Happy Pixel Day everyone! It's the best holiday of the year.

I've been looking forward to this for weeks, and I've got four songs prepared for you!

Rising Star

An uplifting electro-pop song that fits a 1st level, made out of Nintendo nes, snes and Sega Genesis sounds.

Wacky Bits

Weird but catchy Atari 2600 tune.

Invasion of the Court of Hearts

Snes song about an invasion of a 16-bit sky island kingdom by 8-bit enemies from hell.

Tempel Distraught

Snes song inspired by pixel art, that sounds like a final level.

Hope you enjoy!

SJ

If you're wondering what I'm up to, here's what:

I'm working on music for a game at the moment. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about it, but if you like Hobo Bob and you would like to play it on your android, keep your eyes open.

Also I'm working on a demo EP. As a matter of fact it will be a double demo EP with at least 32 songs. All from after my Sour John period (that's a closed book... For now). For that I've been mainly busy updating my old songs. 4 months ago I've bought the latest version of Propellerhead Reason. It came with a lot of useful new features, like equalizers that let you see the sound spectrum and finally have proper high pass and low pass filters. They also gave me free drums and basses sample re-fill packs, with awesome sounds. Replacing my old drum samples seriously takes up most of my time, and also gives the most improvement. Another two re-fill packs I’ve bought are Euphonic Strings and Shreddage, that respectively give me new wonderful string and electric guitar sounds. The reason update also allowed me to buy rack extensions for some cool new instruments. Some I bought are Chip 64, for 8-bit sound chip emulation. Radical Piano + Radical Keys for realistic piano and electric piano sounds. Kuassa Amplification Bundle for some sweet electric guitar and bass amplification. And a Softube FET compressor. I've also tried out some instruments that I want to buy later, like the PX7 FM modulation synth. My own mixing skills have vastly improved over the last few years (even though they're still far from perfect), so with all of this I've been able to greatly improve my old songs, and make better new ones.

These 4 songs I've created/updated over the last 3 weeks and I consider them finished (for now). These will appear on the album as is:

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/603446

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/537935

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/585319

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/588531

20 songs for the album will be other songs I've uploaded to Newgrounds, that I will adapt (a lot) to fit the album, and my current production skills. These songs include "Happy Bits", "Hobo Bob gets the Job!", "Milk Man", "Wtfepic Battle", "Temple Distraught", "Fragile" and "Fisherman's Fantasy". I will also make a song like "Party Crashers" and "The Genocide" but come up with melodies of my own, so they will become entirely my own songs instead of covers. 

8 songs for the album will be new songs that I haven't yet uploaded to NG. Most of them are songs I've already started on though.

All help is welcomed. If you think a song can be better mixed, if you can better play a certain instrument, or if you have better samples, please let me know.

Here it is again. The Official Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch Unofficial Ranking List Round 1.

1. Kor-Rune + Bosa------------9.12 W

2. etherealwinds-----------------9.03 W

3. DamienFleisch----------------8.97 L

4. garlagan------------------------8.93 W

5. ZipZipper + steampianist---8.79 W

6. SoundChris + Hitokirito-----8.77 W

7. SkyeWint + camoshark-----8.63 W

8. introstalge----------------------8.61 W

9. SilverPoyozo------------------8.53 L

10. Sequenced-------------------8.48 W

11. Acid-Paradox----------------8.47 L

12. CoredxBitch------------------8.46 L

12. johnfn--------------------------8.46 W

14. JacobCadmus---------------8.43 L

15. PirateCrab--------------------8.32 W

16. SolarexMusic----------------8.28 W

17. Cross666---------------------8.275 L

18. LunyAlex---------------------8.25 L

19. papkee------------------------8.2 L

20. JDawg00100----------------8.19 L

21. Spadezer---------------------8.18 W

22. AeronMusic------------------8.08 W

23. RetromanOMG--------------8.06 L

24. PeterSatera------------------7.94 W

25. Pandasticality----------------7.91 L

26. DuttonsaysHi-----------------7.9 L

27. Troisnyx------------------------7.82 W

28. InvisibleObserver------------7.81 L

29. ChronoNomad----------------7.72 L

30. Phonometrologist------------7.67 L

30. Basset-Hound-----------------7.67 L

32. IglicaV---------------------------7.66 L

33. Jimmypig-----------------------7.65 L

34. SonicWombat-----------------7.63 L

34. dexarson-----------------------7.63 L

36. TheBenjerman----------------7.62 L

37. Nimble---------------------------7.6 L

37. Kabalist-------------------------7.6 L

39. Jay-Turner---------------------7.58 W

40. Veneox-------------------------7.53 L

40. Mawnz--------------------------7.53 L

42. KatMaestro + JRob----------7.4 L

42. SourJovis-----------------------7.4 L

44. TetratonMusic-----------------7.37 L

45. larrylarrybb---------------------7.34 L

46. Azhthar--------------------------7.29 L

47. Metallica1136------------------7.28 L

48. secantwave--------------------7.26 L

49. Chemiqals----------------------7.23 L

50. BrainLight----------------------7.01 L

50. Tosmatobeef------------------7.01 L

52. Ceevro--------------------------6.95 L

53. LunacyEcho-------------------6.76 L

54. Jernemies----------------------6.73 L

55. MrStr8face---------------------6.68 L

56. PascalPalomino--------------6.6 L

57. Guylee--------------------------6.51 L

58. Braiton--------------------------6.475 L

59. soulblud------------------------5.98 L

60. Cimba--------------------------5.17 L

61. FlaggedOnArrival-----------4.62 L

62. acmeDyne--------------------0 L

62. MattBat27---------------------0 L

62. TheMoebiusProject---------0 L

Normally I work at one project at a time, finish it, upload it or whatever and that's it.

At the moment however I have so many things at once. So many unfinished projects that I will definitely finish but haven't got around to.

First of all there's the Illusion of Gaia Arrangement project where I make remakes of each of the songs from the snes game Illusion of Gaia. I try to stay as faithfull to the original as I can, but with more up to date samples, effects, mixing and mastering, and ofcourse I try to make it sound more lively by having velocity levels and tone lengths fluctuate more, add fades, etc, etc. I had to pause this project for a while because my computer died. I continued on another computer that died as well. I have a new computer now that doesn't have all the programs and functions I used for the project, and I can not fix that. Not my most interesting project anymore I must say, because I prefer to make my own music. On top of that I've started this a long time ago, and my production skills have improved since then. I still use the old sounds for the sake of continuity. I should finish it though, since I'm almost done. A lot of people keep asking me to finish it, because they like it. I can not let them down.

Secondly there are several songs I've started but not finished. They're not in the audio portal, but you may have heard them one time anyway.

Like the music I've made for Hobo Bob

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/639146

and How to Bird

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/642677

These songs were rushed and not even close to how I wanted them to sound. On top of that, the way they appear in the games is not how I wrote them. Only two of the four loops I made for Hobo Bob made it into the game, and those were the loops with the least instruments and layers. The lead instrument for How to Bird was removed because it was too demanding. I'm still working on those two songs.

There are two more songs I haven't finished. One I made for the NG Secret Santa 2014. Another I made for NGMT 13. Also I'm buying a lot of new software, so I can revisit my old songs, update them and republish them as an album.

I'm entering NGADM14 so I think I will be very busy making new songs. I don't know how long I'll be in but I intend to make it far.

Another ranking list, just to keep up the tradition, and because with fewer contestants it gets easier for me to do. The scores are the averages of the ones given by the judges for the competition, as are listed here http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1351528

1. etherealwinds---------9.39 W
2. headphoamz------------9.26 L
3. johnfn----------------9.17 W
4. steampianist----------9.13 W
5. Kor-Rune--------------9.06 W
6. SoundChris------------8.93 L
7. InvisibleObserver-----7.93 L
8. InYourDreams----------7.76 L

No talking about myself this time, because I'm not in anymore since the previous round. Even the lowest score was still higher than the highest I ever got in this competition. Next year I'll have to try to be better. Whatever "better" even means in terms of music. It was a very exiting round. Quite a tight difference between headphoamz and etherealwinds. Too bad headphoamz is out even though she placed second in my list. Of course SoundChris, InvisibleObserver and InYourDreams made good tracks too. Here's where you can check out all of the tracks. Looking forward to next round.

So here it is; the NGADM13 unofficial ranking list round 3. And the thread for the third round of the competition.

1. steampianist---------9.54 W
2. JacobCadmus----------9.27 W
3. Kor-Rune-------------9.25 W
4. SoundChris-----------9.20 L
5. InYourDreams---------9.09 W
6. etherealwinds--------9.04 W
7. headphoamz-----------8.94 W
8. garlagan-------------8.66 L
9. johnfn---------------8.59 W
10. InvisibleObserver---8.39 W
11. midimachine---------8.33 L
12. ChronoNomad---------8.26 L
13. dj-Jo---------------8.00 L
14. Wolftacular---------7.51 L
15. SourJovis-----------6.90 L

Didn't make it this time. As a matter of fact I'm the lowest ranking loser. Not such a spectacular exit as highest ranking loser. Neither as nice as lowest ranking winner. I pass on that stick to InvisibleObserver.

This means I'll remain a B rank musician on NG for now. I got quite lucky to make it this far. Seeing contestants with higher scores than me got eliminated as early as the first round. This loss wasn't unexpected either. When I finished the song I already had the feeling it wasn't suited for the contest. Still I'm disappointed. It'd be better to just beat everyone.

Talking about the song I submitted. I actually get more and more content with it. It wasn't as "epic" as the other songs, but to be honest I got quite tired of these songs that were clearly intended to "outdo" the rest. It's no longer about making nice sounding music, but more about showing off. Nothing against all of the songs I've heard during this competition. They were all impressive and diverse. Still I wanted some resting points in the playlist. Something that wasn't demanding so much attention. I think my entry was exactly such a song. Not only was it what I wanted to hear, but also what I needed to compose. I've been listening to a lot of minimal music of artists who are well respected. I don't claim to be as good as they are, but I don't think their music would get them far in contests such as these. Still you can't say their music is bad, considering their fan bases. I actually think it's the same with my entry. It is what it is. I knew I wouldn't win, but I don't think there was much to improve on the song. The judges didn't have much to comment either. All the negative points they gave were just things that would make me "score higher" if I changed them, but not make the song "better". Sure it's short, but so are Wim Mertens' songs. Sure the accompaniment is minimal and stays the same, but so is that of Yann Tiersen's most respected songs. It could be "developed more"... I think I really shouldn't. That would take away its essence.

So I got a song out of this contest I'm content with even though it had a low score. The previous song that had a higher score I'm happy about too, and in that instance the critique actually helped. I've made a second version of the song where I implemented much of the comments, and I think it became better. The first entry I liked actually better than the second (although it had a lower score), though it has more imperfections than the third (even though it had a higher score) (so the song that scored lowest is the one I want to change least, and the one that scored highest is the one that I changed most). I would want to use more powerful live guitars and a different vocalist. Other than that, I think it's fine.

So I made a lot of excuses why it doesn't say that much I got low scores and why I'm out. I must admit though my music composing isn't perfect. I'm still improving. If I listen to songs I made a year ago I think I've improved a lot. Next year I'll have improved my skills and I'll be better prepared. Of course I can still be eliminated in the first round with a 9 against a 10 or whatever, but we'll see.

Good luck to everyone who's still in the competition.

And here we are again with the NGADM13 unofficial ranking list, but this time of round 2. Here's the thread for the second round of the competition.

1. steampianist-------------9.20 W
2. SoundChris---------------9.05 W
3. JacobCadmus--------------9.01 W
3. headphoamz---------------9.01 W
5. midimachine--------------8.92 W
6. MichaelJ + Jeremyamoto---8.76 W
7. johnfn-------------------8.73 W
8. Kor-Rune-----------------8.62 W
9. ChronoNomad--------------8.59 W
10. InYourDreams-------------8.57 W
10. ZipZipper----------------8.57 L
12. garlagan-----------------8.50 L
13. etherealwinds------------8.41 W
14. The Bardic Kings---------8.36 L
15. HalcyonicFalconX---------8.14 L
16. ForgottenDawn------------8.05 W
17. dj-Jo--------------------7.94 W
17. TheBenjerman-------------7.94 L
19. Blackhole12--------------7.89 L
20. Wolftacular--------------7.85 W
21. BlazingDragon------------7.83 L
22. Mystek-------------------7.81 L
23. InvisibleObserver--------7.80 W
24. Hurks--------------------7.76 L
25. Veneox-------------------7.67 L
26. SourJovis----------------7.66 W
27. IglicaV------------------7.53 L
28. Metallica1136------------7.46 L
29. acmeDyne-----------------6.92 L
30. TitanMusic---------------6.76 L
31. Sequenced----------------6.69 L

Note some of the ranks are double because of ties. Other rank numbers don't exist because of the same reason. Also note there are only 31 places, because someone got disqualified for uploading old songs.

I added Ls and Ws to show if a participant won or lost (W for win, L for lost duh). Although I didn't show who won or lost in the previous round, I'm pretty sure the winners and losers are less spread out this time.

And I made it again, and again near the bottom, but this time it was a fair fight. As a matter of fact, I'm the lowest ranking winner. I wonder how I'm going to do that in the finale. I probably get a lower score than my opponent but the opponent gets disqualified.

Next round I'm up against InvisibleObserver, who was the second lowest ranking this round. Also in the previous round he got a higher ranking than me, so I have a better chance of becoming the lowest ranking winner in the next round, which means I'll be the winner right...

Hey Newgrounders or people visiting Newgrounds what's up?

Just a news post because a lot has happened and because the old news post wasn't new(s) anymore.

So what's new? I made it to the second round of the NGADM13 and this is what my opponent AcmeDyne submitted. It's very good, but I'm not too unhappy with what I made. I think it will be a close call for either one of us.

I have contributed to a few games already, but now's the first time I'm credited in such a way the game actually appears on my profile. If you haven't played it already please check out Guradamajack! made by Guy Unger and several other people. I think it's a nice game. It's made for Ludum Dare 27 and the theme is 10 seconds. You have to escape a zombie infected lab. For each room you have only 10 seconds to kill the enemies or solve puzzles to get across. I made two songs for the game. One 10 second song for the final level. Another song I made earlier was used as well for the end of the game.

Today is exactly one year since I opened my Newgrounds account, so I'd like to use this opportunity to look back on all that I've achieved so far. It's not much, so I'll give you some really far fetched stuff:

First of all I discovered what a nice outlet of creativity Newgrounds is and a great community to share and discuss others and your own work. I met a lot of great artists here. Many of them haven't noticed me, but some do and that's really nice. I won't give any names, because I'm sure I will neglect the most important people and I don't want that. Many of the people who've been supportive of me in the past I've gotten out of touch with sorry about that, I'm lazy keeping contacts over the internet. Many people who will be supportive of me in the future I haven't met or I haven't spoken a lot to at the moment. So that's why I won't mention names, but I'm grateful to everyone who gave constructive feedback, organized competitions I could join in, became a fan, favourited my art, music or videos, helped me write walkthroughs for the games here, or made some nice stuff I could waste my time with. Thanks all of you. I like to mention one name though: VaeVIKTUZ Because he was the one who told me I should make a Newgrounds account, and he became my very first fan here. I really got out of tough with him though, immediately after I created my account. I think he needed time off from the internet to spend more with his family. I hope he's doing fine.

So that was the most important stuff. Now for the more concrete dry things.

I entered a lot of competitions, but didn't win a single one. Except Gamejam9 where you had to make an artwork the teams had to base their game on. My artwork got chosen by two teams. One team gave up. The other team made the game INVAZIA, which got frontpaged and has currently and practically since the beginning, the highest score of all the games.
I did place fifth in N G A P 10th Anniversary Contest! which got me a place on the front page with a song of my own choosing. About the song I had posted on the frontpage I got a lot of complaints by people who didn't agree, but I don't care. At least I got the song heard, and some people liked it too. I ended third place in a four-way-tie during the third round of the N G M T 13. I got a sig for that after a lot of whining, because they didn't want to make sigs for a four-way-tie, but third place is third place, a sig is a sig is a sig. Besides, how often do you get a four-way-tie? Some time ago I took part in a contest held by Bosa, and got 18th place (I think) out of 50. Bosa said the top 10 were the best musicians Newgrounds had to offer, which makes me officially a B-rank musician. Oh well. I'll get better. I'm currently still in the NGADM13. It was already a compliment to be allowed to enter the competition since there were 233 auditions and only 64 people were allowed to participate. My submission for the first round wasn't a success, but I'm still in because my opponent didn't submit anything. I'm still thinking about what to do for the second round. I'll see how long I last.

Two of my songs got frontpaged. One because of the aforementioned fifth placing. The other because it was a robot day entry. I didn't win anything with it though, even though it got the second highest voting average of the robotday audio submissions. The one that got the highest average got 3rd place, though I actually think it should've gotten the 1rst. I wouldn't have mind getting 2nd place either.

My songs got used in one game and one movie here on newgrounds, and almost 30 youtube videos (perhaps more because they don't let me know most of the time). I heard from several short film, commercial and game creators outside of Negrounds they wanted to use my songs.

It says on my profile I made 0 games, but I contributed to several. In one game one of my songs was used. For Salem I wrote the walkthrough, that the creators of the game even link to in the description and on their site. For MOON I made a walkthrough people found useful. I made the art INVAZIA was based on. Some art in the game looks copy pasted from my work. (which I'm fine with, but I'm just saying) According to the rules I wasn't allowed to be part of their team, so that's why I'm only credited as inspiration, but I may be more directly involved with the sequel. I've been working on several games (about 5 or more, I don't even know) that haven't been released yet, as far as I know. (and most probably never will)

I brought up the idea for the genre Fusion in the audio portal. I came up with four other genres as well, that didn't make it. Btw all of these genres I only made up as part of a joke, so the fact that actually one of the genres on Newgrounds was the result of a misunderstood joke is quite funny. I'm still proud of it though.

As many of you know I'm really a stat whore. That's a negative word, but it's just what I am, no denying it. It's because I'm such a noob here that I wanted some respect and didn't want to seem like a noob, that's why I've been stat grinding like crazy. I though if I do this early I'll profit from it the rest of my NG days.

So I got a deity whistle after exactly 5 months time. At the beginning the whistle status seemed the most difficult and most unpredictable stat, but in the end it was the first and only thing I maxed out. I've been spam hunting like crazy to get this. I kept a list of repeat offenders. I had a whole system. But by the time the system started to work, my whistle status was maxed out, and I stopped going after trolls and spam accounts so obsessively. Be warned though. If I coincidentally come across abusive comments I will still go deity whistle on that person's ass.

I got to level 19, which is the highest I could get within a year, though I still missed out on about 6 days of voting. I've been voting almost every day of the year. It will still take me almost another 10 years to reach the maximum level of 60. I can't imagine what Newgrounds or my life will be like in 10 years time. I don't know if I will still be active here by then, let alone vote everyday.

Got 13.263 blam/protect points, and with that the rank of Lieutenant. In the beginning I didn't really know how it worked so I will do a lot better next year. If I go on at my current tempo I'll be Supreme Commanderwhen my account exists 2 years.

72 fans as of today. I know that doesn't sound like a lot. The most popular artists have tens of thousands of fans here. But for a musician of obscure music who's been around for only a year it's not so bad. If I can double this number next year that'd be awesome though I don't know how likely that is. Maybe if I start a more popular project like a webseries, the numbers will be in the thousands too. I feel a lot for a webseries. I actually have screenplays worth 5 hours of screentime for a series, screaming to be developed. I've got screenplays for shorter projects as well. I'll share them with you soon. The next year anyway. Watch out for them.

The NGADM13 first round submissions have been judged. The nice thing about this contest is the entrants are paired up with an opponent, so winning is not just a matter of skill but you also have to get lucky with the opponent you get and how he/she performs. This keeps it unpredictable and exciting and provides a chance for the underdogs to make it far. To defeat this point, I make a ranking list based on the average score everyone got from the judges.

1. headphoamz--------------9.26
2. Kor-Rune--------------------8.87
3. SteamPianist--------------8.78
4. ZipZipper--------------------8.76
5. etherealwinds-------------8.73
6. SoundChris-----------------8.72
7. BlazingDragon------------8.68
8. Lashmush--------------------8.52
8. IglicaV-------------------------8.52
10. Blackhole12---------------8.41
11. The Bardic Kings-------8.40
12. SkyeWintrest-------------8.38
13. JacobCadmus------------8.37
14. Camoshark----------------8.33
14. MichaelJ-------------------8.33
16. PeterSatera---------------8.32
17. InYourDreams------------8.31
18. johnfn------------------------8.29
19. ForgottenDawn----------8.27
19. dj-Jo--------------------------8.27
21. acmeDyne-----------------8.23
22. midimachine-------------8.16
22. Breed-------------------------8.16
24. Duttonsayshi--------------8.05
25. RealFaction---------------8.00
25. TheBenjerman-----------8.00
27. InvisibleObserver-------7.89
28. papkee-----------------------7.88
29. Nimble-----------------------7.85
30. Sequenced-----------------7.84
30. aliaspharow---------------7.84
32. XsakuX-----------------------7.78
33. Hurks--------------------------7.77
34. skyood------------------------7.70
35. Mystek-------------------------7.67
36. raggd46-----------------------7.65
37. SineRider--------------------7.64
38. Wolftacular-----------------7.63
39. Xyresic------------------------7.50
40. TitanMusic------------------7.48
41. SilverPoyozo--------------7.47
41. garlagan---------------------7.47
43. ChronoNomad------------7.43
44. Metallica1136-------------7.37
45. BrokenDeck----------------7.33
46. DivoFST----------------------7.26
47. Mawnz-----------------------7.25
48. Braiton-----------------------7.20
49. SourJovis-------------------7.07
50. jvonm-------------------------7.02
51. Calamaistr-----------------7.01
52. Veneox----------------------6.98
53. WingoWinston-----------6.95
54. HalcyonicFalconX------6.94
55. Slug-Salt--------------------6.74
56. Quarl--------------------------6.53
56. Fleshbag--------------------6.53
58. LiquidOoze----------------6.33

Note some rankings are double because of ties. I'm 49 out of 58 people. Pretty bad. I expected a better reception of my entry. Not just by the judges. I thought it was the best thing I ever made. So time for a front page place, more views, better comments, favourites, fans, etc. Then again, the song itself didn't turn as good as I hoped. The singing didn't work out as well as I wanted and Frootza didn't have enough time to play the guitar, so I had to use samples. Guess I should be glad my opponent didn't show up then. I have to step it up a notch in the next round. But how can I if I gave it my utmost? Guess it's time for different tactics.