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I have been busy working on SO many projects. Recognise this UI? Made a little application to sync to my handful of retro-style DAPs (Innioasis Y1, Hifi Walker H2 and classic iPod Gen 4 as well as making a modified version of Rockbox to emulate the iPod Gen 4 stock OS 1:1- which has never been done, all available attempts are just Rockbox themes and still have the painful quirks of using RockBox.

The sync app WolfSync, has some nifty features, like pulling from a 3rd party API to suggest albums based on Pitchfork and Bandcamp reviews. It even hooks into SoulSeek for some classic file-sharing action. And of course it features the actual PSX visualizer soundscope.

The other projects are so ambitious that I daren't even mention them here but I'll keep tinkering away and maybe they will materialise.

SlowBird V1.8.1

Since launching my music transcription app SlowBird, I've had a lot of incredibly helpful feedback (including a friend making a full walkthrough video unprompted!).

I was taken aback by how generous, helpful and kind people were - taking time out to reply to my emails and rapidly make SlowBird a better tool. For me, this affirmed the idea that you should launch software ASAP and then gather as much feedback as possible, since real users often have solutions to problems that you hadn't yet noticed and will likely try to use your software in unpredictable ways.`

Since then, I've added the 'Notes Viewer' (view all saved phrases across all saved tracks in one panel), video playback support, copy-pasting of video and audio links so you can transcribe directly from a streaming link.

Thanks to the continued feedback from actual users, I now firmly believe that SlowBird is already the best modern tool for transcribing music and it will only get better. In my opinion, transcribing recorded music by ear is the single most transforative practice you can adopt as a musician and there is no shortcut to doing this wonderful often difficult work but SlowBird is now an ideal environment to develop this skill and your musical language by curating a library of transcriptions and ideas from the greats.

Added a new PSX style visualiser in the site's music player - just a nice little thing I added today. I was thinking how much I miss music visualisers as a standard feature.

I've been enjoying working on my y2k inspired battle-spinning-top game Soul Gear here's some dev progress.
It's been fun trying to make frutiger-aero-style music to fit the vibe- check it out in the music player on this site.

Ancient Infinity Orchestra 2026 Autumn tour is now underway- lots of dates coming up. Heres a shot of us playing @ Ronnie Scott's! Bucket list moment.

Introducing SlowBird

I have finished the first iteration of a new music transcription app designed specifically for the needs of a jazz musican or anyone whos creative practice involves a lot of transcription.

I have used Transcribe! for many years but have always felt friction with its user interface and layout - so I've tried to fix those with SlowBird.

The main features that make it so useful are managing and tagging your audio tracks directly in the software, you can then highlight and save sections of the audio to the 'notes' section allowing you to quickly jump to certain passages in the music. This is exactly what I'd always wanted for transcribing music. Since it becomes like a repository of examples from the recorded history of music that you can curate and spend time with.

I think SlowBird is now officially the best way to transcribe jazz solos or any other music you might want to work out by ear as of 2026, and it's certainly the one I'll be using.

Back on the sk8ing thanks to the brand new skatepark at Beckett's park...

Home... working on Spirit Lens for the first time in a while.

Here's a screenshot from the recent and very intense development of Unseen Forms latest game, 'Spelling Garden'.

Our daily word game 'Twixtle' launched a few months ago and you can play it here. To our surprise, it has had an overwhelmingly positive response from players across the world prompting us to reframe how we approach our ideas and game design in general.
There sure are a lot of pans on the stove right now.

I'm super excited about the things we are making..

Watch this space. ps. In other news try the new 00s style tiling backgrounds at the very bottom of the page ;)

https://sadgrlonline.github.io/archived-sadgrl.online/webmastery/downloads/tiledbgs.html

Just arrived home after possibly the concert of my life.

We played in the awe-inspiring Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg to a crowd of 2000 people.

I felt genuinely shocked after we left the stage.

I really feel blessed to play this music alongside my dear friends in Ancient Infinity Orchestra and I'm so proud of Ozzy and the band.

Hearing friends individual musical voices resonate out into such an astonishing space made me feel emotional after years of bedrooms, basements and living rooms- Ozzy's opening 'Hymn' was the perfect song to draw the best out of the enormous hall.

We also played a new piece entitled 'Iran' dedicated to the bravery and resilience of the Iranian people which was an surreal experience to have with 2000 extremely attentive listeners.

Music is what I will commit my life to.
And I will be there everyday for it, and going forwards, I will try my best to ask for nothing in return.

Another thing we got but didn't ask for were these boiled easter eggs at the bar:

They were a suprise hit with most of the band.
Alas, I have such a strong aversion to boiled eggs I couldn't even manage a politeness-egg.

PS. To any AIO members reading this, thankyou for your patience with my allergy induced pre-concert fatigue and for helping me along when my phone decided to conk out on me.

*EDIT* @ 15:30PM The guestbook is now back online- please go and sign it and say hi! The guestbook I used is based on the one made by 'Baccyflap' who has a cool website here.

This is my workstation currently. Getting my ass kicked by Joe Henderson's music. It's quite a reality check. We can only strive towards greatness. Maybe we'll never make it there. Getting my ass kicked by just looking at Charles Ives' piano music. I have a long way to go. But I'm doubling down on my efforts. I wish I could afford piano lessons. I wish I could afford a space to make loads of noise.

My days outside of playing concerts are made up of piano practise, japanese study and meditation as well as general household stuff. (no one ever mentions this part). I wonder how much time McCoy Tyner spent washing dishes. Busy periods are coming so I'm trying to remain focused.

We went to see 'Project Hail Mary' last night at the big screen. It was a fun time- there were plenty of laughs and silence from the cinema goers- communal silence is a nice and powerful thing. And although I was braced to dislike Ken in Space, I actually thought it was really good.

Have been enjoying watching Deathnote in the original Japanese.
To my surprise, I could undestand some basic phrases and learn how they might start to be used in conversation.
More motivation to carry on studying- apparently it gets a lot harder after you have the basics...
Music wise, it was more Joe Henderson repertoire for the upcoming gigs and also working on rhythm each day as its definitely my weakest area.

I also spent some time skateboarding and exploring lesser trodden paths around my area today.
I think these things will be important this year. It felt like real life.

Off to London this weekend to see friends and art (hopefully) and spend some nice time with Issy.

*Edit 21:00*

The meditation timer now has these nice 3D mangoes I just made in Blender. More music this week, comprising of several new compositions. -'REAL TEETH' for a friends trombone recital. -Some 'crystalline' music for cello and piano which I tried with Mick Bardon- some fertile ground there for a lot of good music I believe. -tidying a handful of pieces for Mu Quintet's third album which we will record in June. I have also been working on some game dev with Jake @ Unseen Forms- will hopefull share more on that soon. Listening to Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time. Piano practise: now working on left hand dominant chord formations, scales wise, I'm going through 1-2-3 1-2 fingering of all scales three keys per day and repertoire wise- Naima by John coltrane in the keys. It has been revealing to see the beauty of that piece in the different key universes. I have also tried meditating with the keyboard under my hands and trying to just place each chord mentally before physically playing. There is an interesting phenomenon when you do this where you can weirdly 'feel' the connections being formed between your brain, ears and hands. I think this practise is helping me to 'hear' ahead. And also to be more patient. Maybe letting the chord fully decay before striking the next. Thinking alot about the beauty of touch for each note too. Does it come from beauty of intent / the freedom in the physical act?

Quick update to say that my piece 'plants' is now live on the site. I'm really liking just laying everything out together- it helps me to see the whole picture of the things I'm making and how they might inform one another. It's quite motivating and very satisfying. Some works wont fit on the homepage obviously and they might need to have their own little satellite pages if necessary. Let's see. Today, did more japanese with Teruki. Went to the greasy spoon diner, 'Ugly Mugs'. Practised and taught - ate some delicious leftover curry and some chocolate cake kindly made by Issy's mum. Issy's parents have been up visiting which was lovely and Pansy-cat turned 1! パンジー猫、お誕生日おめでとう ! (Rainbow text generated at https://charlesstover.github.io/rainbow-text/

This is yet another test blog post. Because my old site *STILL* didn't feel simple enough or authentic to me. Hopefully this one sticks. I want to make this site a magical place to be. I have added section on piano practise and mediation to the site. Check them out if these topics interest you!

Quick late night update.... Been working more on TV Dungeon (our 8-bit dungeon crawler) with Jake and Cieran. Been teaching piano and practising a lot too. Trying to be slow and honest with playing and improvising too. Realising I have spent a lot of time in my life rushing around in music. And true development happens when information is absorbed slowly and consistently. Speaking of which... Japanese. I am now ...almost there with memorizing the main Kana with a fair bit of work still to do on Katakana, but it is coming along