Embedded JRL
JFred ruleset langauge has remained pretty much the same since Paco Nathan designed it in 1997 or so. However, some of its capabilities have been updated since then.

JRL is a scripting language for the JFRED bot, usually a java application but sometimes an applet. JRL tags for setvar and equals have been improved since the program's inception by some open source contribitions and by the hand of Robby Garner. For the bot, this means that variables can be set during a conversation with no relation to the grammar being used, and action rules may be executed conditionally based on the value of variables set elsewhere in the conversation. These are powerful features that make the JRL bot useful and scriptable.

Paco set most of these functions in place originally, but they are only recently being reclaimed as updates to the jfred library have been made. The Institute of Mimetic Sciences has been keeper of this code for some time, and is working to improve the code beyond its humble ambitions initially set forth by Paco and Robby.

Unexpected Road Trip
We always get lost when taking the mini back to the dealership for service. Where the fuck is it? Somehow we get fooled every time. Then, we figure out how to find it after driving around for an hour. Time passes and memory fades. Then we do it again. Every time the map doesn't show all the roads, the roads don't have any signs, the signs we see point to the wrong direction.

That's what we get for buying a car that has no dealer with many miles of us. We're on vacation though so I suppose we should welcome the adventure. Here we go again. . .

"Point me at the sky and let it fly . . ."

I recorded a documentary on VH1 Classic the other day called "Which One's Pink?" It details the origins of Pink Floyd and the demise of Syd Barrett's days with them. I can't help but think about our old friend Weird Steve, that I've lost contact with. He wasn't quite the same sort of casualty as Syd Barrett, but there are some parallels there.

Barrett's case is pretty sad though. He was the original spark of the band it seems, but there is always the adage, "life goes on." Everyone can't just stop living because somebody becomes lost or unhappy. The ironic thing to me is that Roger Waters thought Pink Floyd should cease to exist when he left the band in the mid 80's, despite having driven on the band himself after Sid left. Time be time man.

I've been doing some songs with guitar samples lately, or should I say, I've been playing some guitarish sounding tunes on a sampler lately, not having touched an actual guitar in years. The new will wear off eventually, but I've had some fun with these "Les Paul" samples.

I still have a crush going on with my old mac and Logic Express 7. There is an aesthetic advantage there that Sonar just can't touch. I'm not sure what it is. I feel more inspired with Logic for some reason, maybe my windows notebook just weighs too much or something. I don't know. It's better to just go with the flow and not ponder too much about why certain tools appeal or don't. Use everything.

Romancing the Stoned

Right now I don't know which I like more, Ruby or Emerald Dry Roasted Almonds. I'm sober as a judge here, not really trying to decide.

I've been going through "Rails" tutorials today, and am tending to grok them all. Now I just need to brush up on my ruby syntax and conventions and I'll be solid and ready to roll with rails. I see the argument clearly that if your app fits the framework you'll love it, but freaky web sites might not get along with rails. Rails has the benefit of RAD and all, but you've got to see how it all fits together or you'll be beating your head against the wall.

I've been going through the Emerald roasted almonds too, and they are my new favorite snack. Very hamburger.

Robby.

my plastic hell

Pipe dreams echoing
in the dimly lit corridors of my brain
like beams that go in every direction towards the sun
where the fountains are
that shine in the pitch black empty hell between my ears
that something moves me onward down the hall
to where the fountains are
that shine in the pitch black empty hell between my ears
my plastic hell

Trans Platform Express

I've been working on a song called Xen Rails lately. It started on my trusty old Powerbook, with Logic Express, until it got so big I couldn't get it to mix down any more. I was close to satisfied with the way it sounded at play back time, but when bouncing down to a stereo mix, a glitch developed where I couldn't get all the tracks to bounce together for some reason. Anwyway, after fooling around with it all evening, I finally sent it to my Vista notebook and imported the drums as an MP3 file, and the rest as MIDI to Sonar PE.

Then, I started assigning VST and DXI instruments to the MIDI tracks. On the Mac, I was happy with an Absynth voice on one track, using an organic Cello kind of sound. On Vista, I chose a Stringer string machine voice that really cuts through the mix. I like it better, but now I have to edit that track to get rid of some artifacts (accidentals) that I made while recording it.

There were a few tracks that I couldn't figure out which voice I'd used, even though I have the same synth on both platforms. I couldn't get the same sound, so that leaves me something to work on later. I guess I need to start labeling my tracks with the actual voice name since Logic sort of haphazardly picks that info up from the synths. I guess some of the synths have a more compatible interface with Logic, and that may explain why I couldn't get a mix down.

So far I'm happy working with it on Vista, but I'm further away from feeling finished with it now. The tracks are all in sync, but now I can hear things that I want to change that weren't quite as noticeable on tha Mac. I have a preliminary level mix going on Vista, whereas on the Mac everything was pretty much at the same level going in, only keyboard velocity making the difference in loudness.

I uploaded an excerpt from my mac version to MySpace a few days ago. The whole piece is about 4 minutes long. I'm thinking now about trying to tighten it up a little bit. As it is, it wanders around a bit and doesn't have a very good ending. I think I can fix that now.

Persistence of Vision

I find myself tooled up without any clear direction at this point. In the past, I've been more spontaneous with my musical projects, reluctant to edit myself, basically churning out songs like spent bubble gum. Distance and pride make me want to slow down and proceed with greater care and with more revision than I have previously maintained.

My sound pallete is greater now, and that gives rise to more thought about choices to make, but will it cripple me? When I had two keyboards and a 4-track deck I used to be prolific as hell, but maybe that's the life of a single 20-year-old vs. that of a 45 year old man of greater means and lesser inspiration.

I'm not sure that inspiriation is lacking so much as self-control has evolved. It is the kind of self control that is akin to modesty, or humility that I have, and to some extent it is to be despised. Because without some experimental muscle, my brand of music is nothing. The music I live to create is mine, so there is some sense of pride, and a willingness to edit within some degree of quality. Yet, there can be no experiment without throwing caution to the wind, and blowing the dust off the keys that haven't been touched before, or as often as some others.

Being a manic type though, I know there will come an impulse to create, and that will dictate more than my written words can mettle.