Preparing for the 20th year of my production hobby.. [some nostalgia and stuff]

2 days ago

4 min read

So next year in July I think will mark 20 years in the music production for me. As you may imagine it has been quite a ride.

This is what my studio looked like when I was in the military. A lot has changed since, mainly with technological advances but on the left is my production desk.

I'll try to recall some of the gear I had back then :

Fostex PM01 mk2 studio monitors
An Intel Q6600 Quad-Core 2,4GHz PC with 4GB RAM
In the rack on the floor there was an Alesis 3630 compressor and Presonus Firepod FP10 audio interface
I also had a Behringer FCA202 interface but it's not pictured
I used a Behringer UMX49-MIDI keyboard back then which I still have
On the synthesizer (2nd hand Roland JX8P) there's a 2008 Dual-Core Macbook with upgraded 4GB RAM
Next to it there's the Hercules DJ RMX-MIDI controller and some mic stands
On the right there's the DJ console with Formula Sound PM90 mixer and Reloop RP-5000M3D turntables as well as 2nd hand Pioneer CDJ-100S'

Then I relocated and moved across the street in January 2010 I think.

This is what it looked like in it's "hayday". I had pretty much the same gear but I got rid of the Presonus and the Alesis. In return there was an Allen&Heath Zed10FX mixing desk/USB-audio interface. I also swapped the CDJ-100S' to CDJ-800's and got a Mackie D4Pro digital DJ-mixer but it was probably in a gig bag as I did a lot of shows back then.

For DJing and live gigs I had swapped the Macbook to a 2012 Quad-Core 2,4GHz Macbook Pro. My usual setup was the MBP plugged into the Mackie and CDJ's running on timecode. For live shows I used an Akai APC40 MIDI controller and a Novation Nocturn MIDI keyboard.

There also was a bunch of HIFI speakers like the Sony G3's and Technics SB101's, driven by a Sony TA-AX22 amplifier I got from a club owner during renovation. Back then I had the habit of bouncing stuff to tape using the JVC KD-A11 tape deck.

Then my PC failed and I got a Tascam DP-03SD 8-track recorder. I used it in conjunction with my drum machine (Akai Rhythm Wolf) and the Roland TB-03 bass synth, with Novation Mininova as the synthesizer. I produced some stuff with it and most of it was ok, very 90's sounding though as there was little to no room for automation or anything. At least there was a lot of tweaking going on.

Then I was forced to move back and now I have some DIY stuff which has probably been described in this blog. I had to let go of the turntables but I still have some vinyl records from the mid-late 2000's and early-mid 2010's.

Current setup (I rarely use the Akai though but it's a central piece to my live shows)

This is what the current setup looks like. Not pictured is the Novation Nocturn (which sends odd MIDI messages but otherwise is pretty much in pristine condition). These days when gigs are rare I just produce music in the box, maybe do the occasional livestream. I use mainly AKG K121 headphones for monitoring. My DJ setup has changed a bit too with the DIY rotary mixer which I built some time ago.

The homemade mixer and a lollipop headphone

I still have the Mackie but most of the stuff from the previous setups is gone. What I miss the most is the office chair which was cosy but writing music on the bedside has it's benefits too, and that is frequent breaks due to other leg going numb. Other than that it's very painful to DIY stuff this way when you need to twist your upper torso 90 degrees to the side and do precise soldering work.

But, it's not all just music stuff, but also fun and games! Albeit sometimes I lose myself and my sanity in programming, I started developing a sequel for Tales of Akash.

The world map view of the current version in development

The game has undergone some changes.. first of all it now has a world map which can be procedurally explored. Another major change is the player now has troops under command. The type of troops is dictated by the race and they have different damage modifiers. The game graphics could be subject to change as well as many other things.

Another game mechanic I'm working on is a chakra system. Basically the game rolls a chakra at random for the player and that affects stuff like stats (say, the root chakra changes the STR and so on). But this isn't set in stone as I haven't implemented it fully yet.

Test-playing an instance with new encounters

Another thing is the game now basically has 2 areas, the world map and the instances in it. To complete the game you must take every instance; completing one unlocks the next and so on.

There's no release date yet but I'm working on this game practically 4-6 hours a day so it could take months or even half a year to get it done. The previous game took me 8 months, although I'm just using bits of the source code from it for the sequel along with some new code and implementing becomes tough as there are thousands of lines of code.

But, I found this draft and though I'd stop for a minute to finish it finally. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

-ef