Scoring Complete, Spiral Hub Suspension, DSLR Webcam

A full day of music scores, and in record time I've scored the album of 14 tracks. I've cut the occasional corner. I've excluded many of the solos, those which were live at the time rather than sequences.

I've also only scored the main theme to 'Thinking About the Cats I Used to Know'. The actual recording is a quasi-improvisational drift of that theme over the course of 3 or 4 minutes. It would be rather torturous to score it exactly, and not particularly useful. I have scored the exact notes many times before, for many of those Fall in Green piano tunes, for example, but in this case it can largely wait. It's part of the spirit of this tune that it IS an improvisational drift, a dream-like melody blown on the wind. If played live, I'd probably do the same; use the theme and improvise it.

I had the idea of making some sort of roller-skate that used large pneumatic wheels, like a bicycle, primarily as a means of transport. I was trying to think of a good way to add suspension to the system so came up with this design which uses several spiral springs, something like the rotary pendulum in a watch:

The thickness and curve (and quantity!) of the springs can be adjusted to adjust the resistance of the system. One advantage to this system is that the holes can be cut from a disc of steel (with a laser or mill), making it easy to make, if you have a spring-steel disc and a computer controlled steel cutter!

I've also turned my DSLR camera into a webcam, which is interesting. I had the idea of making a TV show, something like a short version ArtsLab, but haven't developed the idea fully. One option might be to live-stream it to Facebook or YouTube, so I wanted to learn how to do this, and with a webcam it's easy. One problem is that my computer is in a different room from the 'studio'... A long cable (very long, 10M?) could fix this, though it may require a technician or two to run it all live.

Deb's cold is getting better at last. We may soon be able to meet without the risk of me catching it - hurray!

A Drive Through The Town Scores

Back to work on A Drive Through The Town in stoic fashion. One problem is that, as I become more accomplished in music creation and publishing, the list of what to do for each release grows. For my early albums, like The Spiral Staircase back in 2002, I'd simply burn a CD, make the cover art (maybe only doing that months later) and perhaps print a few copies. Then I'd call the album 'done' and forget about it, ready to move on to the next one. I can't do that now, it would feel like an insult to the album to move on so soon.

Now I still have to make that cover art, but typically 8 pages at 635dpi, plus rear and on-disc art. I make the sheet music for each track, a Spotify Canvas for each track, and a full-size simple video too for each track, for YouTube. I file the tracks, lyrics, credits, and register the music rights with many authorities before publication. I make a lyrics booklet, list it on my website... and more and more. All of this work is perhaps better in the long term, but it hugely increases the time to create an album, which harms the spontaneity of the art, at very least. For me the benefit is the security of the information. I'm treating my work as a major label might.

I find myself doing some of this work now for the old albums like The Spiral Staircase. Back then there was hardly any music released. I could actually sell albums and get reviews and attention. This is much harder now because, I surmise, of the sheer quantity of music released; but this perhaps make this long-term re-enforcement of the music content important. Who knows, if I'd have done all of this back in 2002, The Spiral Staircase might have been a bigger hit.

Today I've been making the sheet music for the new album. I've managed to transcribe 8 songs, with several variations to make 20 scores. This is good going, partly because these pop-sequences are easier to transcribe, as well as the increase in my skill at this job. I find these scores most useful for live performance; nay, essential. Without them I'd have to listen to the original and try to copy by ear, and do that every time, which would take more time than it takes to score these.

I've enjoyed making a few arrangements. The piano arrangement for 'Incomplete Version Of The Writer' is rather nice.

At this rate I could perhaps finish the scoring tomorrow, but I won't because I've jumped the gun a bit and started before the music is finalised. I might tweak the Mister Moan song a little.

All of these scores eventually go on my itch channel and website, but most have only had one download each (and that might have been me!) but one day these will go into print. When I'm 70 I might be 'discovered' like Havergal Brian, but unlike him I'm working now as fast and as best as I can, every day, anyway.

Turing Test Problem

Assuming there are only two beings in the universe, A and B, separated by a wall. If A applies the Turing Test to B, and it passes, would it be fair for B to then attempt the test on A? In other words, if any test for intelligence, or any test for consciousness, can (or must) be applied by one person/being an another, then how could this work correctly if there are only two beings in the universe?

Consciousness, intelligence, and independent thought, I submit, are social labels and only applicable to others, not ourselves. This is the opposite of Descartes view; to correct his paraphrase: We are because others think we are.

In ourselves, parts of us judge other parts to reach these conclusions to varying degrees. Humans are composite creatures made of independent animals, cells, as well as sub-components on many levels, physical and psychological. In this way it is possible for one 'individual' to be 'social'.

SFXEngine, A Drive Through The Town

Last night I realised that I didn't have to, and indeed could not, translate the components of the SFXEngine plug-ins as the sounds use the name to locate them. I started work on the broad translation work today, adding German text and a manual, but the job grew in workload. One problem is that there are specific terms, like 'Engine' which are used in the program and I expect that a similar specific term would be needed in any translation. I expect I'd encounter similar problems with any other languages too.

The simplest solution is to ignore that and simply translate the English entirely, as if 'Engine', though that word and its meaning can vary in other languages. The best solution would be to translate by, or have the results proofread by, a native language speaker. Both options were overwhelming today. I had aimed to make some simple steps towards translation, and the job grew into something that has taken days and could take weeks. I've sold 7 copies of SFXEngine in the (almost) year since launch, so made less than one-morning's minimum wage to date, so on one level it's not successful enough to warrant the work I'm putting into it. On another level, one could argue that if I put more work in (more languages?) it might become a hit, and that I merely haven't reached that threshold!

This is my life's dilemma.

I've decided to update the code, and ignore the text translations for now. The next update is ready for translation if I deem it worthwhile.

I've listened to my new album, A Drive Through The Town, in proof and need to make a few mixing changes. It's generally good. It's one of my most mainstream albums, with less of a theme than We Robot and several short and snappy songs which could be cult hits, or actual smash hits if the album were to be published by a major label. I've pushed myself in a different area in each one, and it's perhaps my most technically accomplished in production and performance terms. I'll probably release a single or two, and not tour or perform many. I'll make the sheet music. I'll file the album and enjoy it and feel proud of it (or perhaps not-enjoy it and cringe) while nobody but myself pays any attention to it. I've certainly grown as a performer and singer during its creation; this is perhaps my greatest benefit.

What next?

SFXEngine Updates, Anniversary, Bogi

Spent much of yesterday creating videos and sample sounds for the SFXEngine Bolt-on DLC, and the admin of the launch of Gunstorm II in the evening. It was a tedious and unhappy day of endless menial admin jobs; so what is increasingly a typical day.

Today has also been working on SFXEngine, with an aim of adding multiple languages to the program, but this is difficult. Five things need translating: icon text, error text, main menu text, the manual, and the text in the plug-ins/engines. Each presents its own problems, and I've spent today working on the main menus, integrating those with a single text file.

The text in the plug-ins may be the most difficult. The text strings are part of the plug-in files, and I've never needed to translate these before. I did program in some simple multi-language support to prepare for it, but that too is hard-coded, meaning that if and when I add another language, I need to put it into the plug-in and recompile it. This not ideal. Ideally, I think, each plug-in would simply link its text (name, names of the parameters) to text in an external file, making translation a matter of changing that file.

Either way, I'm faced with a lot of work. Translation to just one other language would require a lot of re-coding, and re-compiling each of the 100 plug-ins, at bare minimum. This is possible. Is it worth it? Who can say. Perhaps auto-translation by Windows will soon eclipse this sort of manual translation, and perhaps do a better job than I. Of course, I can't speak (or can barely speak) other languages anyway, so any translation of the bulk text would largely be automated.

For such complex and unqiue software though, it may find a niche in a non-English area.

I will muse on the best way to proceed.

Deb is still ill with a cold-like virus. It's been over 10 days since she fell ill with it, and the doctor seems to think it will take 28 days for her to recover. Eight years ago today we first met when I interviewed her on ArtsLab on RedShift radio, an encounter which is happily preserved forever in the radio archive (which is on Mixcloud at time of writing).

I saw her today for a rare time (we've only met up once in the last 10 days) and we had an nice walk in the sun and shop visit. I returned home to find the house empty, my mother at the hospital with her sister. Bogi has apparently hit her head while parking her bicycle, fell backwards and became unconscious. She apparently feels fine, but head injuries are tricky things at the best of times.

Tic-Tac-Two

Had a nice night at Mark's art preview last night. I miss painting. I miss visual art and artists. My life feels like a treadmill of hope and isolation at times, but I am creating something with my treadmill.

Today's creation is an idea for a 'sequel' of sorts to the simple game of Noughts and Crosses, known as Tic-Tac-Toe in the US. This thought was probably inspired by my mural, and my recent work on games. How it plays I don't know, but here is an outline of Tic-Tac-Two:

As in the normal game, the game is played on a 3x3 grid. Players choose X or O as their side, and the aim of the game is to make a line of 3 symbols either or orthogonally or diagonally.

The game would be best played with tiles (perhaps with X on one side and O on the other) rather than pencil and paper, as the grid is more dynamic.

Players take turns, but this time a 6-sided dice is rolled first. The sides determine the player actions and are as follows:
1. Place. The player must place their symbol in an empty space on the grid. This is the normal play for the classic game.
2. Move. The player can move any existing symbol on the grid to an adjacent square (orthogonally or diagonally). The symbol moved can be the player's or their opponents. Moving into the same square as another symbol will destroy/subsume it.
3. Remove. The player must remove one symbol (of any sort) from the grid.
4. Flip. The player must swap a symbol for its opposite; an X becomes O, an O becomes X.
5. Skip Turn. The turn is skipped to the other player without action.
6. Change Side. The players swap sides, the X player now becomes O, and the O player now becomes X.

For these actions, if a play is not possible (eg. if the grid is empty on a Move, Remove, or Flip action, or is full on a Place action) then no action is taken and the turn is skipped. Action must be taken if an action is possible.

Notes:

Rule 6 is the most interesting, as it could upset any strategy and would require some empathy with the opponent (if it's disruptive, this roll could be Roll Again instead). The game may play better on a larger grid for reasons of strategy; 4x4, 5x5, or larger. It could also either win with a longer line (line-of-4 or line-of-5) or use shorter lines, eg. 3, which score points rather than end the game. Play could continue until the entire grid was full. It could also be used for 3, 4, or more players, with some rules to govern the symbol-flip and change-side rolls (a second die-roll could indicate the destination symbols perhaps).

I thought last night that this might make for a fun game called Battle of the Sexes where the male and female symbols were used. It would make the Change Side roll particularly amusing, if not overtly topical.

Bolt-On Work, Mark Edmonds Art Preview

A full day of work on the Bolt-On sound effect packs for SFXEngine, preparation these for distribution. First, rendering all 100 sounds and checking them for volume and looping. Then creating text for the itch.io page, and the 10 images for that. Creating Readme files, zipping the contents. Then preparing the animations for the YouTube videos to showcase these, and putting together the combined preview file; all of the sounds chained together. There is more to do. All this to hopefully sell a few. I must prove that SFXEngine is the best sound effect software in the world! I firmly believe this is true.

This evening, I'm going to the preview of Mark Edmonds' new art exhibition in his Spode works studio complex. I like Mark, and it will be the first time we've met in many years, certainly since before the Covid-19 pandemic. I will dress in a dark suit, with white shirt and black tie, dark silk-linen trousers, bowler hat, black umbrella, and a briefcase; like Magritte, or more correctly John Steed. I really need a red carnation and some grey kid gloves. I will have to suffice without.

Sound Effects, Pointlessness, Octopus Brains, and a Dynamic Higgs Field

Have spent today creating example sound effects for the different Bolt-on Effects/Plug-in packs for SFXEngine. These were to be used exclusively as free bonus content for customers, though I am aware that there are, so far, no customers of these packs except for legacy owners of the full $100 version, they get all of these.

It's been long and tiring work that has taken until 9:30pm. I've created 100 new sound effects for the 10 packs, each using the core engines plus the selected pack's engines. I'll make these free somehow, I think that the IndieSFX itch.io channel, plus a YouTube video might be an appropriate showcase for these, as well as giving them to the customers as the intended bonus.

A lot of the work I do seems hard and soul destroying, and today was no exception. I seem to spend my life doing pointless or ignored tasks with little aim, except that, of course, I remind myself that everything I make is for other people. My games, my music, my art; and, I remind myself again that some of it is indeed seen and experienced by others every day, and must be appreciated by at least some people. By the same token, most of the art or other things I create are not seen by anyone except myself. But, isn't this the case for everyone? We can't know the impact of our actions on the world, and artist is one of the most personally expressive, and uniquely contributive jobs.

I'm feeling particular ignored, isolated, obscure, and useless today. I reflected that my life has always been a struggle and scrape, endless work for bare scraps or the hope of scraps. Each year and each month I hope for something better, and each year and month is a struggle. Perhaps it will always be so, perhaps it will not. Perhaps I will have a 'hit' one day, perhaps not. I will, however, whether I experience great success or not, keep striving, keep trying, keep working, keep doing, keep rolling my Sisyphean rock, keep defying the gods and cruel world, and keep battling fate.

Two interesting thoughts:

First. Deborah informs me that the nervous system of the octopus evolved in two halves separately; the head and eyes part, and the stomach part. These two systems later merged into one brain. I would guess that the same occurred in humans (perhaps this occurred in the common ancestor of octopuses and humans). The brain and gut are separate nervous systems, and are often conflicted or have differing personalities and viewpoints. The gut consciousness is probably the result of much of the social, animal feelings which are out of balance with the civilised world, which known to and better engaged with the brain.

Second. I'm still thinking about the Higgs Field. I wonder if, rather than matter and mass spontaneously forming from it, that there is more of a communicative, symbiotic system in effect between the two; that the two systems of seen and unseen matter are in a subtle flux of communication; a dynamic relationship. Thus in inter-galactic space, where dark matter does not exist, light matter does not, and perhaps cannot, either.