Fruitcake MIDI Forum Treasury

[Dr Fruitcake]

All right, let's get the fun stuff out of the way first. I've got four brand-new tracks hot off the press, which I've collectively entitled Furniture Wars! All four tracks are written as battle themes for some sort of RPG in which all the characters are based on, as the title suggests, various articles of household furniture. The first, When Furniture Attacks, is a catch-all theme for your basic encounters with the game's dime-a-dozen baddies. The other three are tunes that accompany your climactic faceoffs against specific named bosses. Chairman Cush is an extremely luxurious executive chair occupied by large sacks of money, and his theme is appropriately swanky. China Carrier is a hot-headed china cabinet with tank treads, whose shelves and drawers house a seemingly endless supply of minions to antagonize you; his theme is a deliberate march. Finally, Repsycho is a particularly brutal (and curiously bipedal) plastic recycle bin with an inordinate quantity of jagged teeth, who misplaced his mind long ago (if he ever had one to begin with).

Please enjoy!

Now, on a more serious note... I suppose the poetic way to break this news is to say that this is the last update I will ever write as "Dr Fruitcake". It's been at least a decade since I adopted that alias, creating MIDI sequences and remixes of video game music, and gradually moving into the realm of writing my own compositions. Building, losing, and rebuilding a series of websites, and, in 2003, even establishing and overseeing the growth of a forum community that quickly surpassed the limited scope of video game soundtracks. A decade well spent, in my opinion -- a decade full of good memories -- and naturally, I feel as though I'm only just getting started. Without question, I plan to continue making music throughout the next ten years and beyond.

I've experienced a lot of personal growth over the last ten years as well. When I started sequencing, I was but a wee lad in high school, and I was only in 12th grade when the first incarnation of the Fruitcake MIDI Forums was realized. Today, it's been just over three years since my graduation from college. In all that time, I've gotten married, I've worked for a few years at a full-time job, and I've been laid off from said job and forced to go through the searching process all over again. I've gone through times of both unspeakable joy and terrifying uncertainty. The latter haven't been a whole lot of fun, but the former have more than made up for it.

What's the point of all this rambling, you ask? The point is an announcement that's very difficult for me to make. At the beginning of June, it's going to come time for FCMidi's annual server renewal, and after countless hours and days of consideration and debate (both internal and external)... I've decided to not renew this year.

Now, before you panic (yeah right), I did say that I'm planning to continue my musical career. I'm simply going to be doing so without the use of a pseudonym, and at a different URL. Good sirs and madams, it is my pleasure to announce the advent of www.kevin-esque.com!

Kevin-esque is a new site that I've created from scratch. It's relatively basic, and in some ways it's still a work in progress, as there are additional features I want to implement. However, my music is there (complete with a collection of little blurbs pertaining to each piece), and effective immediately, that's where I'm going to be calling my internet home.

But this transition is not without loss, and while I hate to do this to you, the community, I feel it is for the best in the long run. For over seven years I have served as a forum administrator, but as I'm sure you've noticed, due to the increasing complexity of real-life issues, my time for -- and my interest in -- maintaining this position of responsibility has gradually waned. I have neglected the forums, and I believe (perhaps egotistically) that the apparent correlation between my negligence and the declining level of overall activity is not wholly coincidental. Whether there is a connection or not, I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt every time I hear someone lament a lack of posts, because I feel that I am at least partially to blame. So what's a Fruitcake to do? I could continually pour more and more of myself into the forums in an attempt to revitalize them, and perhaps that would do the trick, for a little while. But at some point... at some subjective point, it's better to move on. At some point, it's better to remember the good times than to diminish their value by trying incessantly to bring them back.

The demands of life will always be a reality. There's only time in each day to wear so many hats, and each of us must evaluate and prioritize which hats are the most important and rewarding to us. The decision I have made, therefore, is that the hat of a forum administrator is one which I no longer have the desire to wear. For these selfish reasons, I must sadly inform you all that the Fruitcake MIDI Forums will not continue on Kevin-esque.

I have immensely enjoyed the life of the forums, and I have far too many happy memories of discussions and conversations with other members -- both past and present -- to even begin to recount them. Various threads, games, RPs, and joke accounts over the years have brightened my days and provided me with many a laugh. For my part, my time as an administrator has been an absolute pleasure overall, and I don't regret this investment of time in the slightest. Despite only knowing the majority of you through the series of tubes, you lot have become very real friends to me, and at the end of the day, those friendships -- not some phpBB message board -- are what's really important.

With all that said, of course, I want to emphasize that an absence of forums doesn't mean that the community we've built suddenly has to die off! There remains a variety of great methods by which we can (and absolutely should!) keep in touch. For starters, consider yourselves hereby ordered to get your collective arses into the IRC channel (#fcmidi on irc.kbfail.net)! I've even gone so far as to embed a browser-based IRC widget into the very pages of Kevin-esque, so now you have absolutely no excuse to not swing by on a regular basis and chat with those of us who are already there! Did you hear me? I said no excuse! DO IT NOW!

In addition, Kevin-esque also offers the ability to post comments on each news article I write (including this one) that can be used for feedback and mini-conversations. And as far as external sites go, there's an FCMidi group on Facebook, in which forum-like discussions may easily be had. Obviously, there are many ways to stay in touch with me individually, such as following me on Twitter or friending me on Steam.

That's about all I've got for now. Again, I hope you enjoy Furniture Wars, and despite the changes going on, I sincerely hope you stick around as we take the community into the next decade. See you at KE!
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""

[Genius_41]

In the short time I've been a member here it's been a good laugh. I love the sense of community here that you just don't get on other message boards. I've also learned a lot here about music compisition which I'm now taking at college and hoping to forge some sort of a career out of, so it will hopefully have a lasting effect on me!

Kevin-esque is looking extremely rad, may I say. I will have a proper listen to the tracks when I get a chance after school.

[Doctor Phileas Fragg]

I'm always a sucker for this sort of thing. It's like all the parts of Windy and Co. or the witch's lair in Banjo-Kazooie.


But I think these are all a bit repetitive. And as a matter of personal taste, I think the horns should have come in louder, grander, in Chairman Cush, which I like the most of the four.

Don't hit me!



In other news sadfaec.
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[quote="Izzhov"]But you can probably drop me and tell Lester to do my panel instead, since he's already gay and frankly I really don't care about my sexual orientation. [/quote]

[Sammich Ultima]

many sads will be collected in this thread, though i think it's the Right Decision™, like you say. and i think the community would work pretty well on IRC anyway, provided people actually came on habitually.

i also think dropping the pseudonym is a good idea, not that it was a bad name at all but sometimes it can be embarassing talking to people, "oh I make music" "really like what?" "here's my dorky internet name/site". i once considered dropping my pseudonym (not THIS one obviously). unfortunately my real name is pretty generic - not really any good for releasing music (has this concerned you at all? it's really the only reason i still use a pseudonym.)

seems like you may not have this problem though, unlike me

my, 2010 is bringing many changes. great tunes btw. really like the marimba work in repsycho

[Dr Fruitcake]

[Dr Fruitcake]

Gah, I knew I'd forgotten something. The Chat page on KE was opening the incorrect channel (a temporary one I'd created for testing purposes). So if anybody tried opening that page last night or this morning and found the chat to be empty, that's why -- you were being dropped into #fcmiditest, not #fcmidi. I've fixed it now!
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""

[Ricky]

I dunno whether I should just stop foruming when these die, since this is pretty much the only one I frequent. Maybe I'll take this as a sign- I'm thinking of just moving on and not being a lazy bugger who spends too much of his time on the computer anymore. People are probably going to move to another forum or start one, and I don't know that I want to move there. =/

I added Kevin and Hunter on Steam and joined the FCMIDI Facebook group... =/

I suppose "mixed emotions" is the phrase of the day.
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Compassion is the radicalism of our time.
- The Dalai Lama

[Cheese Monkey]

You just had to give me another reason to lament the fact that I haven't come up with a good moniker in years either, didn'tcha? Though to be fair, I guess you're not officially dropping your old one so much as going "pro" and just putting it on the backside for when you'd rather not be identified by name. For me, I guess, since I have no "profession" on the great series-o-tubes, I've just gone without a suitable nick on most games/forums in the last few years (to the uninitated, "Cheese Monkey" is a name I've only ever used on these forums, as it references a long-forgotten injoke among me, Fruity, and a few unrelated folks).

But back to Fruity...... oh damn it all, I can't do this. Why the fug did you have to go and make me feel old?

In all seriousness, the thing I regret the most is that the forums won't be returning. Even though I'm the one who pointed out their decline in the mod cave (and so I feel responsible for this too... ._.), I had hoped we would at least be transitioning to a new forum.

I mean... for the purposes of other forumers to see, here... I've had my own ups, downs, and loop-de-loops in my life as of late. Graduated college, got my own place, got engaged to a wonderful girl whom I've been meaning to introduce the forums to (mostly for lack of a suitable username, we never did). Like I said, this old coot of a Fruitcake is starting to make me feel old, too.

Would anyone else like to, perhaps, take up the task of hosting a new forum somewhere? Fruity, understandably, doesn't want to administrate anymore... but a part of me really still wants a forum, however slow.

...bleh... anyway. Fruitz, I am happy for ya, man. You need to tell us something though: is this a shot at a permenant "portfolio"-type dealie which you may use to, oh say, actually break into music as a career? I've been listening to some more of your recent stuff lately and it occurred to me, as it has a couple times in the past, that you could actually make a career out of this stuff. Particularly the newer ones... for instance, I was listening to the second and third movements of IAW07 and I suddenly thought that people who needed music made for them might be impressed with those as sample pieces (the first movement is good too, just a little remix-y).

But darn it all... please keep the MIDIs. I loved 'em. I know they're not relevant to this day and age, and all, but... the format had a certain simplistic charm to it, and when used properly (i.e. used not by people who get 20% of the notes wrong in any sequenced MIDI like half of VGmusic seemed to do) you could be very absorbed in it... or I could, anyway. To me, it's like playing Super Mario World versus Super Mario Galaxy - the latter may have better graphics, but the former leaves more to the imagination which, in my opinion, is often better.

...I'll likely make another post later, and I'll be sure to look at those new tunes ASAP... but seriously man. sadfaec++;
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This post has been brought to you by
Cheese Monkey - The Funky Cheddar Monkey
(This post made no sense! Tell the people!)

PSO crap (Bestows +1 geekiness)!
[quote="Xenofan"]You wouldn't be here without sex, the internet wouldn't be here without sex, and heck, the Gamecube wouldn't be here without sex.[/quote][quote="Yoshgunn"]At first, don't overthink things. It's OK to become a small African village and injure yourself.[/quote]

[Izzhov]

Hey, thanks for all the times good and bad you guys.

See you on IRC.

I'll listen to the songs later.
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BRAND NEW FCMidi Forums!

[Doctor Phileas Fragg]

As far as I'm concerned, using your real name on the internet defeats the purpose.

[Genius_41]

[Sammich Ultima]

it's almost a dead cert that if the forums were setup elsewhere the turnout would be even lower than it is currently. so i would think it isn't worthwhile. the facebook group is the best compromise that i can see.

really doesn't feel like 7+ years ago that i signed up here x_o

[chzrm3]

[Doctor Phileas Fragg]

I didn't even get the chance to build enough history for a proper wiki entry.


Maybe I should have posted like Izzhov.
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[quote="Izzhov"]But you can probably drop me and tell Lester to do my panel instead, since he's already gay and frankly I really don't care about my sexual orientation. [/quote]

[LynkStar]

It'll be weird not having that as my homepage/first page in my bookmark bar any more. It's been like that for so many years! Can't remember when I signed up to my earliest version of this.

I do think this is the right time, however. This place has (sadly) been going downhill for a while, and this seems like an opportunity to close it. It's sad, sure, but kinda timely.

Fruity; Kevinesque is rather cool! Is it ever likely to have an RSS feed? It's just that's the way I follow most websites, so then I'd get your updates nice and easily. I don't know how they are to set up or how long it takes, but it would be nice.

Thanks for the fun, everyone!
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:3

[LynkStar]

Actually, y'know what? I do wanna start a new forum.
Facebook really doesn't work for discussions. It would just be a cheap-as-free one, so if it doesn't work out no big loss, eh?
Question is, do we still call it FCMidi? :O
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:3

[Cheese Monkey]

If you're going to make a new forum on a free service, try Invisionfree. Their system is pretty good without needing to know PHP or anything.

But man, I wish we could just save a copy of the entire forums for posterity and post it in some remote corner of the KE space. I mean, what's gonna happen to the treasury'd topics? The brawl thread? The three-word story? The myriad slogans and logos? And some of the stuff on the main site was just funny... the interviews and parts of the FAQ in particular. And most of the art doesn't even load anymore... ._.

What I'm saying is we need a "FCmidi treasury," if nothing else.

Now Fruitz... when you say the decision to renew would come in June, are you saying the site/forums would go 'splody at the beginning of June or at the end of June? Or at some other point? That's kinda important information... that month would give somebody time to archive some of the stuff here.
_________________
This post has been brought to you by
Cheese Monkey - The Funky Cheddar Monkey
(This post made no sense! Tell the people!)

PSO crap (Bestows +1 geekiness)!
[quote="Xenofan"]You wouldn't be here without sex, the internet wouldn't be here without sex, and heck, the Gamecube wouldn't be here without sex.[/quote][quote="Yoshgunn"]At first, don't overthink things. It's OK to become a small African village and injure yourself.[/quote]

[Doctor Phileas Fragg]

FCMidi Treasury seconded.
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[quote="Izzhov"]But you can probably drop me and tell Lester to do my panel instead, since he's already gay and frankly I really don't care about my sexual orientation. [/quote]

[LynkStar]

I've started a new FCMidi!

It's over at http://z7.invisionfree.com/FCMidi_Forums. I've tried to make it similar with a few minor adjustments.

I need us to pick a proper top FCMidi logo from the list. Where can we see which would be best? Also, any other customisation recommendations?

See the post over there for some more words.
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:3

[Damian]

I joined.

THIS IS SO SAD ;_; but it must be done I s'pose. I'd still personally really like to get the IRC channel going more strongly if we could all get interested in that at the same time it'd be ballin'.
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when the world is sick, can't no one be well? but i dreamt we was all beautiful and strong
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listen to my music!
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facebook | twitter | last.fm | youtube

[Banjo-Fella]

I haven't really posted on the forums for years now due to being an untalkative and reclusive eejit, but I still lurk and check for new posts all the time. This place has been very important to me.

I went on overseas adventures with some of the greatest friends I've ever met, made silly videos involving bread theft and ninja foo, celebrated buckets and inanimate objects, listened to every composition that was uploaded to the main page, engaged in much ill-advised Photoshop tomfoolery, had many fun, intense races with Damian in Mario Kart DS, and generally wasted lots of time in a very pleasant way. All of that happened because of this fine, MIDI-centric website and the people who've frequented it over the years... so, thanks for all the memories. Here's to your new site and the pursuit of your talents, Fruity!

Like you said, Chzrm, it's going to be so strange not having a base of internet operations. FCMidi was always the first link in my bookmark list.

Also: thread treasury third'd! Maybe just tuck it away somewhere secret on Kevin-esque?
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~Banjo-Fella

[Irishmaestro]

Awww no. And just as I decided to come back an' all! xD

But yeah... hmmm... how long have I been on this now - five, six years? And for the years out of those that I hadn't forgotten to post for two years on end, I had some brilliant times here. I'll always remember this place in a generally positive manner, and it'll be sad to see it go.

Gah, I'm becoming all mushy and sentimental here. Sorry bout that. Have a picture of Jackie Chan making a funny face:


That's better. Buhbye forums!
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I am that I am, and I am not that I am not. Well, don't ask me, I don't understand either!

[Dr Fruitcake]

[Damian]

[Cheese Monkey]