~phylum_sinter - roots, branches, leaves

Phylum Sinter - Detroit Nocturnes OUT NOW

Free Promo track below - download like crazy!

Phylum Sinter
“Before The Sun Blinds Us (feat. Tamara Finlay)” (mp3)
from “Detroit Nocturnes”
(MMR - Middle Management Recordings)

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More On This Album

New Free EP - considerately

4 Track EP featuring remasters of melodramatic, melodic mood music.

Grab on Bandcamp or Soundcloud.

Why i will never purchase an EA product ever again.

I am a creative individual.

I know what it means to want your creations to have value if you prescribe they have it - and i know what it’s like to see your creations posted all over the internet, stripped of their monetary leash. SO i do understand the need for a certain level of copy-protection on software.

I may be the last one to ever purchase this game, and i’m taking it back to the store. Upon installing Spore: Galactic Edition and starting it up for the first time, i encountered a message stating that the game has already been registered the maximum amount of times, and that i would need a new registration code to get it working.

OK, breathe deeply. You’ve encountered DRM-based hassles before… just look for the easily spottable email address on the support site, shoot them a message and wait a day to get THE MOST AMBITIOUS, FREEING, LIFE-AFFIRMING AND WILD game of all time to work. Just one more day. Email sent, no more headache. Where’s my pizza?

48 hours pass. The Spore site (run by EA) said that most emails were addressed in 24 hours. No response at day three, maybe there’s another way.

I come across the support hotline at the back of the book. Dialed, dead number. Mind you this is the biggest games publisher in the world. Frustration mounting… finding another number via google but upon calling, am told there are at least 60 people in front of me. Another avenue… yes, they have web-based tech support. Wait 40 minutes watching a ticker go down to 0, and this happens:

Hi, my name is Chris. How may I help you? [12:49:35 PM]
: finally! hello chris, i just installed spore galactic edition (bought from amazon.com on dvd) and it says my product activation key has been used up. please help! [12:50:15 PM]
Chris: May I have your e-mail id and the registration code of the game? [12:51:28 PM]

: sure - XXXXXXXXX@XXXX.XXX, and the registration is XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX (note - redacted)[12:52:29 PM]
Chris: Please give me a moment while I get this information for you. [12:53:06 PM]
: ok [12:53:30 PM]
Chris: Were you trying to play your game? [12:59:52 PM]
: yes, i’ve waited years to have a pc that can run the game, i just got it in the mail earlier this week and i’ve had a heck of a time getting to play it! [01:01:18 PM]
: i got the creature creator working fine [01:01:33 PM]
Chris: ail id?
eid_frawd@yahoo.com [01:03:18 PM]
: huh? [01:03:51 PM]
Chris: I apologize for that last sentence; it was typed in error. Please ignore it. [01:03:40 PM]
: lol was it registered to an email address like that? gross [01:04:27 PM]
Chris: Yes [01:04:15 PM]
: well i can scan the receipt if you need it [01:05:13 PM]
Chris: Please wait. [01:05:39 PM]
Chris: Let me check, how mat I help you.
[01:06:19 PM]
: i’m sorry? [01:08:01 PM]
Chris: May* [01:10:57 PM]
: are you the same chris that has been trying to get my copy of spore working? [01:11:43 PM]
Chris: Do you identify this e mail address? [01:11:41 PM]
Chris: Yes I am the same. [01:11:51 PM]
: no… but i mean it basically has fraud in the name [01:12:18 PM]
: i doubt it is an email address at all [01:12:24 PM]
Chris: eid_frawd@yahoo.com [01:12:17 PM]
Chris: This e mail address? [01:12:27 PM]
: yeah wouldnt you pronounce that as “e identification fraud”? [01:13:35 PM]
Chris: Please wait. [01:14:31 PM]
Chris: Well, I have a solution for your issue. Let me explain. [01:17:09 PM]
: ok [01:17:58 PM]
Chris: Since it is not registered on your account, it needs to be verified. Please send us the scan copy of manual of the game ( showing the code ) with purchase receipt via e mail. And we will give you a new code for your game. [01:20:58 PM]
: what a terrible solution [01:21:42 PM]
: how about you give me a new code or i send the game back and never purchase an EA product ever again. [01:21:58 PM]
: why should i be inconvenienced for purchasing your product? [01:22:44 PM]
Chris: Please understand it is because your game was registered under different e mail address. [01:23:56 PM]
: please understand if i had known my game was essentially hacked i would never have purchased it. this drm will not stand, and it is a testament to EA’s greed or neurosis (or both) that i cannot simply be believed at this point. [01:25:19 PM]
: because face it, once the scan is on file, you will just give me a new code anyhow [01:25:33 PM]
: i am the purchaser and i demand a product that works. [01:25:52 PM]
: and now i’m coming across all sorts of flack that EA has already gotten for this exact issue and i cant believe you’re still pressing the matter [01:27:30 PM]
: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/09/ea-relents-changes-spore-drm-too-little-too-late.ars [01:27:41 PM]
: seriously, either give me a new code or this game is going back and i’m done with your company forever. [01:28:01 PM]
Chris: Since you purchased the game fro amazon , you may contact Amazon for it. [01:29:53 PM]
: then that is what i’ll do… good luck in the future with all your bs mistrust of your customers. i hope it brings you great spiritual bankruptcy and eternal paranoia. [01:31:03 PM]
: goodbye ea, i loved you once. [01:31:15 PM]
” disconnected (‘Concluded by End-user’). [01:31:16 PM]

[end post]

Pure garbage. This is what you get for being a paying customer. Thankfully Amazon will give me a full refund for this harassment.

Until DRM becomes transparent and more importantly effective i cannot support companies that implement this kind of limitation, as it amounts basically to RENTING the product you believe you are purchasing. Products that require not only a key to activate, but a collected database that limits the “amount of activations” that can be had with a product, are just plain distrusting of the people you rely on to thrive - the fans, the consumers, your base.

Respect your fans, allow them access to your work.

Screw you EA.

Gear Review - Alesis Micron

After messing around with this synth for about 20 minutes at the store a few days ago, i finally decided to pick up a Micron and have had it for three days now. It took some work to overcome the frustration involved in trying to figure out how to dig into the engine, but now i have made peace with its quirky minimalistic approach to editing and am growing comfortable with the gestures necessary to access the full potential of this keyboard.

The interface initially made me want to throw up, but after some use it does manage to be quite intuitive, if still a bit slow to get to certain submenus for editing within the maze of modulation options. A few dedicated edit buttons on top of the SINGLE SCROLL KNOB for the interface would have made this synth much more appealling. Ok, it’s true, there are as many shortcut combination presses as you can literally have programmed around the 5 main buttons, and there are combination shortcut keys to be accessed in conjunction with a press on the keyboard too, but using these guarantees a 2-hand operation for everything.

Interface aside, they packed alot of features into this synth - you get 8 voices to distribute amongst more parts than the synth engine can even generate for each collection of programs and beats, which the Micron calls “Setups”. Kind of weird to allow such a thing, until you notice that these each part of a setup can be split to be active in one part of the keyboard (i.e. split by octaves), or on separate MIDI channels entirely.  In use the latter means that you can easily build an entire track, consisting of multiple beats sequenced, synth patterns arpeggiated, and solo voices sequenced within any other DAW or whatever you’re recording with and as many programs as you need, and with some intelligent triggering not overload the engine.  Once the user gets comfortable with how the interface combines things to get the Setups rolling — for me, about two hours — they’ll venture into creating their own mashups and soon after notice how this synth quickly becomes a full-on track production machine with nothing else necessary.

Thankfully the 8 simultaneous voices the Micron maxes out on seem like much more. Each voice is actually the collection of 3 oscs, 2 filters, 3 EGs, 2 LFOs, FX and a very robust modulation matrix - enough to keep anyone that gets bored with VA synths (especially cheaper ones) more than busy. The presets it comes with are pretty solid, and the navigation of presets is set up for easy choosing with distinguishable categories - there’s an abundance of basses, pads, and leads, with some sick drum samples that twist up nicely with the sliders to feel more like generated sounds than simply recorded ones. How they managed to warp them so completely is quite impressive given the simple slider mechanism done to do so in realtime - you often turn minimal clanks with no harmonics into barking deep and distorted moans, or tick-tocky 808 clone sounds into neo-kraftwerkian throbs and pulses. I haven’t really tested the vocoder bits to their full potential, but the Micron also has stereo inputs to use with a full vocoder and some FX-input specific presets to round out the program list.

That said, it’s surprising that i haven’t found more preset packs out there to purchase or download for this thing - maybe the interface is just too much for sound designers to cope with. The few patch editors i’ve found don’t function properly with my setup, but an Alesis-branded one would definitely warrant an extra purchase for me.

The tone and character of the Micron is really hard to place in comparison to a single other synth. The filters overdrive as you would expect analog filters to, and there’s plenty of Digital/FM potential here too. Overall everything that comes out of the Micron is either as nice or pissed as you want it to be, with the only real downside with no positive workaround being that the drums often feel incredibly sharp at points, and there’s no easy way to tone them down without affecting everything with an outboard EQ - a separate EQ or FX settings beyond dry/wet for the drum tracks would have been nice.

The learning curve brought about by the minimal interface design (that hides SO much depth) can be a good thing if you’re patient and willing to learn. Ditto if you’re satisfied with presets, or are somehow always wishing that your gear had LESS buttons that require shortcut gestures to take full advantage of the sound design possibilities. If you need to have dedicated knobs for every option and don’t mind the simplification therein, go for the microkorg or Korg MS-2000r. Otherwise, the Micron is a rare thing - a great sounding synth with loads of depth at a great price.