I'm happy to hear that this continued through your mind after listening (at least that is how I read your comment)!

I still struggle with liking Sytrus as a synthesizer. While it is very capable, the sounds still seem very "plastic" to me, and the interface is not the most friendly. It did however work in this context, and I probably won't redo it as a hardware based work.

It was a fun contest, and I learned some things while doing it. Though the song is way better as a vocal track.

Thank you for listening my friend!

I appreciate it man! I'm glad I could dig this out of the grave of limiting myself to Sytrus for instruments... made it cooler. It's also what made it different from my normal work. Thanks for taking a listen! It's always good to hear from you! Have a good day!

Hey friend! It is always a pleasure to receive a listen and comment from you! I feel that we do not always agree on things publicly, and I appreciate the fact that neither of us actively carries that into our appreciation of art.

I though about the idea behind this song for a good while, possibly too long, until the compulsion to record it became unbearable.... until nearly everything I experienced was in harmony with this idea. Have I done this to us? I can't say, but I don't think that I have that kind of power or control.

This is the sort of song which desperately begs for a remix, or remake. I resisted the urge, all the way through, to avoid destroying the initial instrumental inspiration from the contest. This probably was detrimental to the final concept. The sounds bite, and it could be way more potent.

I've been trying to work on songs and project more "one at a time" lately, and one result seems to be that I hear the musical work repeatedly in my head. It creeps into my sleep and my reverie. It disrupts my listening to other items.

I'm very pleased that you enjoyed that song, and I thank you for leaving your words here!

An interesting comment for sure! I don't know if the song is truly meant to be "liked," but is more an exercise in acceptance. I was to the point where leaving the house, or even looking outside, could create this "not yet" impression in me. Writing the song allowed me to pay attention to this, and possibly externalise it, so that it would no longer be a detriment. I'm happy that you liked the vocal part at least, since that is far more important the the silly virtual music. Thanks for taking a listen and leaving your words!

Thanks for stopping by!

Yeah that competition was a pretty big challenge, for several reasons. Having to use only the effects within the sytrus plugin was definitely one barrier. There are regularly hosted competitions going on at the image line forum lately... the winner of the previous comp designs the new one, and they are all focused on some native FL aspect. It's pretty interesting to watch.

Industrial is something which I can't avoid, for at least the last 25 years. Much of my favorite listening is industrial or related. Hoping to be able to visit a concert later in the year, of KMFDM and Ohgr, neither of whom I have seen live.

Fl has changed quite a lot in the past two years, and it has turned a lot of people of from it. I welcome most of the changes, but it still needs more work on audio handling, plugin delay compensation, MIDI capabilities, etc...

I'm happy that you enjoyed the song and the mix. I appreciate you taking a listen.

Thank you Tom for taking a listen to this one! I too have just discovered the potential of the plugin, even though I've been using it for around a decade. I still kind of hate the sound of it, and as far as a synth of this sort, I far prefer the interface, capabilities and sound of FM8. When I'm going for a raw feel, I have so many hardware options that a synth like sytrus doesn't even cross my mind. It is modular in a small way, with the array of envelopes, modulation, and LFO stuff... which is definitely the best part. Being able to analyse any waveform for the operators is cool too. I will check out your song if it's up already. Thanks again!

I have only rarely listen to front242, yet I take it as a big compliment! It is simply not my favorite era of industrial sort of music. I do know of warbeat genre, sort of identify it with hardcore. I always listened to hardcore which was at higher tempos than this, like around 150-200 BPM, yet I still think this is borderline hardcore... ha ha.

I hope that you can take a moment to hear the new mix, as I think it is much improved. The high frequencies on most tracks were a bit harsh after mastering, so I went and improved the mix and then mastered again.

I'm happy that you enjoyed the vocal work, as it took a lot of real life experience to lay it down like this. Thank you for listening and leaving your words!

That is a seriously entertaining comment to read! It's funny, since a large part of the influence was Russian style malt beverage and amanita muscaria mushrooms directly from Russia. You must have a good ear! I hope you take a moment to check out the updated mix, since I think it's quite a bit better. Thanks for listening and leaving your words. It is appreciated!

I've found, yet again, that Sytrus just does not satisfy me in an audio fashion. I can't hear even this without thinking "plastic." It's how I've always described the synth, and I was starting to feel different, as in patriotic, but it's not lasting, also like patriotism. I will improve the song pretty soon. Thank you for listening, and I apologise for posting something I couldn't be sure of.

Hey Ed, thank you for taking a listen... I know that it is always out of your comfort area! Your mention of creativity pleases me to no end, since I feel like this is one of the few redeeming qualities of humans throughout history. It feels good to be even a small part of that! The instrumental of this was a very large challenge, since I have despise the synth plugin Sytrus for over a decade. I'm fairly proud, since all of the sounds were created from scratch on this one synth. Admittedly, FL Studio is most at home with it's own plugins being used, but it was still a stretch of my imagination. The words on the other hand came easily compared to most of my music, and it's one of those rare times when I was not reading what I was singing. One of those things which I could not say to most people without attracting negative attention! Thank you Ed for being my constant musical companion, Lo, These long years!

Orlando, thank you for always coming through with great comments! You are a highly valued comrade, and I appreciate it! I feel like this one will need some more work before I release my album, but who knows? Doing a bit of guitar and bass repair the last couple of days, since I needed a break from the massive circuit bending project... it helps. Looking forward to visiting your profile! Thanks!

Hey friend, thanks for stopping by to hear this. I realise I may have fallen short of my goals, aside from the personal goal of expressing my reactions to experiences of the time. I still enjoy the song, but may need to continue work on it.

I would call myself a fan of Devo, especially these days, although I tend to enjoy Mothersbaugh more most of the time. My devo stuff is pretty much all on tape, which is cool since I am in love with magnetic media lately! Listening to the song you linked to, definitely one of their cool pop songs!

Much appreciated!

Hey buddy! The video game element is mostly due to the plastic toy feel of Sytrus in general... I've pretty much hated the synth since it came out, but this contest made me respect it a bit more. I designed all the sounds from scratch from the "default" sine wave starting point. I wanted the vocals to be very present in this. The suggestions you give are appreciated, but have also all been used. I always cut the lows on my vocals, and everything else for that matter. There is reverb on the vocals throughout, as well as a reverse delay echo in certain sections. I don't intend to stop doing my thing, even when those stupid medications rear their ugly head. I took a few minutes of hanging out at a park bench with some homeless addicts and used it as inspiration to shape the vocal performance and freeform lyrics... seemed to work okay. Thanks much for listening and being the first to comment!