HVB

today's daily song post is about to reach your ears! you are but a click away from seeing a video of a cool song and in fact zero clicks (perhaps a scroll) away from reading about it. let's do this thing!

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today's song is: Mistral Currents (with @mandrasigma), 8KB .it module

this module is from last year's Winter Chip, almost a year old now! in this one mandra taught me about the intricacies of the Ixy (tremor) command and how much it friggin' rules. scarcely a module has gone by without me using that one since. it's also i think one of the first times i started tracking at very low speeds (this one's at speed 12) which somewhat bafflingly makes me love tracking way more. things make sense to me more when every line matters, and 98 times out of 100 you can just use a note delay command to move something off the grid anyway. (the other 2 times require a brief speed change but that's cool anyway, it still makes me feel like i'm maximizing my use of space)

speaking of maximizing space, this is one of many tiny modules where a ton of space gets saved by reusing a pattern that's had some channels unmuted on the second pass. exciting space-saver tip for all you trackerbrained people out there

in this one i wrote the initial progression and then sent it off to mandra, who added lots of beautiful detail and swells and cool percussion (actually some additional cool percussion had to be cut to fit within the 8KB limit). we bounced back the file a few times (as is typical for us) and lo and behold, a song was formed! we have made some even cooler modules since this one (perhaps soon to be posted!?) and will undoubtedly make more :o)

even moreso than it not being april yesterday, it isn't may today, but there were thunderstorms this morning?? thunder woke me up which was awesome. well, it's time for today's daily song copost!

<-- the previous day's song | the next day's song -->

today's song is: May Flowers, 64KB .it module

i was determined to use some Mario Kart 64 samples here; 64KB is a lot of space but not a ton, especially since i wanted to use a drumkit. (fun fact: it is indeed exactly 64KB! not a byte wasted!) i settled on doing a jazz piano trio in 64 kilobytes! this was musically inspired by the horde of awesome Japanese jazz groups with this kind of trio or quartet sound (piano, acoustic bass, drumkit, + optional additional thing). Indigo Jam Unit was especially on my mind.. crazy prolific group always putting out album after album of catchy, melodic, jazzy, sentimental grooves. they are really good at that thing they do.

i'm not a drummer so i'm always thinking hard about writing idiomatic drumset parts that aren't too excessive about what a real set of human arms and legs could accomplish. it's not something that comes natural to me even though i've listened to a metric heckton of music with drumset parts in my life. this one isn't as complex as the writing in some of the more math-rock-type tunes i've done, but i spent a good amount of effort making something driving and consistent!

well it isn't april right now but it sure did rain today! a fitting day for today's daily copost about one of my songs with a video of the song playing back. as we do each day here on cohost dot org slash hvb.

<-- the previous day's song | the next day's song -->

today's song is: April Showers, 4KB .it module

one of my favorite explorations of 2022 was the art of the .it module, especially with respect to economical use of space. this is something i will continue to explore in 2023! most of the magic of this song is actually hidden in the instrument envelopes, which are wacky and continue to fade out upon new notes being triggered, so the music is considerably more dense than it looks on the page. er, the.. pattern. you know. there's cool "fake delays" and lots of panning and filter data too. and it all fits neatly within 4 kilobytes!

of course, my good friends tremolo effect (Rxy) and tremor effect (Ixy) pull a lot of the weight here too. if you haven't noticed yet, i am pretty much allergic to held notes that don't do anything. some decay, some tremolo, some vibrato, some balls-to-the-wall glitchedoutness, yes please, they are a must. chiptune has ruined me solidified this strategy in me.

i have done a great deal of these in both one-hour-battle form and full form, and plan to not only continue to do more and expand upon this super cool palette, but perhaps release something this year comprised of such modules... 🤔