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Heheh, I joined the band probably '04 or '05.

The website has a massive update that'll go online soon, so a lot of the information concerning the band will be updated (as far as new photos, also). However, the website has been updated so that the new CD is online, sound samples, etc.

In band I play in, Blusion, we recently released a CD, called "Sign of the Times". Just this morning I learned that we got our first big review in the news. The writer of the article, Ron Jacobs, describes what we're about really well:

http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs07072007.html

(In the second half of the article, entitled "Blusion")

Sound clips of the album can be heard at: http://www.blusion.com/pages/merchandise.html

What can I say, sounds great! I really like your style. If you guys stick together and really work on material, it could be a really tight band! You're definitely off to a good start.

I should send you some articles I have on songwriting... basically how hit tunes are constructed, etc. That would be if you want to go that route, getting air play, etc. Let me know.

EDIT: One last comment... I would've liked to hear an acoustic guitar on Alone... but it's fine electric, too.

[Le Woltaire]

Contest over!

I declare the winner Le Woltaire for his comical operatic piece.

Though, it would've been more effective with a much dramatically dynamic piano part (mostly just the playing, not arranging), and maybe some more dramatic fast arpeggios, etc. that are cliched to that style. The end is great!

Any contenders at all? We have one more day for entries.

EDIT: Oops... technically one more hour for entries.

I've been thinking the same thing a lot lately. I don't want to sound like a late-comer snob, but I'm not particularly familiar with some of the games on the banners. I feel they could better reflect the quality games produced with AGS and I also think that they could show a good range of graphical styles with a consistently high quality.

Ouch.

Just kidding. Yeah, adding some newer banners to the cycle would make sense. Maybe adding games that won awards or nominations, or got "game of the month" on the games page?

Here's a great resource for sound effects:

http://www.soundsnap.com

These are all sound effects recorded by users. It would probably be worth a look into the licensing since "free" needs a little elaboration. Nevertheless, looks like this website could be useful for amatuer game creators!

Count have put it better myself.

Could be either... just two instruments.

"write a duet for two instruments" -- I love how redundant I am.

Alright, the guidelines for this contest are to write a duet for two instruments. They could be different instruments or the same type of instrument, but just a duet.

In judging the entries, I'll be looking for an imaginative composition and good realization of this composition (quality production, etc.)

Good luck!

Heh, thanks! I'll start the new contest.

Oh, is there a new version out? Should we get notified? We don't have to buy again, do we? I didn't get any notification, is this ok?

Yesterday I sent emails with links to download the updated version out to all of our customers, but I don't think my server liked the amount of emails I was attempting to send. I'm reconfiguring my email address, and I'll give it another try. Thanks for your patience!

Hahaha.
I just got the confirmation Email from when I ordered the full version of SJM back in January.
Haha... I thought I was being charged for the game again until I read it properly.

6 months... and this is supposed to be the broadband era.

I just sent out the new version to all the customers, and the automated email comes in the form of a purchase notification. I included a message with the email saying it was the new version, but that doesn't change the email title.

Sounds a little like http://www.savetoby.com

But a whole lot more horrible.

If you hit the ESC key, it'll skip the intro.

First you need to find a way to get into the closet in the tower. Try knocking on the master's door and then hiding in the stairwell. Then go to your room and go down the laundry chute, while the master is in the kitchen.

Thanks for the mention, Nikolas. Great post with lots of valuable information!

Evil, as for keyboards, how many keys do you need? Will you use it for auditioning samples or playing in single lines? Or do you need a full keyboard?

I just bought an HP laptop the end of last year for the same purpose, and I'm completely happy with it. A few suggestions...

For recording, NOTHING less than 2GB ram. The guy at Bestbuy was preaching about Vista, and how I wouldn't need so much memory for recording if I had Vista, and blah. No. Damn Vista, and Damn that guy.

Yeah, HP laptops are great. And yes, Vista is terrible, especially for recording.

2+ gigs of RAM will be useful if you're into samples. You might also want to have an external harddrive from which to contain all your audio recording data and samples. This is a must if you're going to be using DFD sample playback.

What sort of recording hardware do you have? If you don't already have something, look into a firewire audio device (soundcard, basically). One with ASIO would be a plus, but be sure to get firewire rather than USB, since it works with audio better (since firewire works by stream rather than packets, basically, it makes it more suitable for audio work). I would recommend a Firepod/Firebox.

The M-Audio Ozone is a 2-octave keyboard, XLR input and 1/4" input (which can be used simultaneously), and soundcard with ASIO all in one, but it's USB and not too great at working as a soundcard. It's convenient, though.

Been a while...

Child of The 80's

There are also a lot of templates available, for example, check out lulu.com, which has templates for CDs (and they'll also make CDs for you). They've printed books for me, and their quality is terrific.

If you're going to get them professionally printed, you'll especially want to use good templates since you have to account for bleed area, etc.