devblog / friday 151021 (Patreon)

Hi friends. It’s the 65LABS Comms Team here again, welcoming you to the end of another week of civilisation. Congratulations. You made it. Despite the heavy skies and heavy news, somehow we’re all still here, basking in the communal joy of this tiny corner of cyberspace where weird noise gets made, enjoyed, shared and supported. Thanks for keeping this project afloat. You are the raft to which the straggled castaway 65LABS clings. And the typhoon trying to sink us all in this metaphor is… um, probably Coldplay or something.

THIS WEEK

-  There was a great response to the V1 Archive credits form we posted earlier this week - thanks! Although, a lot of you still haven’t. Remember, if you want your name in the credits list on what is sure to be one of the biggest success stories in the heady, glamorous world of niche algorithmic music software made by noisy instrumental bands, then as supporters of said software you are very much able to achieve this life goal! But it is OPT-IN, because we do not want to dox you by accident. So, head here: https://forms.gle/5TYsDV3GwvUtekvB8 if you haven’t done so yet, it will take you literally ten seconds and then you will be immortalised forever more.

- Thank you also to the respondents who had a few extra minutes to spare to answer the various optional extra questions added to the form. This has been incredibly useful, and it is reassuring to know that your general thoughts and preferences are mostly pointed in the same direction as the masterplan (such as it is) for 65LABS, as we all stumble toward the end of 2021 together. It is sad to hear that our collective ADL (Average Dread Level) is hovering around 7.5/10. Although, if we’re being honest, we expected it to be higher. Luckily, the production of the next Wreckage Release has been handed off to the 65LABS Anti-Dread & Solace wing. So hopefully this means that the next batch of noise we give to you will go some way to providing a kind of audio salve to sooth your brains and hearts. Speaking of which…

- Solid progress made of Release #5 this week. It isn’t much of a spoiler to say that this will be the most Wreckage Systems-like release so far, in the soundscape kind of way, but rest easy in the knowledge that it has nevertheless been put together with our very fallible human hands and intentions, not by a malevolent robot or lazy algorithm. This release will shortly be getting sent to Dave ‘Golden Trainers’ Sanderson for some mixing, so expect more info fairly soon.

- Back in V2 development [HERE IS THE LINK TO THE V2 STREAM: https://youtu.be/fC9cP4beLOM - it is annoying there is no good place on Patreon to pin this], no new systems were added this week, and the build on this link is the same as you saw last week, but this week we made good progress upgrading the visuals. They have been based around keeping the log from Wreckage Control as the central component, since there have been a number of comments in favour of this window into the working of the systems, as oblique as it sometimes is. The refresh gives us a few more opportunities to try and display various other bits of information about each system, and distinguish them all from each other a little more. It is still subject to change, but here are a few screen grabs to show you how it is currently looking.

THINGS TO COME

- The visual refresh adds a few more opportunities for system-crashing bugs, so it isn’t yet clear whether we will get this build online just yet. In the meantime, we might continue to add new Wreckage Systems to the more minimal V2 set-up that you currently see on the stream. But as soon as the new visuals seem stable enough we do want to get them on the secret stream to make sure it’s all still working solidly. Plus any feedback from you all on the kind of metadata the systems are spitting out will be appreciated.

- Release #5 progress will hopefully get sent to mixing.

- Outside of 65LABS another round of humbling rehearsals for 65daysofstatic is on the cards. The November shows might be sold out by the time this post goes live… certainly availability is down to the low single digits of remaining tickets for London (11th Nov) and Manchester (12th Nov). There’s a few more left for Edinburgh (13th Nov), but not that many. Link here if you’re still considering it: http://seetickets.com/tour/65daysofstatic

That’s it. Take care out there, friends.