inversephase posts
Posts: 113
Files: 94
Beatdown City Ultra Remix out now, Soundtrack tomorrow
Y'all!I've been working on this soundtrack and Shawn&Co (collectively, NuChallenger) have been working on the game for over twelve years, and honestly it's huge to say this is finally done. You can already play the game, which came out yesterday. Even if you bought it when it was "Episode 1" on Steam, you get the Ultra Remix DLC for free, which effectively triples the content in the game. Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/762180/Treachery_in_Beatdown_City Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/treachery-i...
Clearing off my plate and tackling old projects
A fantastic thing is kinda, sorta, finally happening.I mentioned in my last post that I finished up a game soundtrack with nocturnalplant! That should be releasing sometime this year, at least we hope so. There have been some bugs to work out. Some of the tracks and sound effects would fire in the wrong places. We found out completely by accident that we were able to lock the game up on the gameover screen by hitting a button the game wasn't listening for, stuff like that. Anyhow, we're getting through most of that with the coders of th...
It's a busy holiday
Hi! Happy holidays, past present and future!Things are about to get a bit busy for me.... in my personal life I'm travelling for the holidays, but professionally I wanted to let y'all know things have been surprisingly filled with music! ⏱️💨A few months ago, I finished an exciting secret game soundtrack project with nocturnalplant, and haven't been able to say much about it. Hopefully soon there will be news about a physical NES release of our work (in a game!) and I'll be able to talk about it a whole lot more. ☺In mor...
Sorry, I won't be doing MAGFest
I wish I could just say I'm worried about the omicron spike. If you decided not to go because of that, your concern is totally valid. I am worried about that, but it didn't ultimately make this decision for me.This really tears me up inside. Some of you might know me as my other, sometimes stealth, identity of Mr. MAGFest. I did not start it, but immediately after the first event, it was announced there would not be any future MAGFest events. I bought it, took the reins, and ran the event, giving ten years of my life to it. I tried to i...
Inverse Phase repairs roof Air Conditioner
I know what you're thinking. Two Patreon posts in less than a week? Something must be horribly wrong!Actually, something was wrong - two weeks ago (or something like that), my air conditioner started making this awful banging and rattling noise, and even though it was still running and keeping the house cool, it wasn't doing much for my sleep at night. I googled around and it looks like stuff just kind of gets loose over time, and you need to pad it more. I found a video of some guy replacing a rubber gasket and his rattle stopped, I de...
Coming Soon: Pretty Eight Machine on Vinyl
Hey! I've been dead to the world for a little bit (but alive?) ... I'm working on (more) music for various clients, and everything is a bit upside down. I'll check in again when some of this dust settles. For now I just wanted to let y'all know about something that's right around the corner: P8M LPs.First, how it works: Basically, Bandcamp invited me to the cool kids club where I can press vinyl. I deliver masters for vinyl and artwork, and then they handle the entire order INCLUDING working with the vinyl plant, warehousing...
Why don't you Rock Me, Famideus!?
Hey everyone!I did it! I did the thing! The new track is up and just in time for Bandcamp Friday, the thing where bandcamp waives all their fees and revenue shares for artists!Codes will be delivered shortly; I haven't slept all night to make sure this track is just right, and if I'm being honest with myself I'm just going to fall face-flat on the keyboard while I'm sending them out, so I'm going to take a short snooze here and then I'll get them all out.I went and scheduled a tweet and facebook post announcing the track...
April Fools......no wait
If like surprises and/or don't like spoilers, read this after you watch the video. Also, apologies to Jim in particular as I know he is much more of a stickler for high quality video and recordings, which this is most certainly not.The story so far:My trip to Germany was cancelled because of COVID-19. Even though Revision wasn't (it's tomorrow, by the way, livestream is here), I was looking forward to seeing my people, so I got kind of down and out about it. I was also trying to figure out ways to stay cheery with a good joke for Ap...
The Legend of Taku-San: Part QuaranTEEN
Quick ask: If you don't have time to read all of this message, please hit the three bulletpoints at the bottom!What's it like for a musician to live in quarantine during the pandemic?This is a weird question to answer, because on one side of things — when you're at home, anyway — it's just like regular living. Full-time living in an RV, you're alone most of the time, and you work and entertain yourself inside a little box that sits in a parking space. Introvert life at it's finest!Well, unless you're an extrovert...
The Maiden Voyage of Taku-San, Part 2
Last we left our hero, he was w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶M̶A̶G̶F̶e̶s̶t̶ driving towards Florida a̶t̶ ̶b̶r̶e̶a̶k̶n̶e̶c̶k̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶e̶d̶s̶ literally being passed by semis that carry tanks.It was time to take off from hanging out with my pal Larry Oji aka Liontamer of OCR fame, so we grabbed a quick selfie in front of Taku-San and said goodbye a few times:It seems nobody else in Georgia was around / still living there / available, so down 75 I went to Gainesville, to visit my pal Chris wh...
Happy 2020, and the MAGFest demoparty
Hi there!This is a short update to let you know three things:- Happy New Year! You're awesome. This has been a pretty life-changing year for me, and you've helped to make that possible.- A few longer updates are in the works. Taku-san part two, and my transcription of the interview with the AY-3-8910 inventor are my two priorities right now in that regard.- If you plan to be at MAGFest in DC, please stop by Magnolia 3, we are haphazardly running a demoparty there, and I'll have all sorts of weird beverages!Much love, and I'll up...
The Maiden Voyage of Taku-san, Part 1
The snow and ice was getting a bit annoying in Baltimore, and I realised a trip south would probably alleviate any need to run heat. The previous RV trip I wrote about was my "test trip" to see what it was like being in the RV for a month, away from home, but near friends. While I didn't expect it to be bad, I found that exploring was pretty great. It was better than expected to get out and reconnect with everyone who was available.My original goal was to go to Austin, though, and you know what, I hadn't been to Orlando since Ne...
Life update: I'm still alive!
(pic: Imagic - Microsurgeon)Yo! Sorry I've been off the map.This has been quite the adventure! How to get everyone up to date....First, my move. I thought I was going to be able to move all of my things in a month or two. This was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever said, and even though I had a lot of help -- which I needed desperately -- I ended up doing a sizable portion of the move on my own. The RV was my glorified pickup truck / moving van, and I put somewhere on the order of 1500 miles on my RV just moving things. Total ...
Meet the new tour vehicle
Hey friends, let's catch up! Progress is being made over here in not-very-sunny hurricane land as I move all of my belongings around. Stuff I intend to let Bloop Museum use comes out of storage or out of the house and goes to a warehouse. Paper documents I have kept for awhile will get scanned and tossed. Personal belongings? Some will probably get sold or given away, and the rest will come with me on the endless roadtrip and tour known as life in that vehicle you see up there.What will I do in this mobile lab? Well, this isn't Breaking...
A weird tour beckons...
(image source: Uncle Grandpa / Cartoon Network)Hey everyone! Things have been...... interesting...... and my living situation is about to change. My projects, aren't, though, so that's good!It's Friday and everyone wants to go home (or maybe you're doing it right now!) so I'll get right to it - recently I was asked to move out of my place, and sometime by the end of the month, I hope to be completely out. This has thrown my life into a temporary state of disarray.It's no secret that I've been trying to help start the...
Coming to a synth near me: Namco N163
Once upon a time, there was a Famicom cartridge. I ordered it from Australia because it was cheaper than Japan (figure that one out...) and I asked the shipper if he would send some Tim Tams along with it. Weeks later, I got a nice treat and it came with a nice treat.But I wasn't just ordering a game, I was ordering the ability to make Namco sound using my synth. The N163 is an interesting chip that is, in a way, the manifestation of sound from Pac-Man, Galaga, Bosconian, or Tower of Druaga. In older Namco arcade machines, there was a pile ...
Incoming Synth Adapter Boards
Things have been a little quiet lately, but thanks to some friends, I'm now holding a lot of adapters to use with the synth!The yellow board allows me to use the Namco N163 (and any other chip that is QFP48) in a DIP48 socket.The red board allows me to use a YM2608 (OPNA) in a DIP48 socket.The black board allows me to use any narrow DIP (SN76489, YM2413, etc) in a regular DIP socket.I got a lot of help on this one, so I'd like to thank: Random eBay Guy - N163 source Ford - OPNA source ImATrackMan - Board design Charles - Board cleanup D...
Prince of Persia BBC Micro OST now online
I finally got over the anxiety bump and got all this audio together. Originally I wanted to "soundtrackify" it more, include a remix, etc.Lots going on over here at the (proverbial) ranch though, namely my main workstation being out of commission at the moment. So, I need to focus on what's important; replacing parts in a PC and getting it to work. Plus I have some upcoming appearances at VCF East and ATparty. I want to make sure my presentations are comprehensive and engaging!Anyway, Jordan Mechner released classic Prince of Persia...
CTM, now for the Pi.
Your parents help you hook it up.My performance/show laptop, bloodstorm, took a turn for the worse about two weeks ago, when the charging circuit started on fire. Fortunately the laptop itself is (mostly) okay, but it will only charge while off, and only run from battery while on. So, after a solid 8 years of service, I decided with a heavy heart that it was time to retire bloodstorm and start working on The Next Solution to shows.Rather than an OG Raspberry Pi, I've ended up with this cute little Orange Pi One (a whole $19; I think they...
Tracking livestream in ~1hr - lern 2 chiptune
Patrons/Friends,If anyone's interested in joining in on a tracking livestream, I'm gonna go over the basics of tracking and maybe we can write something together. I've done this before and I'll do it again, but I wanted to let you know in case you can join in!The link is http://twitch.tv/inversephase and we're starting at 9pm EDT (New York time). That's 1am UTC (sorry europe) and 10am JST.Hope to see you there!
Coming to Williamsburg (VA) this weekend
Hey folks, I know a lot of you are somewhere other than Virginia, but I'll be in "the burg" this weekend if anyone is into sci-fi/fantasy/nerd cons! With me will be Adam Seats, who writes for Chiptunes=WIN, as a "moderator" (but really we'll just be shooting the shit back and forth). Planned are a Chiptune 101/Q&A, a Demoscene retrospective/screening/Q&A, and a chiptune dance party where I frantically try to figure out what people will dance to! I'll also have some merch, including (but not limited to) vinyl.The even...
Which sound chip goes on the synth next?
Hey folks, I'm going to have some new synth boards soon, so get excited with me now, and get ready to vote with your phones (or whatever)!Some background info quick:There are two revisions of the board. The first revision (technically "Revision --") was originally designed with the POKEY in mind as a first-chip, and has a 40-pin socket. I figured that would be enough for most chips, and okay sure it is, but then when Charles was in the mood to update the design to Revision B, I decided there were a few chips that are 48-pin that wou...
Prince of Persia, now for the BBC Micro
Friends, Patrons, Countrymen...If you're a fan of the fluidly-animated platforming classic Prince of Persia, give that link a click and read some nostalgic words by Kieran and Simon. Kieran (who is supporting here! greetings and shoutouts!) has really been throwing his all into this over the past year, and Simon helped out quite a bit, especially with me and getting audio onto the "beeb".As a gaming and electronic entertainment historian, there's another interesting thing going on in the back of my head. The "Oregon Trail ge...
Status update and another CTM video
This is it! I worked on my FX code and...!Nope.Well, even though the FX have improved, it's not perfect yet. Turns out this kind of thing takes quite a bit of fine tuning. I forgot to change the version number too? Drat. Oh well, whatever! =]The video definitely shows off some cool stuff CTM can do, though; if you watched the last video you got a look at what I've called "quickmap" where I can quickly assign a tracker instrument to a specific number when being sent to a board. This will soon be made more flexible to, for example...
The AHX update you haven't been waiting for
Just a quickie today as I'm working on some commissions for clients...I got an FX handler into CTM, and not only that, but CTM now loads AHX tunes! I couldn't wait to try it out on one of my favorites, Jazzcat's Electric City. Before you watch the video above, here's what it looks like in its native environment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJBRuYTBvVY...and here's a link to the demo -- the Appendix demo "Electricity" -- where it was used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrnbMfbroAgAnyway, my FX handler is pretty ...
CTM 0.1.0 - what does this button do?
I've made a lot of screenshots and videos that don't show off the UI work I've been doing recently. I like an organized tracker. Here you can see a new embiggened font for the song number, the ability to change the song without having to know shift-ctrl-alt-left+right, a row highlighter, a bigger order editor, a moved logo, and some other things, like TONS OF BUTTONS. It all works, too!How do I do these version number things? There are three dots because it's major, minor, bugfix. I bumped the minor version number to 0.1.0 not b...
Thirsty for some NIN on the synthesizer?
Well, this probably isn't what you were expecting, but here's a pretty solid result: I loaded in Something You Didn't Ever Have in and decided hey, why not replay it on the SID? Turns out it works pretty well!This video is actually a few days old, and I pushed it out on social media earlier, but I thought everyone would want to get a peek.Never missing out on an opportunity to criticise my own work, right now the bugs here are: The default instrument volume was 8 (now taken from instrument) No sound effects supported yet (working on...
CTM 0.0.6 - a better result, and why
Shoutouts to Phoenix and Mem O'Ree! What we have here is CTM, my tracker, playing the first song out of the incredible PC demo 8088 MPH. The original song is called Sleeping Waste and is a damn fine piece of MOD music written in 1994. The version you hear here is arranged by Phoenix who also wrote a pretty great demo called Abort Retry Fail back in the day....in QuickBasic.So what's new with CTM? Well, the bigguns are that it supports XM, which is basically my favorite tracker format in the whole wide world, and as a cooldown from writi...
CTM 0.0.3 Sneak Preview
Hey Patrons! Almost immediately after getting MOD files to import, I made the last post in a fit of excitement... well, I should've waited an hour or so, because I realised that I was very close to actually playing back the data as well. No matter! Now you too can witness the buggy playback of an old favorite - Space Debris by Captain.This video was unlisted because I didn't feel like it's ready for the general youtube public, but I decided to make it public because honestly it's pretty good for not-even-alpha, and I want more p...
CTM 0.0.1 can import MOD files (poorly)
Pic: My tracker (below), MilkyTracker by TiTAN (above). Same song and position in both for comparison purposes.With load/save implemented in my tracker, I couldn't resist; I added an import feature for MOD files. After all, it's a lot easier to test an effect system in a tracker with piles of tracker files written by various individuals! Anyway, back in the early 90s I ran a BBS that had over a gig of MODs online, so this isn't a problem. =]The MOD import filter can detect many kinds of MOD files and handle them correctly. No other ...
