Z being the only letter left that I don’t have an album for, allow me to announce Zeroes.
Zero isn’t a bad thing. It’s a starting point, it’s potential. Everything comes from zero and returns to zero.
In ancient Egypt, they had glyphs for different powers of 10, and you’d write them in groups much like Roman numerals. So zero didn’t serve as a part of positional notation. But they had the concept of zero as a quantity (as they used it in double-entry bookkeeping), to represent ground level in architectural plans, and in geometry. To write zero, they used the “nefer” glyph — which is also the word for beautiful or good. Balanced accounts was akin to the balance of the universe. And ground level, where things rest, is the place of most balance.
In electronic music, zero is silence. Sound waves wobble positively and negatively, crossing over zero and (if all is well and there’s no DC offset) averaging to zero. As long as the fundamental is stronger than other harmonics, counting the number of zero crossings per second and dividing by two gives you the frequency in Hz. Thru-zero is an important concept in frequency modulation, and some other types of modulation.
In fact I thought about running with an FM theme here, or other things geekily related to zero (such as ring modulation) but decided that I already do that a lot and I’d rather leave my technical options open and just make music with my heart.
I have one track recorded, having found some inspiration in exploring sound, plus a start on a second one.
I have that feeling like change is in the wind — change for the better. Maybe it’s the particular bubble I’m in cycling around to general optimism, what with Chump’s attempted birthday party which was giving Fyre Festival vibes getting cancelled, obvious frustration over not being able to weasel his way out of the Iran mess he made, losing his name on the Kennedy Center, fear of the midterm elections, etc. And maybe some of that is down to a couple of small shifts in my personal thinking, changes at work, etc. Maybe it’s just the arrival of Pride. But a little hope isn’t a bad thing.
Guild Wars 3 was just officially announced. Beta testing to begin next year. Set 1000 years before Guild Wars 1, when Orr was a new frontier (rather than a sunken disaster city that got raised back up full of zombies). So, this might be shortly after the Six Gods (with Abaddon and Dhuum rather than Kormir and Grenth) brought humanity to Tyria through the Mists as refugees from something terrible, and built the city of Arah. Which means the Elder Dragons would all be slumbering and are not a factor.
No Sylvari (their entire race is only about 20 years old at the start of the GW2 timeline, but they emerge from the Pale Tree as conscious beings in an “adult” form rather than children). Likely no Asuran tech, and that whole race is likely living peacefully underground and aren’t a player race. Likely no Charr. Maybe Norn? Dwarves would definitely have been around at that time. There’s definitely a Kodan in the video.
There’s magic granted by companion spirits who also serve as mounts, and also travel powers than involve running up cliffs with glowing hands and feet… so maybe this will be a game without the invisible walls of older GW2 zones? Here’s hoping!
They have committed to continue development and support on GW2, and in fact since they just re-released the original Guild Wars in a new and updated version, I can believe they’ll stand by it if at all possible.