Thanks to a generous gift of a tank, I now again have a fishtank! So far I only have 1 fish (named Fred) in order to let the tank chemistry stabilize, but I’ll probably get another one to keep him company in a month or so. Sorry no pics yet. (Man I wish I had a better camera, mine is seriously obsolete.)
The Winamp plugin I wrote now has 967 (edit: 4000 now) downloads off of winamp.com! I hope people are using it and like it. Hmm what should I write next.
I have discovered the musical incredibleness of Ableton Live. Wow. I posted the first song I wrote with it on my website. The song certainly isn’t polished but I did it start to finish in 5 *hours*, starting from a bunch of guitar riffs my friend Jason laid down. Still a long way to go — I listen to some of the tracks produced by other amateur musicians on the web and they’re really good!
My problem with Cubase was always its extremely steep learning curve, hopefully the use of Live will be less of an impediment to creativity. As a bonus, it was also only $299, so now I can compose music without feeling like a criminal! 🙂
Finally, I’m really pondering what I should do after I take my sabbatical, after 7 years at Intel. Intel’s been pretty good to me…should I stick with it or try something new? I’ve been debating going to graduate school (law?), or perhaps working for a smaller company, or even starting my own.
What’s your hardware/software setup? Seems like you’ve got a pretty nice rig… I’m still trying to find a way to integrate my synth/midi in/digi 8 with my PC…If I could get those plus Reason tracks all into one song I’d be lock stock.
Fresh or saltwater? Betas are nice…
Staying at Intel would be safe…you could probably move up a bit and gain some standing (though that might push you away from actual programming), but you’d probably end up getting dreadfully bored after another seven years. If you do want to try something new, it’s best not to wait until it’s too late. More schooling is always good, but I wouldn’t start into something you’d have to put a question mark behind…and you have to consider to what end it would benefit. Do you really want to be a lawyer? You could take a few varied intro courses…see what sparks your interest.
I think starting your own company (possibly with a partner or more) is a great idea. Though it’s super hard work, you can do just exactly what you want to do. But it’s very risky and very, very hard to get off the ground.
Maybe you should look into business school? MBA?
Moving to a smaller company would probably be a good balance between the two extremes (Intel vs. startup). It’s something new, and there won’t be the risk and labor of a totally new project. On the other hand, you’ll start lower and make a bunch less.
In any event, you can take lots of time over your sabbatical to think things through. There’s no dire hurry at this point.
PS- Your music is totally shoegazer.
=^)
For hardware, I have a nord lead 1 (old but sounds good) a Studiologic SL161 midi controller and a Proteus 2000 with Techno and Protozoa ROMs. I also use a M-Audio Firewire 410, Midisport 2×2 midi interface, and Behringer Truth speakers. Software is Ableton Live 4 and a few vstis (FM7, Crystal, sfz). I certainly wasn’t trying for shoegazer, which I associate with less synth and more reverb-soaked guitars…and whiny vocals? 😉 I want to sound more like A Perfect Circle or NIN. Obviously I have a long long long way to go. 🙂
There are some audio cards/interfaces that are WAY better than a sb audigy for audio (as opposed to games) that aren’t even that expensive. Xmas is coming we should talk…
My fishtank is 5 gal, so it’s just freshwater. Saltwater tanks are cool, but I’m not a Fish Guy (I’m just a guy who has a fish tank) so…
Yeah, lots of thinking about future plans over the sabbatical.