Greetings, everyone. I've been away from Csound for a while.

I'd like to say I'm returning; but to return, I'd have to be back where I started.

Impossible.

Here's what happened.

Leaving the World Behind (January, 2008 to July, 2008)

My wife got promoted. We had to move from Gainesville, Florida to Sterling, Virginia.

I spent January through March doing home improvements -- I put in 3 full rooms of wood flooring, painted almost the entire house, and performed a number of other miracles.

From March to May, we struggled to sell the house. I'm proud to say, despite the economy, we made it. The reason: it was a wonderful house. I think I'll always regret having to leave it behind.

During May, June, and July, it seems all we did was pack and move.

Finally, we made it. Florida was my home for the past 16 years. I'd left that world behind; I was starting over in a new place.

A Sky of Strange Stars (July, 2008 to September, 2008)

Priority one was finding a new job for me. Fortunately, I'm a teacher. I managed to get a job at a very good school district, doing what I'm good at -- 6th grade science.

Many things are strange up here. People drive like Hell is filling up and they don't want to miss their spot. There are advantages -- better restaurants, for one -- but there are also disadvantages. All in all, I can't say if Florida is better than Virginia, or Virginia is better than Florida. It's just a different place.

Martian Winter (September, 2008 to December, 2008)

Against this background, I composed, recorded, and released my fifth Jamendo album, Martian Winter. For this album, I'd meant to use a lot of tricks I was learning in Csound.

Unfortunately, time didn't permit. The time I'd spent on the move and finding my place in this new world came directly out of my music time. I only barely had time to record the album, and that was fighting for every minute of my evening against the encroaching sea of obligations.

FAWM 2009 (January, 2009 to February, 2009)

In January, I finally was able to take a breath. I'd stayed off the internet almost completely during Martian Winter. I have several websites; I'd let them all slide. My task in January was to update them all.

Except for one place -- here. The Csound blog is different; I like to produce content, actual files people can download and try out. It won't happen this time, but I think it's important to set the stage.

I didn't start back up here because I knew, in February, I wanted to sign up for FAWM (February Album Writing Month). I did it -- I wrote, recorded, and mixed 14 songs in just 22 days.

Now What?

During FAWM, I kept running into places where I wished my Csound skills were up to the sound task I was imagining. I'd had no practice, not in a long time. That's when I decided that March would not only be Woodshed month -- it would also be Csound month.

Every day this week, I've been experimenting. Here's what I'm interested in:

New sounds, new textures. Granular synthesis. Spatial and stereo effects. New reverbs, including convolution effects. Sound morphing.

I have ideas, but it may take me a while to make them real. As I work on these new sounds, I will post them here.

I also want to help stomp out some bugs. But more on that later, as well :D