Look, I owe all of you an apology. I want you to know that I am sorry, not because I got caught but because it matters to me on a personal and deep level. My actions may have disappointed you or even broken your trust in me. I want the record to state that I completely understand where these feelings are coming from and hope to address them in this post.

In May of 2023 I said “I’ll update you next year” on my news update for this profile. It is July 2024 and I still haven’t made any news updates. Now that I’ve addressed my shortcomings, it is time for me to rectify the damage I have done. *grabs ukulele*

JOKES ASIDE I really hope I can get better at updating this account. Today I’ll share some current projects I am working on, and things I hope to improve for 2024/ 2025.

Projects I am working on:

I have just completed my track for the Christmas in July 2024 album, and I had a LOT of fun with it. I also auditioned for the NewGrounds Audio Deathmatch as well as the NewGrounds Underground Artist Competition using my AIM 2024 song. I may write music for those events if I get past the audition. (EDIT, I just got accepted for round 1 of NGUAC & NGADM!)

I have a few other small projects lined up, like podcast intros, songs I want to make with my friend, and standalone orchestral tracks. I may sign up to write music for game jams again (if I can find the time to write for them).

All I know is that more orchestral music is on the way! If you hear any of it and think “wow, I’d love to hire the guy who makes those funny air vibrations” you can always send an email to payton.petkus@outlook.com or DM me here.

What I want to improve:

My PC for music

If I want to keep making music the way I want to, I definitely need a better PC. For starters, I have to remove a lot of computer fan noise from recordings I make in my room. This is very time consuming and is a bit of a chore. 

My PC can’t seem to run basic software like Orchestral Tools’ Sine without spiking the RAM and causing artifacts in the output. There are other pieces of software that I own but can’t use because my PC can’t handle it.

I also can’t load more than 20 instruments in a single project or else it will become laggy and crash. To get around this I now make a single song across multiple project files and Frankenstein it in post. My latest track had to be split across 4 project files. This isn’t sustainable for my music career.

Unrelated to music but I put 150 hours into Baldur’s Gate 3 until the game updated and my computer couldn’t run it anymore. My PC also crashes while playing The Sims 4. It’s a miracle that I can even export music these days.

Making music a business

If I want a new computer I’ve decided that I want to build one myself, and to do that I’ll need money for parts. All of this is to say that if I want to keep making music I’ll have to find a way to make some money with music. So, this year I’m going to try to learn how to take my music business to the next level. I still want to keep releasing music for free on NG, but I also would prefer it if my costs for music didn’t put me into debt

I know how this sounds, and I’d like to reassure everyone that I am OKAY financially. I have a job and am financially secure. I just mean that I am spending WAY more money on music software than money I am making from music.

If anyone has any ideas for what I could do please feel free to share in the comments below.

Being in the NG community

Another thing I’d like to improve on moving forward is connecting with the NG community at large. This means I want to participate in more NG events and collabs. I’d love to work with some game devs or animators on more projects in 2024/ 2025. We’ll just have to see what the future holds.

Time management

I have many lofty goals and ambitions for this year, but none of that can happen without good time management. I do have ADHD so fitting everything I want will be a bit of a struggle. This year I should hopefully graduate from college and then I’ll take a break to work on myself.

Concluding thoughts:

If you read this whole post (instead of just skipping to the end) I appreciate your attention! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to share them in the comments. I hope you enjoyed my cheeky intro for this news post as well ;)

Oh, and I’ll try to update you next year.