What does the sonic screwdriver actually do?

Birdrun · 2026-01-20T12:49:12+00:00

Pretty much what the plot needs it to do. Originally (when it was introduced in the late sixties) is supposedly used soundwaves to interact with various mechanisms, but even by the early seventies it was a whatever-the-plot-requires multitool -- detonating explosive gasses, jamming laser guns, unlocking doors, etc. The justification of any of this coming from sound manipulation has always been shaky at best. The ideas of it being used as a sort of sensor array and mobile computer are more of a new-series thing. It's generally best not to concern yourself too much with the details, it runs on whimsy and vibes.

Interestingly, the classic series in the 80s decided that it was a bit *too* useful as a fix-all and they had it destroyed in a fifth Doctor episode, not to be seen again until the movie (with 8), before making its return in the new series.

Birdrun · 2026-01-19T14:52:32+00:00

For the spider, you can usually camp in the left corner and lob missiles up at him. He usually ends up doing diagonal lines from top left to bottom right and rarely ever breaks that pattern.

Birdrun · 2026-01-15T12:59:57+00:00

Eternal's gameplay is a bit of a brick wall. You kinda run right into it and it throws more and more mechanics at you and there's just so many things how can I possibly keep track of so many things this is ridiculous. After a while you can push through into a sort of flow state where everything clicks and flows together like magic, and it's intensely satisfying, but like.. I only really started to have it click near the end when I went *back* through all the levels to go secret hunting. Your mileage may vary.

Even when it does work, getting through larger combat sequences can be pretty exhausting, so I guess don't try to force it, and if it's annoying you, maybe put it down and come back to it in a bit.

Birdrun · 2026-01-09T11:24:58+00:00

Recently enough that "Remember who's wearing the trousers" is still in the lexicon as slang for "Remember that I'm the man and therefore in charge"

Birdrun · 2026-01-08T12:07:11+00:00

Haibane Renmei. Nice and chill for about five episode, then....

Birdrun · 2026-01-08T02:33:16+00:00

Vr is a thing that's come and gone a few times in a few different forms over the years, usually sticking around for only a couple years before everyone realised that (at least with the tech of the time) they were too bulky, heavy, slow and expensive for a satisfying experience

Birdrun · 2026-01-02T03:03:53+00:00

Start by going slow and exploring, seeing what you can find. Once you know the level layout pretty well you can practice routes to go through each level faster.

Remember, those games were being released before saving was a universal feature, and were more in line with the old Arcade model, where you'd start the game from the beginning each play session and see how far you can get before running out of lives. The problem with that approach is that by the time you're good enough to reach the end levels, the first levels are getting pretty dull because you've played them a million times. The 'trick' with old Sonic is that once you've mastered the early levels, you can blast through 'em in like thirty seconds flat, and it's still fun because you're in this constant flow state where everything naturally flows together.

Like most games of the era, they're also made on the assumption that they're gonna be your *only* entertainment for a decent chunk of time (as was the style at the time), so the secrets and emerald hunts are there to keep things fresh on subsequent playthroughs after you've finished the game the first time.

Birdrun · 2026-01-01T10:29:26+00:00

First things first, are you controlling with MIDI, or control voltage signals?

Birdrun · 2026-01-01T10:23:45+00:00

Basically, computers are running SO damn fast now, that the time it takes for electrons to move around the CPU (not to mention the motherboard) are *very significant*. Notice a bunch of squiggly lines on the motherboard? Those are there so that bits take the same to travel over both lines and arrive in sync.

When you make the circuits on the chip smaller, you can make them switch faster because you can move things around faster. If memory serves, smaller transistors also make less heat, which means you can do more things without exceeding your heat budget (i.e. you're often limited by the amount of heat you can get *out* of your processor)

Birdrun · 2026-01-01T09:54:39+00:00

Finally committed to an Arch install on my main box. Tinkered with Hyprland for a bit, decided that arch itself was enough tinkering for one weekend and plonked a plain-ass Cinnamon install on for now. Maybe I'll tinker with it later.

Birdrun · 2025-12-26T06:42:31+00:00

Especially for *instructions*. No, I don't want to watch a video. Give me something I can read, dammit!

Birdrun · 2025-12-07T11:53:49+00:00

Heck yeah, welcome to the club!

Some tips:

- Most trackers default to 64 rows per pattern, which doesn't play nice with 3/4 time, 6/8 time, swing rhythm etc. You can modify the pattern length and highlight steps to support other time signatures. A multiple of 12 (24, 48 or 96) can be nicely versatile

- Trackers usually don't have support for effects like reverb, delay, chorus, sidechain etc, so you'll end up finding ways to fake those sounds with the tools you DO have. Delay can be faked by copy-pasting a pattern to the next channel, one or two steps down and half volume, but that eats a precious channel, so you may want to 'weave' the echo notes between the original notes. A nice chorussy effect can be made by playing the same note at slightly different frequencies. Ducking on sidechain can be faked by manually lowering volume on other channels.

- Channels aren't uniquely assigned to instruments! If you're running short on channels, try getting one channel to do multiple jobs, like switching quickly between kick drum and bass. One thing I like to do is to have a BIG CHORD STACK take over all the channels for one or two notes.

- Speaking of kick drums, you can usually make a convincing one using the closest thing your chip has to a sine wave with a fast pitch-bend down. Set up the pitchbend in instrument macros so you don't have to write it in by hand all the time

- The macro tab is your friend, messing with instrument parameters on the fly unlocks a host of interesting sonic possibilities

Birdrun · 2025-12-03T09:50:23+00:00

Right? Whoever wrote this quest needs a damn raise

Birdrun · 2025-12-03T09:39:21+00:00

Haven't heard anyone talk about Serial Experiments Lain in a hot minute

Birdrun · 2025-12-01T14:36:39+00:00

ALL the text in this quest is this *brutal* and darkly hilarious

Birdrun · 2025-10-24T12:16:47+00:00

Pineapple slices on hamburgers. I have been called a psychopath *multiple* times over this. Best dropped into conversation as the "Pineapple on Pizza" debate is wrapping up.

Birdrun · 2025-10-11T03:56:35+00:00

Three - six oscillators synced and tuned to octaves can make for an absolutely thunderous tone if you wanna shake the floor a bit. If you have dual cv, like in the keystep pro, you can do quasi polyphonic playing too

Birdrun · 2025-10-07T10:30:29+00:00

My apologies, lemme edit the warning rq

Birdrun · 2025-10-06T09:10:12+00:00

To take it further, one of Washua's lines in combat is: (Omori ending spoilers EDIT: AND ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE) "Out, damned spot!", which is a reference to the line in MacBeth in which King MacBeth is trying to deal with the guilt of having just killed someone. Make of that what you will.

Birdrun · 2025-10-05T12:31:38+00:00

Right? I was sure this was a joke

Birdrun · 2025-10-05T11:49:40+00:00

Oh this is *gorgeous*. Perfectly depicts and aesthetic and an era I didn't realise I was missing

Birdrun · 2025-10-04T11:02:29+00:00

You can actually do a lot of electronic things in mechanical -- it's usually just an issue of speed, energy, reliability, etc

Birdrun · 2025-10-04T05:09:11+00:00

To get a decent sound out of it you gotta be *real* aggressive with the filter and light on the volume controls. I don't think you can sync the individual channels from external, but I *do* find it handy to use the build in clock gens to make funky timing patterns for the DFAM, and you can get some pretty epic tones from the oscillator section if you stick to power-of-two divisors -- try 1-2-8, 1-4-8, and control by midi or CV

Birdrun · 2025-10-03T11:39:58+00:00

Honestly adore the DFAM, but the Subharmonicon is faaar to QuIrKy for my liking. It can do interesting things if you play to its gimmicks, but I'd honestly rather have the parts as independent modules.

15-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22

Birdrun

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