Hi! Please actually read this. It's short, I promise.
First, I updated the access passwords. The system I have isn't great and I think it's being exploited. Will be working on something more sustainable. You can find the new passwords in the "Access" posts here: https://www.patreon.com/c/ben_burnes/posts?filters%5Btag%5D=Access
Second, I'm changing my update cadence to monthly. I know I've mentioned that a lot, but I don't know how many people read these, so I wanted to reiterate.
Third, Drones for Drones as well as the remastered Autoplagiarism, Side B are uploaded to the server! I'm super proud of both and I hope you like them too.
Fourth, I updated pretty much all the files on the shared server to be better organized. Now albums are sorted by year and release number. I'm hoping to continue adding more. It depends on how much my server host will let me push the concept of "infinite storage space".
OK, that's all the important stuff, general updates below, but thank you for reading and supporting. 🥰
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January has been intensely busy. I've been dedicating myself to at least one hour of studio time per day and it's been incredibly helpful to getting things done!
There has been a lot of "churn" when it comes to Patreon support. Lots of people joining and leaving. I totally understand that finances these days are unstable and others need to drop. It's still disheartening to see the numbers go down, but I'd rather people feel like they get value from this campaign than just support because they feel like they have to.
At the start of this month, I got four commission requests by different people. With the new studio schedule, I've been able to jam through all those with only feeling existential dread overwhelming me, like, twice! I'm wrapping up the last main deliverable today.
Because of that, my output for "Ben Music" is a bit low, but this new flexible schedule allows for bumps in the road like that. Patreon is my allowance, commissions pay the bills.
I have attached What Goes Around, which was my submission for the Two Hour Album Challenge (theme: Round) as well as Open Sky, which is the first of many works in progress for Quiet Spaces, Volume 5.
I also finished up the Decent Sampler Brushed Packs project, which I'm incredibly happy with! If you're a music maker, give them a look in the PACKS folder on the shared drive. They are honestly really useful.
Not much time for game development this month, but I have a lot of plans written out for when I have the time.
February has a lot of plans.
I have some extra small commission stuff to finish
There's the Try Hard Club collaborations to return to
Working on Quiet Spaces for an April release
Continuing work on game development
Converting more of my Kontakt library packs to Decent Sampler
If I have time, working on some of the new albums from last year's Sketchbook music
Going to be busy, but I'm looking forward to getting a lot done. I'm off to donate to some kitties and get my weekend going. All the best!
-ben