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He is indeed a very technical and nerdy person. For example, he was an early adopter of the SuperCollider audio programming language. Fun trivia: he was trolli

He is indeed a very technical and nerdy person. For example, he was an early adopter of the SuperCollider audio programming language. Fun trivia: he was trolling the SuperCollider mailing list under the alias "eric hard jams" which is an anagram of Richard [D.] James. Some of his messages were truely horrendous and he got kicked out eventually. He is quite a character...

Mistletoe 10mo ago
Can you link to the horrendous messages or summarize them?
- ideasphere 10mo ago
  “Ooh look, a girl on the sc list. Let’s rape her”
  - 0x1ch 10mo ago
    I assume if this was brought to his attention today, he would denounce anything said. People mature. Boy, if League of Legends chat logs from 2012 ever got out...
- bondarchuk 10mo ago
  http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n223 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n223 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n224 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n224 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n227 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n227 (note I am not personally claiming this is RDJ)
publicdebates 10mo ago
Was it confirmed that eric hard jams was actually him? How strange it is that we so easily forgive bad behavior from people we love.
- _alaya 10mo ago
  It’s strange but common. I love the music of Miles Davis and consider him a genius. I also give him a pretty poor review in terms of his behavior as a human being. People are complex.
  - coldtea 10mo ago
    There's also that fact that Miles Davis doesn't get to review our own behavior as human beings. He might not have liked us as his audience either. His behavior is publicized, and ours (whether it is) is not.
- spacechild1 10mo ago
  It hasn't been confirmed 100% but I remember reading a post by James McCartney (author of SuperCollider) himself, going something like "Shut the fuck up, Richard!". Since they both knew each other personally, I assume that JMC thought that "eric hard jams" was indeed Richard James.
- mft_ 10mo ago
  It's not in vogue these days, but rather than forgiving, we can compartmentalise and rationalise. Being a bad person in one domain doesn't mean that someone can't generate value in another.
  - Kreutzer 10mo ago
    The genius label we bestow on a select few is often a license to behave badly. I always enjoyed Richard’s music but never quite bought the stories told about him.
  - shimman 10mo ago
    Why are you putting "value" above human decency? Maybe you shouldn't be considered to generate any "value" if you put misery on others, how can any "value" make up for the direct suffering? There are plenty people just the same, with the same capabilities without the quality of being a tarpit of suck.
brcmthrowaway 10mo ago
Has anyone used SuperCollider or computer music framework to make anything resembling a pop song? Look at how easily a producer can make a pop song in Ableton https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5CPQ8LU36w https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5CPQ8LU36w
- bondarchuk 10mo ago
  Yeah BT lol.
- spacechild1 10mo ago
  SuperCollider would be the wrong tool for the job.
- _annum 10mo ago
  Why would anyone use SuperCollider or a computer music framework to make something resembling a pop song?
- bigyabai 10mo ago
  Ableton includes a fairly comprehensive SDK called Max for Live, it's been used in a handful of popular tracks before. Pure algomusic/tracker setups are usually a poor fit for pop music, though. DAWs have indispensable tools for vocal processing that you cannot forego most of the time.
- topocite 10mo ago
  Ableton is like the modern day guitar. SuperCollider and music programming languages are like the modern day bass clarinet. There isn't much bass clarinet in modern pop music either. Part of what defines pop music is the familiarity of the sound and popular expectation of what music is supposed to be.
- easyThrowaway 9mo ago
  A. G. Cook and the late SOPHIE used it, so maybe it ended up being used in "brat" somehow? Honestly I think they'd probably just render the audio out and then edit in Live.
spacechild1 10mo ago
I should clarify that it hasn't been 100% confirmed that "eric_hard_jams" was really him, but many people on the list thought so, including James McCartney himself: Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 22:20:06 -0600 From: James McCartney <---@---.---> Subject: Re: [ OT ]very low signal to noise ratio . on 1/17/01 9:18 PM, eric_hard_jams at eric_hard_jams@btinternet.com wrote: > >> ok boss. i'm really sorry. back to normal now. much better. >> my apologies. >> > ass licker. > shut the F up already, richard. https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 JMC and RDJ know each personally and hung out together. Here's a picture of the two together: https://www.reddit.com/r/aphextwin/comments/6oheli/screen_rab_from_the_shop/ https://www.reddit.com/r/aphextwin/comments/6oheli/screen_ra...
- runjake 10mo ago
  It's worth little coming from some random HN guy, but I can confirm eric_hard_jams was Richard D James. We used to hang around similar circles online, and there were a couple meetups. There were a bunch of other Rephlex and Rephlex-adjacent musicians using pseudonyms, as well. Richard was sort of annoying at times, in the way someone on the spectrum can be. A bit of a troll with poor timing, and poor social skills, but a good, kind lad who spent his time doing things completely orthogonal to anyone else and that made him quite interesting. I lost touch with him in around 2000-2001. He kinda went dark in those circles. I don't know what he's up to these days, probably raising a family like me.
  - bondarchuk 10mo ago
    Sure thing, Jake
    - runjake 10mo ago
      Funny useless trivia: Jake is not my actual name. It's from a movie. :-P
  - spacechild1 10mo ago
    That's interesting! There is also this email from Tue, 16 Jan 2001 19:02:12 +0000 in https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 where he is clearly talking as Aphex Twin. He might be just an impersonator, but given that he speaks directly to James and James calls him Richard has me pretty convinced that it's actually him.
MomsAVoxell 10mo ago
This is probably the best thing I’ve ever read on Hacker News .. seriously, honestly. I mean, wtf, the mailing lists are astonishing if you think about them .. like, how UUCP and mailman and qmail/sendmail used to be all you need to get access to the archives …
- spacechild1 10mo ago
  The fact that we can still access and search these archives 20-30 years later is really amazing. It gives you a glimpse into a different time period. That's why mailing lists and forums are so important! Fortunately, SuperCollider still has a quite active forum (https://scsynth.org/ https://scsynth.org/). It makes me sad that so much communication has moved to proprietory platforms like FB groups or Discord servers, most of which will be forever lost in time.

Mistletoe 10mo ago

Can you link to the horrendous messages or summarize them?

ideasphere 10mo ago
“Ooh look, a girl on the sc list. Let’s rape her”
- 0x1ch 10mo ago
  I assume if this was brought to his attention today, he would denounce anything said. People mature. Boy, if League of Legends chat logs from 2012 ever got out...
bondarchuk 10mo ago
http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n223 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n223 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n224 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n224 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n227 http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n227 (note I am not personally claiming this is RDJ)

publicdebates 10mo ago

Was it confirmed that eric hard jams was actually him? How strange it is that we so easily forgive bad behavior from people we love.

_alaya 10mo ago
It’s strange but common. I love the music of Miles Davis and consider him a genius. I also give him a pretty poor review in terms of his behavior as a human being. People are complex.
- coldtea 10mo ago
  There's also that fact that Miles Davis doesn't get to review our own behavior as human beings. He might not have liked us as his audience either. His behavior is publicized, and ours (whether it is) is not.
spacechild1 10mo ago
It hasn't been confirmed 100% but I remember reading a post by James McCartney (author of SuperCollider) himself, going something like "Shut the fuck up, Richard!". Since they both knew each other personally, I assume that JMC thought that "eric hard jams" was indeed Richard James.
mft_ 10mo ago
It's not in vogue these days, but rather than forgiving, we can compartmentalise and rationalise. Being a bad person in one domain doesn't mean that someone can't generate value in another.
- Kreutzer 10mo ago
  The genius label we bestow on a select few is often a license to behave badly. I always enjoyed Richard’s music but never quite bought the stories told about him.
- shimman 10mo ago
  Why are you putting "value" above human decency? Maybe you shouldn't be considered to generate any "value" if you put misery on others, how can any "value" make up for the direct suffering? There are plenty people just the same, with the same capabilities without the quality of being a tarpit of suck.

brcmthrowaway 10mo ago

Has anyone used SuperCollider or computer music framework to make anything resembling a pop song? Look at how easily a producer can make a pop song in Ableton https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5CPQ8LU36w https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5CPQ8LU36w

bondarchuk 10mo ago
Yeah BT lol.
spacechild1 10mo ago
SuperCollider would be the wrong tool for the job.
_annum 10mo ago
Why would anyone use SuperCollider or a computer music framework to make something resembling a pop song?
bigyabai 10mo ago
Ableton includes a fairly comprehensive SDK called Max for Live, it's been used in a handful of popular tracks before. Pure algomusic/tracker setups are usually a poor fit for pop music, though. DAWs have indispensable tools for vocal processing that you cannot forego most of the time.
topocite 10mo ago
Ableton is like the modern day guitar. SuperCollider and music programming languages are like the modern day bass clarinet. There isn't much bass clarinet in modern pop music either. Part of what defines pop music is the familiarity of the sound and popular expectation of what music is supposed to be.
easyThrowaway 9mo ago
A. G. Cook and the late SOPHIE used it, so maybe it ended up being used in "brat" somehow? Honestly I think they'd probably just render the audio out and then edit in Live.

spacechild1 10mo ago

I should clarify that it hasn't been 100% confirmed that "eric_hard_jams" was really him, but many people on the list thought so, including James McCartney himself: Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 22:20:06 -0600 From: James McCartney <---@---.---> Subject: Re: [ OT ]very low signal to noise ratio . on 1/17/01 9:18 PM, eric_hard_jams at eric_hard_jams@btinternet.com wrote: > >> ok boss. i'm really sorry. back to normal now. much better. >> my apologies. >> > ass licker. > shut the F up already, richard. https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226 JMC and RDJ know each personally and hung out together. Here's a picture of the two together: https://www.reddit.com/r/aphextwin/comments/6oheli/screen_rab_from_the_shop/ https://www.reddit.com/r/aphextwin/comments/6oheli/screen_ra...

runjake 10mo ago
It's worth little coming from some random HN guy, but I can confirm eric_hard_jams was Richard D James. We used to hang around similar circles online, and there were a couple meetups. There were a bunch of other Rephlex and Rephlex-adjacent musicians using pseudonyms, as well. Richard was sort of annoying at times, in the way someone on the spectrum can be. A bit of a troll with poor timing, and poor social skills, but a good, kind lad who spent his time doing things completely orthogonal to anyone else and that made him quite interesting. I lost touch with him in around 2000-2001. He kinda went dark in those circles. I don't know what he's up to these days, probably raising a family like me.
- bondarchuk 10mo ago
  Sure thing, Jake
  - runjake 10mo ago
    Funny useless trivia: Jake is not my actual name. It's from a movie. :-P
- spacechild1 10mo ago
  That's interesting! There is also this email from Tue, 16 Jan 2001 19:02:12 +0000 in https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 https://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225 where he is clearly talking as Aphex Twin. He might be just an impersonator, but given that he speaks directly to James and James calls him Richard has me pretty convinced that it's actually him.

MomsAVoxell 10mo ago

This is probably the best thing I’ve ever read on Hacker News .. seriously, honestly. I mean, wtf, the mailing lists are astonishing if you think about them .. like, how UUCP and mailman and qmail/sendmail used to be all you need to get access to the archives …

spacechild1 10mo ago
The fact that we can still access and search these archives 20-30 years later is really amazing. It gives you a glimpse into a different time period. That's why mailing lists and forums are so important! Fortunately, SuperCollider still has a quite active forum (https://scsynth.org/ https://scsynth.org/). It makes me sad that so much communication has moved to proprietory platforms like FB groups or Discord servers, most of which will be forever lost in time.