most of arg/machine’s music was made using free plugins [like these here]. The bass guitar heard in so many arg and Lazarus Machine excerpts is, for instance, a vintage and now-discontinued free softsynth plugin called Steinberg VB1 routed through Free Amp, a free guitar amplifier effect plugin.
arg/machine avoids using samples or sampled digital instruments, which typically require many, many gigabytes of storage space.
Making the grooves: a quick look…
To begin with, arg/machine composes the melodies [or patterns] for the virtual instruments [or softsynths] that are to be employed in a composition. This he does in the Piano Roll section of his DAW. The concept is similar to that of the traditional Piano Rolls: the musician arranges the notes of the melody in the order they will be played in over time.
Note: arg/machine usually creates his own sounds by programming the various softsynths he employs in his music, but that's a different story...
Anyway, once the melodies or patterns for the virtual instruments are in place, these [the melodies/patterns] are arranged in the order they will be played in the song. Next, the virtual instruments are routed through various effects in the DAW's effects section.
arg/machine then mixes – that is, he adjusts [and re-adjusts] the gain [or volume] of each virtual instrument till he’s, like, satisfied – the composition in the DAW’s mixing section and finally, he renders the composition as a WAV or mp3 file.
arg/machine also edits and masters his audio excerpts, but – and like the bit about synthesizer programming – that is again a different story altogether…
machine advice…
arg/machine is currently unable to use any equipment other than his laptop [the reason for this can be found in the second half of this previous post]. Interested folks, however, are advised to use a MIDI keyboard – along with a set of dedicated MIDI controllers – in conjunction with a software DAW. These will not only boost productivity, but will also make music-making more… fun.
Any difference yet? Nope, none at all…
arg/machine would like to remind the local trash and their friends [Hot scam update: read about their latest multi-billion dollar scam right here] that nothing has changed; that he has not been compensated yet for the ten years wasted due to their idiotic obstinacy. So there isn’t anything more to say… except maybe this: that continuing to ridicule arg/machine – or trying to make his life any more miserable – won’t really help. arg/machine thought this’d be obvious, but as that ancient adage goes, common sense certainly isn’t so common and to these local losers and scum, it seems thoroughly alien indeed.
That’s it for this post – more audio/visual and/or eBook stuff later. Meanwhile, to get an idea of the situation/conditions arg/machine has to function in, please read the Anniversary Announcement and visit the links within it. Thanks.
A new jam…
Yup, a short audio excerpt this time. Continuing from the previously-shared radio astronomy-inspired Signals excerpt [hear it here], arg/machine decided to create one more experimental bass guitar-driven jam before moving on to something else. This new jam has a contemporary/urban/hip hop flavour and goes – for the time being, at least – under the title metagroove.
The jam owes its inception to the short synth riff that is heard in the beginning and which is then repeated throughout [on the left channel]. arg/machine came up with this riff a few days back, while improvising on the keyboard...
arg/machine would like to remind the local trash and their friends that nothing has changed; that he has not been compensated yet for the ten years wasted due to their idiotic obstinacy. So there isn’t anything more to say… except maybe this: that continuing to ridicule arg/machine – or trying to make his life any more miserable – won’t really help. arg/machine thought this’d be obvious, but as that ancient adage goes, common sense certainly isn’t so common and to these local morons, it seems thoroughly alien indeed.
Wanted: a zombie…
When it comes to characters, arg/machine has – so far – created a malignant, inter-dimensional, alien God [see here], a skeletal band mascot [right here] and a bald bloodsucker [here]. Recently, he decided to add a scary-comic zombie to this ungodly gathering.
That’s Melvin you see above [along with a low-resolution wireframe version]. And as you – the good reader – can probably tell, he’s angry. You see, not only did he have to go through the somewhat-traumatic process of becoming one of the undead, but he also lost a clump of hair [he was rather vain about his hair, Melvin was]. And both on the same day, too.
Sculpting with a mouse is like sketching with heavy-duty industrial gloves on. You can draw a circle, but it takes wa-ay too long, not to mention all the additional time and effort that has to be invested. In short, it is cumbersome.
arg/machine would like to remind the local losers and their friends that nothing has changed; that he has not been compensated yet for the ten years wasted due to their idiotic obstinacy. So there isn’t anything more to say… except maybe this: that continuing to ridicule arg/machine – or trying to make his life any more miserable – won’t really help. arg/machine thought this’d be obvious, but as that ancient adage goes, common sense certainly isn’t so common and to these local morons, it seems thoroughly alien indeed.
Like a lot of other folks, arg/machine, too, has always found the vista of vast rows of radio telescopes – technically referred to as “Very Large Arrays” or “VLAs” – aimed at the sky somewhat eerie and, at the same time, quite exciting.
So when arg/machine decided to continue with his audio production experiments – even though the previous post was also audio-related – he chose this vision of vast rows of the silent, ever-attentive radio telescopes as his inspiration.
arg/machine would like to remind the local losers and their friends that nothing has changed; that he has not been compensated yet for the ten years wasted due to their idiotic obstinacy. So there isn’t anything more to say… except maybe this: that continuing to ridicule arg/machine – or trying to make his life any more miserable – won’t really help. arg/machine thought this’d be obvious, but as that ancient adage goes, common sense certainly isn’t so common and to these local morons, it seems thoroughly alien indeed.
Inside the machine…
After an absence of over a month, Lazarus Machine returns to these posts with a brief excerpt from the band’s new track inside the machine. Inspired by visions of massive, steam-driven gears and cogs illuminated by the boiler’s glow, this excerpt kicks off with suitable sounds of industrial ambience backed by a strong electronic beat.
Everything heard, seen and/or read in these Twitwall pages – and on the now-outdated machine website – was composed, created and/or edited on the only equipment arg/machine has access to. Till August of last year this used to be an eight-year-old desktop PC. Currently, it is a mid-range laptop/notebook.
Old Blues and machine apparel…
Astute readers of these posts may have already noticed arg/machine’s new-but-slightly-low-resolution Twitter/Twitwall background: a visual composition titled Old Blues [preview here]. arg/machine’s intention, while creating this new background, was to capture the look of the jeans he wore in his college days. These much-used articles of clothing were known to possess certain qualities [if one can call them “qualities”, that is], which were:
Meanwhile, it’s been some time since arg/machine featured a new 3D model in these posts. And although the models you, the good reader, see above are not “new” in the strictest sense of the word – they were, after all, featured on the cover of the latest machine print eBook Machine Anthologies RELOADED – arg/machine decided to feature them in this post anyway, since they were built only recently.
About arg_machine
- Name arg/machine
- Location the machine HQ
- Web http://argmachine...
- Bio audio production, ePublishing & visualization.
Links to arg_machine's Profiles
