Retri's space

01 24

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 15:24:00 -0500

I’m running out of services to add to my homelab. Everything is working flawlessly. This is terrible. What am I supposed to tinker with now?

22 55

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:45:00 -0500

The killer feature for smart glasses is reminding me of the names of people I know when I see them. Maybe also how I know them. (And obviously on-device processing)

16 39

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 06:39:00 -0500

All these services requiring ID verification is funny because I will just not do it. No thanks, you don’t need that. I’ll go elsewhere. Not worth compromising even once

18 23

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:19:00 -0500

Having a USB security key sounds nice, but do I really want to add another doohickey to my daily carry? My poor stretched pockets, they are crying out, “no more”

00 27

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:27:00 -0500

It’s been about 6 months since I built my PC and I’m getting the itch again. But I don’t need a new PC, and neither does anyone else I know

20 05

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:05:00 -0500

Adding a microblog to my site is cool until I realize I don’t know what to call these. Posts are reserved for my blog. Notes? Status is old but functional. Are they tweets? Am I tweeting right now?

17 25

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:25:00 -0500

Is this thing on? Hello, I’m testing Decap CMS and my cross-site syndication script!

The Finitude of Fictional Worlds

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0500

For many years, my friends and I have collaborated on a science fiction worldbuilding project we call Final Frontier. The setting is simple: it’s ten thousand years from the present day, and alien species have all banded together to form a Galactic Union.

We play TTRPG campaigns in this universe, where we get to interact and truly make our world come alive. We write short stories in this universe, where we can build lore and history for our would. Each of us has crafted many characters, species, planets, histories of species and planets, magic systems, wars, stories, and all the more. It’s something beautiful.

Because I’m such a nerd, I’ve been the main steward of a wiki that we keep up to document all our creations. It’s definitely not ALL of our creations for FF, as… I’m only one man. However, I’m deeply immersed in the world we’ve created. I’ve played in tabletop campaigns, and I’ve hosted tabletop campaigns. I’ve read short stories, and I’ve written short stories. I’ve drawn and seen a thousand art-pieces representing the characters and world. I’ve just been there for it all.

The scope of the Final Frontier world is effectively limitless. Anywhere in the galaxy is fair game, and species and planets are spread out until they eventually cross paths in a story somewhere. It’s so expansive, and everyone’s creations have a place. There are dozens of unique creations…

Wait… dozens…? That doesn’t seem right to me. Final Frontier is bigger than that.

We have 122 content pages on our wiki.

The other night I was lying in bed and the thought came to me: Despite all the years of effort and thought and passion we’ve put into our world… it’s still small. When I pause my imagination for a moment, take a step back, and see the true quantity of our work… it’s like nothing. You could peruse it all in an afternoon.

Of course, I know this. There’s no logical conflict going on in my head. Finite beings such as humans can only create finite things. We can only create something lesser than ourselves. Despite this, the thought rather disturbed me.

None of these people, places, stories, things are, in any capacity, real. But to recognize them all, laid bare without filling in details or giving any benefits-of-doubts, as empty husks wearing the skin of real things… it was harrowing.

In my imagination, Final Frontier is made up of much more than that.

But in reality, Final Frontier is made up of nothing.

And every fictional world is made up of nothing.

I’m not sure if that’s OK.

Septette for the Dead Princess (cover)

Fri, 30 May 2025 00:00:00 -0500

I got into Touhou recently and wanted to make a cover of one of its background tracks. To be honest, these games moreso have “foreground tracks” to me… I can’t focus on dodging without it. (That’s assuming I can focus on dodging at all…)

Anyway, Remilia’s boss theme was the first one to really grab me by the throat and get me hyped for the fight. The sixth game, the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, was my first Touhou game, but it’s apparently everyone’s favorite. I suppose I’m doomed to be a normie fan forever.

Losing my job of 16 years

Sat, 03 May 2025 00:00:00 -0500

I graduated from college today.

Many people are celebrating right now, many of whom are my friends. Instead, I find myself grieving.

I think there’s a lot to be said about how we human beings process change. It may be the most discussed topic in history. Personally, I find this to be the most terrifying change I’ve ever experienced. Sure, this degree is what I have been working incredibly hard for over four years, but it marks the end of my schooling forever. When I walked out of that ceremony, I lost the thing which occupied most of my time for as long as I can remember. School is the only thing I know how to do. It’s been my job, and after sixteen years, I’ve been let go.

If I may use a metaphor, the finish line has been drawn across the edge of a cliff. Over the boundary is an ocean, the bottom of which I can’t see. The waters of the unknown are black, murky, and opaque. I don’t know what it’s like past this line. There could be a paddleboat on the shore to safely guide me away. There could be sea monsters ready to swallow me whole. Whatever the case, I’ve just been pushed over the cliff.

I’ve gained many skills in my higher education. Of course, the whole point of this degree is to qualify one for a good career, whereafter I can do things I love doing. And I am excited for the possibilities, but those are only possible. The future may be bright, but I am blindfolded. In the meantime, I am left saying goodbye to professors who I grew fond of (and who grew fond of me), classmates that I worked hard with, both of my jobs, short-term goals to work towards — essentially any sense of purpose has dissipated.

This post isn’t meant to be pessimistic. Good things have happened. I am the most capable version of myself that has ever existed. I’ve evolved as a human being. And I’m not purely at the whims of fate. My future is in my own hands.

That may be the most terrifying thing of all.

2024 Retrispective

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Welcome to the first and hopefully-not-only annual Retrispective, where I give highlights of the music I’ve composed this year.
(Get it? Retrispective? Har har har)

Think of it like Spotify Wrapped if I was the only musical artist on the planet.

…anyway, despite how busy this year was, I made a bit of music here and there. I hope you enjoy.

Click here to skip to the releases.
Click here to skip to the sketches.
Click here to skip to the end.

Releases

Star Catalyzer

— Single — View here

Star Catalyzer was quite the experiment. I truly don’t work with synthwave very much, but when the SMC group announced a collab album, I decided to give it a shot.
I think it proved to me that I can work in any genre if I put my mind to it.

"My contribution to a collaborative techno-synthwave album named “Jumpship”. The album was themed after science fiction, so I tried to come up with something that would play in a space-themed video game… In particular, this track was inspired by the idea of constructing a star, from the perspective of some kind of celestial being. It didn’t start off with that premise, but once I matched the … "

Markmaker

— Single — View here

Markmaker was a really fun one this year, I took the sketch style and really pushed it to the limit.
Truthfully, I missed this kind of VGM style, so it was nice to get back to it.
I think the MIDI-esque sound is something I’ll be exploring more in the future.

"This is somewhat of a “re-imagining” of an old track I made, Markmaker. The rabbit hole for this one goes pretty deep. So, back in 2018-ish, I had a project named “Dotishtale”, that was based off of the game “Undertale”. Markmaker was a battle theme named after a spell that the Dotishtale protagonist learned. That project is abandoned now, but recently I wanted to sketch … "

Severity Nexus: Second Semester

— EP — View here

This year, I was privileged to compose a second short soundtrack for my friend’s D&D campaign, Severity Nexus. (You can listen to the first one here.) This was about twice as long as the original, and I worked more closely with the DM to get the right feel. It really shines with the player character themes, in my opinion.

"The soundtrack for Severity’s sequel, Severity Nexus: Second Semester. I was lucky enough to get the chance to contribute to this passion project, much less compose seven new tracks for it. In essence, it’s a continuation of the first campaign, but running through alternate universes. I will admit that I have grown quite attached to Severity, despite never even attending a session! The D… "

Previewing track 1: Alternate University

Hopes and Dreams Medley

— Single — View here

In September was the 9th anniversary of the release of UNDERTALE, a game I hold dearly to me. I wanted to remix something cool that represented that game, so I decided to make a medley of Hopes and Dreams, which I think I’d consider the ‘main theme’ of the game, despite it playing during the final boss battle.

"A tribute to UNDERTALE, a game that changed my life. This is a medley of a few songs related to the final boss of the game, tacking on some that I thought would flow well. Specifically, using Hopes and Dreams as the base, I included sections from His Theme, SAVE The World, and Last Goodbye. Yes, that’s me playing piano at the end. I’m not very good at it. I created this to c… "

Sketches

Jonas Battle (Result of Messing Around in Fight-Like Scenarios)

A short little theme I composed for an RPG Maker game I was making in August. I haven’t STOPPED working on the game, but it’s on hiatus because I’m busy as hell. School. Womp womp. This game featured my friend Jonas as the protagonist, so the theme takes elements from some music he’s composed, like this and THIS. I’m really proud of this, despite the simplicity.

By the way, I’m considering that 2nd title because its acronym is ‘ROMAIFLS’. Jonas’s original music used to be called ‘Result of Messing Around in FL Studio,’ so I thought it was fitting.

DECEMBER

Have you ever heard of a little game called ‘DELTARUNE’? I’ll save you the long-and-short of it, but as of the end of this year it has not been fully released. This is a (partial) conceptual battle theme I made for the character ‘December Holiday’, who we know very little about so far, but for whom we have a few musical hints.

Evil DESPAIR

I made this for an online friend’s birthday. It is a short little VGM-style remix of a theme related to him (for more details, see here). It’s an… ‘evil’ remix of that theme… by which I mean its melodies, chords, and instrumentation are given a sinister twist. It’s a fairly unremarkable Sketch piece.

??? (from Ordinals Riffed)

Without saying much, this is for another game project I and a friend have been working on this year. We are calling it ‘Ordinals Riffed’, and due to its very incomplete state, I won’t be saying much until I have more to show. (It’s not that exciting—actually a bit embarassing—but we’ve been having fun.) Nonetheless, it’s a short sketch using Chrono Trigger instruments. If you recognize the melodies, you can probably deduce what the project is about…

Fresh Out (from Ordinals Riffed)

Another one for ‘Ordinals Riffed’, this time a character theme… For this one, I tried to stick closely to the limitations of the Genesis sound chip (the YM2612), but in my DAW because I’m too lazy to use a tracker. Why?… well, I don’t know… it was fun?

Video Game Land (from Ordinals Riffed)

Last sketch from ‘Ordinals Riffed’ for now. It’s not the last one I’ve made, but the last of the ones I’ll be sharing for now. More will come in the future; hopefully I can release a collection soon enough. Unlike the others, this one isn’t finished, but it’s got enough meat on its bones to show off here. Plus, I like it that much.

Where the Current Flows Crimson

An ambient track? By Retri? That’s unheard of! Well, this is one of many experiments I’ve done this year where I re-imagine an old song as something entirely new. (Some of these might actually come out next year, so I’ll just share this for now.) Anyway, this is a re-imagining of ‘Crimson Current’, an old track I made in 2018. The original was not ambient by any definition, but that’s the fun of ‘re-imagining’, yeah?

🥁 Drumroll please 🥁

This year, I composed:

4

releases

3 tracks — 1 collection

7

sketches

… Thanks for reading this far. It’s been a fun, albeit stressful year.

I know what you’re thinking: Retri, I really want to listen to more of your music.

Well, you’re in luck. I have lots of finished music right here on this site, and you can listen to to it without ever leaving.

If you want to hear more sketches, I’m usually posting those on social media like Mastodon.

Hopes and Dreams Medley

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

A tribute to UNDERTALE, a game that changed my life. This is a medley of a few songs related to the final boss of the game, tacking on some that I thought would flow well. Specifically, using Hopes and Dreams as the base, I included sections from His Theme, SAVE The World, and Last Goodbye. Yes, that’s me playing piano at the end. I’m not very good at it.

I created this to celebrate UNDERTALE’s 7th, 8th, and 9th anniversaries. Yes, that’s right—one gift for three birthdays! Well, I started this back in 2022, but couldn’t finish it in time. Then September 2023 rolled around, and I still couldn’t finish it in time. This time I got it, though. Thankfully. I can’t believe it’s been nine years… I’m so old. (laughs)

Anyway, UNDERTALE’s music is what caused me to want to become a producer in the first place… so, I owe a lot to Toby Fox and all the other musicians making fan-content who inspired me, taught me, and laughed with me throughout the years. Maybe some day I can make a DELTARUNE tribute. That will be a long time from now.

Severity Nexus: Second Semester

Sun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 -0500

The soundtrack for Severity’s sequel, Severity Nexus: Second Semester. I was lucky enough to get the chance to contribute to this passion project, much less compose seven new tracks for it. In essence, it’s a continuation of the first campaign, but running through alternate universes.

I will admit that I have grown quite attached to Severity, despite never even attending a session! The Dungeon Master, my friend Brody, is nothing less than a creative genius—despite being derivative, I’m always amazed at what I hear goes on in those Sunday sessions…

Anyway, without rambling too long, I was happy to work more closely with the players this time around, with three of the new tracks being player character themes. Of course, in true DELTARUNE fashion, we are but outside observers of their true nature—these characters, this world exists long after the ANGELS stop observing. So I can’t earnestly say these themes are the characters—it’s just our perspective of them, from Heaven.

I also got to incorporate many more leitmotifs! If you listen closely, you’ll notice a few:

Theme of Severity — This is the theme of the campaign. Heard in University Life from the original, as well as Alternate University, DEATH OF THE AUTHOR, and Our Ending.
Theme of Kaynbyn — This is the theme of Kaynbyn University. Heard in University Life from the original, as well as Alternate University.
Theme of the Chucklefucks — This is the theme of the PC’s party. Heard in each As Heaven Sees (blank) character theme, DEATH OF THE AUTHOR, and Our Ending.
Player characters’ leitmotifs — The melodic expression of how each character is seen, from HEAVEN’s point of view… Heard in each As Heaven Sees (blank) character theme, with cameoes in DEATH OF THE AUTHOR.

Markmaker

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0500

This is somewhat of a “re-imagining” of an old track I made, Markmaker. The rabbit hole for this one goes pretty deep. So, back in 2018-ish, I had a project named “Dotishtale”, that was based off of the game “Undertale”. Markmaker was a battle theme named after a spell that the Dotishtale protagonist learned. That project is abandoned now, but recently I wanted to sketch an idea—what if Markmaker was the theme of Dotishtale’s final boss?

It follows the idea of remixing the creator’s earlier work as an ultimate boss theme, similar to the original MEGALOVANIA from Undertale.

Anyway, I took elements from Markmaker as well as its predecessor, Stratosphere. As with my other sketches, it’s all GM instruments, particularly Weeds’ GM soundfont. Additionally, I was inspired by igorsantusa’s remix of Black, as well as River’s remix of MEGALOVANIA.

Star Catalyzer

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0500

My contribution to a collaborative techno-synthwave album named “Jumpship”. The album was themed after science fiction, so I tried to come up with something that would play in a space-themed video game…

In particular, this track was inspired by the idea of constructing a star, from the perspective of some kind of celestial being. It didn’t start off with that premise, but once I matched the track with a name (one that I had been saving for a while), it just stuck.

I was also inspired by some ideas from Final Frontier, specifically the idea of a race of ancients who constructed each galaxy, unbeknownst to its inhabitants. While mortal beings, they are the “catalyzer” of every star, in a way…

This collaboration was started by the folks at SMC, a community Discord server of music producers like myself. I have them to thank for this enjoyable experience. Synthwave was never exactly my best genre, but this album allowed me to experiment with something new. (Well, it wasn’t TOTALLY new. I’ve worked on the Final Frontier soundtrack for several years now…)

Test Post

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Hello Bacon ipsum dolor amet rump brisket jerky, andouille shoulder drumstick turkey tongue pork pancetta beef ribs filet mignon short ribs. Ground round jerky shoulder prosciutto bresaola. Cupim doner turkey corned beef shankle tenderloin pork pork belly boudin alcatra. Picanha meatloaf jerky sausage. Landjaeger frankfurter capicola shoulder pork chop.

Tail swine shank, landjaeger doner ball tip jerky turkey tenderloin bresaola pork belly flank. Short ribs tail ham hock meatloaf jowl beef t-bone turkey bacon filet mignon. Boudin hamburger meatball rump leberkas. Beef andouille shank picanha landjaeger tongue kevin turducken chuck rump alcatra.

Beef ribs tenderloin frankfurter, pork meatloaf prosciutto chuck kevin. Picanha ham hock doner sirloin leberkas, bresaola flank cow ball tip chislic spare ribs turkey. Jerky landjaeger tenderloin rump chuck leberkas. Pig chuck bacon jowl, prosciutto pork loin ribeye. Flank kevin sirloin capicola, chicken pork loin tenderloin beef strip steak tail corned beef tri-tip.

Landjaeger tongue salami frankfurter alcatra. Cupim shank jowl swine frankfurter short loin, shankle turducken buffalo porchetta fatback prosciutto pancetta boudin ham hock. Sirloin chislic fatback pork belly bacon, pastrami kielbasa doner pancetta corned beef. Pancetta jerky pork belly tenderloin salami sirloin rump picanha frankfurter, brisket prosciutto biltong filet mignon tongue. Venison ball tip bacon, burgdoggen jowl pork sirloin. Drumstick porchetta sausage tri-tip meatball landjaeger tenderloin. Fatback kevin tongue ham hock beef ribs picanha alcatra doner burgdoggen turkey chicken bacon frankfurter brisket.

Alcatra tail salami ribeye cow pancetta. Spare ribs flank hamburger, corned beef chicken ham hock tail ribeye alcatra salami cow. Ball tip leberkas chuck chislic fatback. Pork belly spare ribs short ribs ground round cow biltong. Chislic turkey bresaola leberkas, short loin tongue ball tip bacon tenderloin porchetta boudin short ribs turducken kevin pancetta.

Severity Nexus

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0600

The “soundtrack” for Severity Nexus, one of my friend’s Deltarune-inspired DnD campaigns. Basically, it’s a set of background tracks he would play during certain events (e.g., in the town, in battles, at the final battle).

This “project” was a lot of fun. Not only did it connect me with a friend’s campaign that he cared deeply about (I wasn’t a player), but the response from his players was heartwarming. I am honored to have been able to have an impact on Severity, even if it was small.

Where Am I Going?

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I started writing this in my first semester in college. A bit of a learning curve for anyone familiar with that experience! Anyway, one particular November night, I was stressed out with finals prep and decided to vomit my emotions into my DAW. One particular feeling resonated strongly in my psyche at this moment: what the heck am I doing all this for, again? Where am I… going? For once, I had the title as the filename from the start…

The track eventually evolved into something more meaningful, but those were its origins, at least. I think the sentiment of not knowing what path lies ahead is a pretty common one amongst humans. Nothing in particular makes me more qualified to tackle that than anyone else. I suppose this track just represents my experience wrestling with that emotion.

The earliest iterations of this song were kinda just… loud, and I guess that’s what I was going for. Translated the fuzz in my head into fuzzy audio (from all the compression…?). Needless to say, I did not keep this style. I eventually decided it should sound good instead.

If you were wondering, the cover for this track is actually generated by an AI. It’s pretty common to see nowadays, but I generated this back in mid-2021, before it was a ‘big thing’. It was a cool piece of technology, producing strange dream-like images from just text… I was fishing for something weird out of a VQGAN-CLIP model when this turned up. It felt like being lost on another world. I loved it.

Onwards

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 00:00:00 -0500

A compilation EP composed of the four tracks I made in 2020. They follow a theme of dealing with and accepting change, which I suppose is an applicable motif for what went on in that year…

Contact Light

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 00:00:00 -0500

Contact Light

DESPAIR: Alone With The Stars

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0600

Ah, what a throwback…!

This track is a remake of an old track of mine, DESPAIR, that I originally made in 2018. It was, in some way, a tribute to one of my online friends named Stellar. I didn’t know them too well at the time, but I dedicated some time to compose a song for them, and I would continue doing so as time went on… so, I suppose this is a continuation of that.

Anyway, it’s a rockin’ blend of hard synths with a space-y vibe… (that sounded very 90’s)… and some elements of full-band here and there. In terms of its arrangement, I was particularly interested in keeping as many voices as synthesizers as I could. Despite being a ‘rock’ track, it does not include rhythm guitars for most of the piece, instead relying on the bass and FM synth to carry the rhythm.

Quite a lot of new compositions have been implemented into this piece. If you’ve heard the original, you’ll notice two new sections and three new melodies, including the guitar solo at the end. (I cannot seem to resist guitar solos.) I consider the original DESPAIR to be one of my best compositions, and I am quite proud of the additions I made here.

I hope you appreciate them as much as I do.

The art for this track also uses art drawn by Stellar themselves. I can’t remember exactly where I traced it from, but it’s a silhouette of their online persona. Please consider supporting the rest of their work.

Retri's space

01 24

22 55

16 39

18 23

00 27

20 05

17 25

The Finitude of Fictional Worlds

Septette for the Dead Princess (cover)

Losing my job of 16 years

2024 Retrispective

Table of contents

Releases

Star Catalyzer

Markmaker

Severity Nexus: Second Semester

Hopes and Dreams Medley

Sketches

Jonas Battle (Result of Messing Around in Fight-Like Scenarios)

DECEMBER

Evil DESPAIR

??? (from Ordinals Riffed)

Fresh Out (from Ordinals Riffed)

Video Game Land (from Ordinals Riffed)

Where the Current Flows Crimson

This year, I composed:

4

7

Hopes and Dreams Medley

Severity Nexus: Second Semester

Markmaker

Star Catalyzer

Test Post

Severity Nexus

Where Am I Going?

Onwards

Contact Light

DESPAIR: Alone With The Stars