Blog & Essay Archive

Over the years, I've written so much about tracker music and the tracking scene that it's gotten difficult to keep track of everything. So the purpose of this page is to give you an easy way to find anything I've ever written. You'll find direct links to the best and most useful essays, and for everything else you can just page through and read it in chronological order, just like any ol' blog out there.

Blog & Essay Archive: Main Page 2007 -- 2006 -- 2005 -- 2004 -- Jul-Dec 2003 -- Jan-Jun 2003

Highlighted Essays

Lessons learned: interview with TiS's Saurin "Mysterium" Shah Ever wonder just what the hell happened to the original Trax In Space? Here's my famous interview with Mysterium for the Static Line webzine. MP3: The danger of blurring the line An essay on how the defection of more and more trackers to the MP3 format could destroy the tracking scene as we then knew it. I think time has proven me right on this one... How to kill your compo in 10 weeks From the debut issue of Scene Zine, here's my essay on how to (and how NOT to) run an online music competition. When did "good" become an insult? From Scene Zine, here's my essay on the sad state of reviewing in the tracking scene and the damage that inflated ratings cause. TiS: Free advice from the peanut gallery From Scene Zine, here's my essay on how webmasters in general (and Mysterium in particular) should run a major tracking scene website.

Everything: Arranged By Year

January-June 2003 With the dawn of 2003, I entered an extremely vocal period in my involvement in the tracking scene. My Complete MOD Compo was entering its 2nd year, my regular Lineup article in Static Line was growing increasingly popular, and I was once-again becoming a big name in the tracking scene. So I decided to flex my writing muscles with a series of essays about what was wrong with the tracking scene, most infamously with The Novus Manifesto. To quote Douglas Adams, "This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move." I also published an interview with the old webmaster of Trax In Space (which has just re-opened as of 2007), and wrote essays about music reviews, how to screw up a compo and the troubling trend of releasing tracked music as MP3s. Lessons learned: interview with TiS's Saurin "Mysterium" Shah Ever wonder just what the hell happened to the original Trax In Space? Here's my famous interview with Mysterium for the Static Line webzine. The Novus Manifesto My infamous rant on the financial state of the tracking scene. MP3: The danger of blurring the line An essay on how the defection of more and more trackers to the MP3 format could destroy the tracking scene as we then knew it. I think time has proven me right on this one... Viva la revolucion! Not much, just a site news update from the day I published The Novus Manifesto. Robin Williams with Tourette's Syndrome? Another news update, including a link to a song-ripping case blown wide open by Gargoyle over on The MOD Archive. Spouting off for fun and profit Yet another site news update, and yet again, not much to it. How to kill your compo in 10 weeks From the debut issue of Scene Zine, here's my essay on how to (and how NOT to) run an online music competition. When did "good" become an insult? From Scene Zine, here's my essay on the sad state of reviewing in the tracking scene and the damage that inflated ratings cause.

July-December 2003 As 2003 rolled on, I accepted a role with the new Scene Rep website while grappling with the tracking scene's not-so-positive response to my newly vocal nature. Several personal dramas bloomed into full-on feuds, and I began to grow increasingly frustrated with the direction the tracking scene was moving in. The Manifesto Revisted An update to The Novus Manifesto, nine months later. The Novus Reloaded Still yet another site news update, and still yet again, not much to it. Warmer reception Links to some of the forum threads around the scene in reaction to The Manifesto Revisited. I think I spoke too soon More forum thread links, as the reaction to The Manifesto Revisited took a turn for the worse. TiS: Free advice from the peanut gallery From Scene Zine, here's my essay on how webmasters in general (and Mysterium in particular) should run a major tracking scene website.

2004 2004 was when the wheels finally came off. I started out by converting my Complete MOD Compo into the Monthly Invitational Compo, and I continued my work with the Static Line newsletter and the Scene Rep website. But my personal dramas within the tracking scene continued to grow. My essays continued to reflect my increasingly bitter attitude, and by the end of the year, and I had ended all of my involvement with the tracking scene. Monthly Invitational Compo closes down The end of an era... this is the text of the final update to my Monthly Invitational Compo.

2005 Once I got 2004's frustration out of my system, I started reaching out to some of the people I'd clashed with in the past and made some apologies. Then I started to run a tracking blog, but it didn't last long, as it quickly became clear just how far behind the times I was. Over the previous year, the tracking scene had become a shell of its former self, which got me frustrated all over again for a whole new set of reasons. I shut down the blog, and this site was mostly quiet again for over 2 years. MODPlug forum thread: "Novus blows his fuse" A month after blowing off the scene, I got curious and found a MODPlug forum thread responding to my rant. Surprisingly, I actually learned a few things from the critism there, and finally wrote this response. Okay, now that THAT's out of my system... A much-condensed version of my response to the "Novus blows his fuse" MODplug forum thread. Curiosity killed the cat Just a short site news update, but one that raised an interesting point: if I was as "irrelevant" as so many people said I was, then why were they all still talking about me? "Hey man, nice shot." My long-standing public feud with Vizion finally comes to an end. Skeptical? Links to forum threads reacting to my apology to Vizion, and a link to an article by Fingersoup about controversial departures from the tracking scene. Be with you in a minute... A link to another Fingersoup article, this time about why tracking is still a powerful alternative to more modern methods of composing music on a computer. Day by day The beginning of my short-lived experiment at running a blog on the tracking scene. Fullmetal Gargoyle The entry that established the format for my blog: a Song of the Day, a Link of the Day, and The Best of TraxWeekly, one useful article each day pulled from the archives of the tracking scene's most-famous e-zine. The first was Leviathan's famous article on chord theory. Taking the lead A mailbag response to a reader's question about lead-lines and bass-lines, plus an article from Necros on writing better leads. Simplify! Why should you care about music theory? Future Assassin explains why. Glutton for punishment My misgivings about planning to see the midnight showing of Star Wars 3, plus Necros's tip on using offset commands to simulate surround sound in a track. Impressive, young Skywalker. The Pope weighs in on playing around with triplets and swing-beats in a tracker. But who cares? I also review Star Wars 3! :) Missing day? What missing day? Necros educates you on how to get the most out of stereo panning in your tracks. That's more like it Basehead spices up your boring percussion lines. The beat of a different drummer Because two heads are better than one, Zinc adds his two cents on percussion. Plus you get to watch me go pun-crazy. Swing, batter batter! Necros shows how to set up a swing-beat in your tracker. The native is restless At this point, I got bored and decided to start taking potshots at the MP3 format again. Also included is Pinion's handy guide to New Note Actions. Gee, I think he wants me to post it Hawkeye eggs me on, and Basehead shows you why his leadlines are so much better than yours. Delaying the inevitable Pinion shows off a nifty little reverb trick for your drum samples. Overslept. Meh. Just a placefiller from when I overslept and missed an update. Believe me, I'm a liar Necros discusses melodic structure in an article that is mercifully chart-less. 192kbps ought to be enough for anybody Sorry, but I'm still proud of that headline. ;) My response to Nifflas's spirited defense of the MP3 format. Better judgement Necros waxes poetic about chord progressions. Clown colors Fingersoup steps up to defend the MP3 format from my vicious, hateful words. Yep, she's still reading it. Necros smacks you around for always picking out such lousy samples for your tracks. Rain, rain, go away... Just another placefiller for another missed update. Never mind The blog experiment comes to an end, as I come to grips with how hopelessly behind-the-times I've become.

2006 Not much happened with me in 2006... I stirred the puddin' a little over on the CTG Music forums, and that was it. No, I'm not "back." Links to a couple of CTG forum threads I started to explore just what "tracking" has morphed into in this more-modern era of computerized music composition. An open letter to Louigi Verona My most recent attempt to kick over a few sandcastles by ranting about the state of the post-tracking scene.

2007 Back by popular demand! 2007 was the year in which enough people poked me often enough about returning to what was left of the tracking scene that I finally decided to give it another go. I of course wrote a few more short essays, but my biggest project by far was The Novus Compo, a monthly public-voting music competition for -- get this -- MP3s! Sadly, the compo flamed out after a hot start, and by mid-2008 I had given up on it. Thus ended my last major involvement in what could now be fairly called the post-tracking scene. A funny thing happened on my way to obscurity... I reiterate that I want people to leave me alone, and then I do some website maintenance. No, it doesn't make sense to me either. *tap**tap**tap* Is this thing on...? I wave the white flag and start hinting at a possible return to the scene. Okay, NOW I'm back. I return in grand fashion with a new link button and a new MP3 compo. Aaaaand they're off! The first round of voting in The Novus Compo begins. Just thinkin'. A sober reflection on my actions over the past year, and some guarded optimism for the future. Stirring up trouble since 1998! The end of the infamous Tracking DOs & DON'Ts page. The Novus Compo: voting deadline is near! An update on The Novus Compo. The Novus Compo: October's round begins! An update on The Novus Compo. Shuffle up and deal! The Music Vault section gets an overhaul. A sampling of samples A linkhaul of forum threads about free samples. More samples More free samples from The Canary. Compo news! Introducing the BarryVan Compo, plus an update on the Novus Compo. Novus Compo ends Lack of participation kills the compo.

Blog & Essay Archive: Main Page 2007 -- 2006 -- 2005 -- 2004 -- Jul-Dec 2003 -- Jan-Jun 2003