I’ve been busy. I made a new song today. It’s still a little unfinished when it comes to mix, but otherwise it’s done. I’ll post it tomorrow… or well, today, technically. Saturday!
Yeah, I’ve also started coding a little on my free time. But music seems to be keeping me up these days. I’ve been constantly tweaking music from small sketches and song clips (which is very unlike me, I tend to do only do full songs) to actually finishing some pieces.
I blame it on Maschine. It makes it really easy for me to just doodle something random out while I am actually doing something elese on computer.
But, just dropping a note here. Tomorrow, a new song called “Wailing”, at least until I release it officially. We’ll see.
So, after a long silence I have something finished. I must admit, though, that I finished the song in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to move to greener pastures and incorporate some new ideas that the song inspired in me.
I’ve done a ridiculous amount of sketches, ideas and loops but little to no finished stuff. So, here you go. Something to listen to.
I’ve been busy playing around with Maschine. I got it on Friday, against all odds, and I’ve been toying with it since. With some breaks for movies, restaurant and general R&R with my significant other. But other than that I’ve been mostly tweaking with it constantly day in and day out.
My first break from it has been today. I’ve done numerous little experiments with it, trying to learn the interface. I haven’t made a full song, but I did extensively research the best way to incorporate it in to my current workflow. It’s a little cumbersome, actually.
But I think it’ll be worth it in the long run. As for making songs just on it, the arranger is too inflexible for me to consider that a possibility. The scene based system might work for live performances, but for proper arrangement… not really my thing.
Regardless, here’s a bunch of stuff I did with Maschine, ranging from 15 second loop to about 2minute loops. They’re (almost) all loops that aren’t really finished, and some could be songs if I could bothered. They usually don’t have synths, but might some simple have bass on them.
Also, obviously, the mixing is nonexistent.
All were done purely in Maschine, few of them had Kore as a synth, but then I moved to the 64bit Maschine client and lost that possiblity. Hey, Native Instruments, I could really use a 64bit version of Kore 2! Ok, that’s it for today.
I’ll try to make a real song one of these days. That “Old School Horses” (first clip) has some promise.
This blog is about the multitude of my hobbies. It will be updated sporadically. It is a place for me to collate all the information about the multitude of projects I am involved in.
Sometimes I "stream" a steadily updated screenshot of my art while I paint, you can check out this screenshot here
“The Malignant Growth”, By Jyri Straechav, 2013. Sculptris, C4D. Photoshop.
This represents a small step towards more surreal direction with much less emphasis on realism and anatomically correct human figures. That has been my real obsession for many years, but I am now trying to shake off my … need to be realistic. I want to go more surreal and disturbing, and a lot of that doesn’t necessarily work well with realism.
In the end I’d call this indirectly the most “Beksinski” esque painting I’ve ever done. Calling this piece a pure painting is a bit of a misnomer because it’s a sculpture that I then rendered and painted on top of in Photoshop.
But it’s really the direction I want to go to, at least for a bit. So this is a start of a new series that I’ll call “The Forms of Madness” and it concentrates on me doing (digital) sculptures from scratch and then finishing them in Photoshop and posting them here. I’m also trying to go to (even) more surreal.
“The Judge”, By Jyri Straechav, 2013. C4D, Photoshop.
I’m working on some new techniques behind the scenes. I am planning some pretty ambitious ideas. Unfortunately some of them might have to wait for my new computer, which will probably appear in August if all goes well. I need significantly more horsepower for the stuff I want to do.
I am also playing with dynamics system in C4D, we’ll see how badly I can abuse that for future pieces.
And lastly, I have now officially moved to my “summer schedule”. I will be posting only ONE piece per week for the next several months. I might make more than that, depending of the schedule (rain!). But don’t expect me to post the usual two regularly. I’ll post either on Wednesday or Saturday as usual, but I can’t promise which day.
“Connected” By Jyri Straechav, 2013. C4D, Photoshop, Artrage
I rather like this, I did some things that I rather surprised myself with. I did obviously use that One True Photoshop Brush(tm) that I tend to use in just about every painting of mine. Especially the ones that have feathers or things falling apart.
Also, this is how I feel every time I go on facebook. I really don’t care, man.
“Companion”, By Jyri Straechav, 2013. C4D, Artrage
A new piece! Finally. Sorry about it being basically day late. I was a little too lazy in the early week to get a move on. This piece is basically just a study of light and form. Also getting used to using Artrage again. The version four is definitely a big improvement. The ability to make new views is crucial for my workflow, so that’s why I am using it again.
“Sorrow” by Jyri Straechav, 2013. Cinema4D, Acrylics, Artrage.
Something a bit different. It’s quite… pretty for my standards. It’s also a bit of a culmination of mixed media paintings of mine. I’ve used pretty much every trick I know except photography (although the background texture is a photograph I took).
There are many things I really like about this painting, and surprisingly few things that I hate. So I hope you all like it.
“Wounded” By Jyri Straechav, 2013. Pencil, Acrylics, Artrage 5
I needed a change of medium, away from the 3D based paintings that I have been working with lately. So I put some acrylics on paper and decided to go with more abstract stuff than usually.
I like it. For now. We’ll see what I think about it in a week.
“The Gift”, by Jyri Straechav, 2013. Cinema4D, Photoshop.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSAY! I’m not going to spam your inbox like you did to me, but happy fucking birthday anyway! Since I can’t be physically there to give you a present, I painted this fellow - he’ll be presenting a gift for you. I hope you like it, it took a while to find.
“Cover Girl #12”, By Jyri Straechav, 2013, Photoshop.
A quick speedpaint to keep this place alive, and to warm up for working on The Gift. The name also references this particular painting of mine. I might do it a bit of a lighthearted sketch series. I don’t think I’ll ever take these too seriously, but I think I can go more detailed than this one which is indeed a very quick sketch.
“The Tree”, By Jyri Straechav, 2013. Cinema4D, Photoshop.
I am not absolutely fine with this piece, but I really can’t figure out how to improve it. However I deem it good enough to post, so here you go. There are elements to it that I kind of like, even if I whine about the execution a little bit.
A veeeery quick piece. I took many shortcuts, but hey, you people should be satisfied. At least I posted art today. I’ll work on the two other paintings now. I’ll post “The Tree” next, once it’s done, then on 30th I’ll post “The Gift” that I painted for Lindsay. I’ll keep you all posted.
The Insult
That Made Man Out of Mac. The best industrial band on earth, and the only band of the hundreds I follow that I would call myself a fan of. They play Industrial without synths. Like heavy music? Go! Listen!
Indie Games
Indie Games Weblog
is a nice busy blog with multiple contributors, that covers a lot of different types of small game releases. Very good way stay current in the indie scene.
TIGSource
doesn’t only cover some of the bigger releases, but also has tone of the he biggest database (TIGdb) of indie games that I know of. Plus, very active community in the forums.
Internet
Reddit
My choice of internet news, memes, and bullshit aggregation.
Music Tools
Reaper
Currently my choice of a DAW. Price to quality cannot be beaten, and I love the routing options.
Samplitude
I used samplitude from version 7 to 9, and then stopped. Too many features. It’s still better than other options if Reaper doesn’t do it for you.
Programming
Lisp Cabinet
The easiest way to get started on Windows with the most versatile programming language known to man. I recommend SBCL or Clozure.
Ruby
The best scripting language, and the best syntax. Oh god, please, provide a ruby compiler.
Tools
ArtRage
I prefer to use ArtRage instead of Painter, even if it tends to choke on large images.
paint.net
As a an alternative to photoshop, this will do. It’s pretty lightweight and has familiar UI so all’s well.
PicPick
My chosen screenshot utility that has basic image editing capabilities.
Sublime Text
The best text editor known to mankind, especially for programmers.
The Guide
Old but great simple little outlining application. If I write, I use this, because I rarely write anything larger in proper chronological order.
Toys
Foobar2000
My second choice for a music player. With a lot of modding and adjusting it can equal MusicBee, but aside from faster response can’t beat it.
KMPlayer
An excellent video player. Freeware, but watch out for the sneaky toolbar install. Read before you click anything while installing. There is no end to possible customization with this program, and that can be a little confusing.
MusicBee
Currently the best compromise as far as music players go. Still few features missing that I’d like, and I’d prefer a little more snappy response.