Horns again by Xenocidebot

Sandstorm by Xenocidebot

If you’re a U.S. citizen you should find this opinion piece interesting. The entire “event” in Egypt right now is pretty enthralling, and it’s interesting to see the sentiment of people in the U.S. and North America (and to a lesser extent the EU) regarding it. Specifically sentiments like these, lifted from related forum discussion :

You try to make a safe world and eliminate even more radical factions, then you perfect democracy.

Democracy should always be the first priority.

Maybe the reason Robert Grenier hasn’t heard his “ringing endorsement of freedom” or “statement of encouragement to those willing to risk everything to assert their rights and their human dignity” is because our populace is divided between the idealists he’s seeking and people concerned there won’t be a democracy to implement if the situation gets out of hand. And while Grenier’s right that these are “values which the US nominally regards as universal”, he seems to forget that some people may simply want to see the region survive before concerning themselves with political ideals.

I think too often people forget that the U.S. is a federation of states, a huge body of places as different from one another in some respects as England is from Spain. Washington can never really make a strong statement on anything if the general populace is divided on it, and the masses are split pretty evenly between idealism vs. pragmatism on this.

Though I’ll admit, I could go for a little idealism right now.

A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda- Cool concept, but extremely boring execution. The trailers make it look like it should ooze style, and I don’t really have a problem with the very mecha-derived protagonist, but the character’s main stance feels like it was made by somebody who played Megaman Zero and thought “man, I have to have my guy doing that torso-facing-the-wrong-way thing.” It looks more in this instance like his neck is broken. Weapons just feel really loose and very weak- maybe I’m too set in my ways from faster paced stuff like MMX/Metal Slug/Metroid, but a gun should have some heft to it, even if it’s the starting pea-shooter, both in projectile velocity, sound, and damage. Environments are bland, combine that with colorful sprites which clash horribly with the 3D environments (think Mischief Makers when the camera got weird) and everything just seems really out of place and looks garish as hell.

Killing Floor- Man, I just cannot care about anything that requires leveling up before you can play it on harder difficulties anymore. It reminds me of an old complaint I read once about Goldeneye, how levels and cheats and such were locked until you beat stuff, and how if you bought it, you deserve the content upfront. I disagree for singleplayer crap obviously because the entire point there is to face a series of mounting challenges, but in multiplayer? Fuck. I don’t want to suffer through a bunch of shitty rounds before I can play with my friends who have all the lv.6 perks. I just want to play the damn game.

Which brings me to MNC. Everything I want in a game right now. The story? There is no story. Stuff to unlock as the game progresses? Doesn’t provide a distinct advantage, just options, and you unlock one almost immediately. Gamemodes? Just the stuff you need. Gameplay? Fast. Great.

I have not played something in which every gun felt useful and powerful to some extent since…I’m not even sure. Ever class feels like it has some oomph to it. Maybe part of that comes from the bots everywhere being easy targets, but it’s hard to feel like you’re ever poorly equipped to kill something. Even the secondary weapons on the two fragile classes (Sniper/uzi and Assassin/throwing stars) feel pretty good to use. The Support feels a little less impressive than everyone else but never distinctly “weak”, and with a ROF endorsement his shotgun gets pretty damn substantial.

The skill upgrade system had me worried because I thought it would lead to matches getting stacked, but their effects aren’t that monstrous and everyone earns enough to get themselves kitted up at least a little bit. Use-wise I wish they had an icon for what they do instead of a number in the GUI, because I have them laid out already in a left-right-center order (which you’d also have it set as if you used numbers on your keyboard to use them) and I can’t always remember what each does for every class, but that’s a minor quibble.

All in all, good stuff, worth $15 at least.

I’m testing a lot of shit right now on Soundcloud (I think that’ll be my new demo/pisstake repository), so…yeah. Listen and be amazed as I act like I’ve never seen a DJ’ing controller before.
http://soundcloud.com/Xenocidebot

Not much to say on top of that. Go listen to it!

http://xenocidebot.bandcamp.com/ (should probably link to that on the side huh)

I haven’t added much to it yet other than the EP, but I think I’d mostly like to keep it free of singles for the most part. So since I haven’t been working on an album or anything like that since the EP, that’s all that’s up there. Doesn’t mean I don’t intend on filling it out, though. I’ve got some projects lined up after what I’m working on right now that will be album-length, if not albums proper.

As long as I’m mentioning stuff I also just got on Last FM but haven’t really had time to fill my profile out.

Mics I didn’t bother with because they’re just too obvious, you can find those yourself just searching for “Guitar Rig mic models” or something.

Anyway!

Amp heads:

AC Box = Vox AC30
Citrus = Orange Overdrive OD120
High White = Hiwatt DR-130
Lead 800 = Marshall JCM800 Lead
Jump = Marshall JCM 900
Plex = Marshall 1959 SLP
Hot Plex = Not a real amp, a gain-spiked version of the Plexi (though it looks like a JMP with those colors)
Cool Plex = Not a real amp, a clean specialty version of the Plexi
Jazz Amp = Roland Jazz Chorus-120
Twang Reverb = Fender Twin Reverb
Tweed Delight = Fender Tweed Deluxe
Tweedman = Fender Bassman
Bass Pro = Some Ampeg head (maybe SVT-450H?)
Gratifier = Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
RAMMFIRE = Kruppe’s Pre-500 (serial number) Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
Ultrasonic = Bogner Uberschall

Distortion Pedals:

Distortion = Boss Distortion DS-1
Mezone = Boss Metal Zone MT-2
Cat = Pro Co Rat
Skreamer = Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer
Big Fuzz = Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
Fuzz = Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
TransAmp = Tech 21 SansAmp Classic
Demon = MXR Dime Distortion DD11
Sledge Hammer = Marshall Jackhammer JH-1

Cabinets:
-Cabinets and Mics:
1×12 Tweed Alnico = Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Tweed
1×12 Custom = Fender Blues Junior
2×12 Tweed = Fender 57 Twin? (Blue/Green/Cream = No idea)
2×12 Brit 60s = Vox AC30
2×12 Chief V-30 = PRS 2×12 Open Back or maybe a Bogner Custom Shop 2×12? Stretch on either.
2×12 Custom = No idea (Lopoline maybe?)
2×12 Jazz = Roland JC-120 Jazz
4×10 Tweed = Fender 59 Bassman
4×12 UK 60s Tall = Marshall 1960 JTM45 4×12 60W cabinet
4×12 UK 60s = Marshall 1960 JTM50 4×12 75W cabinet
4×12 UK 80s = Marshall 1982a
4×12 UK 70s = Orange PPC 412-C
4×12 High White = Hiwatt SE-4123
4×12 Gratifier = Mesa/Boogie 4×12 Rectifier Standard Slant
4×12 Ultrasonic = Bogner 4×12 Slant
1×15 Bass Pro = Ampeg SVT-15E or B-115E
1×15 Bass WR = SWR WorkingPro 1×15
4×10 Bass Pro = Ampeg SVT-410HE or B410-HE
4×10 Bass WR = SWR WorkingPro 4×10
8×10 Bass Pro = Ampeg SVT-810E
8×10 Bass WR = SWR Megoliath 8×10
Rotator Horns = Leslies in different cases

-Control Room:
American 2×12 = Something like a Fender Super-Sonic 60 212
British 2×12 = Vox AC30
British 2×12 v72 = Vox AC30 CC2
Vintage 4×12 V1 = Marshall1960 JTM45 4×12 60W cabinet
Vintage 4×12 V2 = Marshall 1960 JTM50 4×12 75W cabinet
Modern 4×12 = ENGL E412VG
Rammfire 4×12 = Either a Mesa/Boogie 4×12 Rectifier 2 Standard Slant or maybe a Marshall something

There’s more coming up, it’s just that recently I got involved in a fakebit soundtrack that’s kinda under wraps temporarily. So, for now, I’m making tunes, but you can’t hear them. Alas and alack, right? Right.

Until then, random stuff I’ve been doing between reading manuals and installing stuff:
http://dump.no/files/7ebe5fb8ef17/Grimy_bullshit.mp3
http://dump.no/files/536cc18b5b3e/Nark.mp3
http://dump.no/files/536cc18b5b3e/slickytari.mp3

Let’s start with Vanguard.

I know I hate on ReFX a lot. I loathe Nexus, think Slayer is a joke and can’t believe they have the balls to sell PlastiCZ. But I don’t hate the company, really. QuadraSID has always been wonderful to me, and I’ve used Vanguard fairly often in the past. Alas, Vanguard isn’t staying on my machine any longer. But why, you may ask?

Back in the day I used Vanguard as part of a bassline or as a quick starting point when drafting a track. Never did I do anything else with it. So when I began purging again, I took a good look at Vanguard just to see what it could really do. What I got back was “not much.” Aside from ease of use during drafting up a track, Vanguard is basically good for three things- basses that sound like they should have been done in QuadraSID, basses that sound like they came from Deus Ex, and leads that sound like they came from PlastiCZ. You can hear these three sounds predominantly in their demo tracks, especially for the expansions.

So if you have QuadraSID, hate bad leads, and have something better for cheap digital basses that remind you of the year 2000, Vanguard suddenly isn’t looking so hot. Which brings me to Alien 303. Cheaper than Vanguard, with worse (and less) effects, but a sound better suited to more than just recreating the basses of ten years ago. Listen to the demos of both and tell me Alien 303 doesn’t sound like the heavier hitter.

Oh, ReFX, when will you make another soundchip VSTi? I want to stop looking like I just hate you, honestly.