Christmas reading

1: When I first set out to record my MilkyTracker tutorials I had no idea that I would get the feedback that I've gotten. It's awesome! It shows that there really is a need for them. This is the reason why it pains me so to not be able to put the videos up there as often as I'd like. As of writing this article it's roughly one month since the last episode, and that is NOT ok. Life's a bitch sometimes, and lately life has been pretty bitchy.

2: The reason I myself got into MilkyTracker was that I wanted an open source method of composing chiptunes, and MilkyTracker proved to be "it".

3: The reason I wanted an open source alternative is that I'm a Linux (an alternative to Windows and Mac OS) person. The linux movement is in my view a great means of bringing immensely powerful tools to those who can't afford expensive hard/software (such as ProTools/Logic/Cubase and Apple computers, which seem to be music industry standards). Music is a method of expression not a method of expressing who's got the bigger wallet.

Where am I going with this? Well, if this is something you would be interested in, I would strongly recommend you check it out. Linux comes in many flavors (called distributions) geared toward the users needs. Good beginner distros (short for distributions) are in my opinion Ubuntu and Linux Mint. If you decide to go Linux, I strongly suggest you try it out as a Live CD (running directly from a CD/DVD) first, as you might screw up your Windows installation beyond restoration. There is, however, the option to install both Linux and Windows and choose which one you want to use when you start the computer (this is called dual-booting). This is how I moved over to Linux.

But where am I going with this? Well, when you're starting to get comfortable in Linux, you might want to explore the command line a bit. This might seem a daunting task at first, but I highly recommend it! You'll learn the ins and outs of the operating system, perform tedious tasks MUCH quicker, all this while looking awesomly super matrix hacker cool! What more can one ask?

Some time ago, while learning command line stuff, I blogged a bit about it to document my learning. I tried to keep it in a tutorial format, and that's the point of this post. If I can't make any more videos in a while, I can at least share this blog with you in the hopes that you find it useful.

The blog: http://r3dpill.wordpress.com/
Intro to BASH (command line): http://r3dpill.wordpress.com/article-series/
Some Slackware tips (Slackware is another distro, not as beginner friendly as Ubuntu or Linux Mint though): http://r3dpill.wordpress.com/getting-some-slack/

Now for some feedback:
I got my first ever blog comment on my last post. Thanks franko! He (I'm assuming here) came with some tips on hard-annotations on the videos which I will consider. Also, he asked that I make the tutorials so that you can hear the sounds as I make them. This is a problem I've been aware of. MilkyTracker doesn't want to play nice and share the sound device with other programs, therefore I've had troubles recording the sound. I'm looking into it though, as I wholeheartedly agree with him. It would make for better videos.


Enjoy!