You may have noticed a few changes around here. Unfortunately, at the present they are not for the better. The shared hosting service that I use suffered a catastrophic crash that wiped out the servers that hosted AudioCookbook.org and ten other sites that I either produced, maintained, or had a hand in.

This happened sometime during the afternoon on Tuesday, August 30, 2011. Having a busy schedule on that day (and since) I didn’t learn about the crash until midnight. I was up all night for the next three days assessing the situation and attempting recovery procedures. I discovered that the hosting service had no backup available (this is a long story that I won’t get into). So it was up to me to recover whatever possible.

After five years of no trouble from the hosting service I had become somewhat complaisant about daily backups, but I did have some things in order. Current backups of all the databases were available. I also have all of the sounds that I have ever posted here backed up locally. However, it will not be an easy matter to put all the pieces back in place. I have begun the process, but as well as teaching full-time I also just started a graduate program (ironically on the same day of the server crash), so my schedule will only allow me to focus on recovery incrementally.

As a result I have had to temporarily suspend the One Synthesizer Sound Everyday Project. I started posting a hand programmed synthesizer sound on a daily basis on January 5, 2011 and consecutively created two-hundred and thirty-six entries before the crash. I have more than enough material to fill this temporary void, but I am sorry that I won’t be able to get to it immediately. For now have a listen to a live, full-length, Ostracon mix that I finished editing this afternoon.

Ostracon at Honey