News

The "Master of Magic" book - about the campaign

Posted by Chris Abbott on

"Wow - what can I say, but I'm very humbled by all the work everyone has put into this - more than I deserve I reckon." - Rob Hubbard Today Fusion Retro Books is launching a campaign for pre-orders for the first and only print run of the hardback version of "Master of Magic" - my official softography of Rob Hubbard. The 354-page full colour book is finished, and just needs to be printed before being sent out in August/September and launched at The ZZAP! Live event in Kenilworth in August. If you pre-order the hardback, you also at some point get a lovely...

Read more →


Kickstarter goodies update for the observant

Posted by Chris Abbott on

Hi all, I've been relatively quiet recently on the communications front: that's not because I've got no news, but I was waiting for Fusion Retro Books to start selling the Master of Magic book so I could tell everyone about it in one news hit (they will be selling it at URL http://bit.ly/robhubbardbook, currently that links to c64audio.com). I'm hoping that process will start this week. But for anyone who actually reads these blogs... here's what I've been doing... Summary though: check your Kickstarter inbox or Google Drive if you bought Master of Magic, 8-Bit Symphony Pro 1 or 8-Bit...

Read more →


8-Bit Symphony Pro: How to do add-ons in Kickstarter

Posted by Chris Abbott on

The new "Add-ons" menu in Kickstarter is great, but how do you get there once you've pledged, to change stuff and add stuff on?   Step 1 - top of the page, there's a pledge management link.   Step 2 - You can see your pledge.  Click on "change your pledge" at the bottom. Step 3 - without changing anything, click on the green pledge button (this is the bit that might confuse people).   Step 4 - Now you see the add-ons menu. This will be different depending on whether you're on an all-digital pledge, or a physical one that requires shipping....

Read more →


Was Lazy Jones "Star Dust" tune copied from "It Happened Then"?

Posted by Chris Abbott on

David Whittaker himself has presented this analysis of the notes of "Star Dust" and "It Happened Then", concluding that they're completely different, with only four notes common. This is to rebut the inaccurate notion now in Wikipedia that David copied the track. " i.e. Only 1st 4 lead notes similar, not bass, nor timing"   Lazy Jones - Star Dust notes Bass: ==================================== | C1  c2  c1  c2  | C1  c2  c1  c2 | Octaves | C1  c2  c1  c2  | C1  c2  c1  c2 | Octaves  =================================== | F1  f2  f1  f2  | G1  g2  g1  g2 | Octaves | C1  c2  c1  c2  | C1  c2...

Read more →


8-Bit Symphony Review - Guest blog by Lee Tyrrell

Posted by Chris Abbott on

The 8-Bit Symphony, which rearranges mostly 3-channel chiptune for live orchestra, saw an impressive amount of 80s kids leave their houses – in some cases, countries – in a glorious proof that imagination, art and expression are still going strong in the digital age. All those years in front of screens didn’t leave us the zombies that some might think.

Read more →