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Wise fwom youw gwave - Famicompo mini vol. 8 and other short stories

Hello visitors. It has been a while! I wrote a new song for Famicompo mini vol. 8. Titled "VRC420", it's my first experiment with the Konami VRC7 FM expansion. I've put an NSF and MP3 in the Originals section and also put a video up on youtube where there's a bit more blurb about it. Be sure to check out the rest of the Famicompo entries too; lots of great songs.

Unfortunately this is the only new thing I've made in at least six months. Back in August my computer became simply too unstable to use - presumed motherboard faults, though I couldn't ever work it out for certain (freezing and power failures even when idling, and failure to start at all when it had been left off for any length of time.) It enjoyed/suffered 8 years of heavy use so it was to be expected. However what I didn't plan for was the utter headache that ensued. Not only did I buy two different PSUs in an attempt to diagnose the issue, all the while shopping around for a new system, I was also sent a laptop by a friend in the US, and as such I held off on buying a new computer thinking I'd make do with a laptop instead. So I waited six weeks for it without head nor tail of the thing, then was told it ended up back on his porch, with no explanation of what happened. So of course, he sends it out again, this time with a tracking number, and TO THIS DAY the blasted thing is still stuck "awaiting customs clearance" with the UK border agency (since late October), with absolutely no indication of what to do about it. My attempts to communicate with parcelforce and the UKBA have been fruitless. In the end I decided I'd waited long enough and bought a new tower. I haven't paid for the laptop in any case - it was sent as a gift with the intention of paying when it arrived - so I am just hopeful it is eventually returned to my friend. I had even bought all the cables and shit I needed in preparation for its arrival as well. This is the last time I import anything from outside the EU.

To make matters worse my Grandmother and my beloved dog who'd been in the family 13 years both passed away within a month of each-other while all this was happening, and I'm still not entirely over that. And as if just to add insult to injury my headphones decided to break soon after as well - when it rains it pours. Certainly one of the roughest years I've had, low on creative output and high on life complications. So I'm glad to put 2011 behind me, and am feeling a lot more optimistic about 2012, especially newly armed with a far more capable computer at long last. Here's the specifics, if you're curious: Gigabyte H61M-USB3, Intel Core i3 (3.1GHz), 8GB DDR3 (3.5GB in XP), integrated intel graphics, SB Audigy 2 (from my previous computer), and running WinXP Pro SP3. It's such a huge hike in power from my previous computer that I don't know what to do with it all at the moment!

Sonic Colors - Planet Wisp (Live piano duet with Aivi Tran!)

This has kept me occupied sporadically over the last several months. Like the title suggests, it's a cover-arrangement of a song from Sonic Colors that I collaborated on with composer, pianist and friend Aivi, best known for her piano arrangements on youtube. She contacted me with the idea of collaborating on a song back in March, and I was more than happy to oblige. For the most part, the arrangement remains faithful to the original song, but with some extended sections, solos, and a new ending. An MP3 version and MIDI transcription are also available in the Remixes section. As collaborating has historically not been a strong point for me, I'm relieved to see how nicely this turned out.

Aivi has also written about the collaboration on her site here. As she mentions, I've known of her since my earliest days perusing the internet around 1999-2000, when she was sequencing videogame songs and uploading them to The Videogame Music Archive under the alias Sirius, but we only became acquainted in the last couple of years when I discovered her youtube performances. I always sensed that we shared some common ground in music preference and videogaming childhoods. So, to reciprocate her glowing compliments, it's been a big pleasure for me to work with her, too, especially now she has transformed into a badass pianist. It's one of those things I never would have predicted could happen, and something that I wish I could travel back in time just to tell my past self and see the look on my face. I'd love to work with her more in future, whether it's on more collaborations like this, or on some different things. I do need to do more collaborative work, that much is certain.

I've counted a minimum of four more projects that are in the pipeline, but most likely more, and that's just the ones I know about. Nothing that's anywhere near completion at the moment, but lots of things to work towards.

Super Bat Puncher Demo

I'm currently writing the soundtrack for this awesome homebrew NES platformer, being developed by my friend Julius. The demo is released today, for free! All you need is your favourite NES emulator. Please play it, and let me know what you think of the soundtrack in particular :) there's 9 songs of mine in there currently.

Little else to mention at this time. I'm busy collaborating on something with someone and there's some other projects in the works. I've finally put Sapling up for download directly on this site, and I also sequenced a song from Golfing Greats 2 a few weeks back. Available in the usual places.

Equilibrium

Yup, another chiptune compilation released on Ubiktune, this time focusing on sentimental NES songs mainly using the Konami VRC6 sound expansion, and inspired by the recent crisis in Japan. My song "Sapling" completes my set of seasonally inspired chiptunes that have been released on Ubiktune compilations. I'm pleased with how this one turned out, too. We can't pretend this release will help Japan, it's not much really, but it's just our way of paying respect to a country whose culture has so profoundly inspired us. I'll add download links for my song later.

Another thing to mention in passing - last year Chris Greening (the owner of Square Enix Music Online) presented me with the very exciting opportunity to pose some questions for an interview of ex-Nintendo composer Soyo Oka. Of course, I didn't hesitate, having much to ask... Long story short, the interview was published recently! It's been a huge honour to be part of this and to work with other such enthusiastic people. She's one of my childhood heroes, even if I didn't realise it at the time...

I've also made a few cosmetic changes to the site. Nothing major. More stuff soon hopefully.

New soundfont

A few days ago my pal coda hacked the 64th Note Winamp plugin so that it dumped audio from USF files on a channel-by-channel basis. As a result, long story short, I made a soundfont compiling most of the instrumental samples from Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon! I've put it up in the Soundfont section, along with a pack of raw wave files. Enjoy!

I also re-recorded my song Kimono Witch's Castle (originally inspired by the game's music) using the samples. I just replaced the old MP3 link in the Originals section, so that's where you can find it.

Soundshock: FM Funk Maddness!!

I have no words for this one. I am incredibly humbled.

Sample Pack Contest VI and HyperZone

Sample Pack Contest VI recently finished over at the vgmusic forums. I wrote three songs for the contest. You can grab them in the Originals section or grab the whole 51 track(!) SPCVI album here, as well as albums for the previous contests.

I also sequenced up the Neo Megalopolis music from HyperZone on SNES. I've put that in the covers section, and as always there's a video on my youtube account too.

More stuff soon =)

New Year, New Host

Happy new year everyone. The site is currently in the process of migration to vgmusic.com webspace, so you may find various things on the site are broken or missing - if you do, please let me know (I think I caught all of them.) If you're accessing this site via iridescentaudio.co.uk then the transition should be seamless, but if you have still been accessing the site directly by the shakal.net URL, update your bookmarks to the iridescentaudio.co.uk domain, as shakal.net will be gone soon.

Huge thanks to Sidney for providing me with webspace since 2004. I cannot thank him enough for his generosity.

Up, Up and Away

"Up" is the latest chipmusic compilation for Ubiktune. Released yesterday, it focuses on progressive styles and influences, and features an incredible line-up of artists - c-jeff, virt, shnabubula, heosphoros, zan-zan-zawa-veia, coda, maxo and others! I wrote a song for it - "Mathsma Attack" - which I have hosted here on the Originals page. Let's call that Option B though -- please, go grab the whole album, it's very very awesome, and better yet, it's free. Hope you enjoy it!