It sure would be nice to not be in pain all the time

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There are so many things I’d like to be doing with my time, except every time I start on any of them I get a major pain flareup. And that makes it really hard to get into what I’m doing, and then the moment I have any minor setback (such as a problem with the tool I’m using) that just makes the pain explode even further and then all I can focus on is how much I’m hurting.

I’d love to be making 3D models for VRChat or drawing comics or making music, but all of those things just feel so inaccessible to me right now. And even playing games hurts, and even hanging out in VRChat can be pretty painful too because even standing up for an hour at a time is awful (and doing VRChat while sitting down has its own share of issues).

I’m grateful that I don’t have to worry about money so much, but gosh, there’s more to being productive than making a living. Quality of life is important and that feels just so lacking right now.

I just feel like so much stuff is locked inside my head and screaming to get out, and I sure wish I could just like. Not be like that.

Native Instruments Intel/Silicon Update

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Previously I’d posted about an update to Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol plugin wrapper that made it no longer work with Intel plugins on Apple Silicon machines. After I’d posted that, Jeremy from Native Instruments posted a link to download Komplete Kontrol 2.7.2 which can be used as a temporary workaround to fix the issue, with a warning that it’d be better to update KK and then run Logic under Rosetta instead.

I failed to notice this update from them since NI’s forum never manages to actually send me notification emails for some reason, but in any case, this is a nice solution to keep things working until Reaktor and Battery get updated for M1 (hopefully in just a month or two).

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful for folks who need it.

PSA regarding Komplete Kontrol and Apple Silicon

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PSA: If you’re running Komplete on an M1 Mac under a DAW which supports an Intel/Rosetta plugin bridge (such as Logic), DO NOT update Komplete Kontrol to v2.8.0! This WILL break compatibility with any Reaktor or Battery instruments you’re using! (As well as any other legacy Intel VST2s that you’re hosting by Komplete Kontrol for whatever reason.)

Komplete Kontrol 2.7.2 still runs under the Rosetta bridge, but 2.8 has been updated to be M1-compatible — but Battery and Reaktor HAVE NOT yet, and they’re not expecting to have those updated for a few more months.

There are a few workarounds:

  1. Launch your DAW under Rosetta (and lose your CPU performance everywhere)
  2. Convert the Komplete Kontrol plugin to directly use Reaktor/Battery (and lose NKI and preset browsing)
  3. Perish (or, y'know, wait for the plugins to update, same diff really)
  4. Update: Native Instruments were kind enough to provide a download of v2.7.2 for those who need it

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Another Novembeat compleat

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This year I managed to do 25 out of 30 tracks, and some of them were even used in games!

I’ll be releasing the Bandcamp version of the album on Friday (which is, of course, Bandcamp Friday), and if you wait until then to buy it I get the full purchase price. (Better yet, buy my entire discography and receive a crapton of music spanning over 20 years of releases!)

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Novembeat 2022 plans

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My plan for Novembeat this year is to produce music that would be suitable for looping background tracks on video games. Ideally this would be driven by folks making music requests for their game jam games!

As always I’ll be releasing the album on my Bandcamp and my itch.io page. Most likely I’ll have Bandcamp just have the “soundtrack” version and itch have both “soundtrack” and “bgm” versions (where “bgm” will be suitable for looping, as opposed to “soundtrack” which will just play in one-shot mode).

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Focusrite 18i20: A quick review

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Yesterday my other big hardware upgrade arrived, a Focusrite 18i20 for my Mac mini in the studio, to upgrade the 18i8 I had before (which is now on the Mac Studio in the office).

The tl;dr: for most people the 18i8 is just fine and the 18i20 doesn’t really add anything. Consider the 18i20 only if you have a couple of fussy needs.

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