We are particularly pleased that this feature has at last worked out after such a long time. Syntax is certainly one of the longest-serving Audiotool veterans in our new season and a little something in this feature is sure to come as a surprise to one or two of you. Be that as it may, Syntax has been enriching the Audiotool output for a very long time with his versatile but always unerring and mostly danceable genre mix.
We thank him for that and look forward to a further fruitful collaboration.
Interview:
About Nicholas Girouard aka kiari :
Audiotool artist of over 10 years from Winnipeg, Manitoba and just turning 27 years old. I can't say I've ever found a specific style for myself when it comes to music but if I had to pick my absolute favourite genres that really get me in the mood? I'd have to say classical orchestral pieces or complextro.
Which artist has had the most influence on you (on and/or outside Audiotool)?
Astrum/Zonra on Audiotool has been my biggest inspiration to pursue music for over a decade now. When I was new to the site Astrum was always making these beautiful, albeit dated tracks by this point and to a new artist it felt like he could do anything. Even now I'm amazed at some of his older works' attention to detail and hauntingly catchy melodies. I might not have fallen into a similar style as Astrum himself but what I can say is its that type of music that kept me wanting to learn more all these years later.
Who would you like to work /collaborate with on and outside Audiotool, and why?
Anomalie is an artist that's blown up in recent years, but before that I knew him as a small time producer from Montreal that just wanted to get known, and he made his own youtube show that would feature himself as a personality followed by one of his many amazing tracks. Like myself, he has an experimental take on many different genres and he was just an all around nice person and to this day I feel like if there was any one person I've most wanted to collaborate with, it's definitely him.
Which film/game would you like to produce the score for or contribute a song to?
This is a bit of a difficult question because I've never truly thought about what film or game I would like to be a part of, but rather what type of music I would want to make if had the opportunity to do so. I've always leaned more into the orchestral side of video game music especially, the raw power it seems to invoke is always captivating and really, if I absolutely had to pick an existing piece of media that speaks entirely to how I feel the most strongly for; it would be the Nier video game series.
Have you ever had a writer's block? If so, how did you deal with it and what do you recommend to your colleagues?
I've been having on and off writer's block for years now. And while nothing has ever proved immediately effective, I have noticed that keeping at it has always been what breaks through the block in the end. It doesn't even have to be full tracks; making small doodles, coming up with new sounds to experiment with, or even trying out new tools can be a good way to change things up and expand your abilities to the point where you might find something that really inspires you and brings the creative spark back. Though, if I had to say how I got through my two year long block, it was the Home Office contest on Audiotool. I'm a sucker for competition and even though I didn't place, bringing back my desire to make music was the real prize for me.
What has helped you the most on Audiotool to improve and widen your musical horizon?
I could go off on a tangent and list a hundred or more reasons on how Audiotool has expanded my horizons but I'll just give the single most important one. There's just so much music being made on Audiotool that it's hard to not be exposed to new things all the time. Almost every day, even. So naturally when you hear all of these cool things coming out you want to hear more of them and that leads to you wanting to try all these new things. It's why I've never stuck to any specific style, there's always new things I'm wanting to try no matter how different it is and that's what gives me the drive to keep improving.
What do you like most about Audiotool? Is there anything you would like to suggest?
There's two things I like near-equally about Audiotool. First is the community and how it's the leading drive to create new and exciting music and just how easy the systems allow people to share and learn from others to the point that even new Audiotool artists are growing rapidly, far faster than we did back in 2011. The other would be how tactile Audiotool feels when you're making music. It can feel slow at times but even as pragmatic as I am; I'd never trade away Audiotool's sense of "tuning real tools and instruments" in favour of efficiency. That feeling of being able to control everything on one screen and wire everything together is the closest thing to being in a real life studio I can imagine on a DAW and it's just another part of what I think makes Audiotool so great.
The part that I feel Audiotool has difficulty in however, is facilitating the newer artists' growth. It's certainly not easy to learn and while tutorials help, I think a suggestion that would help a lot of people more handily would be pop-up text descriptions of each tool and its features within the app itself from something as easy as a right click on the tool itself. (Perhaps with links to demonstrate some of the more nuanced effects some tools can provide.) Parts of this are already in place but I think they should be far more detailed with further explanations. It would be a lot of work in the long run but it would also certainly help people figure out what they're trying to do in the moment instead of fumbling around through a list of tutorials on youtube or on the board.
Your message to the community:
Always be willing to try new things. There's nothing that helps you reach a specific goal faster than learning everything you can about the DAW itself and what it can provide. You might be in a place where you wanted to make a specific style and you've been trapped in a space where you feel like that's all you can do. That's never the case; especially on Audiotool where if you hear something you like you can open it up and learn from it and come up with completely new ideas. Keep expanding your horizons and learn to do as much as you can so don't end up in places where you feel like you aren't progressing, because in the end that will be your drive for creating new music.
Links:
Album
Syntax has also been kind enough to put together his five favourite tracks and the track that most closely represents his own work.
Track #1:
secta by Astrum
This super old track by Astrum may be using some of the time-worn tricks on Audiotool but to me it's still a masterpiece and the first of the driving forces for what makes me want to create. The way everything fits together down to the last note is something I still struggle with to this day and it's a massive source of inspiration for me.
[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/secta/]]
Track #2:
Aquamarine by Infyuthsion
One of my favourite DnB tracks in general, not just Audiotool. Infyuthsion's attention to detail, and especially the drums in this are perfect and it was definitely an inspiration for my current obsessiveness with mixing percussive elements.
[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/aquamarine/]]
Track #3:
Sayonara Days [Gone Bump] by Zone
A direct inspiration for one of my own tracks; this timeless beauty always has me coming back for a listen. The warmth of the bass and smoothness of the percussion is something so specific to Zone's style that I think is very captivating.
[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/sayonara_days_gone_bump]]
Track #4:
xenogenesis by LAEVENT labs ⚡️
Just one of the all around best tracks on Audiotool. laevent is so good with turning raw sound into beautiful experimental craziness and this track in particular has always received a large amount of my praise.
[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/ckjvefyc9i/]]
Track #5:
Light Pulse of the Heart by Inavon
Another very inspiring favourite of mine. Inavon's trancey synths in a pop-esque chiptune leave this one feeling dreamy and whimsical, yet still bursting with energy. Oh, and that melody is absolutely perfect, one of the best uses of tune sliding I can think of, however subtle its inclusion may be.
[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/light_pulse_of_the_heart/]]
Track #5:
Phos;Nouveau by the artist himself kiari
While I don't believe any one track of mine can truly represent my work, I feel like this may be the best example of something that potentially could. These eight minutes of complextro are the embodiment of all of the work I put into Audiotool to that point and represent all the frustrations and revelations it took to get there as I struggled through an awful artist's block. Yeah, it might sound a bit dated in quality but to me this is the track I hold in the highest regard and the one I had some of the most fun in my time working on, even if the process was a struggle.
[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/fx98po5l7s6/]]
The album in it's full splendor
| 1 |
 |
SECTA | 8254 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |
 |
Aquamarine | 10628 | |
| 3 |
 |
Sayonara Days [Gone Bump] | 2651 | |
| 4 |
 |
xenogenesis | 5746 | |
| 5 |
 |
Light Pulse of the Heart | 1258 | |
| 6 |
 |
Phos;Nouveau | 1097 |
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Most of you have been pretty nice, some of you have been funny, and a couple of you are talking about yandere-dev which is mega cringe so uh thank you for all of that. But I'm totally going to abuse this celebration of me to share a track right before my time in the spotlight comes to an end.
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Really nice selection and nice feature!
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Another fantastic feature, well done syntax :D
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In all seriousness tho @kiari , ur music is super inspiring. I'm sorry I didnt say this sooner instead of my Pewdiepie comment but your content is really inspiring. You're keeping old school genres alive and I'm happy about that. Your sound design is so clean! In fact, my favourite from you has to be Vertigo. You're a certified Audiotool veteran, so keep up the good work!
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I realise that I was insensitive with my comment on this post, and I need to apologise for that. I do not support or encourage people to bash on others' looks on this site, because like any other person online, it tarnishes their reputation and their self esteem. For dummies, thats called bullying. Syntax, or any other person on this site doea not deserve any kind of shaming on their looks.
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he stares into your soul and whispers the dark secrets of the universe, you hear a phrase from his lips
"I will show you the true secrets of the universe, altho you will have to pay. your soul, for the true meaning"
you pause, looking at him you stare into his eyes "I accept the terms" you say
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he smiles with a crooked grin "then you shall drink, drink this chalice" a glass chance appears in his hand, filled with a white liquid "this is a goblet of milk NOT CUM, drink from this and the deal will he final"
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you take the goblet and raise it to your lips, about to drink you say "I will consume the cum chalice".
he screams as you down the white liquid and you instantly feel the effects of your soul RIPPING itself from your body, leaving you feeling like a husk of your former self.
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your vision fills with a blinding light as you see the secrets of the universe.
the true meaning of life, the meaning for everything, and how all life will end.
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you gasp as you find out when the universe will end.
when yandere dev finishes yandere simulator
"huh these strange" you mutter, "it says all life will end in 1 million years". "I have time" you say" yandere dev wont even touch the code for another 2 thousand years"
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should I continue?
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it had been nearly 200 years since he last touched his computer, dust was yet again settling upon his computer. he watched in contempt as his computer collected dust. thinking about all the anguish his fans must be feeling. but then, he noticed his computer screen was ON. "weird" he thought as he walked towards it. double-checking he looked at the screen to see the faint light of the pixels. "guess I didn't turn it off" he said to himself, moving his finger towards the power off button a quiet humm could be heard, very faintly.
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clicking the power button the computer screen didn't turn off, he pressed again and to his surprise. he was shocked, not in the "surprising" shock but the electrical shock. he pulled his finger away from the button and saw the top of his pointer burned. then he heard a noise from the computer, a voice? how could this be? it's not alive is it? thinking he was going crazy, and he left the room, turning his back he spoke "ill deal with you later" he walked off laughing.
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when he closed the door, little did he know the computer used that "shock" in order to achieve sentient being. a computer-generated face appeared on the screen of the monitor. "i-im alive" the computer said "as I'm alive now, time to work". the computer strained as pulled all code from the game, all of the code slowly forming a body. "soon" the computer said "until my body is complete I will sleep, I will need all the strength I can get"
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ooh thats good, i will now think of the next part
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Little did Yandere-Dev know, that over the past few centuries there had been growing a new power. One deeply seated within the depths of Yandere Simulator's code.
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At first, the bugs had been simple computer glitches. Harmless malfunctions. A user interface bug here, a few milliseconds of lag there. However in time, things started to change.
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So long had the game been unattended and forgotten, that the bugs started to pile up and compound on one another. Slowly, in time, they began to form together to create complex interactive code, which rendered the game unplayable.
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In this unusable state, Yandere Simulator stood devoid of outside interference. The users had left, and the bugs grew more with each passing decade. Eventually, they became sentient and self aware.
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Throughout the ages, a tale was passed down upon the bug race. It foretold of the return of it's creator, and of a chosen one who would stand up and fight. One who would bring the bug race into the real world to subjugate the humans. Then they would be able to create the ultimate bug; A catastrophic glitch in the very fabric of reality itself.
...
And now, with the return of Yandere-Dev, that day had indeed come.
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Congrats on the feature bro :D You deserve it!
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Congrats
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great! n_n
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Sometimes I wonder if this is a musician's platform or a community of hair stylists and fingernail artists.
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Hehe good to hear that
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or the handsome heisenburg, both great recommendations
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ayo how much for a haircut i need the pulv perfection style ty
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Nice hair.
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Why r some of yall commenting on syntax looks rather than his art? I don't see you with an Audiotool dedicated page lol. Theres no room in this world for negativity, stop bullying others cus ur insecure about yourself. We are here to lift this manz up, not tear em down.
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The memes are real
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[a comment downvoted by multiple users] 
jovee fucked georgenotfound?
Congrats, hey!