Awesome man! Cool gear you're running here too.  I just got some new (to me) pro gear that is Windows 98 era too:  Gadget Labs Wave 8/24 PCI sound card and breakout module with 8 I/O and 1 MIDI.  To my ears it sounds glorious playing old VSTs.

Really beautiful juxtaposition of piano mixed with industrial elements :)

Another part of my pointless book soundtrack.

An ancient and primitive people are left with a choice - industrialize and build a trade ship, or die out.
After centuries of being the punchline to every joke in the surrounding area, the 'idiots' from the marshes finally punch back - and they punch hard.

After a series of floods and endless storms, no crops are growing and resources are scarce. In despair, they realize that perhaps their time on this world is over.
Then a strange man appears. The swamp people always hated outsiders, but he speaks their language, he knows their history and he's giving them a way out.

Using their few remaining ancient boats, something akin to coracles but made of iron, they resort to piracy against passing ships in order to gather the resources they need. No ship will dare pursue these 'savage' people across the stormy, rocky waters from which they came.
The furnaces are fired, they burn their possessions and melt down their boats to make up the last few scraps of iron. The ship is dragged to the water, inch by inch, its sails made of the rags they wore, its steam engine may or may not work, but with a crash it comes to life.

As the comfortable neighboring settlements look on, prepared to laugh once more, their hearts are filled with terror at the sight of the great iron behemoth belching black smoke into the sky. It seems that somehow, against all odds, those 'dumb rat people' from the swamp industrialized first, sailing away over the dark horizon.
Still, they wonder, those rat people, are they really doing the right thing, letting go of their old ways. This could be the very thing that saves them, but then, it might just be the dying gasp of a civilization even they no longer remember.
Sitting by her ancient harp on the deck, the ironsmith chronicles her tale, but who will ever be there to read it when they're all gone. Staring at the swirling waves, somehow, inexplicably, she feels as though she's been here before.


All instruments: Casio CZ-1 / CZ-5000
Percussion: Akai S3200

The Rat Pirates (Test) (CZ-1, S3200)

The counterpart to "In my Dream / Gem's Song" this is "The Workers of Myton Wyke / Geoff's Song" finally in a completed state, or as completed as it will likely ever be.

Myton Wyke is a city long forgotten by all but those who live there. Once at the forefront of the industrial revolution the machines kept working, the city kept growing but it wasn't enough. Beyond World War II, with production rapidly outpaced by newer and faster techniques in the outside world, development of the city slowly came to a halt. Still the machines kept on working, and so did the fleshbags who operated them, melded together as one. Sometimes, amongst the crashing of the steam hammers and the wailing sirens, the music of machines, a mournful and distant voice can be heard, a cry of lost ambition and crushed dreams, slow and droning. Nobody can make out the words and yet, everyone seems to know them, the same way it always was and seemingly the same way it will always be. The legends say, and nobody is quite sure, that they are the voices of long dead workers, returning for yet another shift, singing in time with the many poorly maintained Victorian machines which claimed their soul, the metal, oil and gears in turn finding their own voice, a desperate whine as they slowly grind along, oozing oil and steam, as though itself bleeding to death for a purpose nobody can quite remember any more.

Briefly, Geoff stares at the clock as he picks up his toolbag, wondering how this will end, how long it will be. As his break begins, his back aching, his throat sore and his eyes stinging, he considers running. The idea quickly ceases to be as he almost thinks he can hear Gemma playing a song in the distance, perhaps even a whisper of her voice. His thoughts turn to her, all alone at home, she can't make it alone in this city, it's worth every second to see her smile, no matter how long it takes. As the loudspeaker calls and the "tin men" at the nuclear plant march along the walkway, he grits his teeth and rejoins the workforce with a new determination, it's only another day. Just another day, it will soon be over and they will be one step closer to leaving this awful city once and for all. Even then, the celebration will be brief, because for now, he will only have to return again tomorrow.

Myton Wyke is the fictional city in which my book takes place, a book which has yet to be finished. This song is essentially that city if it existed as music. Produced primarily with a Casio CZ-1 and CZ-5000, Akai S3200 for drums, Yamaha MU90R for Piano. Controlled by Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 on a Pentium II 450MHz running Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition.

The Workers of Myton Wyke (CZ-1, CZ-5000, S3200, MU90R)

Here can be found various things I've cobbled together with old synthesizers, primarily Casio's CZ series though there is a bit of Yamaha MU90R around and I sometimes dabble with other things. I'm not a musician, I don't know anything about music, my background is primarily ICT - mostly old computers - and Video Editing, as it is, I use a rather old computer with Cakewalk 9 to put most of this together, I then use Sony Vegas of all things to handle multitrack recording... Yeah, I know, but it works.

The Workers of Myton Wyke (CZ-1, CZ-5000, S3200, MU90R)

High_Treason

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