UPDATE 11-30-07: Just a short update, but I've got a general idea of when I hope to have this finished. :) No guarantees, but my goal is to have this song finished for the new year, as well as my one-year mark of making music. >:) Also to be noted is that I now have a demo ready - or can render one, anyway, if you contact me. It'll be really quiet, though, so you'll need to turn your volume up - as the song's such a PAIN to mix/EQ that I have to lower the master volume to 30%, and even then there's distortion. D: But progress is being made, and I like what I have so far...

--

UPDATE 11-29-07: I've started a new trance WIP! :D It's a remix. No demos yet, and I don't think I'll be giving any, except privately via PM or chat to a few people - this is going to be a big surprise, and an awesome one, too. ;D That's all for now.

--

Just now I felt like making a post about the trance I've been listening to lately, so I'm going to do just that. ;D This will be about artists that you will NOT find on Newgrounds - some of them give away their music for free, some of them don't. I'll go down my list of artists in the order they come to mind, but within each artist, if I feel like it, I'll list the songs in order of how much I like them. :P

--

I. Cordis

This artist has been my favorite artists for a few months, now, and of all of the artists I'll be listing here, definitely fits "amazing" the most. :D His songs are very strong, emotionally, and are very well-produced. Also to be noted is that this is the artist that completes the other source of inspiration behind nearly all of my recent songs. Unfortunately, I've been listening to this artist less and less, as I've been trying to shift away from that source of inspiration... :( Ah well, here's my list of my favorite songs by Cordis...

1. Lust (Original Mix) - This is possibly one of the most amazing trance songs I've heard, ever. The production is amazing and the melodies/harmonies convey something I could never hope to convey for what will be months, possibly a year or two. Definitely worth a listen. Also worth listening to is the Taisto Project Remix, which is just as awesome in its own way, and quite interesting - even though it's a remix, it never once plays the main melody of the original.

2. DCX - Flying High (Cordis Dub Remix) - This is a VERY interesting song - it's a remix of a completely different trance song which you can find here (look for Flying High (radio edit)). The original is a somewhat cliched song, though Cordis makes it awesome - he starts over from scratch, and makes a remix that is practically its own song except for the lyrics, which are the only thing it has in common with the original - and even then, he harmonizes them and adds a chorus effect. The result is a very original and well-produced trance song with everything from perfect pacing to a pwnsome acid break a little more than halfway through. >:) Also worth a listen.

3. Ascension (Original Journey) - Another amazing song which I had completely forgotten about until Dj-Immune reminded me! :D I'd have to say that, at least in my opinion, the main highlight of this one would definitely be the melodies and the harmonies - Cordis makes liberal use of dissonance in what could only be described as incredible - listen to the song itself to find out what I mean. ;) Also to be pointed out is that this is the only song in which Cordis uses a guitar - and it's used well. :D I can't really do the song justice with words, though, so do yourself a favor and listen to it. ;D

There are plenty other songs that are worth a listen, including Sirene (Original Mix) and Fall (Original Mix) (also in order), but if I'm going to finish this post in one sitting I'm going to have to keep moving. ;)

--

II. Fleeticer

This is one of the more unique trance artists I've heard in a while - unlike Cordis, Fleeticer's songs are much more chilled-out. They're trance, but with some ambient influences here and there - in fact, in places, some of his songs could be called ambience with a bassline and a beat, and in other places, ambience period. :D You'd have to listen to this artist to know what I mean... I'm not going to go in detail on any of his songs, but I will reccomend Seven Seas (Original Mix), Twinsanity (Original Mix), and Frozen Fields (Original Mix), in that order.

--

I'm getting bored of this, so I'll submit it as is and update it later, possibly adding new artists, or more to the existing ones on this list. Enjoy the music! :)

UPDATE 11-27-07: Just a small update; I fixed a mixing problem with the kick - it was a bit weak from 4:08 to the end of the song. Once I had fixed that, I realized the lead had become a bit overpowered now that the kick had become louder, so I raised its volume up just a bit, and then rendered+submitted the song. That's all.

--

UPDATE 11-21-07: I've submitted my trance remix of Falling Farther at last! Find it here. If you followed the URL in the song description to this page, everything in this update to this news post is what I have to say about this song.

So how should I start? Well, to begin with, this is the first song I've fully finished from beginning to end since Miracle, two months ago. However, I've made things easy for myself - I didn't kill myself over the diversity in some places, and I remixed old composition. If it weren't for that, this song probably would never have gotten finished - I'm still short of inspiration, and waiting for it to fully come back.

But limitations aside, I'm, for the most part, satisfied with how this came out. I'm trying to change my source of inspiration, and this was a step - this song was partially inspired by the songs of trance artist First & Andre, who you can find on iTunes and Beatport... I haven't checked other online stores, though. Basically, their style is to merge movie/soundtrack music with trance for an awesome combination of the two, and though I didn't pull it off anywhere nearly as well as they did, I think that this turned out very nicely for a first try. I might be attempting this style again if I find a good song to remix, or, better yet, come up with some nice composition myself!

An interesting thing about this song is that I completed the first half all in one day about three weeks ago, and the second half today, with small amounts of editing in between. Today and that day three weeks ago, the song practically made itself - though the first time, I was driven by inspiration, and today, song structure pulled me through the rest along with somewhat less inspiration.

One last note: I had to export the song at a slightly lower bitrate than normal so it could fit onto NG... if you want the full quality version, contact me and I'll send you a link.

Enjoy - and don't forget to at least comment here if you don't feel like leaving a full review. ;)

--

But I'm extremely frustrated to say that something has been STOPPING me from submitting music altogether. Though my recently crushed inspiration has come back, I have, up until now, not been at liberty to do so.

All I can say about it now is, it won't anymore. It's not something to elaborate on on the internet, though, and I won't. So, those irrelevant to this (and that's just about everyone on Newgrounds), please don't ask any questions. I won't answer them.

I'll begin submitting again later today, and I'll update this news post when I do. Expect trance.

I'll be taking a break from music altogether for a while. Don't expect any new submissions. Or any WIPs. Or anything at all...

Karco

UPDATE 11-5-07: It seems there's some clarifying to be done, on when I said that my motivation and inspiration is gone. I can still make music, just fine - it's just that due to problems with inspiration I can't come up with any good melodies lately, and without a melody, I can't finish anything. D:

So I decided to try getting around this problem last Saturday by starting a trance remix of my song Falling Farther. I'll post the full story later when I post the finished song - no demos this time, as I'm still waiting for Message to get a decent amount of reviews and don't want to take any attention away from it. >:(

That's all for now.

Edit 11-6-07: I'm pretty sure I'll have the final version submitted by Thursday or Friday, and worst-case-scenario it'll be submitted Saturday, though it's unlikely.

--

UPDATE 10-30-07: I submitted an edited version of the only render. You can find it here. Comment here if you don't feel like leaving a full review.

--

Just now I was working on a song - my only real work in progress. I hadn't even mentioned it here on my userpage. It was definitely a groundbreaker, but not the way a song usually is - I was doing very well in conveying something extremely difficult to convey with it. It was also my first song in a major key, yet composing was going smoothly and easily. Basically, I was trying something new, and it was working perfectly.

Then luck decides to go and corrupt the project file, right as I'm working on it. I'm saving my project file when FL Studio says it can't save to the file. Fine, I think, I'll just save it to a new file instead. As luck would have it, that doesn't work either. So now I'm seriously panicking. I decide that before anything else goes wrong, I'll render the file so at least I'll have a .mp3 file to refer to if I have to start over. And then, of the three steps of the rendering process, every single one works - except for the VERY LAST STEP, when I hit the "Start" button. FL Studio became unresponsive and wouldn't respond again until I closed and reopened it. Upon trying to open it, I found that I can't access the file anymore - it's corrupted.

So, basically, thanks to that, I've lost just about every ounce of motivation/inspiration in me, for real this time.

Tomorrow, in Audacity, I'll edit the latest and only .mp3 file, which I rendered on Friday, and then I'll submit it.

UPDATE 10-11-07: Well, the homework's cleared up now. However, both my inspiration and motivation to make music have completely vanished.

The reason why isn't meant to be shared on the internet.

I'll still be active here, but don't expect any new submissions in the near future. My next update will be when I've resumed making music.

--

UPDATE 10-9-07: ARGH. I've been swamped with homework waaaay too often these days. So I haven't been able to do very much at all lately regarding music. :\ I won't be able to do very much probably until the end of this week - maybe sooner, but no guarantees. To keep you all entertained until then, here's a demo of that acid song I was talking about in that last update. It's old, but not outdated, as I haven't worked on it in a while. Stay tuned...

Ironic that it took a week for me to update, right after I said "These updates are coming often, aren't they? :P," isn't it? ;D

--

UPDATE 10-2-07: Another small update. No music yet, but I'm telling you about what's coming up.

See, I just found the secret to making pwnsome Acid/303-type synths. >:) Or, one of them anyway. (I'm not telling anyone, by the way. ;D Maybe if you ask nicely and you're lucky I'll give you a hint. :P) And it would be something I've been looking for pretty much since I started making music, so it made my day. :P A demo of what I've come up with will be on my userpage either tomorrow or the day after that.

So what happened to Cycles? I've been taking a break from it lately, because of what is indeed lack of inspiration and motivation - I've become a bit bored of it unfortunately and don't know when I'll be returning to it. This 303 thing is my new main WIP. >:) (Comments on Cycles are still appreciated, though.)

That's about it for now. These updates are coming often, aren't they? :P

--

UPDATE 10-1-07: Just a small update. Homework's piling on a bit harder than usual and my inspiration's coming rather short so don't expect updates very often until I say otherwise. Sorry. But check by this page now and then anyway, you just might find something...

--

UPDATE 9-29-07: Now that we have the Edit and Remove functions, I've uploaded the latest version here. It's called "Cycles." I plan to update whenever I have a new version, whenever possible. Also note that I've updated the description I gave at the below link.

--

Another WIP! XD I figured I'd give Miracle's news post a little bit of time on the front of my userpage before I posted this, but it's had enough time and this needs the feedback. :P

I've done all my explaining here, and it's where the song's uploaded, too. It doesn't matter to me whether you comment here or there... :P

Thanks for your time! :)

This is the full description to my song Miracle that the URL in the song description links to. If you found this news post first, then click here for the actual song. ;) Leave a comment here if you don't feel like leaving a full review! :)

So, it's about time, huh? I spent more than a month on this one, but it's finally finished. :D A few things you might want to know about this song...

First: It's OLD. Well, yes - the MP3 is brand new. Rendered today, everything. :P But many of the concepts (especially in the beginning) are from a month ago and over the production of this song I've learned quite a few things that are not only from working on it and listening to songs that were its inspiration, (which I'll list later) but also from listening to other songs, among other things. What this means? My next song like this will be a LOT better... >:)

Another thing - if you're interested, I'll link to below the pages of the two songs - both by VERY talented artists, but not on Newgrounds, unfortunately - that most influenced this song. They're definitely worth a listen as well. :) First, there's Sirene, which you can find at this link. Look for the original mix. It gave me the ideas for all of the dissonance in this song, (among other things) which ended up working quite nicely. Give it a listen sometime, it's awesome. :) There's also Glory, which you'll find here. It's the third from the bottom. You'll notice that these pages are on the same website, which is in a foreign language - but it shouldn't be too hard to find the songs, and their 'Download' buttons... :P Of course, these songs aren't the only influences on this song - not at all. But they're pretty big ones...

Now, I may as well talk about what I think of the song myself. It's definitely one of my best - it doesn't match up at all to the songs linked to above, of course, but I tried. ;) I do think, though, that the later end of the song was a bit rushed - I was quite eager to finish the song, so I could jump into my next WIP, whatever it'll be. :P We all cut corners on songs, I suppose, the real question is how many. Overall... I cut a lot less this time around. :)

That's about all I've got to say. Enjoy! Hope you all like it. :)

UPDATE 9-11-07: I think I just might have the semifinal .mp3. Possibly the final .mp3, if we're lucky. >:) For sure now, the finished song WILL be submitted by the weekend. If not, earlier. What I need now are people to listen to it and suggest any finishing touches before I actually do. Just ask if you're interested - though I may or may not let you hear this version, depending on who you are... if I say no, don't worry. Everyone'll hear it soon enough. ;D

--

UPDATE 9-8-07: Just thought I'd update this post, since I haven't in a while but I have some new things to say. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to get on FL Studio since last Tuesday. So nothing to share quite yet. :(

On the note of the demo, actually, I've decided to cut the song approximately in half. Most songs of this genre progress in increments of sixteen measures, while mine progresses in increments of eight. And since it's pretty much impossible to change such a big element of the song so late in production I simply won't at all. Instead I'll save myself the trouble and you all the time, and cut the song instead. This also cuts the chances of you getting a demo, since this means I'm almost finished with the song - it might get finished by next weekend, maybe even sooner.

I have also decided on the name - it is now officially called Miracle.

That's about it for now... the next update should hopefully be about the finished song.

--

UPDATE 8-27-07: Forget what I said about having a demo by now. You're going to have to wait. :( The song's not quite ready yet, due to school and the like. I just haven't had as much time as I'd have liked to finish the demo up.... So expect it now hopefully within a week of this update. Between now and then, I will:

1) Work on the buildup and first climax. The big hill, see below.
2) Work on structure and pacing.

(I had something in this list about fixing up and adding to the chord progression, but I decided to scrap that idea. Ever heard of the saying that goes along the lines of, "don't fix what isn't broken?" It's just fine as is.)

Overall, I'm estimating this song is currently between 30 and 40% done. The first buildup and climax seem to be the big hill, once I get past them everything hopefully will be easier.

And then, of course, you can always contact me somehow for the latest version, but I'm not going to put anything on this news post until I have an official demo ready. ;)

Oh, wait - know what just occurred to me? None of this makes sense to most of you, since the last thing you've heard is the part that comes right before the chord progression is introduced. :P Oh well, be patient, it will come soon enough.

--

Yep, my musician's block is history now. >:) I'm listening to the brand new chord progression of Ocean Depths right now, but I'll go into that later... (Oh, and some of this might not make sense without reading my last news post.)

Anyway, if you look, you'll notice that I've finished another song - my first in a while! :D It's called Soaring, but only because it was impossible to name and I simply chose the first name that sounded remotely appropriate out of frustration. I'm getting some pretty good name ideas too... it's ironic they're coming after I submitted the song, isn't it? Oh, where is that edit function...

Currently I'm working on Ocean Depths. I've made quite some progress since the last demo, I'll make a list below.

1) First and foremost, the main chord progression. >:) It is EASILY my best composition to date, for one. It's filled to the brim with dissonance and lots of other things that you'll have to wait to see. Trust me, it's definitely something to look forward to...
2) Mixing/Mastering. It's actually quite difficult to do, considering I have 14 instances of Nexus and a Fruity Slicer (which uses a sample exported from Nexus :P) and many of them are on similar frequencies, but I've been doing my best. It's probably gotten better than the last version by now... :P
3) The name. Currently it's named Ocean Depths but due to the nature of the parts of the song which I haven't released to the public yet, Miracle is a new title being seriously considered. It's also a hint at what the new demo will be like, though don't go complaining to me that it's a tiny one... >:(

Hmm... nothing else worth listing, really. But the song has come a long way and it still has a long way to go. >:) I'm trying to make huge progress with this one and get really good at Trance while making it. Expect a demo soon...

8-19-07 UPDATE: Two things, I'll start with the latest on my 3-step WIP. It's finished. It's been named. And right after this, I'll go submit it! And right after reading this, YOU will go listen to it if you haven't yet! ;D It was made for fun, with no intent of progress or original breakthroughs. Just for fun. Keep that in mind when listening to/reviewing it. ;)

Second thing is that school gets in for me tomorrow. Yeah, my insanely long summer comes back to kick me tomorrow. I won't be working on music nearly as much, nor will I be nearly as active on here. Don't worry, though, I will be whenever I get the chance. >:) Just a heads-up.

8-14-07 UPDATE: I've been finding it much easier and more fun to work on my 3-step project than on the others so I've been working on that one! It's actually almost finished - I just need to fix up some transitions and get that mixing/mastering just right, and it'll be on my audio page in no time. Stay tuned. ;D

--

I'd be submitting more often, but I've been finding it hard these days to finish a full song, let alone one I'm satisfied with enough to submit. Here, let me explain:

1) A couple times every week, these days, I come up with some GREAT inspiration for a song of some kind or another, be it trance, ambience, classical, some other thing... and, thanks to Nexus, which offers me a huge amount of resources, I can nearly make that inspiration a perfect reality. After so long being limited by my resources, I'm not anymore. So you'd think I'd be able to make plenty of songs, right?

2) Wrong. I begin working on my song and for a while, the inspiration comes so quickly I can barely keep up. But I do, and very quickly the song takes form. However, sooner or later, the inspiration comes to a screeching halt and I have no ideas of what to do. Usually I can't figure out where the song should go next, in terms of progression - and I ask people for their opinions. Thing is, as much as I like their ideas, it doesn't work. I'm standing here looking at a fifty-foot brick wall, and for each person that I ask for help, it doesn't help much more than taking one brick off of the top.

Now, you'd think, a collaboration would work quite well for this situation. I get inspiration for a song, I work on it until I lose it, then hand it off to my partner, and keep switching around. The collab partner would progress the song, and when I get it back I would have a reasonable idea of what to do next. Problem is, how many people do I know here who have Nexus? People here that I know: None. And, if I can't use Nexus, then making that inspiration a reality is much more difficult.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Also, since I'm probably not going to submit anything for a while - though the first chance I get, I will, believe me - I may as well give you a list of what I've been working on lately. As well as links, I'll list their names(if they have one), their genres, and a short description. Comments, praise, criticism, etc. on ANY of these is more than welcome!

(Untitled) - Trance - The trance project I was talking about in my last news post. I've suspended this one until I get the experience I feel I need to work on this efficiently.

Ocean Depths - Trance - One of my more original trance songs which hopefully will use dissonance liberally.

Black Jungle - Dark Ambience - Well, I don't have too much to say about this one. It's dark, and it's ambient. The rest you'll have to figure out by listening to the song itself.

(Untitled) - Classical - A peaceful classical piece with strings, piano, and a harp. Not a serious song, in the sense that this was an experiment and I'm not intending to finish it. I'll likely be making little effort to add to it as is.

That's about it. Again, if you have anything to say about any of these, don't hesitate to say it!

Well, it's a bit late to still be making something in spirit of the redesign, as I said I would in my last news post, but I'm going to make something huge anyway, even if it's not for the redesign! :D It's looking to be another Trance song, though don't get it mixed up with Aurora at all - it's going to be quite similar to and very influenced by Pulstate's style of Trance, which I've been listening to quite a bit lately, though it'll also be influenced by my style and the reccomendations of others. I'll tell you all about my WIP below:

- It's quite the challenge to make, and I'm taking it small bites at a time. :P I have no idea at this time how long it'll be until I'm finished, but as far as I know, it should be no less than several days from now and no more than a few weeks.
- It's going to be long! :D At LEAST four minutes long, though it's more than likely it'll exceed five or six minutes if things continue the way they are right now.
- I already said, it'll be quite similar to Pulstate's style of Trance and influenced by my style and the suggestions I get...
- The latest demo is currently outdated. You may still listen to it simply by requesting it via PM, but please consider that it's not the latest version. I don't know when I'll finish the next demo, I've gotten some very difficult but ideal possibilities and I'm going to be trying as hard as I can to put them in. :D

Can't think of anything else you should know right now, so I'll leave it there. If you're a regular reviewer of mine, a good friend in chat, or just a good friend in general and would like to hear a demo, feel free to PM me or comment here! :) Just reply with some advice, of course, when I send you the demo. ;) Unfortunately, everyone else will have to wait, I'm trying to make this my absolute best and I want it to be a surprise! :D

(7-29-07) UPDATE: Thanks so far to everyone who's given advice! This is really turning into a great song. :) SBB, the snare is in! :D

(8-4-07) UPDATE: I've decided to put this project on hold for a while - it's proving to be much more than simply a healthy challenge - it's very difficult and time consuming. I'll come back to it once I feel I have the experience needed to finish it. Don't worry, though - I'll still be working on some great trance that you can expect to hear soon.

I suppose I'll make a post here, just for fun. :P

Haven't been submitting too often, but I'm trying. ;) I just got Nexus and two expansions... I've got so many new synths and drums on my hands it's hard to choose which to use! XD Here's some advice from me - never buy too many things at the same time, because, like me, you won't know what to do with it all first. XD

Anyway, I'm trying - I've made an experiment or two with it and in the spirit of the redesign I just might submit something EPIC - no guarantees, though, as I haven't even started anything! I'm coming up with ideas as I type! :D But look forward to it. I sure am. :)

Oh, one more thing - right after this, I'm going to export and then submit a song that I made with a very good friend of mine while teaching him the basics of FL Studio. For a collab with a beginner, it's pretty good. :D Give it a listen sometime. (Oh, if you're wondering about the name? It's an inside joke that you can take as many guesses at as you like while it's sitting right under your nose and we're laughing at you. :D)

That's about all, stay tuned! :)

Karco