devblog / friday 101221 (Patreon)

It’s Friday again, somehow? 65LABS is crawling into the weekend with zombie-like tenacity, heavier than a black hole. Rains for brains.

No, just kidding. As ever, we are full of the kind of enthusiasm for life usually found only in dogs or in the proselytising zeal of wide-eyed crypto bros. Except we’re neither canines nor pyramid scheme scammers: we are antagonistic utopianists, full of coffee, who haven’t yet looked at twitter today, and on top of that we’re lucky enough to be ceaselessly ploughing this weird path into experimental noise futures, all thanks to you.

So… Thanks. To the update!

THIS WEEK

- Although we introduced two new systems last week, due to an unforeseen problem (i.e - we went on tour and forgot how everything worked), upon uploading the new build, there were just holes where the new systems should be. Then we uploaded a new version, and although the systems were technically present, they would not play. This was almost fixed, and a new system, Vertical Fault, was added. This also didn’t play. Anyway this is all now working, and you should be able to occasionally hear those systems from last week (Pianoblivion, UPHILL and the aforementioned VerticalFault), in the new version of the stream, V.2.1.5, which went live earlier this afternoon around lunchtime. And also there’s an excerpt of Pianoblivion at the top of this post for you all to enjoy. Pretty good right!? Maybe we should have turned this into a song instead of system. Maybe one day we still will… No Bandcamp code for this one but the .wav is attached to this post if you want it.

- Also, true story, we found the loops for Pianoblivion in an old folder from some time last year in a project called ‘Boring Piano Cycles’. Never let it be said that 65LABS ever goes too easy on itself.

- In V.2.1.5 there are also FOUR new systems in addition to the ones mentioned above. This has been the bulk of work this week. Details…

- SummsThUnder. // Imagine Under the Summs being live-remixed, but then also imagine that all sound turned inside out, and that shadows became solid while the things casting them turned spectral, and then imagine what music might sound like if that were the case. Then add in some digital bit-rot and a little more confusion for good measure. Some iterations of this system will definitely spit out fairly structured variations of the original song. Other ones are a bit more… avant-glitché.

- MIMIK // Had to happen. Massive banger. This has been turned into exactly the kind of system it needs to be. Relentless kick drums, extra synths that sound a little like apocalyptic wasps, then more kick drums. No messing about. Tempted to make this one last for at least 30 minutes every time it comes on, but for now we’ve reigned that in a liitle.

- Snowdrift V2 // An old favourite from V1, rebuilt in the V2 system with a little more variations going on and LOTS more enthusiastic arpeggios. Sonic pretty.

- Mist / Riptide // This is a nicely ambient bit of breathing space amongst the busier flavours, that uses the ‘Mist’ subsystem. More on what this actually means is on the way. Because…

- A hefty new part to the Wreckage Systems Technical Overview is now underway, finally getting into the core of how individual systems work, revealing and explaining the Wreckage Conduit through which each system’s wild Constellation Heart is fitted into a kind of aural exo-skeleton so it can take its place in the stream. Some of you said you were less interested in the tech-heavy explanations, but an equal number of you expressed explicit interest in them. So… as ever, it is being written to appeal as much as possible to anybody with an interest in how it all hangs together. You don’t need to be an expert programmer (we certainly aren’t) to understand the concepts.

- Oh, and a very slight tweak to how Wreckage Control deals with the probability weightings of the systems in the V2 stream, which hopefully means that there will be more consistent variety. It also might have introduced an unforeseen bug that means everything will crash in a few days when it decides all systems have been played too recently and gets stuck in an infinite loop. Let's all find out together.

THINGS TO COME

- We made a decision about Wreckage Release #5, and started to explain it here, but it quickly became too long and so that explanation itself will be a separate blog post. Maybe we'll get that posted next week? Or maybe we should finish the Wreckage Systems Technical Overview first. Not sure yet. In short: we're not scrapping it, but also we are kind of scrapping it.

- The number of systems in the V2 stream now stands at 61. We are very close to the 65 target now. It is worth pointing out though that once the number of systems is there’s still quite a lot of less exciting technical things to sort before launching it to the public. (For new supporters or people who only dip into these posts occasionally - to be clear, you ALREADY HAVE ACCESS to the V2 stream. Bookmark THIS LINK). We had quietly been aiming for an end of the year public release, but that’s clearly not going to happen. Also, as we mentioned in the last post, we are starting to view this project as approaching an End of Season One moment, which will hinge on the launch of V2 and the V1 Archive, but there are lots of other bits that we want to wrap up too.

Anyway. That’s the news from 65LABS. Until next time, stay safe, mask up, keep an eye on the terrifying omicron R rate, but then also remember to look at frivolous nice things as an act of self care, and absolutely 100% fuck the tories forever and always.

UTOPIA NEXT WEEK!?!?!?