Ever really want a synth until you actually spent time listening to it and realized you liked the spec sheet more than the sound?

Woke up and imagined what a futurepop (full VNV style) cover of I Stand Alone would sound like. Then I thought about what Sully Erna’s reaction would be.

/2 The plaintiff is, and I shit you not, ODER OF THE BLACK CHALICE NFP, d/b/a GOTHS AGAINST CANCEL CULTURE (GACC). They are harassing and abusing someone over clearly protected speech and commentary, and it appears they are using this method both to harass and to gather information to doxx.

The Polyend Endless might be the most ill-conceived music hardware I’ve seen in a decade. A $299 pedal where you get effects by paying for genAI queries. You can run one at a time and the cost per effect depends on how well your vibe coding goes. Yikes on bikes.

According to my highly scientific calculations (playing as the Rams against the Seahawks NFL 2K2 on the Dreamcast), the Rams will win this weekend 34-0 to advance to the Super Bowl. Time to place some bets!

new synth comes out: costs money /r/synthesizers reaction: synthesizers should not cost money, this is a ripoff

Hell yeah Denver.

I'm mildly concerned about Bandcamp's AI policy either A) seeing zero enforcement due to fear of false positives or B) being over-enforced with lots of false positives. Detection isn't flawless, and the cost of false positives is high. How thoroughly will they be willing to investigate reports?

Well, this is a very interesting development, #bandcamp source: www.reddit.com/r/BandCamp/c...

“All a prevent defense does is to prevent you from winning.”

whoops

came back after a few hours (and some research) and beat it first try, so I guess I was being a baby

The final boss is such BS that it brings the game down a full point for me, and I probably won't finish it. There are also apparently four post-game bosses and I'm sure they're a blast too. Bleh. Really not a fan of massive endgame difficulty spikes.

I think the Dreamcast is in business! The Noctua fan is much quieter than the original and it should run a lot cooler with the new PSU. Good times.

being online isnt going to influence world events. you should shift your scope of focus and care to your body

happy 2026 everyone

The fact that genAI has messed with how people view vocaloids and the like makes me sad. It's not Hatsune Miku's fault that Suno exists. Programming those tools requires real skill and all of the voices were derived from paid vocalists. Just, ugh.

Went straight from refurbishing my Dreamcast to learning how to mod Civ 6. Didn’t take me long to get a pretty good grasp of how things work and make a mod that changes a bunch of little things. After all, ICBMs really should be able to hit anywhere on the map, right?

Dreamcast surgery today! GDEMU was already installed, but I put in - New USB-C PSU - Battery holder, resistor, fuse, and capacitor on the controller board - That shiny blue LED! My Noctua fan arrives tomorrow and I have the replacement open button latch in already. Gonna be cool and quiet.

spent 22 minutes typing out a thread and deleted it because that's the kind of morning I'm having, I guess.

This game is peak Metroidvania and I slept on it for way too long. Don’t be like me. (I’ll get back to music shortly, I’ve been practicing some self-care this vacation.)

Alright, I’m caught up on Mortal Kombat lore. The DLC was a disappointment for $12 and I can’t imagine how pissed anyone who paid $50 must have been. The classic ladder mode is trash with endings that are just a couple narrated stills, so I got a good ten hours out of the game and I’m happy.

I really want to write an essay on how MK1 is a loving nod to the under-appreciated 3D era while also being the MK4/MK:A of its own era, insofar as it’s trying to do too much to add novelty to a played out formula and losing something in the process, but I think I’d be most of the readership.

I’m about three hours in and I’m convinced these guys should make an RPG. The fighting almost feels like it’s interrupting the cutscenes rather than vice versa. There’s also so much MK lore that it would be easy to find a big story to tell. Also, Shaolin Monks remake please.

Got Mortal Kombat 1 as a gift and man, MK may not be the best series in terms of mechanics, but those guys know how to make a super fun story mode.

The Dreamcast is a great console in terms of its library, but it has to be the absolute worst quality hardware Sega ever produced. The loudest fan and disc drive ever produced, a fuse that blows if you dare pull out a controller while playing, and a power supply that runs way too hot. Good times.

This is amazing!!! 6 of my darkTunes label mates and I made it in Synthpop Fanatic’s coveted Top 100 Synthpop Songs of 2025! This is huge for us and our label to occupy space amongst the best of the best in the synthpop/darkwave scene. More details in ALT www.synthpopfanatic.com/best/the-100...

someone linked the banjo game over clip and I felt compelled to make this

Just spent five minutes trying to figure out what one of the two year olds was upset about before realizing he wanted his emotional support toothbrush.

The nice thing about the Turn the Lights Off meme is that the song is a fucking banger, so I’m 100% okay with getting bombarded by it.

turns out the answer was to use breaks like it’s 1992. we’ll see if this works out.

my music is 0% attack drone metal

Starting to think that God never intended for me to write a song over 140 BPM.

Using OBS Virtual Webcam with monitoring going to a virtual audio cable into a Zoom call is one of those things that doesn't feel like it should work, but has been surprisingly resilient. Application audio capture has grabbed Firefox's audio without fail. I'm just waiting for it to break. :)

I was a SNES kid growing up, but there’s just something so nice and comfy about those FM Genesis/MD soundtracks for me. They instantly bring me back, probably because game music just doesn’t sound like that anymore. Kind of an evolutionary dead end.

Watching a stream of Pokemon Stadium and it's wild how well this game has aged. The animations might be better than modern Pokemon. Just so much personality and charm. I'm not a modern Pokemon hater or anything, but I think GF would benefit greatly from a partner studio handling art/animations.

Started playing Suikoden for PS1 tonight for some reason. Having a really good time so far. Really like how little it wastes your time - no big cutscenes, dialog boxes and menuing are quick, auto battle is functional. It’s good stuff.

Picked up Absynth 6, started a new song, and played some Genesis games I’ve never played before. All in all, a good night.

C Z A R I N A - Dagger In The Heart 🩶🗡️ Watch: youtu.be/QImNyGGkMrg Stream / Download: bfan.link/czdaggerheart Thank you to all the wonderful people who joined the premiere and who purchased on Bandcamp!! What a turn out. My heart is so full. Thank you for joining in the magic! I’m so grateful 🩶✨

OK, done ranting about bad UI, happy Bandcamp Friday to those who celebrate! I have RUTHLESSLY SLASHED the price of my latest single, All You Are, from $2 to $1. That is 50% off, or 1/6 the price of a Starbucks latte. Remember the McDonalds dollar menu? That's this single right now. Hell yeah.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that the recent changes to Facebook's like/reply/share buttons are among the worst I can think of in the history of mobile apps. Aside from blowing away a decade of muscle memory, the placement changes based on counts. I have to assume they want people to miss them.

I was just thinking about him the other day. Was wondering how old he was and if he was in the most recent MK (don’t think so). I appreciate that, even in the mid 90s, he took a role in a video game movie seriously enough to deliver an incredibly memorable performance. o7

i literally think about this game roughly once every 7 days play it *especially* if you think a narrative-driven adventure game isn't your usual cup of tea

Friendly shoutout to @spectrasonics.bsky.social for taking the crash report I sent and delivering a beta with a fix. The bug was a PITA for me, so I’m very happy to have Omnisphere 3 back in my toolkit without needing to dodge it. :)

Took the time to make a Zoom/Discord call setup that works with my DAW. No idea if/when I’d use it, but it’s nice to have. It’s a small tweak to my setup for recording videos or streaming via OBS.

@dicknixon.bsky.social thoughts?

Got a new website up. I know that everyone sounds like a pretentious dingdong when they write their bios, but it doesn’t make it any more fun.

Bad time of year to find a new job. Help me by letting me help you. Affordable mix and mastering services. Just ask these amazing artists! @salimer.bsky.social @amiintrouble.bsky.social @imrryr.com @psychsquirrel.bsky.social @judekerr.com @negativeagent.bsky.social @mohaynow.com (And many more)

Stole this from someone in one of my Discord servers. I'm hyped. Can't believe I'm going to give NI money in the year of our Lord 2025 (or 2026?), but here we are.

Upgraded to 96GB RAM in early August and now the set I bought has gone from $200 to $750. Apologies, everyone.